RxPG News : Food & Nutrition

Eating less may help you live longer

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:05:33 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Going back for a second dessert after your holiday meal might not be the best strategy for living a long, cancer-free life, a new study has confirmed.

University of Alabama-Birmingham - researchers have shown exactly how restricted calorie diets, specifically in the form of restricted glucose -, help human cells live longer.

This discovery could help lead to drugs and treatments that slow human ageing and prevent cancer.

'Our hope is that the discovery that reduced calories extend the lifespan of normal human cells will lead to further discoveries of the causes for these effects in different cell types...,' said Trygve Tollefsbol, researcher at the Centre for Aging and Comprehensive Cancer Centre UAB.

'We would also hope for these studies to lead to improved prevention of cancer as well as many other age-related diseases through controlling calorie intake of specific cell types,' he added.

Tollefsbol and colleagues used normal human lung cells and pre-cancerous human lung cells that were at the beginning stages of cancer formation.

Eating less may help you live longer

Both sets of cells were lab grown and received either normal or reduced levels of glucose. As the cells grew over a period of a few weeks, researchers monitored their ability to divide, and tracked how many cells survived over this period.

They found that the normal cells lived longer, and many of the precancerous cells died, when given less glucose. Gene activity was also measured under the same conditions, said a UAB release.

'Western science is on the cusp of developing a pharmaceutical fountain of youth,' said Gerald Weissmann, medical expert and editor-in-chief of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology - Journal, which published these findings.

UIC receives $1 million grant to study 'fat taxes,' diet, obesity

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:59:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have received $1 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study the relationship between fat taxes and food consumption, diet quality and obesity.

The funding for the two-year project was made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The study will link state tax rates associated with restaurants and with specific sugar- and fat-laden foods and beverages (soda, candy, baked goods and chips) to individual survey data.

Using multiple data sets from a 10-year period -- 1997 through 2007 -- the researchers will determine if differential tax rates equate to differences in consumption, diet quality and body mass index, or BMI, for children, adolescents and adults.

The study will separately examine these relationships among low-income food stamp recipients and non-food stamp recipients.

Previous economic studies suggest that food prices do change consumption. However, the researchers want to determine if, for example, consumers will seek out another high-sugar drink such as Kool-Aid if, say, soda is too expensive. If they do, then a tax on soda may reduce soda consumption but will not necessarily reduce weight, improve diet quality, or reduce overall sugar intake.

We want to know if this price sensitivity is just for a specific good, such as soda, or if it translates into changes in diet quality and weight outcomes, said Lisa Powell, senior research scientist at UIC's Institute for Health Research and Policy and principal investigator of the study. It will help lay the foundation on the extent to which these taxes may be effective policy instruments to generate behavior change and potentially reduce obesity.

Current fat-tax rates are fairly low, ranging, for example, from 0 to 7 percent for soda.

Taxing soda is an easy target because it is clear there is not a lot of nutritional value, said Powell. But if you look at taxing all foods or beverages with a certain amount of sugar or fat, that might include a fortified cereal that could also be healthy.

Defining healthy and unhealthy when there are many different components to food can be difficult, she said.

According to the researchers, the study is critical because Americans are increasingly consuming poor diets, which have contributed to a public health crisis with more than 17 percent of children and 32 percent of adults being obese.

Powell's co-investigators at UIC are Frank Chaloupka, distinguished professor of economics and director of the Health Policy Center; Carol Braunschweig, associate professor of human nutrition; Jamie Chriqui, senior research scientist at the Institute for Health Research and Policy; and Euna Han, health economist at the Institute for Health Research and Policy.

Owners should count calories for obese pets, consider several factors for good health

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:59:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) You might watch your daily calorie intake or glance over nutritional information on food packages, but do you do the same for your pet?

Dr. Susan Nelson, a veterinarian and assistant professor of clinical sciences at Kansas State University, said there are several guidelines to follow when feeding your pet to ensure that it maintains good health.

Just like human food packages, many cat and dog food packages contain nutritional information, Nelson said. Packages often list the kilocalories, protein, fat, carbohydrates and fiber per cup. In recent years, manufacturers started listing some nutritional information, including calorie content, for dog and cat treats.

In the past, we didn't know how many calories were in various treats, Nelson said. Now that's becoming more available, and that's because more pets are becoming obese and their owners are asking for that information. Pets are overeating and underexercising, and they're eating too many high-fat foods and treats.

Nelson said these plumper pets are not only benefitting from improvements in pet food quality, but also from the increased calorie content caused by the higher fat content of many premium diets. But does that call for owners to start counting calories for their pets?

It's important to count calories if the pet is overweight, but it's probably not necessary if you have a pet that is of normal weight, Nelson said. If it starts to get pudgy, you need to take a look at how much exercise it is getting, how much food you are feeding it, and how many treats you're giving it.

Calories from treats should be no more than 10 percent of your pet's diet. If owners want to count their pet's calories, Nelson said, veterinarians can make diet calculations for dogs and cats. The overall recommendation for the amount of food to feed your pet is based on several factors, including the type of food you are feeding your pet, your pet's metabolism and how much exercise it gets.

Generally, I tell people that unless your pet is overweight, go with the guidelines on the food bag, she said. If the pet is a little overweight, you should feed it for its ideal weight and not for its current weight.

Nelson said if you want to compare different pet food brands' nutritional information, you have to look at the nutritional content calculations based on the dry matter content. Often, this is not listed on the bag, so you might have to look online or call the company to find the information.

What most bags list is the nutritional analysis that is formulated on an as-fed basis, she said. To truly compare the nutrient content of foods, you have to look at the dry matter basis, which takes out water content.

Nelson said it's typically best to start by following the feeding guidelines on the bag. She said people shouldn't assume that feeding one cup of one diet is the same as feeding one cup of another, because pet foods can vary greatly in calories. She also suggests using a standard 8-ounce measuring cup for dry food.

To determine if a pet is too heavy or light, Nelson said owners should look at several factors. You should not be able to see the animal's ribs, but you should be able to feel them easily with a thin layer of fat over them. When you look at the animal from the side, its tummy should tuck up at the flank area and not hang in a straight line.

If you look over the top of a dog, you should see an hourglass shape where it's broad at the shoulders, narrow at the waist and broader at the hips. If the dog starts to thicken out, you should cut back on its calories and/or have it exercise more.

In general, make sure you're feeding the appropriate diet for the life stage of your pet, Nelson said. If your pet is pregnant, a puppy or kitten, has special health condition needs or is a senior, there are foods formulated that best meet the nutritional demands for that condition.

There are breeds of dogs and cats that have high metabolisms and have trouble putting weight on, Nelson said. For these pets, there are pet foods that have higher fat contents because it gives the food more calories. If the pet is extremely overweight, it might need diet food along with other recommendations. These foods are lower in calories, nutritionally complete and often contain extra fiber, which helps make the animal feel full. Conversely, if you feed the animal much less of their regular food, your pet is not going to get enough of the nutrients it needs.

Nelson said many people do not realize how many calories they're feeding their pet because they don't account for table scraps or treats. These hidden calories can add up significantly over the day and be the main contributor to obesity. Putting your pet on a diet requires attention and effort from the whole family, she said. If you have a small child, inside pets are going to eat everything the child drops, and those calories will add up.

Sometimes you'll try to put your pet on a diet, and then someone else living in the house will slip it treats, Nelson said. You should talk with the whole family when putting your pet on a diet. Tell them the diet is necessary to keep the pet at a good weight, which in turn will make it healthier and can help it live a longer life.

Coconut oil keeps fat at bay

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:57:35 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Sydney, Sep 9 - A diet rich in coconut oil keeps fat away and also protects against insulin resistance, a new study shows.

The study also helps explain how people who incorporate medium chain fatty acids found in coconut oil into their diets can lose body fat.

Obesity and insulin resistance are major factors leading to the development of Type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance is an impaired ability of cells to respond to insulin.

Nigel Turner and Jiming Ye from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research compared fat metabolism and insulin resistance in mice fed coconut oil and lard based diets.

'The medium chain fatty acids like those found in coconut oil are interesting to us because they behave very differently to the fats normally found in our diets,' said study leader Turner.

'Unlike the long chain fatty acids contained in animal fats, medium chain fatty acids are small enough to enter mitochondria - the cells' energy burning powerhouses - directly where they can then be converted to energy.'

'Unfortunately the downside to eating medium chain fatty acids is that they can lead to fat build up in the liver, an important fact to be taken into consideration by anyone considering using them as a weight loss therapy.'

Fat storage is determined by the balance between how much fat is taken in by cells and how much of this fat is burned for energy.

When people eat a high fat diet, their bodies attempt to compensate by increasing their capacity to oxidise fat, said a Garvan release.

'Obese humans usually eat 40-50 percent of their calories as fat. Our mice were fed 45 percent of their calories as fat,' Turner said.

Their findings are now published online in Diabetes.

K-State researchers say after-school programs should promote activity, healthy nutrition

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:59:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Children's after-school activities often consist of sedentary behavior such as watching television, but after-school programs that offer physical activity and healthy snacks could be the best place for children's health.

David Dzewaltowski, head of the department of kinesiology at Kansas State University, and other K-State researchers have found that quality after-school programs are an important contributor to children's physical activity.

Participation in after-school programs tends to drop with increasing age as parents believe their children can be at home without adult supervision, Dzewaltowski said. Parents should strive to place their children in healthy environments that are supervised by adults and that provide physical activity and healthful food options.

The researchers conducted the Healthy Opportunities for Physical Activity and Nutrition, or HOP'N, After-School Project, which was designed to prevent obesity by enhancing the quality of after-school programming. The study found that some existing after-school programs lack in quality and do not provide adequate nutrition or physical activity, especially for different genders and fitness levels.

The HOP'N After-School Project includes four elements: a daily healthy snack, daily physical activity, weekly nutrition and physical activity education sessions. It also provides continuous staff training.

Eight elementary schools and after-school programs in Lawrence participated in the K-State study during a three-year period. The after-school settings were observed throughout the school year. Participating children has their height and weight measured in the fall and spring. Children also wore pedometer devices to measure their physical activity. After a baseline year, the HOP'N program was implemented at four of the sites for two years, and the other sites continued their regular programming as a project control.

Baseline findings of the study showed that, on average, the after-school programs provided 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, which fulfills one-third of the recommended 60-minute daily physical activity for youth. However, the researchers found that the students spent the majority of their time participating in sedentary and light-intensity activities.

For two subsequent program years, the HOP'N program staff trained after-school program leaders to increase physical activity in their programs. Results showed that program leaders could modify the existing activities to include more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity throughout the session.

The findings showed that boys were significantly more active than girls during indoor free play and organized outdoor activities; however, moderate activity levels for both genders were similar. This shows that the girls had lower participation in vigorous-intensity physical activity.

Dzewaltowski said after-school programs can better cater to the interests of genders and provide various activity choices, which could increase physical activity levels, self-efficacy and enjoyment of physical activity.

The results also showed that overweight students were substantially less active than the students who were not overweight during organized outdoor activities, which might be related to differences in aerobic fitness. Dzewaltowski said future research should include understanding the activity preferences of overweight children.

During the baseline year, the researchers also found that there was a significant difference in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels recorded during the free play and organized physical activity sessions. Children were more active in free play than when led by adults who were not well trained to promote physical activity.

After-school program leaders who attempt to provide physical activity through structured games may do more harm than good, Dzewaltowski said. Leaders should encourage children's natural inclination to move and play to promote physical activity in the after-school time period if there is not opportunity for training to be an effective physical activity leader.

Dzewaltowski said it is important for children in middle school to learn healthy lifestyle behaviors, and the after-school setting is an effective place for obesity prevention. Since many schools do not provide opportunities for physical activity during the school day, the after-school hours provide an opportunity for children to be active without having to change the structure of the school day.

The baseline findings of the study have been published in numerous publications, including in the

Researcher finds Girl Scout meetings provide an opportunity to increase girls' physical activity

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:59:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Girls typically are less physically active than boys, but a Kansas State University researcher has found that organizations like Girl Scouts provide an ideal setting to get girls moving early in life and to develop lifelong healthy habits.

Richard Rosenkranz, assistant professor in human nutrition at K-State, did a study using interventions with Girl Scout troops. He trained group leaders to instruct exercise sessions and promote healthful eating, and in effect taught the girls about a healthy lifestyle and increased their participation in exercise activities.

We were striving to get the girls and parents to spend some of their leisure time together being active and taking steps together for fun and health, he said.

Rosenkranz worked with 10- and 11-year-old girls who were members of Girl Scout troops in Manhattan and the surrounding area. The two-year study involved nine troops, with five of the troops receiving an intervention.

What we saw in the control troops was an environment where girls were sedentary for the vast majority of time at the meeting, combined with snacks that were less than health-promoting, he said. This is just one part of a girl's weekly or bi-weekly experience, but it offers the chance to provide an opportunity and a message for health promotion.

Rosenkranz trained the group leaders as part of the intervention. They learned about the background of intervention activities, which included nutrition, family meals, physical activity and family connection. They also were taught the expectations of being role models and providing a healthful environment at Girl Scout meetings, as well as new physically active games for the girls.

Federal physical activity guidelines recommend that all children perform at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day, Rosenkranz said. The intervention focused on having the girls participate in walking, dancing, active games and yoga.

The intervention was focused on physical activities that could be done in or around the home, without special equipment, ideally involving the parents, Rosenkranz said.

He said the girls in the intervention troops were less sedentary than those not in the interventions. Additionally, the girls involved in the intervention performed higher levels of both moderate-intensity and moderate-to-vigorous intensity exercise during troop meetings.

Statistically, Rosenkranz said, minorities acquire lower amounts of physical activity. However, the interventions created the same amount of activity for all demographics and there was no difference by minority or weight status.

An important step of the intervention was involving the adults. Rosenkranz said adults should be involved in promoting physical activity to children, which can be done through providing formal and informal opportunities for children to be active, being active along with them and encouraging physical activity -- or at least not discouraging it.

The key for this project to achieve lasting effectiveness is to make an impact on the adults who structure the environments where children spend time; for this study these are the parents and troop leaders, he said. Both these sets of adults need to recognize that getting sufficient physical activity is essential for the children's health and for their own health.

New supplement may help slow sight loss in elderly

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:59:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Queen's University Belfast academics have helped develop an antioxidant supplement which may slow down sight loss in elderly people.

The supplement may help those affected by the leading cause of blindness in the Western World, a five-year research programme has found.

Professor Usha Chakravarthy, from Queen's Centre of Vision and Vascular Science (CVVS), co-ordinated the study, which looked at nutritional supplements for patients with early age-related macular (AMD) degeneration and found they helped sharpen vision.

Details of the findings are being presented in Belfast today (Friday) by Professor Chakravarthy and Dr Stephen Beatty, Head of Vision Research at the Waterford Institute of Technology.

They co-designed the study and the antioxidant supplement was developed with the advice of Professor Ian Young from the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen's and scientists in eyecare companies Dr Mann Pharma and Bausch and Lomb.

AMD is an incurable eye disease which causes blurring of central vision because of its effects on the macula, the central part of the retina.

Over 400 people across Ireland took part in clinical trials investigating whether carotenoids, rich antioxidants which are found in fruit and vegetables, could prevent progression to the more serious late AMD.

When the eye disease progresses to late AMD patients are unable to read, watch television or recognise people's faces as they only have peripheral vision, not central vision.

Professor Chakravarthy, who is also a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the Royal Hospital in Belfast, said: Late AMD causes severe sight loss and has a huge economic impact both in terms of the effects of sight loss itself and in terms of the expensive treatments that are needed to deal with the condition.

Up to 500 people a year in Northern Ireland will lose sight in one or both eyes as a result of late AMD.

We wanted to carry out the study as prevention of progression to late AMD can result in a reduced financial and societal burden.

As the macula of the eye is very rich in antioxidants the researchers wanted to see if a supplement called CARMA (Caroteneoids and Co-antioxidants in Age-related Maculopathy) containing the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin could help slow down AMD.

The supplement also contained vitamins C,E and Zinc, which had been used in a previous study.

The latest study showed that intake of high levels of both carotenoids preserved the macular pigments, slowing down the progression from early AMD to late AMD.

In contrast, the macular pigments of participants in a placebo group declined steadily.

Dr Chakravarthy added: These findings are important because this is the first randomised controlled clinical trial to document a beneficial effect through improved function and maintained macular pigments.

Further research is needed to confirm these findings and to identify the numbers needed to treat to prevent 1 case from progressing from early to late AMD.

Study suggests obese women should not gain weight

Fri, 29 May 2009 03:59:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) For years, doctors and other health-care providers have managed pregnant patients according to guidelines issued by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). In 1986, ACOG stated, Regardless of how much women weigh before they become pregnant, gaining between 26-35 pounds during pregnancy can improve the outcome of pregnancy and reduce their chances of having the pregnancy end in fetal death. Until its revised guidelines were released yesterday, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) had recommended that overweight women should gain about 15 pounds during pregnancy.

The current study was undertaken to test whether these guidelines make a difference in maternal-fetal outcomes among obese women. In the study, conducted at several hospitals, the researchers followed 232 obese pregnant women, all of whom had a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater. Half of the women followed conventional prenatal nutritional guidelines, which is essentially eat to appetite (control group). The other half were placed on a well-balanced, nutritionally monitored program, which included a daily food diary (study group). The average weight gain in the control group was 31 pounds, compared to 11 pounds in the study group. Twenty-three extremely obese patients lost weight during their pregnancy.

The findings showed that there were no fetal deaths and no growth-restricted infants in the study group. Also, there were fewer babies weighing more than 10 pounds in the study group than in the control group. (A birth weight over 10 pounds poses significant hazards to both infants and mothers.) Moreover, women in the study group gained less weight, had fewer cesarean deliveries, were less likely to develop gestational diabetes, and retained less weight after they delivered than women in the control group.

The researchers concluded that obese pregnant women may be placed on a healthy, well balanced, monitored nutritional program without adverse maternal-fetal outcomes.

Women who are obese when beginning a pregnancy are, by definition, unhealthy, says study leader Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology and board-certified specialist in maternal-fetal medicine at New York Medical College. To say that they should gain even more weight is counter-intuitive, and our study bears that out. Rather than focusing on numerical endpoints with respect to weight gain, we need to focus on making these women healthier by getting them to eat a well-balanced diet.

The study grew out of Dr. Thornton's personal experience with obesity and pregnancy. Despite being overweight, she gained a substantial amount of weight during her first pregnancy, exacerbating her life-long battle with obesity. During her second pregnancy, she followed a well-balanced diet and gained little weight, with no adverse consequences for mother or baby.

Dr. Thornton observed the same pattern in her own clinical practice, leading her to question prevailing guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy. Adding to her skepticism was the fact that women who develop gestational diabetes are routinely put on diets that effectively limit weight gain, with no ill effects.

It is the mindset of our specialty, and our society, that we need to have round, chubby pregnant women in order make sure they are healthy, adds Dr. Thornton. Pregnancy has become a license to eat. We talk about 'eating for two,' but it's really more like eating for 1 and 1/20th.

These attitudes have contributed to the obesity epidemic in the U.S., where 35 percent of women are considered obese, says the researcher. The situation is even worse among African-American women, four out of five of whom are overweight or obese.

Gaining weight during pregnancy contributes to obesity, and it makes it that much harder for overweight women to return to their normal weight after pregnancy, says Dr. Thornton.

Increased food intake alone explains the increase in body weight in the United States

Fri, 08 May 2009 03:59:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Amsterdam, the Netherlands: New research that uses an innovative approach to study, for the first time, the relative contributions of food and exercise habits to the development of the obesity epidemic has concluded that the rise in obesity in the United States since the 1970s was virtually all due to increased energy intake.

How much of the obesity epidemic has been caused by excess calorie intake and how much by reductions in physical activity has been long debated and while experts agree that making it easier for people to eat less and exercise more are both important for combating it, they debate where the public health focus should be.

A study presented on Friday at the European Congress on Obesity is the first to examine the question of the proportional contributions to the obesity epidemic by combining metabolic relationships, the laws of thermodynamics, epidemiological data and agricultural data.

There have been a lot of assumptions that both reduced physical activity and increased energy intake have been major drivers of the obesity epidemic. Until now, nobody has proposed how to quantify their relative contributions to the rise in obesity since the 1970s. This study demonstrates that the weight gain in the American population seems to be virtually all explained by eating more calories. It appears that changes in physical activity played a minimal role, said the study's leader, Professor Boyd Swinburn, chair of population health and director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Australia.

The scientists started by testing 1,399 adults and 963 children to determine how many calories their bodies burn in total under free-living conditions. The test is the most accurate measure of total calorie burning in real-life situations.

Once they had determined each person's calorie burning rate, Swinburn and his colleagues were able to calculate how much adults needed to eat in order to maintain a stable weight and how much children needed to eat in order to maintain a normal growth curve.

They then worked out how much Americans were actually eating, using national food supply data (the amount of food produced and imported, minus the amount exported, thrown away and used for animals or other non-human uses) from the 1970s and the early 2000s.

The researchers used their findings to predict how much weight they would expect Americans to have gained over the 30-year period studied if food intake were the only influence. They used data from a nationally representative survey (NHANES) that recorded the weight of Americans in the 1970s and early 2000s to determine the actual weight gain over that period.

If the actual weight increase was the same as what we predicted, that meant that food intake was virtually entirely responsible. If it wasn't, that meant changes in physical activity also played a role, Swinburn said. If the actual weight gain was higher than predicted, that would suggest that a decrease in physical activity played a role.

The researchers found that in children, the predicted and actual weight increase matched exactly, indicating that the increases in energy intake alone over the 30 years studied could explain the weight increase.

For adults, we predicted that they would be 10.8 kg heavier, but in fact they were 8.6 kg heavier. That suggests that excess food intake still explains the weight gain, but that there may have been increases in physical activity over the 30 years that have blunted what would otherwise have been a higher weight gain, Swinburn said.

To return to the average weights of the 1970s, we would need to reverse the increased food intake of about 350 calories a day for children (about one can of fizzy drink and a small portion of French fries) and 500 calories a day for adults (about one large hamburger), Swinburn said. Alternatively, we could achieve similar results by increasing physical activity by about 150 minutes a day of extra walking for children and 110 minutes for adults, but realistically, although a combination of both is needed, the focus would have to be on reducing calorie intake.

He emphasized that physical activity should not be ignored as a contributor to reducing obesity and should continue to be promoted because of its many other benefits, but that expectations regarding what can be achieved with exercise need to be lowered and public health policy shifted more toward encouraging people to eat less.

Study: Vibration plate machines may aid weight loss and trim abdominal fat

Fri, 08 May 2009 03:59:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Amsterdam, the Netherlands: New research suggests that, if used properly, vibration plate exercise machines may help you lose weight and trim the particularly harmful belly fat between the organs.

In a study presented on Friday at the European Congress on Obesity, scientists found that overweight or obese people who regularly used the equipment in combination with a calorie restricted diet were more successful at long-term weight loss and shedding the fat around their abdominal organs than those who combined dieting with a more conventional fitness routine.

These machines are increasingly found in gyms across the industrialized world and have gathered a devoted following in some places, but there has not been any evidence that they help people lose weight. Our study, the first to investigate the effects of vibration in obese people, indicates it's a promising approach. It looks like these machines could be a useful addition to a weight control package, said the study's leader, Dirk Vissers, a physiotherapist at the Artesis University College and the University of Antwerp in Belgium.

Vissers and his colleagues studied the effects of the Power Plate in 61 overweight or obese people - mostly women - for a year. The intervention lasted six months, after which the scientists advised all the volunteers to do the best they could with a healthy diet and exercise regime on their own for another six months. Body measurements, including CT scans of abdominal fat, were taken at the beginning of the study and after three, six and 12 months.

The researchers divided the volunteers into four groups. One group was prescribed an individually calculated calorie restricted diet. Dietician visits were scheduled every fortnight for the first three months and every month for the second three months. The dieters were asked not to engage in any exercise for the duration of the six-month intervention.

A second group received the same diet intervention, with the addition of a conventional fitness regime. They attended supervised exercise classes twice a week for an hour and were urged to exercise on their own a third time each week. The sessions included group cycling, swimming, running, step aerobics and some general muscle strengthening exercises.

A third group got the diet intervention plus supervised vibration plate training instead of conventional exercise. They were asked not to do any aerobic exercise during the six-month intervention phase. The physiotherapists gradually increased the speed and intensity of the machine each week, as well as the variety and duration of the exercises from 30 seconds for each of 10 exercises to 60 seconds for each of 22 exercises, such as squats, lunges, calf raises, push-ups and abdominal crunches. The average time spent on the machine was 11.9 minutes per session in the first three months and 14.2 minutes in the second three months.

A fourth group got no intervention. There were no significant differences between the groups in obesity and abdominal, or visceral, fat at the start of the study.

Over the year, only the conventional fitness and vibration groups managed to maintain a 5% weight loss, which is what is considered enough to improve health, Vissers said.

During the first six months, the diet only group lost about 6% of their initial body weight, but could not maintain a 5% weight loss in the subsequent six months. The group that got diet plus conventional fitness lost about 7% of their initial body weight in the first six months, but they didn't put much of it back on and by the end of the study, they had managed to keep off a 6.9% loss. The vibration group lost 11% of their body weight during the intervention phase and by the end of the follow-up period they had maintained a 10.5% loss. The control group gained about 1.5% of their original body weight.

The vibration group lost 47.8 square centimetres of visceral fat during the first six months and still had a loss of 47.7 square centimetres at 12 months. Visceral fat shrank by 17.6 square centimetres in the conventional fitness group in the first six months, but by the end of the year, it was only 1.6 square centimetres less than at the beginning. The diet group had a visceral fat loss of 24.3 square centimetres after six months and 7.5 square centimetres after a year.

These are very encouraging results, but it doesn't mean people trying to lose weight can ditch aerobic exercise and jump on the vibration plate instead. They still need a healthy diet and aerobic exercise, but this could be a viable alternative to weight lifting, Vissers said, explaining that the plate works by making muscles rapidly contract, which builds lean muscle mass.

People say vibration machines are fitness for lazy people. It may feel like a short cut, but if it's easy, you are not doing it properly, he added. Supervision in the beginning is imperative and the longer the better. What we see in gyms very often - people just standing on the machine holding the handles - is not going to do anything.

Vissers said further research on a larger group of obese patients is needed to confirm how beneficial the machines are. His team is also planning to study why vibration seems to be more effective than aerobic exercise in trimming visceral fat, including whether increased blood flow to the abdomen and hormonal response to vibration might play a role in more efficient fat breakdown. His study was funded by the Artesis University College of Antwerp.

Consumers more likely to identify healthy food using traffic light nutrition labels

Thu, 07 May 2009 03:59:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Consumers are five times more likely to identify healthy food when they see colour-coded traffic light nutrition labels than when labels present the information numerically by showing what percentage of the recommended daily nutrient intake each portion provides, new research finds.

Some governments are trying to improve the quality of nutrition information that consumers have access to in supermarkets by adding labels to the front of food packages, but there is no standard approach, not all products have labels and in many countries several different systems are used.

Food manufacturers are currently allowed to use any labelling system they prefer on the front of food packages. In some countries this has led to a plethora of different systems appearing on supermarket shelves, which only serves to confuse consumers more and does not allow them to quickly and accurately identify healthy products, said Bridget Kelly, whose study was presented on Friday at the European Congress on Obesity.

The food industry tends to favour the percentage daily intake method (known as Guideline Daily Amount in some countries), but our research indicates that the traffic light system is the most effective and that a consistent labelling approach across all food products is needed. This is unlikely to be achieved without government regulation, said Kelly, a nutritionist at the Cancer Council, New South Wales in Australia.

Kelly and her colleagues aimed to determine the most acceptable and effective food labelling system for consumers. Four different approaches were tested on 790 Australians to determine their preferences and ability to compare the healthiness of mock food products, using two variations of the traffic light system and two variations of the percentage daily intake system. Each person was exposed to only one type of nutrition label, allowing each system to evaluated on it own merits without the influence of the others.

Traffic light labelling uses colours to rate the nutritional content of food according to how healthy it is. A common version uses a panel with red, amber or green dots to rate the food's salt, sugar, saturated fat and total fat content separately. A variation adds a single coloured dot to give an overall rating, rather than just rating separate nutrients.

The percentage daily intake system and its variations present, for each of the key nutrients, the proportion of the government recommended adult daily intake that a serving of the product contains.

The study found that consumers favoured a consistent labelling format across all products. In addition, those who were shown the traffic light labels were five times more likely to identify healthier foods than those shown a single colour version of the percentage daily intake label and three times more likely to do so than those shown a colour-coded version of the daily intake label.

As a result of these findings, we are recommending that mandatory traffic light labelling regulation be introduced in Australia. The labels should be applied to all processed retail grocery food and drinks at first, and consideration should be given to extending that to restaurant chains with standard menu items, Kelly said.

The findings are relevant to other countries, Kelly said, adding that regulations being considered by the European Union favour a system similar to the percentage daily intake approach.

Kelly said that further research is needed to determine whether the traffic light system proves to be as effective in other countries, but that the study showed it could be used equally well by all consumers, regardless of ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status.

The study was funded by the New South Wales Health Department, the University of Sydney and several Australian public health and consumer organisations.

Study in pregnant women suggests probiotics may help ward off obesity

Thu, 07 May 2009 03:59:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Amsterdam, the Netherlands: One year after giving birth, women were less likely to have the most dangerous kind of obesity if they had been given probiotics from the first trimester of pregnancy, found new research that suggests manipulating the balance of bacteria in the gut may help fight obesity.

Probiotics are bacteria that help maintain a healthy bacterial balance in the digestive tract by reducing the growth of harmful bacteria. They are part of the normal digestive system and play a role in controlling inflammation. Researchers have for many years been studying the potential of using probiotic supplementation to address a number of intestinal diseases. More recently, obesity researchers have started to investigate whether the balance of bacteria in the gut might play a role in making people fat and whether adjusting that balance could help.

The results of our study, the first to demonstrate the impact of probiotics-supplemented dietary counselling on adiposity, were encouraging, said Kirsi Laitinen, a nutritionist and senior lecturer at the University of Turku in Finland who presented her findings on Thursday at the European Congress on Obesity. The women who got the probiotics fared best. One year after childbirth, they had the lowest levels of central obesity as well as the lowest body fat percentage.

Central obesity, where overall obesity is combined with a particularly fat belly, is considered especially unhealthy, Laitinen said. We found it in 25% of the women who had received the probiotics along with dietary counselling, compared with 43% in the women who received diet advice alone.

In the study, 256 women were randomly divided into three groups during the first trimester of pregnancy. Two of the groups received dietary counselling consistent with what's recommended during pregnancy for healthy weight gain and optimal foetal development. They were also given food such as spreads and salad dressings with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, as well as fibre-enriched pasta and breakfast cereal to take home. One of those groups also received daily capsules of probiotics containing Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, which are the most commonly used probiotics. The other group received dummy capsules. A third group received dummy capsules and no dietary counselling. The capsules were continued until the women stopped exclusive breastfeeding, up to 6 months.

The researchers weighed the women at the start of the study. At the end of the study they weighed them again and measured their waist circumference and skin fold thickness. The results were adjusted for weight at the start of the study.

Central obesity - defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more or a waist circumference over 80 centimetres - was found in 25% of the women who had been given the probiotics as well as diet advice. That compared with 43% of the women who got dietary counselling alone and 40% of the women who got neither diet advice nor probiotics. The average body fat percentage in the probiotics group was 28%, compared with 29% in the diet advice only group and 30% in the third group.

Laitinen said further research is needed to confirm the potential role of probiotics in fighting obesity. One of the limitations of the study was that it did not control for the mothers' weight before pregnancy, which may influence how fat they later become.

She said she and her colleagues will continue to follow the women and their babies to see whether giving probiotics during pregnancy has any influence on health outcomes in the children.

The advantage of studying pregnant women to investigate the potential link between probiotics and obesity is that it allows us to see the effects not only in the women, but also in their children, she said. Particularly during pregnancy, the impacts of obesity can be immense, with the effects seen both in the mother and the child. Bacteria are passed from mother to child through the birth canal, as well as through breast milk and research indicates that early nutrition may influence the risk of obesity later in life. There is growing evidence that this approach might open a new angle on the fight against obesity, either through prevention or treatment.

Latinen's study was funded by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, the Academy of Finland and the Sigrid Juselius Foundation, a Finnish medical research charity.

Now chicken soup for blood pressure, too

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 10:12:08 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Washington, April 11 - Chicken soup with matzoh balls, a staple of the traditional Jewish dinner, may be good in reversing high blood pressure - too, according to the latest findings.

Japanese scientist Ai Saiga and colleagues cited previous studies indicating that chicken breast contains collagen proteins with effects similar to ACE inhibitors, mainstay medications for treating high BP.

