Nutrition in brain development and aging: role of essential fatty acids.

The essential fatty acids (EFAs), particularly the n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPs), are important for brain development during both the fetal and postnatal period. They are also increasingly seen to be of value in limiting the cognitive decline during aging. EFA deficiency was first shown over 75 years ago, but the more subtle effects of the n-3 fatty acids in terms of skin changes, a poor response to linoleic acid supplementation, abnormal visual function, and peripheral neuropathy were only discovered later.

Trends in height and BMI of 6-year-old children during the nutrition transition in Chile.

Objective: We analyzed trends in height and BMI and their interaction in 6-year-old Chilean children over the last 15 years.

Research Methods And Procedures: We calculated height for age z-score (HAZ), BMI z-score, prevalence of obesity, underweight, and stunting from cross-sectional national school-based annual population surveys in 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996, 2000, and 2002. Using mixed model analysis, we determined the risk of obesity according to height over time as odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval and the potential influence of height and year of study on BMI z-score.

Diet, nutrition, and the life-course approach to cancer prevention.

Cancer results from the interaction of genetic susceptibility and environmental exposures. The diagnosis of cancer is age related; there is a marked increase in cancer incidence after the reproductive years. Nutrient and toxicant exposures are important contributors to the risk of some cancers.

[Evolution of the nutritional status of six years old Chilean children (1987-2003)].

Background: As a consequence of the epidemiological transition in Chile, the nutritional status of the population has changed notoriously.

Aim: To study the changes in the nutritional status of six years-old Chilean children from 1987 to 2003.

Material And Methods: The computer data base of a government institution in charge of the School Lunch Program (JUNAEB) was used.

Consequences of food energy excess and positive energy balance.

This paper discusses possible consequences of energy excess throughout the life cycle. Firstly we consider the effects of foods on hunger, satiety and satiation. Also, the changes in food availability and consumption in relation to changes in social and economic determinants of energy excess.

The case for strategic international alliances to harness nutritional genomics for public and personal health.

Nutrigenomics is the study of how constituents of the diet interact with genes, and their products, to alter phenotype and, conversely, how genes and their products metabolise these constituents into nutrients, antinutrients, and bioactive compounds. Results from molecular and genetic epidemiological studies indicate that dietary unbalance can alter gene-nutrient interactions in ways that increase the risk of developing chronic disease. The interplay of human genetic variation and environmental factors will make identifying causative genes and nutrients a formidable, but not intractable, challenge.

Defining and addressing the nutritional needs of populations.

Objective: To examine the present methods used to define nutritional needs, and to analyse the intrinsic limitations of the reductionist chemical, biological and medical approaches to assess requirements. To establish the necessity to incorporate the complexities emerging from a broader understanding of the biological sciences as well as to include environmental and social dimensions in addressing nutritional needs.

Method: Examples of the limitations of current approaches and the implications of these in defining potential solutions and policy options to address present nutritional problems are presented and discussed.

Infants with intrauterine growth restriction have impaired formation of docosahexaenoic acid in early neonatal life: a stable isotope study.

This study evaluated the arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) formation from d5-labeled linoleic acid (d5-LA) and alpha-linolenic acid (d5-LNA) precursors in infants with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) compared with control groups matched by gestational age (GA) or birth weight. We compared DHA and AA formation from deuterated precursors d5-LA and d5-LNA in 11 infants with IUGR with 13 and 25 control subjects who were appropriate for GA and matched by GA and by birth weight, respectively. After an enteral administration of d5-LA and d5-LNA, we determined unlabeled and d5-labeled fatty acids at 24, 48, and 96 h in plasma.

Supplementing copper at the upper level of the adult dietary recommended intake induces detectable but transient changes in healthy adults.

The health consequences of mild copper excess in humans are unknown. In a previous study, 2 mo of supplementation with up to 6 mg Cu/L in drinking water did not induce detectable changes. Here we assessed a copper supplement at the upper level of dietary recommendations for "healthy" adults.

Chile's national nutritional supplementation program for older people: lessons learned.

Demographic changes in developing countries have resulted in rapid increases in the size of the older population. As a result, health-care budgets face increasing costs associated with the declining health and function of older people. Some governments have responded to this situation by designing innovative programs aimed at older people.

Effects of chronic copper exposure during early life in rhesus monkeys.

Background: Whether infants regulate copper absorption and the potential effects of excess copper in early life remain poorly defined.

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess copper retention, liver copper content, and liver function in infant rhesus monkeys fed infant formula containing 6.6 mg Cu/L.

Visual maturation of term infants fed long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid-supplemented or control formula for 12 mo.

Background: Several studies found a benefit of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCP) supplementation for visual or mental development, but others found no benefit. Likely contributors to differences among studies are the amount of LCP supplementation, functional outcomes, and sample size.

Objective: We evaluated LCP supplementation in amounts typical for human milk (based on local and worldwide surveys) in a large cohort of infants by using sweep visual evoked potential (VEP) acuity as the functional outcome.

Community-based randomized double-blind study of gastrointestinal effects and copper exposure in drinking water.

We assessed gastrointestinal effects in 1,365 adults exposed to either < 0.01 (controls), 2, 4, or 6 mg copper/L of drinking water for 2 months in a randomized, double-blind community-based study. The risk of symptoms increased with increasing Cu exposure and decreased with time.

The challenge of improving food and nutrition in Latin America.

The Latin American Region has exhibited a marked increase in the consumption of high-energy-density foods (high in fats and sugars) and a decrease in physical activity, with rising trends of sedentary life among the urban population. Social and economic progress led to a decline in infectious diseases, while higher income fostered the consumption of meats, fats and oils, and sugar and reduced the consumption of grains and legumes. The result has been a gradual increase in life expectancy at birth and a greater burden of disease linked to obesity and other nutrition-related chronic diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and osteoporosis).

School-based obesity prevention in Chilean primary school children: methodology and evaluation of a controlled study.

Objective: To assess the impact of a 6 months nutrition education and physical activity intervention on primary school children through changes in adiposity and physical fitness.

Design: Longitudinal school-based controlled evaluation study.

Subjects: Children from 1st to 8th grade, 2141 in intervention and 945 in control schools.

Copper overload affects copper and iron metabolism in Hep-G2 cells.

Divalent metal transporter #1 (DMT1) is responsible for intestinal nonheme Fe apical uptake. However, DMT1 appears to have an additional function in Cu transport in intestinal cells. Because the liver has an essential role in body Cu homeostasis, we examined the potential involvement of Cu in the regulation of DMT1 expression and activity in Hep-G2 cells.

Iron, zinc, and copper: contents in common Chilean foods and daily intakes in Santiago, Chile.

Objectives: We determined the iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) contents of common Chilean foods and assessed the intakes of these elements in a population living in Santiago, Chile.

Methods: We selected foods most consumed by a Chilean population (n = 108). We performed wet digestion of the sample by using nitric, perchloric, and sulfuric acids.