Is COVID-19 as Lethal as the Spanish Flu? The Australian Experience in 1919 and 2020 and the Role of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs).

We conducted a comparative historical study to interrogate Professor Peter Doherty's warning to Australians in April 2020 that 'COVID-19 is just as lethal as the Spanish flu'. We identified the epicentres of both pandemics, namely, metropolitan Sydney in 1919 and metropolitan Melbourne in 2020 and compared the lethality of the Spanish Flu and COVID-19 in these two cities. Lethality was measured by the number and rate of hospital admissions, death rates, age-specific death rates and age-standardised mortality rates (ASMRs).

Effect of increasing dietary calcium through supplements and dairy food on body weight and body composition: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

This meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials assessed the effect of Ca on body weight and body composition through supplementation or increasing dairy food intake. Forty-one studies met the inclusion criteria (including fifty-one trial arms; thirty-one with dairy foods (n 2091), twenty with Ca supplements (n 2711). Ca intake was approximately 900 mg/d higher in the supplement groups compared with control.

BMI and all-cause mortality in older adults: a meta-analysis.

Background: Whether the association between body mass index (BMI) and all-cause mortality for older adults is the same as for younger adults is unclear.

Objective: The objective was to determine the association between BMI and all-cause mortality risk in adults ≥65 y of age.

Design: A 2-stage random-effects meta-analysis was performed of studies published from 1990 to 2013 that reported the RRs of all-cause mortality for community-based adults aged ≥65 y.

Dietary patterns are associated with cognition among older people with mild cognitive impairment.

There has been increasing interest in the influence of diet on cognition in the elderly. This study examined the cross-sectional association between dietary patterns and cognition in a sample of 249 people aged 65-90 years with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Two dietary patterns; whole and processed food; were identified using factor analysis from a 107-item; self-completed Food Frequency Questionnaire.

An energy-dense, nutrient-poor dietary pattern is inversely associated with bone health in women.

Measures of dietary patterns have been increasingly used to capture the complex nature of dietary intake. Few studies have investigated the impact of specific dietary patterns on bone health. Areal bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine and total hip and total body bone mineral content (BMC) were measured using DXA in Australian women aged 18-65 y (n = 527).

The effects of a low-sodium base-producing diet including red meat compared with a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet on bone turnover markers in women aged 45-75 years.

A randomised, parallel-design dietary intervention study was conducted in women (aged 45-75 years) with prehypertension or stage 1 hypertension. The aim was to compare the effects on bone turnover of a low-Na base-producing (LNAB) Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-type diet (including six serves lean red meat/week) with a high-carbohydrate low-fat (HCLF) diet with a higher acid load (both >800 mg dietary Ca/d). Fasting serum bone markers (baseline and week 14) and 24 h urinary electrolyte excretion (baseline, weeks 4, 8, 12 and 14) were measured.

Low-sodium Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension-type diet including lean red meat lowers blood pressure in postmenopausal women.

Low-sodium Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets are base producing but restrict red meat without clear justification. We hypothesized that a vitality diet (VD), a low-sodium DASH-type diet with a low dietary acid load containing 6 servings of 100 g cooked lean red meat per week, would be more effective in reducing blood pressure (BP) compared with a higher acid load reference healthy diet (RHD) based on general dietary guidelines to reduce fat intake and increase intake of breads and cereals. A randomized, parallel dietary intervention study was conducted to compare the BP-lowering effect of these 2 diets in postmenopausal women with high/normal BP.

Phytochemical intakes of the Fijian population.

The dietary intakes of major phytochemicals in Fijian population were estimated from the consumption of 90 plant foods reported in five major surveys conducted in Fiji from 1952 to 2001. These surveys included the Naduri Longitudinal study, for which food intake data were collected on four occasions in 1952, 1953, 1963 and 1994), the 1982 and 1993 National Nutritional Surveys, the 1996 Suva-Nausori Corridor cross-sectional study, the 1999 Verata cross-sectional study, and the 2001 Fiji Food Choice study. It was found that the Fijian population generally had low intakes of total phenols (275 mg/day), and total flavonoids (17.

