News summary

More on folate and pregnancy

Women who take folate supplements during pregnancy may be at an increased risk of developing breast cancer. However, the finding should not be allowed to cause confusion about the need for folate as a protection against neural tube defects, according to one of the researchers involved. Dr Andy Ness, of the University of Bristol, says, “It is entirely possible that this is a chance finding—so further scientific studies are required to examine the association, if there is one, before we reach any conclusions.”
(Reuters Health Online)
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Study shows variation in supermarkets’ service

A study by the National Consumer Council (NCC) concludes that the supermarket chains vary considerably in their approach to healthy eating. After assessing the stores on the nutritional content of food on sale, labelling, healthy eating promotions and customer advice the NCC puts Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Co-op at the top of the chart and Asda, Somerfield and Morrisons at the bottom. In particular the organisation expresses concern about the fact that retailers with a high proportion of lower income customers appear to reinforce the health inequalities between rich and poor, although its chair, Deirdre Hutton, says the Co-op is an exception to this.
(BBC News Online)
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Vitamin may reduce risk of death in ALS sufferers

Regular users of vitamin E appear to be at a lower risk of death from Lou Gehrig’s disease – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – than non-users. The findings support the hypothesis that oxidants play a key role in the development of ALS, and are consistent with other research showing that increased brain levels of vitamin E seem to delay the onset of ALS in lab animals. Dr Alberto Ascherio and colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health draw their conclusions from an analysis of data on nearly 1 million people enrolled in the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study II.
(Reuters Health Online)
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Manufacturer’s claims for weight loss drug

Australian biotechnology group Metabolic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. says its new weight-loss drug – AOD9604 - is effective and free of side effects. The drug works by helping use up fat, rather than by curbing appetite or limiting calorie intake. In a trial on 300 patients, those who took AOD9604 lost an average of 2.8 kilos over 12 weeks, about the same as those using the two main existing weight-loss drugs, which are known to have side effects including diarrhoea and increased blood pressure.
(Reuters Health Online)
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Parkinson’s and diet

A team at the US National Institute on Ageing says a low calorie diet may help to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease, after observing such an effect in animal tests. They believe restricting calorie intake activates mechanisms that protect the brain cells lost in people diagnosed with the disease. In trials monkeys on a restricted- calorie monkeys had higher levels of GDNF, a growth factor that the researchers believe may protect brain cells from destruction.
(BBC News Online)
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Drop in nutrient levels “may be due to high yield crops”

Fruit and vegetables contain smaller amounts of some key nutrients than they did 50 years ago, according to new study findings. Dr Donald Davis, of the University of Texas, says this is one of a number of reasons to eat more of them. Dr Davis believes one explanation may be the trend toward breeding higher-yielding crops, which may have less energy to take minerals from the soil or to synthesise vitamins and amino acids. His team has found that, over all, vegetables and fruit contain less protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin and vitamin C today than in 1950, while the levels of seven other nutrients are unchanged. They report, by way of example, that protein has fallen by 6 per cent and riboflavin by 38 per cent.
(Reuters Health Online)
www.reutershealth.com