naturopathydigest.com -- Critical Research

buy microsoft office enterprise 2007

buy Microsoft Office 2003 Professional sp3buy autodesk autocad 2009

Critical Research

Critical Research is a regular feature in Naturopathy Digest. Each month, we provide abstracts from studies published in the top peer-reviewed journals; each abstract includes the complete citation and an online link to the journal.

Whenever possible, this link directs you to a page where you can order the full text of the study, if desired.

This Month's Featured Abstract

Siesta in healthy adults and coronary mortality in the general population.

A Naska, E Oikonomou, A Trichopoulou, T Psaltopoulou, D Trichopoulos

Background: Midday napping (siesta) is common in populations with low coronary mortality, but epidemiological studies have generated conflicting results. We have undertaken an analysis based on a sizable cohort with a high frequency of napping and information on potentially confounding variables including reported comorbidity, physical activity, and diet.
Methods: Among participants in a general population cohort (the Greek European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition [EPIC] cohort), 23, 681 individuals who at enrollment had no history of coronary heart disease, stroke, or cancer and had complete information on frequency and duration of midday napping, as well as on potentially confounding variables, were followed up for a mean of 6.32 years. Data were modeled through Cox regression, using time to coronary death and treating deaths from other causes as censoring events as outcomes.
Results: Among men and women, when controlling for potential confounders and using those not taking siesta as a referent category, those taking a siesta of any frequency or duration had a coronary mortality ratio (MR) of 0.66 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.45-0.97). Specifically, those occasionally napping had a 12% lower coronary mortality (MR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.48-1.60), whereas those systematically napping had a 37% lower coronary mortality (MR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.42-0.93). Among men, the inverse association was stronger when the analysis was restricted to those who were currently working at enrollment, whereas among women, a similar analysis was not possible because of the small number of deaths.
Conclusion: After controlling for potential confounders, siesta in appar-ently healthy individuals is inversely associated with coronary mortality, and the association was particularly evident among working men.
Source: Arch Intern Med, Feb. 12, 2007;167(3):296-301.

Sleep, the body mass index and overweight status of children and adolescents.

Emily K. Snell, Emma K. Adam, and Greg J. Duncan

Associations between sleep and the body mass index (BMI) and overweight status of children and adolescents were estimated using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of 2,281 children aged 3-12 years at baseline. Controlling for baseline BMI, children who slept less, went to bed later or got up earlier at the time of the first assessment had higher BMIs 5 years later and were more likely to be overweight. Child age moderated the relationship between bedtime and BMI. In addition, the study reports nationally representative data on the sleep habits of American children ages 3-18 years old. This study underscores the likely importance of sleep on children’s physical health and suggests that sleep is important for understanding childhood weight problems.
Source: Child Development, Jan/Feb 2007;78(1):309-23.

Television watching increases motivated responding for food and energy intake in children.

JL Temple, AM Giacomelli, KM Kent, JN Roemmich, LH Epstein

Background: Sedentary activities, such as watching television, may disrupt habituation to food cues, thereby increasing motivation to eat and energy intake.
Objective: These experiments were designed to examine the effect of television watching on habituation of ingestive behavior in children.
Design: In experiment 1, all children worked for access to cheeseburgers in trials 1-7 (habituating stimulus). In trials 8-10, children in the control group continued to work for cheeseburgers without any dishabituating stimuli, whereas children in the other groups received either a novel food (French fries) or television as dishabituating stimuli. Responding for food and amount of food eaten were measured. In experiment 2, all children had access to 1,000 kcal of a preferred snack food. One group watched a continuous television show, and the control groups either watched no television or watched a repeated segment of a television show, which controls for the television stimulus but requires reduced allocation of attention.
Results: In experiment 1, both the novel food and the television watching groups reinstated responding for food (P = 0.009) and increased the amount of energy earned (P = 0.018) above the level of the control subjects. In experiment 2, the continuous television group spent more time eating (P < 0.0001) and consumed more energy than the no television and the repeated segment groups (P = 0.007).
Conclusion: These experiments show that television watching can dishabituate eating or disrupt the development of habituation, which may provide a mechanism for increased energy intake associated with watching television.
Source: Am J Clin Nutr, Feb. 2007;85(2):355-61.

Effects of folic acid supplementation on hearing in older adults: a randomized, controlled trial.

