Research Highlights - July

American Journal Clinical Nutrition

• While naturally-occurring nitrates in fruits and vegetables can be healthful, nitrates and nitrites used for processed meats are considered carcinogenic. However, new insights have shown by using vitamin C in processed meats can modulate the formation of carcinogenic compounds to reduce their negative effects.
  
  
• Zinc supplementation in children 6-8 years old may benefit child growth, particularly in areas where a deficiency of zinc is common.
  

Journal Nutrition

• Higher nut consumption has been associated with lower risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) events in several epidemiologic studies. The study examined the association between intake of nuts and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a cohort of women with type 2 diabetes. For the primary analysis, there were 6309 women with type 2 diabetes who completed a validated FFQ every 2–4 y between 1980 and 2002 and were without CVD or cancer at study entry. Major CVD events included incident myocardial infarction (MI), revascularization, and stroke. After adjustment for conventional CVD risk factors, consumption of at least 5 servings/wk of nuts or peanut butter [serving size,28 g (1 ounce) for nuts and 16 g (1 tablespoon) for peanut butter] was significantly associated with a lower risk of CVD. Furthermore, when we evaluated plasma lipid and inflammatory biomarkers, we observed that increasing nut consumption was significantly associated with a more favorable plasma lipid profile, including lower LDL cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and apolipoprotein-B-100 concentrations. These data suggest that frequent nut and peanut butter consumption is associated with a significantly lower CVD risk in women with type 2 diabetes. cases.
  

Journal of the American Dietetic Association

• Studies suggest that IBS symptoms in one quarter of patients may be caused or exacerbated by one or more dietary components. Recent studies indicate that a diet restricted in fermentable, poorly absorbed carbohydrates, including fructose, fructans, sorbitol, and other sugar alcohols is beneficial. Despite a long history of enthusiastic use, fiber is marginally beneficial. Insoluble fiber may worsen symptoms. Some patients with IBS, especially those with constipation, will improve with increased intake of soluble fiber. In clinical practice, it is very difficult to establish that a patient's symptoms result from an adverse reaction to food. A double blind placebo-controlled food challenge is the most reliable method. A modified exclusion diet and stepwise reintroduction of foods or trials of eliminating classes of food may be useful.

American Journal Preventive Medicine

• Some effects of early-childhood moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) on fatness appear to persist throughout childhood. Results indicate the potential importance of increasing MVPA in young children as a strategy to reduce later fat gains.

• Community-based health promotion is a widely advocated strategy in public health to favorably alter lifestyle. The aim of this study was to investigate the net effect of a cardiovascular disease–prevention program (Hartslag Limburg) on lifestyle factors after 5 years of intervention (1998–2003). The community intervention Hartslag Limburg succeeded in preventing age- and time-related unfavorable changes in energy intake, fat consumption, walking, and bicycling, particularly among women and those with low SES.

British Medical Journal

• Monitoring bone mineral density in postmenopausal women in the first three years after starting treatment with a potent bisphosphonate is unnecessary and may be misleading.Routine monitoring should be avoided in this early period after bisphosphonate treatment is commenced.

Food and Chemical Toxicology

• Curcumin might be a potential candidate agent against acetominophen-induced nephrotoxicity, but further studies are required to identify this issue before clinical application becomes possible.

• Cordyceps militaris is well known as a traditional medicinal mushroom and is a potentially interesting candidate for use in cancer treatment. The data from this study indicate that Cordyceps induces the apoptosis of A549 cells through a signaling cascade of death receptor-mediated extrinsic and mitochondria-mediated intrinsic caspase pathways. It also concludes that apoptotic events due to WECM were mediated with diminished telomerase activity through the inhibition of hTERT transcriptional activity.

Journal of Clinical Allergy and Immunology

• Epidemiologically, the increase in asthma prevalence from the 1960s to the 1990s fits well with decreased levels of sun exposure and consequently lower levels of vitamin D. Furthermore, low maternal levels of vitamin D are associated with increased risk of wheezing in offspring in early childhood. There have not been studies that directly examine the relationship between vitamin D levels in individuals and asthma severity. Brehm et al (Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2009;179:765-71) measured 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels in 612 asthmatic children aged 6 to 14 years living in San Jose, Costa Rica. Insufficient levels were found in 28% of the children. Increasing serum vitamin D levels were associated in multivariate analysis with lower serum IgE levels, smaller skin test responses to house dust mites, lower peripheral blood eosinophil counts, less bronchodilator responsiveness, and reduced likelihood of hospitalization for asthma in the previous year. Although causation cannot be established from a cross-sectional study, the data are consistent with insufficient levels of vitamin D leading to increased sensitization and more severe asthma. Among the more attractive explanations for this possible beneficial effect of vitamin D in asthma is the improved function of regulatory T cells and increased resistance to infection.

• The purpose of this study was to examine whether the efficacy of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) with standardized timothy extract was reduced by combination with other allergen extracts. A single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with SLIT was conducted. After an observational grass season, SLIT was administered for 10 months to 54 patients randomized to 1 of 3 treatment arms: placebo, timothy extract as monotherapy, or the same dose of timothy extract plus 9 additional pollen extracts. Symptom and medication scores were collected and titrated nasal challenges, titrated skin prick tests, specific IgE, IgG4 and cytokines release by timothy-stimulated lymphocyte proliferation were performed.Improvement in multiple relevant outcomes strongly suggests that SLIT with timothy extract alone was effective; however, the results for symptom and medication scores were not significant. The differences between multiple allergen SLIT and placebo only in skin sensitivity to timothy suggest a reduction in SLIT efficacy in this group.