But chicken breast contains such small amounts of the proteins that it could not be used to develop food and medical products for the condition.

Chicken legs and feet, often discarded as waste products in the US but key soup ingredients elsewhere, appear to be a better source.

Saiga and colleagues extracted collagen from chicken legs and tested its ability to act as an ACE inhibitor in lab studies. They identified four different proteins in the collagen mixture with high ACE-inhibitory activity, said a release of the American Chemical Society.

Given to rats used to model human high BP, the proteins produced a significant and prolonged decrease in blood pressure, the researchers say.

These findings were published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Children who are dissatisfied with their appearance often have problems with their peer group

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:59:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Being satisfied with one's appearance is one of the most important prerequisites for a positive self image. However, in today's appearance culture it is the rule rather than the exception that children and young people are dissatisfied with their appearance.

Those children who are teased or subject to bullying are particularly critical of their appearance - and they tend to be this way over a long period. This is revealed in a new thesis in psychology from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

In her thesis Carolina Lunde has followed almost 1,000 children between the ages of 10 and 14. The aim has been to investigate the link between body image and peer group relationships.

An important conclusion is that both boys and girls become more dissatisfied with their body and their appearance during this age bracket - even though the girls were consistently more dissatisfied with their appearance than the boys.

The early teens can therefore be regarded as a high risk period for acquiring a negative body image. The children who weighed the most at 10 years old were particularly dissatisfied with their appearance. Furthermore, overweight children, primarily girls, were bullied and teased about their appearance considerably more often than the other children in the study.

Overweight children who are bullied can therefore be said to bear a double burden, which means that they are in the risk zone in terms of developing a negative body image.

As negative attitudes towards overweight people are formed when children are young, Carolina Lunde feels that it is important to try to counteract these prejudices at an early stage.

The fact that children and young people have a negative body image can have a number of serious psychological consequences. It increases the risk of developing eating disorders and depression. Exercising too much is also related to a negative body image. Being dissatisfied with one's appearance can also limit children and young people in their everyday lives.

They might focus to such an extent on their dissatisfaction with their appearance that they find it difficult to think of anything else. Avoiding situations that make them feel self-conscious and uncomfortable, getting changed for sports activities at school for example, is also common.

Carolina Lunde says that the title of the thesis What people tell you gets to you is a direct quotation from one of the young people who took part in one of the studies. The most dissatisfied young people indicated that their parents and their peer group frequently commented negatively about their appearance.

It might be the case that being bullied and teased about one's appearance during the early teens when the body is changing so much has a particularly negative impact on body image, observes Carolina Lunde.

Evolutionary link to modern-day obesity, other problems

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:59:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) EVANSTON, Ill. --- That irresistible craving for a cheeseburger has its roots in the dramatic growth of the human brain and body that resulted from environmental changes some 2 million years ago.

Higher quality, nutritionally dense diets became necessary to fuel the high-energy demands of humans' exceptionally large brains and for developing the first rudimentary hunting and gathering economy.

But the transition from a subsistence to a modern, sedentary lifestyle has created energy imbalances that have increased rapidly -- evolutionarily speaking -- in recent years and now play a major role in obesity.

Activity patterns must get every bit as much attention as consumption of unhealthy foods in any attempt to reverse the modern-day permeations of an evolutionary trend that now contributes to obesity worldwide, according to William Leonard.

Leonard, chair and professor of anthropology at Northwestern University, will discuss his work during the 2009 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in Chicago at a press briefing that will take place at 2 p.m. Feb. 12 and during a symposium from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Feb. 13.

Two million years ago shifts in foraging behavior and dietary quality helped to provide the energy and nutrition to support the rapid evolutionary increases in both the brain and body sizes of our ancestors.

Today modern humans use nearly a quarter of their resting energy needs to feed our brains, considerably more than other primates (about 8 to 10 percent) or other mammals (3 to 5 percent). To support the high-energy costs of our large brains, humans consume diets that are much richer in calories and nutrients than those of other primates.

While our large-bodied ape relatives -- chimps, gorillas and orangutans -- can subsist on leaves and fruit, we needed to consume meat and other energy-rich foods to support our metabolic demands, Leonard said.

Staple foods for all human societies are much more nutritionally dense than those of other large-bodied primates. To obtain these higher-quality diets, our foraging ancestors would have had to have moved over larger areas than our ape relatives, requiring large activity budgets, he said.

But substantial reductions of intense physical activities for adults living a modern lifestyle in the industrialized world have dramatically lowered the metabolic costs of survival.

The differences between energy in and energy out widen as we increase the nutritional density of our diets while reducing the time and energy associated with obtaining food. Think about our ancestors, Leonard said. Human hunter-gatherers typically move 8 miles per day in the search for food. In contrast, we can simply pick up the phone to get a meal delivered to our door.

That decline in daily energy expenditures contributes not only to obesity, but also to other chronic diseases of the modern world, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In a sense, those modern diseases represent where we started early in our evolutionary history, Leonard said.

The data clearly suggest the obesity epidemic cannot be understood solely by looking at consumption, he stressed. Throughout most of our evolutionary history, the acquisition of our high-quality diets required substantial expenditure of energy and movement over much larger areas than for other primates.

The imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure today, Leonard concludes, is the root cause of obesity in the industrialized world.

Both theories about human cellular aging supported by new research

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Aging yeast cells accumulate damage over time, but they do so by following a pattern laid down earlier in their life by diet as well as the genes that control metabolism and the dynamics of cell structures such as mitochondria, the power plants of cells.

These research findings, presented at the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) 48th Annual Meeting, Dec. 13-17, 2008 in San Francisco, support the theories that old age is the final stage of a developmental program AND the result of a lifelong accumulation of unrepaired cellular and molecular damage.

The diet plus metabolic genes pattern is a modular longevity network, says Vladimir Titorenko of Concordia University in Montreal, who studies baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a simpler model for the complex mechanisms of human cellular aging.

Through the yeast model, Titorenko and colleagues identified five groups of novel anti-aging small molecules that significantly delayed aging.

The scientists first identified a mechanism closely linking life span to the dynamics of such lipids as cholesterol, triglycerides and fatty acids: When fatty acids build up, yeast cells explode from within, scattering their contents and spreading inflammation to neighboring cells.

In addition to cell death, the accumulation of fatty acids sets off chemical reactions that ultimately produce a lipid called diacylglycerol, which impairs many of the yeast's stress response-related defenses.

Knowing the link between life span and lipid dynamics, the scientists next evaluated aging effects of both calorie-rich and low-calorie diets.

The calorie-rich diet suppressed the oxidation of fatty acids in peroxisomes, structures in cells that use enzymes to neutralize toxic peroxides.

These fatty acids are constantly synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the cell's protein manufacturing factory. Without peroxisome processing, fatty acids end up deposited within lipid bodies.

Low-calorie diets, which have been shown to increase lifespan and delay age-related disorders in nonhuman primates and other organisms, altered the way fats were processed in the yeast cells.

The researchers assessed calorie restriction along with a number of known mutations that extend yeast lifespan against a variety of age-related changes in fat metabolism and lipid transport.

To determine whether the diet-aging mechanism could be manipulated by a therapeutic drug, Titorenko and his colleagues developed a life-span assay for a high-throughput screening of multi-compound chemical libraries.

The assay identified five groups of novel anti-aging small molecules that significantly delayed yeast aging by remodeling lipid dynamics in the ER, peroxisomes and lipid bodies or by activating stress response-related processes in mitochondria.

These small molecules can be used as research tools to investigate the mechanisms of longevity, says Titorenko, and as possible pharmaceutical agents for age-related disorders that affect lipid metabolism such as heart disease, chronic inflammation, and Type 2 diabetes.

Avoid refined carbohydrates, chocolates to prevent pimples

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:37:47 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Shun refined carbohydrates and chocolates if you really want to avoid pimples, according to a new study conducted in Australia.

The first randomised controlled trial on diet and acne in more than 40 years has established that a protein-based, low GI - diet could have a dramatic effect on acne symptoms.

GI is a measure for calculating the glucose level of the blood. A low GI diet contains foods that have a low glucose level.

'Diet has long been thought to be the cause of acne, with chocolate most often named as a culprit, but I was surprised how little scientific research had been done in this area,' said Robyn Smith, who studied the affect of diet on acne for her doctoral thesis.

'My research found that a low GI diet significantly reduced acne lesion counts when compared with the conventional high carb, high GI Western diet.

'A diet designed to fight acne should contain minimally refined carbohydrate-based foods and include a wide variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, lean meats, fish and seafood,' she said.

Smith worked with Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology - Hospital's staff from the department of dermatology on the trial, which involved 43 teenage boys following two different diets over 12 weeks, said an RMIT release.

One group followed the typical western teen diet of refined and highly processed carbohydrate foods while the other group ate a more natural diet higher in protein and low GI foods such as whole grain bread, pasta and legumes.

'Those on the low GI diet reduced facial acne by 50 per cent, and showed improvements in their self-esteem and overall wellbeing,' Smith said.

These findings have been published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Moderate wine intake may be way to a healthier heart

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:43:53 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Moderate wine intake may be the way to a healthier heart, as it is associated with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids which protects the vital organ, a new study suggests.

Omega-3 fatty acids, mainly derived from fish, are considered as protective against coronary heart disease and sudden cardiac death, thus their high blood concentration is definitely good for our health, the study said.

The study suggests that wine does better than other alcoholic drinks. This effect could be ascribed to compounds other than alcohol itself, representing a key to understanding the mechanism lying behind heart protection in moderate wine drinkers.

The IMMIDIET study examined 1,604 individuals from three geographical areas: south-west London in England, Limburg in Belgium and Abruzzo in Italy.

Thanks to close cooperation with general practitioners of these areas, all participants underwent a comprehensive medical examination, including a one year recall food frequency questionnaire to assess their dietary intake, alcohol consumption included.

Now European researchers found that moderate alcohol drinking acts like a 'trigger', boosting the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in our body, said an IMMIDIET release.

'Several studies have shown that moderate alcohol consumption, including wine, is associated with protection against coronary heart disease and ischemic stroke - said Romina di Giuseppe, co-author of the study, from the Research Laboratories at Catholic University of Campobasso.

These findings will be published in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Calorie restriction and exercise show breast cancer prevention differences in postmenopausal women

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) WASHINGTON, D.C. - Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have identified pathways by which a reduced-calorie diet and exercise can modify a postmenopausal woman's risk of breast cancer.

The results, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, suggest that both caloric restriction and exercise affect pathways leading to mTOR, a molecule involved in integrating energy balance with cell growth. Dysregulation of the mTOR pathway is a contributing factor to various human diseases, including cancers. Diet and exercise reach mTOR through different means, with calorie restriction affecting more upstream pathways, which could explain why caloric restriction is more efficient in delaying tumor growth than exercise in animal models.

One of the few breast cancer modifiable risk factors is obesity, said lead author Leticia M. Nogueira, Ph.D., a research graduate assistant at the University of Texas. Our study may provide a good scientific basis for medical recommendations. If you're obese, and at high risk for breast cancer, diet and exercise could help prevent tumor growth.

Epidemiological data has suggested that inducing a so-called negative energy balance (where less energy is taken in than expended) through eating a low-calorie diet or increasing exercise levels, decreases the postmenopausal breast cancer risk associated with obesity. Although the mechanism responsible for these anti-obesity strategies was unknown, scientists have suspected hormone alteration plays a critical role. Increased fat tissue is known to be associated with alterations in adipokines, proteins secreted by fat tissue that help modify appetite and insulin resistance. For example, increased levels of leptin and decreased levels of adiponectin have been associated with breast cancer risk.

For the study, Nogueira and colleagues sought to compare the changes in adipokines, and their downstream signaling pathways proven to be altered in human breast cancers, following either caloric restriction or exercise in a mouse model of post-menopausal obesity.

For eight weeks, they administered a high-fat diet to 45 mice that had their ovaries surgically removed to model the post-menopausal state. During week nine of the study, the diet-induced obese mice were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a control group, permitted to eat at will; a group fed a diet reduced in calories by 30 percent; and a group that was permitted to eat at will but exercised on a treadmill for 45 minutes a day, five days a week. At week 16, researchers collected tissue from the mice for analysis.

Breast milk provides baby molecule to build immunity

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:58:13 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Washington, Oct 27 - A molecule holds the key to mothers' ability to strengthen the immunity of the baby through breast milk, according to a latest research.

The study highlights the amazing change that takes place in a mother's body when she begins producing breast milk.

Years before her pregnancy, cells that produce antibodies against intestinal infections travel around her circulatory system and regularly take an 'off-ramp' to her intestine.

There they stand guard against infections like cholera or rotavirus. But once she begins lactating, some of these antibody-producing cells suddenly begin taking a different off-ramp that leads to the mammary glands.

That way, when her baby nurses, the antibodies go straight to their intestine and offer protection while the baby builds up its own immunity. This is why previous studies have shown that formula-fed infants have twice the incidence of diarroheal illness as breast-fed infants.

Until now, scientists did not know how the mother's body signalled the antibody-producing cells to take the different off-ramp. The new study identifies the molecule that gives them the green light.

'Everybody hears that breast feeding is good for the baby,' said Eric Wilson, Brigham Young University microbiologist who is a co-author of the study.

'But why is it good? One of the reasons is that mothers' milk carries protective antibodies which shield the newborn from infection, and this study demonstrates the molecular mechanisms used by the mother's body to get these antibody-producing cells where they need to be.'

Understanding the role of the molecule, called CCR10, also has implications for potential future efforts to help mothers better protect their infants, according to a release from the Brigham University.

Wilson's other co-authors are Yuetching Law, Kathryn Distelhorst and Erica D. Hill.

Harvard Medical School co-authors are Olivier Morteau, Craig Gerard, Bao Lu, Sorina Ghiran and Miriam Rits. Stanford University School of Medicine co-authors are Raymond Kwan, Nicole H. Lazarus and Eugene C. Butcher.

These findings are scheduled for publication in Nov 1 issue of the Journal of Immunology.

Nutrition advice best served with family in mind

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Researchers at the University of Sheffield and Royal Holloway, University of London will argue today (21 October 2008) that the nation's diet is unlikely to improve significantly if healthy eating policies fail to take into account the diverse nature of contemporary family life.

Recent government initiatives have attempted to change people's dietary behaviour and the amount of exercise they take. But, despite compelling evidence of the need for healthier eating, families remain ambivalent about altering their eating habits.

The researchers argue that if government initiatives, such as improving the quality of school meals or increasing the nation's consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, are to succeed they need to acknowledge that families have differing domestic routines, relationships and resources and this affects how and what they eat.

Much of the current policy literature provides factual information on healthy eating and is aimed at individuals rather than families. However, the researchers discovered that decisions about what to eat aren't simply a matter of individual choice but are instead rooted in people's diverse family circumstances, embedded in the routines and rhythms of their everyday lives, subject to their available resources and shaped by their social, ethnic and religious ties.

Most people are aware that they need to eat 'five-a-day' but many don't achieve these targets because they are forced to act within their circumstances. Poorer families may be acting rationally when serving 'junk' food to their children knowing that 'healthier' meals will simply go to waste. To truly improve the nation's diet a better understanding of social and cultural conventions is required in order to inform more effective health advice and social policy around families and food.

Professor Jackson of the University of Sheffield said: If government advice on healthy eating is to have a serious impact, it needs to be framed within a better understanding of the diversity of our everyday family lives.

Policies and interventions have often looked to redress a perceived deficit in family relationships and practices (e.g. parenting skills). Although government policy makes some acknowledgement of the impact of poverty and other social factors, this often takes second place to the 'blame' culture.

People may have been shocked to see mothers sneaking 'junk' food into schools after Jamie Oliver's high-profile intervention but instead of turning the spotlight on them, the government needs to look at the root causes of why parents behave in this way.

The research provides convincing evidence that food is a powerful lens through which to view recent changes in family life (and vice versa). As families are changing - with fewer and later marriages, more single-person households, increased numbers of divorced and separated couples - so too are food cultures. This has included the rise of 'convenience' foods, new cooking technologies and an increased emphasis on snacking rather than formal meals.

Funded by The Leverhulme Trust, the research provides new insights into contemporary family life and challenges many received ideas about families and food.

Other research findings include:

Sweat it out: UH study examines ability of sweat patches to monitor bone loss

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Some health assessments that are routinely carried out on Earth are not practical when the patients are free-floating astronauts on long space flights, such as missions to Mars or the Moon. A new, NASA-funded study from the University of Houston department of health and human performance will examine how well sweat patches the size of adhesive strips can detect levels of chemicals that may indicate bone loss.

Current assessments involve blood tests, urine analysis or bone density scans, all of which are time-consuming, inconvenient to the working astronauts or, in the case of bone density scans, require large equipment that's not practical on a space station, said Mark Clarke, associate professor and principal investigator. These patches are small, non-intrusive, and placed on the skin to collect a sweat sample. The sample is then analyzed for biomarkers of bone loss markers, such as calcium.

The three-year, $780,000 study will examine three types of sweat patches, each differing in the way the sweat is collected and extracted from the devices. One device collects the sweat between the skin and a plastic layer; another is a commercially used patch that absorbs the sweat and is then reconstituted with water. The third is called a Microfabricated Sweat Patch (MSP) built using micro-chip inspired-technology. Sweat is removed from the MSP using a mini-centrifuge. The technology was developed by Clarke and Daniel Feeback, a lead scientist with NASA's Life Science Directorate.

Our goal is to develop a micro-fabricated sweat patch that collects a sweat sample from the skin, performs a biomarker analysis and immediately provides a read-out to the user, said Clarke. The first phase of the study will determine if sweat can be used to monitor bone loss. Next, it will determine which patch technology most accurately measures the chemicals associated with bone loss.

The last phase of the study will look specifically at the MSP and will involve 60 people, from young college students to elderly men and women, to new Air Force recruits. Each will wear a series of patches during normal daily activities and then perform exercises at the UH Laboratory of Integrated Physiology. The patches then will be collected and the sweat analyzed. Changes in bone also will be monitored using bone mineral density scans performed in the department. Clarke expects this phase of the project to span at least eight months.

Being in a microgravity environment causes astronauts' bodies to lose more bone mineral than they can replace, which makes them vulnerable to fractures and breaks. Even when they return to Earth, the bone loss continues as their bodies slowly begin the process of replacing the bone mineral content. This is a critical concern, especially as the space program considers longer space missions to Mars or the Moon.

Clarke says the research has applications for those susceptible to bone loss, such as the elderly, post-menopausal women and adolescent girls

Typically, it takes up to six months to see if changes in your exercise and eating habits are helping to maintain or increase bone mineral density, Clarke said. Astronauts on long flights need this information quicker so that they can make adjustments to their exercise protocols, diet or drug treatments. Similarly, bone loss in women can be seen as early as the teen years, so this kind of fast and easy screening device can provide advance notice to fend off serious bone density issues later in their lives.

A stronger future for the elderly

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Experts at The University of Nottingham are to investigate the effect of nutrients on muscle maintenance in the hope of determining better ways of keeping up our strength as we get old.

The researchers, based at the School of Graduate Entry Medicine and Health in Derby, want to know what sort of exercise we can take and what food we should eat to slow down the natural loss of skeletal muscle with ageing.

The team from the Department of Clinical Physiology, which has over 20 years experience in carrying out this type of metabolic study, need to recruit 16 healthy male volunteers in two specific age groups to help in it's research.

Skeletal muscles make up about half of our body weight and are responsible for controlling movement and maintaining posture. However, at around 50 years of age our muscles begin to waste at approximately 0.5 per cent to one per cent a year. It means that an 80 year old may only have 70 per cent of the muscle of a 50 year old.

Since the strength of skeletal muscle is proportional to muscle size, such wasting makes it harder to carry out daily activities requiring strength, such as climbing stairs and leads to a loss of independence and an increased risk of falls and fractures.

In order for skeletal muscles to maintain their size, the large reservoirs of muscle protein require constant replenishment in the way of amino acids from protein contained within the food we eat. In fact, amino acids from our food act not only as the building blocks of muscle proteins but also actually 'tell' our muscle cells to build proteins.

Recent research from the clinical physiology team has shown that the cause of muscle wasting with ageing appears to be an attenuation of muscle building in response to protein feeding. In other words, as we age we lose the ability to covert the protein in the food we eat in to muscle tissue. The proposed research will investigate the mechanisms responsible for this deficit.

Dr Philip Atherton, who is currently recruiting volunteers, said: I am really excited to be involved in this project because if we can determine ways to better maintain muscle mass as we age it will greatly benefit us all.

The researchers are looking for 16 healthy, non-smoking, male volunteers aged 18 to 25 and 65 to 75.

Initially, the volunteers will undergo a health screening and then on a different day, under the supervision of a doctor, will be infused with an amino acid mixture to simulate feeding along with a 'tagged' amino acid that allows them to assess muscle building. To make these measures, blood samples will be taken from the arm and muscle biopsies from the thigh muscle under local anaesthesia. Volunteers will receive an honorarium to cover their expenses.

Second Life a first for UH department of health and human performance

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The University of Houston department of health and human performance is expanding into the virtual world of Second Life (SL) thanks to grants from the UH Faculty Development Initiative Program (FDIP) and the Network Culture Project of the University of Southern California-Annenberg School for Communication.

These funds will allow our faculty to stake ground in Second Life for the benefit of our students and our community, said Charles Layne, professor and department chair. Layne received a $30,000 Technology and Retention Research award from the FDIP to investigate whether students who use SL for academic reasons get better grades than those who do not, or if they earn their degrees sooner (or at all) than those who do not.

We know young people easily accept new technology, but we want to know if using technology like Second Life, which immerses participants in a new world, can create an environment that is supportive of students' academic endeavors, Layne said. There isn't a lot of literature on the use of virtual environments in this way. This program evaluation began during summer 2007 and will continue for at least the next three years and may become a permanent fixture if it proves to be successful.

Brian McFarlin, assistant professor of health and human performance, is no stranger to instructional technology. His study on 'hybrid classes' found that students who took a hybrid exercise physiology class earned a letter grade higher than their counterparts who took the class in traditional settings. He's now received $25,000 from the FDIP to move an entire class, Public Health Issues in Physical Activity and Obesity, into Second Life. He says SL technology will allow him to present material in ways that are not possible with traditional online teaching tools.

For example, in discussions on how obesity impacts the heart, I can make a 3-D model of a healthy heart and a diseased heart and allow the students to view the inside of the left ventricle to demonstrate how blood flow is altered by disease, McFarlin said. I want to be mindful of what students want. It's about them and trying to give them a better learning experience. He anticipates the SL section of his course will be offered in spring 2009.

The Texas Obesity Research Center (TORC), housed in the department, will move some of its research to SL in hopes of using its international reach to promote healthful dietary habits and physical activity. TORC was the winner of the Network Culture Project contest, sponsored by the University of Southern California-Annenberg School for Communication. The contest solicited proposals from around the world for ways to use SL to promote the public good. TORC received 300,000 Linden, the currency of SL, for its proposal to use the medium to prevent and treat obesity through education, skills training and outreach.

We hope to develop multi-national collaborations in SL to increase awareness, knowledge, skills and support for healthy living, Rebecca Lee, TORC director and associate professor, said. Reducing obesity is an international priority, and SL provides a portal to an international community. The program will emphasize learning and virtual sampling of healthful lifestyle habits. Lee's study will enroll 500 resident avatars and invite them to participate in educational games and activities to help them learn to adopt a healthier lifestyle in real life.

Technology presents many opportunities to creatively use new venues to improve the way we live and learn, Layne said. UH and our department want to be at the forefront of those opportunities so that we can make a positive contribution to our community and world.

Fresh from the grapevine to the table

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BET DAGAN, ISRAEL - Table grapes are subject to serious water loss and decay while making the long trip from the vine to dinner tables around the world. Mold and browning of the stems are the two main factors that reduce grape quality during shipping and storage in retail produce sections.

Pads placed over the fruit packed in boxes are one way of ensuring that consumers get fresh, appealing fruits. The pads release sulfur dioxide, or SO2 , a chemical used to prevent mold and decaying of table grapes. Sulfur dioxide as a method of controlling decay has been in use for over 75 years. Since the late 1960s, grape producers and packers have favored use of a dual-release pad, which can keep grapes from decaying for extended periods.

Two methods are presently used for transporting the packed grapes. One method is to place a perforated plastic liner inside each box, put the grapes in the liner, and then cool. The the other method is to cool the boxed grapes and then externally wrap the entire pallet of boxes. In both cases, a SO2 pad is placed in each box.

Researchers in the Department of Postharvest Science at the Agricultural Research Organization of Israel's Volcani Center recently compared both packing methods for their efficiency in maintaining grape quality and preventing decay for periods ranging from 33 to 117 days. The experiments included 'Redglobe' and 'Zainy' grapes packaged in plastic boxes and 'Thompson Seedless' grapes packaged in cardboard boxes.

The study concluded that the quality of the grapes in the trials with plastic boxes was either similar in both packaging methods or better in the wrapped pallet than the liner method. Prevention of decay was also better with the wrapped pallets than for storage in liners. In the experiment with cardboard boxes, however, the externally wrapped boxes contained lower levels of SO2, probably because the cardboard absorbed more SO2, and the grapes developed more decay than when perforated liners were used.

Although the most commonly used method of grape packaging for long-distance shipment is the use of perforated liners, the study proved using external wrapping of pallets with low-density polyethylene film can be as effective as the liner method in preventing grape decay. The external wrapping method has significant advantages over the use of box liners: it allows faster precooling of grapes and is more economical than using individual liners. The pallet wrapping method works best when used with recyclable plastic boxes, as the plastic boxes do not absorb the SO2. A bonus for the environmentally conscious industry: plastic boxes also can be more environmentally viable than traditional cardboard boxes.

NOAA and Louisiana scientists predict largest Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone' on record

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and Louisiana State University are forecasting that the dead zone off the coast of Louisiana and Texas in the Gulf of Mexico this summer could be the largest on record.

The researchers are predicting the area could measure a record 8,800 square miles, or roughly the size of New Jersey. In 2007, the dead zone was 7,903 square miles. The largest dead zone on record was in 2002, when it measured 8,481 square miles. The official measurement of this year's dead zone is slated to be released in late July. Researchers began taking regular measurements of the dead zone in 1985.

The prediction of a large dead zone this summer is due to a combination of large influx of nitrogen and exceptionally high flows from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers, said LSU scientist R. Eugene Turner.

The dead zone is an area in the Gulf of Mexico where seasonal oxygen levels drop too low to support most life in bottom and near-bottom waters. This low oxygen, or hypoxic, area is primarily caused by high nutrient levels, which stimulates an overgrowth of algae that sinks and decomposes. The decomposition process in turn depletes dissolved oxygen in the water. The dead zone is of particular concern because it threatens valuable commercial and recreational Gulf fisheries.

Research indicates that the nearly tripling of nitrogen levels into the Gulf over the past 50 years from human activities has led to a dramatic increase in the size of the dead zone. Various models are useful in evaluating the influence of nitrogen loads and other factors on the size of the dead zone. The LSU model has a strong track record of accurately predicting the dead zone's size.

The strong link between nutrients and the dead zone indicates that excess nutrients from the Mississippi River watershed during the spring are the primary human-influenced factor behind the expansion of the dead zone, said Rob Magnien, director of the NOAA Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research. This analysis will greatly inform the development of federal, state and local efforts to reduce the dead zone's size.

The forecast is based on a mathematical model developed by LSU through NOAA's long-term research investment by CSCOR's Gulf of Mexico Ecosystems and Hypoxia Assessment. The model incorporates U.S. Geological Survey data on the amount of nitrogen reaching the Gulf of Mexico in May. NOAA has been funding investigations into the dead zone since 1990.

Water: The forgotten crisis

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) This year, the world and, in particular, developing countries and the poor have been hit by both food and energy crises. As a consequence, prices for many staple foods have risen by up to 100%. When we examine the causes of the food crisis, a growing population, changes in trade patterns, urbanization, dietary changes, biofuel production, and climate change and regional droughts are all responsible. Thus we have a classic increase in prices due to high demand and low supply. However, few commentators specifically mention the declining availability of water that is needed to grow irrigated and rainfed crops. According to some, the often mooted solution to the food crisis lies in plant breeding that produces the ultimate high yielding, low water- consuming crops. While this solution is important, it will fail unless attention is paid to where the water for all food, fibre and energy crops is going to come from.

A few years ago, IWMI (the International Water Management Institute) demonstrated that many countries are facing severe water scarcity, either as a result of a lack of available fresh water, or due to a lack of investment in water infrastructure such as dams and reservoirs. What makes matters worse is that this scarcity predominantly affects developing countries where the majority of the world's under-nourished people-- approximately 840 million -- live.

The causes of water scarcity are essentially identical to those of the food crisis. There are serious and extremely worrying factors that indicate water supplies are steadily being used up. Essentially every calorie of food requires a liter of water to produce it. Thus those of us on western diets, use about 2500-3000 liters per day. A further 2.5 billion people by 2030 will mean that we have to find over 2000 more cubic kilometers of fresh water to feed them. This is not any easy task given that current water usage for food production is 7500 cubic kilometers and supplies are scarce. According to the recent report Water for Food, Water for Life of the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, which drew on the work of 700 scientists, unless we change the way we use water and increase water productivity (i.e. more crop per drop) we will not have enough water to feed the world's growing population (This population is estimated to increase from 6 billion now to about 8.5 billion in 25 years.) Compared with the lengthy agenda to combat climate change, this is a very short time indeed and yet the impacts of water scarcity will be profound. However, very little is being done about it in most countries.

Since the formulation of the UN Millennium Goals in 2002, much of the water agenda has been focused around the provision of drinking water and sanitation. This water comes from the same sources as agricultural water and as we urbanize and improve living standards there will be increasing competition for drinking water from domestic and other urban users, putting agriculture under further pressure. While improving drinking water and sanitation is vital with respect to health and living standards, we cannot afford to neglect the provision and improved productivity of water for agriculture.

There are potential solutions. Better water storage has to be considered. Ethiopia, which is typical of many sub-Saharan African countries, has a water storage capacity of 38 cubic meters per person. Australia has almost 5000 cubic meters per person, an amount that in the face of current climate change impacts may be inadequate. While there will be a need for new large and medium-sized dams to deal with this critical lack of storage in Africa, other simpler solutions are also part of the equation. These include the construction of small reservoirs, sustainable use of groundwater systems including artificial groundwater recharge and rainwater harvesting for smallholder vegetable gardens. Improved year- round access to water will help farmers maintain their own food security using simple supplementary irrigation techniques. The redesign of both the physical and institutional arrangements of some large and often dysfunctional irrigation schemes will also bring the required productivity increases. Safe, risk free reuse of wastewater from growing cities will also be needed. Of course these actions need to be paralleled by development of drought- tolerant crops, and the provision of infrastructure and facilities to get fresh food to markets.

A little milk could go a long way for your heart

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Grabbing as little as one glass of lowfat or fat free milk could help protect your heart, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers found that adults who had at least one serving of lowfat milk or milk products each day had 37 percent lower odds of poor kidney function linked to heart disease compared to those who drank little or no lowfat milk.

To determine heart disease risk, researchers from several universities in the United States and Norway measured the kidney function of more than 5,000 older adults ages 45 to 84. They tracked eating patterns and tested albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) – a measure that when too low, can indicate poor kidney function and an extremely high risk for cardiovascular disease, according to the American Heart Association.

Researchers found that people who reported consuming more lowfat milk and milk products had lower ACR, or healthier kidney function. In fact, lowfat milk and milk products was the only food group evaluated that on its own, was significantly linked to a reduced risk for kidney dysfunction. The study authors cited other research suggesting milk protein, vitamin D, magnesium and calcium may contribute to milk's potential heart health benefits.

An overall healthy diet, including lowfat milk and milk products, whole grains, fruits and vegetables was also associated with a benefit – 20 percent lower ACR or healthier kidney function.

The National Kidney Foundation estimates that kidney disease affects about 26 million Americans – and kidney disease is both a cause and a consequence of cardiovascular disease, the number one killer of Americans. An estimated one out of three adults is currently living with some form of cardiovascular disease.

Milk provides nine essential nutrients, including calcium, vitamin A, vitamin D, protein and potassium. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend drinking three glasses of lowfat or fat free milk each day.

Photo: Mel B. on Flickr, Creative Commons License

New UGA invention effectively kills foodborne pathogens in minutes

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) University of Georgia researchers have developed an effective technology for reducing contamination of dangerous bacteria on food. The new antimicrobial wash rapidly kills Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 on foods ranging from fragile lettuce to tomatoes, fruits, poultry products and meats. It is made from inexpensive and readily available ingredients that are recognized as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The new technology, which has commercial application for the produce, poultry, meat and egg processing industries, is available for licensing from the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., which has filed a patent application on the new technology.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that, in the U.S. alone, foodborne pathogens are responsible for 76 million illnesses every year. Of the people affected by those illnesses, 300,000 are hospitalized and more than 5,000 die. These widespread outbreaks of food-borne illnesses are attributed, in part, to the fast-paced distribution of foods across the nation. Recently, raw tomatoes caused an outbreak of salmonellosis that sickened more than 300 people in at least 28 states and Canada.

