A recent report by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has claimed that rising obesity rates “could have the same implications for world food energy demands as an extra half billion people living on earth.” Sarah Walpole, “The weight of nations: an estimation of adult human biomass,” BMC Public Health, June 2012. After analyzing data from the United Nations and World Health Organization on body mass index (BMI) and height distribution to estimate the average adult body mass, the study’s authors calculated total biomass per continent and country “as the product of population size and average body mass.” Based on these results, the researchers concluded that “[i]f all countries had the BMI distribution of the USA, the increase in human biomass of 58 million tons would be equivalent in mass to an extra 958 million people of average body mass, and have energy requirements equivalent…
Category Archives Scientific/Technical Items
Two groups of scientists at Inner Mongolia University in Huhhot, China, have reportedly created two genetically modified (GM) calves capable of producing either low-lactose milk or milk high in omega-3 fatty acids. According to media sources, the group involved with low-lactose milk production hopes to create herds of GM cows that would supply a range of dairy products for lactose-intolerant consumers within five to 10 years. “Ordinary milk contains lactose, while milk produced by our modified cow will have relatively low content of lactose, or even have no lactose,” one scientist told The Telegraph. “Most people suffer the lactose intolerance in varying degrees. We are attempting to breed a dairy cow that produce low lactose milk for supplying the market. We hope to commercialize it in the future.” The second research team apparently modified cow embryos with genes from roundworms to produce milk with four times the level of omega-3…
A recent study has reportedly concluded that a diet high in sodium is associated “with increases in biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction, specifically serum uric acid (SUA) and urine albumin excretion (UAE),” leading to hypertension. John Forman, et al., “Association between Sodium Intake and Change in Uric Acid, Urine Albumin Excretion, and the Risk of Developing Hypertension,” Circulation, June 2012. Using data from the Prevention of Renal and Vascular End Stage Disease (PREVEND) cohort, researchers apparently analyzed SUA levels in 4,062 non-hypertensive participants and UAE levels in 4,146 participants. The results evidently showed that not only are high sodium diets associated with greater increases in SUA and UAE, but that over the long term they may lead “to endothelial dysfunction and vascular damage, generating a biological state in which continuance of the high sodium diet may produce hypertension (a sodium amplification loop).” In particular, the study’s authors found that participants who consumed…
The journal PLoS Medicine has published two articles and an editorial in a “major new series” on “Big Food” in this week’s issue, and will publish five additional related articles over the next two weeks. The editorial notes that the articles, focusing on “the role in health of Big Food, which we define as the multinational food and beverage industry with huge and concentrated market power,” were selected under the guidance of guest editors Marion Nestle of New York University and David Stuckler of Cambridge University. Contending that Big Food has “an undeniably influential presence on the global health stage,” the editorial introduces the other articles and observes, “We decided not to provide a forum for the industry to offer a perspective on their role in global health, since this point of view has been covered many times before and fails to acknowledge their role in subverting the public health agenda,…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that children who are overweight or obese “are more likely to have a neurological disease known as idiopathic intracranial hypertension [IIH], a rare condition that can result in blindness.” Sonu Brara, et al., “Pediatric Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension and Extreme Childhood Obesity,” Journal of Pediatrics, May 2012. Researchers apparently analyzed data from 900,000 participants in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) Children’s Health Study, concluding that 57 (73.1 percent) of the 78 KSPC children and adolescents diagnosed with IIH were overweight or obese. These children were also more likely to be age 11 or older at diagnosis as well as white, non-Hispanic and female. “Consistent with two previous studies, we found that female sex and obesity first emerge as strong IIH risk factors in postpubertal age children,” reported the study’s authors. “Extremely obese adolescents were 16 times more likely than normal weight children to have…
