Ginger may help fight obesity and related disorders

A new review notes that recent epidemiological and clinical studies have built a consensus that ginger has beneficial effects against obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and related disorders--more commonly referred to as metabolic syndrome.

Ginger has these effects by regulating fat metabolism, suppressing carbohydrate digestion, modulating insulin secretion and response, inhibiting oxidative stress, and lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. Studies have also identified the mechanisms and cellular molecules involved.

The review is published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Exercising can protect the brain from Alzheimer's disease

The evidence is clear. Physical activity is associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, says a panel of researchers and not-for-profit leaders, led by UBC's Okanagan campus.

The researchers also confirmed that regular physical activity may improve the performance of daily activities for people afflicted with Alzheimer's. Their conclusions may have significant implications for the 1.1 million Canadians affected directly or indirectly by dementia.

"As there is no current cure for Alzheimer's, there is an urgent need for interventions to reduce the risk of developing it and to help manage the symptoms," says study first author Kathleen Martin Ginis, professor in UBC Okanagan's School of Health and Exercise Sciences. "After evaluating all the research available, our panel agrees that physical activity is a practical, economical and accessible intervention for both the prevention and management of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias."

Martin Ginis and her cohort reviewed data from more than 150 research articles about the impact of physical activity on people with Alzheimer's. Some of the work explored how physical activity improves the patient's quality of life and the others examined the risk of developing Alzheimer's based on the amount of activity in which an individual participated.

The panel concluded that regular physical activity improves activities of daily living and mobility in in older adults with Alzheimer's and may improve general cognition and balance. They also established that older adults not diagnosed with Alzheimer's who are physically active, were significantly less likely to develop the disease compared to people who were inactive.

"This is exciting work," says Martin Ginis. "From here we were able to prepare a consensus statement and messaging which not only has community backing, but is also evidence-based. Now we have the tool to promote the protective benefit of physical activity to older adults. I'm hopeful this will move the needle on this major health concern."

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, characterized by progressive neurodegeneration that results in severe cognitive impairment, compromised physical ability and loss of independence. The number of worldwide cases is expected to increase from 30.8 million in 2010 to more than 106 million in 2050.

Zinc acetate lozenges may increase the recovery rate from the common cold by 3 fold

According to a meta-analysis of three randomized controlled trials zinc acetate lozenges may increase the rate of recovery from the common cold three fold. On the fifth day, 70% of the zinc lozenge patients had recovered compared with 27% of the placebo patients.

The effect of zinc acetate lozenges was not modified by age, sex, race, allergy, smoking, or baseline common cold severity. Therefore the 3-fold increase in the recovery rate from common cold may be widely applicable. While some zinc lozenges have an unpleasant taste, the zinc acetate lozenges used in these three randomized trials did not suffer from such a problem.

The dose of zinc in the three studies was between 80 to 92 mg/day. Such doses are substantially higher than the recommended daily zinc intake in the USA, which is 11 mg/day for men and 8 mg/day for women. However, in certain other controlled studies, unrelated to the common cold, zinc has been administered in doses of 100 to 150 mg/day to patients for months with few adverse effects. Furthermore, 150 mg/day zinc is a standard treatment for Wilson's disease that requires treatment for the rest of a patient's life. Therefore, it seems highly unlikely that 80-92 mg/day of zinc for one to two weeks, starting very soon after the onset of the first cold symptoms, might lead to long-term adverse effects. None of the three analyzed zinc lozenge studies observed serious adverse effects of zinc.

Even though there is strong evidence that properly formulated zinc acetate lozenges can increase the rate of recovery from the common cold by 3 fold, many zinc lozenges on the market appear to have either too low doses of zinc or they contain substances that bind zinc ions, such as citric acid. Therefore, the findings of this meta-analysis should not be directly extrapolated to the wide variety of zinc lozenges on the current market.

Although the lead author, Dr. Harri Hemilä from the University of Helsinki, Finland, suggests that the optimal formulation of zinc lozenges and the best frequency of their administration should be further investigated, he also instructs common cold patients to test individually whether zinc lozenges are helpful for them: "given the strong evidence of efficacy and the low risk of adverse effects, common cold patients may already be encouraged to try zinc acetate lozenges not exceeding 100 mg of elemental zinc per day for treating their colds."