Dietary intake and the risk of coronary heart disease among the coconut-consuming Minangkabau in West Sumatra, Indonesia.

Several nutrition and non-nutritional pathways are recognised in the development and occurrence of cardiovascular disease. In many populations, high intakes of saturated fat are associated with elevated serum cholesterol concentrations and increased coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality. However, several studies report that hyperlipidaemia and heart diseases are not common among populations who consume coconut, a source of saturated fat.

Effects of a diet rich in phytoestrogens on prostate-specific antigen and sex hormones in men diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Objectives: To determine the effects of diets rich in soy and linseed compared with a control diet on biochemical markers of prostate cancer in men diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Methods: Twenty-nine men diagnosed with prostate cancer and scheduled to undergo a radical prostatectomy were randomized to one of three groups: soy (high phytoestrogen), soy and linseed (high phytoestrogen), or wheat (low phytoestrogen). A bread was specially manufactured to incorporate 50 g of heat-treated (HT) soy grits or 50 g of HT soy grits and 20 g of linseed as part of the study participant's daily diet.

Nutrition transition in west Sumatra, Indonesia.

Indonesia, like many developing countries, is experiencing a rapid urbanisation characterised by double burden of disease in which non communicable diseases become more prevalent while infectious diseases remain undefeated. This report describes the nutrition transition which occurred to Indonesia after economic transformation in 1966, based on information gathered from published reports. The major sources of information used in this paper were: a) a series of Indonesian National Socio-Economic Surveys (SUSENAS) conducted regularly by Central Bureau of Statistics (which provided a coherent picture of the nutrition transition in Indonesia) and b) data collected from two relatively smaller surveys conducted in West Sumatra (which demonstrated the changes in food and nutrient intakes over the period 1983-1999).

Cuisine and health: a new initiative for science and technology 'The Zhejiang Report' from Hangzhou.

There has been a rapid and remarkable recovery in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, during the 1990s, of a distinctive cuisine whose origins can be traced back to, at least, the building of the Grand Canal between Beijing and Hangzhou in the 600s AD and the stimulus to trade and migration, that was provided. This, along with exceptional health indices in the region, provides a basis for a new integrative study of the food chain, food culture and food science in regard to the human condition, which would be manifest by the degree of environmental sustainability, economic progress, social cohesion, health status, well-being and happiness that these dimensions of "food for humans " should support. Collectively, these have rarely been subject to systematic scholarly pursuit.

Nutritional indicators, peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets and survival in an institutionalised elderly population.

The objectives of this study were to determine the percentage and absolute counts of the peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets, and to examine the relationship between lymphocyte subsets and nutritional status, and total mortality in an institutionalised elderly population. Design The study had a cross-sectional and observational design. The sample of 115 permanent elderly residents was drawn from large geriatric institution in Melbourne, Australia.

Phenolic acid metabolites as biomarkers for tea- and coffee-derived polyphenol exposure in human subjects.

Tea and coffee are rich in polyphenols with a variety of biological activities. Many of the demonstrated activities are consistent with favourable effects on the risk of chronic diseases. 4-O-methylgallic acid (4OMGA) and isoferulic acid are potential biomarkers of exposure to polyphenols derived from tea and coffee respectively.

Dietary carotenoid intake as a predictor of bone mineral density.

Our understanding of the influence of nutrition on bone health is limited because most studies concentrate on the role of calcium and protein, while other nutrients receive less attention. Recent evidence shows a positive link between fruit and vegetable consumption and bone health. In the present study, the relationships of dietary intakes of preformed retinol and carotenoids, one group of phytonutrients abundant in fruit and vegetables, were examined in an Anglo-Celtic Australian population of 68 men and 137 women.

Phytonutrient deficiency: the place of palm fruit.

The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is native to many West African countries, where local populations have used its oil for culinary and other purposes. Large-scale plantations, established principally in tropical regions (Asia, Africa and Latin America), are mostly aimed at the production of oil, which is extracted from the fleshy mesocarp of the palm fruit, and endosperm or kernel oil. Palm oil is different from other plant and animal oils in that it contains 50% saturated fatty acids, 40% unsaturated fatty acids, and 10% polyunsaturated fatty acids.