Nutrients News and Research

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IOF commends IOM's new vitamin D and calcium intake recommendations

On November 30, 2010, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (IOM) in the US released new recommendations on daily reference intakes for vitamin D and calcium across all ages. The report is based on available evidence in the literature, with higher quality studies, supporting the role of these nutrients on bone health. Vitamin D deficiency is an important health issue to address as it has been linked to the pathogenesis of osteoporosis and hip fractures as well as other skeletal and non-skeletal disorders.

2 Dec 2010

CRN says increased DRI for vitamin D a step in right direction, but still falls short

The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the dietary supplement industry's leading trade association, today called the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine's (IOM) newly released report on the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) levels for vitamin D "a modest step in the right direction that fell short of truly capturing the extensive and positive research that has consistently supported the need for people to significantly raise their vitamin D levels."

1 Dec 2010

British Journal: Obesity, alcohol consumption may increase cancer risk

People should be warned that cancer is linked to obesity and alcohol, rather than urged to eat more fruit and vegetables to protect against the disease.

1 Dec 2010

Diabetes plays a vital role in regulating brain cholesterol: Research

The brain contains more cholesterol than any other organ in the body, has to produce its own cholesterol and won't function normally if it doesn't churn out enough. Defects in cholesterol metabolism have been linked with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. Now researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center have discovered that diabetes can affect how much cholesterol the brain can make.

1 Dec 2010

Mitochondrial dysfunction observed in children with full syndrome autism

Preliminary research has found that children with autism are more likely to have impaired mitochondrial function (structures within cells responsible for energy production) and mitochondrial DNA abnormalities than typically developing children, according to a study in the December 1 issue of JAMA.

1 Dec 2010

Are vitamin D and calcium supplements needed?

The IOM raised the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin D from the amount cited in their last report, released 13 years ago. It said that although 600 international units (IUs) of vitamin D or more each day is sufficient to maintain bone health in majority. But those aged 71 and older may need as much as 800 IUs daily, the IOM experts say. However 1997 recommendations advised 400 IUs per day for people aged 51 to 70 and 600 IUs per day for those over 70.

30 Nov 2010

Researchers conduct real-time metabolic imaging in human patient with prostate tumor

A UCSF research collaboration with GE Healthcare has produced the first results in humans of a new technology that promises to rapidly assess the presence and aggressiveness of prostate tumors in real time, by imaging the tumor's metabolism.

30 Nov 2010

IOM report updates DRIs levels of Vitamin D, calcium

Vitamin D and calcium have been the focus of much research since the Institute of Medicine set nutritional reference values for them in 1997. Known as Dietary Reference Intakes, the values for these and other nutrients serve as a guide for good nutrition and provide the scientific basis for the development of food guidelines in both the United States and Canada. Updated DRIs for these two nutrients are presented in a new IOM report, Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D, which will be released on Tuesday, Nov. 30.

30 Nov 2010

Common, overprescribed drugs lead to election dopiness and immaturity

As Bill Maher, New York Magazine, the Washington Post and countless cable news and Internet sources have pointed out, the 2010 midterm campaigns and elections seem to have brought to light an American electorate capable of shocking illogic, ignorance and even violence.

29 Nov 2010

NIH awards $6.7M to establish Membrane Protein Structural Biology Consortium

Dr. Michael G. Malkowski, Hauptman-Woodward senior research scientist, has received a $6.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health in support of his work to establish the Membrane Protein Structural Biology Consortium (mpsbc.org) as one of nine centers in the United States responsible for determining membrane protein structures within a larger NIH biology-based initiative.

26 Nov 2010

K.U.Leuven researchers receive ERC Advanced Grants

K.U.Leuven researchers Peter Carmeliet and Bart De Strooper have both been awarded Advanced Grants from the European Research Council. ERC Advanced Grants are the most prestigious European research grants, spanning a period of 5 years. Peter Carmeliet of the VIB Vesalius Research Centre, K.U.Leuven, will receive approximately 2.5 million euro for research focused on stopping the energy supply into blood vessels.

20 Nov 2010

Harvard researcher to receive 2010 Naomi Berrie Award from Columbia University Medical Center

Columbia University Medical Center will present the 2010 Naomi Berrie Award to a Harvard researcher who has made important advances in understanding the molecular basis for links between obesity, diabetes and heart disease. A promising young investigator at Columbia will also be recognized for her novel investigations regarding the basis for disordered lipid metabolism in diabetes.

20 Nov 2010

High CRP and low protein albumin levels associated with increased risk of death after PEG-operations

The combination of high CRP and low levels of the protein albumin in the blood, is associated with an increased risk of death after a PEG-operation; implantation of a nutritional catheter into the stomach through the abdominal wall. This was shown in a new study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet, published in the scientific journal Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Of the PEG patients in the study that showed both current indicators, 20 percent died within 30 days.

20 Nov 2010

Research suggests new therapeutic approach to prevent transplant rejection

UCLA researchers have pinpointed the culprit behind chronic rejection of heart, lung and kidney transplants. Published in the Nov. 23 edition of Science Signaling, their findings suggest new therapeutic approaches for preventing transplant rejection and sabotaging cancer growth.

19 Nov 2010

DoD recommends funding for Synta's STA-9584 for prostate cancer study

Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule drugs to treat severe medical conditions, today announced that the Department of Defense (DoD) has recommended STA-9584, a novel vascular disrupting agent (VDA) currently in pre-clinical development at Synta, be funded for study in advanced prostate cancer.

19 Nov 2010

Glutaminase inhibitor: New potential target for brain tumors

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have identified a compound that could be used to starve cancers of their sugar-based building blocks. The compound, called a glutaminase inhibitor, has been tested on laboratory cultured, sugar-hungry brain cancer cells and, the scientists say, may have the potential to be used for many types of primary brain tumors.

19 Nov 2010

Iron in plaque may predict risk of myocardial infarction

Plaque in a heart artery looks threatening, but cardiologists know that many of these buildups will not erupt, dislodge and block a vessel, causing a heart attack that can be fatal. Some will, however, and the challenge is to figure out atherosclerotic plaque that is dangerous and treat or remove it.

16 Nov 2010

Dreaded cod liver oil in a variety of flavours

The stomachs of the generation of 50 year olds and above, will be churning at the thought of their parents and grandparents serving up spoonfuls of the much dreaded cod liver oil. As a practice, parents giving their children cod liver oil has all but died, and yet, as a population, we have seen more and more inflammatory conditions effect people's lives, which are due in no small part to the 'modern day diet', which many of us live.

12 Nov 2010

Scientists unveil mechanism of liver regeneration

The liver's unique ability among organs to regenerate itself has been little understood. Now Weill Cornell Medical College scientists have shed light on how the liver restores itself by demonstrating that endothelial cells the cells that form the lining of blood vessels play a key role.

12 Nov 2010

Lower-protein infant formula helps attain same growth rate as breastfed infants

Newly published findings indicate that infants fed a lower protein infant formula developed by Pfizer Nutrition gained weight at a similar rate to those who were breastfed, according to a study published online today in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Pfizer Nutrition has always recognized that breast milk is the best source of infant nutrition. The study established that infants fed a new, lower-protein infant formula attained the same growth rate and growth pattern as breastfed infants.

10 Nov 2010