Glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate help knees, but doctors demand more - Food Consumer
dBTechnoGlucosamine, chondroitin sulfate help knees, but doctors demand moreFood Consumer - 56 minutes agoBy Jimmy Downs Wednesday October 1, 2008 foodconsumer.org -- Researchers at the Un...
2008-10-01 15:28:45High calcium levels during pregnancy reduces fetal exposure to lead
Washington, Sept 10 ANI: Women who consume high levels of daily calcium supplements during pregnancy show a marked reduction in lead levels in their blood, according to a new study, which suggests that calcium could play a critical role in reducing fetal and infant exposure.The study at the University of Michigan shows that women who take 1,200 milligrams of calcium daily have up to a 31 percent reduction in lead levels.Women who used lead-glazed ceramics and those with high bone lead levels showed the largest reductions; the average reduction was about 11 percent, said Howard Hu, chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health.The study is available online in Environmental Health Perspectives, the official journal of the U.S. National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences. Hu, who is also affiliated with the University of Michigan School of Medicine, said this is the first known randomized study examining calcium supplementation on lead levels in pregnant women."We and others have previously shown that during pregnancy, mothers can transfer lead from their bones to their unborn -- with significant adverse consequences--making maternal bone lead stores a threat even if current environmental lead exposures are low," Hu said. "This study demonstrates that dietary calcium supplementation during pregnancy may constitute a low-cost and low-risk approach for reducing this threat," the researcher added.Lead exposure is a great concern for pregnant and lactating women, especially in developing countries where lead exposures have been high until recently, and for women with occupational exposure. The study showed that reductions in blood lead levels were more evident in the second trimester at 14 percent than in the third trimester at 8 percent. The most compliant group of women in the study those who consumed greater than 75 percent of the assigned 1,200 milligram doses of calcium per day showed a 24 percent decrease. omen in the most compliant group who also reported using lead glazed ceramics and had the highest bone lead levels saw the greatest reduction of 31 percent. Researchers analyzed 557 women recruited from the Mexican Social Security Institute prenatal clinics, which treat the low to moderate income population of Mexico City. ll were in their first trimester; roughly half were assigned calcium and half a placebo. ANI
2008-09-10 01:00:00New hope for early detection of arthritis
<p><font size="2"><strong>New York: Here’s some hope over early arthritis test — t...
2008-08-23 15:46:43New test raises hope for early arthritis diagnosis
London, Aug 23 ANI: A new way of scanning joints that promises to diagnose arthritis in its early stages could soon be available, thanks to the efforts of a group of US researchers. The MRI scan looks for low levels of the chemical glycosaminogycan, which helps cartilage in joints hold the water that makes it tough and elastic. New York University researchers told the American Chemical Society conference early diagnosis could reduce the need for surgery later in life. The Arthritis Research Campaign said the scan could help assess treatments. The weakening and breakdown of cartilage, which cushions the moving parts of joints, is a key factor in the development of osteoarthritis, which is common in the over-40s. Cartilage is tough and elastic because of its high water content, and existing MRI scans look for lower levels of this as a sign that the disease is developing. The team is trying to spot the disease even earlier by looking for a substance called glycosaminogycan GAG, which helps the cartilage hold plenty of water. The scientists found a way to make the hydrogen atoms attached to GAG emit a signal, which can be picked up by the scanner. "Our methods have the potential for providing early warning signs for cartilage disorders like osteoarthritis, thus potentially avoiding surgery and physical therapy later on," BBC quoted Dr Alexej Jerschow, one of the researchers, as saying.He said that a patient given early notice of impending arthritis could take steps to protect their joints, perhaps using dietary supplements such as glucosamine and chondroitin, which may be able to slow or halt joint degeneration. The next stage now is to test the technique in trials. However, Professor Alan Silman, the medical director of the Arthritis Research Campaign, said that the practical implications of the research were "currently very limited". "Unfortunately at the moment there is no treatment that could be offered that would change the situation. What it may prove to be is a very sensitive test of drug treatment response as new agents are developed," Silman added. ANI
2008-08-23 04:00:53Commercial rice bran products contain "inappropriate" levels of arsenic
London, August 23 ANI: A new study has suggested that commercial rice bran products contain "inappropriate" levels of the poisonous chemical arsenic. Rice bran is the shavings left over after brown rice is polished to produce white rice grains.According to a report in New Scientist, Andrew Meharg at the University of Aberdeen, UK, and colleagues made the findings. The research team found that the levels of arsenic in rice bran products available on the Internet and used in food-aid programmes funded by the US government would be illegal in China - the only country in the world to have standards for how much arsenic is permissible in food.Arsenic is a natural carcinogen, present in drinking water around the world including in Australia, the US and many developing countries.In the new study, Meharg and colleagues purchased brown rice from China and Bangladesh and polished part of it in the same way that it would be to produce commercial white rice. They found that 1 kilogram of brown rice contained on average 0.76 mg of arsenic in its toxic