Although some Americans gain five to seven pounds with a diet of big meals and sweets between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, most people only gain a pound or two during the holidays, according to a UT Southwestern Medical Center registered dietitian.
Teenagers who take a daily multivitamin supplement have a healthier diet and lifestyle than those who don’t take vitamins, reports a study in the December Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
A London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine team revealed that women who are very underweight before they become pregnant are 72% more likely to miscarry in the first three months of pregnancy.
Decaffeinated coffee plants, pest-resistant cotton, and Vitamin A-producing rice varieties have all been developed by introducing genes into plants. Scientists also create modified plants to identify and characterize the functions of specific genes. The current issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols — released online today — includes a set of techniques for the creation of transgenic plants.
The December 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association contains articles and research studies you may find of interest. Below is a summary of some of this month’s articles.
Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found the mechanism by which the B vitamin folate — a crucially important nutrient — is absorbed by the intestinal tract. Their findings solve a longstanding mystery as to how folates in the diet are absorbed and pave the way for a genetic test that can save the lives of infants who lack the ability to absorb folate.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Center for Micronutrient Research at Annamalai University in India report that the consumption of milk fortified with specific micronutrients — zinc, iron, selenium, copper, vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E — significantly reduces diarrhea and acute lower respiratory illness among children in developing countries.
Phase II clinical trial results published today in Circulation (2006;114:2374-2381) highlight the potential of a simple, once-daily dosing regimen of the novel, oral anticoagulant rivaroxaban (BAY 59-7939), a direct Factor Xa inhibitor. In this trial, rivaroxaban demonstrated that it may have similar safety and efficacy to subcutaneous enoxaparin (the current standard), for the prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients undergoing elective total hip replacement surgery.
Families from low income households across the England will benefit from a new scheme from Monday 27 November, giving free milk and fresh fruit and vegetables to children and mums-to-be, as Healthy Start – first piloted in Devon and Cornwall – extends to the rest of the country.
For patients on hemodialysis, the use of dialysis filters coated with vitamin E may provide a simple new approach to the common problem of anemia, reports a paper presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s 39th Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego.