Diet & Nutrition News and Research

Latest Diet & Nutrition News and Research

Surprise at how few children take vitamin supplements

Recent research into the consumption of vitamin and mineral dietary supplements has revealed a few surprises.

2 Oct 2007

Obese moms-to-be should gain less weight than currently recommended

Severely obese women should lose weight during pregnancy, while obese women who are pregnant should gain less weight than currently recommended, a Saint Louis University study finds.

2 Oct 2007

Omega-3 madness: fish oil or snake oil?

Omega-3 claims are popping up in everything from cereal to mayonnaise, but are those foods the panacea that marketers would have you believe According to the cover story in the October issue of Nutrition Action Healthletter , certain omega-3s may reduce the risk of heart disease and might even help protect against cancer, Alzheimer's, and vision problems.

2 Oct 2007

Mini-strokes linked to uric acid levels

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that high-normal uric acid (UA) levels may cause barely detectable mini strokes that potentially contribute to mental decline in aging adults.

2 Oct 2007

Low maternal cholesterol levels may lead to adverse birth outcomes

Pregnant women who have very low cholesterol may face a greater risk of delivering their babies prematurely than women with more moderate cholesterol levels, a team led by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), reported today.

2 Oct 2007

Lifestyle changes could prevent one in ten cases of breast cancer by 2024

If women change some aspects of their lifestyle now thousands of cases of breast cancer could be prevented over 20 years â€“ a leading researcher predicts tomorrow (Monday).

2 Oct 2007

Leptin plays a major role in islet cell growth and insulin secretion

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.

2 Oct 2007

Almost 30 percent of American children regularly take dietary supplements

More than 30 percent of American children age 18 and younger take some form of dietary supplement, most often multivitamins and multiminerals, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

2 Oct 2007

Hearts are experts at self-preservation

Bristol researchers have identified a heart protection mechanism in mice that surgeons and cardiologists may be able to exploit to improve treatments for patients in future.

1 Oct 2007

High blood pressure may be due to excess weight in half of overweight adults

As many as 50 percent of overweight men and women with high blood pressure may have hypertension as a result of being overweight, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's 61st Annual Fall Conference of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research.

29 Sep 2007

FDA approves new adjustable gastric band for morbid obesity

Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for marketing the REALIZE Adjustable Gastric Band, a surgical implant for weight reduction and improvement in obesity-related health conditions, such as type-2 diabetes, in individuals suffering from morbid obesity.

29 Sep 2007

Effects of good and bad carbohydrates

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."

29 Sep 2007

30 percent of asthma in U.S.can be attributed to cat allergy

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found that more than 50 percent of the current asthma cases in the country can be attributed to allergies, with approximately 30 percent of those cases attributed to cat allergy.

27 Sep 2007

Many patients with diabetes say burden of care rivals complications of disease

Many patients with diabetes say that the inconvenience and discomfort of constant therapeutic vigilance, particularly multiple daily insulin injections, has as much impact on their quality of life as the burden of intermediate complications, researchers from the University of Chicago report in the October 2007 issue of Diabetes Care.

27 Sep 2007

Over use of multivitamins may raise prostate cancer risk

About a third of American adults take some type of multivitamin on a regular basis.

27 Sep 2007

Dietary fatty acids may help prevent diabetes

Omega-3 fatty acids have long been touted for their heart-healthy and brain-boosting benefits. Consider cod liver oil, fortified infant formula and enriched eggs.

27 Sep 2007

New molecular target in blood clot formation

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have identified a new molecular target in blood clot formation, which seems to reduce clotting without excessive bleeding, the common side-effect of anti-clotting agents.

27 Sep 2007

Call for food industry to phase trans fats out of their products

Experts on nutrition and public health are calling on leaders in the food industry to speed up the elimination of industrially produced trans fatty acids from the foods they produce and distribute, and to become partners in promoting healthy diets throughout the Americas.

27 Sep 2007

Potential new weight-loss wonder drug

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.

27 Sep 2007

New research on glycemic index

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.

27 Sep 2007