PharmacoNutrition Reviewed

For all those of you who are still thinking of submitting an abstract to the 3rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POLYPHENOLS AND HEALTH (ICPH 2007) taking place at the ICC Kyoto (Japan) from November 25-28, 2007, please be reminded that the deadline for abstract submission is June 30 !!!!

“(…) In recent years, much attention is internationally being denoted to polyphenols and health. Augustin Scalbert initiated International Conference on Polyphenols and Health in Vichy, France four years ago. It really stimulated and encouraged many people engaging in polyphenols on human health. The 2nd Conference at Davis, United States, was also a true success, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Andrew Waterhouse and Cesar Fraga who organized this really fruitful conference. Nowadays, polyphenols are recognized as essential functional food factors and prevailed from the dining tables to medicinal uses. However, more scientific evidence should be required for understanding the optimal levels of their intake and the safety as well as the functionality. We believe 3rd Conference is necessary to discuss these subjects among the participants who are key contributors to the fields. (…)” Junji Terao, President of Organizing Committee.

Image taken from: ICPH 2007

While I am still struggling to digest Richard Dawkins’ “Ten Commandments” raised in his new book “The God Delusion”, I just found on Ouroboros - Research in the Biology of Aging a hint regarding another list of “Ten Commandments”, this time for the future of aging research in the UK.
As I am particularly interested in diet & nutrition, the 6th commandment caught my attention as is states the word “nutrient” in connection with an individuals’ genetic make-up and response to enviromental impact.
The original article is freely availabe at BMC Geriatrics.

Source: Lancet 369: 1876-1882
Article Type: Meta Analysis
Authors: X Wang et al.

More than a decade ago, homocysteine has been suggested to act as an independent risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Luckily, homocysteine levels can easily be modified, i.e. reduced, in states of adequate folic acid/folate (FA) intake. Whereas nobody doubts that FA supplementation is able to significantly reduce homocysteine levels in humans, there is an ongoing debate of whether homocysteine is indeed a risk factor or an innocent bystander.
The recent meta analysis by Wang an colleagues argues for a beneficial effect of FA supplementation on human health, here stroke prevention. The risk of stroke was reduced by 18% and the effect of FA supplementation was greater in those studies with longer duration. Although this meta analysis aimed to establish a link between FA supplementation and primary stroke prevention, there are several confounders that ought to be considered (for details see CM Carlsson’s comment, Lancet 369). To get a better picture of the true potential of increasing FA intake in terms of health outcome, I also recommend reading another meta analysis which has been published in 2006 in JAMA 296 and confirmed that FA supplementation did not reduce the risk of CVD or all-cause mortality in patients with pre-existing disease.
Last but not least, for all who would like to get a quick overview on homocysteine, you might want to go to the following wepage www.homocysteine.net run by Axis-Shield, a diagnostic company based in the UK.

Image taken from: strokecenter.org

Source: The Journal of Nutrition 137: 1493-1495
Article Type: Opinion
Author: H. Sies

Several times we discussed already the pros and cons of measuring “total antioxidant capacity” in food or biological fluids.
Today, I would like to somewhat conclude this issue by referring you to a recent article by Helmut Sies from Düsseldorf University, Germany. As there’s nothing to add, I would like to cite the article’s abstract as it is:

“In this contribution, I discuss the applicability of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) data obtained from plasma to human health issues and the use of TAC data for dietary items in epidemiological applications. Against the background of knowledge that major antioxidant defense is enzymatic, the use of the term “total” is not appropriate. Because dietary phytochemicals undergo uptake and metabolism, extrapolation to health effects requires direct molecular information, not a global parameter that uses an arbitrarily selected prooxidant source. Suitable alternatives are given in measuring functional biomarkers (surrogate endpoints). Although using TAC may be helpful in comparing different food items, the extrapolation to their contribution of antioxidant defense in vivo and, further, to health issues, should be discouraged, with the possible exception of the gastrointestinal tract. This is of particular importance because dietary phytochemicals and other small molecules have nonantioxidant activities. Direct assay of urate, ascorbate, and tocopherol, the major small-molecule contributors to TAC, is recommended.”

Image taken from: Crodausa