Belief increases buzz: Mixing energy drinks and alcohol

When told an energy drink is mixed in their vodka cocktails, young men feel more intoxicated, daring, and sexually self-confident, new research suggests. The effects of intoxication were stronger in those who believe that energy drinks boost the effect of liquor.

Previous studies suggested that mixing energy drinks with alcohol could mask the effects of liquor, leading consumers to believe they weren't drunk but, in a trial of 154 young men at the Paris-based INSEAD Sorbonne University Behavioral Lab, the opposite was found to be true.

The study participants were told they would drink a cocktail of an energy drink, vodka and fruit juice. Although all drinks had the same ingredients, they had different labels: Red Bull & vodka, a vodka cocktail or a fruit juice cocktail. The effect of the label alone on participants' self-assessment of intoxication was remarkable.

Researchers found that participants who believed they were drinking an energy drink and alcohol cocktail were more likely to believe themselves quite drunk and uninhibited. This was especially true among those who had a strong belief that mixing energy drinks with liquor would boost the effects of liquor.

Labeling the same cocktail as vodka & Red Bull increased perceived intoxication by 51%, compared to labelling it a vodka cocktail or a fruit juice cocktail. It also increased the young men's intentions to approach and "chat up" women, and their confidence that they would welcome it. Finally, it led also to more risk-taking in a gambling game. All these effects were stronger for the participants who most strongly believed that energy drinks boost the effects of alcohol and that being intoxicated reduces inhibitions and increases risk-taking.

On the positive side, the authors found that the Red Bull & vodka label increased intentions to wait before getting behind the wheel of a car by 14 minutes because of the perceived intoxication.

Yann Cornil, Assistant Professor of the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Pierre Chandon, the L'Oréal Chaired Professor of Marketing, Innovation and Creativity at INSEAD, and Aradhna Krishna, the Dwight F. Benton Professor of Marketing at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, published the results of their study in paper "Does Red Bull Give Wings to Vodka? Placebo Effects of Marketing Labels on Perceived Intoxication and Risky Attitudes and Behaviors", forthcoming in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

"Red Bull has long used the slogan 'Red Bull gives you wings,' but our study shows that this type of advertising can make people think it has intoxicating qualities when it doesn't," said lead author Cornil. "Essentially, when alcohol is mixed with an energy drink and people are aware of it, they feel like they're more intoxicated simply because the marketing says they should feel that way."

Labelling functions as a "placebo" in this study. People read "placebo" and see "fake" but the marketing placebo effect is a real psychological effect in which a brand influences consumers' expectations and, as a result, their behavior.

This study shows for the first time that there is a causal effect of mixing alcohol and energy drinks on perceived intoxication and real behaviors driven by the expectation that energy drinks boost the effects of alcohol, rather than the contents of the cocktails. All participants had the same drink yet their belief about what they were drinking had an impact on their behavior.

"Beliefs that people have about a product can be just as important as the ingredients of the product itself," said Chandon, co-author and director of the INSEAD Sorbonne Behavioral Lab. "Regulations and codes of conduct should consider the psychological--and not just physiological--effects of products."

According to the researchers, the findings highlight a need for policymakers and consumer protection groups to re-examine how energy drinks are advertised and labelled.

"Given the psychological effects of energy-drink marketing, energy drink marketers should be banned from touting the disinhibiting effects of their ingredients," said Cornil.

"The silver lining was that emphasizing the energy drink in the cocktail made the participants less likely to drive," said study co-author Krishna. "It seems that drunk-driving education is working enough to make people think hard about driving when they are feeling drunk."

This article has implications for consumers of energy drinks and alcohol, government regulators, and those who market new products which could be pitched in way that encourages reckless behavior.

The risks of vegan diets in young children

Experts at the 50th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) are today warning that young children who follow a vegan diet without medical and dietary advice carry the risk of a number of nutrient deficiencies, including vitamin B12, calcium, zinc and high quality protein, which can have potentially devastating health effects.