Currently, a chlorine wash is frequently used in a variety of ways to reduce harmful bacteria levels on vegetables, fruits and poultry, but because of chlorine's sensitivity to food components and extraneous materials released in chlorinated water treatments, many bacteria survive. Chlorine is toxic at high concentrations, may produce off-flavors and undesirable appearance of certain food products, and it can only be used in conjunction with specialized equipment and trained personnel. In addition, chlorine may be harmful to the environment.

We can't rely on chlorine to eliminate pathogens on foods, said Michael Doyle, one of the new technology's inventors and director of UGA's Center for Food Safety. This new technology is effective, safe for consumers and food processing plant workers, and does not affect the appearance or quality of the product. It may actually extend the shelf-life of some types of produce.

Doyle is an internationally recognized authority on food safety whose research focuses on developing methods to detect and control food-borne bacterial pathogens at all levels of the food continuum, from the farm to the table. He has served as a scientific advisor to many groups, including the World Health Organization, the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The new antimicrobial technology, developed by Doyle and Center for Food Safety researcher Tong Zhao, uses a combination of ingredients that kills bacteria within one to five minutes from application. It can be used as a spray and immersion solution, and its concentration can be adjusted for treatment of fragile foods such as leafy produce, more robust foods such as poultry, or food preparation equipment and food transportation vehicles.

The effectiveness, easy storage and application, and low cost of this novel antibacterial make it applicable not only at food processing facilities, but also at points-of-sale and at home, restaurants and military bases. The development of this technology is timely, given the recent, sequential outbreaks of foodborne pathogens, said Gennaro Gama, UGARF technology manager in charge of licensing this technology.

Study links vitamin D to colon cancer survival

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BOSTON--Patients diagnosed with colon cancer who had abundant vitamin D in their blood were less likely to die during a follow-up period than those who were deficient in the vitamin, according to a new study by scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The findings of the study -- the first to examine the effect of vitamin D among colorectal cancer patients -- merit further research, but it is too early to recommend supplements as a part of treatment, say the investigators from Dana-Farber and the Harvard School of Public Health.

In a report in the June 20 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the authors note that previous research has shown that higher levels of vitamin D reduce the risk of developing colon and rectal cancer by about 50 percent, but the effect on outcomes wasn't known. To examine this question, the investigators, led by Kimmie Ng, MD, MPH, and Charles Fuchs, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber, analyzed data from two long-running epidemiologic studies whose participants gave blood samples and whose health has been monitored for many years.

They identified 304 participants in the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Followup Study who were diagnosed with colorectal cancer between 1991 and 2002. All had had vitamin D levels measured in blood samples given at least two year prior to their diagnosis. Each patient's vitamin D measurement was ranked by quartiles -- the top 25 percent, the next lowest 25 percent, and so on. Those whose levels were in the lowest quartile were considered deficient in vitamin D.

The researchers followed the 304 patients until they died or until 2005, whichever occurred first. During that period, 123 patients died, with 96 of them dying from colon or rectal cancer. The researchers then looked for associations between the patients' previously measured vitamin D blood levels and whether they had died or survived.

The results showed that individuals with the vitamin D levels in the highest quartile were 48 percent less likely to die (from any cause, including colon cancer) than those with the lowest vitamin D measurements. The odds of dying from colon cancer specifically were 39 percent lower, the scientists found.

Our data suggest that higher prediagnosis plasma levels of [vitamin D] after a diagnosis of colorectal cancer may significantly improve overall survival, the authors wrote. Future trials should examine the role of vitamin D supplementation in patients with colorectal cancer.

The measurements of vitamin D in the patients' blood reflected both the amounts made by the body when exposed to sunlight and to all sources of the vitamin in their diets, said Ng. However, she added, there may be additional unknown factors that might account for individual differences. Patients with the highest vitamin D levels tended to have lower body-mass index (BMI) indicating that they were leaner, and also were more physically active. However, after controlling for BMI and physical activity, as well as other prognostic factors, higher vitamin D levels were still independently associated with better survival rates.

Ng said that a trial is being planned in which colon cancer patients will take vitamin D along with post-surgery chemotherapy to look for any benefits of the supplements.

Meanwhile, she said that individuals with colon cancer should consult their physicians as to whether they should add vitamin supplements to their daily regimen. Standard recommended daily amounts of vitamin D supplements range from 200 International Units (IU) per day for people under age 50 to 400 IU for people between 50 and 70, and 600 IU for those over 70.

'Addicted' cells provide early cancer diagnosis

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Scientists at the Institute of Food Research have detected subtle changes that may make the bowel more vulnerable to the development of tumours.

With support from the Food Standards Agency and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council they are investigating whether diet could control these changes and delay or reverse the onset of cancer.

We looked at changes in 18 genes that play a role in the very earliest stages of colorectal cancer, says Professor Ian Johnson at the Institute of Food Research.

We detected clear chemical differences in these genes in otherwise normal tissue in cancer patients.

This represents a new way to identify defects that could eventually lead to cancer.

All cells carry a complete set of instructions for the whole organism in their nuclear DNA, but to define the specialised structure and functions of each particular cell type, genes must be switched on or firmly off, over the course of the cell's life-cycle.

One of the mechanisms controlling the activities of the genes in a cell is the epigenetic code, a set of chemical tags attached to the DNA molecule, marking individual genes for expression, or for silence. It is well known that the abnormal behaviour of cancer cells is partly due to mistakes in this epigenetic code, some of which switch on genes for growth, whilst others switch off genes that would otherwise cause abnormal cells to destroy themselves.

Scientists at IFR are exploring the possibility that such mistakes in the epigenetic code may begin to occur in apparently normal tissues, long before the appearance of a tumour.

In the current study published in the British Journal of Cancer they measured the numbers of methyl groups attached to DNA taken from the cells lining the large intestine of bowel cancer patients. They found subtle changes that may make the whole surface of the bowel more vulnerable to the eventual development of tumours by causing the 'addiction' of cells to abnormal gene expression.

Some of these changes seem to occur naturally with age, but, supported by the Food Standards Agency, IFR is investigating the possibility that factors in our lifestyle such as diet, obesity and exercise can accelerate or delay DNA methylation as we grow older, thus giving us some degree of control over this vital aspect of our long-term health.

Professor Nigel Brown, Director of Science and Technology at BBSRC said: Basic research in the relatively young field of epigenetics is already contributing to our understanding of human health. Understanding how epigenetic processes work to maintain healthy cells and tissues is the key to long-term health because, as we see here, the breakdown of these normal processes may subsequently cause disease. BBSRC funds a range of research in the field of epigenetics and has been encouraging networking amongst members of the European epigenetics research community.

Substance in red wine found to keep hearts young

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- How do the French get away with a clean bill of heart health despite a diet loaded with saturated fats? Scientists have long suspected that the answer to the so-called French paradox lies in red wine. Now, the results of a new study bring them closer to understanding why.

Writing this week in the online, open-access journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) ONE, researchers from industry and academia, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Florida, report that low doses of resveratrol -- a natural constituent of grapes, pomegranates, red wine and other foods -- can potentially boost the quality of life by improving heart health in old age.

The scientists included small amounts of resveratrol in the diets of middle-aged mice and found that the compound has a widespread influence on the genetic causes of aging. Specifically, the researchers found that low doses of resveratrol mimic the heart-healthy effects of what is known as caloric restriction, diets with 20 to 30 percent fewer calories than a typical diet. The new study is important because it suggests that resveratrol and caloric restriction, which has been widely studied in animals from spiders to humans, may govern the same master genetic pathways related to aging.

Caloric restriction is highly effective in extending life in many species. If you provide species with less food, the regulated cellular stress response of this healthy habit actually makes them live longer, says study author Christiaan Leeuwenburgh, chief of the division of biology of aging at UF's Institute on Aging. In this study, the effects of low doses of resveratrol (on genes) were comparable to caloric restriction, the hallmark for life extension.

Previous research has shown that high doses of resveratrol extend life in invertebrates and prevent early death in mice given a high-fat diet. The new study extends those findings, showing that resveratrol in low doses, beginning in middle age, can elicit many of the same benefits as a reduced-calorie diet.

Resveratrol is active in much lower doses than previously thought, said Tomas Prolla, a UW professor of genetics and a senior author of the new report.

The group explored the agent's influence on the heart, muscle and brain by looking to see which genes were switched on and off during the aging process.

In the new study -- which compared the genetic responses of animals to either restricted diets or normal diets including small doses of resveratrol -- the similarities were remarkable, explains lead author Jamie Barger of Madison, Wis.-based LifeGen Technologies, who spearheaded the research.

In the heart, for example, there are at least 1,029 genes whose functions change with age. In animals on restricted diets, 90 percent of those heart genes experienced alterations in gene expression, while low doses of resveratrol thwarted age-related change in 92 percent. The new findings, say the study's authors, reveal how red wine's special ingredient helps keep the heart young.

In short, the authors note that a glass of wine or food or supplements containing even small doses of resveratrol are likely to help stave off cardiac aging.

That finding, may also explain the remarkable heart health of people who live in some regions of France where diets are soaked in saturated fats but the incidence of heart disease, a major cause of mortality in the United States, is low. In France, meals are traditionally complemented with a glass of red wine.

There must be a few master biochemical pathways activated in response to caloric restriction, which in turn activate many other pathways, explained Prolla. And resveratrol seems to activate some of these master pathways as well.

Resveratrol is currently sold over-the-counter as a nutritional supplement with supposed anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti-aging benefits, although few scientific studies have verified these claims in humans. That may soon change: Researchers at the University of Florida hope to explore the effects of resveratrol on older people in a phase 1 clinical trial, set to begin this summer.

The study will assess the supplement's effects on memory, physical performance, inflammation and oxidative damage, according to Steve Anton, a principal investigator of the upcoming trial and an assistant professor of aging and geriatrics in the UF College of Medicine.

Mitochondria, the tiny power plants that keep a cell functioning, are especially vulnerable to the oxidative damage that accumulates during the aging process.

In animal studies, (resveratrol) seems to promote mitochondrial health, said Todd Manini, also a principal investigator of the upcoming trial and an assistant professor of aging and geriatrics in the UF College of Medicine. Mitochondria are everywhere: They're in the brain, in the muscle, the liver. So it could have kind of a global impact on many different organ systems.

Members of European Parliament discuss food labeling and heart health

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Members of the European Parliament Heart Group meet today, 3 June, in Brussels, to discuss the link between nutrition and cardiovascular diseases and how labelling of food can help people choose products that are better for their hearts and vessels. The European Commission has already made the declaration of the amount of energy, fat, sugars, salt and saturates on food packaging mandatory. Nevertheless, there is no European legislation harmonising diverse national schemes. Consumers often find nutrition labelling confusing and sometimes even misleading.

Given the alarming rate at which obesity is progressing, especially among children, bringing with it other health related problems such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, it seems necessary to insist on giving consumers clear and understandable information in order to help them make better informed dietary choices, explaines Professor Pedro Marques, Spokesperson for the European Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (EACPR), a registered body of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), and speaker at today's MEP Heart Group meeting.

Front of pack labelling should allow consumers to know at a glance whether a product contributes to their health or not, says Susanne Logstrup, Director of the European Heart Network (EHN). To achieve this, simplified front of pack labelling of four key nutrients, energy, saturated/trans fats, sugars and salt, must be presented in an easy to understand way. Based on work carried out particularly in the UK, EHN believes that a scheme whereby the quantity of these nutrients are highlighted with a multiple colour coding ('traffic lights'), indicating clearly whether a product contains high, low or medium levels of them, is the best. EHN calls upon MEPs to improve the Commission proposal and put colour coding on mandatory front of pack in the Commission proposal and introduce mandatory back of pack labelling of the 'big eight' (energy, protein, carbohydrate, sugars, fibre, fat, saturated fat, trans fat and salt).

Prevention experts of the ESC believe that the UK 'traffic light' system is an effective idea and should be supported at a European level states Dr Simona Giampaoli, Chair of the Prevention and Health policy section of the EACPR. The traffic light system helps consumers see at a glance whether the contents of a certain product are within a healthy limit. Food with a green light is the healthiest option and a red light warns that this product should not be eaten regularly.

There are many issues for the MEP Heart Group to consider, explains Mr Adamou, MEP. Consumers demand and people need better information on labels; information that is clear, simple, comprehensive, and standardised. As Co-chair of the MEP Heart Group, I want labels that really make a difference. It would be useful to have mandatory front of pack signposting of four key nutrients that are colour coded.

As health professionals, we, at the ESC, clearly see the need to adopt clear information in the front of food packages. We also need to educate consumers on the adequate amounts of sugar, salt and fat intake as well as healthy portion sizes, explains Professor William Wijns, Spokesperson for the European society of Cardiology. Obesity is being recognised as a growing and dangerous disease with a high cost on public health systems. It is urgent to achieve a harmonised common policy on labelling as soon as possible as part of a larger effort to raise awareness on the effects of unhealthy eating habits on our bodies and especially their link to increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in Europe, accounting for 4.3 million deaths and costing the EU over 192 billion Euros each year.

The good news in our DNA: Defects you can fix with vitamins and minerals

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Berkeley -- As the cost of sequencing a single human genome drops rapidly, with one company predicting a price of $100 per person in five years, soon the only reason not to look at your personal genome will be fear of what bad news lies in your genes.

University of California, Berkeley, scientists, however, have found a welcome reason to delve into your genetic heritage: to find the slight genetic flaws that can be fixed with remedies as simple as vitamin or mineral supplements.

I'm looking for the good news in the human genome, said Jasper Rine, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology.

Headlines for the last 20 years have really been about the triumph of biomedical research in finding disease genes, which is biologically interesting, genetically important and frightening to people who get this information, Rine said. I became obsessed with trying to decide if there is some other class of information that will make people want to look at their genome sequence.

What Rine and colleagues found and report this week in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) is that there are many genetic differences that make people's enzymes less efficient than normal, and that simple supplementation with vitamins can often restore some of these deficient enzymes to full working order.

First author Nicholas Marini, a UC Berkeley research scientist, noted that physicians prescribe vitamins to cure many rare and potentially fatal metabolic defects caused by mutations in critical enzymes. But those affected by these metabolic diseases are people with two bad copies, or alleles, of an essential enzyme. Many others may be walking around with only one bad gene, or two copies of slightly defective genes, throwing their enzyme levels off slightly and causing subtle effects that also could be eliminated with vitamin supplements.

Our studies have convinced us that there is a lot of variation in the population in these enzymes, and a lot of it affects function, and a lot of it is responsive to vitamins, Marini said. I wouldn't be surprised if everybody is going to require a different optimal dose of vitamins based on their genetic makeup, based upon the kind of variance they are harboring in vitamin-dependent enzymes.

Though this initial study tested the function of human gene variants by transplanting them into yeast cells, where the function of the variants can be accurately assessed, Rine and Marini are confident the results will hold up in humans. Their research, partially supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army, may enable them to employ U.S. soldiers to test the theory that vitamin supplementation can tune up defective enzymes.

Our soldiers, like top athletes, operate under extreme conditions that may well be limited by their physiology, Rine said. We're now working with the defense department to identify variants of enzymes that are remediable, and ultimately hope to identify troops that have these variants and test whether performance can be enhanced by appropriate supplementation.

In the PNAS paper, Rine, Marini and their colleagues report on their initial analysis of variants of a human enzyme called methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, or MTHFR. The enzyme, which requires the B vitamin folate to work properly, plays a key role in synthesizing molecules that go into the nucleotide building blocks of DNA. Some cancer drugs, such as methotrexate, target MTHFR to shut down DNA synthesis and prevent tumor growth.

Using DNA samples from 564 individuals of many races and ethnicities, colleagues at Applied Biosystems of Foster City, Calif., sequenced for each person the two alleles that code for the MTHFR enzyme. Consistent with earlier studies, they found three common variants of the enzyme, but also 11 uncommon variants, each of the latter accounting for less than one percent of the sample.

They then synthesized the gene for each variant of the enzyme, and Marini, Rine and their UC Berkeley colleagues inserted these genes into separate yeast cells in order to judge the activity of each variant. Yeast use many of the same enzymes and cofactor vitamins and minerals as humans and are an excellent model for human metabolism, Rine said.

The researchers found that four different mutations affected the functioning of the human enzyme in yeast. One of these mutations is well known: Nearly 30 percent of the population has one copy, and nine percent has two copies.

The researchers were able to supplement the diet of the cultured yeast with folate, however, and restore full functionality to the most common variant, and to all but one of the less common variants.

Since this experiment, the researchers have found 30 other variants of the MTHFR enzyme and tested about 15 of them, and more than half interfere with the function of the enzyme, producing a hundred-fold range of enzyme activity. The majority of these can be either partially or completely restored to normal activity by adding more folate. And that is a surprise, Rine said.

Most scientists think that harmful mutations are disfavored by evolution, but Rine pointed out that this applies only to mutations that affect reproductive fitness. Mutations that affect our health in later years are not efficiently removed by evolution and may remain in our genome forever.

The health effects of tuning up this enzyme in humans are unclear, he said, but folate is already known to protect against birth defects and seems to protect against heart disease and cancer. At least one defect in the MTHFR enzyme produces elevated levels in the blood of the metabolite homocysteine, which is linked to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, conditions that typically affect people in their post-reproductive years.

In those people, supplementation of folate in the diet can reduce levels of that metabolite and reduce disease risk, Marini said.

Marini and Rine estimate that the average person has five rare mutant enzymes, and perhaps other not-so-rare variants, that could be improved with vitamin or mineral supplements.

There are over 600 human enzymes that use vitamins or minerals as cofactors, and this study reports just what we found by studying one of them, Rine said. What this means is that, even if the odds of an individual having a defect in one gene is low, with 600 genes, we are all likely to have some mutations that limit one or more of our enzymes.

The subtle effects of variation in enzyme activity may well account for conflicting results of some clinical trials, including the confusing data on the effect of vitamin supplements, he noted. In the future, the enzyme profile of research subjects will have to be taken into account in analyzing the outcome of clinical trials.

If one considers not just vitamin-dependent enzymes but all the 30,000 human proteins in the genome, every individual would harbor approximately 250 deleterious substitutions considering only the low-frequency variants. These numbers suggest that the aggregate incidence of low-frequency variants could have a significant physiological impact, the researchers wrote in their paper.

All the more reason to poke around in one's genome, Rine said.

If you don't give people a reason to become interested in their genome and to become comfortable with their personal genomic information, then the benefits of much of the biomedical research, which is indexed to particular genetic states, won't be embraced in a time frame that most people can benefit from, Rine said. So, my motivation is partly scientific, partly an education project and, in some ways, a partly political project.

Marini and Rine credit Bruce Ames, a UC Berkeley professor emeritus of molecular and cell biology now on the research staff at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, with the research that motivated them to look at enzyme variation. Ames found in the 1970s that many bacteria that could not produce a specific amino acid could do so if given more vitamin B6, and in recent years he has continued exploring the link between micronutrients and health.

Looked at in one way, Bruce found that you can cure a genetic disease in bacteria by treating it with vitamins, Rine said. Because the human genome contains about 6 billion DNA base pairs, each one subject to mutation, there could be between 3 and 6 million DNA sequence differences between any two people. Given those numbers, he reasoned that, as in bacteria, there should be people who are genetically different in terms of the amount of vitamin needed for optimal performance of their enzymes.

This touches on what Rine considers one of the key biomedical questions today. Now that we have the complete genome sequences of all the common model organisms, including humans, it's obvious that the defining challenge of biology in the 21st century is not what the genes are, but what the variation in the genes does, he said.

Rine, Marini and their colleagues are continuing to study variation in the human MTHFR gene as well as other folate utilizing enzymes, particularly with respect to how defects in these enzymes may lead to birth defects. Rine also is taking advantage of the 1,500 students in his Biology 1A lab course to investigate variants of a second vitamin B6-dependent enzyme, cystathionine beta-synthase.

He also is investigating how enzyme cofactors like vitamins and minerals fix defective enzymes. He suspects that supplements work by acting as chaperones to stabilize the proper folding of the enzyme, which is critical to its catalytic activity. That is a new principle that may be applicable to drug design, Rine said.

Study identifies trends of vitamin B6 status in US population sample

Tue, 20 May 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BOSTON- (May 20, 2008) In an epidemiological study, Tufts University researchers identified trends of vitamin B6 status in a sample of the United States population based on measures of plasma pyridoxal 5'- phosphate (PLP) levels in the bloodstream. Plasma PLP is the indicator used by the federal government to set the current Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of vitamin B6, a nutrient essential for red blood cell function and important for maintaining a healthy immune system and blood glucose levels.

Across the study population, we noticed participants with inadequate vitamin B6 status even though they reported consuming more than the Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamin B6, which is less than 2 milligrams per day, says Martha Savaria Morris, PhD, an epidemiologist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. We also identified four subgroups where this trend seemed most prominent: women of reproductive age, especially current and former users of oral contraceptives, male smokers, non-Hispanic African-American men, and men and women over age 65. Someone with inadequate vitamin B6 status is at risk of becoming Vitamin B6 deficient should their vitamin B6 levels drop too low.

Corresponding author Morris and colleagues studied 7,822 blood samples of men and women ages one-year and older collected from the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Vitamin B6 inadequacy was defined as a plasma PLP concentration less than 20 nmol/L. To the authors' knowledge, the current study is the first large scale study to use plasma PLP concentrations to evaluate vitamin B6 status in free-living people of all ages. The investigators were also able to consider whether the current RDA guaranteed adequate vitamin B6 status because study participants were questioned about supplement use and two days' worth of food intake.

Eleven percent of supplement users and nearly a quarter of non-users demonstrated plasma PLP blood levels of less than 20 nmol/L. Within the four sub-groups where vitamin B6 inadequacy was most prominent, the prevalence of low plasma PLP levels significantly exceeded 10 percentɤeven among those who consumed 2 to 2.9 milligrams per day of vitamin B6. The RDAs for vitamin B6 in men and women who are not pregnant or lactating are as follows: 1.3 mg per day for men and women ages 19-50, 1.7 mg per day for men over age 50 and 1.5 mg for women over age 50.

Writing in the May 2008 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Morris and colleagues noted a stark contrast in plasma PLP levels between women of childbearing age (ages 13 to 54) and their male peers. When we looked specifically at the plasma PLP levels in women of childbearing age, we noticed they were significantly lower than in males in approximately the same age group. Morris continues, Most importantly, the data suggest that oral contraceptive users have extremely low plasma PLP levels. Three quarters of the women who reported using oral contraceptives, but not vitamin B6 supplements, were vitamin B6 deficient.

A pattern of low vitamin B6 status also surfaced in menstruating women who reported using oral contraceptives but who were no longer using them at the time of the NHANES survey. Among women in this sub-group who were not taking vitamin B6 supplements, 40 percent demonstrated plasma PLP blood levels below the cut-off for vitamin B6 inadequacy. Morris says, that although these results are somewhat surprising, the link between oral contraceptive use and vitamin B6 deficiency remains unclear. The vitamin could be stored elsewhere in the bodies of the oral contraceptive users, or in a different form, since our study only examined plasma PLP.

To further support their findings, Morris and colleagues measured homocysteine levels in the blood and compared them against the plasma PLP measures. Homocysteine is an amino acid that can accumulate in the blood if vitamin B6 levels are too low. Though study participants using oral contraceptives at the time of the survey did not demonstrate elevated homocysteine levels, the homocysteine concentrations of former users were significantly higher than those of women who had never used oral contraceptives. Morris says this could mean that oral contraceptive use has an effect on vitamin B6 status that is masked during use by acute effects of the exposure.

Because the study shows association and not causation, Morris stresses that further research is necessary to determine whether the RDA for vitamin B6 is high enough. We have identified populations with a high prevalence of apparently inadequate vitamin B status, Morris says. However, it is important to recognize that signs of deficiency are not seen at plasma PLP concentrations of 20 nmol/L and that dietary assessment is imperfect.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), vitamin B6 deficiency is rare in the United States, but it can cause a form of anemia similar to iron deficiency anemia. Vitamin B6 is widely distributed in the American diet, and baked potatoes, bananas, 100 percent fortified cereals and chicken are particularly good sources. Morris says, The question our study raises is whether, due to aging, genetics, or exposures, some population subgroups need supplements to achieve the current biochemical definition of adequate status.

Iron supplements might harm infants who have enough

Mon, 05 May 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A new study suggests that extra iron for infants who don't need it might delay development -- results that fuel the debate over optimal iron supplement levels and could have huge implications for the baby formula and food industry.

Our results for 25 years of research show problems with lack of iron. For us to find this result is a big deal, it's really unexpected, said Dr. Betsy Lozoff, University of Michigan research professor at the Center for Human Growth and Development, and the study's principal investigator.

U.S. infant formulas typically come fortified with 12 mg/L of iron to prevent iron-deficiency anemia. Europe generally uses a lower amount. In infants, iron-deficiency anemia is associated with poorer development, and during pregnancy it contributes to anemia in mothers, contributing to premature birth, low birth weight and other complications.

I thought that behavior and development would be better with the 12 mg formula, said Lozoff, also professor of pediatrics in the U-M Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at the Medical School and C.S. Mott Children's Hospital

The U-M study of 494 Chilean children showed that those who received iron fortified formula in infancy at the 12 mg used in the U.S. lagged behind those who received low-iron formula in cognitive and visual-motor development by age 10 years. Lozoff stressed that most children who received the 12 mg formula did not show lower scores. But the 5 percent of the sample with the highest hemoglobin levels at 6 months showed the poorest outcome. Your body needs iron to make hemoglobin, a substance in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen. High hemoglobin generally indicates sufficient iron.

Adversely affected children scored 11 points lower in IQ and 12 points lower in visual-motor integration, on average; the average overall score on both tests was 100. A similar pattern was observed for spatial memory and other visual-motor measures.

Lozoff noted that not many infants in Chile had high hemoglobin levels at the time since there was no iron-fortification program for infants and that more than 5 percent of U.S. infants might have high hemoglobin levels in early infancy.

In this randomized study, healthy infants without iron-deficiency anemia were given formula with either 12 mg or 2.3 mg iron from 6 to 12 months and followed to 10 years. The next step is to test the participants again at age 16, Lozoff said, who says that no such study has been conducted in the United States or elsewhere.

Iron deficiency occurs because babies grow so quickly they often grow out of the amount of iron they are born with. Breast milk is thought to contain the iron a baby needs for 4-6 months, Lozoff said. Other important sources of iron for infants include iron-fortified infant formulas and cereals, iron drops and meat.

Infants are typically not tested for hemoglobin or iron levels before 9-12 months. It would be premature to recommend earlier testing or to avoid supplemental iron based on the study's results, Lozoff said. She expects parents to be concerned, but stressed that results must be reproduced in other studies.

At this point there's no basis for changing practice, but it's really important that we have continued research on this issue, she said.

Domestic violence associated with chronic malnutrition in women and children in India

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Boston, MA-- In a new, large-scale study exploring the link between domestic violence and chronic malnutrition, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that Indian mothers and children experiencing multiple incidents of domestic violence in the previous year are more likely to be anemic and underweight. The findings were published online March 26, 2008 in The American Journal of Epidemiology and will appear in an upcoming print issue of the journal.

This is strong evidence that domestic violence is linked with malnutrition among both mothers and children. In India, the withholding of food is a documented form of abuse and is likely correlated with the perpetration of physical violence, said S V Subramanian, associate professor of Society, Human Development, and Health at HSPH, and co-author of the study.

The study population included 69,072 (aged 15-49 years) women and 14,552 children (12-35 months) from the Indian National Family Health Survey of 1998-99. The participants underwent face-to-face interviews by trained personnel, and the data collected included body measurements, blood samples, and information on women's and child's exposure to domestic violence in the previous 12 months.

The researchers found that women who reported more than one instance of domestic violence in the previous year had a 11% increased likelihood of having anemia and a 21% increased likelihood of being underweight, as compared to women with no such history. This difference was not explained by the mother's demographic information. The associations between domestic violence and nearly all nutritional outcomes were similar for children.

The data suggest a relation between domestic violence and malnutrition among women and children in India. The authors note that preventing domestic violence could be just as effective as a pharmaceutical approach in combating anemia among women. The authors believe that one possible explanation is empowerment, such that perpetrators of domestic violence often use several types of abuse, including physical and psychological, to control the behavior of their family members. In India, the withholding of food as a type of abuse could be a factor in the link between physical domestic violence and nutrient deficiencies that cause anemia and underweight. Additionally, domestic violence has been strongly associated with a woman's inability to make decisions for herself and her family, including the choice of types and quantities of food she prepares

The authors' second explanation is that the link between domestic violence and nutritional deficiencies may also reflect the effects of psychological stress. Women and children who experience domestic violence tend to have higher levels of psychological stress, which has been associated with anemia and being underweight.

The authors believe that reducing domestic violence is clearly important from a moral and intrinsic perspective, and that this study provides a compelling case to also address the problem from the perspective of health effects. More efforts need to be focused on the 'non-health' aspects or 'social' conditions that influence health conditions, and domestic violence represents one such adverse social/contextual aspect that we've identified in Indian society, said Subramanian.

An apple a day does keep the doctor away

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:21:26 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Washington, April 9 - There is, it appears, more than an element of truth in the old adage about an apple a day keeping the doctor away. A new study has found that eating an apple a day - or drinking its juice - is a sound way of maintaining a slimmer waistline and insuring oneself against high BP and cardiac disease.

Apple eaters had a 21 percent reduced risk of increased waist circumference, predictor of cardiovascular disease and increased likelihood of metabolic syndrome.

Additionally, they had significantly reduced C-reactive protein levels, another measurable marker related to cardiovascular risk.

These findings, presented at the Experimental Biology 2008 meeting, were based on analysis of data collected under a 1999-2004 national survey in the US.

Victor Fulgoni, who analysed the data, noted that adults who eat apples and apple products have smaller waistlines that indicate less abdominal fat, lower blood pressure and a reduced risk for developing what is known as the metabolic syndrome.

Apple-eaters' diets were healthier than non-consumers. They had a greater intake of fruit and key nutrients, including dietary fibre, vitamins A and C, calcium and potassium.

They had less total fat, saturated fat, discretionary fat and added sugars.

Mounting evidence shows red wine antioxidant kills cancer

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Rochester researchers showed for the first time that a natural antioxidant found in grape skins and red wine can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells by reaching to the cell's core energy source, or mitochondria, and crippling its function. The study is published in the March edition of the journal, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology.

The study also showed that when the pancreatic cancer cells were doubly assaulted -- pre-treated with the antioxidant, resveratrol, and irradiated -- the combination induced a type of cell death called apoptosis, an important goal of cancer therapy.

The research has many implications for patients, said lead author Paul Okunieff, M.D., chief of Radiation Oncology at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Although red wine consumption during chemotherapy or radiation treatment has not been well studied, it is not contraindicated, Okunieff said. In other words, if a patient already drinks red wine moderately, most physicians would not tell the patient to give it up during treatment. Perhaps a better choice, Okunieff said, would be to drink as much red or purple grape juice as desired.

Yet despite widespread interest in antioxidants, some physicians are concerned antioxidants might end up protecting tumors. Okunieff's study showed there is little evidence to support that fear. In fact, the research suggests resveratrol not only reaches its intended target, injuring the nexus of malignant cells, but at the same time protects normal tissue from the harmful effects of radiation.

Antioxidant research is very active and very seductive right now, Okunieff said. The challenge lies in finding the right concentration and how it works inside the cell. In this case, we've discovered an important part of that equation. Resveratrol seems to have a therapeutic gain by making tumor cells more sensitive to radiation and making normal tissue less sensitive.

Resveratrol is known for its ability to protect plants from bacteria and fungi. Purified versions have been described in scientific journals as potential anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic agents, and for their ability to modulate cell growth. Other well-known antioxidants derived from natural sources include caffeine, melatonin, flavonoids, polyphenols, and vitamins C and E.

A flurry of antioxidant studies in recent years has not proven how and why they work at the cellular level. At the suggestion of a young scientist in his lab, Okunieff began studying resveratrol as a tumor sensitizer. That's when they discovered its link to the mitochondria.

The discovery is critical because, like the cell nucleus, the mitochondria contains its own DNA and has the ability to continuously supply the cell with energy when functioning properly. Stopping the energy flow theoretically stops the cancer.

Researchers divided pancreatic cancer cells into two groups: cells treated without resveratrol, or with resveratrol, at a relatively high dose of 50 mg/ml, in combination with ionizing radiation. (The resveratrol concentration in red wine can be as high as 30 mg/ml, the study said, and higher doses are expected to be safe as long as a physician is monitoring.)