Researchers with the University of California, Irvine, have allegedly demonstrated that low doses of bisphenol A (BPA) diglycidyl ether (BADGE) can turn adult stem cells and pre-fat cells into fat cells, raising questions about the obesogenic effect of a chemical commonly used in food packaging materials. Raquel Chamorro-García, et al., “Bisphenol A Diglycidyl Ether Induces Adipogenic Differentiation of Multipotent Stromal Stem Cells Through a Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor Gamma-independent Mechanism,” Environmental Health Perspectives, May 2012. The study’s authors evidently used multipotent mesenchymal stromal stem cells (MSCs) to evaluate BADGE’s effects on “adipogenesis, osteogenesis, gene expression and nuclear receptor activation.” Their results purportedly indicated that BADGE, a combination of BPA and epichlorohydrin, can induce adipogenic differentiation in both MSCs and preadipocytes at low concentrations “comparable to those that have been observed in limited human biomonitoring.” “There is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms underlying the predisposition to obesity and related disorders.…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that higher saturated fat (SFA) intake “was associated with worse global cognitive and verbal memory trajectories” in women aged 65 years or older. Olivia Okereke, et al., “Dietary fat types and 4-year cognitive change in community dwelling older women,” Annals of Neurology, May 2012. Harvard Medical School researchers evidently analyzed data from 6,183 participants in the Women’s Health Study over a four-year period, finding that those in the highest quintile for SFA consumption had “a higher risk of worst cognitive change” than their counterparts in the lowest quintile. At the same time, however, higher monounsaturated fat (MUFA) intake was related to better global cognitive and verbal memory trajectories. These results apparently led the study’s authors to speculate that “different consumption levels of the major specific fat types, rather than total fat intake itself, appeared to influence cognitive aging.” “When looking at changes in cognitive function, what…
University of Almeria researchers have reportedly used a new “multi-residue” technique to identify veterinary drug residues in baby food, raising concerns about the need to better regulate the substances permitted in animal-based products. M.M. Aguilera-Luiz, et al., “Multiclass method for fast determination of veterinary drug residues in baby food by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry,” Food Chemistry, June 2012. The study’s authors evidently analyzed 12 meat products containing beef, pork or poultry and nine milk powder samples, all of which purportedly contained trace amounts of antibiotics, including sulfonamides and macrolides, as well as anthelmintics and fungicides. In particular, the results allegedly showed higher concentrations of veterinary drug residues in chicken and other poultry products. “The concentrations detected have been generally very low,” one of authors was quoted as saying. “On one hand, this suggests they are not worrying amounts, on the other hand, it shows the need to control…
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has purportedly identified a sharp increase in the prevalence of prediabetes/ diabetes among U.S. adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, from 9 percent in 1999-2000 to 23 percent in 2007-2008. Ashleigh May, et al., “Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Among US Adolescents, 1999−2008,” Pediatrics, May 2012. Relying on data from 3,383 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), CDC researchers concluded that among adolescents, “the overall prevalence was 14% for prehypertension/hypertension, 22% for borderline-high/high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, 6% for low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (<35 mg/DL), and 15% for prediabetes/diabetes during the survey period from 1999 to 2008.” The study’s authors noted, however, that while there was “no significant change in prehypertension/hypertension and borderline-high/high lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol prevalence from 1999-2000 to 2007-2008,” prediabetes/diabetes prevalence rose by 14 percent. They also reported that 37 percent of…
A recent analysis of scientific literature has argued in favor of reclassifying obesity as an addictive disorder based on criteria described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association, version IV, in part because such a reclassification would help initiate policy changes aimed at curbing “the obesity epidemic.” Patricia Allen, et al., “Rationale and Consequences of Reclassifying Obesity as an Addictive Disorder: Neurobiology, Food Environment and Social Policy Perspectives,” Physiology & Behavior, May 2012. Concluding that previous research supports its contention that “common dietary obesity satisfy [sic] all DSM criteria for an addictive disorder,” the article draws parallels between “Big Tobacco” and “Big Food” to suggest that strategies used to reduce smoking rates, such as increased taxation and limits on advertising, could be valid policy models for addressing “food addiction/food dependence.” In particular, the study urges lawmakers and other policy makers to view obesity…
