The eNutrition Academy: Supporting a New Generation of Nutritional Scientists around the World.

Nutrition training and building capacity to provide a competent workforce to support national and regional efforts to combat malnutrition remain a major challenge in Africa and other developing regions of the world. The capacity to provide the necessary intellectual drive for nutrition research, policy, and practice in countries lacking in readiness for nutrition actions is imperative to improve the health of their people. To help address this need, the eNutrition Academy (eNA) was formed as a global partnership organization by the African Nutrition Society, the Federation of African Nutrition Societies, the Nutrition Society of the United Kingdom and Ireland, the ASN, and the International Union of Nutritional Sciences, supported by Cambridge University Press.

Capacity building in public health nutrition.

The aim of the present paper is to review capacity building in public health nutrition (PHN), the need for which has been stressed for many years by a range of academics, national and international organisations. Although great strides have been made worldwide in the science of nutrition, there remain many problems of undernutrition and increasingly of obesity and related chronic diseases. The main emphasis in capacity building has been on the nutrition and health workforce, but the causes of these health problems are multifactorial and require collaboration across sectors in their solution.

Iron, meat and health.

This article is a summary of the publication "Iron and Health" by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) to the U.K. Government (2010), which reviews the dietary intake of iron and the impact of different dietary patterns on the nutritional and health status of the U.

Post-prandial iron absorption in humans: comparison between HFE genotypes and iron deficiency anaemia.

Background & Aims: Measurement of serum iron increase after ingestion of a meal could be an efficient method of comparing post-prandial iron absorption between groups of individuals. We determined whether the rise in post-prandial serum iron is increased in fully treated patients with hereditary haemochromatosis (HFE C282Y+/+; HH) compared to iron deficiency anaemia (IDA), iron-replete heterozygous subjects (HFE C282Y+/-) and iron-replete controls (HFE C282Y-/-).

Methods: Serum iron increase was measured over 4h after a meal containing 13.

Risk factors for cardiovascular disease in patients with anorexia nervosa.

Background: hypercholesterolemia, hypercortisolemia and low levels of essential fatty acids, oestrogens and antioxidant vitamins are more prevalent in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) than in the general population.

Objective: This study aims (1) to compare cardiovascular risk parameters in-patients with AN and controls, and (2) to compare the parameters in-patients on admission and at four month follow up.

Methods: Blood samples and anthropometry were taken from patients with AN on admission (N=30) and matched controls (N=30).

A food-group based algorithm to predict non-heme iron absorption.

Objective: To develop an algorithm to predict the percentage non-heme iron absorption based on the foods contained in a meal (wholemeal cereal, tea, cheese, etc.). Existing algorithms use food constituents (phytate, polyphenols, calcium, etc.

Proton pump inhibitors suppress absorption of dietary non-haem iron in hereditary haemochromatosis.

Background And Aims: During the long-term treatment of patients with hereditary haemochromatosis (HH) the authors observed that proton pump inhibitors (PPI) reduced the requirement for maintenance phlebotomy. Gastric acid plays a crucial role in non-haem iron absorption and the authors performed a case review and intervention study to investigate if PPI-induced suppression of gastric acid would reduce dietary iron absorption in C282Y homozygous patients.

Methods: Phlebotomy requirements to keep serum ferritin approximately 50 microg/l before (mean 6.

Iron bioavailability: UK Food Standards Agency workshop report.

The UK Food Standards Agency convened a group of expert scientists to review current research investigating factors affecting iron status and the bioavailability of dietary iron. Results presented at the workshop show menstrual blood loss to be the major determinant of body iron stores in premenopausal women. In the presence of abundant and varied food supplies, the health consequences of lower iron bioavailability are unclear and require further investigation.

Serum iron curves can be used to estimate dietary iron bioavailability in humans.

Erythrocyte incorporation of isotopic iron (Fe) is the standard method for assessing iron bioavailability, but the process is expensive, technically difficult, and gives no information on the kinetics of absorption. The main objective of this study was to validate serum Fe curves as measures of dietary iron absorption because previous work demonstrated that serum iron curves can be generated with iron doses as low as 5-20 mg and that up to 20 mg iron can be added to meals without affecting relative absorption. In 3 studies, groups (n = 10, 10, 21) of Fe-deficient, mildly anemic women consumed meals of varying calculated Fe bioavailability, with and without added ferric chloride (10 mg Fe).

Cholesterol concentrations in patients with Anorexia Nervosa and in healthy controls.

Unlabelled: Argentinean women have one of the highest international mortality rates for cardiovascular disease and they are particularly vulnerable to eating pathologies. Cardiovascular risk is exacerbated in women with Anorexia Nervosa (AN), since high cholesterol concentrations have been widely reported.

Objectives: To compare blood cholesterol concentrations in AN patients with controls, and to correlate cholesterol with the body mass index (BMI), patient age, vomiting and tobacco.