They evaluated the mitochondria function of the cells treated with resveratrol, and also measured apoptosis (cell death), the level of reactive oxygen species in the cells, and how the cell membranes responded to the antioxidant.

Laboratory experiments showed that resveratrol:

Study links dietary folate intake to genetic abnormalities in sperm

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Berkeley -- Healthy men who report lower levels of the nutrient folate in their diets have higher rates of chromosomal abnormalities in their sperm, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Women of child-bearing age are encouraged to maintain adequate levels of folate in their diet, but the new findings, to be published Thursday, March 20, in the journal Human Reproduction, provide evidence that what men eat may also affect reproductive health.

Recent studies have suggested that paternal diet affects sperm count and motility, which is important for conception, but this new study takes it further to say that male diet may be important for healthy offspring as well, said study coordinator Suzanne Young, a researcher at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. Our study is the first to look at the effects of diet on chromosomal abnormalities in sperm. These abnormalities would cause either miscarriages or children with genetic syndromes if the sperm fertilized an egg.

Folate is a water-soluble B vitamin that occurs naturally in a wide range of foods, particularly liver, leafy green vegetables, citrus fruits and legumes. It is needed during the synthesis of DNA, RNA and proteins, and it is necessary for the production of new cells. Folate also helps keep in check levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that, when elevated, is linked to heart disease.

Studies have shown that adequate intake of folate by women just before and during pregnancy significantly reduces the risk of neural tube birth defects, such as spina bifida or anencephaly.

To ensure that women get the recommended daily intake of 400 micrograms of folic acid, the synthetic form of folate, and reduce the risk of these birth defects, the U.S. government in 1998 began requiring food manufacturers to add folic acid to breads, cereals, flours and other grain products. At least one study suggests that there has been a significant reduction in neural tube birth defects in this country since the folic acid fortification program began.

The emphasis related to the birth of a healthy baby has been weighted towards the health and diet of women, not just during pregnancy, but before, said Brenda Eskenazi, professor of epidemiology and maternal and child health at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health and co-principal investigator of the study. What we're finding now is that a nutritious diet, specifically folate intake, may be beneficial for men as well when it comes to producing healthy offspring.

An estimated 1 to 4 percent of a healthy male's sperm have abnormal numbers of chromosomes, or aneuploidy, that are caused by errors during cell division (meiosis) in the testis. However, the causes of these errors are not well understood. If these abnormal sperm fertilize a normal egg, there would either be a miscarriage or a fetus with a chromosomal disorder such as trisomy, in which cells have three rather than the normal two copies of a given chromosome.

For this study, the researchers targeted three chromosomes - X, Y and chromosome 21 - because they are associated with common types of aneuploidy in live births. For example, children born with an extra chromosome 21 have Down syndrome, characterized by mild to severe mental retardation, while boys with an extra X chromosome have Klinefelter syndrome, which could affect language and learning development. Boys with an extra Y chromosome, or XYY syndrome, may also have some learning and behavioral difficulties.

The researchers studied 97 men who were ages 22 to 80 and who worked at or had retired from a government research laboratory. The study excluded smokers and those with previous or existing reproductive or fertility problems.

Researchers determined average intake of dietary and supplemental nutrients, including multi-vitamins, through participant questionnaires. Semen samples were collected within a week of completing the questionnaires.

After accounting for factors such as age, alcohol use and medical history, the researchers found that men reporting the highest intake of folate had 19 percent lower rates of sperm with abnormal numbers of chromosomes than men with moderate folate intake, and 20 percent lower rates compared with men in the low folate intake group.

The researchers were not able to determine a link between sperm aneuploidy and the other nutrients examined, such as zinc, calcium, beta-carotene and other vitamins.

But before fathers-to-be start popping folic acid supplements, the researchers caution that this study only found a link, not a cause-and-effect relationship, between folate and chromosomal abnormalities.

We can't yet say that increasing folate in your diet will lead to healthier sperm, said study co-principal investigator Andrew Wyrobek, chair of the Radiation Biosciences Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. But we did come up with enough evidence to justify a larger, clinical and pharmacological trial in men to examine the causal relationships between dietary folate levels and chromosomal abnormalities in their sperm. This information will help us set dietary folate levels that may reduce the risk of miscarriage or birth defects linked to the fathers.

If future studies verify higher folate intake with lower rates of sperm abnormalities, it may be worthwhile to increase the U.S. recommended daily allowance of folate for men considering fatherhood from the current level of 400 micrograms per day, the researchers said.

Adolescent girls with ADHD are at increased risk for eating disorders, study shows

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder stand a substantially greater risk of developing eating disorders in adolescence than girls without ADHD, a new study has found.

Adolescent girls with ADHD frequently develop body-image dissatisfaction and may go through repeating cycles of binge eating and purging behaviors that are common in bulimia nervosa, said University of Virginia psychologist Amori Yee Mikami, who led the study.

The findings appear in the current issue of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

ADHD is a disorder that affects about 5 percent of school-age children, and three times more boys than girls. Symptoms include a short attention span, poor organization, excessive talking, disruptive and aggressive behavior, restlessness and irritability. Many children with ADHD suffer through a range of problems, from poor grades to poor relations with parents and teachers, and more than half have serious problems making friends.

Because the disorder is far more common in boys, researchers are still learning its long-term effects on girls.

Our finding suggests that girls may develop a broader range of problems in adolescence than their male counterparts, Mikami said. They may be at risk for eating problems, which are a female-relevant domain of impairment. We know that eating disorders occur 10 times more often in girls than boys.

Additionally, Mikami noted that because ADHD is more common in boys, many girls with the disorder may go undiagnosed and untreated.

Girls with ADHD may be more at risk of developing eating problems as adolescents because they already have impulsive behaviors that can set them apart from their peers, Mikami said. As they get older, their impulsivity may make it difficult for them to maintain healthy eating and a healthy weight, resulting in self-consciousness about their body image and the binging and purging symptoms.

The study was conducted with an ethnically diverse sample of 228 girls in the San Francisco Bay area; 140 who had been diagnosed with ADHD and 88 matched comparison girls without ADHD. They were first assessed between the ages of 6 and 12 and again five years later.

Girls with the combined type of ADHD (those with both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity) were most likely to have adolescent bulimia nervosa symptoms, relative to girls with the inattentive type of ADHD (those with inattention only) and girls without ADHD. Girls with both types of ADHD were more likely to be overweight, to have experienced harsh/critical parenting in childhood, and to have been peer-rejected than girls without ADHD. Mikami said she believes these factors could contribute to the bulimia nervosa symptoms.

An additional concern is that stimulant medications used to treat ADHD have a side effect of appetite suppression, creating a risk that overweight girls could abuse these medicines to encourage weight loss, though we have not yet investigated that possibility, Mikami said.

She warned parents and teachers to be aware that adolescent girls with ADHD may develop an array of female-relevant symptoms beyond the standard ADHD symptoms, to include eating disorders, depression and anxiety.

NIH announces new initiative in epigenomics

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 04:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will invest more than $190 million over the next five years to accelerate an emerging field of biomedical research known as epigenomics.

Disease is about more than genetics. It's about how genes are regulated -- how and when they work in both health and disease, said NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. Epigenomics will build upon our new knowledge of the human genome and help us better understand the role of the environment in regulating genes that protect our health or make us more susceptible to disease.

The NIH is making this a priority in its research portfolio, taking it on as an NIH Roadmap initiative. Grant applications are now being accepted for research on epigenome mapping centers, epigenomics data analysis and coordination, technology development in epigenetics, and discovery of novel epigenetic marks in mammalian cells.

Epigenetics focuses on processes that regulate how and when certain genes are turned on and turned off, while epigenomics pertains to analysis of epigenetic changes across many genes in a cell or entire organism.

Epigenetic processes control normal growth and development. Diet and exposure to environmental chemicals throughout all stages of human development among other factors can cause epigenetic changes that may turn on or turn off certain genes. Changes in genes that would normally protect against a disease, as a result, could make people more susceptible to developing that disease later in life. Researchers also believe some epigenetic changes can be passed on from generation to generation.

The Epigenomics Program is a trans-NIH effort led by several NIH institutes including the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Center for Biotechnology Information of the National Library of Medicine. Efforts of these Institutes are coordinated by the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives (OPASI) as part of the NIH Roadmap.

Epigenetic mechanisms are important in development, aging, and learning and memory, but our understanding of epigenetic processes is still very much in its infancy, said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow. A deeper understanding of epigenetics will enable researchers to make significant strides in understanding and treating many diseases including cancers, obesity, depression, and addiction.

Increased interest in epigenetics has spawned international research collaborations that have pushed the field forward in recent years. With the NIH Roadmap initiative, the United States will increase its commitment to epigenetics research and accelerate the pace of biomedical discovery in the next decade.

US$ 38 million grant for fight against malnutrition

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:13:42 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) today announces a US$ 38 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to increase private sector engagement in the fight against malnutrition in young children.
GAIN will use the grant to work with private companies and public-private partnerships to introduce nutritious foods for infants and young children between 6 and 24 months of age. GAIN will provide loans, grants and technical advice to help develop and distribute low-cost, easy-to-use, nutritious food products.
“The private sector can have a huge impact on the long-term health of infants and young children, who are at a critical stage in their mental and physical development, by producing healthy complementary foods specifically targeted at this vulnerable group,” says Marc Van Ameringen, Executive Director of GAIN.
Malnutrition plays a role in more than a third of all deaths of children under the age of 5 – more than 9,000 deaths every day. Malnutrition prevents many more children from reaching their full mental and physical potential, increases health care costs for poor countries, and consequently slows economic growth. For instance, 75 percent of children in India and 85 percent of children under five years old in Ethiopia suffer from iron deficiency anemia, while 57 and 30 percent respectively are vitamin A deficient, which weakens immune systems and can cause blindness.
“Nutrition is a bedrock global health issue that receives far too little attention,” says Katharine Kreis, Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Harnessing the reach and expertise of the private sector is essential to successfully fighting malnutrition and its devastating consequences.”
Companies that receive support from GAIN will be required to ensure that any foods they produce and market meet international standards, complement and do not compete with breast feeding practices, and have demonstrable positive impacts on the health of children.
“Every child deserves a chance at a healthy life, and that chance starts with good nutrition. By bringing companies together with governments and non-profits, we can make nutritious foods accessible and affordable to families in the world’s poorest countries,” says Jay Naidoo, Chairman of the Board for GAIN.
The new initiative will complement GAIN’s ongoing work to increase access to nutritious foods in developing countries. GAIN is already reaching 160 million people with staple foods fortified with essential nutrients. For instance, in China, a pilot review showed a reduction of more than 30% in iron deficiency anemia after the introduction of iron-fortified products.
“This grant allows us to mobilize the innovative spirit of the private sector to deliver products that have clear benefits to the health of young children and the bottom line of companies, and that therefore can inspire the private sector worldwide to do more to fight malnutrition,” says Van Ameringen.

More sun exposure may be good for some people

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 04:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) UPTON, NY - A new study by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and colleagues in Norway suggests that the benefits of moderately increased exposure to sunlight - namely the production of vitamin D, which protects against the lethal effects of many forms of cancer and other diseases - may outweigh the risk of developing skin cancer in populations deficient in vitamin D. The study will be published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of January 7, 2008.

We know that solar radiation is the leading cause of skin cancer, said communicating author Richard Setlow, a Senior Biophysicist Emeritus at Brookhaven and a well-known expert on the link between solar radiation and skin cancer. Setlow's group was the first to establish that ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation and visible light are the primary causes of malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. He and his colleagues emphasize that people need to protect themselves from the harmful effects of sun exposure.

But solar radiation is also a major, if not the main, source of vitamin D in humans. In the presence of sunlight, the body converts certain precursor chemicals to active vitamin D.

Since vitamin D has been shown to play a protective role in a number of internal cancers and possibly a range of other diseases, it is important to study the relative risks to determine whether advice to avoid sun exposure may be causing more harm than good in some populations. The concern, he says, is particularly great in populations from northern latitudes, such as Scandinavia, where sun exposure is extremely limited.

In the current study, Setlow and his colleagues used a model incorporating information on solar radiation intensity and a vertical cylinder shape to represent the human body's skin surface to calculate the relative production of vitamin D via sunlight as a function of latitude, or distance from the equator. The cylindrical model more realistically represents human body sun exposure than flat surface exposure measurements used in previous models. The scientists also examined the incidence of and survival rates for various forms of cancer by latitude.

According to the calculations, people residing in Australia (just below the equator) produce 3.4 times more vitamin D as a result of sun exposure than people in the United Kingdom, and 4.8 times more than people in Scandinavia.

There is a clear north-south gradient in vitamin D production, Setlow says, with people in the northern latitudes producing significantly less than people nearer the equator.

In populations with similar skin types, there is also a clear increase in the incidence of all forms of skin cancer from north to south. This gradient in skin cancer rates indicates that there is a true north-south gradient in real sun exposure, Setlow says.

The scientists also found that the incidence rates of major internal cancers such as colon cancer, lung cancer, and cancers of the breast and prostate also increased from north to south. However, when the scientists examined the survival rates for these cancers, they found that people from the southern latitudes were significantly less likely to die from these internal cancers than people in the north.

In previous work, we have shown that survival rates for these cancers improve when the diagnosis coincides with the season of maximum sun exposure, indicating a positive role for sun-induced vitamin D in prognosis - or at least that a good vitamin-D status is advantageous when combined with standard cancer therapies, Setlow says. The current data provide a further indication of the beneficial role of sun-induced vitamin D for cancer prognosis.

So, how can people get the benefits of vitamin D without running the risk of deadly skin cancer

As far as skin cancer goes, we need to be most worried about melanoma, a serious disease with significant mortality, Setlow says.

Melanoma is triggered by UVA (the long UV wavelengths) and visible light. Vitamin-D production in the body, on the other hand, is triggered by UVB (the short UV wavelengths at the earth's surface). So perhaps we should redesign sunscreens so they don't screen out as much UVB while still protecting us from the melanoma-inducing UVA and visible light, Setlow says.

Increased UVB exposure may result in an increase in non-melanoma skin cancers. But these are relatively easy to cure and have very low mortality rates compared with the internal cancers vitamin D appears to protect against, Setlow adds.

Another option would be to increase vitamin D consumption while continuing to wear sunscreen. Vitamin D is easily accessible in many foods and liquids, such as cod liver oil and milk, and in dietary supplements.

Now '100 percent' vegetarian eggs

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:39:19 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Erode -, Dec 21 - Here's some good news for diehard vegetarians who may yet like to tuck in some eggs. India's leading egg powder manufacturer and exporter will launch a '100 percent vegetarian egg' in the coming year.

'We will commercially launch the completely 100 percent vegetarian eggs both in the domestic market and also export them across the world in a couple of months from now,' S. Hariharan, general manager, operations of SKM Egg Products Ltd, told IANS.

The company is already exporting 100 percent vegetarian egg powder, egg yolk powder and egg albumen powder to as many as 27 countries in the world, including Europe and Japan.

So what is a vegetarian egg?

Chicks aged between zero and eight weeks are brought to poultry farms and bred till up to 72 weeks when they become 'layers'.

Normally, each layer lays about 300 eggs in poultry farms. However, these eggs are not totally vegetarian because the hens are fed fishmeal - as a protein supplement.

However, SKM Egg Products Ltd, located aptly on the Gandhiji Road in Erode, claims all the 'egg-laying birds' in its contract farms are not fed any 'animal-based food'.

Instead of fishmeal, soya powder is added to the poultry feed as the protein supplement.

'Hence, eggs produced in our contract farms are fully vegetarian,' asserts Hariharan.

But this company, which buoyantly ended last fiscal - with a Rs.845-million - turnover, did not hit upon the vegetarian egg concept for the sheer sake of vegetarianism.

It was for commercial reasons to meet the strict stipulations of the export market.

The eggs laid by the hens fed on fishmeal contained antibiotic residues in excess of the limits - set by European countries. Hence, the company substituted soya for fish powder. Thus the 100 percent vegetarian egg was born.

Recently, SKM, which exported 4,500 tonnes of egg powder last year, set up its own poultry farm with nearly 1.5 million chicks.

However, as of now, the company largely sources the 'vegetarian eggs' from nearby Namakkal, which is southern India's 'egg land'.

With over 700 poultry farms, Namakkal produces 22.5 million eggs every day, which is 14 percent of the country's egg production.

'If milk is vegetarian, then all commercially produced eggs in our farms are vegetarian. Only, most of us use fish feed for the hens because soya feed is expensive,' says Namakkal Poultry Feeds and Egg Producers Association president Nallathambi.

So the next time you gobble up an egg pastry, just don't feel guilty.

-

Waistline growth on high-carb diets linked to liver gene

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) MADISON - Experts have been warning for years that foods loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and other processed carbohydrates are making us fatter. Now, a University of Wisconsin-Madison study has uncovered the genetic basis for why this is so.

Writing in the December issue of Cell Metabolism, a team led by biochemistry and nutritional sciences professor James Ntambi reports that a gene in the liver, called SCD-1, is what causes mice to gain weight on a diet laden with carbohydrates. The gene encodes the enzyme SCD, whose job is to synthesize fatty acids that are a major component of fat.

When the scientists fed a starch- and sugar-rich diet to mice lacking SCD-1 in the liver, the extra carbohydrates were broken down rather than being converted into fat and stored - keeping the mice skinny. Meanwhile, control mice with normal gene activity grew plump on the same food.

It looks like the SCD gene in the liver is responsible for causing weight gain in response to a high-carbohydrate diet, because when we take away the gene's activity the animals no longer gain the weight, says Ntambi. These findings are telling us that the liver is a key tissue in mediating weight gain induced by excess carbohydrates.

The results could have implications for stemming the skyrocketing obesity problem in people, Ntambi adds. He explains that people pack on pounds in two ways, one of which is to eat extra fat, which then accumulates in adipose, or fat, tissue. But the main cause of weight gain is excess carbohydrates, because they trigger the body to produce new fat.

Blocking SCD's action in the liver could therefore offer another means to help people lose weight, Ntambi says, especially since obese people appear to have higher levels of the enzyme than do thin people.

We think that obese individuals, in general, may have higher SCD activity in both the liver and in adipose tissue, he says. So, they may have a higher capability of converting carbohydrate into fat.

High-carbohydrate diets have become exceedingly common not only in western nations but also in the developing world, as sugary ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup have crept into all sorts of processed foods, including soft drinks, baked goods, condiments - even supposedly healthy items like low-fat, fruit yogurt. What Ntambi's team has now demonstrated is how those diets can act directly on a gene to boost fat synthesis and storage.

This is a very good example of a diet-gene interaction, he says.

The current study builds on previous work, in which Ntambi and his colleagues created mice that lacked SCD-1 everywhere in the body, including the liver, muscle, brain, pancreas and adipose tissue. No matter how much they ate, the mice didn't gain weight on either a high-fat or a high-carbohydrate diet. But it was very difficult to tell which tissue was responsible for the effect, says Ntambi.

To tease this out, he and his colleagues subsequently bred mice that lacked SCD-1 in the liver only and placed them on either a high-fat diet or a high-carbohydrate, low-fat one. Much to their surprise, the mice on the high-fat diet gained weight just as quickly as normal, control mice.

This suggests that in weight gain induced by a high-fat diet, other tissues beyond the liver are involved, says Ntambi.

In contrast, the mice stayed thin when they feasted on food heavy in starch and table sugar, or sucrose. They were also protected from the condition known as fatty liver. Ntambi thinks what's happening is that in the absence of SCD, the liver has no way to convert surplus carbohydrates into fat, causing the body to break them down instead.

The findings also highlight the central role of the enzyme and its main product, a fatty acid known as oleic acid, in overall carbohydrate metabolism, he adds. For example, mice lacking SCD could no longer make glucose - the sugar burned by cells for energy - leading to abnormally low blood sugar levels, or hypoglycemia. They also weren't able to make glycogen, a short-term storage form of glucose.

It looks to us that if you don't have enough oleic acid - which the SCD enzyme makes - then the carbohydrate does not proceed through normal glucose metabolism, says Ntambi. As further evidence of this, when the scientists supplemented the mouse diets with oleic acid, normal metabolism was restored.

In both mice and people, on the other hand, eating lots of carbohydrate appears to boost SCD activity, leading to a glut of oleic acid, increased fat storage - and, over time, obesity.

Too much carbohydrate is not good, says Ntambi. That's basically what we are saying.

Price of lower-calorie foods rising drastically, researchers find

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) As food prices rise, the costs of lower-calorie foods are rising the fastest, according to a University of Washington study appearing in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. As the prices of fresh fruit and vegetables and other low-calorie foods have jumped nearly 20 percent in the past two years, the UW researchers say, a nutritious diet may be moving out of the reach of some American consumers.

UW researchers Dr. Adam Drewnowski, director of the Center for Public Health Nutrition, and Dr. Pablo Monsivais, a research fellow in the center, studied food prices at grocery stores around the Seattle area in 2004. They found that the foods which are less energy-dense -- generally fresh fruits and vegetables -- are much more expensive per calorie than energy-dense foods -- such as those high in refined grains, added sugars, and added fats.

When the researchers surveyed prices again in 2006, the found that the disparity in food prices only worsened with time. Lower-calorie foods jumped in price by about 19.5 percent in that two-year period, while the prices of very calorie-rich foods stayed stable or even dropped slightly, the researchers found. The general rate of food price inflation in the United States was about 5 percent during that period, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

That the cost of healthful foods is outpacing inflation is a major problem, said Drewnowski. The gap between what we say people should eat and what they can afford is becoming unacceptably wide. If grains, sugars and fats are the only affordable foods left, how are we to handle the obesity epidemic

Research conducted by Drewnowski and others at the UW Center for Obesity Research had previously shown that per calorie food costs were much higher for fresh produce and other recommended foods than for fats and sweets. Those studies were based on prevailing food prices in the United States and in Europe.

This project was the first of its kind to track the change in prices over time not by food group, but by food quality. The Labor Department monitors food prices by tracking the cost of an average food basket, which is calculated based on what American consumers purchase at the grocery store. However, the researchers argue, the inflation rate of the overall basket may drastically underestimate the rising cost of the healthiest foods.

The UW study looked at price inflation in foods grouped by energy density, or calories per gram of food. Energy density is one measure of food quality, since many energy-dense foods also tend to be low in nutrients. People who eat energy-dense foods may consume more calories than they need.

We are an overfed but undernourished nation, said Drewnowski.

Drewnowski and Monsivais argue that the study provides yet another piece of evidence that obesity isn't just a personal problem -- it's an economic one.

We need to focus on bigger-scale changes, like the farm bill or other policy measures that can address the disparity in food costs, Monsivais said.

The project was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in the National Institutes of Health.

Citrus juice, vitamin C give staying power to green tea antioxidants

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - To get more out of your next cup of tea, just add juice.

A study found that citrus juices enable more of green tea's unique antioxidants to remain after simulated digestion, making the pairing even healthier than previously thought.

The study compared the effect of various beverage additives on catechins, naturally occurring antioxidants found in tea. Results suggest that complementing green tea with either citrus juices or vitamin C likely increases the amount of catechins available for the body to absorb.

Although these results are preliminary, I think it's encouraging that a big part of the puzzle comes down to simple chemistry, said Mario Ferruzzi, assistant professor of food science at Purdue University and the study's lead author.

Catechins (pronounced KA'-teh-kins), display health-promoting qualities and may be responsible for some of green tea's reported health benefits, like reduced risk of cancer, heart attack and stroke. The problem, Ferruzzi said, is that catechins are relatively unstable in non-acidic environments, such as the intestines, and less than 20 percent of the total remains after digestion.

Off the bat you are eliminating a large majority of the catechins from plain green tea, Ferruzzi said. We have to address this fact if we want to improve bodily absorption.

Ferruzzi tested juices, creamers and other additives that are either commonly added to fresh-brewed tea or used to make ready-to-drink tea products by putting them through a model simulating gastric and small-intestinal digestion. Citrus juice increased recovered catechin levels by more than five times, the study found. Ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, used to increase shelf life in ready-to-drink products, increased recovered levels of the two most abundant catechins by sixfold and 13-fold, respectively.

The study, published this month in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, also found that soy, dairy and rice milk appeared to have moderate stabilizing effects. But Ferruzzi said the result is misleading; a chemical interaction between milk proteins and tea catechins apparently helps shelter the complex from degradation, a force likely overcome by enzymes within a healthy human digestive system.

Lemons and tea go even better together than their popularity might suggest. Lemon juice caused 80 percent of tea's catechins to remain, the study found. Following lemon, in terms of stabilizing power, were orange, lime and grapefruit juices. Ferruzzi said both vitamin C and citrus juices must interact with catechins to prevent their degradation in the intestines, although data made it clear that citrus juices have stabilizing effects beyond what would be predicted solely based on their vitamin C content.

If you want more out of your green tea, add some citrus juice to your cup after brewing or pick a ready-to-drink product formulated with ascorbic acid, Ferruzzi said.

Ready-to-drink green tea products should optimally contain 100-200 mg of catechins, but oftentimes do not have sufficient levels of tea extract since some people do not like green tea's flavor, Ferruzzi said.

Although this study only examined green tea, Ferruzzi said he suspects that some of the results also could apply to black tea, which is produced by fermenting green tea. Many prefer black tea's flavor, although it contains lower total levels of catechins.

Studies have shown catechins from the green tea plant, Camellia sinensis, are able to detoxify toxic chemicals, inhibit cancer cell activity and stimulate production of immune-strengthening enzymes. Finding methods to improve uptake of these catechins may, therefore, be important in improving health, part of the study's goal, Ferruzzi said.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Ferruzzi currently is conducting an in vivo study, or study on a live organism, to quantify the ability of juices and vitamin C to increase levels of catechins in the intestines and bloodstream of animals and, by extension, in humans. He collaborates with the NIH-funded Purdue Botanicals Research Center on this project.

This next study is designed to get us past the limitations imposed by our digestive model, which is really just a simple screening process that relies on preset physiology parameters, he said. Human digestion is a lot more complicated.

To see if juices and vitamin C actually increase catechin absorption, researchers will have to find out if increased levels of intestinal catechins translate to higher levels of absorbed catechins in live animals and humans. They also will need to better document effects upon catechin metabolism in order to prove, for instance, that increased levels of absorbed catechins are not leveled off by metabolic factors, Ferruzzi said.

This study tells us a lot of interesting things, but it raises many questions that have yet to be answered, he said.

Fat cells send message that aids insulin secretion

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The body's fat cells help the pancreas do its job of secreting insulin, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. This previously unrecognized process ultimately could lead to new methods to improve glucose metabolism in type 2 diabetic or insulin-resistant people.

In a study using laboratory mice, published in the November 7, 2007 issue of Cell Metabolism, scientists at the School of Medicine report that fat cells release a protein that aids insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells, which are the sole source of insulin. The protein is an enzyme that the pancreatic cells themselves produce in only minimal amounts. The enzyme works to enhance glucose-stimulated insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells.

Insulin helps the body process blood sugar (glucose), and those with type 2 diabetes have a deficiency of insulin or a resistance to its effects. More than 7 million people in the U.S. are living with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and many more are undiagnosed.

The researchers assert that the enzyme secreted by fat cells, called Nampt, is an important component of the insulin-secretion pathway. We think this secretion process allows fat cells to communicate with the pancreas and aid its function, says senior author Shin-ichiro Imai, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and of molecular biology and pharmacology. I suspect this process could be critical for compensating pancreatic beta cell function in the face of increasing insulin resistance.

The association of type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance with obesity suggests there may be limits to the ability of the process to enhance pancreatic function, according to Imai. It may be that in some obese individuals a threshold has been reached so that this mechanism no longer provides adequate compensation, he says. But there may be ways to overcome this threshold.

Interestingly, in 2004 Nampt provoked excitement in the scientific community because it was reported to be a newly discovered fat-derived hormone that worked very much like insulin. That study named the enzyme visfatin. The scientists who made this assertion have since retracted their claim.

In the new study, the Washington University researchers contend that Nampt is not an insulin-like hormone. Instead, their investigation shows it's an enzyme that modulates pancreatic function.

Our work marks a conceptual breakthrough, Imai says. Nampt synthesizes a compound in the bloodstream, and when that compound reaches the pancreas it stimulates insulin secretion. This is a surprising mechanism by which a circulating metabolite modulates pancreatic function.

Imai says he believes it's possible that the compound produced by Nampt, called NMN for short, could be used to raise insulin secretion from pancreatic cells and thus help improve the way the body handles sugar. Imai and his group are collaborating with clinical researchers at the University to find out how much NMN is in the blood of normal and diabetic or obese patients. They also hope to initiate clinical trials to test NMN as a therapeutic agent in patients with type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance.

U of I scientist does nutritional detective work in Botswana

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Many Americans have a soft spot for Botswana, developed while reading the best-selling #1 Ladies Detective Agency series. But few have had a chance to do any sleuthing of their own in that African country.

That changed when University of Illinois scientist Karen Chapman-Novakofski acquired a Batswana doctoral student and learned how little data existed about the health and nutrition of that country's elderly.

In Botswana, which has the highest incidence of AIDS of any African country, the aged are often raising many grandchildren whose parents have died from the disease. So the elderly's good health is very important, she said.

The two traveled to Africa, secured each tribal chief's permission, then set up shop in front of Botswanan post offices on the days the elderly received their pension checks and questioned them about their eating habits.

The results of their detective work have clarified the situation for Botswanan policy makers and were published in the November/December issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. The article has also been selected for inclusion in a special issue of that journal dedicated to the problem of world poverty.

The information that we gathered will support needed changes in the country's nutrition policy. For example, should foods be fortified And what foods are best to fortify said Chapman-Novakofski, a U of I professor of nutrition.

Because of our research, Sega (her former doctoral student and collaborator Segametsi D. Maruapula, now a professor at Botswana's University of Gabarone) is well positioned to assume leadership in this area, she said.

Elderly Batswana have little variety in their diet, and, of the five major food groups, they receive only enough grain, and not nearly enough milk, fruits, vegetables, and meat. Only 41 percent had eaten meat in the 24-hour period before they were surveyed, the researcher said.

She noted that mixed dishes--for example, samp (a grain) and beans--are a source of protein for Batswana, and added that people who consume lower-calorie diets may need higher protein levels in order to function well.

The most widely consumed foods were tea, sorghum and maize meal, followed by milk and bread, she said. Although up to 40 percent of the elderly drink milk, they mainly drink it in their tea. And Botswanan milk is ultrapasteurized, canned milk that may not be fortified with vitamins A and D.

The scientists also investigated dietary patterns, Chapman-Novakopfski said.

For example, persons living in urban areas had more access to fruits and vegetables than their rural counterparts. And, in a pattern that also occurs in the West, single, widowed, and elderly females consumed less meat and fruit than elderly men and married people, she said.

Eating vegetables was more common if older persons had children in their homes, also a Western behavior, she said. As a rule, people make an effort to prepare more nutritious meals if children are also eating them.

The elderly Batswana's frequent role as caretakers of their grandchildren makes it all the more necessary that government policy makers promote good health and nutrition among that group, said Chapman-Novakofski.

Although, as a researcher, the amazing thing to me was that the people we interviewed were as old and as mobile as they were. Most had walked to the post office to get their pension, she said.

Many live to be 80 or 90, yet they're obviously not eating the five fruits and vegetables a day that we recommend. They may not be in robust good health, yet they seem to be healthy enough, especially in a country that has severe infectious disease, she said.

So there may be other factors that promote their longevity, which is an interesting area for further research, she said.

Also, as Batswana begin to adopt Western consumption patterns, they'll have the challenge of promoting good eating habits while avoiding some of the bad habits that we have, such as overconsumption of fats and calories, she said.

Parasites a key to the decline of red colobus monkeys in forest fragments

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Forest fragmentation threatens biodiversity, often causing declines or local extinctions in a majority of species while enhancing the prospects of a few. A new study from the University of Illinois shows that parasites can play a pivotal role in the decline of species in fragmented forests. This is the first study to look at how forest fragmentation increases the burden of infectious parasites on animals already stressed by disturbances to their habitat.

The study, of black-and-white colobus monkeys and red colobus monkeys in tropical forests in western Uganda, appears in the American Journal of Primatology.

Once dominated by vast forests, Uganda now has less than one-twentieth of its original forest cover. According to the World Resources Institute, its tropical forests are being logged and converted to agricultural land at a rate that outpaces sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. Small tracts remain, however, hemmed in by pastures and croplands. Many of the species that thrived in the original forests are struggling to survive in these parcels, which can be as small as one hectare in size.

