A University of Minnesota study has reported that diacetyl (DA), a food additive used to mimic butter flavors, allegedly “intensifies the damaging effects of an abnormal brain protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease,” according to a recent American Chemical Society press release. Swati More, et al., “The Butter Flavorant, Diacetyl, Exacerbates β-Amyloid Cytotoxicity,” Chemical Research in Toxicology, August 2012. After noticing that the structure of DA resembles a substance “that makes beta-amyloid proteins clump together in the brain,” researchers apparently sought to determine whether the food ingredient could also cause the clumping described as “a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.” Their results evidently showed that DA at occupational exposure levels not only increased levels of beta-amyloid clumping but “enhanced beta-amyloid’s toxic effects on nerve cells growing in the laboratory.” Further experiments also suggested that DA “easily penetrated the so-called ‘blood-brain barrier,’ which keeps many harmful substances from entering the brain” and “stopped a…
Category Archives Scientific/Technical Items
A Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity study has compared the U.S. food industry’s “Facts Up Front” labeling scheme to the “Multiple Traffic Light” system used in the United Kingdom, concluding that consumers found both front-of-package systems easier to use than no labels at all, while an enhanced Traffic Light system yielded “the best overall performance.” Christina Roberto, et al., “Facts Up Front Versus Traffic Light Food Labels,” American Journal of Preventative Medicine, July 2012. Researchers asked 708 adults in an Internet-based survey to compare the nutrient levels of foods as well as estimate saturated fat, sugar, sodium, fiber and protein contents using one of five systems: (i) no label; (ii) Traffic Light; (iii) Traffic Light “plus information about protein and fiber (Traffic Light+)”; (iv) Facts up Front; or (v) Facts Up Front “plus information about ‘nutrient to encourage’ (Facts Up Front+).” The results evidently indicated that respondents…
Researchers with Portland State University and Washington State University, Vancouver, have reportedly detected caffeine in waters off the coast of Oregon, raising questions about the presence of other potential contaminants in the vicinity. Zoe Rodriguez del Rey, et al., “Occurrence and concentration of caffeine in Oregon coastal waters,” Marine Pollution Bulletin, July 2012. The study apparently analyzed caffeine levels at 14 coastal locations “stratified between populated areas with sources of caffeine pollution and sparsely populated areas with no major caffeine pollution sources.” Although levels ranged from below the reporting limit of 8.5 nanograms per liter (ng/L) to 44.7 ng/L, the marine ecologists noted that “caffeine concentration did not correspond with human population density and pollution source.” “Our hypothesis from these results is that the bigger source of contamination here is probably on-site waste disposal,” said one of the study’s authors. “Wastewater treatment plants, for the most part, have to do with regular…
A recent study has reportedly concluded that a New York City regulation restricting the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil by all food service establishments “was associated with a substantial and statistically significant decrease in the trans fat content of purchases at fast-food chains, without a commensurate increase in saturated fat.” Sonia Angell, et al., “Change in Trans Fatty Acid Content of Fast-Food Purchases Associated with New York City’s Restaurant Regulation,” Annals of Internal Medicine, July 2012. Funded by New York City and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Eating Research Program, researchers between 2007 and 2009 conducted a cross-sectional study matching purchase receipts with available nutrition information and consumer surveys at 168 randomly selected locations of 11 fast-food chains. Compared with data gathered before the trans fat restrictions took effect, the information collected after the regulation’s implementation allegedly demonstrated “an associated large and probably clinically meaningful reduction in the…
University of Melbourne researchers have reportedly demonstrated that viruses from two live-attenuated poultry vaccines have combined in the field to produce new infectious viruses “responsible for widespread disease in Australian commercial poultry flocks.” Sang-Won Lee, et al., “Attenuated Vaccines Can Recombine to Form Virulent Field Viruses,” Science, July 2012. According to a July 13, 2012, press release, two vaccines used simultaneously in chickens to control laryngotracheitis (ILT), an acute respiratory disease, apparently produced two new recombinant viruses that scientists then identified using whole-genome sequencing. Previous studies had apparently suggested that such recombination could happen under laboratory conditions but was unlikely in field settings. “We alerted the Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) to our findings and they are now working closely with our research team, vaccine registrants and the poultry industry to determine