News summary

Effects of a good diet in old age

Research in the US suggests that a diet rich in fruit, vegetables and dairy foods can prevent the disabilities that often come with age, particularly in black women. Dr Denise Houston, of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, says that while diet is known to be a factor in a host of diseases less is known about its role in age-related disability. She believes that the impact on older people of the recommended intake of dairy products, fruit and vegetables should be investigated further. Quite why a healthy diet is more protective in black women than in white is unclear but Dr Houston says it could reflect differences in the types of produce or dairy products that black and white American women eat.
Reuters Health Online

WHO and acrylamide

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the consumption of acrylamide should be reduced, and it has called on governments to urge their food industries to reduce the acrylamide content of foods including potato crisps, coffee and bread. Studies by Swedish scientists in 2002 first drew attention to potential risks associated with acrylamide, which can be formed at high temperatures during frying, roasting or baking.
Reuters Health Online

New form of diabetes

Scientists in the US believe they may have discovered a previously unknown form of diabetes, after finding that the brain produces insulin. This possible form is not thought to affect blood sugar, but it appears to be linked with Alzheimer’s disease. Dr Suzanne de la Monte, of Rhode Island Hospital, says the abnormalities her team has found “do not correspond to type 1 or type 2 diabetes, but reflect a different and more complex disease process that originates in the central nervous system.”
BBC News Online

Effect of “sports drinks” on the teeth

Drinks marketed as rehydration aids for sportspeople are up to 30 times more erosive to teeth than water, according to researchers at the University of Birmingham. They say the drinks can dissolve enamel and dentine, exposing the pulp, because of their high acidity. The drinks are made with a high acid content in order to give them a long shelf life, but the researchers say when athletes’ mouths are dry with exertion they cannot regulate the acidity. Dr Tony Smith, head of research at the University of Birmingham’s School of Dentistry says it is possible to formulate a “sports drink” with negligible erosive potential, and points out that fruit juices and standard fizzy drinks can also erode the teeth.
BBC News Online

Milk “is not the only answer”

The consumption of milk by children does not necessarily give them healthier bones, according to US research. Scientists at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington say the best way to provide a daily calcium intake of 400 mg or more could be to eat foods rich in the mineral and they suggest fortified orange juice, cooked green vegetables, and tofu. Lead researcher Amy Lanou says, “Currently, available evidence does not support nutrition guidelines focused specifically on increasing milk or other dairy product intake for promoting child and adolescent bone mineralisation.”
CNN Online

Breast feeding recommendation is extended

The Canadian Pediatric Society says women should breastfeed for the first six months of a new baby’s life, raising its recommendation from the first four months. The chair of its nutrition committee, Dr Margaret Boland, says exclusive breast feeding for the first six months offers health benefits for the child.
CBC Online

Vitamin “may affect cancer development”

A form of vitamin E found in pecans and some sesame seeds may help to slow the growth of prostate and lung cancer cells, according to research at Purdue University in the US. They gamma-tocopherol induces death in laboratory-grown human cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. Research leader Dr Qing Jian says most supplements contain only alpha-tocopherol, a different form of vitamin E that alone does not have these properties.
Ananova Technology and junk food

British researchers say in future it will be possible to make junk foods a healthy dietary option. Dr Gary Frost, head of nutrition at Hammersmith Hospital, says “healthy” processed foods are crucial in the fight against obesity, and that attempts to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption are doomed to fail. He believes it is impossible to “turn back the clock” to a time when processed foods were not available and people had to prepare meals from raw ingredients. “Banging on about unrealistic goals is not really an option because 10 or 15 years of sensible healthy eating policy has made very, very little difference. We should manipulate what we like to chose to eat and try to make that more healthy,” he says.
BBC News Online

Further products caught up in Sudan problem

Another 43 products have been withdrawn from sale as a result of the Sudan I contamination. This brings the total to 580 in the biggest product recall in British history, which is estimated to have cost about £100m so far. Sudan I is a red dye commonly used to colour solvents, oils, waxes, petrol and shoe and floor polishes. Since July 2003, all dried and crushed or ground chilli coming into the EU must be accompanied by a certificate showing it has been tested and found to be free of Sudan I.
BBC News Online