A new study, published in the 7 February 2012 issue of the journal Respirology, has drawn a link between high soft drink consumption and increased risks of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A team of researchers led by Dr Zumin Shi, of the University of Adelaide, conducted research on consumption of soft drinks from March 2008- June 2010. The researchers used computer-assisted telephone interviewing nearly 17,000 participants aged 16 years and older in South Australia between... ...Read more »

For over 40 years, scientists and physicians have thought eating a high-fibre diet lowered a person’s risk of diverticulosis. A new US study of 2,104 people shows this may not be accurate. The study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at the Chapel Hill School of Medicine found that eating high fibre diets raised, as opposed to lowered, the risks of developing diverticulosis. The study also suggests the commonly-held belief that constipation increases the... ...Read more »

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, in the United States, claim to have identified a human receptor that can detect fat – irrespective of taste. Their research suggests that some people may be more sensitive to the presence of fat in foods. The researchers found that people with a particular variant of the CD36 gene are far more sensitive to the presence of fat than others. Their study is available online in the Journal of Lipid Research. The researchers studied 21 people... ...Read more »

A new study by American and British scientists has found that colourful food appeals more to children than adults. The study, published in the January 2012 issue of the American journal Acta Paediatrica, found that meals with seven different items and six different colours are particularly appealing to children, while adults tend to prefer fewer colours ‑ only three items and three colours. Cornell University’s professor of marketing, Professor Brian Wansink and the study’s co-authors, Kevin... ...Read more »

A University of Sydney survey has found that only 54 per cent of Australians aged between 18 and 24 know the recommended daily amounts of fruit and vegetables to eat each day. The survey of 106 university students aged 18 to 24 was published in the Dietitians Association of Australia’s journal, Nutrition and Dietetics. Many of the survey’s participants also did not know the correct serving sizes for three (grapes, carrots and lettuce) of the four foods tested in the study – although... ...Read more »

For years doctors have warned that too much salt is bad for your heart. Now, new research from the McMaster University, in Canada, suggests that both high and low levels of salt intake may put people with heart disease or diabetes at increased risk of cardiovascular complications. This is the second major scientific study this month that has questioned the health benefits of reducing the dietary intake of sodium. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) today,... ...Read more »

A clinical trial conducted at Swinburne University of Technology has found that increasing Vitamin B dietary intake could significantly reduce work-related stress. The results of the three-month trial, where participants were given a course of either high dose Vitamin B supplements or a placebo, have been published this week in the Australian journal ‘Human Psychopharmacology’. The study’s leader, Professor Con Stough from the Swinburne University of Technology, said at the beginning of the... ...Read more »

New Danish research published today in the American Journal of Hypertension claims that, contrary to previous findings, reducing the amount of sodium in one’s diet may not have an overall positive impact on heart health. The findings add to a growing body of evidence that the general recommendation of reducing dietary sodium as a preventative heath measure should be re-evaluated. The study titled ‘Effects of Low-Sodium Diet vs. High-Sodium Diet on Blood Pressure’ was undertaken by researchers... ...Read more »

An international team of scientists, led by researchers at McMaster and McGill universities, in Canada, has found that a diet containing plenty of fruit and raw vegetables could alter a gene that puts people at risk of heart disease. The researchers said the study involved analysing more than 27,000 individuals from five ethnicities – European, South Asian, Chinese, Latin American and Arab – and the affect that their diets had on the effect of the ‘9p21’ gene. The ‘9p21’ gene... ...Read more »

A study published this week in The Archives of Internal Medicine has found that high levels of mineral intake in dietary supplements may not be a good thing. Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Minnesota, in the US, assessed the use of vitamin and mineral supplements 38,772 women in the longitudinal Iowa Women’s Health Study. The women had an average age of 62. Supplement use was self-reported in 1986, 1997, and 2004. The researchers found that those women... ...Read more »