Food & Nutrition
Simple question gets school children to eat fruit
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Getting children to eat more fruit may be as simple as getting cafeteria workers to use a simple verbal prompt in the lunch line, a study of school lunch programs suggests.
The study found that when cafeteria workers asked elementary school children if they wanted fruit or juice with their lunch, the children usually took one or the other. More importantly, most of the children actually consumed it.
Fruit Flies May Pave Way to New Treatments for Age-related Heart Disease
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The tiny Drosophila fruit fly may pave the way to new methods for studying and finding treatments for heart disease, the leading cause of death in industrialized countries, according to a collaborative study by the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, UC San Diego (UCSD) and the University of Michigan.
The study reports that mutations in a molecular channel found in heart muscle cell membranes caused arrhythmias similar to those that are found in humans, suggesting that understanding how this channel’s activity is controlled in the cell could lead to new heart disease treatments. Led by Burnham’s Professor Rolf Bodmer, Ph.D., and Staff Scientist Karen Ocorr, Ph.D., these new results, to be published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will be made available by priority publication at the journal’s website during the week of February 26, 2007.
Spearmint tea—A possible treatment for mild hirsutism
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Women with hirsutism grow hair on their faces, breasts and stomachs. This can cause great distress. The hair grows because they have abnormally high levels of the ‘masculinising’ androgen hormones. Androgens travel around the body in the blood stream, and a key way of treating hirsutism is to reduce the level of these androgens.
Data just published in Phytotherapy Research shows that drinking two cups of spearmint tea a day for five days could reduce the level of androgens in women with hirsutism.
When pregnant mom eats fish, kids do better
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Children of mothers who ate more fish and other seafood while pregnant are smarter and have better developmental skills than kids of women who ate less or none, researchers said on Thursday in findings they called surprising.
The study, sure to be controversial, sought to assess whether it is wise, as some experts and the U.S. government have recommended, for pregnant women to limit their seafood intake to avoid mercury, a toxin that can harm the nervous system of developing fetuses.
Calcium lowers cardiovascular risk in people on a weight loss program
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Universite Laval Faculty of Medicine researchers have discovered that taking calcium and vitamin D supplements while on a weight loss program lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease. Researchers Genevieve C Major, Francine Alarie, Jean Dore, Sakouna Phouttama, and Angelo Tremblay published the details of their findings in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The scientists enrolled 63 women with a body mass index over 30 on a 15-week low-calorie diet. At the start of the experiment, the women’s daily calcium intake was 700 mg on average, well below the 1,000 mg recommendation. “This is nothing exceptional,” points out Dr. Angelo Tremblay, who led the study. “More than 50% of women don’t get the daily recommended dose.”
100 percent juices found as beneficial to health as fruits and vegetables
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When it comes to some of today’s health issues, 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices do help reduce risk factors related to certain diseases.
This conclusion is the result of a European study designed to question traditional thinking that 100 percent juices play a less significant role in reducing risk for both cancer and cardiovascular disease than whole fruits and vegetables.
Juices are comparable in their ability to reduce risk compared to their whole fruit/vegetable counterparts say several researchers in the United Kingdom who conducted the literature review. The researchers analyzed a variety of studies that looked at risk reduction attributed to the effects of both fiber and antioxidants. As a result, they determined that the positive impact fruits and vegetables offer come not from just the fiber but also from antioxidants which are present in both juice and the whole fruit and vegetables.
‘Normal-weight obese’ syndrome may up heart risks
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People who are normal-weight but carry a good deal of body fat may be at increased risk of heart disease and stroke, a small study suggests.
Most people have by now heard of body mass index (BMI), a measure used to classify people as normal-weight, overweight or obese based on their weight and height.
However, there are people who are technically normal-weight based on their BMI yet have a substantial amount of excess fat, and some researchers say this is its own type of “syndrome.”
Can’t Cure Common Cold, But Coffee Benefits Perk
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Its caffeine can bring jitters and its color can stain teeth, yet moderate consumption of coffee—an all-world beverage if ever there was one—is being shown to have generally positive and protective effects on the emergence of disease conditions according to this month’s issue of Food Technology magazine.
