Red meat in the diet

Summary  The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the existing scientific literature on the role of red meat in the diet. It discusses current levels of red meat intake, the nutritional benefits of consuming red meat, dietary and lifestyle factors associated with meat consumption and the effects of red meat intake on health and chronic disease outcomes.     

Red meat in the diet: an update

This paper provides an update of a previous review ‘Red Meat in the Diet’ published in the Nutrition Bulletin in 2005. An update on red meat consumption levels in the UK and other countries is provided, and a summary of the nutritional content of red meat in the diet is given. Current evidence on dietary and lifestyle factors associated with red meat consumption and the effects of red meat intake on health and chronic disease outcomes are discussed. As there is now continued debate about the environmental impact of different aspects of our diet, sustainability issues regarding red meat were also discussed.     

The nutritional contribution of meat to the British diet: recent trends and analyses

Summary Over the last decade, some interesting changes have been seen in the British diet. Some of these have resulted from changes in wide-reaching social issues that affect today's eating culture, such as the fast pace of today's lifestyle, whereas others have occurred as a result of alterations in food production methods and technological advances. The consumption of meat and meat products, in particular, has seen a great deal of flux, and as meat is an important source of various nutrients in the diet, this is an area that warrants further investigation of the resulting public health implications. This paper reviews some of the trends in meat consumption over the last 10 years and describes the role of meat in the UK diet today.     

Lactation decreases pancreatic lipase mRNA level in the rat

Lactation alters maternal metabolism and increases food intake in rats to support milk production. Pancreatic lipase (PL) is primarily responsible for fat digestion in adults and is regulated by dietary fat. The present research determined the regulation of PL by lactation and dietary fat. In Expt 1, eighteen Sprague-Dawley dams and twelve age-matched virgins (controls) were fed a low-fat diet (LF; 11 % energy as safflower oil) for 7-63 d. At postpartum (day 0), peak lactation (day 15) and post-lactation (day 56) and after 7 d in virgins, the pancreas was removed for mRNA and enzyme analyses. In Expt 2, thirty-six Sprague-Dawley dams were fed LF until day 9 postpartum when dams were divided into three groups of twelve; one continued to be fed LF, one was fed a moderate-fat diet (MF; 40 % energy as safflower oil); and one was fed a high-fat diet (HF; 67 % energy as safflower oil) diet. At peak lactation (day 15) and post-lactation (day 56), the pancreas was removed for mRNA and enzyme analyses. Expt 1 revealed that lactation and post-lactation significantly (P<0.001) decreased PL mRNA (67 % and 76 %, respectively), but only post-lactation decreased PL activity. Increased dietary fat in Expt 2 significantly increased PL mRNA (LF相似文献   

The elimination of echinococcosis from Iceland

A century ago Iceland had the highest prevalence of human hydatid disease ever recorded anywhere. Since 1864 the disease has been gradually controlled, and today there is less than one new case per decade. The sheep population of about one million, over 95% of which is subject to inspection at slaughter, has yielded only 15 infected animals in the last 20 years. In most districts farm slaughtering still persists, though on a very limited scale, and farm dogs are subjected to very little control. The main credit for the remarkable control of E. granulosus is given to education, but many accidental social and environmental factors, peculiar to Iceland, contributed to the result. Of these, the most notable were the small human population and high rate of literacy; the very high dog mortality from distemper in the 19th century, which coincided with a major export trade in live sheep; the custom of feeding dogs on cooked household scraps, the risk of infection being confined to the short sheep slaughtering season and the rare occasions when a cow or pig is slaughtered; the absence of employed labour on Icelandic farms, all slaughtering being done by the owner, an educated man with middle-class values; the change in animal husbandry since 1920 towards the slaughter of 5-month-old lambs, too young to have viable cysts; and the meat subsidy, which since 1947 has led to the use of abattoirs for all but a handful of uneconomic animals kept for slaughter on the farm.     

The effects of elimination diet on nutritional status in subjects with atopic dermatitis

A food allergy is an adverse health effect arising from a specific immune response that occurs reproducibly upon exposure to a given food. In those with food allergies that are thought to cause aggravation of eczema, food avoidance is important. The objective of this study was to research the nutritional status of patients with food allergies. A total of 225 subjects diagnosed with atopic dermatitis underwent a skin prick test as well as measurement of serum immunoglobulin E. Food challenge tests were conducted using seven food items: milk, eggs, wheat, soybeans, beef, pork, and chicken. At post-food challenge visits to the test clinic, participants completed a three-day dietary record, which included two week days and one weekend day, in order to evaluate energy intake and diet quality during the challenge. We analyzed nutrient intake based on differential food allergens. Subjects with a food allergy to milk showed lower intake of Ca, Zn, and vitamin B₂, and subjects with a food allergy to egg showed lower intake of vitamin A, B₁, B₂, niacin, and cholesterol. Subjects with a food allergy to wheat and soybean showed lower intake of Ca, P, Fe, K, Zn, vitamin B₂, vitamin B₆, and niacin; and subjects with a food allergy to beef, pork, and chicken showed lower intake of Fe and higher intake of K, vitamin A, B₂. Subjects with atopic dermatitis were lacking in several nutrients, including vitamin A and vitamin C. A greater number of food allergies showed an association with a greater number of nutrient intake deficiencies. Allergen avoidance is the basic treatment for atopic dermatitis. However, when the allergen is food, excessive restriction can lead to nutrition deficiency. Findings of this study suggest the necessity for enhanced nutritional education in order to provide substitute foods for patients with food allergies who practice food restriction.     

