Nutrition News and Research

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New RI-MUHC-led study may change the way we think about prescribing statins

Millions of people today take statins to help lower their cholesterol level. Currently statins are prescribed to patients based on their future risk of cardiovascular disease - mainly driven by age - which excludes many individuals who may benefit from them. A new study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, with collaborators from the United-States, is changing the way we think about prescribing statins. The research team has developed a new approach to determine which individuals should receive these important medications.

11 Mar 2016

Excess comorbidity flagged in MS patients

Patients with multiple sclerosis have more comorbidities than would be expected for their age, even at the time of diagnosis, say researchers.

10 Mar 2016

New project aims to encourage sustainable food practices

The issue of global food security is a problem for us now, and for future generations. Perhaps the most visible issue is malnutrition, which affects millions in the developing world and poses a risk to many vulnerable people in the developed world.

10 Mar 2016

Newly released Dietary Guidelines ignore environmental provisions, sustainable agriculture practices

A national survey of 800 Americans shows that 74 percent of adults believe the newly released Dietary Guidelines should include environmental provisions and support sustainable agriculture practices.

10 Mar 2016

Specific gene mutation may significantly reduce risk of heart attack

People with a specific gene mutation have a 50 percent lower risk of suffering a heart attack. This is what an international team of researchers headed by the cardiologist Prof. Heribert Schunkert, Medical Director of the German Heart Center at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), discovered in a broad comparative study. If this gene were switched off with medications it could reduce the risk of coronary disease significantly.

10 Mar 2016

Is the global diet getting sweeter? An interview with Professor Barry Popkin

In the past, caloric sweeteners simply referred to cane sugar or beet sugar. However, over time we've created hundreds of different sugars that are all providing calories of the same amount, about four calories for every gram of the sugar. Some examples include corn syrups and more processed sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup.

10 Mar 2016

People newly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis share risk factors of other chronic illnesses

People newly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis may often have other chronic health conditions as well, according to a study published in the March 9, 2016 online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

10 Mar 2016

Breastfeeding essential for first six months of newborns' life

Newborns should be breastfed exclusively for the first six months of life with continued breastfeeding until at least 12 months, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. This can be hard when new breastfeeding families have to rely on child care facilities because of a need to return to work in a specified time. What kind of breastfeeding support, if any, can they rely on from the child care facility? This question interested a team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

10 Mar 2016

Early childhood intervention guide can help prevent substance use disorders

An online guide about interventions in early childhood that can help prevent drug use and other unhealthy behaviors was launched today by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.

10 Mar 2016

Alcohol worst of all drugs that affect fetal health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set off a firestorm of controversy this month when they suggested that women stop drinking alcohol if they are trying to get pregnant, or could get pregnant. Some people took this advice as the CDC prioritizing hypothetical, yet-to-be-conceived children over real women, which has brought up a number of issues from female autonomy to access to birth control—but how clear is the science about what causes fetal alcohol syndrome and related fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

9 Mar 2016

Increased education may lead to better decision-making regarding caffeine intake among adolescents

Caffeine is the most available and widely used psychoactive substance in the world and is the only drug legally accessible and socially acceptable for consumption by children and adolescents. Some studies have shown that adolescents are the fastest-growing population of caffeine users, with 83.2% consuming caffeinated beverages regularly and at least 96% consuming them occasionally.

9 Mar 2016

Study: Domestic violence during pregnancy increases risk of preterm birth, low birth weight

Domestic violence by a partner or ex-partner during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth, low birth weight and small-for-gestational-age babies, finds a study in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

9 Mar 2016

Incidence of IBD much higher in Rhode Island

A study led by the Hasbro Children's Hospital Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Nutrition and Liver Diseases found that the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Rhode Island is one of the highest ever reported in the United States and that IBD rates nationally are much higher than previously reported.

4 Mar 2016

Peanut butter, peanuts can be key to fighting obesity

Hispanic middle school children, at high risk for being overweight or obese, reduced their Body Mass Index (BMI) when they adhered to a nutrition intervention that included a snack of peanuts, compared to those children who did not.

4 Mar 2016

Dietary broccoli may protect against liver cancer

Consumption of broccoli has increased in the United States over the last few decades as scientists have reported that eating the vegetable three to five times per week can lower the risk of many types of cancer including breast, prostate, and colon cancers.

4 Mar 2016

Kids who take ADHD medications show decreased bone density

Children and adolescents who take medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show decreased bone density, according to a large cross-sectional study presented today at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

3 Mar 2016