Weight history over a forty-year time period.

Background: Mortality and disease risk assessments consider body mass index (BMI), among other parameters. Nowadays optimal BMI is discussed controversially as risk assessments are usually performed using BMI of arbitrarily chosen age points. A more comprehensive approach could be based on BMI history.

Blood vitamin and mineral levels in 7-17 years old Turkish children.

Blood vitamin (thiamin, riboflavin, vitamins B6, B12, C, A, and E, folate and beta-carotene), mineral (iron and zinc), alkaline phosphatase and cholesterol levels and hematocrit were assessed in 960 school-age children selected by random sampling from urban and rural regions of Turkey. Nutritional statuses of the children according to each index were compared with respect to age, sex, area and type of settlement. A biochemical deficiency was observed in 20.

Plasma antioxidant vitamins and subsequent cancer mortality in the 12-year follow-up of the prospective Basel Study.

Plasma antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E and carotene were measured in a group of 2,974 men participating in the third examination of the prospective Basel Study in 1971-1973. In 1985, the vital status and mortality of all participants were assessed. A total of 204 men had died from cancer, including 68 with bronchus cancer and 37 with gastrointestinal cancer (20 with stomach cancer and 17 with large bowel cancer excluding cancer of the rectum).

[Should dietary recommendations be revised?].

The dietary recommendations of the Second Swiss Nutrition Report are in part based on incomplete knowledge about nutritional patterns of the Swiss population and on controversial results of relations between nutritional status and health, thus do not fulfill completely the WHO requirements for dietary guidelines. A new set of recommendations would not be based on better knowledge. However, efforts to prevent the widespread chronical diseases, e.

Nutritional status, grip strength, and immune function in institutionalized elderly.

The effects of vitamin supplementation on grip strength and immune function was studied in a group of institutionalized elderly with a relatively higher prevalence of low and below acceptable biochemical parameters of vitamin C, pyridoxine, folic acid, riboflavin, iron and zinc nutriture. The vitamin supplementation has resulted in a statistically significant increase in the level of biochemical parameters related to added vitamins, and the number of subjects with inadequate vitamin values was reduced to zero. The improved vitamin status had a positive and statistically significant effect on the delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity one of the parameters of cellular immunity.