Diagnostic value of fecal elastase test in pancreatic exocrine deficiency]

The diagnostic value of the estimation of faecal elastase-1, the new noninvasive direct pancreatic function test was evaluated in a total of 35 patients. Twenty one patients were diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis and categorized according to grades of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency based on the Lundh test, 14 patients in the control group had gastrointestinal disorders. Faecal elastase 1 was measured by ELISA method. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of elastase determination was 71.4%, 92.8%, 88.2%, 81.2% and 83.7%, respectively in chronic pancreatitis. In the severe exocrine pancreas insufficiency group (n = 14), the sensitivity was 85.7%, while in the group with mild insufficiency (n = 7) the sensitivity was only 42.8%. The determination of faecal elastase is useful in the diagnosis of severe exocrine pancreas insufficiency, but it is not sensitive enough in the mild form of the disease.     

The elimination of Chagas' disease from Brazil

On 9 June 2006 the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) presented the Minister of Health of Brazil with the International Elimination of Transmission of Chagas' Disease Certificate. This act was the culmination of an intensive process that began in 1991 with the Southern Cone Initiative, a joint agreement between the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru, to control Chagas' disease by the elimination of the main vector, Triatoma infestans. This initiative has been highly successful and the prevalence area of the vector diminished rapidly in the last years. As a consequence, the current seroprevalence in children aged between 0 and 5 years is of the order of 10(-5), a clear indication that transmission, if it is occurring, is only accidental. In this review I calculate the basic reproduction number, R0, for Chagas' disease and demonstrate that its relatively low value (1.25) explains why vectorial transmission was interrupted relatively easily. In addition, I used a mathematical model to forecast how long the remaining cases of the disease, as well as the additional vertically transmitted cases will last.     

Adaptive changes of pancreatic protease secretion to a short-term vegan diet: influence of reduced intake and modification of protein

In our previous study, we demonstrated that abstaining from meat, for 1 month, by healthy omnivores (lacto-ovovegetarian model) resulted in a statistical decrease in pancreatic secretion as measured by faecal elastase-1 output. However, no correlation between relative and non-relative changes of energy and nutrient consumption and pancreatic secretion was documented. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to assess the changes of exocrine pancreatic secretion with a more restrictive dietetic modification, by applying a vegan diet. A total of twenty-one healthy omnivores (sixteen females and five males) participated in the prospective study lasting for 6 weeks. The nutrient intake and faecal output of pancreatic enzymes (elastase-1, chymotrypsin and lipase) were assessed twice during the study. Each assessment period lasted for 7?d: the first before the transition to the vegan diet (omnivore diet) and the second during the last week of the study (vegan diet). The dietary modification resulted in a significant decrease in faecal elastase-1 (P?相似文献   

Emergence of ageing-related changes in insulin secretion by pancreatic islets of male rat offspring of mothers fed a low-protein diet

Maternal low-protein (LP) diets programme β-cell secretion, potentially altering the emergence of ageing of offspring pancreatic function. We hypothesised that isolated pancreatic islet β-cell secretory responses are blunted in offspring exposed to LP during development and age-related reduction is influenced by the developmental stage of exposure to decreased nutrition. We studied male offspring of rats fed control (C) or LP protein (R) diets in pregnancy, first letter and/or lactation second letter of CC, RR, CR or RC groups. Serum glucose, insulin and homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) were measured. Pancreatic islets were isolated and in vitro insulin secretion quantified in low (LG - 5 mM) or high glucose (HG - 11 mM). Body weight and serum values between groups were similar at all ages. Insulin and HOMA rose with age and were highest at postnatal day (PND) 450 in all groups. At PND 36, insulin secretion was greatest in RR and RC. Only CC increased insulin secretion to HG. By PND 110, restricted groups responded less to LG but increased secretion to HG. By PND 450, CC offspring alone increased secretion to HG. Despite minimal differences in circulating insulin and glucose, reduced maternal protein intake affected insulin secretion at all ages. In addition, ageing reduced function in all R groups compared with CC by PND 110 and further by PND 450 most markedly in RC. We conclude that maternal LP diet during pregnancy and/or lactation impairs offspring insulin secretory response to a glucose challenge and alters the trajectory of ageing of pancreatic insulin secretion.     

High-cholesterol diet increases xanthine oxidase and decreases nitric oxide synthase activities in erythrocytes from rats

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a high-cholesterol diet on oxidant/antioxidant status and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity in erythrocytes from rats. Sixteen Sprague-Dawley–type albino male rats were used in the study. The rats were randomly divided into 2 groups: the control group (group 1) was fed a standard rat diet, and the treated group (group 2) was fed a high-cholesterol diet (4% cholesterol, 1% cholic acid, and 0.5% thiouracil) in addition to standard pellet rat diet for 3 months. At the end of the study period, blood samples were obtained from the rats under ether anesthesia. Oxidant (malondialdehyde level, sensitivity to oxidation value, and xanthine oxidase [XO] activity) and antioxidant parameters (antioxidant potential value, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase activities) were studied in erythrocyte preparations. Activities of erythrocyte NOS and arginase enzymes and serum total cholesterol levels were also measured. We observed that serum total cholesterol levels, erythrocyte XO activities, and sensitivity to oxidation values significantly increased in group 2 (cholesterol fed) compared with the control group (group 1). Erythrocyte NOS activities were also found to decrease in group 2. In conclusion, our results suggest that cholesterol feeding causes an increase in XO activity and a decrease in NOS activity in the erythrocytes from rats. The increase in XO activity may render the erythrocyte membranes sensitive to oxidant stress, and the decrease in NOS activity in the erythrocytes may increase cardiovascular disease risk via reduced endothelial relaxation.