Volume 12 Issue 2

▪ Keyword : orbituary

▪ Content : ORBITUARY: Margaret McArthur Oliver 1919-2002

▪ Keyword : carob bean gum, gastroesophageal reflux, vomiting, regurgitation, gastric emptying time

▪ Content : Thickening agents, such as carob bean gum or galactomannan, have been successfully administered for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux in infants.

▪ Keyword : nutrition, anaemia, iron deficiency, children, thyroid

▪ Content : Studies in animals and adults have indicated iron deficiency anaemia to be associated with altered thyroid hormone metabolism. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of iron deficiency anaemia on the thyroid function of young children.

▪ Keyword : alcoholic liver cirrhosis, viral liver cirrhosis, Korean, nutritional status

▪ Content : This descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to investigate whether malnutrition occurs in outpatients with liver cirrhosis, and to compare the nutritional status of patients with alcoholic and viral liver cirrhosis using a variety of objective measures.

▪ Keyword : carrageenan, soluble fibre, seaweed, serum cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol

▪ Content : Algal polysaccharides such as carrageenan are good sources of dietary fibre. Previous studies have shown that carrageenan has hypoglycemic effects, but its cholesterol and lipid-lowering effects have yet to be demonstrated. In this study, carrageenan was incorporated into 4 food items, then fed to 20 human volunteers to determine its effects on blood cholesterol and lipid levels.

▪ Keyword : retinoic acid receptor-β, 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA), chemoprevention, garlic

▪ Content : The effect of aqueous garlic (Allium sativum Linn.) on retinoic acid receptor β (RARβ) mRNA expression was investigated in male Syrian hamsters during 12-dimethyl enz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced hamster buccal pouch (HBP) carcinogenesis.

▪ Keyword : soluble and insoluble oxalates, bioavailability, absorption, spinach, grilling

▪ Content : Leafy vegetables such as spinach (Spinacia oleracea) are known to contain moderate amounts of soluble and insoluble oxalates. Frozen commercially available spinach in New Zealand contains 736.6 ± 20.4 mg/100g wet matter (WM) soluble oxalate and 220.1 ± 96.5mg/100g WM insoluble oxalate.

▪ Keyword : D-psicose, D-fructose, fermentable sugars, short chain fatty acids, faecal/urinary excretion

▪ Content : D-Psicose (D -ribo-2-hexulose), a C-3 epimer of D-fructose, is one of the “rare sugars” present in small quantities in commercial carbohydrate complex or agricultural products. We investigated the absorption and excretion of D-psicose when orally administrated (5g/kg body weight) to Wistar rats, and the fermentation of D-psicose was measured as caecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) when fed to rats in controlled diets (0, 10, 20 and 30%).

▪ Keyword : Views & News

▪ Content : The National Nutrition Committee ( NNC) and the Australian Nutrition Trust Fund held a one day meeting on 1 December "Lifting The Profile Of Nutritional Science''. Members of the NNC and 14 invited nutrition scientists* all spoke, each on an allocated aspect of nutrition today in Australia. First, some of the problems that were discussed and then some possible answers.

▪ Keyword : Captain Cook, scurvy, antiscorbutic agents, malt, beer, fermentation

▪ Content : The custom of allowing British seamen the regular use of fermented liquor is an old one. Ale was a standard article of the sea ration as early as the fourteenth century. By the late eighteenth century, beer was considered to be at once a food (a staple beverage and essential part of the sea diet), a luxury (helping to ameliorate the hardship and irregularity of sea life) and a medicine (conducive to health at sea).

▪ Keyword : Nutrient claims, food labelling, food legislation, Australia, New Zealand

▪ Content : The aim of this study was to describe the use of nutrition and related claims on packaged food for sale in Australia and measure the compliance of such claims with regulations governing their use. A survey was conducted of the labelling of 6662 products in 40 different food categories on sale in New South Wales in 2001.

▪ Keyword : medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), long chain triacylglycerols (LCT), medium chain triacylglycerols (MCT), coconut, palm kernel oil

▪ Content : We investigated whether a structured medium- and long-chain triacylglycerols (MLCT) diet could decrease accumulation of body fat in healthy humans. The study was conducted under a double-blind randomized design. Ninety-three subjects participated in this study. However, 10 subjects could not consume the specified meal, and one subject wished to opt out.

▪ Keyword : cystic fibrosis, bioelectrical impedance, total body water, body composition

▪ Content : The aim of this study was to compare the measurement of total body water (TBW) by deuterium (2H20) dilution and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and healthy controls. Thirty-six clinically stable patients with CF (age 25.4 + 5.6 yrs) and 42 healthy controls (age 25.4 + 4.8) were recruited into this study.

▪ Keyword : central obesity, metabolic complication, waist-hp ratio, conicity index, waist circumference

▪ Content : The association of central obesity measures and food patterns with metabolic risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) were studied among middle aged (≥ 30 years) Bengalee Hindu men of Calcutta, India. CHD risk factors included total cholesterol (TC), fasting triglyceride (FTG), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) and very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-c).

▪ Keyword : Australia, elderly, nursing homes, hostels, energy intake, protein

▪ Content : Residents from high level (nursing homes) and low-level care facilities (hostel) being served the three common diet texture modifications (full diet, soft/minced diet and pureed diet) were assessed. Individual plate waste was estimated at three meals on one day.

▪ Keyword : Primary school girl, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, micronutrient dietary intake, biochemical parameter

▪ Content : Dietary habits, especially micronutrient intake, and nutritional status of Vietnamese primary school girls were investigated in a cross-sectional survey. We interviewed 284 girls aged 7 to 9 years old, randomly selected from three rural (N=148) and two urban (N=136) primary schools.

▪ Keyword : dietary behaviour, academic performance, meal regularity, children, physical fitness

▪ Content : The purpose of this study was to obtain a fuller understanding of the association of dietary behaviours, physical status and socio-economic status with academic performance in Korean teenagers.