美国人的“补品”

中国人讲究“进补”。传统做法是用各种名贵药材食材熬些汤汤水水来喝。如今,生活节奏加快,人们越来越青睐那些打着英文标识的药片和胶囊。这时候,我们更需要擦亮眼睛。洋补品未必真管用,洋商人却可能真忽悠。     

美国的维生素确实分男女

Q：我的朋友到美国出差。临走的时候,我让他帮我带一些维生素回来。结果出差回来后,他说美国的维生素不仅分男女,而且分年龄段。这和中国完全不一样啊!这是为什么呢？     

FDA没那么神

美国食品和药物管理局(以下简称为FDA)是世界上公认的,最严格、最有威望的药监机构。但凡关心吃(不管是吃饭还是吃药)的人,几乎都知道这个机构。有人把它比作食品安全的"守护神"。其实,它也有不为人知的"漏洞"。     

牛皮癣治疗药物“瑞体肤”撤出美国市场

美国食品和药物管理局近日宣布,由于可能引发一种罕见的致命脑部疾病,美国遗传技术研究公司即日起自愿将其生产的牛皮癣治疗药物“瑞体肤（Raptiva）”撤出市场。     

美国人的健康“看门人”

在医学科学主义至上的今天,在冰冷的医疗器械和实验数据面前,国外的家庭医生对待病人的态度却让人感到温暖。任何时候,医生首先应该是一个朋友,一个知己!     

克服“亚健康”的良策

生活节奏的加快需要人们迎接各种机遇和挑战。然而，如何持久地、精力充沛地投入学习和工作绝非是一件简单容易的事情。很多人曾有过精力不济、情绪低迷、失眠多虞的生活经历，有些人甚至是经常性地反复发生这种现象。这就是近年来逐渐被人们日益关注的医学界提出的介于健康和疾病之间的“亚健康”状态。     

全谷食物“华丽转身”

在很长的历史时期内,精米白面都是富足生活的标志。到了现代,尤其是那些经济发达的地区,精米白面又成了不健康食品的代表。在美国的膳食推荐里,就主张用全谷食物来代替精米白面。对中国人来说,更熟悉的用语是粗粮。那么,粗粮和全谷食物有什么区别?一度被当作贫穷象征的它们,又是如何实现华丽转身的呢?     

健安喜的“健康”经略

“一个公司的发展史就是一部产业的发展史”,没有比这句话更适合用来描述健安喜(General Nutrition Centre:GNC)的了.在时代和生活方式的变迁中探求健康的真谛,在经济的潮涨潮落里挖掘财富、洞悉最细微的顾客需求,驾驭最变幻的商业风云,秉承着经营健康、健康经营的经略,80年来,健安喜始终雄踞保健品产业潮流之先,织就了自己“当今世界上最大的保健品专卖店零售商和专业的保健品生产商“的宏伟蓝图.     

如何补充维生素和微量元素——肝炎患者吃喝的“高”与“低”

肝炎患者常伴多种维生素及微量元素缺乏,应注意补充,以保护肝功能。肝炎患者的平衡膳食供给是保证多种维生素和微量元素摄入’的重要前提,不可忽视。     

高考前的“补脑”陷阱

学子营养健脑,商家大桶掘金,看似双赢的"高考保健经济",仍需谨慎对待。6月初的高考如同背水一战,十年寒窗只为金榜题名。在最后复习冲刺的时段,有些学生甚至一天只睡四五个小时,就为了多记几个单词、多做几道习题。家长看在眼里,疼在心里,又不好说"不要复习了",于是,买来各种各样的高考保健品"侍候"孩子,给孩子又补"元气"又"健脑"。由此,敏锐的商家在高考中发现了商机,纷纷掘金高考保健品市场,通过各种途径告诉家长,学生一定要健脑。吃补脑产品"健脑"了,脑袋     

Dietary tryptophan supplements attenuate amphetamine self-administration in the rat

Previously, it had been shown that lesions of cerebral 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)-containing neurons and injections of drugs affecting 5-HT synthesis or receptor mediated function would alter amphetamine self-administration in the rat. The present study sought to ascertain whether diets enriched in L-tryptophan (L-TRY), the amino acid precursor to 5-HT, would: elevate cerebral 5-HT concentrations and affect amphetamine self-administration behavior. Diets containing 2.0 and 4.0% L-TRY increased cerebral 5-HT concentrations above those of rats on normal rat chow (0.26% L-TRY). The 4.0% diet elevated brain 5-HT to the same degree in rats exposed to the diet for 1, 2 or 3 days. When normal diets were restored, brain 5-HT concentrations rapidly returned to normal. Animals trained to self-administer d-amphetamine, when given access to the L-TRY enriched diets, significantly reduced their daily amphetamine self-injection during exposure periods. When normal rat chow was restored a delay in recovery to pre-diet amphetamine self-administration was observed: 1 day with the 2.0% L-TRY diet and 2 days with the 4.0% L-TRY diet. The 4.0% L-TRY diet failed to alter saline-frustration responding indicating the diet did not produce decrements in motor performance. When animals were placed on the 4.0% L-TRY diet and allowed access to amphetamine for 1 day then exposed to saline, a profound decrease in saline-frustration responding was observed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Dietary supplements and lessons to be learned from GRAS

