What health professionals should know about omega-3 fatty acid supplements

Omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids are essential to maintain satisfactory human health and need to be consumed in the diet. Western diets are often deficient in n-3 fatty acids because of an insufficient intake of cold water oily fish. The main n-3 fatty acids in fatty fish are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). To date, no formally accepted dietary reference intakes for EPA and DHA exist, while international intake recommendations differ widely. Supplementation is an easy and convenient way of increasing dietary n-3 fatty acid intake, but very little information is available to health professionals when advising consumers on choosing a supplement to suit their lifestyle. Reliable nutrition information on product labels is vital since misleading information may lead to erroneous dosages with concomitant adverse effects. Since no formal regulatory structure for dietary supplements currently exists in South Africa, consumers depend on self-regulation within the industry for assurance of product quality, consistency, potency and purity of n-3 fatty acid supplements. Therefore, the aim of this article is to equip health professionals with proper knowledge with special reference to the bioavailability of fish oil supplements, reliability of labelling information, dietary intake recommendations, potential adverse effects and some general advice when purchasing n-3 fatty acid supplementsKeywords: omega-3 fatty acids, supplements, bioavailability, frequency of intake labellin

South African seed oils are safe for human consumption

Objectives: A diet that is high in fat and low in carbohydrates is advocated in the recently published The Real Meal Revolution. A suggestion was made in this publication that seed oils are toxic. The authors stated that available seed oils on the South African market were high in trans-fatty acid (TFA), as well as being genetically modified, and thus should be avoided. We compared three oils, i.e. canola, sunflower and olive oil, against internationally accepted standards, to determine the quality of these oils using gaschromatographic analysis, to determine whether or not there was any foundation to the statement pertaining to the toxicity of South African seed oils. Reported parameters included the fatty acid profile, TFA content, peroxide level and conjugated diene (CD) content.Design: Samples were purchased from local retail stores. Two independent researchers de-identified the oils, and stored them in numbered containers under nitrogen until commencement of the analysis. Hence, a blind sample of oils was received.Outcome measures: Twelve (n = 12) olive oil, 15 (n = 15) canola oil and 7 (n = 7) sunflower oil samples were subjected to analysis. CD and peroxide levels were conducted spectrophotometrically, and fatty acid content determined by gas liquid chromatography.Results: The total TFA content of the three types of sampled oils was below 0.5%, and the peroxide (meq O2/kg) and CD levels (μmol/g) were within allowable limits, as described in the Codex Standard for Named Vegetable Oils, as well as previous publications.Conclusion: The results demonstrated that the South African seed oils included in this analysis contained a negligible amount of TFA, adhered to international recommendations with respect to fatty acid content, and were well within the safe range for oxidation products. Therefore, the statement that South African seed oils are toxic is inaccurate, unscientific and without merit.Keywords: South Africa, seed oils, canola, sunflower, olive, fatty acid profile, TFA content, peroxide, conjugated diene conten

TECHNICAL AND REGULATORY CONSIDERATIONS IN USING FREIGHT CONTAINERS AS INDUSTRIAL PACKAGES

The United States (US) Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Environmental Management (EM), is actively pursuing activities to reduce the radiological risk and clean up the environmental legacy of the nation's nuclear weapons programs. EM has made significant progress in recent years in the clean-up and closure of sites and is also focusing on longer-term activities necessary for the completion of the clean-up program. The packaging and transportation of contaminated demolition debris and low-level waste (LLW) materials in a safe and cost-effective manner are essential in completing this mission. Toward this end, the US Department of Transportation's (DOT) Final Rule on Hazardous Materials Regulation Final Rule issued January 26, 2004, included a new provision authorizing the use of Freight Containers (e.g., 20 and 40-foot ISO Containers) as Industrial Packages Type 1, 2, or 3 (IP-1, IP-2, and IP-3). This paper will discuss the technical and regulatory considerations in using these newly authorized and large packages for the packaging and transportation of LLW materials

Malondialdehyde Acetaldehyde Adducts (MAA-Adducts) Direct Distinctive Pro-Inflammatory Responses in Endothelial and Macrophage Cell Lines

Chronic inflammation plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. At present, the mechanism(s) by which inflammation contributes to this disease isnot entirely understood. Inflammation is known to induce oxidative stress, of which one consequence is lipid peroxidation. This process leads to the production of malondialdehyde (MDA), which can subsequently break down to form acetaldehyde (AA). These two aldehyde by-products can covalently interact with the ε-amino group of lysineswithin proteins and lipoproteins leading to the formation of highly immunogenic malondialdehyde-acetaldehyde adducts (MAA-adducts). The aim of this study was to determine the in-vitro cytokine response of endothelial cells and macrophages treated with MAA-modified human serum albumin (HSA-MAA) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL-MAA). In addition, cells isolated from mice with exposure to MAA and high fat diets were stained and imaged for uptake of the modified macromolecules of interest. We found that exposure of endothelial cells resulted in increased expression of IL-6, TNF-α, ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and MCP-1 in response to incubation with HSA-MAA; whereas, the same treatment of macrophages resulted in increased expression of IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1b. LDL-MAA incubationresulted in increased TNF-α expression in macrophages, but MCP-1 was elevated in endothelial cells. Interestingly, the quantitative and qualitative uptake of triglycerides was increased in both endothelial and macrophage cells when exposed to LDL-MAA compared to LDL alone. The results of these studies demonstrate that different MAA-adducts elicit unique responses in different cell types. Additionally, the presence of MAA appears to modulate the cells leading to increased uptake of triglycerides and further progression of the inflammatory response.https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/emet_posters/1003/thumbnail.jp

Tourism policy and destination marketing in developing countries: the chain of influence

Tourism marketers including destination marketing organisations (DMOs) and international tour operators play a pivotal role in destination marketing, especially in creating destination images. These images, apparent in tourist brochures, are designed to influence tourist decision-making and behaviour. This paper proposes the concept of a “chain of influence” in destination marketing and image-making, suggesting that the content of marketing materials is influenced by the priorities of those who design these materials, e.g. tour operators and DMOs. A content analysis of 2,000 pictures from DMO and tour operator brochures revealed synergies and divergence between these marketers. The brochure content was then compared to the South African tourism policy, concluding that the dominant factor in the chain of influence in the South African context is in fact its organic image

Superconducing Alloys with Weak and Strong Scattering: Anderson's Theorem and a Superconductor-Insulator Transition

We have studied the effects of strong impurity scattering on disordered superconductors beyond the low impurity concentration limit. By applying the full CPA to a superconductiong A-B binary alloy, we calculated the fluctuations of the local order parameters $\Delta_{A}, \Delta_{B}$ and charge densities, $n_{A}, n_{B}$ for weak and strong on site disorder. We find that for narrow band alloy s-wav e superconductors the conditions for Anderson's theorem are satisfied in general only for the case of particle-hole symmetry. In this case it is satisfied regardless whether we are in the weak or strong scattering regimes. Interestingly, we find that strong scattering leads to band splitting and in this regime for any band filling we have a critical concentration where a superconductor-insulator quantum phase transition occurs at T=0.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figure