�In Uganda, just looking at the primates, it�s one of the most biodiverse places on the earth,� said professor of pathobiology Thomas Gillespie, principal investigator on the study. �You�ve got 12 to 13 species of primates in a core undisturbed forest. But if you go into these forest fragments, you�ll find only three or four species of primates.�

Populations of black-and-white colobus monkeys appear to be stable in the Ugandan forest remnants, while their cousins, the red colobus monkeys, are in decline.

Gillespie and his colleague, Colin Chapman, of McGill University in Montreal, surveyed 20 forest fragments near the western boundary of Kibale National Park, in western Uganda.

They compared the abundance, variety and density of potentially harmful parasites in these fragments to the undisturbed �core forest� of the park.

The researchers followed the monkeys for four years, collecting data on how far the animals ranged, what they ate and which parasites were infecting them.

In those four years, red colobus populations in forest fragments declined 20 percent, whereas populations of black-and-white colobus monkeys remained relatively stable. Both species maintained stable populations in the undisturbed forest.

Scientists have struggled to explain why closely related animals, like these two species of monkeys, can fare so differently in forest fragments. The answer, Gillespie said, lies in a complex interplay of factors, with parasites and nutrition playing key roles.

The researchers focused on two nematodes known to cause significant pathology in monkeys: a whipworm, (Trichuris sp.), and a nodule worm (Oesophagostomum sp.). While feeding on leaves, the monkeys ingest the larval forms of these worms. The larvae mature in the intestines, where they can cause blockages or other damage. The nematodes migrate through blood vessels, causing inflammation, organ damage and, sometimes, death.

The researchers found a higher density of parasites in the forest fragments than in the undisturbed forest. They also found new parasites not seen in the undisturbed forest.

�Several of the parasites in these animals in the fragments never occur in undisturbed forest, and some of these novel parasites are definitely from livestock or people,� Gillespie said. The red colobus monkeys were infected with five of these human or livestock parasites; the black and white colobus carried only two.

Other differences between the two species affect their vulnerability to parasitic infection. Red colobus monkeys congregate and live in large groups, with up to 50 members, compared with about 10 members in the black-and-white groups. Red colobus monkeys eat a much more varied diet. This causes them to travel farther, searching for the foods they need. But many of the plants that make up their diet simply aren�t available in disturbed forest fragments.

�The red colobus typically eat 40 to 50 species of plants, but in these forest fragments we might only have 12 tree species, so there�s a dramatic reduction in what we typically would see them feed on,� Gillespie said.

�The black-and-white colobus tend to feed on whatever�s dominant. They make do with what�s there.�

The black-and-white colobus monkeys� ability to eat well under a variety of circumstances enhances their ability to withstand parasitic infections, Gillespie said.

Red colobus monkeys� travels bring them into contact with more parasites. Their compromised nutritional status also weakens them, giving parasites the edge, Gillespie said.

�We asked how parasitism plays into this dynamic of some species doing well and others not doing well after forest fragmentation,� Gillespie said. �This is giving us a new window into what�s happening.�

Severely restricted diet linked to physical fitness into old age

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BUFFALO, NY -- Severely restricting calories leads to a longer life, scientists have proved.

New research now has shown for the first time that such a diet also can maintain physical fitness into advanced age, slowing the seemingly inevitable progression to physical disability and loss of independence.

The study, using a rat model of life-time caloric restriction, showed that the diet reduces the amount of visceral fat, which expresses inflammatory factors that in humans cause chronic disease and a decline in physical performance and vitality across the lifespan.

The study appears in the October issue of Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences.

Have we finally discovered the Fountain of Youth?

No. But we may be getting a little closer.

�This is the first study to report that caloric restriction reduced production in visceral fat of the inflammatory cytokine IL-6 and enhanced performance on overall physical function assessments,� said Tongjian You, Ph.D., assistant professor of exercise and nutrition sciences in the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions and principal investigator.

�In addition, rats that ate a normal diet lost a significant amount of lean muscle mass and acquired more fat, while calorie-restricted rats maintained lean muscle mass as they aged.�

The study was conducted with male rats in three age groups -- 18, 24 and 29 months, comparable to ages 50-70 years in humans -- that had been fed either a normal or

40-percent calorie-restricted diet from birth. The animals were put through tests to determine grip strength, muscle tone, stamina and swimming speed. Data also were collected on whole body mass, lean body mass, fat mass, percent body fat, the ratio of fat-to-lean body mass, amount of visceral fat and the amount of pro-inflammatory cytokines and C-reactive protein, a marker of chronic inflammation.

Results showed that animals on the restricted calorie diet had significantly higher physical performance scores than animals fed a normal diet. They also had less fat, a lower fat-to-lean ratio, and lower adipose tissue secretion of IL-6 and circulating levels of C-reactive protein.

The stumbling block on this path to remaining forever young is that humans could not adhere to such a severe diet.

�Based on an average of 2,000 calories per day for adult women and 2,500 for men, cutting by 40 percent would mean surviving on 1,200 and 1,500 calories per day, respectively, said You.

�It�s very difficult for people to maintain that type of diet for short periods of time, and it would be nearly impossible over a lifetime, while staying healthy. Starting on a diet like that in the senior years would be harmful.�

You said that a more moderate form of caloric restriction, 8 percent, is achievable in humans, based on recent findings, and may have positive effects on specific oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers.

�Preclinical testing of this 8-percent regimen could be informative and beneficial in translating to humans,� he said.

Exercise improves thinking, reduces diabetes risk in overweight children

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Just three months of daily, vigorous physical activity in overweight children improves their thinking and reduces their diabetes risk, researchers say.

Studies of about 200 overweight, inactive children ages 7-11 also showed that a regular exercise program reduces body fat and improves bone density.

�Is exercise a magic wand that turns them into lean, healthy kids? No. They are still overweight but less so, with less fat, a healthier metabolism and an improved ability to handle life,� says Dr. Catherine Davis, clinical health psychologist at the Medical College of Georgia and lead investigator.

All study participants learned about healthy nutrition and the benefits of physical activity; one-third also exercised 20 minutes after school and another third exercised for 40 minutes. Children played hard, with running games, hula hoops and jump ropes, raising their heart rates to 79 percent of maximum, which is considered vigorous.

�Aerobic exercise training showed dose-response benefits on executive function (decision-making) and possibly math achievement, in overweight children,� researchers write in an abstract being presented during The Obesity Society�s Annual Scientific Meeting Oct. 20-24 in New Orleans. �Regular exercise may be a simple, important method of enhancing children�s cognitive and academic development. These results may persuade educators to implement vigorous physical activity curricula during a childhood obesity epidemic.�

Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies, which show the brain at work, were performed on a percentage of children in each group and found those who exercised had different patterns of brain activity during an executive function task.

�Look what good it does when they exercise,� says Dr. Davis. �This is an important public health issue we need to look at as a nation to help our children learn and keep them well.�

Unprecedented obesity and inactivity rates in America�s children are impacting health, including dramatic increases in the incidence of type 2 diabetes, a disease formerly known as adult-onset diabetes. Overweight children also have slightly lower school achievement, on average.

�We hope these findings will help persuade policymakers, schools and communities that time spent being physically active enhances, rather than detracts, from learning,� says Dr. Davis.

�There have been several studies that have shown that exercise produces kind of a selective effect, particularly with older adults, in cognitive tasks that require regulation of behaviors,� says Dr. Phillip D. Tomporowski, experimental psychologist at the University of Georgia and a key collaborator.

For this study, researchers gave the children tests that look at their decision-making processes. In the first such studies in children, the researchers found small to moderate improvements in children who exercised as well as a hint of increased math achievement.

�We have a number of studies conducted with animals that examined what influence physical activity has on blood flow, metabolic activity, brain function, glucose regulation, and they all demonstrate the same theme: that physical activity done on a regular basis has a protective effect,� says Dr. Tomporowski. �It doesn�t take too much to make the leap that it might influence developing children as well.�

Looking at the children�s insulin resistance, a precursor of type 2 diabetes in which it takes more insulin to convert glucose into energy, researchers found levels dropped 15 percent in the 20-minute exercise group and 21 percent in the 40-minute group. The control group stayed about the same.

�Increasing volume of regular aerobic exercise shows increased benefits on insulin resistance in overweight children, indicating reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, regardless of sex or race,� they write.

�We also know that if you stop exercising, you lose all the benefits,� adds Dr. Davis. �Exercise works if you do it.�

Adult studies have yielded comparable findings regarding exercise�s impact on insulin resistance and cognition.

The researchers tested oral glucose tolerance, measuring insulin response after children drank a small amount of glucose, before and after the studies. �Once your glucose levels start to rise, it�s called impaired glucose tolerance and that is a precursor of diabetes. It�s called pre-diabetes now,� says Dr. Davis, noting that overweight children typically have higher insulin resistance than their leaner peers. Insulin resistance is an early sign of diabetes risk that appears before glucose levels start to rise. Growth associated with puberty can temporarily increase insulin resistance, Dr. Davis notes, so because some of the children were beginning puberty, they made adjustments for the level of sex hormones.

DEXA scanning, which uses a small amount of radiation to quantify bone, tissue and fat, was used to accurately assess body composition. Executive function was measured using the Cognitive Assessment System and math skills using the Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement III.

�If physical education were ideal, which it�s not � it�s not daily and it�s not active � then children could achieve this within the school day,� Dr. Davis says, pointing to benefits derived by children exercising just 20 minutes a day. �We are not there. To achieve maximum benefit, we were able to show it will take more than PE.�

Zinc may reduce pneumonia risk in nursing home elderly

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BOSTON � When elderly nursing home residents contract pneumonia, it is a blow to their already fragile health. Simin Nikbin Meydani, DVM, PhD of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and colleagues report that maintaining normal serum zinc concentration in the blood may help reduce the risk of pneumonia development in that population.

�Based on our data, it appears that daily zinc intake can help nursing home residents who are susceptible to pneumonia, especially those with low serum zinc concentrations in their blood,� says Meydani, corresponding author and director of the Nutritional Immunology Laboratory at the USDA HNRCA . �The study participants with normal serum zinc concentrations in their blood reduced their risk of developing pneumonia by about 50 percent. Additionally, deaths from all causes were 39 percent lower in this group.�

Meydani and colleagues analyzed blood samples from a previous study that investigated the role of Vitamin E in preventing respiratory infections in nursing home residents ages 65 and older. The study enrolled 617 men and women from 33 nursing homes in the Boston area. All of the participants received daily supplements containing 50 percent of the recommended dietary allowance of several vitamins and minerals, including zinc, for one year. Foods that provide zinc include oysters, red meat, poultry, whole grains, beans and dairy products.

In the present study, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the authors compared blood samples collected at the beginning and the conclusion of the one-year study. The participants whose serum zinc concentrations remained low throughout that 12-month period had more difficulty battling pneumonia. �Not only did those participants have a higher risk of developing pneumonia when they did become sick, they did not recover as quickly and required a longer course of antibiotics,� says Meydani, who is also a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, both at Tufts University. �We also noted a higher rate of death from all causes.�

Maintaining normal serum zinc concentration in the blood throughout the 12-month study period benefited the participants even if they did develop pneumonia. Meydani adds, �Those participants with normal serum zinc concentrations in their blood were more likely to spend fewer days on antibiotics and recover more quickly.�

Meydani and colleagues conclude that zinc may reduce the risk of pneumonia, and its associated complications in nursing home residents. �Zinc is already known to strengthen the immune system; however, there needs to be further investigation of zinc and its effect on pneumonia development and prevention in nursing homes,� Meydani says. �The next step would likely be a clinical trial.�

New study: pine bark extract boosts nitric oxide production

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A study to be published in the October edition of Hypertension Research reveals Pycnogenol, (pic-noj-en-all), an antioxidant plant extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, helps individuals by enhancing healthy nitric oxide (NO) production which leads to an increase in blood flow and oxygen supply to muscles.

Nitric oxide, a key cardiovascular chemical produced by the body, increases blood flow that serves to deliver more nutrients and oxygen to the muscles, helping muscles to cope with increased physical activity and build when subjected to regular elevated labor.

�This study suggests that when taking Pycnogenol, more NO is provided in response to neurotransmitters allowing for better expansion of arteries to carry more blood. This process serves to meet the enhanced oxygen demand of the performing muscle and avoid anaerobic metabolism,said Dr. Yukihito Higashi, lead researcher of the study. �These results also lead me to determine that Pycnogenol will be a useful natural alternative therapy in various diseases in which oxidative stress is involved in the pathogenesis.

The double-blind, randomized, placebo study was held at the Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Japan. Every day for two weeks young healthy men either took 180 mg Pycnogenol or a placebo. To identify Pycnogenol�s effect on the release of NO, an inhibitor of the amino acid L-arginine was infused in patients, which restricts the expansion of arteries in response to the neurotransmitter acytelcholine.

After two weeks of supplementation with Pycnogenol, results revealed blood flow increased in response to acetylcholine stimulation by 42 percent. In contrast, the control group receiving the placebo did not show a pronounced blood flow increase in response to neurotransmitter stimulation.

�Acetylcholine stimulates the cells of arteries to produce NO from L-arginine faster,Dr. Higashi said. �In turn, the NO causes the muscle surrounding arteries to relax, which results in an increase of blood vessel diameters. When subjects had taken Pycnogenol the relaxation of arteries was increased by 42 percent as compared to the group taking placebo tablets.

According to Frank Sch�nlau, Ph.D, director of scientific communications for Horphag Research, worldwide distributors of Pycnogenol, �While more research is warranted, this is an encouraging breakthrough especially to athletes as Pycnogenol seems to allow people to move faster when exercising by satisfying the enhanced muscle oxygen demand and increasing the blood flow to active muscles. When people are performing heavy physical activity, nerves release neurotransmitter acetylcholine to arteries supplying muscles, which makes them expand, a process that requires enhanced production of NO.

A multitude of studies about Pycnogenol and sports nutrition have been conducted. Most recently, a year ago, Pycnogenol was demonstrated to improve blood circulation and support a lasting aerobic muscle activity during any kind of activity and enhance sports endurance by alleviating cramping and muscular pain in athletes. In short, Pycnogenol is effective for enhancing and prolonging muscle performance during sport, supports muscle adaptation to higher work-load and allows for faster physical recovery.

The 'arms' race: Adult steroid users seek muscles, not medals

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The majority of non-medical anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) users are not cheating athletes or risk-taking teenagers. According to a recent survey, containing the largest sample to date and published in the online open access publication, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, the typical male user is about 30 years old, well-educated, and earning an above-average income in a white-collar occupation. The majority did not use steroids during adolescence and were not motivated by athletic competition or sports performance.

The study, conducted by a collaboration of researchers from around the country coordinated by Jason Cohen, Psy.D. candidate, used a web-based survey of nearly 2,000 US males. Whereas athletes are tempted to take anabolic steroids to improve sports performance, the study suggests that physical self-improvement motivates the unrecognized majority of non-medical AAS users who particularly want to increase muscle mass, strength, and physical attractiveness. Other significant but less highly ranked factors included increased confidence, decreased fat, improved mood and attraction of sexual partners.

Although often considered similar to abusers of narcotics and other illicit drugs (e.g., heroin or cocaine), non-medical AAS users are remarkably different. These users follow carefully planned drug regimens in conjunction with a healthy diet, ancillary drugs and exercise. As opposed to the spontaneous and haphazard approach seen in abusers of psychotropic drugs, everything is strategically planned to maximize benefits and minimize harm. This is simply not a style or pattern of use we typically see when we examine substance abuse said Jack Darkes, Ph.D., one of the authors. The notions of spontaneous drug seeking and loss of control do not apply to the vast majority of AAS users, added co-author Daniel Gwartney, M.D.

These findings question commonly held views of typical AAS users and their underlying motivations, said Rick Collins, one of the study's authors. The focus on 'cheating' athletes and at risk youth has led to irrelevant policy as it relates to the predominant group of non-medical AAS users. The vast majority of AAS users are not athletes and hence, are not likely to view themselves as cheaters. The targeting of athletes through drug testing and other adolescent or sports-based interventions has no bearing on non-competitive adult users.The study concludes that these AAS users are a driven and ambitious group dedicated to gym attendance, diet, occupational goals and educational attainment. The users we surveyed consider that they are using directed drug technology as one part of a strategy for physical self-improvement within a health-centered lifestyle, said Collins. Effective public policy should begin by accurately identifying who's using steroids and why. We hope our research - the largest adult survey of non-medical AAS use we know of - is a significant step forward in that direction.

Drink tea for stronger bones, suggests study

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 11:00:41 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Sydney, Oct 9 - Drinking tea regularly, known to have several health benefits, may be good for the bones too, say researchers in Australia.

Health experts in Perth studied 275 elderly women aged 70-85 and found that those who drank tea had higher bone density at their hips and less bone loss than women who didn't drink tea.

It was a larger five-year study of calcium supplements and osteoporosis - a disease that weakens the bones and increases the risk of fractures. The researchers led by Amanda Devine of University of Western Australia, Perth, measured the bone density of the hip at the beginning and end of the study and also kept a tab on the amount of black and green tea the women drank.

Although the study did not find a link between the cups of tea consumed per day and bone mineral density, it found the bone density at two places at the hip was higher in tea drinkers than in non-tea drinkers, the online edition of health Magazine WebMD reported.

Tea drinkers also had less loss of bone density over a four-year period compared to the women who did not drink tea.

These results took into account factors such as smoking history and use of calcium supplements, according to the study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed.

'Other variables, such as dietary calcium and coffee intake, physical activity, and smoking did not appear to be important confounders of the relation between tea and bone density,' the researchers said.

People in the past have been using tea in managing and preventing allergies, diabetes, bacterial and viral infections, cavities and to reduce inflammatory diseases.

A previous study by the Yale School of Medicine had indicated that those who consume green tea on an average of 1.2 litres a day get several health benefits.

Separate studies have also revealed that tea can help improve gastrointestinal functions, alcohol metabolism, kidney, liver and pancreatic functions and protect the skin and eyes.

Folic acid lowers blood arsenic levels, according to Mailman School of Public Health study

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) October 8, 2007 -- A new study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health finds that folic acid supplements can dramatically lower blood arsenic levels in individuals exposed to arsenic through contaminated drinking water. This toxic element, naturally present in some aquifers used for drinking, is currently a significant public health problem in at least 70 countries, including several developing countries and also parts of the U.S. Chronic arsenic exposure is associated with increased risk for skin, liver and bladder cancers, skin lesions, cardiovascular disease, and other adverse health outcomes. The study results are published in the October issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The researchers found that treatment with 400 micrograms a day of folic acid, the U.S. recommended dietary allowance, reduced total blood arsenic levels in the study population by 14 percent. Folate, a B vitamin found in leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, beans, and whole grains, can also be taken as a vitamin supplement, and in the U.S., is added to flour and other fortified foods. The researchers found that folate deficiency is very common in Bangladesh, where the study was conducted.

�Folic acid supplementation enhanced the detoxification of arsenic to a form that is more readily excreted in urine,� said Mary Gamble, PhD, assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the Mailman School, and lead author. The study is jointly supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health and the federally funded Superfund Basic Research Program (SPRB), which seeks solutions to the complex health and environmental issues associated with the nation's hazardous waste sites.

Folic acid increased the methylation or detoxification of arsenic in the body, allowing the body to change some of its more toxic metabolite, or methylarsonic (MMA) acid, to a form that could more easily be excreted from the body, thus lowering the levels of arsenic found in the blood.

Chronic arsenic exposure currently affects 100 million persons worldwide, including populations in Bangladesh. The arsenic levels in drinking water in some parts of Bangladesh reach as high as 100 times the World Health Organization and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines, which set a limit of 10 micrograms per liter for arsenic in drinking water.

The initial intervention study included 200 folate-deficient participants drawn from a larger cohort study in Bangladesh examining the adverse health effects of arsenic. Dr. Gamble pointed out, �The technology to measure arsenic in blood, and particularly to measure the individual arsenic metabolites in blood, didn�t exist when the studies were first planned.� She credits the advanced technology to recent advances in other laboratories at Columbia, including work conducted by Superfund grantee Joseph H. Graziano, PhD, professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the Mailman School, and a co-author on the study.

�Clearly the first priority should focus on mitigation efforts to lower arsenic exposure. But this very exciting and significant finding implies that folic acid has therapeutic potential for people who have been exposed to arsenic,� said Dr. Gamble. �Although additional studies are needed, the results of this study suggest that a simple, low-cost nutritional intervention may help to prevent some of the long-term health consequences associated with arsenic exposure for the many populations at risk.�

William Suk, PhD, acting deputy director of the NIEHS, discussed the significance of this work in Bangladesh to the U.S. He explains that arsenic contamination of groundwater is one of the five most common inorganic compounds found at Superfund sites and is present at over 70% of the sites. �Because of the prevalence of arsenic, the SBRP has placed an emphasis on supporting arsenic-related research in heavily affected areas all over the world to understand and mitigate the health issues arising from arsenic exposure via drinking water. This research is already demonstrating its relevance to exposures that are occurring in the United States.�

Claudia Thompson, PhD, acting director of the SPRB, said, �The work that our grantees are doing in Bangladesh is extraordinary. Not only is the research they are conducting improving the quality of life for the people in Bangladesh, but it can potentially help the more than 100 million people worldwide that are chronically exposed to arsenic.�

The study results also imply that folic acid supplementation may help to reduce body stores of arsenic even after exposure has been reduced. Elevated risk for adverse health outcomes persists for decades after exposure has been eliminated. The researchers stress that additional studies are needed to determine the optimal dose- and duration of treatment, as well as studies that include health outcomes.

Limiting refined carbohydrates may stall AMD progression

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Eating fewer refined carbohydrates may slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a new study from researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

AMD results in partial or total blindness in 7 to 15% of the elderly, according to the Eye Diseases Prevalence Research Group. �Dietary changes may be the most practical and cost-effective prevention method to combat progression of AMD,� says Allen Taylor, PhD, director of the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the USDA HNRCA. �It is surprising there is so little attention focused on the relationship between AMD and carbohydrates.�

The current study, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, builds on a recent analysis by Taylor and colleagues that found men and women older than 55 who consumed diets with higher-than-average dietary glycemic index foods appeared to have an increased risk for both early and later stages of AMD.

Dietary glycemic index is a scale used to determine how quickly carbohydrates are broken down into blood sugar, or glucose. Foods with a high glycemic index are associated with a faster rise and subsequent drop in blood sugar. Refined carbohydrates like white bread and white rice have high glycemic indices. Whole wheat versions of rice, pasta and bread are examples of foods with low glycemic indices.

In the present study, Taylor and colleagues analyzed diet questionnaires completed by 4,757 non-diabetic men and women participating in the nationwide Age-Releated Eye Disease Study (AREDS). The eight-year AREDS study enrolled participants between the ages of 55 and 80 with varying stages of AMD. Taylor and colleagues examined the participants� carbohydrate intake over a one-year period and used the data to calculate the participants� dietary glycemic index.

�Our data showed those people in the high-glycemic-index group were at greater risk of AMD progression, especially those already in the late stages,� says first author Chung-Jung Chiu, DDS, PhD, scientist in the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the USDA HNRCA and assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. �Participants who consumed the most refined carbohydrates were 17 percent more likely to develop blinding AMD than the group that consumed the least.�

According to the authors, public health officials believe the condition could spur a public health crisis in the United States by 2020, when they predict the cases of AMD-related vision loss will have doubled to three million.

�No one has been able to identify an effective noninvasive intervention that will slow the progression of AMD� says Taylor, who is also a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts and Tufts University School of Medicine. �We feel we have identified a risk factor that could postpone the debilitating loss of vision with very little economic or personal hardship. Based on our data, limiting refined carbohydrate intake, such as by limiting sweetened drinks or exchanging white bread for whole wheat, in at-risk elderly could reduce the number of advanced AMD cases by 8 percent in five years. This can equate to saving the sight of approximately 100,000 people.�

The authors note that their findings warrant randomized controlled clinical trials.

Corazonas Foods and Brandeis University partner to create cholesterol-reducing snacks

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Waltham, MA -- Corazonas Foods, Inc., creators of great-tasting, heart-healthy snack foods, has announced an exclusive licensing agreement with Brandeis University to utilize its technology in creating several new categories of heart-healthy snacks. Brandeis�s innovative technology allows high levels of plant sterols to be incorporated into snack foods while retaining the product�s outstanding flavor. The partnership�s first venture, Corazonas Heart-Healthy Tortilla Chips, are currently the first and only snack chips clinically proven to reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, a.k.a. �bad cholesterol,� by up to 15 percent. The chips have been a huge hit since debuting in early 2006, further demonstrating the overwhelming consumer demand for healthful snack alternatives without sacrificing great taste.

Patented by Brandeis researchers K.C. Hayes, Daniel Perlman, and Andy Pronczuk, the cutting-edge technology has allowed the creation of foods fortified with natural (chemically unmodified) plant sterols. Found naturally in fruits, vegetables, whole-grain products and most vegetable oils, plant sterol levels are usually too low to effectively combat LDL cholesterol. The Brandeis technology makes natural plant sterols biologically available in oils at concentrations of 2 to 25 percent, enabling them to effectively block cholesterol absorption and reduce LDL levels.

A variety of scientific studies have shown that plant sterols, when appropriately added to other foods, can lower blood cholesterol and reduce risk for coronary heart disease. Brandeis University has licensed its patents exclusively in the field of snack products to Corazonas Foods, which will create additional categories of plant-sterol enhanced foods expanding beyond tortilla chips to other popular snacks including cookies, crackers and potato chips.

�Brandeis University has been a dream partner,� said Ramona Cappello, Corazonas Foods chief executive officer. �We�ve been able to take an American favorite, tortilla chips, and produce them with healthy ingredients to create a crunchy, good-for-you and absolutely delicious snack. In the United States, half the population suffers from borderline to high cholesterol. It�s very rewarding for our Corazonas team to be providing a product that we know can make a real difference in people�s heart health.�

�Brandeis is thrilled that Corazonas is successfully turning our basic discovery into products that have both a positive health benefit and are gaining broad acceptance by consumers,� said Irene Abrams, executive director of the Office of Technology Licensing at Brandeis University. �We are confident that Corazonas will be as successful with its new line of products as they have been with the tortilla chips.�

The chips are currently available in three flavors: Original, Jalape�o Jack and Salsa Picante. Three additional flavors � Margarita Lime, Cilantro Salsa Fresca and Baja Bean Dip � are launching this fall.

Kids still not drinking enough milk

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) American children are drinking too little milk and what they are consuming is too high in fat, according to a Penn State study.

There is a strong correlation between dairy consumption and calcium, says Sibylle Kranz, assistant professor of nutritional sciences. While there is calcium in fortified orange juice, for example, it is not as bioavailable as that found in milk. She notes that people need to take calcium with vitamin D and some protein for optimal use in the body.

Kranz, working with Po-Ju Lin, doctoral student and David A. Wagstaff, statistician, looked at children's average daily dairy intake and compared it with that recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's My Pyramid dairy recommendations and Adequate Intake of calcium for various ages from 2 through 18. Their findings, reported online in press in the Journal of Pediatrics, are that only 2 to 3 year olds meet the MyPyramid dairy recommendations.

They also noticed that most children choose to consume more of the highest fat varieties of cheese, yogurt, ice cream and dairy-based toppings.

The various recommendations for dairy intake in children established by a variety of organizations suggest two cups for 1 to 3 year olds, two to three cups for 4 to 8 year olds, and three to four cups for 9 to 18 year olds depending on the recommending agency.

Only the youngest age group met these requirements. Among 4 to 8 year olds, consumption dropped below two cups a day and remained steady for 9 to 13 year olds, and declined again among 14 to 18 year olds. All these dairy and calcium intake patterns were observed while the recommendation increased to three and then four cups daily.

Although the recommendations are all for low fat dairy, says Kranz. People are still consuming great amounts of whole fat dairy products.

The researchers found that 43 to 51 percent of the dairy consumed by younger children was from whole-fat sources with only 5 to 11 percent from non-fat dairy. Older children consumed about 35 to 36 percent from whole-fat dairy and 11 to 13 percent from non-fat dairy sources.

A glass of fat-free milk has 80 calories, while whole milk has 150 calories, says Kranz. That is a difference per glass of 70 calories or 210 to 280 calories a day for individuals consuming three to four servings of dairy.

The Penn State researcher notes that these additional calories can add to the current problems of childhood obesity. The difference between whole-fat and reduced-fat mozzarella cheese is 20 calories per ounce with another 30 calories if the cheese is fat free.

While children are not meeting the diary or calcium requirements, it is not a good idea to try to meet them by eating premium ice creams or other high fat products, says Kranz. She suggests frozen yogurts or sherbets or low or non-fat yogurt, cheese and toppings.

Also, researchers noted that dairy consumption patterns have not changed recently. Although physicians once recommended that children receive whole milk during the first year of life, that recommendation is no longer true. Doctors now recommend consumption of baby formula if the child is not nursing.

Starting with the second year of life, reduced-fat or fat-free milk is appropriate. However, children are still drinking whole-fat milk.

A cup of milk provides 250 to 300 milligrams of calcium, a cup of low-fat yogurt contributes about 400 milligrams of calcium and an ounce of cheese includes about 200 milligrams of calcium. In dairy products, about 32 percent of the calcium is bioactive and used by the body. Other sources of calcium such as soy milk and fortified orange juice at 300 milligrams are only about 25 percent available.

Dairy products in general are the best sources of calcium for children, but knowing this and getting children to eat more low-fat dairy options (yogurt, cheese and milk) are not the same thing.

Kranz suggests that one solution would be non-fat, non-sugared flavored milk products. These can range from milk with a little cocoa powder to milk blended with strawberries or blueberries.

Currently, only 9 percent of 2 to 3 year olds� dairy consumption is flavored milk, 4 to 13 year olds drink more flavored milk --16 to 18 percent, while 14 to 18 year olds are at 13 percent.

Avoiding sweets may spell a longer life, study in worms suggests

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A new study in the October issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press, reveals that worms live to an older age when they are unable to process the simple sugar glucose. Glucose is a primary source of energy for the body and can be found in all major dietary carbohydrates as a component of starches and other forms of sugar, including sucrose (table sugar) and lactose.

�In the US and Europe, added sugar accounts for 15 to 20 percent of daily calories, and the breakdown of that sugar always generates glucose,� said Michael Ristow of the University of Jena in Germany and the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbr�cke. If the findings in worms hold for humans, it �suggests that, in healthy people, glucose may have negative effects on life span.� The findings may also cast some doubt on the prevailing treatments for type 2 diabetes, all of which are aimed at lowering blood levels of glucose by increasing the amount of sugar taken up by body tissues, Ristow said.

What�s more, Ristow�s group further demonstrated in their report that antioxidants and vitamins given to the worms erased the life-extending benefits of sugar deprivation, raising questions about the widespread use of antioxidant supplements, according to the researchers.

In westernized countries, glucose represents a key dietary component since the most commonly ingested sugar, sucrose, contains equal amounts of glucose and fructose, the researchers noted. Nevertheless, it is a matter of debate whether glucose and other carbohydrates have a relevant effect on disease burden and mortality in humans, they said.

To begin to address the issue in the current study, the researchers exposed the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to a chemical that blocked the worms� ability to process glucose, producing a metabolic state the researchers said resembles that of dietary glucose restriction. That treatment extended the worms� life span up to 20 percent, Ristow reported, noting that the observed gain extrapolated to humans would mean an additional 15 years of life.

Unable to depend on glucose for energy, the long-lived worms ramped up the activity of cellular powerhouses known as mitochondria to fuel their bodies, Ristow said. That mitochondrial activity led to the increased production of reactive oxygen species, sometimes referred to as free radicals. In turn, the worms� defenses against �oxidative stress� increased, the researchers found.

Free radicals are usually considered harmful, Ristow said, and scientists have generally thought that exposure to them would shorten life span. The new findings suggest that, at least in some cases, the opposite may be true.

Indeed, even when the researchers returned the worms to their normal environment, allowing them to again use glucose for energy, the worms� increased defenses and longevity persisted, Ristow said. In contrast, treatment with antioxidant vitamins prevented the oxidative stress and the defenses against it, eliminating the life-boosting effects. Ristow called the result �scary� because it means that, rather than being protective, antioxidant pills may actually leave the body more vulnerable by thwarting those natural defenses.

Ristow doesn�t recommend that people toss out their multivitamins just yet, however, cautioning that his findings were made in worms. He also noted that antioxidant-rich foods, including fruits and vegetables, contain thousands of substances�many of which have yet to be identified. While scientists don�t yet know what all those ingredients do, it�s clear that such natural foods support �healthy pathways,� Ristow said.

Low doses of a red wine ingredient fight diabetes in mice

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Even relatively low doses of resveratrol�a chemical found in the skins of red grapes and in red wine�can improve the sensitivity of mice to the hormone insulin, according to a report in the October issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication. As insulin resistance is often characterized as the most critical factor contributing to the development of type 2 diabetes, the findings �provide a potential new therapeutic approach for preventing or treating� both conditions, the researchers said.

