Public Health

University of Illinois nutritionists say they have found compounds that boost liver detoxification enzymes nearly 5X, and they've found them in the crushed seeds left over after oil extraction from an oilseed crop, Camelina sativa, used in jet fuel. Oilseed crops, including rapeseed, canola, and camelina, contain some of the same bioactive ingredients, like glucosinolates and flavonoids, found in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables and in nearly the same quantities. Because the oil from oilseed crops is used for biofuel, scientists have been hoping to find a green use for the protein-…

Periodontitis, gum infection that damages the soft tissue and destroys the bone that supports teeth, is the sixth most prevalent condition in the world affecting 743 million people worldwide, according to research from 2010. Between 1990 and 2010, the global age-standardized prevalence of severe periodontitis was static at 11.2%. The age-standardized incidence of severe periodontitis in 2010 was 701 cases per 100,000 person-years, a non-significant increase from the 1990 incidence of severe periodontitis. Prevalence increased gradually with age showing a steep increase between the third…

Healthy food might be bad for patients. Food for thought. Photo by By Amanda Squire, Cardiff Metropolitan University Imagine you are feeling unwell, in pain, lonely and worried about your future health, and you just don’t feel like eating. It is unlikely that you want to eat a large, hot meal that arrives in front of you at a prescribed time, where you are sat in an awkward position and the food is some distance away. This is the reality of mealtimes for millions of people in hospital every day. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s recent announcement that NHS hospitals in England may be fined if…

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has been controversial in both the United States and European countries like Germany. It prevents about 70% of cervical cancers, cervical cancer is uncommon and highly treatable, and it will need another vaccine before girls who are given it even become adults. Along with those data issues, academic scientists and the public have been engaged in a culture war against pharmaceutical companies - that vaccines are exempt from ordinary lawsuits and that the vaccine was marketed heavily just after an expensive settlement by manufacturer Merck was not lost on…

How people perceive and taste alcohol depends on genetic factors, and that influences whether they "like" and consume alcoholic beverages, according to a nutritionist and colleagues at Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. They found that the sensations from sampled alcohol vary as a function of genetics. Their work focused on three chemosensory genes -- two bitter-taste receptor genes known as TAS2R13 and TAS2R38 and a burn receptor gene, TRPV1. They say the research was also the first to consider whether variation in the burn receptor gene might influence alcohol sensations,…

Diabetes doubled in the U.S. from 1990 to 2008 and while it remains high, new data suggest at least it isn't continuing to rise across the board. Rates among adults from 2008 and 2012 for adults leveled among whites, though it continued to increase in Hispanic and black adults, according to a study in JAMA. Linda S. Geiss, M.A., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed 1980-2012 data for 664,969 adults ages 20 to 79 years from the National Health Interview Survey and determined the annual percentage change in rates of the prevalence and incidence of…

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a minimally invasive procedure to remove the gallbladder, is one of the most common abdominal surgeries in the U.S. Some medical centers move patients quickly into surgery while others wait. Being told to wait can alarm patients but is it making a difference? Not really, finds a paper in the American Journal of Surgery. Gallbladder removal surgery can wait until regular working hours rather than rushing the patients into the operating room at night and there is no risk of harm.  "The urgency of removing the gallbladder is a topic of much debate among…

While abortion is a common feature of the developed world, there remains some controversy about when it should be allowed. Only the United States and Canada still allow late-term abortion on demand because in the modern world a baby in the third trimester is already clear alive and will remain so with some care. In the third trimester the survival rate in America is 96%, only slightly below full-term children. But below that survival is more difficult and survival at 22 weeks and under is "exceptional", which is why Europe is probably smarter than North America for allowing it until then but…

Artificial sweeteners are promoted as aids to weight loss and diabetes prevention but a new study finds they could actually hasten the development of glucose intolerance and metabolic disease, and in a surprising way: by changing the composition and function of the gut microbiota, the substantial population of bacteria residing in our intestines. The work was based on experiments in mice and humans by Dr. Eran Elinav of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Immunology, who led this research together with Prof. Eran Segal of the Department of Computer Science and Applied…

Asian-Americans are at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than Caucasian-Americans, and prone to develop the disease at lower body weights. Can Asian heritage and ancestral reliance on a high-fiber, low-fat Asian mean extra risks for those of Asian heritage? A Joslin Diabetes Center randomized clinical trial found that both Asian-Americans and Caucasian-Americans at risk of type 2 diabetes who adopted a rigorously controlled traditional Asian diet lowered their insulin resistance, a leading risk factor for developing the disease, insulin resistance is a condition in which the body…