Public Health

Too much dietary fat is bad for the heart, everyone knows that by now, but not all fats are equal. The right kind of fat keeps the heart healthy, and a paper in The Journal of Experimental Medicine shows how it works. Unlike saturated fats discussed in popular media, unsaturated dietary fatty acids, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), are known to protect against cardiovascular diseases. However, the mechanism and the specific fat metabolites responsible for this protection were unknown.  A group of Japanese scientists have now discovered that mice engineered to produce their own EPA…

Spanish scientists did an experiment using obese rats and found that the consumption of probiotics over 30 days (equivalent to almost four years in human terms) helped diminish the accumulation of fat in the liver. The researchers from the Nutrition Biochemistry: Theurapetic Applications group (CTS-461) and the José Mataix Institute for Nutrition and Food Technology at the University of Granada administered three probiotic strains to Zucker rats. These rats develop obesity due to a mutation in the gene that codifies the receptor or leptine, a hormone that transmits a sensation of satiety to…

Last Friday a group of researchers announced their findings ahead of their report on the nutrition of organically produced food to be published in the British Journal of Nutrition. The study is titled “Higher antioxidant and lower cadmium concentrations and lower incidence of pesticide residues in organically grown crops: a systematic literature review and meta-analyses,” and, according to Charles Benbrook of Washington State University and one of the meta-analysis study’s authors, was “funded primarily by the European Commission’s science and technology program.” The study also…

An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a potentially life-threatening condition: If the body's major blood vessel ruptures, it can prove deadly. Abdominal aortic aneurysms are a bulge in the aorta, which is the body's largest artery and is located in the abdomen above the belly button. The greatest risk is that the aneurysm will rupture. That's scary but who should be watched? The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently updated its recommendations on screening and Mayo Clinic vascular surgeon Peter Gloviczki, M.D., outlines how people are diagnosed and how surgery, which now includes a…

Donating a kidney is a selfless act and it is going to save a life. But even before the Affordable Care Act, it had pitfalls if you wanted to add or change health insurance. In the future, the only option could be state Medicare programs, which many doctors are refusing to accept now.   Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can no longer refuse health insurance to live kidney donors or charge them a higher insurance rate. But, as with 'If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor', the rules may change at any time, making donors stuck…

If your baby is allergic to milk, your choices might get a little more narrow, if the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) and the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition have their way. In a commentary in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, they say that the inorganic arsenic levels of dietary products used by children should be regulated, and make the recommendation that "Rice drinks should not be used in infants and young children." Rice naturally has higher levels of…

A new study suggests that experiencing stressful events the day before eating a single high-fat meal can slow metabolism in women. Researchers questioned study participants about the previous day's stressors before giving them a meal consisting of 930 calories and 60 grams of fat. The scientists then measured their metabolic rate, how long it took the women to burn calories and fat, and took measures of blood sugar, triglycerides, insulin and the stress hormone cortisol. On average, the women in the study who reported one or more stressors during the previous 24 hours burned 104 fewer…

You don't have a pre-pregnancy and your computer doesn't have a pre-power switch. Calling someone who has moderately high blood sugar a prediabetic is premature and creates unnecessary alarm and financial burdens. Imagine being at a party with gluten-free, HFCS-free, non-GMO, vegans who are now also pre-diabetic. Not fun. And worse, it has no value. A new analysis in BMJ sought to find out whether a "diagnosis" of pre-diabetes carried any health benefits such as improved diabetes prevention. If someone was going to get diabetes, treatments to reduce blood sugar only delayed the onset of type…

A recent review in the British Journal of Nutrition concluded that the nutritional quality and safety of organic food was higher than conventional food. Fruits, vegetables, and grains, organic versions were better in all ways than conventional farming, they determined. Organic food had fewer pesticides, a much different result than other studies, and also had more important nutrients, also a much different result than other studies. You always want to try and take each paper on its merits but when something is dramatically in defiance of the science consensus, you also have to look for other…

Researchers have found that people with mobility impairments, such as using special ambulatory equipment and having difficulty walking one-quarter mile without equipment, under age 65 have significantly higher rates of smoking than those without mobility impairments and smokers with mobility impairments were less likely to attempt quitting . Evidence-based advertisements about health are not working among people who already don't feel like smoking will make their quality of life worse.   A group led by Belinda Borrelli, Ph.D., of The Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at The…