Nutrition

J Nutrition June, 2009 – SUMMARY – See SYNOPSES and links after summary.

1. Another vitamin E supplement benefit
2. Celery parsley artichokes great with Apigenin – shows considerable promise as a chemopreventive agent
3. Folate essential during peri-conception
4. Diets to reduce or increase pre-eclampsia risk
5. No benefit to selenium supplements
6. BCAAs enhance skeletal muscle synthesis
7. Plant stanols lower triglycerides and LDL
8. Calculate your Mediterranean diet score
9. Many fertile women in Bangladesh need iron and folate
10. Conflicts of interest during research

SYMPOSIUM ON DIETARY FRUCTOSE SWEETENERS –
2. From 1978 to 1998, daily energy and carbohydrate intakes increased 18 and 41%, respectively.
4. Fructose promotes metabolic syndrome
5. Fructose bypasses liver regulation
6. Fructose naturally in fruits and vegetables should not be of concern
7. HFCS and sucrose equally harmful

“Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist, nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

SYNOPSES OF ARTICLES THIS MONTH

1. Another vitamin E supplement benefit – Supplemental vitamin E alleviates age-related defects in interleukin (IL)-2 production, T cell proliferation, and immune synapse formation…Supplementation with vitamin E eliminated this difference in the tyrosine phosphorylation of the adaptor protein Linker for Activation of T cells.

2. Celery parsley artichokes great with Apigenin – ..Apigenin occurs frequently in common vegetables, herbs, and beverages (3), with a mean daily intake of up to 1.3 mg (4). Foodstuffs that contain particularly high amounts of apigenin are celery (75 mg/100 g fresh matter), artichokes (68 mg/100 g dry matter), and parsley (1484 mg/100 g fresh matter) (5–7). Apigenin exerts antioxidative and antiinflammatory effects in vitro and in animal studies (11–13). Furthermore, apigenin has shown considerable promise as a chemopreventive agent (14).

3. Folate essential peri-conception – Prenatal nutritional constraint is associated with increased risk of metabolic dysregulation in adulthood contingent on adult diet. In rats, folic acid supplementation of a protein-restricted (PR) diet during pregnancy prevents altered phenotype and epigenotype in the offspring induced by the PR diet…These findings show that increased folic acid intake during the JP period did not simply reverse the phenotype induced by the maternal diet. This may represent a period of plasticity when specific nutrient intakes may alter the phenotype of the offspring through epigenetic changes in specific genes.

4. Diet to reduce pre-eclampsia risk – These findings suggest that a dietary pattern characterized by high intake of vegetables, plant foods, and vegetable oils decreases the risk of preeclampsia, whereas a dietary pattern characterized by high consumption of processed meat, sweet drinks, and salty snacks increases the risk.

5. No benefit to selenium supplements – In conclusion, the mRNA abundances of the 12 selenoprotein genes in thyroid and pituitary of young pigs were resistant to dietary Se deficiency or excess.

6. BCAAs enhance skeletal muscle synthesis – This study examined the impact of leucine (Leu) derived from complete meals on stimulation of skeletal muscle protein synthesis (MPS)…Whey protein stimulated initiation and MPS more than wheat and the differential response related to greater plasma Leu responses in the whey groups. These studies demonstrate that peak activation but not duration of MPS is proportional to the Leu content of a meal.

7. Plant stanols lower triglycerides and LDL – We evaluated the effects of 2 commonly available strategies (plant stanol ester drink and 10 mg simvastatin) on coronary heart disease (CHD) risk variables in participants with metabolic syndrome. ..The total-:HDL-C ratio was significantly lowered in all 3 intervention groups…This study shows that in metabolic syndrome patients, plant stanol esters lower not only non-HDL-C, but also high triacylglycerol.

8. Calculate your Mediterranean diet score – need to purchase full text Table 1.

9. Many fertile women in Bangladesh need iron and folate

10. Conflicts of interest during research – There has been substantial public debate about the susceptibility of research to biases of various kinds. The dialogue has extended to the peer-reviewed literature, scientific conferences, the mass media, government advisory bodies, and beyond. ..Eight principles are enumerated, specifying ground rules for industry-sponsored research. The paper, which issues a challenge to the broader scientific community to address all bias issues, is only a first step; the document is intended to be dynamic, prompting ongoing discussion and refinement.

SYMPOSIUM ON DIETARY FRUCTOSE SWEETENERS –see index – [like high fructose corn syrup(HFCS)] 1. Introduction – Papers in the workshop addressed the chemical composition and properties of dietary sweeteners that contain fructose, the sources and amount of fructose in the American diet, and the metabolism of fructose in the human body. Further, the authors of each paper assessed the strength of the existing data linking dietary fructose intake and risk for overweight, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and other disorders.
2. Change in per capita daily energy from 1970 to 2005: total Calorie intake increased 24%. Composition of diet changed as shown below in Table 1:

Calories from:	% change
added sugars	-1
added fats	+5
flour, cereals	+2.8
vegetables	-1
fruits	-0.1
dairy	-2.8
meat, eggs, nuts	-3.1

3. The high-fructose corn syrup percentage of sweeteners increased from 16% in 1978 to 42% in 1998 and then stabilized. Since 1978, mean daily intakes of added and total fructose increased in all gender and age groups, whereas naturally occurring (N) fructose intake decreased or remained constant. Total fructose intake as percentage of energy and as percentage of carbohydrate increased 1 and 1.2%, whereas daily energy and carbohydrate intakes increased 18 and 41%, respectively.
4. Fructose promotes metabolic syndrome – Evidence shows that fructose bypasses many of the body’s satiating signals, thus potentially promoting overconsumption of energy, weight gain, and the development on insulin resistance. It has also been shown to increase uric acid levels, which in turn promotes many of the abnormalities seen in the metabolic syndrome including hypertriglyceridemia.
5. Fructose bypasses liver regulation – Absorbed glucose and fructose differ in that glucose largely escapes first-pass removal by the liver, whereas fructose does not, resulting in different metabolic effects of these 2 monosaccharides. In short-term controlled feeding studies, dietary fructose significantly increases postprandial triglyceride (TG) levels and has little effect on serum glucose concentrations, whereas dietary glucose has the opposite effects.
6. Fructose naturally in fruits and vegetables should not be of concern – Dietary fructose appears to have adverse effects on postprandial serum triglycerides, so adding fructose in large amounts to the diet is undesirable. Glucose may be a suitable replacement sugar. The fructose that occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables provides only a modest amount of dietary fructose and should not be of concern.
7. HFCS and sucrose equally harmful – One conclusion of the discussion was that the metabolic effects of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and sucrose appear to be similar in humans.