BIOCHEMICAL CORRECTION IN THE SYNDROME OF HYPERTENSION AND HYPERKALAEMIA BY SEVERE DIETARY SALT RESTRICTION SUGGESTS RENIN-ALDOSTERONE SUPPRESSION CRITICAL IN PATHOPHYSIOLOGY

1. Plasma potassium and chloride concentrations were raised and plasma renin activity, aldosterone, bicarbonate and arterial pH were reduced in two brothers with the syndrome of hypertension and hyperkalaemia with normal glomerular filtration rate (Gordon's syndrome), on unrestricted or moderately restricted sodium diets. 2. These abnormalities were corrected in both patients within 10 days of severe sodium restriction. 3. Pressor sensitivity to cold and angiotensin II decreased on low sodium diet, associated with a fall in blood pressure. 4. Increasing distal tubular sodium delivery by infusion of normal saline increased fractional excretion of potassium when aldosterone had been stimulated by severely restricted sodium diet, but not when aldosterone levels were low on unrestricted sodium diet. 5. These findings are consistent with excessive sodium reabsorption as the primary renal lesion in Gordon's syndrome, leading to volume expansion and suppression of renin and aldosterone. Severe dietary sodium restriction leading to volume contraction, by stimulating renin and aldosterone and promoting kaliuresis, corrects the abnormalities.     

A survey of the use of special food products by diabetics

A food frequency of consumption questionnaire was completed by 137 diabetic outpatients attending the University of Wales Hospital in Cardiff, to provide information about the use of special dietary products.
Seventy-four per cent of the diabetics used special dietary products, the most popular of which were artificial sweeteners (45%) and preserves (47%), followed by squash (34%), sweets (31%) and chocolate (31%). Twenty per cent of diabetics consumed biscuits and tinned fruit. Cake and other products (e.g. jelly), were used by less than 10% of the respondents. Over half of all the diabetics consumed one or more products on a daily basis. The use of special products bore no significant relationship to the sex of the respondents, nor to the duration of the diabetes. However, a significantly higher proportion of the Insulin Dependent Diabetics (IDDM) group used dietary products compared with the Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetics (NIDDM) group. This can be explained largely by the differences in age between the diabetics; the under-18-year-old age group (who were all IDDM respondents) were the greatest users of sweets, chocolate and squash.
Forty-three per cent of diabetics who did not use special food products cited at least one reason for non-use. The reasons included dietetic advice (NIDDM respondents only), high cost, poor palatability, lack of availability and unsuitability for other members of the family.     

Establishing new principles for nutrient reference values (NRVs) for food labeling purposes

Many countries such as The Republic of Korea have established their own nutritional standards, collectively termed Nutrient Reference Values(NRVs), and they vary due to the science which was reviewed, the purposes for which they are developed, and issues related to nutrition and food policy in the country. The current effort by the Codex Alimentarius Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CNFSDU) to update the NRVs that were established following the Helsinki Consultation in 1988 represents an opportunity to develop a set of reference values reflecting current scientific information to be used or adapted by many countries. This paper will focus on possible approaches to selecting or developing reference values which would serve the intended purpose for nutrition labeling to the greatest extent possible. Within the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) is currently reviewing regulations on nutrition labeling to better address current health issues, and is expected to enter into a process in the next few months to begin to explore how best to update nutrient Daily Values (DVs), most of which are still based on the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) of the Food and Nutrition Board, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, last reviewed and revised in 1968. In this presentation, I review the current purposes in the U.S. for nutrition labeling as identified in the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act as amended, the scientific basis for current nutrition labeling regulations in the United States, and the recommendations made by the recent Committee on Use of Dietary Reference Intakes in Nutrition Labeling of the Institute of Medicine (2003) regarding how to use the DRIs in developing new DVs to be used on the label in the United States and Canada. Based on these reviews, I then provide examples of the issues that arise in comparing one approach to another. Much of the discussion focuses on the appropriate role of nutrient labeling within the Nutrition Facts panel, one of the three major public nutrition education tools in the United States (along with MyPyramid and Dietary Guidelines for Americans).     

INFLUENCE OF DIET ON FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF RED CELL AND NEURAL MEMBRANES

Increasing dietary 18:2 n-6/18:3 n-3 causes similar relative changes in fatty acid profiles of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine from rat neural and erythrocyte membranes.     

Intentional mis-reporting of food consumption and its relationship with body mass index and psychological scores in women