both short and long term regulatory actions,” a study co-author was quoted as saying. “Short-term measures include…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that two species of shiner fish exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) were more likely to mate in mixed-species pairings. Jessica Ward and Michael Blum, “Exposure to an environmental estrogen breaks down sexual isolation between native and invasive species,” Evolutionary Applications, July 2012. After collecting specimens from rivers throughout Georgia, scientists evidently used a controlled environment to study the effects of short term BPA exposure on both the red shiner fish (Cyprinella lutrensis), an invasive species, and the native blacktail shiner fish (Cyprinella venustra). Their results allegedly showed that males exposed to BPA lost some of their distinctive coloring, leading females to more frequently choose mates not of their own species. “Until now studies have primarily focused on the impact to individual fish, but our study demonstrates the impact of BPA on a population level,” explained one of the study’s authors in a July 11,…
Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity’s Kelly Brownell has provided a “Perspective” article for PLoS Medicine’s ongoing series about “Big Food.” Titled “Thinking Forward: The Quicksand of Appeasing the Food Industry,” the July 3, 2012, article contends that public-health efforts to collaborate with the food industry to address obesity are a mistake. According to Brownell, “The food industry has had plenty of time to prove itself trustworthy,” but because food companies “must sell less food if the population is to lose weight, . . . this pits the fundamental purpose of the food industry against public health goals.” Brownell calls for the industry to be regulated. “Left to regulate itself, industry has the opportunity, if not the mandate from shareholders, to sell more products irrespective of their impact on consumers. Government, foundations and other powerful institutions should be working for regulation, not collaboration.” Another article in the…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that the first generation of mouse offspring exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) before birth “displayed fewer social interactions as compared with control mice, whereas in later generations… the effect of BPA was to increase these social interactions.” Jennifer Wolstenholme, et al., “Gestational Exposure to Bisphenol A Produces Transgenerational Changes in Behaviors and Gene Expression,” Endocrinology, June 2012. After feeding BPA-laced chow to female mice during mating and pregnancy, researchers evidently noted that the brains of embryos exposed to BPA “had lower gene transcript levels for several estrogen receptors, oxytocin, and vasopressin as compared with controls,” with decreased vasopressin mRNA persisting into the fourth generation, “at which time oxytocin was also reduced but only in males.” According to the authors, their results “demonstrated for the first time… that a common and widespread EDC [endrocine-disrupting chemical] has transgenerational actions on social behavior and neural expression of at…
A recent study analyzing the effects of three weight-loss maintenance diets has purportedly concluded that subjects who adhered to either a low-glycemic or very low-carbohydrate diet burned more calories than those on low-fat diets. Cara Ebbeling, et al., “Effects of Dietary Composition on Energy Expenditure During Weight-Loss Maintenance,” Journal of the American Medical Association, June 2012. According to a June 26, 2012, Boston Children’s Hospital press release, researchers analyzed data on total energy expenditure from 21 adult participants who first lost 10 to 15 percent of their body weight and then completed each of the following three diets in random order for four weeks at a time: (i) a low-fat diet comprising “60 percent of daily calories from carbohydrates, 20 percent from fat and 20 percent from protein”; (ii) a low-glycemic-index diet comprising “40 percent of daily calories from carbohydrates, 40 percent from fat and 20 percent from protein”; and (iii)…
This week’s issue of PLoS Medicine includes an article in its “Big Food” series titled “Manufacturing Epidemics: The Role of Global Producers in Increased Consumption of Unhealthy Commodities Including Processed Foods, Alcohol, and Tobacco.” According to the authors, “market data on commodity sales from EuroMonitor Passport Global Market Information database 2011 edition” show a “significant penetration by multinational processed food manufacturers such as Nestle, Kraft, PepsiCo, and Danone into food environments” in low- and middle-income countries. They suggest that this penetration coincides with a growth in the consumption of unhealthy commodities that is reaching and even exceeding “a level presently observed” in high-income countries. Comparing data on global trends in tobacco and alcohol commodities, the authors claim that “population consumption of unhealthy non food commodities such as tobacco and alcohol are strongly correlated with unhealthy food commodity consumption. In other words, in countries where there are high rates of tobacco…