The research group also confirmed that increased levels of an enzyme called SIRT1, which earlier studies had linked to longevity, DNA repair, and insulin secretion, improve insulin sensitivity in mice. Resveratrol is known to activate the SIRT1 enzyme.

The results suggest that �red wine might have some benefits for insulin sensitivity, but it needs to be confirmed by further investigation,� said Qiwei Zhai of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Given the potential complications of drinking alcohol, �an even better option may be to find other natural foods enriched with resveratrol or foods supplemented with resveratrol,� he added, noting that the chemical is also an active ingredient in other plants, including one called Polygonum cuspidatum used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine.

Diabetes mellitus, the most common endocrine disorder, currently affects more than 170 million people worldwide and is expected to affect more than 353 million by the year 2030, Zhai said. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for more than 90 percent of diabetes cases, is characterized by the resistance of body tissues to stimulation by the peptide hormone insulin. Insulin normally lowers blood glucose levels by facilitating the sugar�s uptake, mainly into skeletal muscle and fat tissue, and by inhibiting glucose production in the liver. Currently, alleviating insulin resistance is still one of the key avenues to treating type 2 diabetes.

Earlier studies had reported a connection between SIRT1 and the processes of glucose metabolism and insulin secretion. However, whether SIRT1 was directly involved in insulin sensitivity remained largely unknown, the researchers said.

Now, the researchers report that SIRT1 levels are reduced in insulin-resistant cells and tissues and that treatments that block the enzyme�s function lead to insulin resistance. Furthermore, increased SIRT1 activity improved insulin sensitivity. Similarly, resveratrol�at a dose of just 2.5 mg/kg/day�enhanced insulin sensitivity in cells. That low dose of resveratrol also reduced insulin resistance in animals fed a high-fat diet, the researchers showed.

�We found SIRT1 improves insulin sensitivity, especially under insulin-resistant conditions,� Zhai said. �Furthermore, we found that resveratrol, at a very low dose compared with many previous studies, improves insulin sensitivity via SIRT1.�

The findings suggest that those who drink red wine for the health-promoting benefits of resveratrol might �think about drinking less,� Zhai said. Previously, he noted, the effects of resveratrol seen in mice had implied that humans might need to drink about 120 liters of red wine each day to get enough resveratrol to enjoy the same benefit. �According to our findings, people might need to drink about three liters of red wine each day to get sufficient resveratrol�about 15 mg�for its biological effects.�

UMass Medical School study identifies the best weight-loss plans for heart health

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Over the past three decades, the rising obesity epidemic has been accompanied by a proliferation of weight-loss plans. However, as a new study by researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) reveals, these weight-loss plans vary significantly in their ability to positively affect heart health.

In �A Dietary Quality Comparison of Popular Weight-Loss Plans,� published in the October issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, several weight-loss plans significantly outperformed others in their ability to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Specifically, the investigators found that the Ornish, Weight Watchers High Carbohydrate and New Glucose Revolution plans scored highest when measured by the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI). Proven to be a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease, the AHEI is a measure that isolates dietary components that are most strongly linked to cardiovascular disease risk reduction.

�Obviously, obesity is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease,� said UMMS Assistant Professor of Medicine Yunsheng Ma, PhD, MPH, one of the study�s primary authors. �Optimal weight-loss plans should facilitate both weight loss and chronic disease prevention, specifically cardiovascular risk reduction.�

Choosing weight-loss plans based on their status on The New York Times bestseller list during the past five years, Dr. Ma and colleagues evaluated the dietary quality of the New Glucose Revolution, Weight Watchers High Carbohydrate and Weight Watchers High Protein, Atkins 100- and 45-gram Carbohydrate, South Beach Phase 2 and Phase 3, The Zone, Ornish and the 2005 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Guide Pyramid plans. Weight Watchers and the 2005 USDA Food Guide Pyramid plan were included because they are the largest commercial weight loss plan and the current government recommendation, respectively. Elements used to determine dietary quality included ratio of white to red meat, ratio of polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat, and quantities of fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes, cereal fiber and trans fats, all of which are known to affect cardiovascular health.

Of a maximum 70 points, the AHEI scores from highest to lowest were: Ornish (64.6); Weight Watchers High Carbohydrate (57.4); New Glucose Revolution (57.2); South Beach/Phase 2 (50.7); Zone (49.8); 2005 USDA Food Guide Pyramid (48.7); Weight Watchers High Protein (47.3); Atkins/100 g Carb (46); South Beach/Phase 3 (45.6) and Atkins/45g Carb (42.3). According to study co-author and UMass Memorial Medical Center registered dietitian Barbara Olendzki, RD, MPH, an instructor in medicine at UMMS, �The highest performing plans�Ornish, Weight Watchers High Carb and the New Glucose Revolution�fared well due to an emphasis on fruits and vegetables, higher whole grain composition and lower trans fats.�

�One of the unexpected findings is that the 2005 USDA Food Guide Pyramid, the current government recommendation, fared significantly worse than the New Glucose Revolution, Weight Watchers High Carbohydrate and Ornish plans,� said Ma. �The USDA dietary guidelines were originally devised to prevent nutrient deficiencies and it's clear that we need to modify or rebuild the pyramid to look into cardiovascular disease prevention, as it is the leading cause of death and disability for Americans. Americans deserve a better dietary guideline and recommendation�.

�Patients can lose weight with most dietary plans in the short term, but whether the plan they choose maximizes cardiovascular risk reduction over the long term should also be a consideration for patients and health care providers,� concluded study co-author Sherry Pagoto, PhD, UMMS assistant professor of medicine and a clinical psychologist at the UMass Memorial Weight Center.

Joslin researchers uncover potential role of leptin in diabetes

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BOSTON�October 1, 2007�A new Joslin-led study has shown that leptin, a hormone known mainly for regulating appetite control and energy metabolism, plays a major role in islet cell growth and insulin secretion. This finding opens up new avenues for studying leptin and its role in islet cell biology, which may lead to new treatments for diabetes. This study appears in the October 2007 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Previous in vitro studies suggested that leptin receptors, which are found in tissues throughout the body including the pancreas as well as the brain, mediate leptin-induced inhibition of insulin secretion in islet cells, also known as beta cells. �We wanted to further our understanding of leptin and its role in beta cells independent of its effects in the brain,� said Rohit N. Kulkarni, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator at Joslin Diabetes Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, who led this study. It is currently not known why obese individuals exhibit a high incidence of diabetes despite high levels of both insulin and leptin circulating in the bloodstream.

To understand the role of leptin in the islets, researchers developed a mouse model (known as a �knock out� or KO mouse) genetically engineered not to produce leptin receptors in the pancreas, while maintaining the receptors in the brain and the rest of the body. Researchers found that the mice lacking leptin receptors in the pancreas showed improved glucose tolerance and greater insulin secretion and beta cell growth. �Since the normal function of leptin is to keep insulin levels from getting too high, the lack of leptin enhances insulin action in the beta cells and promotes insulin secretion, which was the result we expected,� said Dr. Kulkarni.

In the second part of the study, the KO mice and a control group of mice with intact leptin receptors were placed on a high-fat diet. Although both the control and KO mice became obese, only the KO mice developed severe glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, a precursor to the development of diabetes. �These novel results indicate that in the presence of obesity, the combination of insulin resistance in the beta cell and the lack of leptin signaling leads to poor beta cell growth and function leading to glucose intolerance. Interactions between leptin and insulin signaling in the beta cell need to be considered to understand the relationship between diabetes and obesity,� said Dr. Kulkarni.

Obesity is a major risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease. Other risk factors are age (over 40) and a family history of diabetes, although today it is increasing prevalent in younger people, including adolescents. In type 2 diabetes, islet cells malfunction and the body is unable to compensate by growing more beta cells. By investigating the cellular mechanisms that affect islet cell development and growth, Joslin researchers hope to find better ways to prevent and treat the disease.

Follow-up studies will focus on examining the interactions between insulin and leptin signaling in beta cells and identifying the key proteins found in the pathways that regulate beta cell growth and activity. This could lead to the development of therapeutic drugs that manipulate these proteins to influence beta cell growth and function. �Unraveling the role of leptin in the regulation of beta cell biology will be especially useful in understanding the mechanisms that contribute to beta cell growth with implications for the treatment of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes,� said Dr. Kulkarni.

'Bad carbs' not the enemy, University of Virginia professor finds

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The latest common wisdom on carbohydrates claims that eating so-called �bad� carbohydrates will make you fat, but University of Virginia professor Glenn Gaesser says, �that�s just nonsense.� Eating sandwiches with white bread, or an occasional doughnut, isn't going to kill you, or necessarily even lead to obesity, he said.

In an article in the October issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Gaesser analyzes peer-reviewed, scientific research on carbohydrate consumption, glycemic index and body weight and gives the first detailed review of the literature on the correlation between them. His findings run counter to the current consensus on the effects of �good� and �bad� carbohydrates.

Gaesser, author of �It�s the Calories, Not the Carbs� and other books, found that diets high in carbohydrates are almost universally associated with slimmer bodies. More importantly, Gaesser found that consuming lots of high-glycemic foods is not associated with higher body weights. In fact, several large studies in the United States revealed that high-glycemic diets were linked to better weight control.

�There is no reason to be eating fewer carbs � they�re not the enemy,� says Gaesser, a professor of exercise physiology and director of the kinesiology program in the Curry School of Education.

The description of carbohydrates as �good� or �bad� is based on glycemic index, a measure of the quality of the carbohydrate in terms of how much it raises blood sugar. Foods having a high GI are generally thought to be �bad� because they raise blood sugar more than �good� carbs do. Proponents of the glycemic index claim that this leads to excessive insulin secretion, which can cause weight gain and health problems. Foods such as whole-grain breads are said to offer �good� carbs, because they have a lower GI than white bread, for example. Likewise, a glass of pineapple juice has a high GI compared to apple juice.

Several popular low-carb diets use glycemic index as a key feature for optimum weight control, but it is not a reliable description of carbohydrate quality, Gaesser says. Digestion is a complicated process. It�s very difficult to determine the GI of a whole meal, for instance, so it doesn�t really make sense to use GI or �glycemic load� � the glycemic index multiplied by the quantity ingested � as a guide to eating.

After looking at hundreds of articles on large-scale studies using surveys or randomized, controlled trials, Gaesser says they show that �people who consume high-carb diets tend to be slimmer, and often healthier, than people who consume low-carb diets.� Even high-glycemic foods have a place in the diet, he said, attributing that to the overall higher quality of a high-carb diet, which includes more fiber-rich and other nutritional foods.

Gaesser also looked for a clear association between carbohydrate consumption and illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. He found no compelling evidence that avoiding carbohydrates with a high GI helps prevent these diseases and others. People with diabetes, as well as very sedentary women who are obese, may benefit from lowering their consumption of foods with a high GI, Gaesser says.

Reducing any part of the diet � carbs or proteins or fats � will result in modest weight loss in the short term, if calorie consumption is reduced, he points out. But for long-term weight maintenance, a high-carb, low-fat diet is still the best bet, he said.

Glycemic index values are variable, report researchers

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BOSTON � (Sept. 26, 2007) In work investigating the reproducibility of glycemic index values, researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (USDA HNRCA) have reported that multiple glycemic index value determinations (measure of the rate of glucose absorption into the bloodstream) using a simple test food, white bread, resulted in a relatively high level of inter-individual (among different individuals), and intra-individual (within the same individual) variability. Further studies will focus on better defining the magnitude and the sources of the variability. The intent is to better understand how glycemic index relates to chronic disease risk in a wide range of individuals.

Alice Lichtenstein, DSc, corresponding author and director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at the USDA HNRCA and colleagues assessed 14 study participants� glycemic response to 50 grams of carbohydrate in the form of white bread (test food) and glucose dissolved in water (control food) on different days. This experiment was repeated three times with each individual.

�Using glucose as the control food, previous studies indicate that white bread has a glycemic index of about 70,� says Lichtenstein, who is also the Gershoff professor of nutrition science and policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts. �In our study the combined average was 71, virtually identical to the published value. However, quite strikingly, individual values ranged from 44 to 132. What is critical is to determine why there is such a wide range of responses among individuals.

In addition, within the same individual, test values varied by as much as 42 percent. �These results show that perhaps using glycemic index for groups is a reasonable indicator to predict chronic disease risk, but there is still considerable uncertainty when applying glycemic index to individuals,� explains Lichtenstein.

Glycemic index is a scale applied to foods based on how quickly the glucose in foods is absorbed into the blood stream, relative to pure glucose. Some nutrition professionals use the glycemic index as a tool for people trying to control blood sugar, such as those with diabetes. Others use the mean glycemic index of diets to predict chronic disease risk in large groups of people. Potential confounding factors, such as the fiber or fat content of the food, are not directly factored into the calculations.

�There are many factors that can influence the glycemic index of a food,� says Lichtenstein. �For example, a piece of white bread may have a high glycemic index but, if a person eats a slice of turkey and cheese with that bread, the effect of the multiple foods may result in a different glycemic index than if that person had eaten the white bread alone. Since most food is consumed as combinations during meals and snacks, there is a need to assess the significance of using glycemic index values determined on individual foods for food mixtures. Similarly, it is important to know whether the food consumed prior to a meal or snack alters subsequent glycemic response.

It is possible that we need to develop better research tools and more stringent applications for glycemic index determinations,� she says. �Larger studies of diverse populations are needed to determine why inter-individual, and particularly intra-individual, glycemic index values are so variable. If we can identify the source of the variability, it will allow for more insight into the applications of the glycemic index as a tool for both researchers and in public health messages.�

Lichtenstein and colleagues have received a five-year grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to further their understanding of the glycemic index and its utilities. The current study was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture�s Agricultural Research Service.

New drug makes weight loss safer

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) TEL AVIV � More than 60 percent of American women are overweight, with nearly a third falling into the category of obese and at greater risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Until now, there has been no safe, long-term medical remedy that tackles unwanted weight gain.

Dr. Nir Barak of Tel Aviv University�s Sackler School of Medicine has developed what could be a new weight-loss wonder drug. In conjunction with the drug company Obecure, Dr. Barak developed a new formulation called HistaleanTM, based on betahistine, an approved drug marketed worldwide for the treatment of vertigo. Betahistine has been available to health authorities for over 30 years.

Betahistine is believed to block receptors in the brain � the H1 and H3 receptors � which are connected to one�s sense of fullness and desire to eat fatty foods. It has an excellent safety profile and has been used for treatment by more than 100 million patients suffering from vertigo and dizziness in Canada and Europe.

The repurposed pill, Histalean, has been found to quell the desire to consume fatty foods, and the effects have been most pronounced in women.

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, about 32% of adult American women under 54 (about 25 million women) suffer from obesity. �Our new results suggest a strong gender-and-age-effect and support the potential of the drug as a breakthrough anti-obesity agent in women 50 years old or less,� confirmed Dr. Yaffa Beck, Obecure�s CEO.

According to some estimates, obesity results in thousands of deaths a year and accounts for $117 billion in U.S. health care expenses annually. Clearly, a breakthrough in this area will not only make women look and feel better, but it could save their lives as well.

A recent Phase II clinical trial of the new drug in the U.S. suggests that women under the age of 50 who took Histalean for 12 weeks lost 7 times the weight of those taking a placebo. What�s most important to the researchers involved is that none of the 281 patients, males and females aged 18-65, complained of any serious side effects.

The trial, completed this August, was supervised by U.S. weight-loss guru Dr. Robert Kushner. The women who took the pill reported, �It wasn't hard.� �I wasn't thinking about food.� �I was content.�

Dr. Barak explains why this is good news, �All the drugs in the diet pill market today have serious side effects. They may help a woman lose weight, but with that weight loss comes all sorts of bad things like depression and even suicide. Safety issues are a real concern for the FDA. But because this new drug has already been proven safe for other indications, we think Histalean has real blockbuster potential.�

The recent results were based on a double-blind, placebo-controlled study on people with a Body Mass Index ranging from 30 to 40. (A BMI of 30 and above indicate obesity.) The study was conducted at 19 investigation sites across the U.S. over a 12 week treatment period. The subgroup of high-dose Histalean-treated women lost an average of 2.91% of their weight versus placebo group which lost only 0.4 %.

Dr. Barak�s drug is also expected to compete for the $28 billion market of cholesterol-reducing drugs such as Lipitor. It could also be used in parallel with anti-psychotic drugs, which have unwanted side effects of extreme weight gain among mental health patients.

Simulating kernel production influences maize model accuracy

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) MADISON, WI, Sept. 18, 2007 -- Recently, researchers at Iowa State University discovered a way to increase the accuracy of a popular crop model. By zeroing in on early stages leading up to kernel formation, scientists believe they can help improve yield predictions across a variety of environmental conditions. The team of scientists reported their findings in the September-October issue of Crop Science.

The Crop Environment Resource Synthesis (CERES)- Maize model is used worldwide to predict maize yield each growing season. CERES-Maize predictions are based upon simulations of plant growth and the amount of carbon and nitrogen maize plants accumulate each day. While this approach provides growers with ballpark estimates of maize production, the accuracy decreases when growing conditions affect kernel formation more than plant growth.

Unlike most crop plants, maize has separate male and female flowers. Pollen from male flowers must travel to and fertilize female flowers located on ear. Each successful fertilization of a female flower leads to the production of a kernel.

�Pollination success depends on the amount of viable pollen produced, the presence of the pollen receptive part of the female flower, and close synchrony in male and female flower development,� says Mark Westgate, Iowa State University professor of agronomy. �CERES-Maize does not consider these critical aspects of the pollination process.�

To overcome the limitations of CERES-Maize, Westgate and his colleagues developed algorithms for a Flowering Model to simulate maize flowering dynamics. Once they were convinced the Flowering Model was properly imitating maize flowering patterns, they coupled it to CERES-Maize. The Modified version of CERES-Maize then was calibrated against two years of field data involving three hybrids, eight population densities, and seven nitrogen levels. The Modified version of CERES-Maize generated more accurate predictions of maize yield across a wide range of growing conditions.

�There are many situations in which kernel number is not limited by the ability of the plant to supply carbon and nitrogen to the ear,� Westgate said. �By taking into account other factors influencing kernel number, CERES-maize is much more sensitive to biological factors that can affect yield.�

What�s up next for Westgate and his research team? A model they are developing to predict pollen movement from one field to another. They're using it along with the Flowering Model to predict the genetic purity of harvested seed. According to Westgate, genetic purity is a concern in hybrid seed production as well as for corn grown for non-genetically modified markets.

Vitamin E trials 'fatally flawed'

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) CORVALLIS, Ore. � Generations of studies on vitamin E may be largely meaningless, scientists say, because new research has demonstrated that the levels of this micronutrient necessary to reduce oxidative stress are far higher than those that have been commonly used in clinical trials.

In a new study and commentary in Free Radical Biology and Medicine, researchers concluded that the levels of vitamin E necessary to reduce oxidative stress � as measured by accepted biomarkers of lipid peroxidation � are about 1,600 to 3,200 I.U. daily, or four to eight times higher than those used in almost all past clinical trials.

This could help explain the inconsistent results of many vitamin E trials for its value in preventing or treating cardiovascular disease, said Balz Frei, professor and director of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, and co-author of the new commentary along with Jeffrey Blumberg, at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

�The methodology used in almost all past clinical trials of vitamin E has been fatally flawed,� said Frei, one of the world�s leading experts on antioxidants and disease. �These trials supposedly addressed the hypothesis that reducing oxidative stress could reduce cardiovascular disease. But oxidative stress was never measured in these trials, and therefore we don�t know whether it was actually reduced or not. The hypothesis was never really tested.�

The level of vitamin E that clearly can be shown to reduce oxidative stress, new research is showing, is far higher than the level that could be obtained in any diet, and is also above the �tolerable upper intake level� outlined by the Institute of Medicine, which is 1,000 I.U. a day. OSU researchers are not yet recommending that people should routinely take such high levels, but they do say that controlled clinical trials studying this issue should be aware of the latest findings and seriously consider using much higher vitamin E supplement levels in their studies.

In lab, animal or human studies, there�s evidence that vitamin E can reduce oxidative stress, inhibit formation of atherosclerotic lesions, slow aortic thickening, lower inflammation, and reduce platelet adhesion. Some human studies using lower levels of vitamin E supplements, such as 100 to 400 I.U. a day, have shown benefits in reducing cardiovascular disease risk, and others have not. An underlying assumption was that these levels were more than adequate to reduce oxidative stress, since they far exceeded the �recommended dietary allowance� or RDA for the vitamin, a level adequate to prevent deficiency disease.

�What�s now clear is that the amount of vitamin E than can conclusively be shown to reduce oxidative stress is higher than we realized,� Frei said. �And almost none of the studies done with vitamin E actually measured the beginning level or reduction of oxidative stress.�

Proper studies of vitamin E, researchers say, must be done carefully and take into account the newest findings about this micronutrient. It�s now known that natural forms of the vitamin are far more readily absorbed than synthetic types. It�s also been discovered that supplements taken without a fat-containing meal are largely useless, because in the absence of dietary fat vitamin E is not absorbed.

Some clinical trials may wish to study the long term effect of vitamins on healthy individuals. But if a clinical trial seeks to learn the value of reducing oxidative stress, they should select patients in advance for those who have high, measurable oxidative stress � often people who are older or have a range of heart disease risk factors, such as obesity, poor diet, hypertension or other problems. Cognizance should also be taken of people with health issues that may further increase their vitamin needs, such as smokers.

�A pill count simply isn�t enough to determine the value of vitamin E,� Frei said. �We need to select people for trials properly, make sure they are taking the right form of the vitamin, at the right levels and at the right time, and then verify the metabolic results with laboratory testing.�

�Only when we do these studies right will we answer questions about the value of vitamin E in addressing cardiovascular disease,� he said. �So far we�ve been flying blind.�

A parallel, Frei said, would be presuming to test the value of a statin drug, which lowers cholesterol, without ever measuring cholesterol levels in the test subjects, neither at the beginning nor at the end of the study. Such trials would be ridiculed in the science community.

So far, that�s the way vitamin E has been studied.

The use and intake of vitamins, experts say, has traditionally been thought of in terms of overt deficiency � for example, not enough vitamin C causes scurvy. Much less research has been done on the levels that can help create optimum health. The issue is of special importance with modern populations that have very different diets, activity levels and increased lifespan, and are dying from much different causes � predominantly heart disease and cancer � than people of past generations.

Brain system serves as 'remote control' for fat metabolism

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) CINCINNATI�A system in the brain already known to regulate food intake also serves as a direct �remote control� for the way fat is stored and metabolized in the body, say University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers.

What is known as the melanocortin system, the researchers say, controls fat metabolism and the way it accumulates in the body completely independently of food intake.

The finding, the researchers report, could lead to the development of new and urgently needed medications to treat the growing, worldwide obesity epidemic.

Led by Matthias Tsch�p, MD, UC associate professor of psychiatry, and coauthored by scientists at the German Institute of Human Nutrition, the study appears in the Sept. 20, 2007, online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The melanocortin system was previously identified as a �control loop� in the central nervous system (CNS) that receives hormonal signals from the gut�like those given off by �hunger� and �satiety� hormones such as ghrelin and leptin�and responds to these sensations of hunger or fullness by causing the body to either ingest or burn calories.

Tsch�p and colleagues say that beyond responding to signals of hunger or satiety, the melanocortin system also controls whether extra energy (glucose) will be converted to fat and whether it will be stored or metabolized.

�Understanding how specific CNS circuits directly control fat storage and metabolism is essential in order to achieve a breakthrough in this important area of research,� the authors write.

The group studied the melanocortin system at the molecular level in rodents. They found that when the system is stimulated to increase activity, fat is metabolized. When activity in the system is reduced�either pharmacologically or genetically�fat accumulation increases.

�We were able, in essence, to change traffic signals in so-called nutrient highways in the body so that calories were metabolized, and not dumped into fat cells,� says Tsch�p. �And we did this without changing the rate of food intake.

�These findings are relevant for human obesity, since mutations in the system we studied here are the most common known reason for genetically caused obesity in humans,� Tsch�p added.

The study authors also reported clinical data from coauthors I. Sadaf Farooqi and Stephen O�Rahilly. Their studies in humans with activity-reducing genetic variations in the melanocortin system indicate that fat metabolism may be �remote controlled� by the human brain similar to the way it is in rodents.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention estimates that more than 30 percent of adults aged 20 to 74 are obese. Obesity increases chances for developing diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

Success of 'Shape Up Somerville' childhood obesity intervention to be presented

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Christina Economos, PhD, principal investigator of Shape Up Somerville: Eat Smart. Play Hard, a large-scale community intervention to curb childhood obesity, will present her research at the second annual Friedman School Symposium at Tufts, October 29th to 31st in Boston.

�Shape Up Somerville� was a 3 year long obesity prevention intervention targeted at first through third graders in the culturally diverse Boston suburb of Somerville, Massachusetts.

Eager to turn the tide on childhood obesity, the town leaders of Somerville, community partners, and university researchers joined forces to spark community change and build an innovative, health-minded environment for the children. The Shape Up approach emphasized manageable and affordable changes in behavior and nutrition throughout the course of the day. What�s more, it worked. The intervention decreased BMI z score in children at high-risk for obesity, compared to the two control communities.

There are lots of communities around the country attempting to make changes and what this study tells us is they should persevere, Economos said.

A lot of people making a few small changes added up to produce significant results, says Dr. Economos. We couldn't go to the kids and say you have to change your lifestyle. We had to change the environment and the community spirit first.Dr. Economos also directs the Tufts Longitudinal Health Study, which is researching the relationships between health knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and physiologic outcomes of college-age students over time. TLHS is entering its tenth year and remains the only study of its kind. Dr. Economos is dedicated to the continuous development of communication strategies and public health policies that deal with the complex relationships between nutrition, health, disease and human performance. Her research effort�s focus on the interaction among exercise, diet, body composition, and bone health through longitudinal studies and lifestyle interventions to prevent osteoporosis and obesity, starting early in life.

Dr. Economos holds the New Balance Chair in Childhood Nutrition and is the Associate Director of the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She received a Bachelor of Science from Boston University, a Master of Science in Applied Physiology and Nutrition from Columbia University and a doctorate in Nutrition Science from Tufts University.

The Friedman School Symposium will be held October 29-31, 2007 in Boston, Massachusetts at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. The 2.5-day program is available on the School�s web site at

Researchers discover correlation between GERD and obesity in females

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A group of scientists recently discovered an association between being overweightand a disease called gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) in women.

This discovery was published in the Sept. 14 issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology by a research group led by Dr. Corazziari from the University La Sapienza of Rome. Dr. Corazziari has been a leader in the field of gastroenterology for a long time and published over 200 research articles and 20 professional books. He and his fellow researchers (with Dr. Piretta being the first author of this article) discovered that, in comparison to average population, overweight and obesity are risk factors for GERD in women and not so much in men.

GERD is a disease with chronic symptoms or mucosal damage produced by the abnormal reflux of gastric contents into the esophagus. Heartburn (burning discomfort behind the breastbone) is the major symptom of GERD because the gastric acid gets into esophagus.

It is known that fatty foods can produce a prolonged inhibitory effect on the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), thus increase the possibility of gastro-esophageal reflux (GER). Gastric distention following a copious meal also relaxes LER and increases the possibility of GER too.

Had these mechanisms play big roles in the patients studied by Dr Corazziari, then the overweight male patients (not just female) should also have a significant higher possibility of GERD than general population.

Since oestrogen can also inhibit the LES, Dr. Corazziari suggests that concentration of this hormone may be a possible explanation of increased GERD prevalence in obese females.

Thousands of starving children could be restored to health with peanut butter program

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Sept. 12, 2007 -- An enriched peanut-butter mixture given at home is successfully promoting recovery in large numbers of starving children in Malawi, according to a group of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Malnutrition affects 70 percent of all Malawian children with an estimated 13 percent of children dying from it before the age of five.

Mark J. Manary, M.D., professor of pediatrics and an emergency pediatrician at St. Louis Children's Hospital, has spent several years researching the use of the enriched peanut-butter mixture, called Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) with small groups of severely and moderately malnourished young children in the sub-Saharan African country. The nutrient-rich mixture contains peanuts, powdered milk, oil, sugar, and added vitamins and minerals. Produced in a Malawian factory, the mixture is given to the mothers of the children to feed at home.

While Manary's team had promising results in using the RUTF in a small setting, it hadn't used the treatment in large-scale operations because of limited human and material resources. The team embarked on a three-year study to implement the peanut-butter feeding program using the existing health-care system in Malawi. Results of the study appeared in the July issue of Maternal and Child Nutrition.

The research team, including Manary, students from Washington University in St. Louis and Baylor College of Medicine and researchers from Malawi, rolled out the treatment at 12 rural health centers in southern Malawi. There, non-medically trained village health aides, who are often the only medical presence in the communities, identified severely or moderately malnourished children based on World Health Organization guidelines and determined which children would receive the treatment. The aides then followed up with the children every other week for up to eight weeks. Of the 2,131 severely malnourished children treated with the RUTF at home, 89 percent recovered. Of the 806 moderately malnourished children treated with the RUTF, 85 percent recovered.

The peanut-butter feeding has been a quantum leap in feeding malnourished children in Africa, Manary said. The recovery rates are a remarkable improvement from standard therapy.

Traditional treatment of moderate malnutrition in Malawi involves feeding children a corn-based porridge at home, or for severe malnutrition, children are fed a milk-based porridge in hospitals. However, a severely malnourished child would have to eat about 25 spoonfuls of porridge to equal the calorie density in one spoonful of the concentrated RUTF, Manary said. The recovery rate for children given the standard therapy is less than 50 percent.

As a result of the study, Manary and the researchers found that village health aides can reliably identify which children need treatment, manage the program and follow up with children after the program, which eliminates the need for onsite medically trained professionals to supervise it.

What's really exciting to me is that we've demonstrated that we can put this research into practice on a large scale, it can benefit tens of thousands of kids, and there are not going to be operational barriers in some very remote settings like sub-Saharan Africa, Manary said.

First author Zachary Linneman is a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis who has traveled to Malawi twice to work with Manary.

In addition to the success the project brings to each malnourished child in terms of nutritional rehabilitation, I think it demonstrates to the larger community the ability to effectively address major health issues with straightforward solutions and hard work, Linneman said.

Once the children are renourished, they usually stay healthy, Manary said.

Mothers in Malawi know that malnutrition is the single biggest threat to their children's existence, Manary said.

They want nothing more in this life to have their children survive and grow up. When their child comes through treatment successfully, they will pay extra attention to make sure it doesn't happen again.

'Fruity vegetables' and fish reduce asthma and allergies

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Giving children a diet rich in fish and �fruity vegetables� can reduce asthma and allergies, according to a seven-year study of 460 Spanish children, published in the September issue of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.

The findings also reinforce the researchers� earlier findings that a fish-rich diet in pregnancy can help to protect children from asthma and allergies.

�We believe that this is the first study that has assessed the impact of a child�s diet on asthma and allergies and also taken into account the food their mother ate during pregnancy� says lead author Dr Leda Chatzi from the Department of Social Medicine at the University of Crete, Greece.

�Because we studied the children from pregnancy to childhood, we were able to include a wide range of elements in our analysis, including maternal diet during pregnancy, breastfeeding, smoking, the mother�s health history, parental education and social class.�

Researchers followed the progress of the children, on the Spanish island of Menorca, at regular intervals from before they were born until they were six-and-a-half.

They discovered that children who consumed more than 40 grams of �fruity vegetables� a day � namely tomatoes, eggplants (aubergines), cucumber, green beans and zucchini (courgettes) - were much less likely to suffer from childhood asthma.

And children who consumed more than 60 grams of fish a day also suffered less childhood allergies, echoing the protective effects they experienced when their mothers ate fish during pregnancy.

However the researchers noted that the dietary effects were quite specific and that other fruits and vegetables examined did not provide the same protective effect. Nor did other food groups included in the study, such as dairy products, meat, poultry and bread.

The mothers of 232 boys and 228 girls, who had been recruited during antenatal classes, completed detailed questionnaires on their children�s health, weight, diet and any breathing problems every year until their child was six-and-a-half.

90 per cent of the children also underwent allergy testing � skin prick tests were used to check their response to the six most common allergens, including grass pollen and cats.

The researchers found that just under nine per cent of the children suffered from some degree of wheezing, including six per cent with an allergy-related wheeze. And 17 per cent reacted to at least one of the allergens in the skin prick test.

�After adjusting the results for a wide range of variables, we concluded that the link between symptom-free children and a diet rich in fruity vegetables and fish was statistically significant� says Dr Chatzi.

�The biological mechanisms that underlie the protective affect of these foods is not fully understood, but we believe that the fruity vegetables and fish reduce the inflammation associated with asthma and allergies.

