A recent study has reportedly linked the availability of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to an increase in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes across the world, raising questions about the sweetener’s impact on global human health. Michael Goran, et al., “High fructose corn syrup and diabetes prevalence: A global perspective,” Global Public Health, November 2012. Researchers with the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine and the University of Oxford apparently examined HFCS consumption in 42 countries, concluding that in countries like the United States, which had the highest per capita HFCS consumption of 55 pounds per year, the average prevalence of type 2 diabetes was 8 percent “compared to 6.7 percent in countries not using HFCS.” “The study reports that countries that use HFCS in their food supply had a 20 percent higher prevalence of diabetes than countries that did not use HFCS,” according to a Keck School of…
Category Archives Scientific/Technical Items
University of California, Los Angeles, and University of California, Davis, researchers have published a study examining the health effects of foodborne toxin exposure in children and adults. Rainbow Vogt, et al., “Cancer and noncancer health effects from food contaminant exposures for children and adults in California: a risk assessment,” Environmental Health, November 2012. Based on self-reported food frequency data as well as food chemical levels obtained from publicly available databases, the study estimated exposure to multiple food contaminants for preschool age children (2-4 years), school-age children (5-7 years), parents of young children, and older adults. The results allegedly showed that cancer benchmark levels “were exceeded by all children (100%) for arsenic, dieldrin, DDE, and dioxins,” while non-cancer benchmarks were exceeded by more than 95 percent of preschool-age children for acrylamide and by 10 percent of preschool-age children for mercury. The data also indicated that “the greatest exposure to pesticides from…
A recent study has allegedly linked cattle farming to an “increased prevalence of self-reported symptoms associated with peripheral neuropathy,” raising questions about the role of Campylobacter jejuni infection in Guillain-Barré Syndrome (BGS). Leora Vegosen, et al., “Neurologic Symptoms Associated with Cattle Farming in the Agricultural Health Study,” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, October 2012. According to the study, C. jejuni “is the most frequently identified antecedent to [GBS],” “the leading cause of acute flaccid paralysis in the United States and worldwide.” Relying on data from 8,887 cattle farmers enrolled in the Agricultural Health Study, which originally sought to assess associations between pesticides and certain health outcomes, researchers concluded that “the prevalence of both reported numbness and weakness was increased in cattle farmers as a group” compared to farmers without livestock exposure. “This association is consistent with, but does not specifically indicate, an association between occupational exposures in cattle farming…
The American Heart Association (AHA) has issued a presidential advisory calling for renewed efforts to reduce sodium consumption among Americans. Published ahead of print in AHA’s Circulation, the advisory summarizes the latest evidence backing its recommendation that consumers reduce their sodium intake to less than 1,500 milligrams per day. To this end, the new report builds on a 2011 presidential advisory that linked excess sodium consumption to high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke. It also attempts to debunk what the advisory describes as “[r]eports of paradoxical inverse or J-shaped associations between sodium intake and CVD and stroke risk and a meta-analysis [that] have been widely misinterpreted as disproving the relationship between sodium and CVD and stroke risk and have received considerable media attention.” According to AHA, these publications “have stirred controversy and confusion in the popular press and the general population,” leading some to question the need to…
Energy drink consumption by U.S. service members deployed for combat has been linked to sleep problems, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Titled “Energy Drink Consumption and Its Association with Sleep Problems Among U.S. Service Members on a Combat Deployment—Afghanistan, 2010,” the study found that “[s]ervice members drinking three or more energy drinks a day were significantly more likely to report sleeping ≤4 hours a night on average than those consuming two drinks or fewer.” The study also found that those consuming three or more of the beverages each day “were more likely to report sleep disruption related to stress and illness and were more likely to fall asleep during briefings or on guard duty.” The study involved 1,249 service members “using a cluster sample of randomly selected U.S. Army and Marine combat platoons deployed to Afghanistan.” All were men,…
Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWM) has reportedly walked back a recent study claiming to link aspartame with an increased risk of leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and other blood-related cancers. Published ahead of print in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the study analyzed diet data from more than 77,000 women and 47,000 men enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. The results apparently suggested “a positive association between diet soda and total aspartame intake and risks of NHL and multiple myeloma in men and leukemia in both men and women,” although “[a] higher consumption of regular sugar-sweetened soda was associated with higher risk of NHL and multiple myeloma in men but not in women.” Eva Schernhammer, et al., “Consumption of artificial sweetener—and sugar-containing soda and risk of lymphoma and leukemia in men and women,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 2012. But BWH has since cast…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that “soft drink intake is associated with higher risk of ischemic stroke for women.” Ehab Eshak, et al., “Soft drink intake in relation to incident ischemic heart disease, stroke and stroke subtypes in Japanese men and women: the Japan Public Health Centre-based study cohort,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 2012. After analyzing food-frequency questionnaires and data from approximately 40,000 Japanese men and women aged 40-49 years, researchers evidently concluded during an 18-year follow-up that “soft drink intake was positively associated with risk of total stroke and more specifically ischemic stroke for women.” At the same time, however, the results suggested “a nonsignificant inverse trend for risks of total and ischemic strokes…for men” that “was weakened after the exclusion of early incident cases or after the exclusion of participants with baseline comorbidities.” “There was no consensus about why an adverse effect of soft drink…
Researchers with the New South Wales Cancer Council and University of Adelaide have assessed food and beverage TV advertisements broadcast in five major Australian cities during children’s programming from September 1 to October 31, 2010, and found a total of 951 breaches of both mandatory and voluntary regulations. Michele Roberts, et al., “Compliance with children’s television food advertising regulations in Australia,” BMC Public Health, October 5, 2012. According to the study, “[a]lmost 83% of all food and beverages advertised during children’s programming times were for foods classified as ‘Extras’ in the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. There were also breaches in relation to the amount of advertising repetition and the use of promotional appeals such as premium offers, competitions, and endorsements by popular children’s characters.” The researchers conclude that the country’s current regulatory system “is not providing comprehensive protection for children from exposure to television advertising for unhealthy foods.” They…
A recent study has purportedly found “for the first time a link between excess dietary sugar and the accumulation of liver fat by DNL [de novo lipogenesis],” the process by which simple sugars like fructose or glucose are converted in the liver into SFA palmitate. Ksenia Sevastianova, et al., “Effect of short-term carbohydrate overfeeding and long-term weight loss on liver fat in overweight humans,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 2012. After placing 16 overweight subjects on a high-calorie diet for three weeks and then a low-calorie diet for six months, researchers reported that carbohydrate overfeeding induced an approximately 10-fold “greater relative change in liver fat (27%) than in body weight (2%),” with the increase in liver fat proportional to DNL. Based on these findings, the study’s authors concluded that “short-term overfeeding with simple carbohydrates markedly increases liver fat and stimulates DNL in overweight subjects.” They also noted that, although…
A recent study has reportedly observed an association between heavier coffee consumption and increased risk of exfoliation glaucoma or exfoliation glaucoma suspect (EG/EGS). Louis Pasquale, et al., “The Relationship between Caffeine and Coffee Consumption and Exfoliation Glaucoma or Glaucoma Suspect: A Prospective Study in Two Cohorts,” Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, September 2012. Researchers with the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, used eye examination data and follow-up questionnaires from 78,977 women and 41,202 men enrolled in health studies to determine that those who reported drinking three or more cups of caffeinated coffee each day were more likely to develop EG/EGS than those who abstained. The study also found that this risk increased for women with a family history of glaucoma, but did not identify a similar association between EG/EGS and other caffeinated products, such as soda or tea, or decaffeinated coffee. “Because this…
