Rickets still occurs in dark¬skinned infants who are exclusively fed on breast milk.Cod-liver oil and sunshine exposure were recognised as the cures for rickets in the late 19th century. There are two types of physiologically important vitamin D: cholecalci¬ferol (D3) and ergocalciferol (D2). D3 is synthesised in the skin from 7-dehydrocholesterol in cell membranes upon…
Read moreThe sulfur amino acids, methionine and cysteine, are implicated in numerous biological functions and diseases, aside from their role in protein synthesis Methionine is an indispensable amino acid and is transmethylated intracellularly to homocysteine via S-adenosylmethionine, the principal biological methyl donor in mammalian cells and a precursor for polyamine synthesist. Reduced -adenosylmethionine concen¬trations, as a…
Read moreDietary restriction – reduced food intake without malnutrition prolongs life span in yeast, worms, flies, rodents, monkeys and possibly humans. But dietary restriction also often impairs fecundity, possibly because maintenance of the overall body mass (the non -germline parts of an organism), and thus long life, do not give space for reproductive activity. Biologists have…
Read moreGenetic link to obesity Obesity is a highly heritable disorder but the genetic associations reported to date account for only a small percentage of the inherited variation in body mass index, In Nature 2010 volume 463 two groups have reported deletions on chromosome16p11.2 that may explain part of the ‘missing heritability’ in terms of ,…
Read moreThis is an article which has very important long term interest for Nutrition. Good cells perform their physiological activities at the right time and place. When removed from their natural surroundings they self-destruct,called anoikis . Cancer cells: however they survive, invade other tissues and continue to grow in unfamiliar territories. Schafer et al in Nature…
Read moreMitochondria have important roles in cellular processes, for example, production of cellular energy in the form of ATP and pro¬grammed cell death (apoptosis). Each mitochondrion contains between two and ten copies of mtDNA,. Cells have numerous mitochondria, a cell may harbour several thousand mtDNA copies. Mutations in mtDNA occur at a tenfold or higher rate…
Read moreBariatric surgery, or weight-loss surgery, are the various surgical procedures to treat obe¬sity by modification of the gastrointestinal tract to reduce nutrient intake and/or absorption. This review discusses how appetite and levels of gastrointestinal hormones are altered after bariatric surgery. Surgical removal of.body fat such as liposuction or abdo¬minoplasty are not considered bariatric surgical proce¬dures.…
Read moreWells (2009 ) Thrift: a guide to thrifty genes, thrifty phenotypes and thrifty normsInternational Journal of Obesity (2009) 33, 1331–1338. There is a growing interest in evolutionary models of human adiposity, ‘thrifty genes’ or ‘thrifty phenotypes’, a variety of metabolic or behavioural traits which gives frugality in the expenditure or storage of energy. At the…
Read moreJ Stevens1,2, E G Kat and Huxley (2010) Associations between gender, age and waist circumference European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 64, 6–15;S A Lear et al (2010) Appropriateness of waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio cutoffs for different ethnic groups European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 64, 42–61;
Read morePeterlik and Cross ( 2009 ) Vitamin D and calcium insufficiency-related chronic diseases: molecular and cellular pathophysiology European Journal of Clinical Nutrition vol 63, 1377–1386A compromised vitamin D status, characterized by low 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-(OH)D) serum levels, and a nutritional calcium deficit are widely encountered in European and North American countries, independent of age or…
Read more