Asia Pacific journal of clinical nutrition
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Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and certainly the major cause of disability in the world. WHO has estimated that between 1990 to 2020 the world will witness an increase in stroke mortality of 78% in woman and 106% in man. ⋯ Of these, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, hyperlipidemia, homocysteinemia and alcoholism are obviously affected by lifestyle and nutrition. However, whilst epidemiology studies have noted an association of nutritional practice with stroke risk, further research is needed to show how nutritional interventions can be effective in stroke prevention.
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Asia Pac J Clin Nutr · Jan 2007
Randomized Controlled TrialZinc-iron, but not zinc-alone supplementation, increased linear growth of stunted infants with low haemoglobin.
Zinc supplementation has been shown to benefit linear growth. However the effect may depend on whether zinc is the most limiting nutrient. This study aims to investigate the effect of supplementation with zinc-given alone or with iron and vitamin-A in improving infantsf micronutrient status and linear growth. ⋯ While the difference was not significant in follow-up after 6 months, the pattern remained the same where means height-for-age Z-score in Zn+Fe+vit. A and Zn+Fe groups were higher than placebo and Zn-alone groups. Given the low haemoglobin/iron status of the subjects, zinc supplementation would have positive effect on growth if the low haemoglobin/iron status is also addressed and corrected.
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Asia Pac J Clin Nutr · Jan 2007
Salt usage behaviors are related to urinary sodium excretion in normotensive Korean adults.
High sodium intake is considered to be the major risk factor for hypertension but studies about sodium intake on prevention and management of hypertension is limited due to the difficulties in assessment of sodium intake. Dietary sodium comes not only from naturally occurring sodium in foods but also from the added sodium during processing, cooking and at the table. Present study was conducted to identify salt usage behavior questions related to urinary sodium excretion among normotensive adult Koreans. ⋯ Each participant answered the questionnaire and collected one 24-hour urine and urine samples were analyzed for sodium contents. Correlation analyses between scores of the questions and sodium excretion in 24-hour urine were performed to identify question items related to sodium excretion. Among fifteen questions, scores of three questions on salt usage behaviors were significantly correlated to urinary sodium excretion (r=0.17~0.19; p <0.05) and the sum of scores of the three questions showed higher correlation coefficients. (r=0.26, p <0.001) The salt usage behavior questions developed in this study would be useful in predicting sodium intake and in studying the relationship between sodium intake and health among Korean adults.
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Asia Pac J Clin Nutr · Jan 2007
Determinants of plasma homocysteine levels and carotid intima-media thickness in Japanese.
Although hyperhomocysteinemia is considered to be a key risk factor for atherosclerosis, especially in Western countries, its role in the Asian population is still controversial. In this study, we evaluated the determinants of homocysteine and carotid intima-media thickness, a clinical marker for the detection of atherosclerosis, in Japanese. In 289 Japanese adults (age 37-86 yrs), we screened plasma total homocysteine by high performance liquid chromatography and evaluated maximum carotid intima-media thickness by ultrasound. ⋯ Maximum carotid intima-media thickness was higher in men than in women and increased with age. When adjusted for age and sex, systolic blood pressure was independently correlated with maximum carotid intima-media thickness (beta = 0.001, p < 0.01). Our current results support previous findings that in addition to age and sex, serum creatinine and systolic blood pressure are independent determinants of homocysteine and carotid intima-media thickness, respectively.
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Highly added sugar diets have been associated with various health problems such as dental caries, dyslipidemia, obesity and poor quality of life. Unfortunately, sugar consumption, especially sucrose, has increased continuously worldwide. The purpose of the study was to examine sources of sugar consumption and amount of added sucrose consumed in Thai undergraduate students. ⋯ Intake of sucrose per day in both male and female was not statistically difference, neither among different BMI groups. Intake of added sugar in the students was higher than the recommendation of the World Health Organization. These data would be helpful in a health promotion campaign aimed at a reduction of sugar consumption in Thai undergraduate students.