Health


Salt Intake Reference Updated

A new US National Academies report updated Dietary Reference Intakes for potassium (Adequate Intake [AI] 3400 mg for man and 2600 mg for most women per day) and sodium (AI 1500 mg/day, and Chronic Risk Reduction Intake 2300 mg/day) in healthy adults. There was insufficient evidence of risk of excess […]


Nut Consumption Linked to Lower CVD and Mortality

A US prospective analysis revealed that higher consumption of nuts, especially tree nuts, is associated with lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence and mortality in patients with diabetes. The analysis included 16,217 men (1986-2014) and women (1980-2014) with diabetes at baseline or diagnosed during follow-up. During 223,682 and 254,923 person-years of […]


Diet Soda Linked to CVD and Mortality

A US prospective multicenter longitudinal study suggested that higher intake of artificially sweetened beverages (ASB) was associated with increased risk of stroke, particularly small artery occlusion subtype, coronary heart disease, and all-cause mortality. The study included 81 714 postmenopausal women of ages 50 to 79 years at baseline who enrolled […]


A Personalized Approach to Predicting Postprandial Glycemic Responses to Food

A personalized predictive model that takes into consideration unique features of an individual in addition to food characteristics was more predictive than current dietary approaches for glycemic responses to food consumed. The study enrolled 327 individuals without diabetes from October 11, 2016, to December 13, 2017 in the US. The […]


Fried Foods Linked to Mortality Risk

A prospective cohort study revealed that frequent consumption of fried foods, especially fried chicken and fried fish/shellfish, was associated with a higher risk of all cause and cardiovascular mortality in women in the US. The study included 106 966 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 at study entry who were enrolled between September […]


Heavy Workouts Not Linked to High Mortality

A US prospective observational study showed that high levels of physical activity are associated with prevalent coronary artery calcification (CAC) but are not associated with increased all-cause or cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality after a decade of follow-up, even in the presence of clinically significant CAC levels. The study included 21 […]


Dietary Fiber Linked to Health

A  series  of  systematic  reviews  and  meta-analyses  of  prospective  studies  and  randomized  controlled  trials with relatively high intakes of dietary fiber and whole grains revealed complementary findings, and striking dose-response evidence indicates that the relationships to several non-communicable diseases could be causal. The analyses included about 135 million person-years of […]


Genetics May Influence the Effects of Vitamin E

A US study suggested that genetic variations may be at play with vitamin E, increasing cancer risk in some individuals while decreasing risk for others. Multiple pathways may link the enzyme catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) to the vitamin E supplement, alpha-tocopherol, and cancer. The most extensively studied variant in COMT comes in […]


More Warnings with Fluoroquinolones

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review found that fluoroquinolone antibiotics can increase the occurrence of rare but serious events of ruptures or tears in the main artery of the body, so called aortic dissections or aneurysm. Systemic use given by mouth or through an injection of fluoroquinolones should […]


Red Meat Increases Trimethylamine N-oxide

An US randomized crossover study showed that chronic dietary red meat increases systemic trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) levels through enhanced dietary precursors, increased microbial trimethylamine (TMA)/TMAO production from carnitine, but not choline, and reduced renal TMAO excretion. Discontinuation of dietary red meat reduces plasma TMAO within 4 weeks. There were 113 healthy […]