Objective
To assess the association between consumption of fried foods and risk of coronary heart disease.

Design
Prospective cohort study.

Setting
Spanish cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

Participants
40?757 adults aged 29-69 and free of coronary heart disease at baseline (1992-6), followed up until 2004.

Main outcome measures
Coronary heart disease events and vital status identified by record linkage with hospital discharge registers, population based registers of myocardial infarction, and mortality registers.

Results
During a median follow-up of 11 years, 606 coronary heart disease events and 1135 deaths from all causes occurred. Compared with being in the first (lowest) quarter of fried food consumption, the multivariate hazard ratio of coronary heart disease in the second quarter was 1.15 (95% confidence interval 0.91 to 1.45), in the third quarter was 1.07 (0.83 to 1.38), and in the fourth quarter was 1.08 (0.82 to 1.43; P for trend 0.74). The results did not vary between those who used olive oil for frying and those who used sunflower oil. Likewise, no association was observed between fried food consumption and all cause mortality: multivariate hazard ratio for the highest versus the lowest quarter of fried food consumption was 0.93 (95% confidence interval 0.77 to 1.14; P for trend 0.98).

Conclusion
In Spain, a Mediterranean country where olive or sunflower oil is used for frying, the consumption of fried foods was not associated with coronary heart disease or with all cause mortality.

Full article here (British Medical Journal)

Hare TA, Malmaud J, Rangel A.
Computation and Neural Systems and Humanities and Social Science Divisions, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125.

J Neurosci. 2011 Jul 27;31(30):11077-87.

Crozier SJ, Preston AG, Hurst JW, Payne MJ, Mann J, Hainly L, Miller DL.

The Hershey Center for Health & Nutrition, 1025 Reese Avenue, Hershey, PA, 17033, USA. scrozier@hersheys.com.

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND: Numerous popular media sources have developed lists of “Super Foods” and, more recently, “Super Fruits”. Such distinctions often are based on the antioxidant capacity and content of naturally occurring compounds such as polyphenols within those whole fruits or juices of the fruit which may be linked to potential health benefits. Cocoa powder and chocolate are made from an extract of the seeds of the fruit of the Theobroma cacao tree. In this study, we compared cocoa powder and cocoa products to powders and juices derived from fruits commonly considered “Super Fruits”.

RESULTS: Various fruit powders and retail fruit products were obtained and analyzed for antioxidant capacity (ORAC (µM TE/g)), total polyphenol content (TP (mg/g)), and total flavanol content (TF (mg/g)). Among the various powders that were tested, cocoa powder was the most concentrated source of ORAC and TF. Similarly, dark chocolate was a significantly more concentrated source of ORAC and TF than the fruit juices.

CONCLUSIONS: Cocoa powder and dark chocolate had equivalent or significantly greater ORAC, TP, and TF values compared to the other fruit powders and juices tested, respectively. Cacao seeds thus provide nutritive value beyond that derived from their macronutrient composition and appear to meet the popular media’s definition of a “Super Fruit”.

PMID: 21299842 [PubMed - in process]PMCID: PMC3038885Free PMC Article

Sofi F, Abbate R, Gensini GF, Casini A.

Department of Medical and Surgical Critical Care, Thrombosis Centre, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. francescosofi@gmail.com

Abstract
BACKGROUND: The Mediterranean diet has long been reported to be protective against the occurrence of several different health outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to update our previous meta-analysis of published cohort prospective studies that investigated the effects of adherence to the Mediterranean diet on health status.

DESIGN: We conducted a comprehensive literature search through electronic databases up to June 2010.