The demand for dietary supplements by the public has transformed this once cottage industry into a 12-billion-dollar-per-year business. Restrictive actions against dietary supplements by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prompted Congress to enact new and more permissive amendments governing dietary supplements (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, DSHEA) to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic (FFD&C) Act in 1994. A comparison is made between the present status of dietary supplement regulation and the concept of general recognition of safety (GRAS) under conditions of intended use as set forth by the landmark 1958 Food Additive Amendment to the FFD&C Act. An argument is posited for use of applicable principles learned in nearly 40 years of experience with determining the GRAS status for hundreds of substances to problems posed by dietary supplements.     

Dietary antioxidant supplements: Benefits of their combined use

Several dietary supplements claim medicinal benefits due to their composition in hydrophilic and lipophilic molecules, natural extracts or synthetic compounds with antioxidant properties. In the present work, the antioxidant activity of selected supplements taken in pills, capsules or infusions were studied either individually or combined. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was used to categorize the condensed formulations (pills and capsules), infusion bags and combined samples according with their antioxidant activity measured by radical scavenging activity, reducing power and lipid peroxidation inhibition using brain homogenates as models. AAF proved to have the highest antioxidant activity in all the assayed methods, either singly taken or included in mixtures. Furthermore, the mixtures containing this supplement revealed synergistic effects in 92% of the cases. The intake of antioxidant mixtures might provide some additional benefits.     

The Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act and supplements: dietary and nutritional supplements need no more regulations

The Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994 was intended to ensure consumer access to safe dietary supplements, e.g., herbs, minerals, and vitamins. It granted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considerable enforcement authority to regulate dietary supplement industry. This article discusses relevant components of the DSHEA, explains the division of regulatory responsibilities between the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and refutes the often cited allegation that the herb and dietary supplement industry are unregulated.     

Dietary calcium and magnesium supplements in spontaneously hypertensive rats and isolated arterial reactivity.

1. High calcium diet attenuates the development of hypertension but an associated undesirable effect is that Mg2+ loss to the urine is enhanced. Therefore, we studied the effects of high calcium diet alone and in combination with increased magnesium intake on blood pressure and arterial function. 2. Forty-eight young spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were allocated into four groups, the dietary contents of Ca2+ and Mg2+ being: 1.1%, 0.2% (SHR); 2.5%, 0.2% (Ca-SHR); 2.5%, 0.8% (CaMg-SHR); and 1.1%, 0.8% (Mg-SHR), respectively. Development of hypertension was followed for 13 weeks, whereafter electrolyte balance, lymphocyte intracellular free calcium ([Ca2+]i), and mesenteric arterial responses in vitro were examined. Forty normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were investigated in a similar manner. 3. Calcium supplementation comparably attenuated the development of Lypertension during normal and high magnesium intake in SHR, with an associated reduced lymphocyte [Ca2+]i and increased Mg2+ loss to the urine. 4. Endothelium-dependent arterial relaxation to acetylcholine was augmented in Ca-SHR and CaMg-SHR, while the relaxations to isoprenaline and the nitric oxide donor SIN-1 were similar in all SHR groups. Relaxation responses induced by the return of K+ to the organ bath upon precontractions in K(+)-free solution were used to evaluate the function of arterial Na+, K(+)-ATPase. The rate of potassium relaxation was similar in Ca-SHR and CaMg-SHR and faster than in untreated SHR.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Dietary supplements in patients with cancer: risks and key concepts, part 2.

PURPOSE: The risks and key concepts regarding the use of dietary supplements in patients with cancer are described. SUMMARY: There are six common characteristics of dietary supplements that must be addressed when used by patients with cancer. Clinicians must establish if the supplement is an antioxidant, is an anticoagulant or procoagulant, has immunosuppressive or immunomodulating properties, has hormonal properties, has known safety issues, and has known or theoretical drug interactions. These six characteristics of the dietary supplements commonly used by patients with cancer are reviewed to aid in the analysis of the scientific data and communication of the results with the patient or family members. A framework upon which clinicians can adequately help patients make informed decisions regarding the use of complimentary and alternative medicine and dietary supplements is also described. When evaluating the appropriateness of a supplement for use by a patient with cancer, clinicians must conduct a safety review (evaluate the six characteristics). If the supplement is considered safe, an efficacy review must be conducted, after which the clinicians can recommend the supplement's use, accept the patient's decision to use the supplement if no or inconclusive evidence exists, or discourage use if there is conclusive evidence supporting inefficacy. Available resources for locating information regarding dietary supplements are also discussed. CONCLUSION: Counseling patients with cancer about dietary supplements requires a systematic thought process that considers the available theories and data, as well as the patients' views about the agents.