Rediscovering vitamin D

Over the past 2 years there has been a radical change in standard clinical practice with respect to vitamin D. As a result of a growing body of knowledgeable physicians are assessing the vitamin D nutritional status of their patients and prescribing aggressive repletion regimens of a vitamin D supplement. The present paper summarizes some basic information about this essential nutrient and reviews some of the more recent data implicating vitamin D deficiency in disease etiology with an emphasis on cardiovascular disease and cancer. Finally a rational approach to the dosing of vitamin D in different patient populations is provided

Maternal VDR variants rather than 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration during early pregnancy are associated with type 1 diabetes in the offspring

This study was supported by the Finnish Academy (grant 127219), the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Diabetes Research Foundation, the EVO funding of the South Ostrobothnia Central Hospital from the Ministry ofHealthand SocialAffairs (EVO1107), the BiomedicumHelsinki Foun- dation, the Jalmari and Rauha Ahokas Foundation, the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation, the Suoma Loimaranta-Airila Fund, the Onni and Hilja Tuovinen Foundation and the Juho Vainio Foundation

Prevalence and predictors of 6-month exclusive breastfeeding among Canadian women: a national survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In spite of the evidence supporting the importance of breastfeeding during the first year of life, data on breastfeeding practices remain limited in Canada. The study aimed to examine the prevalence and predictors of 6-month exclusive breastfeeding among Canadian women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The analysis was based on the Maternity Experience Survey targeting women aged ≥ 15 years who had singleton live births between February 2006 - May 2006 in the Canadian provinces and November 2005 - February 2006 in the territories. The main outcome was exclusive breastfeeding based on the World Health Organization definition. Socioeconomic, demographic, maternal, pregnancy and delivery related variables were considered for a multivariate logistic regression using stepwise modeling. Bootstrapping was performed to account for the complex sampling design.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The sample size in this study was 5,615 weighted to represent 66,810 Canadian women. While ever breastfeeding was 90.3%, the 6-month exclusive breastfeeding rate was 13.8%. Based on the regression model, having higher years of education, residing in the Northern territories and Western provinces, living with a partner, having had previous pregnancies, having lower pre-pregnancy body mass index and giving birth at older age were associated with increased likelihood of 6-month exclusive breastfeeding. Moreover, smoking during pregnancy, Caesarean birth, infant's admission to the intensive care unit and maternal employment status before 6 months of infant's age were negatively associated with exclusive breastfeeding. Mothers choosing to deliver at home were more likely to remain exclusively breastfeeding for 6 months (Odds Ratio: 5.29, 95% Confidence Interval: 2.95-9.46).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The 6-month exclusive breastfeeding rate is low in Canada. The study results constitute the basis for designing interventions that aim to bridge the gap between the current practices of breastfeeding and the World Health Organization recommendation.</p

Effects of diet and exercise interventions on diabetes risk factors in adults without diabetes: meta-analyses of controlled trials

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Fasting insulin (FI), fasting glucose (FG), systolic blood pressure (SBP), high density lipoproteins (HDL), triacylglycerides (TAG), and body mass index (BMI) are well-known risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Reliable estimates of lifestyle intervention effects on these factors allow diabetes risk to be predicted accurately. The present meta-analyses were conducted to quantitatively summarize effects of diet and exercise intervention programs on FI, FG, SBP, HDL, TAG and BMI in adults without diabetes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched to find studies involving diet plus exercise interventions. Studies were required to use adults not diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, involve both dietary and exercise counseling, and include changes in diabetes risk factors as outcome measures. Data from 18, 24, 23, 30, 29 and 29 studies were used for the analyses of FI, FG, SBP, HDL, TAG and BMI, respectively. About 60% of the studies included exclusively overweight or obese adults. Mean age and BMI of participants at baseline were 48 years and 30.1 kg/m(2). Heterogeneity of intervention effects was first estimated using random-effect models and explained further with mixed-effects models. RESULTS: Adults receiving diet and exercise education for approximately one year experienced significant (P <0.001) reductions in FI (-2.56 ± 0.58 mU/L), FG (-0.18 ± 0.04 mmol/L), SBP (-2.77 ± 0.56 mm Hg), TAG (-0.258 ± 0.037 mmol/L) and BMI (-1.61 ± 0.13 kg/m(2)). These risk factor changes were related to a mean calorie intake reduction of 273 kcal/d, a mean total fat intake reduction of 6.3%, and 40 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise four times a week. Lifestyle intervention did not have an impact on HDL. More than 99% of total variability in the intervention effects was due to heterogeneity. Variability in calorie and fat intake restrictions, exercise type and duration, length of the intervention period, and the presence or absence of glucose, insulin, or lipid abnormalities explained 23-63% of the heterogeneity. CONCLUSIONS: Calorie and total fat intake restrictions coupled with moderate intensity aerobic exercises significantly improved diabetes risk factors in healthy normoglycemic adults although normoglycemic adults with glucose, insulin, and lipid abnormalities appear to benefit more

Television and food in the lives of young children

Several mechanisms have been proposed behind the associations between screens and overweight including sedentary behaviour, eating while viewing, and exposure to commercials. Aspects of this association as underlying social factors and the possible confounding factors of social norms in the family that can affect children’s lifestyle have received less attention. TV commercials for food and beverages have been extensively studied and it is important to study the appearance of food in children’s TV programmes in a similar way. The general aim of this thesis is to examine the associations between young children’s screen habits, food habits and anthropometry as well as to analyse food and beverages in children’s television programmes in public service television in Sweden. Data from the European research project Identification and prevention of dietary and lifestyle-induced health effects in children and infants (IDEFICS) has been used in Papers I-III and 25 hours of children’s TV programmes have been analysed for Paper IV. The main findings indicate that children’s TV viewing and total screen time was found to be associated with their increased sweet drink consumption, BMI and waist to height ratio, according to cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. The association between TV viewing and sweetened beverage consumption was found to be independent of parental norms regarding sweetened beverages. Exposure to commercial TV was associated with consuming sweetened beverages more frequently independently of TV viewing time. One in five foods appearing in the sample of children’s TV programmes was for high-calorie and low-nutrient foods, often appearing with children. The results indicate that it is possible to affect children’s food habits by influencing their TV habits, and that public service television has the potential to improve the way food and eating are depicted in children’s TV programmes

Fat intake and breast milk fatty acid composition in farming and nonfarming women and allergy development in the offspring.

Children growing up on small family farms are at much lower risk of developing allergy than other children. We hypothesized that low intake of margarine and polyunsaturated fats among farming families could contribute to this protection