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Nutrition

Vitamins, minerals, supplements, herbs and diet: the research on how what we eat shapes our health.

Food

Dietary patterns affect risk of Alzheimer's disease

A Polish case-control study of 71 Alzheimer's patients and 71 matched controls found the patients' diets leaned toward meat, butter, high-fat dairy, eggs and refined sugar, while the healthy participants ate more grains and vegetables.

Food

Can drinking alcohol prevent dementia?

Adults aged 75 and older who drank eight to 14 drinks a week were 37 percent less likely to develop dementia over six years, a Wake Forest study of 3,069 people found. Those who already had cognitive impairment declined faster at any intake, and heavy drinkers nearly doubled their risk.

Jul 14, 2009

Minerals

Manganese linked to cancer deaths

A North Carolina ecological study correlated groundwater manganese with 28 percent more colon cancer deaths and 26 percent more lung cancer deaths at county level, while airborne manganese tracked with fewer total, breast and lung cancer deaths.

Jul 12, 2009

Supplements

Omega 3 fatty acid helps healthy people, but not Alzheimer's patients

Two studies at an Alzheimer's Association conference pulled in opposite directions: DHA did not help 402 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's, while another found the omega-3 improved memory in healthy older people over six months. Treatment may need to start earlier, the association says.

Jul 12, 2009

Diet

Calorie Restricted Diet May Lead to Longevity, Better Quality of Life

In an NIH-funded study of 75 rhesus monkeys begun in 1989, 14 freely fed animals died of age-related disease against 5 on a calorie-restricted diet. The restricted group also had half the rate of cardiovascular problems and precancerous cells, and no diabetes.

Jul 11, 2009

Vitamins

Study confirms that Vitamin D3 may prevent cancer

Spanish researchers reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that the active form of vitamin D3 switches on CST5, the gene for the tumor suppressor protein cystatin D. They conclude CST5 may mediate the vitamin's anticancer effect and deserves study in colon cancer.

Jul 10, 2009

Food

Eating fruit, vegetables reduces risk of upper respiratory tract infection

Among more than 1,000 pregnant women, those eating the most fruit and vegetables were 26 percent less likely to have an upper respiratory tract infection than those eating the least. Fruit or vegetables alone showed no link; the benefit appeared near 6.7 servings a day.

Jul 10, 2009

Diet

Caloric restriction leads to longer and healthier life

In Science, University of Wisconsin researchers report that monkeys fed 30 percent fewer calories had a third the risk of age-related disease, half the cancer and cardiovascular disease, and 80 percent survival over 20 years, against 50 percent among monkeys that ate freely.

Jul 10, 2009

Food

That Morning Cup of Ambition May Reverse Symptoms of Alzheimer’s

Fifty-five mice bred with Alzheimer's traits were split in two; after two months, those given caffeine in their water did better on thinking and memory tests than the water-only group. The University of South Florida researcher says it is the first work to suggest caffeine can undo damage.

Jul 8, 2009

Food

Of mice and memory

University of South Florida researchers report in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease that caffeine equal to five cups of coffee a day reversed memory impairment in aged mice bred for Alzheimer's symptoms, and cut the disease's hallmark protein in their brains and blood.

Jul 7, 2009

Food

Drinking alcohol raises pancreatic cancer risk

Among 470,681 U.S. adults aged 50 to 71 followed through 2003, heavy drinkers were 45 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer and heavy liquor drinkers 62 percent more likely than light drinkers. The authors cannot rule out confounding by smoking.

Jun 29, 2009

Vitamins

Dietary folate does not reduce risk of pancreatic cancer

Following 120,852 Dutch adults for 13.3 years, researchers found those with the highest dietary folate intake ran a 37 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer than those with the lowest, and found no link for individual folate vitamers.

Jun 28, 2009

Vitamins

Low vitamin D may raise metabolic syndrome risk

A study in Diabetes Care of 3,262 Chinese adults aged 50 to 70 found insufficient or deficient vitamin D was associated with a 52 percent higher risk of metabolic syndrome. Ninety-four percent of participants had low vitamin D, and 42 percent of those had metabolic syndrome.

Jun 28, 2009

Diet

Fatty diet linked to high risk of pancreatic cancer

Among more than 500,000 adults in the NIH-AARP study followed about 6.3 years, those eating the most saturated fat were 36 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, rising to 43 percent for saturated fat from animal sources.

Jun 28, 2009

Food

Green tea may prevent prostate cancer

In 26 prostate cancer patients who took four green tea extract capsules daily for a month before surgery, hepatocyte growth factor fell 18.9 percent, VEGF 9.9 percent and PSA 10.4 percent, an LSU-led study in Cancer Prevention Research found. The dose matched the EGCG in about 12 cups of tea.

Jun 22, 2009

Diet

Low meat diet may reduce risk of prostate cancer

A review in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics found diets high in fruit and vegetables and low in fat, red meat, dairy and calcium may help prevent prostate cancer and may help treat it. The authors call the results suggestive rather than conclusive.

Jun 13, 2009

Food

Curry may help fight dementia

Duke's Murali Doraiswamy reported that diets high in curcumin dissolved amyloid plaques in mice over 12 months and prevented plaques forming in young mice. He cautioned that curry cannot offset the dementia risk of an unhealthy diet. A UCLA human trial is under way.

Jun 13, 2009

Vitamins

Prenatal multivitamins reduce risk of low birth weight

A CMAJ meta-analysis of 13 studies found prenatal multivitamins were associated with a 17 to 19 percent lower risk of low birth weight than iron-folic acid alone, and with 54 grams more birth weight, which researchers say could avoid 1.5 million cases a year.

Jun 13, 2009

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