Nutrition Diet News

One of the common fears associated with giving up smoking is that it will lead to uncontrolled weight gain. While it is true that some people can gain 9 kilos during the first year of abstinence, other more encouraging studies have shown that initial gains tend to peak after six months and that many people return to their normal body weight within twelve months of quitting the habit. For those potential quitters who are not confident that they would be capable of such a feat, comfort can be sought in the finding that ex-smokers who take up regular physical exercise have a greater chance of controlling their weight than those who remain sedentary. American researchers investigating the post-smoking gains of some 9000 women discovered that getting active was key to their weight control over the two-year period following cessation. The 'light' smokers (24 or less cigarettes a day) investigated who undertook 1-2 hours of energetic physical activity each week were found to gai

Myth: To lose weight, become a vegetarian As with most styles of eating, whether you eat meat or choose to exclude all animal products from your diet, the particular food choices you make determine whether the diet is high, low or well balanced as far as calories are concerned. Many vegetarian foods such as vegetarian cheeses and margarine, nuts, seeds and pastry made from flour and vegetarian spreads are relatively high in fat. If you concentrate on these without balancing them out with starchy carbohydrates such as bread, rice, pasta, other cereals, fruits and vegetables, you could find that your weight actually starts to creep up, not down. Simply becoming a vegetarian is not a guaranteed fast route to weight loss. Always read the label for nutritional information (on energy and fat per serving/100 grams). Myth: A fat free diet is good for you A completely fat free diet is virtually impossible to achieve and is certainly not good for you. Dietary fats are needed to carry fat s

For many women, running a home, bringing up children and taking care of elderly relatives, as well as working outside the home, can influence their physical and mental well-being. Ensuring good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle can contribute significantly to women's health throughout their lives. Rapid growth during adolescence, menstruation and the demands of pregnancy and lactation can result in an increased risk of low levels of nutrients such as iron, folic acid and calcium. Surveys of nutritional status frequently demonstrate chronic shortages of these nutrients, not only in a woman's earlier years but extending through into later life. Low-energy diets, slimming re-gimes, eating disorders and the increasing number of vegetarians make women even more vulnerable to nutritional inadequacies. The importance of iron Women of childbearing age have increased iron needs and hence are at risk of iron-deficiency anaemia. It is important for them to eat those foods that are n

Food Today looks at some common myths about acidic foods, fluids and sugar Myth: Eating acidic foods, like oranges, disturbs the acid/alkaline balance in the body. Fact: The body works to maintain an acid to alkaline balance at all times through specific buffering systems. Even the slightest alteration to blood alkalinity can adversely affect vital body functions needed to sustain life. Luckily we have many systems in place to ensure this is so, including the lungs and kidneys. In healthy individuals, what you eat is not likely to greatly affect the balance. Oranges and other "acidic" fruits and juices are a great source of vitamin C and plant nutrients, so keep eating them! Myth: You should "feed a cold and starve a fever". Fact: You do not need to do either. Instead it's better to follow your appetite, although if you are sweating a lot with a fever then it is really important to increase your fluid intake to avoid becoming dehydrated. If you feel like

Among the thousands of different foods our world provides, the majority contain at least several of the nutrients our bodies need but to be included as one of the World's Healthiest Foods they had to meet the criteria listed below. The criteria we used will also help you understand why some of your favorite (and also nutritious) foods may not be included on our list. For example, Readers have asked why mango, a very nutritious food, is not among the World's Healthiest Foods. While mangoes taste great and are rich in vitamins and minerals, they do not fit our criteria of familiarity and availability. 1. The World's Healthiest Foods are the Most Nutrient Dense The World's Healthiest Foods have been selected because they are among the richest sources of many of the essential nutrients needed for optimal health. We used a concept called nutrient density to determine which foods have the highest nutritional value. Nutrient density is a measure of the amount of nutrie

Almost all natural foods contain carbohydrates. The only food group which is free of carbohydrates is pure vegetable oil. Even milk products contain carbohydrates, it is a kind of sugar called lactose. Fish and meat have a real low carbohydrates content. Every food else like cereal, pulses, potatoes, fruit and vegetables contain starch, sugars or fibre, which all belong to the group of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are one of the three major macro-nutrients which supply the body with energy (fat and protein being the others). There is now good evidence that at least 55% of our daily calories should come from carbohydrates. Whereas it is important to maintain an appropriate balance between calorie intake and expenditure, scientific studies suggest that: -- A diet containing an optimum level of carbohydrates may help prevent body fat accumulation; -- Starch and sugars provide readily accessible fuel for physical performance; -- Dietary fibre, which is a carbohydrate, helps keep