RESULTS: The updated review process showed 7 prospective studies published in the past 2 y that were not included in the previous meta-analysis (1 study for overall mortality, 3 studies for cardiovascular incidence or mortality, 1 study for cancer incidence or mortality, and 2 studies for neurodegenerative diseases). These recent studies included 2 health outcomes not previously investigated (ie, mild cognitive impairment and stroke). The meta-analysis for all studies with a random-effects model that was conducted after the inclusion of these recent studies showed that a 2-point increase in adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with a significant reduction of overall mortality [relative risk (RR) = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.90, 0.94], cardiovascular incidence or mortality (RR = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.87, 0.93), cancer incidence or mortality (RR = 0.94; 95% CI: 0.92, 0.96), and neurodegenerative diseases (RR = 0.87; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.94). The meta-regression analysis showed that sample size was the most significant contributor to the model because it significantly influenced the estimate of the association for overall mortality.

CONCLUSION: This updated meta-analysis confirms, in a larger number of subjects and studies, the significant and consistent protection provided by adherence to the Mediterranean diet in relation to the occurrence of major chronic degenerative diseases.

PMID: 20810976 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Purnell JQ, Klopfenstein BA, Stevens AA, Havel PJ, Adams SH, Dunn TN, Krisky C, Rooney WD.

Department of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA. purnellj@ohsu.edu

Abstract
AIMS: In animals, intracerebroventricular glucose and fructose have opposing effects on appetite and weight regulation. In humans, functional brain magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies during glucose ingestion or infusion have demonstrated suppression of hypothalamic signalling, but no studies have compared the effects of glucose and fructose. We therefore sought to determine if the brain response differed to glucose vs. fructose in humans independently of the ingestive process.

METHODS: Nine healthy, normal weight subjects underwent blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) fMRI measurements during either intravenous (IV) glucose (0.3 mg/kg), fructose (0.3 mg/kg) or saline, administered over 2 min in a randomized, double-blind, crossover study. Blood was sampled every 5 min during a baseline period and following infusion for 60 min in total for glucose, fructose, lactate and insulin levels.

RESULTS: No significant brain BOLD signal changes were detected in response to IV saline. BOLD signal in the cortical control areas increased during glucose infusion (p = 0.002), corresponding with increased plasma glucose and insulin levels. In contrast, BOLD signal decreased in the cortical control areas during fructose infusion (p = 0.006), corresponding with increases of plasma fructose and lactate. Neither glucose nor fructose infusions significantly altered BOLD signal in the hypothalamus.

CONCLUSION: In normal weight humans, cortical responses as assessed by BOLD fMRI to infused glucose are opposite to those of fructose. Differential brain responses to these sugars and their metabolites may provide insight into the neurologic basis for dysregulation of food intake during high dietary fructose intake.

© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Lin J, Fung TT, Hu FB, Curhan GC.
Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. jlin11@partners.org
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Dietary patterns have been linked to such chronic diseases as cardiovascular disease, but sparse data currently are available for associations between dietary patterns and microalbuminuria or kidney function decline.
STUDY DESIGN: Subgroup analysis from a prospective observational cohort study.
SETTING & PARTICIPANTS: Female participants in the Nurses’ Health Study who had dietary pattern data from food frequency questionnaires returned in 1984, 1986, 1990, 1994, and 1998 and urinary albumin-creatinine ratios from 2000 (n = 3,121); estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) change between 1989 and 2000 was available for 3,071.
PREDICTOR: Prudent (higher intake of fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, poultry, and whole grains), Western (higher intake of red and processed meats, saturated fats, and sweets), and Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-style dietary patterns (also greater intake of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains).
OUTCOMES & MEASUREMENTS: Microalbuminuria (albumin-creatinine ratio, 25-354 µg/mg) in 2000 and change in kidney function using eGFR between 1989 and 2000.
RESULTS: After multivariable adjustment, the highest quartile of Western pattern score compared with the lowest quartile was associated directly with microalbuminuria (OR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.18-3.66; P for trend = 0.01) and rapid eGFR decline =3 mL/min/1.73 m(2)/y (OR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.03-3.03). Women in the top quartile of the DASH score had decreased risk of rapid eGFR decline (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.38-0.80), but no association with microalbuminuria. These associations did not vary by diabetes status. The prudent dietary pattern was not associated with microalbuminuria or eGFR decline.
LIMITATIONS: Study cohort included primarily older white women and generalizability of results would benefit from validation in nonwhites and men.
CONCLUSIONS: A Western dietary pattern is associated with a significantly increased odds of microalbuminuria and rapid kidney function decrease, whereas a DASH-style dietary pattern may be protective against rapid eGFR decline.

