Nutrition News and Research

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Cocoa can help prevent onset of colon carcinogenesis

A new study on living animals has shown for the first time that eating cocoa (the raw material in chocolate) can help to prevent intestinal complaints linked to oxidative stress, including colon carcinogenesis onset caused by chemical substances.

24 Jan 2012

Kids not getting enough Vitamin D

According to Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England, young children and some adults are not getting enough vitamin D. Not receiving enough of the vitamin can lead to health problems including rickets, broken bones, muscle weakness and infections including TB. Research last year suggested that a quarter of Britain's toddlers did not have enough vitamin D in their bloodstreams.

24 Jan 2012

Latest attacks in Jonglei, South Sudan, perpetuate a pattern of extreme violence, says Médecins Sans Frontières

In the state of Jonglei in South Sudan, civilians continue to bear the brunt of inter-communal fighting. Wounded patients are still arriving at the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Pibor, three weeks after the violent attack on the town and outlying villages in Pibor County. Many were injured in the bush, where thousands have remained, afraid to come out of hiding. Médecins Sans Frontières medical teams are now treating serious wound infections, some several weeks old. Since re-launching emergency medical activities in Pibor on 7 January, Médecins Sans Frontières has treated 47 patients with gunshot wounds – 16 women and 8 children. A further 43 patients have so far been treated for stab wounds, beatings or wounds sustained while fleeing in the bush.

24 Jan 2012

KSU professor turns to nutrition to tackle prostate cancer

A Kansas State University professor is turning to nutrition to tackle prostate cancer. Brian Lindshield, assistant professor of human nutrition, is helping men make more informed diet decisions by studying foods and dietary supplements that may reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer among men in the United States.

24 Jan 2012

CQA derivatives in mate tea kill human colon cancer cells

Could preventing colon cancer be as simple as developing a taste for yerba mate tea? In a recent University of Illinois study, scientists showed that human colon cancer cells die when they are exposed to the approximate number of bioactive compounds present in one cup of this brew, which has long been consumed in South America for its medicinal properties.

24 Jan 2012

Study explains how bacterial biofilms expand to form slimy mats on teeth, surgical instruments

New research at Harvard explains how bacterial biofilms expand to form slimy mats on teeth, pipes, surgical instruments, and crops.

23 Jan 2012

EMA CHMP issues positive opinion to MSD's REMICADE for treatment of pediatric UC

MSD today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) adopted a positive opinion recommending the use of REMICADE (infliximab) in the treatment of severely active ulcerative colitis (UC) in pediatric patients ages 6 to 17 years, who have had an inadequate response to conventional therapy, including corticosteroids and 6-mercaptopurine or azathioprine, or who are intolerant to or have medical contraindications for such therapies.

21 Jan 2012

Exposure to phthalates may increase risk of obesity in young children

Researchers from the Children's Environmental Health Center at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York have found an association between exposure to the chemical group known as phthalates and obesity in young children - including increased body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.

20 Jan 2012

CHORI senior scientist reveals mechanism for iron absorption from non-meat sources

A groundbreaking study conducted by Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) Senior Scientist Elizabeth Theil, PhD, is the first to reveal the existence of at least two independent mechanisms for iron absorption from non-meat sources-and a potential treatment for iron deficiency, the most common nutrient deficiency worldwide.

20 Jan 2012

Decisive role of grandmothers on maternal and infant nutrition, health

Grandmothers and other senior female family members should play a key role in nutrition and health programmes for children and women in non-Western societies. However, they are often overlooked by health organisations that don't understand the importance of their role or see them as an obstacle to promoting good nutrition and health practices.

20 Jan 2012

Plate size does not help to curb energy intake or control portion sizes

The size of one's dinner plate does not help to curb energy intake or control portion sizes, according to a recent study conducted at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

19 Jan 2012

Insufficient sleep increases risk of becoming overweight

New research from Uppsala University, Sweden, shows that a specific brain region that contributes to a person's appetite sensation is more activated in response to food images after one night of sleep loss than after one night of normal sleep. Poor sleep habits can therefore affect people's risk of becoming overweight in the long run. The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

19 Jan 2012

CDC reports obesity rates in U.S. level off

The prevalence of obesity in the U.S. largely leveled off over the last decade, even as some individual groups, such as boys from ages 6 to 19, saw increases, according to government data. Obesity rates in adults rose slightly to 35.7 percent from 30.5 percent between 1999 and 2010, compared with rates that nearly doubled in the two previous decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported today. The rate among boys climbed 29 percent, surpassing girls for the first time, according to the Atlanta-based health agency.

19 Jan 2012

Increasing health problems from caffeinated energy drinks

A study has shown that there is a sharp rise in the number of people who report heart problems, tremors and chest pains after drinking caffeinated energy drinks. The incidences are particularly common among teenagers. Close to 300 calls were made to NSW's poisons centre regarding adverse reactions to energy drinks between January 2004 and the end of 2010, with more than a third of people attending hospital.

18 Jan 2012

Obesity in the U.S. stabilize: Report

New figures from the federal government shows that the prevalence of obesity in the U.S. largely leveled off over the last decade, even as some individual groups, such as boys from ages 6 to 19, saw increases.

18 Jan 2012

Ethanol, nonalcoholic compounds in red wine may reduce risk of vascular disease

Observational epidemiologic studies relating wine and alcohol to health all suffer from the fact that they, of necessity, compare people who prefer certain beverages, but not the beverages themselves. While there have been many intervention trials in animals, randomized trials in humans are less common. Randomized crossover trials, in which each subject receives all interventions in sequence, can be especially important as they tend to avoid baseline differences among subjects and can detect effects of different interventions with smaller numbers of subjects.

18 Jan 2012

No significant change in prevalence of obesity in the U.S.

There has not been significant change in the prevalence of obesity in the U.S., with data from 2009-2010 indicating that about one in three adults and one in six children and teens are obese; however, there have been increases in certain demographics, according to two studies being published by JAMA. The studies are being released online first because of their public health importance.

18 Jan 2012

Food insecurity forces families to 'stretch' infant formula

Despite receiving supplemental food benefits, some families cannot afford enough infant formula and resort to the dangerous practice of formula "stretching" - watering down formula - to feed their babies, according to a Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study conducted at urban pediatric clinics.

18 Jan 2012

Gastric bypass superior to lap banding finds study

A new study evaluates the best option in terms of weight loss surgery for those who need it. Researchers found gastric bypass patients lose more weight than gastric banding patients and keep it off longer. Even though banding is a simpler operation, nearly half of those patients were still obese after six years.

17 Jan 2012

Premier, Horizon enter three-year national group purchasing contract

Horizon Software International, the leader in K-12 food service technology and online account management, has been awarded a three-year national group purchasing contract with the Premier healthcare alliance.

17 Jan 2012