Improved production of polyunsaturated fats in oilseed crops will benefit human health and the environment. In research reported this month in The Plant Cell, scientists succeeded in producing genetically modified linseed plants that accumulate significant levels of very long chain poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in seed. This is the first report of the successful engineering of very long chain PUFA into an oilseed crop, and is an excellent example of how genetic engineering of agronomically important species can provide real benefits to human health and nutrition and the environment. In research reported this month in The Plant Cell, Ernst Heinz at the University of Hamburg (Germany) and colleagues succeeded in producing genetically modified linseed plants that accumulate significant levels of very long chain poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in seed. The work is the result of an international collaboration between scientists at several research institutions in Germany (Un

One of the simpler ways to curtail the obesity epidemic could be to cut the volume of sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks Americans are increasingly consuming, authors of new study say. The study, conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, showed that energy intake from such drinks in the United States increased 135 percent between about 1977 and 2001. Over the same span, energy intake from milk -- a far more nutritious beverage -- dropped 38 percent. A report on the research appears today (Sept.16) in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Health. Authors, both at the UNC schools of public health and medicine, are Dr. Barry M. Popkin, professor of nutrition and a fellow at the Carolina Population Center, and nutrition graduate student Samara Joy Nielsen. "There has been considerable controversy about the promotion of soft drinks in schools and elsewhere," Popkin said. "Extensive research on all age groups has shown that consu

This article comes from The Vegan Society Healthy veganism has never been so comparatively good for you, so easily available, so delicious and so popular. The Vegan Society have seen a massive rise in popularity during their Diamond Jubilee as they celebrate 60 years since Donald Watson first created the word vegan (from the beginning and end of vegetarian) and founded the educational charity. Books such as The Animal Free Shopper and Plant Based Nutrition and Health have been published, new studies commissioned, new initiatives for chefs started, new products such as vegan fishless smoked salmon created and there's been celebrations at events all over the world. The national newspapers, particularly the Guardian have featured stories warning about the unsustainability of the present system of things. Not only are modern meat and dairy production methods threatening human health they are threatening the planet with devastating consequences. If the emerging cultures follow in

Almost a third of New Zealand children are low in iodine and may be at risk of developing goitre - an enlarged thyroid gland. Health Ministry senior adviser on nutrition Mary Louise Hannah told a parliamentary select committee yesterday there was a strong case for boosting levels of iodine in the food supply because intake of iodised salt has dropped. A 2002 national children's nutrition survey found 28 per cent of children showed signs of mild iodine deficiency. Iodine is an essential nutrient and deficiency can lead to goitre, and affect cognitive development. Analysis of an Otago University study of about 300 children found 11 per cent of them had iodine deficiency goitre, according to World Health Organisation standards revised in 2001. Prevalence of over 5 per cent is considered endemic. "So even though it's not apparent, there's actually something happening with thyroids for children," Ms Hannah said. New Zealand Food Safety Authority spokeswoman

Vitamin E to Prevent the Common Cold? Each year, millions of people are mildly bothered by the common cold, but among elderly individuals the common cold can be much more debilitating. A groundbreaking study by Simin Nikbin Meydani, DVM, PhD, of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, and colleagues, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), found that vitamin E may protect against the common cold among elderly individuals residing in nursing homes. "Our study found that those taking the vitamin E supplement pills were 20 percent less likely to suffer from respiratory infections and that vitamin E supplementation reduced the incidence of common colds by about 22 percent," said Meydani, professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. "Older individuals are at greater risk for respiratory tract infections, including the common cold," she continued. "Colds occur more frequ

The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) welcomes the UK Government's Healthy Living Blueprint for Schools. The BNF is committed to supporting schools and teachers through its on-going food and nutrition Education Programme, Food - a fact of life, which includes the publication Establishing a Whole School Food Policy, which was produced jointly with the Department for Education and Skills and the Design and Technology Association in 2003. The document was the first of its kind and included information on how to establish and implement a whole school food policy and an audit tool to monitor and evaluate the policy once it was in place. The BNF believe that for children to be healthy in school and for the awareness of issues surrounding food to be raised, establishing and implementing a policy using a whole school approach is crucial to supporting good practice. The Blueprint will enable schools to undertake the first steps in this process and support those which have already achie