�The interesting thing about this study is that it followed a large number of children from the womb to the age of six-and-a-half and incorporated a wide range of dietary, social and health factors� says the Journal�s Editor, Professor John Warner, Head of the Department of Paediatrics at Imperial College London.

�It provides parents with specific advice about the health promotion benefits of including fish and fruity vegetables as part of a balanced diet for both their children and the rest of the family.�

Soft drinks alone do not affect children's weight

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Soft drink consumption has increased in both the USA and the UK over the years and this has often been blamed for a rise in childhood body mass index (BMI). However, many of the review methodologies investigating the alleged links have been flawed. A recent scientific analysis of a nationally representative sample of children�s diets and lifestyles found no link between the amount of soft drinks children consume and their body weight.

UK researchers, led by Sigrid Gibson (SiG-Nurture Independent Nutrition Consultants), investigated sugars and soft drinks intake in children across the range of body weights seen in a nationally representative sample. Using diet and lifestyle data from 1294 children aged 7 � 18 years from the Government�s National Diet and Nutrition Survey of Young People, the researchers showed that those with the highest BMI consumed almost 300 extra calories per day compared with children of normal body weight. However researchers determined that only 5% of this extra energy (approx 14 calories) came from soft drinks. Indeed, lighter children tended to have a higher intake of sugar (also referred to as non-milk extrinsic sugars [NMES]) overall than those in the highest BMI category.

Despite having a greater overall calorie intake (especially from fat and protein), overweight children consumed a similar amount of soft drinks to their leaner contemporaries. Importantly, the study used estimates of the subjects� energy expenditure and basal metabolic rate to screen out those who were likely to be under-reporting their intakes.

Writing in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Mrs Gibson stated �Overweight children consumed more food in general, and had a tendency towards more savoury than sweet foods.� She added, �we found no evidence that overweight children derived a greater proportion of their energy from caloric soft drinks compared with leaner individuals.�

Furthermore, this Survey points to a general role of overeating and physical inactivity (from both lack of exercise and excess inactivity) in obese British children. She advised, �In this major British survey, overweight children had significantly longer sedentary periods than children of normal weight�.

The reasons for obesity developing and continuing in children are complex, including both diet and lifestyle. The solution to obesity is also unlikely to be as simple as reducing individual food or drink products. Various untested prevention strategies have been put forward, including restricting television watching, fast foods and portion sizes. Further studies should test these strategies using reliable dietary and physical activity measurements over a reasonable period of time.

Purdue researchers click nutrition with camera diet study

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University team plans to help health-conscious people better gauge what's on their plates by using their cell phone cameras.

Carol Boushey, an associate professor in the Department of Foods and Nutrition, said the project would expand on a technique already in use by adding a strong scientific grounding. Currently, dieters can subscribe to online sites that monitor eating habits by critiquing photos they send of their meals. The idea offers busy people the chance to get nutritional feedback without spending time writing down all of their meals, drinks and snacks.

This idea of using cameras to evaluate your diet by snapping pictures of your meals is not a new one, Boushey said. What makes our proposal different is that we're designing the software to better evaluate portion sizes and nutritional content. Some of those online sites have sent messages to people advising them to stop drinking a soda when they were actually drinking tea. That will not happen here.

The team will receive $452,000 during the first year of an expected four-year study. The work is funded as part of a larger initiative, the Exposure Biology Program, from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a component of the National Institutes of Health.

Approximately $19 million was awarded during the first round of exposure biology grant announcements on Sept. 4. The program focuses on technological developments that better assess exposures to environmental stressors, including chemical and biological agents, dietary intake, physical activity, psychosocial stress, and addictive substances.

The Exposure Biology Program is one of two complementary research programs outlined in the Genes and Environment Initiative, a five-year effort by the National Institutes of Health to identify the genetic and environmental underpinnings of asthma, diabetes, cancer and other common illnesses.

Boushey, principal investigator of the work, will provide the nutritional knowledge that will form the basis of the software's food evaluations and help determine possible health impacts. She said Purdue's strengths in foods and nutrition, technology and engineering made collaboration among researchers as simple as walking across campus.

Edward Delp, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and an expert in image analysis, will be working to create a reliable method for estimating the sizes of food in the photos. David Ebert, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, will primarily be responsible for techniques to help confirm the portion sizes of the food in pictures. Kyle Lutes, an associate professor in the Department of Computer and Information Technology, will put his experience with hand-held computing devices to work by designing necessary programming.

There is plenty of work for us to do, Boushey said. It's going to be difficult to tell the difference between, say, lamb and a pork chop. There's the difficulty of discerning between three cups and one cup in a photo.

Evaluating food intake without the hassle of diet journals could impact American health, she said.

We're committed to figuring out the details, Boushey said. Diet is one of the most difficult exposures to measure in terms of how it contributes to disease. People are so confused about diet these days. We want to offer good advice to the public so they can stop throwing up their hands and saying, 'I'm going to eat whatever I want.'

Low vitamin D during pregnancy linked to pre-eclampsia

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) PITTSBURGH, Sept. 7 � Vitamin D deficiency early in pregnancy is associated with a five-fold increased risk of preeclampsia, according to a study from the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences reported this week in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

A serious complication of pregnancy marked by soaring blood pressure and swelling of the hands and feet, preeclampsia is the leading cause of premature delivery and maternal and fetal illness and death worldwide, conservatively projected to contribute to 76,000 deaths each year. Preeclampsia, also known as toxemia, affects up to 7 percent of first pregnancies, and health care costs associated with preeclampsia are estimated at $7 billion a year in the United States alone, according to the Preeclampsia Foundation.

�Our results showed that maternal vitamin D deficiency early in pregnancy is a strong, independent risk factor for preeclampsia,� said Lisa M. Bodnar, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) and lead author of the study. �Women who developed preeclampsia had vitamin D concentrations that were significantly lower early in pregnancy compared to women whose pregnancies were normal. And even though vitamin D deficiency was common in both groups, the deficiency was more prevalent among those who went on to develop preeclampsia.�

For this investigation, Dr. Bodnar and her colleagues evaluated data and banked blood samples taken from women and newborns between 1997 and 2001 at Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and affiliated private obstetrician practices. Data were analyzed for 1,198 women enrolled in the Pregnancy Exposures and Preeclampsia Prevention Study, a prospective survey designed to examine factors that may predispose women to preeclampsia. Out of this group, 55 cases of preeclampsia and 220 controls were selected for further study.

Samples of maternal blood were taken prior to 22 weeks pregnancy and again just before delivery. Samples of newborn umbilical cord blood also were tested for 25 hydroxyvitamin D, an indicator of vitamin D status.

�Low vitamin D early in pregnancy was associated with a five-fold increase in the odds of preeclampsia,� said Dr. Bodnar, who also is an assistant investigator at the university-affiliated Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI). �Data showed this increase risk persisted even after adjusting for other known risk factors such as race, ethnicity and pre-pregnancy body weight. Also troubling was the fact that many of the women reported taking prenatal vitamins, which typically contain 200 to 400 International Units of vitamin D,� she said.

�Even a small decline in vitamin D concentration more than doubled the risk of preeclampsia,� noted James M. Roberts, M.D., senior author of the study and MWRI founding director. �And since newborn�s vitamin D stores are completely reliant on vitamin D from the mother, low vitamin levels also were observed in the umbilical cord blood of newborns from mothers with preeclampsia.�

A vitamin closely associated with bone health, vitamin D deficiency early in life is associated with rickets � a disorder thought to have been eradicated in the United States more than 50 years ago � as well as increased risk for type 1 diabetes, asthma and schizophrenia.

In the developing world, preeclampsia accounts for up to 80 percent of maternal deaths. And while treatment is more available in developed countries, preeclampsia remains the leading cause of maternal death. Infants born to mothers with preeclampsia have a risk of mortality five times greater than those born to women with normal pregnancies. In the United States alone, nearly 15 percent of preterm deliveries are a result of preeclampsia.

Soy isoflavone may inhibit common gastrointestinal illness in infants

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The soy isoflavone genistin--at concentrations present in soy infant formula-- may reduce a baby�s susceptibility to rotavirus infections by as much as 74 percent, according to a University of Illinois study published in September�s Journal of Nutrition.

�Rotavirus is the primary cause of diarrhea in infants, affecting virtually all children before age five. In the United States, it mainly leads to dehydration, doctor�s visits, and parents missing work to care for sick children. In developing countries, though, rotavirus causes approximately 611,000 deaths each year,� said Sharon Donovan, the Melissa M. Noel Professor of Nutrition at the U of I.

Although rotavirus vaccines have recently become available, they are expensive and cannot be given to some infants, she said.

�It�s exciting to think that the isoflavones in soy formula could be a cost-effective nutritional approach to decreasing the incidence and severity of rotavirus infections, especially among children in developing countries who are most at risk,� said the scientist of her work with doctoral candidate Aline Andres, who conducted the experiments.

In the study, cells in culture were exposed to rotavirus in the absence or presence of soy isoflavones, biologically active compounds in soy that are thought to have health benefits. Soy contains a number of different forms of isoflavones, and all were tested individually and as the complete mixture present in infant formula.

�Genistin and the mixture significantly reduced rotavirus infectivity by 33 to 74 percent,� she said. �But when genistin was taken out of the mixture, anti-rotavirus activity was lost, suggesting that it is the active component in reducing infectivity.�

Donovan focused her investigation on the isoflavone concentrations present in soy formula. That was the concentration at which rotavirus inhibition began to occur and then leveled off, indicating that there�s an effective range, and beyond that, there is no additional inhibition or toxicity.

�We then exposed the cells to different concentrations of rotavirus. If an infant had a severe infection or was exposed to a lot of rotavirus, we wondered if the isoflavones would still be as effective,� she said.

The inhibition held up across a 16-fold range of rotavirus exposure. �Even at the highest concentration of rotavirus particles, genistin or the mix of isoflavones inhibited infectivity,� said Donovan.

Genistin appeared to diminish infectivity by inhibiting binding of the virus to tissue-culture cells, she said.

Donovan�s laboratory soon plans to begin studies with neonatal piglets, an excellent model for studying rotavirus infection and the nutritional effects of various components on the intestine.

�We�ll be interested to see if we have the same results when we work with young animals,� she said.

Right breakfast bread keeps blood sugar in check all day

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) If you eat the right grains for breakfast, such as whole-grain barley or rye, the regulation of your blood sugar is facilitated after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was previously not known that certain whole-grain products have this effect all day. This is due to a combination of low GI (glycemic index) and certain type of indigestible carbohydrates that occur in certain grain products. The findings are presented in a dissertation from the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University. The dissertation shows that even people who have had a breakfast low in GI find it easier to concentrate for the rest of the morning.

Great variations in levels of blood sugar are being associated more and more with the risk of old-age diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. These findings can therefore provide valuable information for tailoring a new generation of whole-grain products with low GI that can counteract these so-called lifestyle diseases. They may also have a beneficial effect on short-term memory and mental acuity.

�It is known that a carbohydrate-rich breakfast with low GI can moderate increases in blood sugar after lunch. But my results show that low GI in combination with the right amount of so-called indigestible carbohydrates, that is, dietary fiber and resistant starch, can keep the blood-sugar level low for up to ten hours, which means until after dinner, says Anne Nilsson, a doctoral student at the Unit for Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry and author of the dissertation.

Experiments also showed that the blood sugar increase following breakfast can be moderated in a similar way by eating the right grain products the night before.

Barley evinced clearly the best results of the four types of grain. In her test, Anne used boiled grains and whole grains in bread. But when the grain was ground into porridge, the effect was weakened, since key structures were then destroyed, which had a negative effect on both GI and the content of resistant starch. On the other hand, splitting the grain worked fine.

The studies also revealed that the right grain can have a favorable impact on the metabolic syndrome, which is a catch-all name for a condition involving severe risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The diagnosis includes heightened levels of blood sugar and insulin, raised blood fats, high blood pressure, and abdominal fat. When you eat indigestible carbohydrates, they ferment in the large intestine. This bacterial process proved to have a beneficial effect on a number of risk factors for metabolic syndrome, such as markers for inflammation and level of insulin efficiency. The process also produced a greater sense of satiety.

Anne Nilsson also studied the connection between mental acuity and blood sugar levels after meals. Trial subjects were given experimental breakfasts with low and high GI, respectively, and afterwards they were asked to perform mental acuity tests. It turned out that subjects who had eaten low GI breakfasts could concentrate better and had a better working memory (a type of short-term memory) than the other group. These experiments also showed that healthy individuals with low glucose tolerance, that is with high rises in blood sugar than average following a meal, generally performed less well.

�The findings indicate that people with great fluctuations in their levels of blood sugar run a greater risk of having a generally lower cognitive ability, says Anne Nilsson.

Sugary drinks, not fruit juice, may be linked to insulin

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BOSTON (Sept. 5, 2007) � Steady increases in consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages over the last several decades, as well as rates of Type 2 diabetes mellitus, led nutritional epidemiologists at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University and colleagues to explore the relationship between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and insulin resistance, a precursor to Type 2 diabetes. Their findings suggest that higher consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks, but not 100 percent fruit juice, may be associated with insulin resistance, even in otherwise healthy adults.

�Study participants who consumed two or more sugar-sweetened beverages per day had significantly higher fasting blood levels of insulin as compared to participants who did not report consuming any such beverages, regardless of age, sex, weight, smoking status, or other dietary habits,� says senior author Paul Jacques, DSc, director of the Nutritional Epidemiology Program at the USDA HNRCA and professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. �Higher fasting levels of insulin mean these study participants are more at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes. In contrast,� he says, �consumption of 100 percent fruit juice was not significantly related to any of our measures of insulin resistance.�

Study participants were 2,500 healthy men and women in the Framingham Offspring Study, a community-based study of cardiovascular disease among offspring of people in the original Framingham Heart Study. Participants reported their usual dietary intake for the previous year, which researchers used to determine average intakes of sugar-sweetened drinks (regular and caffeine-free colas and other carbonated beverages containing sugar), diet soft drinks (low-calorie colas with and without caffeine and other low-calorie carbonated beverages), and fruit juice (e.g., apple juice or apple cider, orange juice, and grapefruit juice). One serving of a sugar-sweetened drink or diet soda was considered equivalent to 12 fluid ounces, or a regular-sized can of soda. One serving of fruit juice was considered equivalent to six fluid ounces.

The researchers obtained blood samples from participants who fasted for at least eight hours, and measured the participants� blood levels of insulin as well as glucose. High fasting glucose levels, like high fasting insulin levels, are a pre-cursor to Type 2 diabetes. �Unlike fasting insulin levels, fasting glucose levels were not significantly different between those who consumed sugar-sweetened drinks and those who did not,� says Jacques, �However, participants consuming two or more daily servings of 100 percent fruit juice had modestly lower fasting glucose levels, compared with those who did not consume fruit juice.� Although this observation might be due to the additional nutrients or other phytochemicals found in the juices, Jacques notes this also may be a consequence of the healthier lifestyle and dietary habits of fruit juice consumers. They were less likely to smoke than non-consumers, and consumed diets relatively lower in saturated fat and higher in total fiber.

Despite these results, Nicola McKeown, PhD, corresponding author and scientist in the Nutritional Epidemiology Program at the USDA HNRCA, does not advise increasing consumption of fruit juice. �While 100 percent fruit juice can be a healthful beverage, too much fruit juice can add excess calories and sugar to the diet. Whole fruit is often a better choice.�

Jacques and McKeown also caution that their results cannot be used to determine cause-and-effect relationships among caloric and non-caloric sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and insulin resistance. �It could be that people who drink sugar-sweetened beverages have other unhealthy behaviors that we did not account for,� says McKeown. �Sugar-sweetened drink consumption may prove to be an important determinant of insulin resistance, but more long-term studies of diverse populations that incorporate the use of more direct measures of insulin resistance are needed.� In the meantime, the researchers suggest that people continue to follow the recommendations in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, increasing consumption of water while limiting intake of calorically sweetened, nutrient-poor beverages.

Folate mystery finally solved

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Some biochemical processes, especially those in bacteria, have been so well studied it�s assumed that no discoveries are left to be made. Not so, it turns out, for Johns Hopkins researchers who have stumbled on the identity of an enzyme that had been a mystery for more than 30 years. The report appears in the May 15 issue of Structure.

�It was really quite a surprise when we realized we had discovered the unknown player in how bacteria make the B vitamin folate, a player that we�ve known of since 1974,� says study author L. Mario Amzel, Ph.D., professor and director of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at Hopkins. �Basic research can be so serendipitous at times.�

Amzel and colleague Maurice Bessman and their labs were in the middle of systematically characterizing how members of a family of related enzymes in bacteria can recognize specific molecules. With each family member, they isolated purified enzyme, grew crystals of pure enzyme, and figured out the enzyme�s 3-D structure by using techniques that use X-rays.

Armed with the 3-D structure, they then used computer modeling to analyze how the enzyme binds to and acts on another molecule, its substrate.

�We still didn�t know that it was anything special until Maurice started searching old publications,� says study author Sandra Gabelli, Ph.D. �As it turns out, Suzuki and coworkers in 1974 had published evidence of an enzyme in the bacteria E. coli with similar characteristics to ours that could initiate folate biosynthesis.�

�So we had to ask, Can the bacteria make folate if we remove the orf17 gene� says Amzel. Bessman and colleagues then �knocked-out� the gene and, predictably, the bacteria made 10 times less folate than usual.

�It was such a sweet discovery,� says Gabelli. �It�s scientific discovery the old-fashioned way, finding something we weren�t looking for.�

The mechanics behind how bacteria make folate are of particular interest to scientists who want to design more powerful antibacterial drugs. Humans cannot make folate because they do not have any of the same molecular machinery. Therefore, it�s possible to design drugs that target the bacterial folate machinery that would not lead to side effects in humans.

Their discovery, says Amzel, identifies yet another potential antibacterial target. �We are not in that business of drug design�we�re focused on the basics, figuring out how things work,� he says. �We do hope that others can use what we find to make new drugs.�

GI concept tested in children

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Experts are struggling to find ways to contain the growing number of children who are becoming obese. One useful approach might be to encourage them to choose low glycaemic index (GI) foods. However, until now there has been little evidence that this approach will work for children in the long term.

A new long term study, led by Professor Henry at Oxford Brookes University, UK, has shown that children eat approximately 60 kcal less during the day following a low-GI breakfast, than after a high-GI breakfast, equivalent to reducing calorie intake by 1800 kcal over a month. This provides encouraging evidence that a low-GI start to the day may be a good option to keep obesity at bay in the young.

Thirty-eight children aged between 8�11 years (11 boys, 27 girls), were randomly divided into two groups and ate either a low-GI breakfast or a high-GI breakfast (carefully matched for calories, fat, protein, carbohydrate and dietary fibre content) on two non-consecutive weekdays over 10 weeks. The children�s food intake was monitored on the study days and on two other days each week, one of which was a weekend. The groups then swapped over for a further 10 weeks.

Sharing their findings in the September edition of the British Journal of Nutrition, the researchers noted that on average, the children ate 61 kcal less over the days when they were given a low-GI breakfast, compared with the days when they received a high-GI breakfast. Although this difference could have happened by chance, if confirmed, it would amount to a useful contribution to weight control. Interestingly, during the ten week period when the children were receiving the low GI breakfasts two days per week, they also ate less on the other days, when they were choosing their own breakfast. Professor Henry of Oxford Brookes University said: �Most long-term studies examining the effects of GI on food intake have been conducted in adults; this is the first to investigate its effects in children.� He added: �although a difference of 61 kcal per day may not in itself seem significant, it represents a reduction of 1830kcal over a month. The difference in energy intake suggests that the children felt fuller for longer after consuming a low-GI breakfast�.

This study was unique in carefully matching the foods given for the high and low GI breakfasts to ensure that differences in protein, fat, carbohydrate and, especially dietary fibre, did not obscure the effects of the differences in GI. The results are consistent with other studies but the effects seen were smaller, probably because dietary fibre intake was more closely matched. Nonetheless, the results give further weight to the suggestion that a low GI diet may be a useful strategy to reduce the risk of overweight and obesity in children.

UGA study finds common component of fruits, vegetables kills prostate cancer cells

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Athens, Ga. � A new University of Georgia study finds that pectin, a type of fiber found in fruits and vegetables and used in making jams and other foods, kills prostate cancer cells.

The study, published in the August issue of the journal Glycobiology, found that exposing prostate cancer cells to pectin under laboratory conditions reduced the number of cells by up to 40 percent. UGA Cancer Center researcher Debra Mohnen and her colleagues at UGA, along with Vijay Kumar, chief of research and development at the VA Medical Center in Augusta, found that the cells literally self-destructed in a process known as apoptosis. Pectin even killed cells that aren�t sensitive to hormone therapy and therefore are difficult to treat with current medications.

�What this paper shows is that if you take human prostate cancer cells and add pectin, you can induce programmed cell death,� said Mohnen, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. �If you do the same with non-cancerous cells, cell death doesn�t occur.�

Mohnen�s study adds to the growing body of evidence on the health benefits of pectin, which has been shown to lower cholesterol and glucose levels in humans. Cancer studies using rats and cell cultures have found that pectin can reduce metastasis and prevent lung and colon tumors. Another study found that pectin induces apoptosis in colon cancer cells. Mohnen�s is the first to show that pectin induces apoptosis in prostate cancer cells and brings scientists closer to understanding what makes the common component of plants an effective cancer fighter.

In her lab at UGA�s Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, Mohnen and her team analyzed three different types of commercially available pectin and found large differences in anti-cancer activity. They found that treatment under mild base conditions decreased the anti-cancer properties of pectin while heat treatment significantly increased anti-cancer activity.

Pectin is one of nature�s most complex molecules and has the potential to bind to several sites on cells and to elicit several different cellular responses at the same time. Mohnen and her team are working to identify the smallest structure within pectin that can induce apoptosis with the ultimate goal of developing pectin-based pharmaceuticals or foods with enhanced health benefits.

Mohnen said that more evidence is needed to support the use of specific pectin supplements, but said that most Americans would do well to increase their intake of fruits and vegetables.

�Even though we hear constantly that we�re supposed to eat lots of fruits and vegetables, it wasn�t until we started working on these studies that it finally hit home how really important that was,� she said. �By simply increasing your intake of fruits of vegetables, you�re going to get a lot of pectin and you�re going to get all of the other beneficial phytochemicals at the same time.�

Natural chemical found in broccoli helps combat skin blistering disease

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Johns Hopkins scientists have found yet another reason why you should listen to your mother when she tells you to eat your vegetables. Sulforaphane, a chemical present at high levels in a precursor form in broccoli and related veggies (cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, etc.), helps prevent the severe blistering and skin breakage brought on by the rare and potentially fatal genetic disease epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS).

The researchers treated newborn mice with a severe form of EBS�so bad they all died within three days�with a topical solution containing sulforaphane and found marked improvement; after four days more than 85 percent of the treated mice were alive and blister-free. These findings appear online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The basis of EBS, notes study author Pierre Coulombe, Ph.D., professor of biological chemistry, lies in two specific genes that make proteins known as keratins. Normally, the keratins join together and form highly resilient fibers in the lower portion of skin, helping make it durable. If either keratin is defective, they don�t mesh and the lower skin tissue becomes unusually fragile and gets damaged from the mildest mechanical stress � leading to blistering pain, a higher risk of infection, and in the most severe cases, death.

�Humans have around 54 distinct keratins, many of which are similar in structure and function,� says Coulombe. �We figured we might be able to exploit this similarity and dial up a replacement by triggering the activation of a suitable signaling pathway in skin.� He predicted that sulforaphane might stimulate the formation of a surrogate skin-strengthening keratin to stand in for the defective one.

The desire to learn more about sulforaphane led Coulombe and his co-workers to Paul Talalay, M.D., professor of pharmacology who had previously identified sulforaphane as a cancer-preventive agent. �It turns out that treatment with low doses of sulforaphane triggers the expression of selected keratin genes in skin,� says Coulombe. �So we began what evolved into a highly rewarding collaboration and found it does indeed work in a mouse model for EBS.�

�This is the first suggestion that we may be able to treat this terrible disease,� adds Talalay, a co-author of this study. �And we didn�t need to invent a new drug; sulforaphane is naturally found in our diet.�

The team will next test whether sulforaphane can stimulate the proper keratin protein in the appropriate subset of human skin cells � a vital matter for any future medical hopes. Beyond that are issues of how effective a topical application would be on human skin, which is considerably thicker than mouse skin, as well as examining the long term effects of sulforaphane treatment.

�If we can clear these important hurdles, then sulforaphane can potentially be a tremendous therapeutic, with the added benefit of having anticancer properties,� Coulombe says. �And when you consider that the only current option for EBS is wrapping gauze around trauma-prone areas to minimize breakage, and otherwise avoiding infection and making sure blisters heal properly, then even a mild success would be a significant benefit for these patients.�

Compound in broccoli could boost immune system, says new study

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Berkeley -- A compound found in broccoli and related vegetables may have more health-boosting tricks up its sleeves, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

Veggie fans can already point to some cancer-fighting properties of 3,3'-diindolylmethane (DIM), a chemical produced from the compound indole-3-carbinol when Brassica vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and kale are chewed and digested. Animal studies have shown that DIM can actually stop the growth of certain cancer cells.

This new study in mice, published online today (Monday, Aug. 20) in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, shows that DIM may help boost the immune system as well.

We provide clear evidence that DIM is effective in augmenting the immune response for the mice in the study, and we know that the immune system is important in defending the body against infections of many kinds and cancer, said Leonard Bjeldanes, UC Berkeley professor of toxicology and principal investigator of the study. This finding bodes well for DIM as a protective agent against major human maladies.

Previous studies led by Bjeldanes and Gary Firestone, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology, have shown that DIM halts the division of breast cancer cells and inhibits testosterone, the male hormone needed for growth of prostate cancer cells.

In the new study, the researchers found increased blood levels of cytokines, proteins which help regulate the cells of the immune system, in mice that had been fed solutions containing doses of DIM at a concentration of 30 milligrams per kilogram. Specifically, DIM led to a jump in levels of four types of cytokines: interleukin 6, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, interleukin 12 and interferon-gamma.

As far as we know, this is the first report to show an immune stimulating effect for DIM, said study lead author Ling Xue, who was a Ph.D. student in Bjeldanes' lab at the time of the study and is now a post-doctoral researcher in molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley.

In cell cultures, the researchers also found that, compared with a control sample, a 10 micromolar dose of DIM doubled the number of white blood cells, or lymphocytes, which help the body fight infections by killing or engulfing pathogens. (A large plateful of broccoli can yield a 5-10 micromolar dose of DIM.)

When DIM was combined with other agents known to induce the proliferation of lymphocytes, the effects were even greater than any one agent acting alone, with a three- to sixfold increase in the number of white blood cells in the culture.

It is well-known that the immune system can seek out and destroy tumor cells, and even prevent tumor growth, said Xue. An important type of T cell, called a T killer cell, can directly kill certain tumor cells, virally infected cells and sometimes parasites. This study provides strong evidence that could help explain how DIM blocks tumor growth in animals.

DIM was also able to induce higher levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), substances which must be released by macrophages in order to kill some types of bacteria as well as tumor cells. The induction of ROS - three times that of a control culture - after DIM was added to the cell culture signaled the activation of macrophages, the researchers said.

The effects of DIM were transient, with cytokine and lymphocyte levels going up and then down, which is what you'd expect with an immune response, said Bjeldanes. Interestingly, to obtain the effects on the immune response, DIM must be given orally, not injected. It could be that the metabolism of the compound changes when it is injected instead of eaten.

To examine the anti-viral properties of DIM, the researchers infected mice with reoviruses, which live in the intestines but are not life-threatening. Mice that had been given oral doses of DIM were significantly more efficient in clearing the virus from their gut - as measured by the level of viruses excreted in their feces - than mice that had not been fed DIM.

This means that DIM is augmenting the body's ability to defend itself by inhibiting the proliferation of the virus, said Bjeldanes. Future studies will determine whether DIM has similar effects on pathogenic viruses and bacteria, including those that cause diarrhea.

The discovery of DIM's effects on the immune system helps bolster its reputation as a formidable cancer-fighter, the researchers said. This study shows that there is a whole new universe of cancer regulation related to DIM, said Firestone, who also co-authored the new study. There are virtually no other agents known that can both directly shut down the growth of cancer cells and enhance the function of the immune system at the same time.

Obesity and lack of exercise could enhance the risk of pancreatic cancer

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) PHILADELPHIA Obesity and aversion to exercise have become hallmarks of modern society and a new study suggests that a blood protein linked to these lifestyle factors may be an indicator for an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Researchers from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute report their findings in the August 15 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

In a study of 144 patients with pancreatic cancer and 429 people without the disease, a subset of patients with low blood levels of a protein called IGFBP-1 were at approximately twice the risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Low blood levels of this protein have previously been linked to excess weight and lack of physical activity. Their data originated from tens of thousands of men and women enrolled in four large-scale cohort studies the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, the Nurses Health Study, the Physicians Health Study and the Womens Health Initiative Observational Study all of which followed the health of participants over numerous years.

The prognosis for many patients with pancreatic cancer remains poor, so it is vitally important that we indentify and better understand risk factors for the disease, particularly risk factors that are modifiable said lead study author, Brian M. Wolpin, M.D., attending physician at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. In addition to cigarette smoking, exercise and weight control appear to be important modifiable risk factors for this difficult disease.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death in America over 33,000 Americans will likely die from the disease in 2007, according to projections from the American Cancer Society. Studies indicate that smoking is responsible for about 25 percent of pancreatic cancer cases, and obesity and lack of exercise may account for a similar amount, Dr. Wolpin said.

According to Dr. Wolpin, previous research has linked IGFBP-1 (insulin-like growth factor binding protein one) with increased risk of colorectal and endometrial cancer. Like its name suggests, IGFBP-1 is a molecule that binds with insulin-like growth factor (IGF), a hormone normally associated with growth and development. In the laboratory, IGF has been noted to increase the growth of pancreatic cancer cells. Since one role of IGFBP-1 is to sequester IGF,

Dr. Wolpin and his colleagues were interested as to whether people who developed pancreatic cancer had lower blood levels of the IGFBP-1 protein.

To study the relationship between IGFBP-1 and pancreatic cancer, Dr. Wolpin and his colleagues chose pancreatic cancer patients enrolled in one of the four cohort studies and with blood drawn four or more years before developing cancer. The blood levels of IGFBP-1 from these patients were compared to those taken from 429 cancer-free people also enrolled in one of the cohort studies. According to their findings, patients with low blood levels of IGFBP-1 were nearly twice as likely to develop pancreatic cancer.

We still have much to learn about the mechanisms by which obesity and sedentary lifestyle may contribute to the risk of pancreatic cancer, Dr. Wolpin said. While it is too early to discuss IGFBP-1 as a suitable blood marker for pancreatic cancer, it is never too early to address the lifestyle issues that may contribute to low levels of IGFBP-1 and to an elevated risk of this difficult disease.

New Joslin research identifies sirtuin protein instrumental in fat production and metabolism

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BOSTON--August 15, 2007--A new Joslin Diabetes Center-led study has identified a protein found in fat cells that may play a major role in how fat is produced and stored, offering a new target for treatments to prevent obesity and reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes. This latest research appears in the August 2007 issue of Cell Metabolism.

The study examined the role of a protein called Sirt2, a member of the sirtuin family of seven cellular proteins. These proteins have recently been shown to be important in the control of aging and metabolism. Previous studies have focused on one member of this family, Sirt1, which is activated by high doses of resveratrol, a substance found in red grapes, which can prevent diabetes from developing and also prolong life. This finding generated tremendous attention, leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to begin developing drugs and supplements to harness this effect. Joslin researchers have focused on other sirtuin proteins to find out what role they might play in fat and glucose metabolism and fat development.

This led to the discovery that Sirt2 is the most abundant of the sirtuins in fat cells, expressed in quantities five to ten times higher than other sirtuin proteins. We wanted to find out what would happen to the behavior of fat cells--in terms of metabolism or growth--if we changed the levels of Sirt2, said lead investigator C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., an internationally recognized researcher who is head of the Joslin section on Obesity and Hormone Action and the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

When a person gains weight, cells in connective tissue known as pre-adipocytes differentiate and fill with fat and form adipocytes, which are able to store fat as a potential energy source when food is not available. However, too much fat storage leads to obesity and obesity-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes.

Using genetically altered cells from mice, the Joslin researchers were able to manipulate Sirt2 levels in adipocytes. They found that increasing Sirt2 levels in the cell would block the cell's ability to undergo differentiation and store fat, while reducing Sirt2 would promote adiopogenesis, or fat production. They then went on to pinpoint exactly how Sirt2 produced these effects by interacting with and modifying one of the key transcription factors, or molecular switches, regulating fat differentiation and function, a molecule called FoxO1. FoxO1 is also an important target of insulin action in fat where it helps control the aging process.

