Publications by authors named "Lands W"

Large population studies show that polyunsaturated fatty acids are important for human health, but determining relationships between the health benefits and the fatty acid content has been hampered by the unavailability of labor-effective high-throughput technologies. An automated high throughput fatty acid analysis was developed from a previous procedure based on direct transesterification including the automation of chemical procedures, data acquisition and automatic data processing. The method was validated and applied to umbilical cord serum samples in an epidemiological study.

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Background: The worldwide diversity of dietary intakes of n-6 and n-3 fatty acids influences tissue compositions of n-3 long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs: eicosapentaenoic, docosapentaenoic, and docosahexaenoic acids) and risks of cardiovascular and mental illnesses.

Objective: We aimed to estimate healthy dietary allowances for n-3 LCFAs that would meet the nutrient requirements of 97-98% of the population.

Design: Deficiency in n-3 LCFAs was defined as attributable risk from 13 morbidity and mortality outcomes, including all causes, coronary heart disease, stroke, cardiovascular disease, homicide, bipolar disorder, and major and postpartum depressions.

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Every year, more young people start the slow progressive injury that eventually becomes cardiovascular disease and death. It could be prevented with nutrition education, but medical efforts focus more on treatments for older people than on preventing primary causes of disease in young people. Two avoidable risks are prevented by simple dietary interventions: (1) Eat more omega-3 and less omega-6 fats, so tissues have less intense n-6 eicosanoid action, and (2) eat less food per meal to lower vascular postprandial oxidant stress.

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Clinical intervention trials and animal studies indicate that increasing dietary intakes of long chain n-3 FA or reducing linoleic acid intake may reduce aggressive and violent behaviors. Here we examine if economic measures of greater n-6 consumption across time and countries correlate with greater risk of homicide. Linoleic acid available for human consumption was calculated from World Health Organization disappearance data for 12 major seed oils in the food supply for the years 1961 to 2000 in Argentina, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States (US).

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Aim: This review identifies deficits in current educational efforts for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Data Synthesis: Essential fatty acids in the foods we eat have a subtle but powerful influence on hundreds of different processes in the life and death of humans, understanding of which has been delayed by two attitudes in the biomedical community. One involves a bias towards expensive curative/treatment interventions that neglect prevention of initial nutritional causes of disease and death, and the other involves careless logic in interpreting evidence of causes of disease and death.

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The 2002 ISSFAL Meeting arranged a special evening discussion with professional dietitians about diet-tissue-disease relationships involving essential fatty acids and eicosanoids. The balance of eicosanoid precursors in human tissues differs widely, reflecting voluntary dietary choices among different groups worldwide. An empirical quantitative diet-tissue relationship fits these diverse values as well as other research reports on essential fatty acid metabolism.

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Abstract Many peptides bind to G protein-coupled receptors and activate intracellular signaling paths for adaptive cellular responses. The components of these paths can be affected by signals from other neurotransmitters to produce overall integrated results not easily predicted from customary a priori considerations. This intracellular cross-talk among signaling paths provides a "filter" through which long-term tonic signals affect short-term phasic signals as they progress toward the nucleus and induce long-term adaptation of gene expression which provide enduring attributes of acquired memories and addictions.

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When alcohol is a large proportion of daily nutrient energy, the network of signals for energy homeostasis appears to adapt with abnormal patterns of sleep and growth hormone (GH) release along with gradual acquisition of an addictive physical dependency on alcohol. Early relapse during treatment of alcoholism is associated with a lower GH response to challenge, perhaps reflecting an altered balance of somatostatin (SS) to somatropin releasing hormone (GHRH) that also affects slow wave sleep (SWS) in dependent patients. Normal patterns of sleep have progressively shorter SWS episodes and longer rapid eye movement (REM) episodes during the overall sleep period, but the early sleep cycles of alcoholics have truncated or non-existent SWS episodes, and the longer REM episodes occur in early cycles.

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