To understand the different types of fat like saturated and unsaturated you need to know a little bit about chemistry. The main part of fat in our diet and in the body are in the form of triglycerides. The rest is cholesterol, waxes and phospholipids. All triglycerides are made up of a fork-like structure called glycerol and 3 building blocks called fatty acids. Fatty acids are classified according to the number of double bonds they possess. Saturated fats contain no double bond, monounsaturated fats contain one and polyunsaturated fats contain two or more. These fatty acids are responsible for the physical properties of the fat. As a rough guide, saturates are solid at room temperature and tend to be derived from animal sources. Most unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature and are usually vegetable fats like oils. The body can make all the fatty acids it needs except for two, known as essential fatty acids: alpha linolenic acid and linoleic acid. These polyunsaturated

Most people can eat a wide range of food without any problems. But there is a small group of people allergic to particular foods or ingredients in foods. The allergic reaction can range from minor skin irritations to serious allergic shocks. An allergy means that a person's immune system shows an excessive defence reaction to substances which in themselves are harmless - it has "forgotten" how to distinguish between harmful and harmless substances. The symptoms of an allergic reaction vary considerably. The most frequent complaints occur shortly after eating, either in the form of prickling or swelling in the mouth or throat, or as a skin rash. Allergic reactions in the gastro-intestinal tract, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation, occur in relatively few cases. More seldom still are shock reactions (anaphylactic shock). These can bring about circulatory failure, which must be treated immediately by a doctor. A food allergy is one thing - a food i

Dieting Practices among High School Students A survey of 10th-grade students finds that 60 percent have made conscious efforts to lose weight. In response to the question "Have you ever tried to lose weight?" 36.5 percent of the boys said yes, compared with 73.6 percent of the girls. The study, conducted by researchers at California State University - Los Angeles, surveyed 146 students at a multiethnic, urban public high school ranging in age from 13 and 15. Of those who had tried various diets, 15 percent said they had attempted dieting by age 11; 84 percent had done so by age 14. Among girls who had tried dieting, 85 percent did so by age 13. The researchers found more than 40 percent of the students who had tried dieting said they "consciously eat less" than they want to control their weight. Large majorities (74 percent of boys, 62 percent of girls) said they try to eat or purchase foods that are low in fat. Other common dieting practices include limiting

A large percentage of child deaths related to malaria are attributable to undernutrition and deficiencies of vitamin A, zinc, iron and folate, according to a new report by researchers with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their review of recent data from malaria endemic regions showed that improving child nutrition could prevent more malaria-related illnesses and deaths than previously thought. Their paper appears in the August 2004 supplement to the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. "While undernutrition's role in exacerbating diarrheal disease and respiratory infections is well known, scientific evidence has been mixed regarding its role in malaria infection," explained lead author Laura E. Caulfield, PhD, an associate professor with the Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Human Nutrition. "Despite the fact that people have thought that undernutrition prevents malaria, the bulk of evidence suggests that undernut

NIH Office of Dietary Supplements Launches Improved International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) Database Bethesda, Maryland - The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC) at the National Agricultural Library are delighted to announce the "launch" of the new, improved, Web-accessible International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) Database today, Wednesday, August 18, 2004. The IBIDS database is available to the public free of charge through a Web interface on the ODS homepage. It was designed to be user-friendly so individuals with all levels of expertise may use it easily. It currently contains over 730,000 citations on the topic of dietary supplements. Citations are available from 1986 to the present and abstracts are included where permission has been granted from the publisher. So what is new about IBIDS? -- A New Look: The We

Woodland, CA, USA - In 2003 a survey conducted by the National Heartburn Association documented that fifty-four million Americans suffer heartburn at least twice a week. Among these sufferers, seventy-five percent stated that beverages like coffee elicited heartburn or other gut symptoms at a frequency which ranged from some of the time to every time they drank coffee. The Puroast(reg) Coffee Company estimates such consumers could represent up to 20% of the $20 billion US coffee market. After receiving many responses from these sufferers that the symptoms, normally experienced when drinking coffee, were not evoked or only marginally so when they drank Puroast's(reg) Process Low Acid coffee, the Puroast(reg) Coffee Company undertook a structured questionnaire clinical trial which is ongoing. The interim results from this study are very encouraging and seem to corroborate the responses from the customers who previously suffered gut symptoms but had those symptoms partially reliev

