Vitamins News and Research

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Important skin color gene identified

With help from a common aquarium pet and a recently released online database of human genetic variation, a collaborative team of Penn State researchers has found what could be the most important skin color gene identified to date.

15 Dec 2005

Vitamin D keeps lungs healthy - CHEST study

Vitamin D may play a role in keeping our lungs healthy, with greater concentrations of vitamin D resulting in greater lung health benefits. A study in the December issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that patients with higher concentrations of vitamin D had significantly better lung function, compared with patients with lower concentrations of vitamin D.

13 Dec 2005

Iron-biofortified rice improves the iron stores of nonanemic Filipino women

For the past decade, plant breeders have been trying to boost the vitamin and mineral content of rice and other staples through traditional plant breeding and genetic engineering. But the foods have never been tested to see if they actually improve the health of the people who eat them.

5 Dec 2005

Cellular clues to vitamin A resistance in lung cancer

Vitamin A deficiency has been associated with the development of lung cancer in laboratory studies. However, clinical trials of natural and synthetic derivatives of vitamin A, called retinoids, for the prevention of lung cancer have been largely unsuccessful in the general population.

26 Nov 2005

Newly identified protein may help improve treatment for lung cancer

Researchers hope that a newly identified protein can one day help improve treatment for lung cancer. The findings are reported by researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

21 Nov 2005

Phenolic compounds in olive oil may explain cardiovascular health benefits associated with Mediterranean Diet

Phenolic compounds in olive oil, which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-clotting properties, may explain cardiovascular health benefits associated with the so-called Mediterranean Diet, according to a new study in the Nov. 15, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

13 Nov 2005

Vitamin D sufficiency may be more important than high calcium intake for maintaining calcium metabolism

Calcium intake levels of more than 800 mg/day may be unnecessary for maintaining calcium metabolism if vitamin D status is adequate, according to a study in the November 9 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

10 Nov 2005

With adequate vitamin D extra calcium unnecessary

New research says that in order to maintain calcium metabolism, taking as much as 800 milligrams of calcium daily is probably unnecessary provided that vitamin D levels are normal.

9 Nov 2005

Exercise is good for multiple sclerosis, but it must be done correctly

Aerobic exercise is thought to help persons with multiple sclerosis fight fatigue, the most common symptom of the disease. Yet MS also appears to cause the body to heat up more quickly, compromising the ability to exercise.

3 Nov 2005

DN-101 may protect against major side effects of chemotherapy

Men with advanced prostate cancer who take an experimental, high-dose vitamin D pill with chemotherapy live about eight months longer than those receiving chemotherapy and placebo, according to a new study.

3 Nov 2005

Calcitriol - promising chemopreventive agent that may prevent prostate cancer

The active metabolite of vitamin D, calcitriol, and other vitamin D analogs are promising chemopreventive agents that may prevent prostate cancer, according to a study presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research's 4th annual Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting in Baltimore.

3 Nov 2005

First steps taken to treat human hereditary blindness

A team led by Krzysztof Palczewski, Ph.D., chair of pharmacology at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has taken the first steps in treating an eye disease causing irreversible congenital blindness in millions of people worldwide by successfully testing two new treatments in mice.

3 Nov 2005

Role of alpha tocopherol associated protein in prostate cancer

Researchers have identified a protein that disrupts an important signaling pathway in prostate cancer cells and suppresses growth of the cancer.

1 Nov 2005

Treatment for Leber Congenital Amaurosis

U.S. researchers have taken the first steps in treating an eye disease that causes irreversible blindness in humans by successfully testing two novel treatments in mice.

1 Nov 2005

Interventions to improve child survival are not reaching the poorest children

In most low-income countries, coverage rates for child-survival interventions are low, and millions of children die every year from diseases for which there are effective interventions.

20 Oct 2005

New publication on nutrition and an active life

Nutrition and an Active Life: From Knowledge to Action is an new anthology produced by leading public health experts from the Pan American Health Organization and the international development community.

19 Oct 2005

Putting things in prespective - help the world's children to fight bird flu

Amid the escalating panic in Europe centered around attempts to halt the spread among the bird population of bird flu, a senior health expert has said that swift action against age-old child killers such as diarrhea and pneumonia could help the world get ready to combat a bird flu pandemic.

19 Oct 2005

20 percent of people with chronic hepatitis C who receive a liver transplant will develop advanced cirrhosis

A new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine may have found a way to identify those at greatest risk, thereby allowing doctors to decide who should receive treatment that could save the transplanted organ. The new findings appear in the October issue of the journal Liver Transplantation.

9 Oct 2005

To improve the diets of British children we need to look beyond school dinners

The health of pupils eating school dinners is no worse - and in some respects may be better - than that of pupils eating meals provided from home, concludes a study published online by the British Medical Journal today.

5 Oct 2005