inorganic form. The rice also contained some non-toxic, organic arsenic. The polished white rice grains contained 0.56 mg inorganic arsenic per kg, whereas the rice bran contained 3.3 mg per kg on average.Meharg and his colleagues purchased nine commercial rice-bran products online, including rice-bran solubles from a company that participates in food-aid programmes, and analysed their arsenic content. The products contained between 0.48 mg/kg and 1.16 mg/kg of inorganic arsenic. "The arsenic concentrations reported are worrisome, but the risk assessment is complex," said Philippe Grandjean, professor of environmental health at Harvard University's School of Public Health.Indeed, "safe" standards for arsenic intake are also controversial. The risk of skin, lung, bladder and kidney cancer increases proportionally with arsenic intake, which has lead toxicologists to the conclusion that there is no "safe" limit. But risks must be weighed against the benefits gained from drinking water and eating certain foods that contain the poison.The worrisome fact is that in recent years, a number of rice-bran products have come onto US and European markets, mainly targeted at health-food consumers. Variants of this food product have been distributed as food aid to malnourished children in Malawi, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador. There are plans to further expand the aid programmes in Latin America, India and the Caribbean."Rice-bran solubles are not the only way of getting nutrients to malnourished children," said Meharg. "If aid agencies want to go down the bran solubles route, why not wheat, oat or barely bran solubles. All these crops have ten times less total arsenic than rice and are just as nutrient rich," he explained.According to Grandjean, one would expect dietary supplements to be virtually free of unwanted substances like arsenic, especially when aimed at children, who are particularly vulnerable to arsenic. ANI
2008-08-23 02:00:00Herbalife says group retracts lead claims
Reuters - Dietary supplement distributor Herbalife Ltd. said a U.S. group had retracted claims that its supplements contain dangerous amounts of lead if taken in the recommended dosages.<p>&a...
2008-08-22 10:52:54Airborne Lawsuit Settlement - Times of the Internet
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2008-08-16 09:17:31Texas Trips Up "Smiling Bob"
Dietary Supplement Peddlers Agree to Refunds...
2008-08-09 11:06:43Supplement May Allow Weight Loss Without Dieting
The dietary supplement alpha lipoic acid may prevent dieters from packing the pounds back on after they go off their weight-loss plans, a study finds. ...
2008-08-09 07:22:46Now, a 'magical' pill that lets dieters eat what they like
London, Aug 7 ANI: Starving yourself in a bid to fight that extra flab Well, you can now forget the painful exertion, for a group of researchers have invented a pill that allows dieters to return to normal eating without putting on weight.The inventors also claim that the pill, a dietary supplement called alpha-lipoic acid and widely sold in health food shops, also slows ageing, which is a known effect of low-calorie diets.However, the finding has triggered a dispute between two of the scientists who carried out the research, conducted in rats, over whether it can be applied to humans. Malcolm Goyns, director of Immorgene Concepts, a scientific research company in Stockton-on-Tees, who led the research, said he was sufficiently convinced to follow the approach himself.Evidence from the tropical Okinawan islands in Japan's extreme southwest, which has the highest proportion of centenarians in the world, demonstrated the life-prolonging effects of calorie restriction, he said.Their traditional diet is high in vegetables and fish and low in fat, but they also have a cultural habit known as hara hachi bu - or "eat until you are 80 per cent full". This is based on the notion that it takes the stomach's stretch receptors 20 minutes to tell the brain how full it really is, preventing overeating - and Okinawans are among the leanest and fittest people in Japan as a result."While calorie restriction diets are followed as a matter of course in communities like Okinawa, the diet can be difficult to follow for most people. Our discovery indicates that by following a calorie restriction diet for six months and then taking alpha-lipoic acid while eating normally, the same life extension effects will be experienced," the Independent quoted Dr Goyns, as saying.He added: "Simply adding the supplement to the diet has no effect. It seems that alpha-lipoic acid fools the body into behaving as if it was still on whatever diet it was following before the supplement was added. We found there was an anti-obesity effect as well. "Although weight does rise when you come off the restricted diet, if you take alpha-lipoic acid, even though you are eating normally again you still have a reduced weight."The study, published in Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, was carried out by Dr Goyns with colleagues from the University of Liverpool. The researchers investigated the effect of alpha-lipoic acid when given to rats on normal and low calorie diets.Experiments have shown that curbing the amount of food rats eat can extend their lives by 25 to 40 per cent. However, anti-ageing benefits are lost when the rats return to a normal diet. In the study, researchers found the benefits of the low calorie diet were extended by giving the rats the supplement when they returned to normal eating. Brian Merry of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Liverpool, who carried out the study, said: "If you put the animals on to a restricted diet they would normally go on to an extended survival trajectory. When they were switched to a normal diet, this compound seemed to lock them into the benefits of their pre-existing diet."It is an unusual and interesting finding and it needs repeating in further research. That was as far as I was prepared to go, but Malcolm Goyns wanted to apply it to humans. I said I didn't agree with his interpretation and we had to wait for further studies." ANI
2008-08-07 02:00:00
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