Sudanese children in refugee camps in northeastern Chad risk serious illness or death from lack of food, clean water, shelter, and health care, say survey findings released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The emergency nutrition and mortality survey performed by CDC in June at the request of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) found acute malnutrition at rates of up to 39% in refugee camps and border settlements. A rate above 20% signals a serious crisis, according to M decins Sans Frontires (Doctors Without Borders). "Sudanese refugee children in Chad are experiencing a major nutritional crisis similar to those seen in Ethiopia in 1999 and in Goma in 2000," said Dr. Basia Tomczyk, CDC epidemiologist and survey team leader. "The good news is that public health intervention now would save children's lives." CDC found that among children ages 6 month

Leslie Burke, who has a degenerative brain condition (cerebellar ataxia), was concerned that doctors may one day withdraw food and drink when he could no longer speak. He has won a high court ruling which says the doctors cannot do that. Leslie wants to go on living for as long as he can, even when he loses his ability to communicate his wishes to people around him. According to UK General Medical Council guidance on providing artificial nutrition, Leslie thought there might be situations in which life saving food and drink could be withdrawn, even if this went against his wishes. If his situation got so that he could not speak, the present guidance could allow doctors to remove food and drink. Now the General Medical Council will have to re-write the guidance as a result of the new High Court ruling. This new ruling applies to all terminally ill patients and also patients who lose the ability to speak and communicate their wishes to doctors. The General Medical Council can appea

Isolated soy protein added to the diets of 14 men, all military veterans under treatment for advanced stages of type 2 diabetes, significantly lowered unwanted proteins in their urine and slightly raised desired HDL cholesterol levels in their blood, researchers say. The two improved areas are linked to kidney disease and coronary heart disease, respectively, in patients with type 2 diabetes. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 18 million Americans have diabetes, with more than 90 percent being type 2 cases. The study's findings, published in the August issue of the Journal of Nutrition, surprisingly exceeded the expectations of participating scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and suggest that more widespread testing is warranted. "The number of type 2 diabetics is increasing to epidemic proportions, with the disease being found in younger and younger individuals everyday," said Sandra R. Teixeira, who had pursued the research as

Study in Journal of the American Dietetic Association looks at trends in what kids drink and why CHICAGO - Flavored, carbonated drinks have been around for about two hundred years. And their popularity continues to grow--overtaking more nutritious beverages among some age groups, especially children and adolescents. Researchers from the University of Minnesota surveyed 560 children ages 8 to 13 years old on how often they drank soft drinks and the factors that influence soft drink consumption. Among other findings, researchers found: -- Parental soft drink intake has a stronger influence than children's peers. Parents who consume soft drinks on a regular basis may relax soft drink consumption rules and restrictions for their kids. -- Approximately 30 percent of children reported drinking soft drinks daily and 85 percent reported they usually drink regular, not diet soft drinks. Soft drink consumption was higher among boys compared with girls and intake increased with age.

A new report on children's meals served in restaurants, cafs and leisure centres has uncovered a nutritional nightmare. Annie Seeley reports from The Food Commission, UK A meal outside the home was once considered an occasional treat. However as a nation we are now eating out more than ever. The calories and nutrients in these meals are likely to make a significant contribution to children's diets, and so it is all the more important that caterers ensure their children's meals are healthy ones. But are they healthy? A new survey on children's menus reveals a clear NO! In all, 141 children's meals were analysed and compared to the Caroline Walker Trust's (CWT) Nutritional Guidelines for School Meals.* Every single meal failed in one way or another to meet these guidelines. The survey found a woeful lack of fruit and vegetables in the menus. Only two establishments offered a selection of fresh vegetables. Those that included pudding in the meal package off

Cancers of the gut are one of the major causes of death from cancer, but a review published this week[1] shows that they are also amongst the most preventable through changes in diet. Of the 10 million new cases of cancer diagnosed in 2000, around 2.3 million were cancers of the digestive organs - pharynx, oesophagus, stomach or colorectum. Studies have shown that they are not purely genetic and can be modified by diet. Professor Ian Johnson, author of the review and head of Gastrointestinal Health and Function at the Institute of Food Research, said: "The adverse effects of diet are caused by over-consumption of energy coupled with inadequate intakes of protective substances, such as micronutrients, dietary fibre and a variety of plant chemicals". The walls of the gut are lined with a layer of cells, the epithelium, covered with a film of mucus. The epithelium is the first contact for food, bacteria and anything else ingested. It is the body's first line of interna