AJCN Nov, 2008 – The November American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has many useful ideas to consider during Thanksgiving. Below are the headlines. The numbers show where the extracts are at my web site. Each extract is linked to the actual online article that has all of the details. Ones like Can you keep it off? are worth reading in full.
SUMMARY – Here’s my summary-See DETAILS and links below.
WEIGHT CONTROL
1. Can you keep it off? – the effectiveness of 3 diets for weight maintenance after a dramatic weight loss diet
7. Dairy affects men and women’s weight loss or gain differently
3. Women thinner with flavonoids – catechins increase energy expenditure
HEALTH
4. Breakfast correlates with daily diet quality – breakfast was associated with diet quality, overall diet ED, and body weight.
5. Short brisk walks lower blood pressure – 6–7% lower after one day
6. Fiber helps your bowels
7. protein for our elders – approximate deficiency… of 5–6% for older men and women…
MOTHERS AND CHILDREN
8. Multivitamin for pregnancy
9. Controlling children’s weight in school still helps 2 y later.
10. Nutrient quality of fast food kids meals – Only 3% are adequate…
SURVIVAL
11. Only processed meats shorten life measure
12. How safe is fructose? [see related poster here] – really harmful to health
13. Smoking and obesity combination kills – a mortality risk 6–8 times that of normal
SPECIFIC DISEASES
14. oxidative stress likely to cause cardiovascular disease – the Mediterranean diet helps
15. Fish intake assists prostate cancer survival
16. Weight loss improves psoriasis therapy
DETAILS –
WEIGHT CONTROL – 1. Can you keep it off? Weight loss diets – Due et al (1) conducted a careful and informative trial to assess the effectiveness of 3 diets for weight maintenance after a dramatic weight loss of 12 kg, induced by an 8-wk very-low-calorie diet based on beverages and bars. During the 6-mo intervention, participants regained {approx}3 kg, with little difference across diets…On average, weight loss at 2 y ranges between 3% and 6% for nonpharmacological therapies and between 7% and 8% for pharmacologic therapies…Metabolic adjustments that occur with weight loss may contribute to a high rate of weight regain, because weight loss is accompanied by a reduction in resting metabolic rate…In the trial by Due et al (1), the diet with the higher proportion of total monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and less carbohydrates (called the MUFA group by the authors) was superior at improving lipid (LDL/HDL ratio) and glycemic control (insulin and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance) profiles compared with low-fat and Western diets.
2. Dairy may help reduce your weight OR NOT– Background: Some studies have shown an inverse relation between calcium intake and body weight or fat mass…Results: …In overweight men only, 6-y changes in weight and waist circumference (WC) were inversely associated with the consumption of dairy products—especially that of milk … and yogurt…No relation was observed with cheese and calcium intake. Positive relations were found between milk consumption and WC change in overweight women and between yogurt consumption and weight change in normal-weight women…
3. Women thinner with flavonoids – Conclusion: Our results suggest that flavonoid intake may contribute to maintaining body weight in the general female population…Present in foods of plant origin such as fruit, vegetables, tea, wine, seeds, herbs, spices, and whole grains, >6000 naturally occurring flavonoids have been identified and classified into 6 major subgroups: catechins, flavonols, flavones, flavanones, anthocyanins, and isoflavones…Animal studies have shown that catechins increase energy expenditure, increase glucose uptake in skeletal muscle, decrease glucose uptake in adipose tissue, and prevent obesity in a dose-response fashion…
HEALTH – 4. Breakfast correlates with daily diet quality – Conclusions:Our results support recommendations to encourage breakfast consumption and suggest that the dietary energy density (ED) of breakfast was associated with diet quality, overall diet ED, and body weight.
5. Short brisk walks lower blood pressure – Conclusion: Accumulating 30 min of brisk walking in short (3-min) bouts is equally effective in reducing postprandial lipemia and systolic blood pressure (6–7% lower after one day) as is one continuous 30-min bout.
6. Fiber helps your bowels – Conclusion: Water-insoluble dietary fibers … and their mixtures with water-soluble fibers … in the form of breakfast cereals (2.5 servings/d) proved to be a practical way of increasing fiber intake to recommended levels, while maintaining a good level of tolerance.
7. Sufficient protein for our elders? – The new report did identify gaps in the knowledge base, particularly for the elderly population, in terms of both the minimum requirement for general health and well being and the optimum intake for healthy aging persons, especially with respect to sarcopenia and osteoporosis…[NIH survey] indicates an approximate prevalence of deficiency… of 5–6% for older men and women…
MOTHERS AND CHILDREN – 8. Multivitamin for pregnancy – Objective: We tested whether providing pregnant women with the UNICEF/WHO/UNU international multiple micronutrient preparation (UNIMMAP), rather than iron and folic acid alone, improved fetal growth and its correlates…Conclusions: Maternal UNIMMAP modestly but significantly increased fetal growth.
9. Controlling children’s weight in school helps long term – Conclusion:Despite the main intervention initiative (school-based activity coordinators charged with the responsibility of enhancing physical activity and promoting healthy eating) being discontinued at the end of the intervention, continued benefits to BMI remained apparent in intervention children {approx}2 y later.
10. Nutrient quality of fast food kids meals – Only 3% are adequate…Conclusions: Kids meals that met the National School Lunch Program criteria are uncommon and are lower in energy density. These meals may contribute to the nutritional status [obesity] of children.
SURVIVAL – 11. Processed meats shorten life measure – Background: Telomere length reflects biological aging and may be influenced by environmental factors, including those that affect inflammatory processes. Objective: With data from 840 white, black, and Hispanic adults from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, we studied cross-sectional associations between telomere length and dietary patterns and foods and beverages that were associated with markers of inflammation. Conclusions: Processed meat intake showed an expected inverse association with telomere length, but other diet features did not show their expected associations.
12. How safe is fructose? [see related poster here] – The consumption of large amounts of dietary fructose also can rapidly induce insulin resistance, postprandial hypertriglyceridemia, and blood pressure in humans more than starch (or glucose) does in controls (3, 5, 6). Moreover, it is a potential risk factor for fatty liver disease (7)…However, rodents are resistant to fructose because they synthesize vitamin C…
13. Smoking and obesity combination kills – Results: Current smokers with a BMI (in kg/m2) <18.5 or ≥35 had a mortality risk 6–8 times that of persons within the normal BMI range who never smoked…Conclusion: Both smoking and adiposity are independent predictors of mortality, but the combination of current or recent smoking with a BMI ≥ 35 or a large waist circumference is related to an especially high mortality risk.
SPECIFIC DISEASES -14. Reducing oxidative stress likely to reduce cardiovascular disease – Conclusions:The association between the Mediterranean diet and plasma oxidative stress is robust and is not confounded by genetic or shared environmental factors. Decreased oxidative stress is a plausible mechanism linking the Mediterranean diet to reduced cardiovascular disease risk.
15 . Fish intake assists prostate cancer survival – Conclusion: These results suggest that fish intake is unrelated to prostate cancer incidence but may improve prostate cancer survival.
16. Weight loss improves psoriasis therapy – Conclusions: Obese patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis increase their response to low-dose cyclosporine if a calorie-controlled diet is included in the treatment regimen.