In its regular Food, Medicine & Health column, Food Technology reports that recent studies of coffee in combination with reviews of research gathered over the past 30 years reveal that consumption improves glucose regulation and lowers the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, among other favorable effects.
Too much fish risky for foetuses
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Pregnant women who eat fish more than three times a week could be putting their baby at risk because of higher mercury levels in their blood, according to a study by Taiwanese researchers.
Mercury exposure is especially risky for foetuses when their internal organs are developing, and can result in neuronal, kidney and brain damage, and stunt growth.
Expectant Chinese mothers tend to eat more fish as they believe it is healthier than red or white meat.
Exercise, diet reduce fatty liver in obese teens
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Efforts to help obese children become more active and eat better can help reduce the amount of fatty tissue in their livers.
Known medically as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, this condition is becoming increasingly common as the prevalence of obesity increases, Dr. Ana R. Damaso and colleagues from the Federal University of Sao Paulo in Brazil note in their report. There are currently no drugs available to reverse fatty liver disease, which can progress to cirrhosis, even among young patients, the doctors add.
They set out to determine whether a 12-week program including nutrition education and two one-hour exercise sessions per week would have any effect on fatty liver in a group of 73 obese teens.
Study finds gender differences related to eating and body image
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Researchers have discovered a subtle new difference between men and women – this one occurring in the realm of eating.
In the new study of observed eating behavior in a social setting, young men and women who perceived their bodies as being less than “ideal” ate differing amounts of food after they were shown images of “ideal-bodied” people of their own gender.
Decaf coffee may still pack a mini-caffeine punch
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Decaf coffee is often not totally caffeine-free, a new study shows. In fact, while these beverages have far less caffeine than a cup of regular coffee, they still may have enough of the stimulant to cause physical dependence on them.
As Dr. Bruce A. Goldberger of the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville told Reuters Health, “The concentration of caffeine in these brewed decaf coffees does have physiological and behavioral effects on a person.”
Goldberger and his colleagues tested the caffeine content of decaf from 10 different coffee establishments. Only one—Folger’s Instant—contained no caffeine. The rest contained anywhere from 8.6 milligrams (mg) to 13.9 mg for a 16-ounce cup, the team reports in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology.
Understanding Food Nutrition Labels Challenging for Many People
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In one of the most rigorous studies ever conducted to determine how well people comprehend the information provided on food nutrition labels, researchers have found that the reading and math skills of a significant number of people may not be sufficient to extract the needed information, according to an article published in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Using standardized and validated tests for literacy (REALM -Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine) and numeracy (WRAT3 - Wide Range Achievement Test), researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center surveyed 200 primary care patients from a wide socioeconomic range. A Nutrition Label Survey (NLS), designed with input from registered dietitians, primary care providers, and experts in health literacy/numeracy to evaluate patient understanding of current nutrition labels, was used to measure comprehension of current food nutrition labels. One part of the NLS asked subjects to interpret food labels, such as determining carbohydrate or caloric content of an amount of food consumed. The other part asked patients to choose which of two foods had more or less of a certain nutrient, giving patients a 50/50 chance to guess the correct food item. Also, half of the survey questions involved products that were clearly labeled on their package as “reduced carb,” “low carb,” or designed for “a low-carb diet.”
Nutritional Needs Differ Between the Sexes
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When it comes to optimal nutrition, men and women have different considerations. The distinctions are subtle, but they may affect a man’s health, reports the September issue of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. Here are some of the differences:
Fat. Monounsaturated fats are healthful for both men and women; olive oil is a good source. The omega-3 fatty acids found in fish are also good for both sexes. But a vegetable-based omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), found in canola and flaxseed oils, may be a problem for men. ALA is good for the heart, but some studies suggest it may increase the risk of prostate cancer. For men with heart risks, ALA may be a good choice - but men with more reason to worry about prostate cancer should get their omega-3s from fish and their vegetable fats from olive oil.
Gujarat, India bans Coke, Pepsi from schools
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Officials in Gujarat have banned fizzy drinks from hundreds of state school and college canteens after a pressure group said it had found pesticides in those produced by the Indian arms of Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
“We do not want to sell these drinks in educational institutions until we are sure about the content,” the state’s education minister, Anandiben Patel, told Reuters.
The ban will apply to about 300 colleges and 600 schools.
