Nutrition Diet News

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...