Health News - Thursday, March 22, 2007
The use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs in youngsters should be part of updated guidelines for treating children and adolescents with high-risk lipid abnormalities, particularly high cholesterol.
That's the recommendation contained in an American Heart Association scientific statement published in the March 21 issue of the journal Circulation. New data and increased knowledge about the beginnings of heart disease make it necessary to update the guidelines, the statement authors said. Continue reading
Consuming plant foods rich in estrogen-like compounds called lignans may help women curb breast cancer after menopause, according to a French study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Women should follow the general dietary guidelines for a healthy and prudent diet, that is, consuming large amounts and varieties of fruits, vegetables and whole-grain cereal products daily (all foods rich in lignans) may also help prevent breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to Dr. Francoise Clavel-Chapelon, from the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, Villejuif, France. Continue reading
Being stressed out at work can make you fat, a new study suggests. The more job strain men and women reported, the more likely they were to become obese, Dr. Eric J. Brunner of the Royal Free and University College London Medical School and colleagues found. Higher stress levels were also tied to excess fat around the middle, which is particularly harmful for health.
Chronic stress has been linked to heart disease and the metabolic syndrome, a constellation of symptoms including excess belly fat that increases the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, Brunner and his team note. They hypothesized that job stress might make people more likely to develop obesity during adulthood as well. To investigate, they followed 6,895 men and 3,413 women for 19 years. All were 35 to 55 years old at the study's outset. Participants reported levels of job strain, defined as having heavy demands, little decision-making power, and little social support, at several points during the study. Continue reading
Scientists have found a way to ensure starter cultures used to make cheese can ward off attacks from bacteria-eating viruses -- a finding that could mean the difference between a great Gouda and wasted milk. Attacks by viruses known as phages pose a particular problem for companies like Danish food ingredient maker Danisco, whose starter cultures are used in about half of all the ice cream and cheese produced in the world.
"Phages are one of the major causes of product failure for the food industry, especially in the dairy industry," said Philippe Horvath, a scientist at Danisco's laboratory in Dange-Saint-Romain, France. The tiny viruses that infect bacteria enter the cell and rapidly replicate until the cell ruptures, spreading the virus in a series of repeating cycles. "It's an explosive propagation," he said in a telephone interview. Horvath and colleagues at Danisco have discovered how to harness bacteria's own natural defense mechanisms to produce phage-resistant bacteria. They reported their results in Friday's issue of the journal Science. Continue reading
Scientists in the Netherlands are developing a new generation of foods that can help prevent obesity by making people eat less, a research institute said on Thursday. The Top Institute Food and Nutrition (TIFN), funded by the Dutch government and food groups like CSM Anglo-Dutch Unilever, is also developing food ingredients which can stop an obese person from developing diabetes.
"We are working on certain food ingredients, which provoke more satiety than others do on the long run, so that our partners can use them in food manufacturing," said Professor Robert-Jan Brummer, program director at TIFN. "These products should trigger satiety and stop us eating more and more. They should also meet our dietary requirements, have a very good taste and be enjoyable to eat," he told Reuters. Brummer declined to give details, saying it was a commercial secret, but added these nutrients could eventually be used in any kind of food from drinks to spreads and bread. Continue reading