Studies have shown that children who follow a vegan diet are leaner and smaller than those children who consume meat or those who have vegetarian diets.

"It is difficult to ensure a healthy and balanced vegan diet in young infants, and parents should understand the serious consequences of failing to follow advice regarding supplementation of the diet. The risks of getting it wrong can include irreversible cognitive damage and, in the extreme, death. Our advice is that if parents pursue a vegan diet for their child, they must seek and strictly follow medical and dietary advice to make sure their infant receives adequate nutrition. Both mother and infant should follow advice regarding supplementation" advises Professor Mary Fewtrell, chairman of ESPGHAN's nutrition committee comments:

The biggest risk to vegan children is that of vitamin B12 deficiency. Foods derived from animals have been shown to be the only reliable source of vitamin B12 and a deficiency of the vitamin can have devastating effects. Vitamin B12 is essential to the creation of DNA, indispensable for the maintenance of the nervous system, and a lack of it can result in haematological and neurological disorders, causing damage in young children which can be irreversible.

Presenting to healthcare professionals at the ESPGHAN conference today, Professor Myriam Van Winckel said: "The more restricted the diet of the child, the greater the risk of deficiency and this is by far highest in vegan children, but the risk does not stop there. Vegan mothers who breastfeed also need to be aware that their children can develop vitamin B12 deficiency between 2 and 12 months because of the lack of reserves in their body at birth, even if the mother is not showing any signs of deficiency herself."

Infants on vegan diets are also at risk of protein and calcium malnutrition, a situation made worse because parents can be misled by milk supplements. Rice milk, almond milk and soy milk suggest that they are suitable substitutes for milk, but experts say these should be properly labelled as 'drinks', because their nutritional value is not comparable to milk. Maintaining healthy levels of calcium is important for ensuring lifelong normal bone density, and rickets has been found in toddlers on a calcium-deficient diet consuming large amounts of non-supplemented soy drink.

However, unlike vegan diets, varied lacto (ovo) vegetarian and semi-vegetarian diets are generally safe. Although long term follow-up studies are scarce, they do not show a detrimental effect of vegetarian diets in children but instead point to beneficial health outcomes compared to omnivore diets, such as favourable lipid profile, antioxidant status, dietary fiber intake as well as tendencies towards a lower risk of being overweight.

Osteoarthritis could be prevented with good diet and exercise

Osteoarthritis can potentially be prevented with a good diet and regular exercise, a new expert review published in the Nature Reviews Rheumatology reports.

During the expert review, researchers from the University of Surrey identified a crucial link between metabolism and osteoarthritis. Metabolic changes, caused by a poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle, trigger's the genetic reprogramming of cells in the body and joints.

Such metabolic changes impact upon the cells ability to produce energy, forcing it to generate alternative sources to function. The stress this places on cells leads to the overproduction of glucose, which when not used for energy transforms into lactic acid, which is difficult for the body to flush out. Abnormal levels of this acid in the body leads to the inflammation of the joint's cartilage which impedes on movement and causes pain.

By identifying metabolic changes in cells, it is potentially possible to control or significantly slow down the symptoms of osteoarthritis, alleviating the suffering of millions of people.

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis in the United Kingdom with 8.75million people seeking medical advice for the condition. This debilitating condition disproportionately affects post-menopausal women who are more pre-disposed to the condition because of biology, genetics and hormones. Currently there is no effective treatment for this painful ailment, with only painkillers available to treat symptoms and no known cure.

Lead author Professor Ali Mobasheri, Professor of Musculoskeletal Physiology at the University of Surrey, said:

"For too long osteoarthritis has been known as the 'wear and tear disease' and it has been assumed that it is part and parcel of getting older. However, this is not the case and what we have learnt is that we can control and prevent the onset of this painful condition.

"It is important never to underestimate the significance of a healthy diet and lifestyle as not only does it impact upon our general wellbeing but can alter the metabolic behaviour of our cells, tissues and organs leading to serious illnesses."