Ramdas WD, Wolfs RC, Hofman A, de Jong PT, Vingerling JR, Jansonius NM.
Wolfs, Hofman, Vingerling, and Jansonius) and Ophthalmology (Drs Ramdas, Wolfs, and Vingerling), Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Department of Ophthalmogenetics, the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Dr de Jong), and Department of Ophthalmology, Academic Medical Center (Dr de Jong), Amsterdam, and Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen (Dr Jansonius).
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether lifestyle-related risk factors, such as socioeconomic status, smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity, are associated with open-angle glaucoma (OAG).
METHODS: Participants from the Rotterdam Study, a prospective population-based cohort study, were considered eligible if they participated at both baseline and follow-up and if they had no OAG at baseline. All participants underwent an identical ophthalmologic examination at all visits, including intraocular pressure measurements, optic nerve head assessment, and perimetry. Lifestyle-related factors were assessed by questionnaires by trained research assistants or measured during the examinations (body mass index and waist to hip ratio). Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was applied to calculate hazard ratios.
RESULTS: Of 3939 eligible participants, 108 (2.7%) developed OAG during 9.7 years’ mean follow-up. No statistically significant effect of socioeconomic status, smoking, or alcohol intake was found. In women, each unit increase in body mass index resulted in a 7% decrease in the risk of developing OAG (P = .04). There was a significant increasing effect of body mass index on intraocular pressure (P < .001) in women.
CONCLUSIONS: Obesity appears to be associated with a higher intraocular pressure and a lower risk of developing OAG. These associations were only present in women. Other lifestyle-related factors, such as socioeconomic status, smoking, and alcohol consumption, were not associated with OAG.

Cassidy A , O’Reilly EJ , Kay C , Sampson L , Franz M , Forman J , Curhan G , Rimm EB .

School of Medicine, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom and Renal Division, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

BACKGROUND: Dietary flavonoids have beneficial effects on blood pressure in intervention settings, but there is limited information on habitual intake and risk of hypertension in population-based studies.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the association between habitual flavonoid intake and incident hypertension in a prospective study in men and women.

DESIGN: A total of 87,242 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) II, 46,672 women from the NHS I, and 23,043 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) participated in the study. Total flavonoid and subclass intakes were calculated from semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaires collected every 4 y by using an updated and extended US Department of Agriculture database.

RESULTS: During 14 y of follow-up, 29,018 cases of hypertension in women and 5629 cases of hypertension in men were reported. In pooled multivariate-adjusted analyses, participants in the highest quintile of anthocyanin intake (predominantly from blueberries and strawberries) had an 8% reduction in risk of hypertension [relative risk (RR): 0.92; 95% CI: 0.86, 0.98; P < 0.03] compared with that for participants in the lowest quintile of anthocyanin intake; the risk reduction was 12% (RR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.84, 0.93; P < 0.001) in participants =60 y of age and 0.96 (0.91, 1.02) in participants >60 y of age (P for age interaction = 0.02). Although intakes of other subclasses were not associated with hypertension, pooled analyses for individual compounds suggested a 5% (95% CI: 0.91, 0.99; P = 0.005) reduction in risk for the highest compared with the lowest quintiles of intake of the flavone apigenin. In participants =60 y of age, a 6% (95% CI: 0.88, 0.97; P = 0.002) reduction in risk was observed for the flavan-3-ol catechin when the highest and the lowest quintiles were compared.

