Dietary Habits

The FDA is investigating reports of five deaths after drinking high-caffeine energy drinks made by the Monster Energy Company. The parents of a 14-year-old girl say her daughter collapsed after drinking her second 24-ounce Monster Energy drink in two days. She died six days later. Monster Energy Drink, comes in 24-ounce cans and contain 240 milligrams of caffeine, or seven times the amount of the caffeine in a 12-ounce cola. [1]

According to Zupancic et al. 26 species of bacteria in the human gut microbiota are linked to obesity and related metabolic syndrome. The scientists used deep pyrosequencing of bar-coded PCR amplicons from the V1-V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene to identify bacteria entangled in this process. The metabolic syndrome include insulin resistance, high blood sugar levels, increased blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke. [1]

Feeding experiments demonstrated that high breakfast energy leads to greater overall intake. Instead of comparing people which eat much with people which eat less for breakfast, the study of Schusdziarra  an colleagues focused on individuals. [1]

Dunford et al 2012 verified the salt levels in fast food of some international fast food chains, such as Burger King, Domino's Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and Subway in Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States during April 2010. [1]

The authors deplore substantial variation in the salt content of different food products, ranging from 0.5 g salt/100 g for salads to 1.6 g salt/100 g for chicken products.

Vetander et al. 2012 reviewed  medical records of a paediatric emergency department, in Stockholm County/Sweden, related to incidence of anaphylaxis

Coeliac disease widespread in the western world, Eastern Europe and Asia at rates of 1% and 1.44% of north Indians. Armstrong, Hegade and Robins 2012 write that genes related to coeliac disease also overlap with other autoimmune diseases. Human leukocyte antigen genotyping increases sensitivity in detecting coeliac disease in atypical cases. The authors also describe proinflammatory pitfalls of vitamin A supplementation in active coeliac disease. [1]

The antioxidant combination of vitamin E, vitamin C, and alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) did not alter cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers related to beta-amyloid-42 (Aβ42), tau, or P-tau181 in a 16-week study of patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD), in a study of  Galasko et al. 2012. [1]

Mena et al 2012 report the development of  new competitive R5 ELISA which uses the extracting solution called UPEX (universal prolamin and glutelin extractant solution). The authors claim that the new assay produces  better results than the sandwich R5 ELISA for detecting gliadins quantitatively in hydrolysed foods, and may be used forcomplete gluten analysis in any kind of food. [1]

Healthy diet does not only reduce risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes but has a deep impact on  psychiatric and neurologic conditions, such as depression and dementia. Many studies assessed the improving of cognitive function are related to this issue.

A diet high in fruits and vegetables provides high levels of phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, and fiber.  Murphy et al. 2011 estimating usual intakes of nine phytonutrients by Americans consuming recommended levels of fruits and vegetables found that such diet is rich in carotenoids and flavonoids. [1]