Health News - Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Manufacturers of corn oil and foods containing the fat can now promote their products as a way to possibly reduce the risk of heart disease, U.S. health regulators said in a letter released on Tuesday. The Food and Drug Administration, responding to a request from ACH Food Companies Inc., said there was enough evidence to support such a qualified claim, as long as consumers were not misled.
ACH Food Companies, a division of Associated British Foods, asked the agency last year to allow corn oil and related products to carry the heart benefits claim. Its products include Mazola corn oil, Karo light corn syrup and Argo corn starch. "Based on FDA's consideration of the scientific evidence submitted with your petition, and other pertinent scientific evidence, FDA concludes that there is sufficient evidence for a qualified health claim, provided that the claim is appropriately worded so as to not mislead consumers," the FDA said in a March 26 letter to the company. Continue reading
An herbal preparation derived from tree leaves offered some benefits to patients being treated for congestive heart failure, according to a new German study presented to American cardiologists Tuesday. But at least one U.S. heart expert said the substance needs far more study before it can be deemed of any value to patients.
The substance, dubbed Crataegus Extract WS 1442, is an extract of the leaves of the Crataegus, or hawthorne, tree, and is a natural antioxidant. It's currently approved for use in some European countries as a treatment for early congestive heart failure, which is the heart's inability to adequately pump blood throughout the body. "This is the first heart failure trial conducted with an herbal product," lead researcher Dr. Christian J.F. Holubarsch, of the Median Kliniken Hospitals in Bad Krozingen, said during a teleconference Tuesday at the American College of Cardiology's annual meeting in New Orleans. Continue reading
Foods rich in flavonoids -- from apples and pears to dark chocolate and red wine -- may help shield postmenopausal women from coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease and stroke, a new study shows.
Flavonoids are antioxidant compounds, found in many plant-based foods, and have been hypothesized to protect the heart by reducing levels of low-density lipoprotein or "bad" cholesterol and reducing inflammation, Dr. Pamela J. Mink of Exponent, Inc., and colleagues note. But studies investigating heart health and flavonoid levels in the diet have had mixed results, they add in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The researchers used three newly available databases from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to determine the flavonoid contain of foods, the researchers analyzed results of food questionnaires on diet from 34,489 postmenopausal women participating in the Iowa Women's Health Study. Continue reading