J Durga, P Verhoef, LJ Anteunis, E Schouten, FJ Kok

Background: Age-related hearing loss is a common chronic condition of elderly persons. Low folate status has been associated with poor hearing.
Objectve: To determine whether folic acid supplementation slows age-related hearing loss.
Design: Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial conducted from September 2000 to December 2004.
Setting: The Netherlands.
Participants: 728 older men and women recruited from municipal and blood bank registries with plasma total homocysteine concentrations 13 micromol/L or greater serum and vitamin B12 concentrations 200 pmol/L or greater at screening, and no middle ear dysfunction, unilateral hearing loss, or pathologic ear conditions unrelated to aging.
Intervention: Daily oral folic acid (800 microg) or placebo supplementation for 3 years.
Measurements: Three-year change in hearing thresholds, assessed as the average of the pure-tone air conduction thresholds of both ears of the low (0.5-kHz, 1-kHz, and 2-kHz) and high (4-kHz, 6-kHz, and 8-kHz) frequencies.
Results: Initial median hearing thresholds were 11.7 dB (interquartile range, 7.5 to 17.5 dB) for low frequencies and 34.2 dB (interquartile range, 22.5 to 50.0 dB) for high frequencies. Sixteen participants (2%) were lost to follow-up. After 3 years, thresholds of the low frequencies increased by 1.0 dB (95% CI, 0.6 to 1.4 dB) in the folic acid group and by 1.7 dB (CI, 1.3 to 2.1 dB) in the placebo group (difference, -0.7 dB [CI, -1.2 to -0.1 dB]; P = 0.020). Folic acid supplementation did not affect the decline in hearing high frequencies.
Limitations: The strict criterion for participation on the basis of serum homocysteine concentrations limits extrapolation to the general population. Folic acid fortification of food was prohibited in the Netherlands during the study, so baseline folate levels in participants were about half of those found in the U.S. population.
Conclusions: Folic acid supplementation slowed the decline in hearing of the speech frequencies associated with aging in a population from a country without folic acid fortification of food. The effect requires confirmation, especially in populations from countries with folic acid fortification programs.
Source: Ann Intern Med, Jan. 2, 2007;146(1):1-9.

Homeopathic Arnica montana for post-tonsillectomy analgesia: a randomized placebo control trial.

A Robertson, R Suryanarayanan, A Banerjee

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of homeopathic Arnica in reducing the morbidity following tonsillectomy.
Methods: Randomized double blind, placebo controlled trial at a tertiary referral centre. 190 patients over the age of 18 undergoing tonsillectomy were randomised into intervention and control groups receiving either Arnica 30c or identical placebo, 2 tablets 6 times in the first post-operative day and then 2 tablets twice a day for the next 7 days. The primary outcome measure was the change in pain scores (visual analogue scale) recorded by the patient on a questionnaire over 14 days post-operatively; Secondary outcome measures were: analgesia consumption, visits to the GP or hospital, antibiotic usage, the day on which their swallowing returned to normal and the day on which they returned to work.
Results: 111 (58.4%) completed questionnaires were available for analysis. The Arnica group had a significantly larger drop in pain score from day 1 to day 14 (28.3) compared to the placebo group (23.8) with p < 0.05. The two groups did not differ significantly on analgesic consumption or any of the other secondary outcome measures (number of post-operative visits to GP, use of antibiotics and secondary hemorrhage readmissions).
Conclusion: The results of this trial suggest that Arnica montana given after tonsillectomy provides a small, but statistically significant, decrease in pain scores compared to placebo.
Source: Homeopathy, Jan 2007;96(1):17-21.

Comparative study of polyphenolic content and antiradical activity of cloudy and clear apple juices.

Jan Oszmianski, Michal Wolniak, Aneta Wojdylo, Iwona Wawer

Clear and cloudy apple juices from Idared and Champion varieties were studied for their radical-scavenging effects. The polyphenolic content and composition of the juices before and after thiolysis were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection. Cloudy juices, especially that prepared from Champion variety, had a higher content of procyanidins than clear juices. Radical-scavenging activity was measured by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy using the stable 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical. All juices showed long-lasting radical-scavenging activity, and EPR spectra were recorded over time to follow the reaction kinetics. Scavenging of DPPH showed pseudo-first-order kinetics, which might be expected in the presence of polymerised antioxidants that prevent closer contact between the DPPH radical and hydroxyl groups. The content of polymeric procyanidins showed a linear dependence on the rate constant, suggesting that these compounds are mainly responsible for time-extended radical-scavenging activity. The antioxidant properties of apple juices were much better reproduced by EPR spectroscopy than by UV-visible measurements. The former method is especially sensitive to the concentration of polymerised or bound procyanidins, whilst the latter method requires transparent (clear) samples. Apple juices, especially cloudy ones, are a rich source of natural antioxidants that may be used in the pharmaceutical or food industry.
Source: J Science Food Agric, March 2007;87(4):573-79.

Normal-weight obese syndrome: early inflammation?

A De Lorenzo, V Del Gobbo, MG Premrov, M Bigioni, F Galvano, L Di Renzo

Background: In obese subjects, the adipose mass represents an important source of proinflammatory cytokines. We have identified a new syndrome-the normal-weight obese (NWO) syndrome-in women with normal weight and body mass index but whose fat mass is >30% of their total body weight and whose risk of developing obesity-related diseases is likely increased.
Objective: The aim of the present study was to verify the hypothesis that NWO women are characterized by early inflammation, related to body fat mass, and that their plasma proinflammatory cytokine concentrations are greater than those of nonobese women.
Design: Twenty NWO, 20 preobese-obese, and 20 healthy (nonobese), age-matched white Italian women were studied. Anthropometric variables and plasma concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors were measured and compared between groups.
Results: Plasma values and body-composition measures were significantly different between the preobese-obese and nonobese women. No significant differences in body weight, laboratory values, or CVD risk factors were found between the NWO and nonobese groups. Compared with concentrations in the NWO women, plasma concentrations of interleukin (IL)-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-alpha were significantly lower in the nonobese group and were significantly greater in the preobese-obese group. IL-6 and TNF-alpha concentrations were related to fat mass distribution in the NWO women.
Conclusions: The proinflammatory cytokines could be regarded as significant prognostic indicators of the risk of obesity, CVD, and the metabolic syndrome in NWO women.
Source: Am J Clin Nutr, Jan 2007;85(1):40-5.