Cooking-oil combo may improve blood pressure
Reinforcing the role nutrition plays in heart health, new research suggests that cooking with a combination of sesame oil and rice bran oil can lower mild to moderately high blood pressure.
A small study conducted in New Delhi, India, found that hypertensive adults who added roughly 1.25 ounces of a rice bran/sesame oil mixture to their daily diet experienced a drop in blood pressure nearly equivalent to that experienced by those taking a standard calcium-channel blocker blood pressure medication alone.
And those who consumed both the oil mixture and their blood pressure medication saw a blood pressure drop more than twice that of those taking the drug alone.
The oil combination also seemed to lower so-called “bad” (LDL) cholesterol and raise “good” (HDL) cholesterol, the researchers reported. This cholesterol profile improvement was not found among those taking a medication alone.
Fruits, vegetables may be key to long-term weight loss
Some new research tried to figure out what might help post-menopausal women achieve long-term weight loss. And it turns out that adding produce to their diet didn’t show up as especially helpful in the short term, but in the long term it mattered.
The researchers didn’t find that eating fried chicken was just fine as long as it came with a side of broccoli. What they found was that some behaviors are hard to maintain forever, and adding produce might be easier than avoiding all fried foods for the long haul.
“People are so motivated when they start a weight-loss program. You can say, ‘I’m never going to eat another piece of pie,’ and you see the pounds coming off,” Bethany Barone Gibbs, the lead investigator, said in a statement. “Eating fruits and vegetables may not make as big a difference in your caloric intake. But that small change can build up and give you a better long-term result, because it’s not as hard to do as giving up French fries forever.”
Omega-3 fatty acids help advanced lung cancer patients
A new study in British Journal of Nutrition has found supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids can help advanced lung cancer patients.
Researchers at San Giovanni Battista Hospital in Turin, Italy conducted the trial and found long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids from fish oil have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects and improve nutrition in lung cancer patients.
In the study, lung cancer patients were given a placebo or four capsules per day containing 510 mg of EPA and 340 mg of DHA, two major omega-fatty acids found in fish oil for 66 days. Patients underwent chemotherapy and at 8, 22 and 66 days, biochemical and anthropometric parameters were measured in both groups.
One cup of tea a day may help you stay slim, healthy
Drinking tea could be key to smaller waistlines, sharper minds, stronger bones and healthier hearts, say experts.
Leading nutrition scientists from around the world convened at the United States Department of Agriculture to present the latest research supporting the role of tea in promoting good health.
Numerous studies suggest tea supports heart health and healthy blood pressure, and appears to be associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, including stroke and heart attack.
“There is now an overwhelming body of research from around the world indicating that drinking tea can enhance human health,” said meeting chair, Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, Professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Director, Antioxidants Research Laboratory, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston.
Dairy products won’t make you skinny, evidence says
Adding a couple of servings of milk or yogurt to your daily diet probably won’t help you drop any pants sizes, according to a new analysis of past studies.
Some research has suggested dairy products may help people feel full for longer, or that the calcium in milk and yogurt can prevent the build-up of fat tissue. But those remain unproven theories.
“The results are not very consistent,” said Dr. Frank Hu, a nutrition researcher from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston who worked on the new review.
“Overall, I think the evidence doesn’t support the claim that dairy products are beneficial for weight loss,” he said.
Obese people can be Metabolically Healthy and in Good Shape
This is the conclusion of a study published in the prestigious journal European Heart Journal conducted by professor Francisco B. Ortega, a researcher at the University of Granada Department of Physical Education and at the Karolinska Institut Department of BioSciences and Nutrition (Sweden).
A person can be obese and metabolically healthy at the same time, which means that this person will have the same mortality risk for heart disease or cancer that people of normal weight. This is the conclusion of a study published in the prestigious journal European Heart Journal [1].
“Obesity is associated with a large number of chronic diseases as heart diseases or cancer. However, there is a group of obese people that do not suffer the metabolic complications associated with obesity”, the author of the study, Prof. Francisco B.Ortega, explains.
Prof. Ortega is currently working as a researcher and professor at the University of Granada Department of Physical Education, and at the Karolinska Institut Department of BioSciences and Nutrition in Sweden. Prof. Ortega conducted this study during his professional stay at the University of South Carolina (USA), in collaboration with Prof. Steven N. Blair, one of the most renowned researchers in the world in the field of physical activity, fitness and health. Prof. Blair is the coordinator of the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (ACLS), which includes more than 43,000 people followed-up either for 15 years or until their death,
Vitamin C, zinc and omega 3 fatty acids may help asthma
Vitamin C, mineral zinc, and omega-3 fatty acids help asthma
A study in Acta Paediatrica suggests that supplementation of vitamin C, zinc, and omega 3 fatty acids helps asthma patients.
