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Nutrition

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

Supplements

Spirulina maxima prevents liver damage induced by drugs

In rats, co-administering Spirulina maxima with the antituberculosis drugs isoniazid and rifampicin prevented the liver damage the drugs caused alone, and two weeks of the supplement restored already-damaged liver function, a study in a complementary medicine journal reports.

Supplements

Probiotics help improve quality of life in cystic fibrosis

In a randomized trial of 37 children aged 2 to 12 with cystic fibrosis, a month of daily probiotics improved mean quality-of-life scores at three months, though not at six, and significantly cut pulmonary exacerbations. The authors suggest the benefit fades without continued use.

Jun 15, 2014

Herbs

Herbal Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

A review of herbal therapy for type 2 diabetes argues that one herb's many phytochemicals act like combination therapy across several metabolic pathways. It notes more than 1,200 plants have been claimed as diabetes remedies and that metformin came from a compound in French lilac.

Jun 15, 2014

Supplements

Chlorella supplements prevent heart disease

In a double-blind trial, 63 mildly hypercholesterolemic adults took 5 grams of chlorella or placebo daily for four weeks. The chlorella group cut total cholesterol 1.6% and triglycerides 10.3%, and raised lutein/zeaxanthin 89.6%. The authors tie the effect to carotenoid intake.

Jun 15, 2014

Food

Nut consumption helps diabetes mellitus type 2

In a three-month trial, 117 patients with type 2 diabetes were randomized to full nuts, half nuts and half muffins, or all muffins. The full dose, about 75 grams a day, lowered HbA1c by 0.21% and LDL cholesterol; the half dose did neither significantly.

Jun 15, 2014

Food

Eating broccoli may lower risk of pancreatic cancer

A Shanghai case-control study of 390 pancreatic cancer cases and 414 controls found urinary isothiocyanate levels inversely related to the disease: people in the highest tertile were 53% less likely to have pancreatic cancer. Cruciferous vegetable intake tracked the same way.

Jun 15, 2014

Food

Saturated fat boosts risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, olive oil may help lower the risk

In mice, saturated fat supplements caused glucose intolerance and lowered cortical activity, while monounsaturated fats found in olive and sunflower oil improved it. Saturated fat also reduced hippocampal and cortical activity in humans; both fats raised fat mass.

Jun 14, 2014

Food

Nuts help fight coronary heart disease in type 2 diabetics

In 117 people with type 2 diabetes, 12 weeks of eating 50 to 100 grams of nuts a day raised serum oleic acid and monounsaturated fat, and those increases were inversely associated with coronary heart disease risk factors and estimated 10-year risk.

Jun 14, 2014

Food

Soy Does Not Affect Puberty

Researchers examined the diets of 327 girls who ate widely varying amounts of soy and found no effect on the age at which menstruation began, according to a study in the Nutrition Journal.

Jun 14, 2014

Supplements

Spinach supplements prevent exercise-induced oxidative stress

Twenty well-trained young men took spinach supplements or placebo daily for 14 days before running a half-marathon. Those on spinach held markers of oxidative stress and muscle damage lower afterward and raised total antioxidant capacity, the small study reports.

Jun 14, 2014

Food

Processed Meat Linked to Heart Failure

Among 37,035 men followed nearly 12 years in the Cohort of Swedish Men, each 50-gram daily serving of processed meat was tied to an 8 percent higher risk of heart failure and a 38 percent higher chance of dying from it.

Jun 13, 2014

Food

Cheese, milk increase liver cancer risk

Following 477,206 people for an average of 11 years, researchers found those in the highest tertile of total dairy, milk and cheese intake were 66, 51 and 56 percent more likely to develop liver cancer. Yoghurt showed no association.

Jun 13, 2014

Diet

Timing of having lunch affects weight loss

Among 420 obese adults on a Mediterranean-diet weight loss program, those who ate lunch late lost less weight over 20 weeks than early eaters, even though meal timing did not change calorie intake, diet composition, energy expenditure or sleep.

Jun 13, 2014

Diet

Fat Linked to Breast Cancer Risk

Tracking 88,804 women in the Nurses' Health Study II for 10 years, researchers reported in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment that a diet high in animal fat raised breast cancer risk 18 percent overall, and dietary cholesterol raised it 32 percent in premenopausal women.

Jun 13, 2014

Vitamins

Vitamin D lowers cancer mortality, but not incidence?

Pooling randomized trials, a meta-analysis found daily doses of 400 to 1,100 had little effect on total cancer incidence over two to seven years but lowered cancer death risk by a significant 12 percent. The writer argues those doses are low and suggests adults may need 5,000 IU a day.

Jun 13, 2014

Vitamins

Vitamin D prevents pneumonia, sepsis

People with serum 25(OH)D below 37 nmol/L were 157 percent more likely to be hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia and 75 percent more likely for sepsis, after adjustment for other conditions. The analysis covered 132 pneumonia and 422 sepsis patients plus controls.

Jun 13, 2014

Food

Sugar sweetened beverages boost risk of dental caries

A four-year Finnish study of 939 adults found those drinking one to two, or three or more, sugar-sweetened beverages daily were 31% and 33% more likely to have decayed, missing or filled teeth. Fluoride toothpaste use did not change the risk.

Jun 12, 2014

Vitamins

Coenzyme Q10 may help cognitive decline in postmenopausal women

Mice lost significant cognitive function four weeks after their ovaries were removed. Daily oral coenzyme Q10 at 10 mg/kg for four weeks restored it while easing the mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress the surgery caused.

Jun 12, 2014

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