CONCLUSIONS: Anthocyanins and some flavone and flavan-3-ol compounds may contribute to the prevention of hypertension. These vasodilatory properties may result from specific structural similarities (including the B-ring hydroxylation and methyoxylation pattern).

PMCID: PMC3021426 [Available on 2012/2/1]
PMID: 21106916 [PubMed - in process]

Raffaitin C , Féart C , Le Goff M , Amieva H , Helmer C , Akbaraly TN , Tzourio C , Gin H , Barberger-Gateau P .

From the Diabetology-Nutrition Unit (C.R., H.G.), University Hospital of Bordeaux, Pessac; INSERM, U897 (C.R., C.F., M.L.G., H.A., C.H., P.B.-G.), Bordeaux; Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2 University (C.R., C.F., M.L.G., H.A., C.H., H.G., P.B.-G.), Bordeaux; INSERM, U888 (T.N.A.), Montpellier; Montpellier 1 University (T.N.A.), Montpellier; University Hospital of Montpellier (T.N.A.), CMRR Languedoc Roussillon, France; and INSERM, U708 (C.T.), Paris, France.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its individual components with risk of cognitive decline on specific cognitive functions.

METHODS: Participants were 4,323 women and 2,764 men aged 65 and over enrolled in the longitudinal Three-City Study. Cognitive decline, defined as being in the worst quintile of the distribution of the difference between baseline score and either 2- or 4-year follow-up, was assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE, global cognitive function), the Isaacs Set Test (IST, verbal fluency), and the Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT, visual working memory). MetS was defined by National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III criteria (at least 3 of 5 cardio-metabolic abnormalities: hypertension, high waist circumference, hypertriglyceridemia, low high-density lipoprotein [HDL] cholesterol, hyperglycemia). Proportional hazards models were adjusted for age, gender, educational level, center, baseline cognitive score, APOE4 genotype, and other potential confounders.

RESULTS: MetS at baseline was associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline on MMSE (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.22 [1.08-1.37]; p = 0.001) and BVRT (HR = 1.13 [1.01-1.26]; p = 0.03) but not on IST (HR = 1.11 [0.95-1.29]; p = 0.18). Among MetS components, hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL cholesterol were significantly associated with higher decline on MMSE; diabetes, but not elevated fasting glycemia, was significantly associated with higher decline on BVRT and IST.

CONCLUSIONS: MetS as a whole and several of its components had a negative impact on global cognitive decline and specific cognitive functions in older persons.
PMID: 21288982 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Johannesson E , Simrén M , Strid H , Bajor A , Sadik R .

Department of Internal Medicine, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.

OBJECTIVES: Physical activity has been shown to be effective in the treatment of conditions, such as fibromyalgia and depression. Although these conditions are associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), no study has assessed the effect of physical activity on gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in IBS. The aim was to study the effect of physical activity on symptoms in IBS.

METHODS: We randomized 102 patients to a physical activity group and a control group. Patients of the physical activity group were instructed by a physiotherapist to increase their physical activity, and those of the control group were instructed to maintain their lifestyle. The primary end point was to assess the change in the IBS Severity Scoring System (IBS-SSS).

RESULTS: A total of 38 (73.7% women, median age 38.5 (19-65) years) patients in the control group and 37 (75.7% women, median age 36 (18-65) years) patients in the physical activity group completed the study. There was a significant difference in the improvement in the IBS-SSS score between the physical activity group and the control group (-51 (-130 and 49) vs. -5 (-101 and 118), P=0.003). The proportion of patients with increased IBS symptom severity during the study was significantly larger in the control group than in the physical activity group.

CONCLUSIONS: Increased physical activity improves GI symptoms in IBS. Physically active patients with IBS will face less symptom deterioration compared with physically inactive patients. Physical activity should be used as a primary treatment modality in IBS.

Am J Gastroenterol advance online publication, 4 January 2011; doi:10.1038/ajg.2010.480.