Bronchial asthma is caused by chronic inflammation in airways and nutritional intervention is known to decrease the severity of many chronic inflammatory disease including asthma, according to researchers at Mohammed Al Biltagi of Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
The researchers found supplementation of vitamin C, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids supplements improved childhood asthma control test, pulmonary function tests, and sputum inflammatory markers in children with moderately persistent asthma.
The study involved 70 asthma patients who took supplements of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin C and Zinc either singly or in combination in a series of continuous dietary intervention phases with each followed by a washout phase. Evaluated at baseline and at the end of the study were childhood asthma control test, pulmonary function tests and sputum inflammatory markers.
Combined supplementation of vitamin C, omega-3 fatty acids and zinc was found more effective in improving asthma condition than each individual supplement.
Enfamil Human Milk Fortifier supports growth in premature infants
Enfamil Human Milk Fortifier Acidified Liquid supports higher growth in premature infants than powdered fortifiers and is well-tolerated, according to a study sponsored by Mead Johnson Nutrition.
The product comes in single-dose packaging, commercially sterile and free of micro-organisms.
When mixed with breast milk, Enfamil Human Milk Fortifier Acidified Liquid provides 4g protein per 100 calories, in line with European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) recommendations.
It also has 24mg of DHA and 38mg of ARA per 100 calories when combined with breast milk to help support optimal visual and cognitive development in premature infants.
In the third-party blinded, stratified, controlled trial, 146 preterm infants with a gestational age of 23.7 – 30.4 weeks and birth weights between 530-1,250g received human milk and were randomized to receive Enfamil powder human milk fortifier (control group; 1.1g protein/4 sachets) or Enfamil Human Milk Fortifier Acidified Liquid (1.8g protein/4 vials) for 28 days.
Just as women are advised to get plenty of folic acid around the time of conception and throughout early pregnancy, new research suggests another very similar nutrient may one day deserve a spot on the obstetrician’s list of recommendations. Consuming greater amounts of choline – a nutrient found in eggs and meat – during pregnancy may lower an infant’s vulnerability to stress-related illnesses, such as mental health disturbances, and chronic conditions, like hypertension, later in life. In an early study in The FASEB Journal, nutrition scientists and obstetricians at Cornell University and the University of Rochester Medical Center found that higher-than-normal amounts of choline in the diet during pregnancy changed epigenetic markers – modifications on our DNA that tell our genes to switch on or off, to go gangbusters or keep a low profile – in the fetus. While epigenetic markers don’t change our genes, they make a permanent imprint by dictating their fate: If a gene is not expressed – turned on – it’s as if it didn’t exist. redOrbit (http://s.tt/1nX44)
Just as women are advised to get plenty of folic acid around the time of conception and throughout early pregnancy, new research suggests another very similar nutrient may one day deserve a spot on the obstetrician’s list of recommendations.
Consuming greater amounts of choline – a nutrient found in eggs and meat – during pregnancy may lower an infant’s vulnerability to stress-related illnesses, such as mental health disturbances, and chronic conditions, like hypertension, later in life.
In an early study in The FASEB Journal, nutrition scientists and obstetricians at Cornell University and the University of Rochester Medical Center found that higher-than-normal amounts of choline in the diet during pregnancy changed epigenetic markers – modifications on our DNA that tell our genes to switch on or off, to go gangbusters or keep a low profile – in the fetus. While epigenetic markers don’t change our genes, they make a permanent imprint by dictating their fate: If a gene is not expressed – turned on – it’s as if it didn’t exist.
Low-Fat Yogurt May Cut High Blood Pressure Risk
Low-fat yogurt may help lower your risk for high blood pressure, according to new research.
A new study of more than 2,100 adults presented at the American Heart Association’s High Blood Pressure Research 2012 Scientific Sessions Wednesday found that those who reported eating more low-fat yogurt were 31 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure than those who ate less.
The researchers also found that, over the course of the 15-year study, low-fat yogurt eaters, on average, had lower increases in systolic blood pressure — the “first” ot top number” in a blood pressure reading — compared to those who did not eat low-fat yogurt.
These results held up even after adjusting for weight, use of blood pressure medications and lifestyle factors, including diet.