Thus, when Sirt2 levels in pre-adipocytes are low, more fat cells develop, while when Sirt2 levels are high, this process is blocked. So, to reduce the amount of fat in the body and help people stay thin, we need to find an activator of Sirt2, said Kahn.

The discovery of Sirt2's role in fat production gives researchers a new avenue to pursue in preventing and treating obesity. Since most of the diabetes epidemic is driven by obesity, Sirt2 may also play a role in preventing type 2 diabetes from developing and in treating people who have already developed the disease, said Kahn.

This is an important goal since more than 60 percent of Americans are now overweight or obese, and obesity is a major factor driving the current epidemic of type 2 diabetes, which now affects more than 20 million people in the U.S. alone.

The next step in the research process will be to create an animal model to validate the results. Once they are confirmed, biotechnology companies can try to develop drugs that would activate Sirt2 in fat cells and provide another tool for combating obesity and diabetes.

'Western' diet linked to increased risk of colon cancer recurrence

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BOSTONColon cancer patients who eat a diet high in red meat, fatty products, refined grains, and desserts a so-called Western diet may be increasing their chance of disease relapse and early death, report researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The study, published in the Aug. 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, involved 1,009 patients with stage III colon cancer that has been treated with both surgery and chemotherapy. Stage III colon cancer is characterized as being localized to the large bowel area with cancer cells in the lymph nodes near the tumor. The investigators found that those who most closely followed a Western diet were three-and-a-half times more likely to have colon cancer recur than those whose diets were least Western-like.

We know from previous research that diet and lifestyle influence peoples risk of developing colon cancer, says the studys lead author, Jeffrey Meyerhardt, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber. This is the first large observation study to focus on the role of diet in recurrence of the disease. Our results suggest that people treated for locally advanced colon cancer can actively improve their odds of survival by their dietary choices.

The participants, who were enrolled in a large, phase III clinical trial sponsored by the National Cancer Institute of follow-up (adjuvant) chemotherapy, had their tumors surgically removed within the two months prior to enrolling in the study. They reported their dietary intake on specially designed questionnaires at two different time points during the period they were receiving chemotherapy and six months after the completion of chemotherapy.

Meyerhardt and his colleagues identified two major dietary trends within the group: A prudent pattern characterized by high intakes of fruits and vegetables, poultry, and fish, and a Western pattern characterized by high amounts of red and processed meats, sweets and desserts, French fries, and refined grains. Participants didnt fall neatly into one category or the other, but were scored in each by how closely they matched the Western and prudent models.

The survival benefit for those whose diets least resembled the Western pattern held true even after researchers controlled for factors such as gender, age, body mass, degree of cancer spread to lymph nodes, and physical activity level. Investigators do not know why such a diet is associated with a poorer outcome, but speculate that it may be related to increased insulin levels and insulin-like growth factors. Insulin and related growth factors have been linked to the formation and growth of some types of tumors.

In contrast to the negative effect of a Western diet, researchers found that following a prudent-pattern diet did not significantly influence cancer recurrence or mortality. The message is that patients in this category can improve their prospects by avoiding certain foods, comments Meyerhardt, who is also an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Meyerhardt adds that more research is needed to better understand what components of diet are most responsible for the study findings, and why.

Adverse housing conditions contribute to diabetes risk

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Studying people in their homes and neighborhoods, investigators have found that poor housing conditions contribute to the risk for diabetes in urban, middle-aged African-Americans.

A team of investigators from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Indiana University School of Medicine and other institutions conducted the study. They published their findings in the Aug. 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

We looked at several risk factors to see if they could explain why some African-Americans were more likely to develop diabetes, explains Mario Schootman, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology and medicine and chief of the Division of Health Behavior Research at Washington University. And we found that housing conditions somehow contribute to the development of diabetes.

The study looked at many risk factors for diabetes including weight, smoking, exercise, alcohol use, marital status and education. But when the researchers adjusted for all of those factors, housing conditions still influenced diabetes risk.

So far we can't explain why that is, Schootman says. It could potentially be related to lead. Lead is associated with the development of diabetes, and we know that in some poorer housing conditions, there's likely to be lead exposure. But it also could be related to other, unknown environmental contaminants.

Schootman also says stress might be involved. Individuals who live in poor housing conditions may be more likely to be under stress as a function of where they live. There are known links between stress and diabetes that could help explain the increased incidence of diabetes in this population.

But a counter-argument against that would be that diabetes risk was associated with housing but not neighborhoods, he says. We would have expected that if stress was playing a role, the neighborhood conditions also would be involved.

The researchers found that although there was no direct association with neighborhood conditions, sub-standard housing more than doubled diabetes risk. The two neighborhoods studied included a poor, inner-city area and a less-impoverished, suburban area that included several pockets of residents from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.

Interviewers spoke to participants in their homes. They gathered data about health status, access to medical care and demographic characteristics, but they also were trained to look for certain things in neighborhoods and houses.

They rated neighborhoods based on noise, air quality and the conditions of houses, streets, yards and sidewalks. Things like broken windows, bad siding on homes, cracks in the sidewalks and nearby industrial sites or traffic noise lowered a neighborhood's rating. Houses were rated based on cleanliness inside of the building and the physical condition of the building's interior and exterior, as well as the condition of the furnishings in the building. Neighborhoods and houses then were classified as fair, poor, good or excellent. Housing included both apartments and single-family homes, and housing conditions rated as fair or poor were associated with increased risks for diabetes.

It's not clear exactly how housing conditions are exerting this influence, says senior author Douglas K. Miller, M.D., the Richard M. Fairbanks Professor in Aging Research and Regenstrief Institute research scientist at Indiana University School of Medicine. But it is clear that it won't be possible to reduce disparities in health status among subgroups in the population without understanding how a person's environment can affect that person's health.

This study grew out of a larger health study involving African-Americans. In the original study, researchers looked at several factors responsible for the higher incidence of health problems experienced by later middle-aged and older African-Americans living in St. Louis. That original study gathered data from 998 African-Americans in the St. Louis area who were born between 1936 and 1950.

When that study began, diabetes already was very common in this population. More than 25 percent had the disease at the time initial interviews were conducted. The new study found that over the next three years another 10 percent developed diabetes.

I think that's a huge finding in and of itself, Schootman says. Think about how many middle-aged African-Americans live in a place like St. Louis, and if our sample is at all representative of the larger community, you can see that the number of people with diabetes is growing very rapidly over time. I also think it's likely that we would find comparable results if we had done similar research in Detroit or Atlanta or New York City.

Schootman says more studies will be needed to determine what specifically increased the risk of diabetes as a result of poor housing conditions, but many factors have already been ruled out.

Whole grain may prevent high blood pressure

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 14:48:32 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New York, Aug 11 - Researchers in the US have found that eating one serving of whole grains every day might protect you from high blood pressure.

Common whole grain products that provide all edible parts of the grain include oatmeal, popcorn, brown rice, whole-wheat flour, sprouted grains and whole-wheat bread.

It is known that whole grains are nutritionally superior to refined grains and richer in dietary fibre, antioxidants and protein.

A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition tracked the whole grain intake of nearly 29,000 women health care workers in the US. It found that eating just one serving of whole grains every day might prevent high blood pressure, and more servings could slash the risk even further.

When the 10-year study began in 1992, the women were in their early to mid-50s. During the course of the study, a total of 8,722 women were diagnosed with high blood pressure, reported the online edition of health magazine WebMD.

Researchers found that compared to women who reported eating less than half a daily serving of whole grains, women who claimed to eat at least four daily servings of whole grains were about 23 percent less likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure.

Where's the beef? Not enough of it is on elders' plates, muscle-metabolism study suggests

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) GALVESTON, Texas Scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have good news for people who want to stay strong in their old age: older bodies are just as good as young ones at turning protein-rich food into muscle.

A new study published today suggests that a diet containing a moderate amount of protein-rich food such as beef, fish, pork, chicken, dairy or nuts may help slow the deterioration of elderly peoples muscles.

Reducing the decline in muscle mass among the elderly is crucial to maintaining their health and independence, these researchers say. And they add that consuming adequate protein is essential for making and maintaining muscles. Since nutritional studies show that many elderly individuals eat less protein than the average person, researchers have reasoned that if the elderly simply increased their protein intake, they might slow down muscle loss as long as old age doesnt inherently interfere significantly with the ability to make muscles out of the protein in food.

We wanted to know if there is some reason your grandmothers body, for example, cant stimulate muscle growth in response to eating the same protein-rich meal that you eat, which might over time contribute to muscle loss, said Douglas Paddon-Jones, an associate professor in UTMBs departments of physical therapy and internal medicine. Paddon-Jones is the senior author of a paper on the study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and now available online.

The investigation compared changes in muscle protein synthesis in 10 young and 10 elderly volunteers after eating a four-ounce serving of lean beef. By analyzing blood and muscle samples, the researchers were able to measure the rate at which a particular individuals body built muscle protein. During the five hours after the young and elderly volunteers ate the beef, both groups muscle protein synthesis increased by 50 percent.

Weve done studies in the past with specialized drinks containing amino acids the chemical building blocks of proteins but this was the first time anybodys looked at a real food and its ability to stimulate muscle growth in both the young and elderly, Paddon-Jones said. What we learned was really encouraging, because it suggests that elderly people actually can benefit from eating a moderate serving of protein-rich foods. Thats something they arent doing enough now in fact, between 16 and 27 percent of older adults are eating less than the USDAs recommended daily allowance of protein.

Elderly people may eat less protein for a number of reasons, said Paddon-Jones, including cost, the fact that many foods may not taste as good to them as they once did, difficulty chewing, limited menus in nursing homes or assisted living communities, and decline in appetite. Another important contributor to muscle loss in the elderly is a lack of exercise, he noted.

Even among the elders who volunteered for the study, whom Paddon-Jones described as typically more physically active than most others in the elderly population, a disturbing thing was that on average they had 12 kilograms (26.5 pounds) less lean muscle mass than the younger people we tested. That difference, he said, would probably be even greater in the general population. In other words, compared to a young adult, a typical elderly person lacks the advantages provided by more than 26 pounds of muscle a deficit that in some cases could lead an older person to being permanently bedridden by an injury or illness.

A high percentage of elderly folks who break a hip or suffer a major injury never get out of bed again, and one of the big reasons is that they rapidly lose so much muscle mass and strength that they become physically incapable of getting up, Paddon-Jones said. Sufficient muscle is fundamental for the activities of daily living, movement and independence its definitely a quality-of-life issue.

Parents' depression can weigh on children

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- A parents struggle with stress or depression can lower a childs quality of life -- and it could hinder an overweight youngsters attempts to lose weight, too, University of Florida researchers say.

Parent distress, peer bullying and childhood depression can propel a cycle that makes it more difficult for children to adopt healthier lifestyles, UF researchers report in the current issue of the journal Obesity.

Understanding more about factors that affect an overweight childs well-being could help health-care professionals better treat these kids, said David Janicke, a UF assistant professor of clinical and health psychology in the College of Public Health and Health Professions and the lead author of the study.

Tending to the needs of distressed parents could be one of the best ways to help children, Janicke said. Having supportive parents is vital for children to be able to make the lifestyle changes needed to lose weight. Often, children only have access to food at home, so what a parent puts on the table usually determines what the child eats, Janicke said. Also, the behaviors a parent models affect the lifestyle choices a child makes, too.

When parents are struggling, they may have less energy and not be able to provide the emotional support an overweight child needs or help organize play dates and exercise activities, Janicke said.

Looking at how parents are doing themselves, how they are doing socially and emotionally and how they are coping with the stresses in their lives, is really important too, Janicke said. Its important for them to take time out to take care of themselves.

More than 33 percent of children and adolescents in the United States are overweight or obese, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Prior studies conducted elsewhere have shown that overweight children have a poorer quality of life than normal-weight peers. UFs study is one of the first to examine how factors such as parent distress, depression and bullying affect a childs well-being, giving researchers a better understanding of how to help overweight children.

UF researchers surveyed 96 overweight or obese children and their parents, comparing how bullying, depression and parents well-being related to each childs quality of life. The researchers looked at a combination of factors, namely health, emotional well-being, academic performance and social status.

Children whose parents were struggling or who reported more problems with peers tended to have a lower overall score for quality of life. Both bullying and parent distress were linked to more depressive symptoms in children, and these symptoms seemed to be related to poorer quality of life.

One of the pathways to poor quality of life seems to be childhood depression, Janicke said. If a parent is distressed, that seems to impact a childs symptoms of depression, which then impacts quality of life. Its the same with peer victimization. It impacts depression, which then impacts quality of life. And it seems to affect not just the emotional aspect of quality of life, but also their health status.

Talking about quality of life and problems such as bullying also helps clinicians encourage children to confront their weight problem, said Meg Zeller, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati and a psychologist with the Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center. Often, fears of developing type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease dont motivate children, but factors such as bullying do, she said.

It gives a kid language to be able to talk about what it would mean to them to be able to make lifestyle changes, she said, adding that Janickes research helps advance researchers understanding of factors that affect a childs quality of life.

Addressing emotional and psychological issues is a key part of helping kids manage their weight, Janicke said. Aside from helping kids open up about making healthier lifestyle choices, psychologists also can help children deal with depression and teach coping strategies for peer bullying.

Sometimes its hard to change peer interactions, but just giving the child an ear can be very powerful, Janicke said. Helping parents take care of themselves and be effective listeners is a starting point.

Tipping points

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Growing food and fiber entails the use of fertilizer and irrigation systems and results in land clearing. These side effects of agriculture can lead to regime shiftsor tipping points which include desertification, salinisation, water degradation, and changes in climate due to altered water flows from land to atmosphere. As human populations shift to more meat-heavy diets, trade of agricultural products increases, and demand for biofuels grows, the pressure on agricultural systems is mounting. The challenge is to figure out how to meet these demands and keep the ecosystem functions that underpin productivity working. So say researchers who will participate in a symposium, Tipping points in the biosphere: Agriculture, water, and resilience during the Ecological Society of Americas Annual Meeting.

Tipping points occur when an ecosystem is overwhelmed by the demands placed on it and can no longer function the way it did before. In other words, it loses its resiliency which ultimately can lead to land that is rendered useless for growing crops.

Elena Bennett (McGill University), organizer of the symposium, says that we need to better understand large scale regime shifts in order to develop policies that sustain, rather than degrade, the very systems upon which humanity depends.

One of the reasons agricultural landscapes are so prone to regime shifts is that our management of them has tended to focus exclusively on improving one type of ecosystem service (e.g. food production, fiber production, biofuels production) at the cost of all others, explains Bennett.

She notes that agriculture is now one of the main driving forces of global environmental change. Bennett and other presenters in this session have identified potential tipping points related to water and agriculture that could have major global consequences.

No human activity has so large an impact on water systems as does agriculture, according to Johan Rockstrom (Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden). He notes that the future will bring an even greater demand on fresh water for food productionby 2050 global water use for food production alone will need to double.

Line Gordon (Stockholm University, Sweden) will examine the redistribution of vapor flows brought about by irrigation. Gordon notes that the pattern of change varies and identifies the mid-United States, the Amazon, the Sahel, India, and Northern China as the most likely areas to undergo climate change, driven by these altered continental vapor flows.

Ellen Marie Douglas (University of Massachusetts) will focus on potential impacts on Indias Monsoon Belt, home to a large part of the globes population. India has the largest irrigated agricultural area in the world, with more than 90 percent of the countrys water supporting irrigated agriculture. Vapor fluxes in Indias wet season are up by 7 percent and are up 55 percent in the dry season. Douglas and her colleagues attribute two-thirds of this change to irrigated agriculture.

Drawing from research examples in the Mississippi River, Simon Donner (Princeton University), will discuss the role of nitrogen fertilizer in the health of downstream ecosystems, in particular their potential sensitivity to climate change.

Navin Ramankutty (McGill University) likens land use changes to fuel emissions in their potential to drive climatic changes. According to Ramankutty, local land cover changes may very likely generate changes elsewhere by altering the general circulation of the atmosphere. He points to Canada, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Mexico, and Central America as places where land clearing for cultivation may have inadvertently decreased suitability for growing crops.

Brandon Bestelmeyer (USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range) will examine tipping points in rangelands and will explore various socio-economic factors contributing to rangeland degradation.

Others presenting at the session are Garry Peterson (McGill University), Lance Gunderson (Emory University), and Max Rietkerk (Utrecht University, The Netherlands).

Our hope is that if we can identify potential regime shifts, we can alter our management to avoid them, says session organizer Bennett.

Why nectar-feeding bats need a 'power drink' to fly

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Nectar-feeding bats burn sugar faster than any other mammal on Earth and three times faster than even top-class athletes ecologists have discovered. The findings, published online in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology, illustrate that because they live life on an energetic knife edge, these bats are very vulnerable to any changes in their environment that interrupt their fuel supply for even a short period.

Working with a captive breeding colony in Germany, Dr Christian Voigt of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin and Professor John Speakman of the University of Aberdeen fed long-tongued bats (Glossophaga soricina) sugar labelled with non-radioactive carbon-13 and then measured the amount of carbon-13 in the bats exhaled breath.

We found that nectar-feeding bats made use of the sugar they were drinking for their metabolism within minutes after drinking it, and after less than half an hour they were fuelling 100% their metabolism from this source. For comparison, the highest rates reported in humans are for athletes who can fuel up to 30% of their metabolism directly from power drinks, they say.

The reason these bats live on such an energetic knife edge is down to the food source they live on and the way they get around. They feed on floral nectars that contain simple sugars such as sucrose, glucose and fructose, but which are produced in only very small amounts by flowering plants. These sugars are rapidly absorbed and digested, and by metabolising them directly rather than converting them to fat or glycogen and then using them up later the bats get the maximum energy they can from the sugars. This is important because they hover like humming birds, and this kind of flight uses up a great deal of energy.

According to Voigt and Speakman: All animals need energy to power their metabolism. Ultimately this energy comes from food, but usually only a small fraction of the energy being used comes directly from the food. Normally, most of the food is converted into storage and this is drawn on later to fuel metabolism. Small nectar-feeding bats have among the highest metabolic costs among mammals, and mostly eat a diet low in fat and protein but rich in sugars. Metabolising these sugars immediately they are consumed saves the costs of converting them to and from storage.

In a second experiment, Voigt and Speakman measured how fast the bats used their meagre fat stores. We found the bats depleted almost 60% of their fat stores each day, but even this phenomenal rate was still barely enough to sustain their metabolism when nectar was absent. This underlines how accurately these bats must balance their energy requirements every day and how vulnerable they are to ecological perturbations that might interrupt their fuel supply for even a short period, they say.

Nectar-feeding bats live in south and central America and are among the smallest of all living mammals, weighing less than 10g. They feed at night and can ingest up to 150% of their body weight as nectar.

Scientists find why red beans and rice can be nauseating

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) People cry foul when fowl is undercooked, but what about red beans and rice

Scientists have discovered how lectins, a family of proteins believed to be a natural insecticide that is abundant in undercooked legumes and grains, can make you feel temporarily miserable.

Its known that it can be a toxin, Dr. Paul L. McNeil, cell biologist at the Medical College of Georgia, says of the lectin protein thats commonly found in vegetables. Lectins, which bind strongly to carbohydrates that decorate cell surfaces, have a particular affinity for the heavy-carbohydrate coats of epithelial cells that line the gastrointestinal tract.

Researchers have long known that ingesting too much undercooked lectin can cause nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. What they didnt know was how lectin caused food poisoning.

Work published Aug. 1 in PloS One shows lectins disable GI tract cells, which are constantly bombarded while digesting food, from repairing tears in cells walls from all the activity. Repair normally occurs in seconds: internal membranes move up to patch the tear, the cell recovers and the one-cell layer lining of the GI tract remains intact.

If those individual cells cannot repair tears, they die, says Dr. McNeil. That means you have gaps in the integrity of the surface area of the epithelium and you are exposing the nasty internal world of your GI tract to your blood supply.

The epithelial lining is a continuous, natural barrier between digesting food in the GI tract and the blood supply. When intact, it allows only good stuff like nutrients to pass through.

Your body senses that lack of barrier function and tells you to eliminate the entire contents of the GI tract, says Dr. McNeil, noting that lectins apparent role as a natural insecticide and as a source of food poisoning are related. If you get vomiting and diarrhea you are going to eliminate the entire contents of your gastrointestinal tract, right And, you are not going to eat red beans again the next day, right That is probably the point if they are natural insecticides. Alcohol will do the same thing. When you drink too much alcohol, you can destroy the lining of your stomach.

But the scientist who first identified how injured cells patch themselves says lectin blocks this repair mechanism better than anything else hes seen. Interestingly, he and his colleagues showed in PloS Biology in 2006 how roughage which includes beans help people stay regular by causing more cell tears, which enables more mucus to escape from cells, essentially greasing the GI tract.

That same research team, which includes Dr. Katsuya Miyake, MCG cell biologist, and Dr. Toru Tanaka, pharmacologist at Josai University in Japan, has now shown lectin is also very good at blocking mucus expulsion from cells.

In fact, they discovered lectins role in stopping cell-patching and mucus release while researching roughage. The multipurpose lectin is a powerful stain the team used to look at mucus released by cells after tearing. They found if they used too much lectin there was no patching or mucus, just cell death.

Biologically its interesting because it might tell us more about the mechanism of repair, says Dr. McNeil, who wants to learn more about how lectin interferes with repair. We know the mechanism involves surface binding because you can add lectin and the cells cant repair. You take the same culture of cells, wash the lectin away, injure other cells in the culture and they repair fine. We also know its a very rapid, surface-initiated inhibition.

In addition to the immediate discomfort undercooked beans and rice can cause, long term concerns ingestion of lectin has also been linked to colorectal cancer and celiac disease, a common problem in which individuals are sensitive to gluten, a mixture of proteins derived from wheat flour that includes lectins. The small intestine of the celiac sufferer is unable to properly absorb nutrients after gluten ingestion.

Oddly, in a laboratory dish, safe from mechanical stresses that cause surface tears, lectin can make cells divide, which is quite the opposite of making cells sick, Dr. McNeil says. A recent Science paper implicated lectin in diabetes as well.

Its possible that this bioactive property of lectin that binds to our cells could have long-term consequences taken even in small amounts, he says, noting that thorough cooking destroys most but not all lectin. Maybe the bloating and gas is telling us something about lectin when its just a minor irritation.

He notes lectin is easily among the top-10 causes of food poisoning but is unlikely to be lethal because the body is so good at sensing the break in the GI barrier and eliminating the problem.

Nutritional supplement cuts anemia in poor children by half

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A nutritional supplement known as Sprinkles, which can be added to children's food, reduces anemia by more than half, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition.

The study was led by Purnima Menon, Cornell Ph.D. '02, a research associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell. It is the first to show, using a rigorous study design, that Sprinkles can reduce the incidence of anemia among poor children enrolled in an ongoing fortified food aid program implemented under challenging, real-life conditions in developing countries.

The research, conducted by Cornell's Division of Nutritional Sciences with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), offers promising insights on how to reduce iron and other micronutrient deficiencies among poor people in developing countries. These deficiencies are a devastating problem worldwide, causing poor health, premature death and impaired development, says Menon. Children age 6 to 24 months are most vulnerable to suffering from iron-deficiency anemia.

When combined with other food aid initiatives, the potential impact [of Sprinkles] is huge, said Marie Ruel, Cornell Ph.D. '90, director of IFPRI's Food Consumption and Nutrition Division and a co-author of the study.

The findings are based on a study in rural Haiti, where at least two out of every three children under age 3 are anemic. Children in the study were enrolled in a food aid program that included cereals fortified with iron and other micronutrients. After Sprinkles, a dry powder containing iron and other vitamins and minerals, were added to their food for two months, anemia rates among the children were reduced from 54 percent to 24 percent, and further reduced to 14 percent seven months later. However, anemia rates remained unchanged for those children in the study who did not receive Sprinkles.

The study also found that fortified food aid alone is insufficient to prevent anemia in infants and young children, even if mothers are advised to complement the donated commodities with locally available, iron-rich foods. This could be due to the fact that foods such as meat are too expensive for families to buy on a daily basis and that donated foods are often shared among all family members rather than consumed only by the child.

According to the study, it is highly feasible to integrate Sprinkles distribution and education into existing food aid programs. Mothers participating in the study indicated that they would be willing to buy Sprinkles if sold in local markets because they believe it will benefit their children and prefer it to other nutrition interventions. World Vision-Haiti currently assists mothers with purchasing Sprinkles from Population Services International, a social marketing firm, which markets them in Haiti under the name Babyfer.

Sprinkles are one of the most promising innovations in nutrition today, said Menon. They offer an inexpensive option that mothers seem to love and children can consume easily.

While the study took place in Haiti, its implications are global, she said. Sprinkles have been tried in other developing countries, such as Bangladesh, Ghana and Indonesia, and were found to be a very effective way to reduce micronutrient deficiencies.

Monell researchers find metabolic defect in liver that can lead to obesity

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Philadelphia (July 24, 2007) -- Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center have identified a genetically-transmitted metabolic defect that can lead to obesity in some individuals. The defect involves decreased production of liver enzymes needed to burn fat and may help to explain why some people become obese while others remain thin.

The global obesity epidemic is thought to be caused in part by the increased availability and intake of high calorie foods rich in fat and carbohydrates. These foods promote weight gain in humans and other animals, leading to a diet-induced obesity. The propensity to gain weight and become obese when consuming a high-fat diet is at least partially controlled by genes.

Results of this study help explain the interaction between genes and diet that underlies diet-induced obesity, comments senior author Mark Friedman. They also point to a way to identify individuals at risk for dietary obesity, perhaps even during childhood before the development of unhealthy eating habits.

The current study, published in the August issue of Metabolism, demonstrates that genetic susceptibility to diet-induced obesity is due to a reduced capacity to burn fat.

Fat is one of the fuels that the bodys cells burn to provide energy. This process, known as fat oxidation, takes place inside mitochondria, the cells power plants for generating energy.

If the ability to oxidize fat is impaired, the bodys capacity to make energy is reduced. This leads to increased hunger and overeating, as the body tries to increase the amount of energy available to meet its needs.

When the diet is low in fat, a reduced ability to burn fat has relatively little impact on energy production. However, if fat oxidation is impaired and the diet is high in fat, a greater proportion of calories cannot be used and food intake increases to cover the energy deficit. Because fat fuels are stored in fat tissue when theyre not oxidized, the increased food intake causes weight gain.

To determine whether preexisting differences in fat oxidation might contribute to individual susceptibility to diet-induced obesity, Friedman and lead author Hong Ji used rats that differ in their genetic predisposition to gain weight and become obese when fed a high-fat diet.

The closely-related strains weigh the same and eat the same amount of calories when fed a low-fat diet. However, when switched to a high-fat diet, the strain that is obesity-prone overeats and becomes obese, while the obesity-resistant strain does not.

The researchers found that even when eating a low-fat diet and still lean, the obesity-prone rats were less able to burn fat than were the obesity-resistant rats. This intrinsic deficit in fat oxidation was associated with a decrease in the capacity to make two liver enzymes. One, CD36, is responsible for transferring fat fuels into liver cells, while the second enzyme, acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase, begins the oxidation process in mitochondria.

When fed a high-fat diet, the obesity-prone rats overate and became obese, gaining 36% more weight than resistant animals. Fat oxidation was further compromised due to a decreased ability to make CPT1A, the liver enzyme responsible for transporting fat into mitochondria.

The inherited propensity to gain weight when eating a high-fat diet appears to be due to a preexisting limit on the ability to burn fat in the liver. This defect persists during the development of obesity and is then further compounded by additional deficits in the fat oxidizing machinery, comments Friedman.

Other studies in Friedmans laboratory have demonstrated that a decrease in fat oxidation and energy production in the liver generates a signal that stimulates eating. Experiments in his and other laboratories have also found that treatments that increase fat oxidation reduce food intake and cause weight loss in obese rodents.

With this in mind, Friedman notes, The present findings point to fat oxidation in the liver as a target for the development of drugs that suppress appetite and promote weight loss in obese individuals.

Future studies will guide development of such interventions by examining more closely the function and activity of the target enzymes.

Links between food cravings, types of cravings, and weight management

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BOSTON -- Accepting food cravings and keeping them in check may be an important component of weight management, according to findings from the first six-month phase of a calorie-restriction study conducted at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University. Supplemental results from the Comprehensive Assessment of the Long-term Effects of Restricting Intake of Energy (CALERIE) trial provide new insights into food cravings, specific types of foods craved, and their role in weight control.

Cravings are really normal; almost everyone has them, says corresponding author Susan Roberts, PhD, director of the USDA HNRCAs Energy Metabolism Laboratory. At the start of the study, 91 percent of the participants reported having food cravings, which are defined as an intense desire to eat a specific food. Most people feel guilty about having food cravings, says Roberts, but the results of this study indicate that they are so normal that nobody needs to feel they are unusual in this respect.

In addition, the results indicate that cravings dont go away during dieting. In fact, 94 percent of the study participants reported cravings after six months of dieting. However,Roberts says, participants who lost a greater percentage of body weight gave in to theircravings less frequently. Allowing yourself to have the foods you crave, but doing so less frequently may be one of the most important keys to successful weight control, she adds.

Roberts and colleagues observed that successful weight loss was related not only to how often people gave in to their cravings, but also to the types of foods they craved. Participants with a higher percentage of weight loss actually craved foods with higher energy (calorie) density, compared with those who lost a lower percentage of body weight, says Roberts, who is also a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Energy-dense foods, such as chocolate and some salty snacks, are those that pack the most calories per unit of volume, explains Cheryl Gilhooly, PhD, MPH, research dietitian and first author of the study, as compared to less energy-dense foods like fruits and vegetables, which have fewer calories per unit of volume.

These findings suggest, says Roberts, that cravings are for calories, not carbohydrate, as is widely assumed. What is commonly called carbohydrate addiction should probably be relabeled as calorie addiction, she added. Some of the most commonly craved foods among study participants were foods that have high sugar plus fat, such as chocolate, and salty snacks, such as chips and French fries. The craved foods do have carbohydrate, but they also have fat, and some protein, too. The most identifiable thing about the foods people crave is that they are highly dense in calories, Roberts deduces.

The study, which was part of the one-year CALERIE trial, involved 32 overweight but otherwise healthy women, 20 to 42 years of age, who were randomly assigned to two diets that differed in glycemic load, a measurement of how quickly the carbohydrates in a persons diet are converted to blood sugar.

Participants completed food craving questionnaires that assessed the foods craved, the frequency and strength of cravings, and how often cravings led to eating the desired food. Researchers collected information from these questionnaires, along with data from dietary intake records and measures of weight change over time. Primary results from the CALERIE study were reported in an earlier issue of Friedman Nutrition Notes, available at

Commentary highlights impact of food-cancer drug interactions

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Alexandria, Va. A commentary in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) urges researchers to explore an intriguing approach to reduce the dose, and therefore the cost, of oral targeted cancer therapies. The commentary, by Mark Ratain, MD and Ezra Cohen, MD of the University of Chicago, examines recent pharmacologic research which found that taking the targeted therapy lapatinib (Tykerb) with food significantly increased the concentration of the drug in the body. The commentary suggests that taking lapatinib with food instead of on an empty stomach, as currently indicated, could cut the needed dose by at least 60 percent, reducing the cost accordingly. The authors stress that formal studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of this approach. The article is being published online July 16.

The commentary focuses on a study presented at the March 2007 meeting of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, which found that lapatinib is more readily absorbed by the body when taken with food, particularly a high-fat meal. As a result, 500 mg of lapatinib taken with food may be as effective as taking the currently approved 1,250 mg without food.

Lapatinib was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March of this year for women with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer. The FDA approved the 1,250 mg dose of lapatinib based on a large phase III clinical trial demonstrating its effectiveness and safety at that dose without food. It is taken as five 250 mg tablets on an empty stomach and costs $2,900 per month.

The cost of new targeted cancer therapies which can be as high as $10,000 per month has generated substantial discussion and debate. The economic implications of this food effect study are particularly remarkable. At the current price of $2,900 per month, this would have a cost savings of 60 percent or $1,740 per month the commentary states. As we enter an era of targeted anticancer agents with a monthly cost measured in the thousands of dollars, we should view drug-drug or drug-food interactions as opportunities to lower costs.

The commentary states that rising cancer drug prices are encouraging researchers to explore such pharmacologic approaches to lowering costs. However, the authors urge that neither physicians nor patients consider changing lapatinib dose based on these findings, and that everyone strictly follow the prescribing label directions, which are based on the findings of rigorous clinical tests. The authors strongly emphasize that a formal pharmacokinetic study of a lower dose of lapatinib with food would need to confirm these findings before any change in dosage could be considered safe andeffective.