Nutrition
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The absorptive capacity of the gut is decreased after severe head injury (SHI), and this may be related to poor recovery. Probiotics may be a promising approach to improving gut absorption. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of probiotics on gut absorptive capacity (GAC) after SHI. ⋯ Probiotics improve the GAC after SHI, perhaps because of enhanced villus surface area, and correction of intestinal flora dysfunction.
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Lower brain glucose metabolism is present before the onset of clinically measurable cognitive decline in two groups of people at risk of Alzheimer's disease--carriers of apolipoprotein E4, and in those with a maternal family history of AD. Supported by emerging evidence from in vitro and animal studies, these reports suggest that brain hypometabolism may precede and therefore contribute to the neuropathologic cascade leading to cognitive decline in AD. The reason brain hypometabolism develops is unclear but may include defects in brain glucose transport, disrupted glycolysis, and/or impaired mitochondrial function. ⋯ Nevertheless, aging appears to increase the risk of deteriorating systemic control of glucose utilization, which, in turn, may increase the risk of declining brain glucose uptake, at least in some brain regions. A contributing role of deteriorating glucose availability to or metabolism by the brain in AD does not exclude the opposite effect, i.e., that neurodegenerative processes in AD further decrease brain glucose metabolism because of reduced synaptic functionality and hence reduced energy needs, thereby completing a vicious cycle. Strategies to reduce the risk of AD by breaking this cycle should aim to (1) improve insulin sensitivity by improving systemic glucose utilization, or (2) bypass deteriorating brain glucose metabolism using approaches that safely induce mild, sustainable ketonemia.
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This study was performed to identify dietary patterns in Korean men and to determine the associations among dietary patterns, nutrient intake, and health-risk factors. ⋯ This study identifies three unique dietary patterns in Korean men, which are independently associated with certain health-risk factors. The rice-vegetable dietary pattern, modified for a low sodium intake, might be a healthy dietary pattern for Korean men.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of a 6-days-a-week low protein diet regimen on depressive symptoms in young-old type 2 diabetic patients.
Late-life depression is one of the main health problems among elderly diabetic subjects. In addition, depression is a common psychopathological condition among renal failure patients and most of these patients follow a low protein diet regimen (LPD). However, the effects of LPD on depressive symptoms are unclear. ⋯ LPD 6/7 regimen significantly decreased depressive symptoms in young-old type 2 diabetic patients.
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To describe a standardized method to assign glycemic index (GI) values to food items, obtained from 3 x 24-h recalls among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous Australian children, which can be adapted for use with simple food composition databases. ⋯ This simple method provides opportunities for countries without food composition database that are comprehensive for GI/GL but which contain accurate information on carbohydrates in foods to assign high-quality GI values to food items in epidemiological studies based on 24-h recalls.