In 1,200 Irish women studied in Pediatrics, those with vitamin B12 in the lowest quartile were five times more likely to have a baby with a neural tube defect; the authors suggest keeping levels above 300 ng/L before pregnancy. PCRM notes vegans can meet the need with supplements.
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Nutrition
Vitamins, minerals, supplements, herbs and diet: the research on how what we eat shapes our health.
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Diet
Doctors endorse vegan and vegetarian diets for healthy pregnancies
PCRM doctors and dietitians say well-planned vegan and vegetarian diets suit pregnancy and that B12 needs are met by fortified foods or a multivitamin. They respond to a Pediatrics study linking low B12 to neural tube defects in Irish women sampled from 1983 to 1990.
Phytochemicals
Broccoli compound may help prevent respiratory inflammation
In a Clinical Immunology study, 65 volunteers took broccoli or alfalfa sprout preparations for three days. Those given 100 grams or more of broccoli sprouts showed significantly higher antioxidant enzymes in nasal airway cells, with 200 grams producing the largest increases.
Food
Drinking wine may help prevent esophageal cancer
Among 953 Northern Californians, those drinking a glass or more of red or white wine a day were 56 percent less likely to have Barrett's esophagus, a precursor to esophageal cancer. Beer and liquor showed no link, and drinking more wine added no further benefit.
Vitamins
Low Serum vitamin D level means high risk of prostate cancer death
Among 160 prostate cancer patients followed about 44 months, men with medium vitamin D levels were 67 percent less likely, and those with high levels 84 percent less likely, to die of the disease than men with low levels, a Norwegian study in the British Journal of Cancer found.
Phytochemicals
Vegetable-based drug could suppress melanoma
Penn State researchers swapped selenium for sulfur in isothiocyanates from cruciferous vegetables and report in Clinical Cancer Research that the resulting isoselenocyanates inhibited tumor growth in mice by 50 to 60 percent at very low doses, more safely than conventional therapy.
Vitamins
Vitamin C injections slow tumor growth in mice
NIH researchers injected high-dose ascorbate into rodents carrying brain, ovarian and pancreatic tumors and cut tumor weight and growth rate by roughly half, tracing the effect to hydrogen peroxide forming around the tumors. Normal cells were unaffected.
Supplements
Sesame seed extract and konjac gum may help ward off Salmonella and E. coli
Petra Becker and colleagues at Wageningen exposed 18 food products to bacteria in the lab and found sesame seed extract and konjac gum bound the most E. coli and Salmonella, which may keep the bacteria from latching onto gut cells. Yeast, tomato and pumpkin also helped.
Vitamins
Micronutrients Protect against Arsenic Lesions
A cross-sectional study using baseline data from the Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study in Araihazar, Bangladesh, is the first population-based attempt to link micronutrient intake to arsenic-induced skin lesions. It weighed B vitamins and vitamins A, C and E among 10,628 people.
Nutrition
High potassium may help lower blood pressure
Reviewing published studies, Drs. Mark Houston and Karen Harper report that high dietary potassium may lower blood pressure and cut hypertension by more than 10 percent. Americans eat twice the recommended sodium and half the recommended potassium.
Minerals
Zinc Could Saves Lives of Children With Diarrhea
A Cochrane review covering more than 6,000 children found strong evidence that zinc supplementation helps children with diarrhea in developing countries, but only in infants over six months old. Zinc shortened both acute and persistent diarrhea, the lead investigator said.
Nutrition
Foods high in conjugated linoleic acids can enrich breast milk
Seven nursing mothers ate cookies made with CLA-enriched or regular butter. Across 48 hours, milk from the enriched group carried 46 percent more conjugated linoleic acid, peaking 8 to 28 hours after the cookies, a team led by Athena Moutsioulis reported.
Nutrition
Eating fish may explain very low levels of heart disease in Japan
A University of Pittsburgh study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology compared 868 men aged 40 to 49 and found Japanese men had the least atherosclerosis and twice the omega-3 levels of white or Japanese American men, whose hardening was similar or higher.
Food
Turmeric may help prevent type 2 diabetes
Mice fed high doses of dietary curcumin had better blood glucose and glucose and insulin tolerance, and obese mice showed less inflammation in fat tissue and liver, a Columbia team found. They speculate curcumin eases insulin resistance by damping obesity-driven inflammation.
Supplements
Omega-3 fatty acids could slow acute wound healing
Blister wounds on people taking fish oil healed in about the same time as those on placebo, but their blister fluid held higher levels of inflammation-related proteins than researchers expected. Lead author Jodi McDaniel says if the fatty acids do delay healing, surgical patients might pause them.
Minerals
Calcium may be the key to understanding Alzheimer's disease
Penn researchers report in Neuron that mutations in presenilin 1 and 2, linked to inherited early-onset Alzheimer's, disrupt calcium flow in neurons through the InsP3 receptor channel. Cells with mutant PS1 also processed more amyloid beta, suggesting targets for new therapies.
Food
Cranberry juice creates energy barrier that keeps bacteria away from cells
Worcester Polytechnic researchers exposed two E. coli varieties to different cranberry juice concentrations and found the juice altered the bacteria's thermodynamic properties, creating an energy barrier that makes it harder for fimbriaed bacteria to latch onto cells.
Diet
Diet affects cardiovascular disease
A study in The Journal of Clinical Hypertension reports that eating more potassium, and possibly magnesium and calcium, may lower blood pressure and reduce coronary heart disease and stroke risk. Americans eat twice the recommended sodium and half the recommended potassium.
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