BACKGROUND: The reasons for mis-reporting food consumption warrant investigation. OBJECTIVE: To document intention to mis-report food consumption and its associations with psychological measures in women. DESIGN: A total of 184 female volunteers aged 18-65 years, comprising 50 seeking help in primary care to lose weight with a body mass index (BMI) >/=30 kg m(-2) (obese-clinical group) and 134 nurses (nonclinical groups) (BMI <25 kg m(-2), n = 52; BMI 25-29.9 kg m(-2), n = 45; BMI >/=30 kg m(-2), n = 37) were studied. A questionnaire was administered containing three psychological tests (self-esteem, psychological well-being and Stunkard's three-factor eating questionnaire) and new items to address food intake mis-reporting. RESULTS: Overall, 68% of participants declared an inclination to mis-report (64% nonclinical, 78% clinical). Inclination to under-report was 29, 33 and 51% in the three nonclinical groups; and 46% among the obese clinical patients. Among the same groups, inclination to over-report were 39, 29, 11 and 32%. After adjusting for social deprivation and BMI, women inclined to mis-report had higher hunger (P = 0.008) and disinhibition (P = 0.005) scores than those intending to report accurately. These variables were associated with current dieting, frequency of dieting, self-reported bingeing and dissatisfaction with body weight. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that intentional under-reporting and over-reporting of food consumption are common in women of all BMI categories and are associated with eating behaviour. Current dieting, frequency of dieting in the past, self-reported bingeing and dissatisfaction with body weight seem to mediate this relationship.     

Methods for analysis of a food frequency questionnaire

Fifty-five students and staff at Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology completed a food frequency questionnaire and then weighed their food for one week. Several methods of calculating nutrient intakes from the questionnaire are compared to results from the weighed inventory. Intakes of energy and several nutrients calculated using estimated typical portion weights were less than those derived from the weighed inventory. Food groups contributing to the apparent under-estimation have been identified. A further method of calculation involved derivation of a factor for each food group such that the frequency estimated from the questionnaire multiplied by the factor equalled the average weight of the foods in that group that had been eaten. Using these factors instead of the typical portion weights resulted in closer agreement to the weighed inventory method, but the difference ranged from positive for some groups to negative for others. Use of separate factors for each group of subjects reduced the range of differences to the weighed inventory method.     

西宁地区幼儿园儿童的膳食调查报告

本文对西宁地区幼儿园儿童进行了膳食调查。了解该人群的营养素摄入情况以及热能、蛋白质、脂肪来源分布和三大营养素供热比。同时提出所存在问题。     

广东78种食物的不溶性膳食纤维含量分析

本文采用中性洗涤剂法测定了广东78种食物的不溶性膳食纤维含量,结果提示,不溶性膳食纤维的平均含量:干豆坚果类为7.12％,鲜果类为1.93％,根茎类为1.55％,叶菜类为1.31％,粮谷类为1.27％,茄瓜类为1.15％。其中干豆坚果类与茄瓜类、粮谷类、叶菜类、根茎类和鲜果类的含量差别极显著(P<0.01),而后五类食物的含量相互间差别不显著(P>0.05)。粮谷类的变异系数较大(CV:142％)。其中以加工较深的米面及其制品较低(0.31％—0.72％),而未深加工的玉米、薏米的含量则高(2.48％—6.08％)。     

Measurement of diet in a large national survey: comparison of computerized and manual coding of records in household measures

A diary method using household measures was employed to obtain dietary records in a large national prospective survey and a computer program, DIDO (Diet In Data Out), was designed for direct entry of the diaries. The accuracy of this computerized coding system was examined alongside that of the manual coding used for a similar diary in a previous wave, 7 years earlier, of the same survey. Accuracy was assessed by analysis of the errors in the coded and checked records by stringent re-checking of nominal 2% random subsamples of the diet diaries coded by each method. The mean time to code and check each of the 2086 7-day records in the whole survey using DIDO was 58 minutes (SD 30) compared with reported results of 1–4 hours for manual methods. The mean error rate of computerized coding and checking with DIDO was 2.3% (SD 2.1; range 0–8.9) per diary in the subsample. Correcting these mistakes made insignificant changes to the calculated mean energy and nutrient intakes for the subsample. The percentage of individuals changing to an adjacent third of nutrient distribution after correcting unambiguous errors ranged from none (for alcohol) to 11% (for carbohydrate and calcium intake). The mean error rate on a similar subsample of diaries from the earlier survey which had been coded manually was significantly higher at 5.9% (SD 4.1; range 0–17) per diary. Emphasis is laid on the importance, in coding, of dealing with ambiguities in the subjects' records, since this can affect the accuracy and the precision of the nutrient results obtained. We conclude that the DIDO coding method has the advantages of greater accuracy, speed, consistency and efficient data handling, and affords greater data accessibility for checking, compared with manual systems.     

我国较贫困地区农村学龄前儿童膳食状况

对１９８５～１９８９年７省较贫困的１８个乡农村儿童膳食调查资料采用平均摄入量、临界值及概率法进行了总结分析。结果表明，６～２４月龄母乳喂养儿的辅食品种单一，数量不足。断奶儿童各年龄组热能、蛋白质摄入量的平均值分别达ＲＤＡ的９２％～１０４％和７６％～８４％，但以ＲＤＡ为界值，仍有５３％～６２％及７４％～８５％的儿童热能、蛋白质摄入量低，用概率法分析蛋白质、钙、维生素Ａ、Ｂ２、Ｃ及铁摄入不足的人数比例分别是５０％～６０％、９３％～９７％、５１％～８７％、７４％～８６％、５８％～６６％和１２％～４７％。热能、蛋白质摄入量低于ＲＤＡ值儿童的身高、体重明显低于摄入量高于ＲＤＡ值的儿童。