Diet & Nutrition News and Research

Latest Diet & Nutrition News and Research

ITA president hosts International Small Bowel Transplant Symposium

Fifty-two year-old Paul McNeel, a fire chief from Leonardtown, Maryland was 37 in 1996 when a sudden health problem caused the loss of his small intestine. Almost all of it had to be surgically removed to save his life. For 13 years after that, McNeel continued to fight fires and stayed alive only because he fed himself a special liquid formula through a tube that went from a port in his chest directly to his heart and into his bloodstream.

15 Sep 2011

Consensus panel calls for specialized nutrition therapy to manage obesity

A newly published consensus report prepared by a panel of clinical experts, with sponsorship from Nestle Health Science, reveals that there are opportunities to do more to manage the impact of obesity on the delivery of critical care, particularly in the area of nutrition therapy.

15 Sep 2011

Gender disparities in developing countries relatively small at birth but grow in adolescence, UNICEF report says

A UNICEF report released on Tuesday suggests that gender disparities between boys and girls in developing countries are relatively small in children's early years, but as children approach adolescence, gaps widen in areas such as education, health, nutrition and protection, Xinhua reports.

15 Sep 2011

Major UK retailers, Liverpool scientists partner to reduce incidence of food poisoning

Scientists at the University of Liverpool are working with the major UK food retailers to reduce bacterial infections in chickens and reduce incidence of food poisoning in humans.

15 Sep 2011

Scientist granted over $138,000 to explore Vitamin C therapy in sepsis

Sepsis kills more people than breast, colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancers combined. Outside of coronary care units, it is the leading cause of mortality in intensive care units. Every year 18 million people worldwide develop this potentially fatal disease. Thanks to a generous grant of $138,238.65 from the Jesse and Julie Rasch Foundation, Lawson Health Research Institute's Dr. Michael Sharpe is exploring a new sepsis therapy using Vitamin C.

15 Sep 2011

Teen milk drinkers less likely to suffer from Type 2 diabetes

Developing healthy habits like drinking milk as a teen could have a long-term effect on a woman's risk for type 2 diabetes, according to new research in this month's issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

14 Sep 2011

ASM to honor LA BioMed investigator for A. baumannii infection study

Ashraf Ibrahim, Ph.D., principal investigator at LA BioMed who specializes in infectious diseases, was recently honored by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and the ICAAC Program Committee in the area of Therapy and Prevention of Microbial Disease.

14 Sep 2011

Natural S-equol supplement does not increase risk of estrogen-sensitive breast cancer

Consuming the soy germ-based compound Natural S-equol and the supplement SE5-OH containing Natural S-equol did not increase the risk of estrogen-sensitive breast cancer, according to a study in the September issue of the peer-reviewed journal Food and Chemical Toxicology.

14 Sep 2011

Famine in Somalia testing advancements in coordination of care, food aid

The Washington Post examines how high rates of malnutrition among Somali children -- approximately 36 percent under age five are malnourished and almost 16 percent are severely malnourished, according to Somalia's Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit -- are "the biggest test yet of recent improvements in assessing and treating malnutrition, changes that range from the coordination of care to the ingredients of food aid."

14 Sep 2011

A woman's pregnancy outcome can be an indicator of future health conditions

"A woman's pregnancy outcome can be an indicator of future health conditions," stated George R. Saade, M.D., president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.

14 Sep 2011

IDF, Albert Einstein College of Medicine to host Global Diabetes Symposium

While infectious diseases tend to grab media headlines and public attention, non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic respiratory diseases together comprise the number one killer in the world and represent a serious social and economic burden to developed and developing countries alike.

14 Sep 2011

Black women with wide waists are equally at risk of early death as whites

Ever since the mid-1970s when Harvard initiated what is now known as "The Nurses Study" we've been told that white women with waists over 40 inches, raised their risk of early death by 40% vs. their slimmer sisters who maintained waists in the 26 to 27 inch measure.

14 Sep 2011

Australians depressed, obese, alcoholic and in denial: Survey

Reports reveal that Australians are in denial about their increasing rates of obesity and claim to be the unhappiest in the world. The findings came from an international health survey which also revealed that Australians were among the world's biggest drinkers, coming in just behind the British. The survey by health insurer BUPA showed that while 64 per cent of Australians said they were in relatively good shape, there were some worrying trends.

14 Sep 2011

Diabetes epidemic grips the world

Experts are horrified with the rise of numbers of diabetics worldwide. A staggering 366 million people around the world have either Type 1 or 2 diabetes, says the International Diabetes Federation. The disease has taken a deadly toll, causing 4.6 million deaths each year, or one death every seven seconds. The number of sufferers was pegged at 285 million worldwide in 2009. Since then, China reported 92.4 million people with the condition, more than double the federation’s estimate. The diabetes epidemic is also heavy on healthcare spending, to the tune of $465 billion a year to fight the disease.

14 Sep 2011

Pure maple syrup may promote a healthy liver

New research conducted at the University of Tokyo suggests that pure maple syrup may promote a healthy liver.

14 Sep 2011

Seaweed lipid extracts could reduce risk of heart disease

Researchers at Teagasc have been investigating lipids from a variety of Irish and Canadian seaweed species for their heart-health properties.

14 Sep 2011

Lignans lower risk of death in women with breast cancer

Phytoestrogens are plant compounds which, in the human body, can attach to the receptors for the female sexual hormone estrogen and which are taken in with our daily diet. A number of findings have attributed a cancer protective effect to these plant hormones. At DKFZ, a team headed by Prof. Dr. Jenny Chang-Claude summarized the results of several studies in a meta-analysis last year and showed that a diet rich in phytoestrogens lowers the risk of developing breast cancer after menopause.

14 Sep 2011

Spices boost broccoli's power to fight cancer

Teaming fresh broccoli with a spicy food that contains the enzyme myrosinase significantly enhances each food's individual cancer-fighting power and ensures that absorption takes place in the upper part of the digestive system where you'll get the maximum health benefit, suggests a new University of Illinois study.

14 Sep 2011

Practical NCD guide for everyone to improve their health

The world's health professions have launched an easy-to-use, practical guide to help individuals and their health professionals reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) - conditions which currently account for 60% of global deaths.

14 Sep 2011

Older drugs may be better than newly approved ones

It is a common belief that drugs given the okay by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are safer and more effective than they have to be to win approval, according to a new study. Especially in the first few years after a drug becomes available, researchers note, there are still questions about how well it will work and whether it will have any serious side effects warn experts. For example FDA-approved painkiller Vioxx was pulled off the market in 2004 after longer-term evidence showed that it may increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

13 Sep 2011