A paper presented at
the 5th International Symposium on the role of Soy in Preventing and
Treating Chronic Disease, and published in the March 2004 issue of the
Journal of Nutrition, along with other proceedings of the conference,
found that diets which included soy protein, independent of the presence
of isoflavones, improved the 'good' HDL cholesterol levels, and may
reduce the 'bad' LDL cholesterol levels in subjects with
hypercholesterolemia. Women volunteers ate 55 grammes soy protein per
day, and men ate 71 grammes/day. Both the test group and the control
group were further sub-divided into diets including and excluding
isoflavones. The results found that the soy protein-enriched diets,
irrespective of isoflavone content, resulted in improved cholesterol
levels, and more specifically larger LDL particle size. Particle size is
thought to be significant factor in the rate of development of
atherosclerosis.
For more information
see Desorches, S., Mauger, J., Ausman, L., Lichtenstein, A.H.,& Lamarche,
B., The Journal of Nutrition, 134:574-57, March 2004. "Soy Protein
Favorably Affects LDL Size Independently of Isoflavones in
Hypercholesterolemic Men and Women."
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Dietary Fibre and Heart Disease – Review of Evidence Confirms Positive
Link
A meta-analysis of
10 prospective cohort studies which collectively followed health
outcomes of over 336,000 participants in 4 countries for 6 - 10 years
found an inverse relationship between total dietary fibre intake and
coronary health. The analysis found that for every ten gramme increase
in dietary fibre intake, risk of experiencing cardiac event such as
heart attack, or angina fell by 14%, and risk of death as a result of
coronary event, fell by 27%. More detailed analysis of sources of fibre
intake, found the inverse relationship between fibre from cereals and
grains and from fruit and coronary events to be statistically
significant but curiously, the researchers were unable to identify a
direct association between dietary fibre intake derived from vegetables
and coronary health. These results provide additional evidence of the
benefits of including plenty of high dietary fibre foods in the daily
diet, given the strong body of evidence that vegetables also play a very
important protective role in heart health, clearly more research is
needed to understand the anomalous finding regarding vegetable-derived
fibre consumption.
For more information
click on http://archinte.ama-ssn.org/cgi/content/abstract/164/4/370
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Revised Dietary Reference Intakes for Water
The US National
Academy of Sciences recently published its report on Dietary Reference
Intakes for Water and Electrolytes, based on recommendations from expert
panel convened by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of
Medicine. The report concludes that it is not possible to set
recommended daily intake for fluids/water, because of greatly varying
needs of individuals, according to ambient temperatures and physical
activity levels. Instead the report provides Adequate Intake figures for
total daily water which are intended to provide guidelines on
appropriate fluid intakes to prevent dehydration. For example, for men
aged 1 - 30 years the AI is set at 3.7 litres/day and for women in the
same age range 2.7 litres per day. The report notes that approximately
80% of AI is normally derived from water and beverages and 20% is
derived from foods. The report also comments that on the basis of
current evidence, it would appear that most beverages, including those
which contain caffeine or alcohol make a similar contribution to
hydration and thus may be included in daily fluid intake assessment.
For more information - Report ISBN No is 0 309
091705, or visit National Academies Press website
www.nap.edu
