News summary

Junk food “displaces nutrients”

It appears that the more added sugar children get from soft drinks and sweets, the less their calorie intake from healthier foods. Dr Sibylle Kranz says youngsters have an “internal control” system that limits their overall intake, regardless of the source. Dr Kranz, of Pennsylvania State University, points out that it is important for them to get the great majority of their calories from foods rich in vitamins and minerals. To investigate how diets are affected by different amounts of added sugar, Dr Kranz and her team reviewed the diets of 5,437 children between the ages of two and five, noting how much added sugar they ate and what they consumed in important nutrients. They found that the more added sugar the children ate, the less they got of fibre, protein, calcium, iron, folate and other key nutrients.
Reuters Health Online

Folic acid and female hypertension

Increased folic acid intake is associated with a reduced risk of developing high blood pressure, particularly among younger women, according to Harvard university researchers. A team led by Dr John Forman studied information on nearly 94,000 women aged 27 to 44 years participating in the Nurses’ Health Study II, none of whom had high blood pressure when the study began. The subjects’ folate intake was estimated based on food questionnaires and information regarding folate-containing supplements. After adjustment for factors including physical activity, weight and family history, the researchers found that women who consume at least 1000 microgrammes per day of total folate are at 46 per cent less risk of becoming hypertensive than those with an intake of less than 200 microgrammes per day. In older women (aged 43 to 70) those with the greatest folate intake are at 18 per cent risk than those with the lowest.
Reuters Health Online

Europe warns industry on food advertising

Markos Kyprianou, the EU’s health and consumer affairs commissioner, has warned food manufacturers that unless they voluntarily stop advertising directly to children there will be legislation. He has described the industry’s response so far as “very encouraging”, but says if this does not produce satisfactory results in the campaign against child obesity there will be legal action. The British government has recently announced £3 m in funding for measures to cut levels of obesity.
BBC News Online

Benefits of moderate drinking in the elderly

Research in the US shows that older women who take one alcoholic drink a day are at 20 per cent less risk of cognitive impairment than those who do not drink. It is already understood that excessive alcohol intake on a regular basis can damage the brain, and that light drinking has been linked to several positive health results, including a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Given that cardiovascular disease and cognitive impairment share risk factors, it makes sense that light drinking might also be beneficial to memory and other aspects of cognitive functioning, according to senior study author Francine Grodstein, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Professor Grodstein and her colleagues collected information on alcohol consumption in 12,480 women, aged 70 to 81, who participated in the Nurse’s Health Study.
HealthScout