SHR

Metabolic profiles of male meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians, and vegans It isn’t far-fetched to think that individuals with difference dietary habits might have different metabolic profiles. However, this issue has not been well investigated, leading Schmidt et al to investigate the differences in concentrations of circulating metabolites in middle-aged healthy men from the Oxford component of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Oxford). Using data from a food-frequency questionnaire, the researchers randomly selected 91-97 men per group who could be classified as meat eaters, fish eaters (who do not eat meat but do eat fish), vegetarians (who eat neither meat nor fish), and vegans (who do not eat meat, fish, dairy products, or eggs). Of the 118 total metabolites analyzed, concentrations of 12 sphingolipids (86%), 61 glycerophospholipids (79%), 6 acylcarnitines (67%), 2 biogenic amines (67%), and 12 amino acids (63%) varied across the 4 diet groups. In the...

Generally speaking, eating solid food is more satiating than drinking liquid calories. There are notable exceptions, such as soup and whey protein, but most people aren’t drinking those when they want to quench their thirst. Rather, many individuals consume sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), and accumulating evidence suggests that liquid carbohydrates are indeed less satiating than their solid counterparts and may lead to weight gain in the general population. A consideration of our evolutionary history may help to explain why. For all but the last 11,000 years or so, the predominant fluids we consumed were breast milk and water. Milk doesn’t run into the same issues as SSBs because only 36% of its calories come from carbohydrates, with the remaining being fat and whey and casein proteins. Water doesn’t run into problems because it is, well, water. We did not evolve consuming SSBs and it would make no logical sense for them to...

We all have moments of indulgence and overeating, and in the grand scheme of things this won’t have much effect on anything because there will be other days where we under-eat to balance out long-term energy balance. However, there are circumstances where the overeating can be chronic. The most well-known example is obesity, which is simply the result of a chronic energy surplus. (I use the term “simply” very loosely because although obesity is essentially the same as a chronic energy surplus, there can be many reasons for why the surplus exists, thus making obesity a multifaceted disease. But I digress.). Another example may be a bodybuilder or generic athlete interested in building muscle, where an energy surplus to promote anabolism is necessary. Under these circumstances, the body is going to be primarily in “storage” mode and this arguably makes what you eat more important. One aspect of diet that may...

Lutein is a prevalent carotenoid in nature that plays an essential role in plant health by harvesting blue light and protecting the chloroplasts from oxidative damage. Humans and other primates are unique in that we are the only animals to selectively accumulate lutein in the retina of the eye and brain. Accumulation within the retina bestows us with a normal yellow macular pigmentation and protects the eye against blue light and oxidative damage. In what is surely the largest experimental trial to date to investigate age-related macular degeneration (AMD), supplementing lutein alongside other antioxidants reduced the progression of AMD to its advanced forms by 10% compared to the antioxidants alone. Within the brain, lutein is the most prevalent carotenoid where it is believed to be neuroprotective through its role as an antioxidant. As outlined by a team of investigators from three Universities that seeks to understand the uptake and bio-localization of...

A Mediterranean diet may save the heart from obesity This conclusion comes from the recent work of Eguaras et al out of Spain. They prospectively assessed the association between obesity and incidence of major clinical cardiovascular events within categories of adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) in a sample of 19,065 Spanish university graduates. A food frequency questionnaire was used to score each individual from 0-9 points with more points meaning greater adherence to MedDiet principles. Overall, the participants were middle-aged at baseline (38 years) and at a low risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). As such, it is not surprising that after an average follow-up duration of 10.9 years only 152 cases of cardiovascular events were reported. This is about 0.8% of the study sample. Nonetheless, after adjusting for confounding variables, individuals with the highest adherence (>7 points) showed a 53% lower risk of having a cardiovascular event than participants with...