Most home kitchens in Philadelphia study would earn severe code violations

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If held to the same standards as restaurants in the area, most Philadelphia home kitchens examined for a pair of Drexel University studies would receive "critical code violations."

Researchers checked 100 Philadelphia homes and found that most had evidence of pest infestations and didn't store raw meat correctly. On top of that, samples showed that almost half of the kitchens contained at least one foodborne disease-causing organism, with listeria and E. coli found in 15 percent of homes.

"Most of the conditions we saw would compromise a restaurant's health score or be considered a 'critical code violation,'" said Jennifer Quinlan, PhD, associate professor in the Drexel's College of Nursing and Health Professions, one of the leaders of the two new studies.

Published in Food Protection Trends and the Journal of Food Protection and conducted by Patricia Borrusso, a former graduate student in Drexel's College of Arts and Sciences, and Quinlan, the studies sought to explore risks for foodborne illness as a result of food storage and preparation in people's own kitchens. Such research is sorely needed as most studies focus on food outside of the home, but few look at our own kitchens.

"There's actually not a lot of funding available to look at consumer issues and food safety," Quinlan explained. "In fact, the USDA program that funded this research was discontinued a few years ago."

First, Borrusso and Quinlan teamed with Drexel grad Shauna Henley, PhD, of the University of Maryland, to do a "visual audit" of the 100 kitchens across Philadelphia. In that study, the team used an auditing checklist tool inspired by one health inspectors would use for restaurants to check for unsafe practices and foodborne illness risk.

The team found that in 97 percent of homes where raw meat was present, it was improperly stored above "Ready-to-eat" food (food that is pre-cooked or does not need to be cooked). In some cases, the researchers noticed that juices from raw meat dripped down onto other food in refrigerators.

Refrigeration was an issue observed in many homes. Of the refrigerators observed in the study, 43 percent were found to be above the recommended 41 F. In fact, in 6 percent of the homes, raw meat and poultry were found stored at room temperature.

"Refrigeration slows down or stops the growth of bacteria, so if raw meat, fish and/or poultry are held above 41 F, it allows bacteria to grow more quickly," Quinlan said. "The higher above 41 F, the faster the bacteria will grow."

Evidence of pests was found in 65 percent of homes kitchens. That includes anything from visual sighting of bugs to rodent droppings.

All these unsafe conditions contribute to what the next study undertaken by Borrusso and Quinlan examined: The presence of foodborne pathogens in home kitchens.

In the same 100 homes checked for kitchen conditions, the researchers took samples from as many as six locations (refrigerator door handles, refrigerator shelves, refrigerator meat drawers, kitchen counters near the sink, and sponges or dishrags) and tested them.

The researchers found fecal coliforms (bacteria) in 44 percent of the kitchens in the study, with the related E. coli present in 15 percent.

In 45 percent of the homes tested, at least one foodborne pathogen was discovered, and 12 percent of the kitchens had more than one type. Listeria, which can cause an illness especially worrisome for pregnant women but also affects older people and those with weakened immune systems, was found in 15 percent of kitchens.

When the researchers looked at the locations of the bacteria, dishcloths and sponges overwhelmingly yielded the most contaminated samples, with 64 percent having bacteria.

Samples from the kitchen sink contained the most fecal bacteria, but refrigerator handles were actually the cleanest areas.

"Bacteria love moist environments to grow and dishcloths and sponges have both that moist environment and maybe some food remnants, too," Quinlan said. "This makes a perfect place for bacteria to thrive."

As such, Quinlan said she's become "religious about microwaving my sponge" for a minute each day after she conducted this research, as microwaving kills many pathogens.

Refrigerators operating at higher temperatures were linked with higher counts of Listeria, while bacteria counts were uniformly higher in homes that lacked sanitizer, disinfectant products or soap in the kitchen.

To help combat the biological threats in personal kitchens, Borrusso and Quinlan concluded that there needs to be better education on safe practices in the kitchen.

"We need to identify and use more innovative and modern technology to educate consumers about these issues at the time when they would be receptive to that information," Quinlan said. "For example, if I am searching for a recipe for chicken, have something appear with safe handling techniques for chicken."