The recommendation that we eat 5 different types of frit and vegetables a day is a real advance. I still worry though which 5 and how do we choose. The range is wideNuts and seedsPulsesGrains and cerealsLeaf vegetablesBrassicaPods and seedsShoot vegetablesBulb vegetablesRoot vegetablesTubersFruit vegetablesCucumbers and squashesMushrooms and trufflesSea vegetablesApples, pears and grapesPitted fruitBerries and soft…
Read moreThis fascinating paper by Greenberg discusses the pattern of citations among papers stating belief in a particular scientific phenomenon. He chose as his model the role of β-amyloid protein which is well known for its role Alzheimer’s disease but is also claimed to be produced and injure skeletal muscle fibres in inclusion body myositis. Greenberg…
Read moreWorldwide dietary data for nutrition monitoring and surveillance are commonly derived from food balance sheets (FBS) and household budget surveys (HBS). This is important as specifically designed individual nutrition surreys are both expensive and labour intensive and require skill and co-operation.In this huge study Naska et al have compared food supply from FBS and food…
Read moreI think this is number 500 of these blogs. I do not know who, if any one, reads them but I enjoy looking at and recording different aspects of nutrition. I hope you enjoy the science of nutrition in all it exciting aspects.
Read moreChromosomal structural abnormalities are now being studied as a result of the completion of the Human Genome Project. much of the structural variation in the genome has gone unrecognised until recently. Deletions and duplications of DNA strands of between a few hundred base pairs and several million base pairs (copy number variants) are widespread. Human…
Read moreA recent book “The evolution of obesity” by Power and Schulkin is a very comprehensive survey of the possible causations of this complex problem. It identifies many weight-regulation mechanisms and possible evolutionary reasons for why these can fail. The book uses an evolutionary framework al to analyse a major body of neuroendocrine knowledge about obesity.…
Read moreMammals rely heavily on olfaction to interact adequately with each other and with their environment. The mammalian olfactory system recognizes diverse chemical stimuli conveying information about such things as food quality, the genetic identity or sexual status of potential mates, and even stress’:’. A paper by Riviere et al in Nature May 2009 ) describes…
Read moreExercise is good and can be a problem to do. The Royal Canadian Air force exercise regime is a superb way to exercise in a small space and 11 minutes a day can only be good.There is a good article on this in FT com /weekend magazine July 18/19 pp 38-39 by Angus Watson Exercise…
Read moreThe QRISK cardiovascular risk prediction was first published in 2007. The questionnaire predicts the chance of a cardiovascular event during the next 10 years. The questionnaire is available on the web and easily accessible through Google.The questionnaire includesAge, sex, systolic blood pressure, smoking status, serum cholesterol, : high density lipoprotein ratio, body mass index, family…
Read moreIn the management of obesity the effect of diet composition on feeding behaviour is clearly important to encourage weight loss in the short term and weight maintenance in the longer term. Isoenergetic amounts of the dietary macronutrients are not equal in terms of their effect on appetite and motivation to eat. The diet composition strongly…
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