Nutrition
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Dietary treatment is important for the management of Parkinson's disease (PD). Our objective was to describe the dietary habits and assess the nutritional status of Ghanaian patients with PD. This study is part of a larger project, for which Ghana has been selected as a pilot country. ⋯ This study has yielded information that could be useful for the study of the management of PD and for the assessment of response to therapy.
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Comparative Study
Differences in direct pharmacologic effects and antioxidative properties of mature breast milk and infant formulas.
Early-onset and exclusive breast-feeding provides a significant health benefit to infants compared with infant formulas. The aim of this study was to compare mature breast milk with standard infant formulas by examining their effects on non-vascular smooth muscle contraction and their antioxidative properties. ⋯ Human milk exerts direct pharmacologic relaxation effects and provides better antioxidant protection compared with infant formulas because of the presence of specific enzymatic components, such as human superoxide dismutase. We propose that these effects should be advantageous to an infant's gastrointestinal tract by supporting the normal work of the smooth musculature and maintaining redox homeostasis and may represent one of the mechanisms by which breast-feeding benefits health.
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To investigate the effect of different dietary oils on the main hepatic enzymes involved in metabolism and their impact on oxidative stress status. ⋯ Different dietary oils modify the lipid composition of the plasma and liver, local and systemic antioxidant statuses, and the activity of the key enzymes of lipid metabolism. The interrelation between Ca(2+) and nitrite plus nitrate could be the causal factor underlying the observed changes.