Liver Cancer Report Reveals New Links: Coffee is Protective, Obesity Increases Risk
April 1, 2015 • For the first time, a report from an ongoing systematic review of global research finds that drinking coffee lowers risk for liver cancer, a disease that is increasing in the U.S. and the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.
Today’s report also finds strong evidence linking body fatness to increased risk for liver cancer. This means that liver cancer now officially joins the growing list of cancers caused by overweight and obesity. Sixty-nine percent of U.S. adults are currently overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Folic Acid Dilemma
April 1, 2015 • In 1996, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made it mandatory to add folic acid (FA) to grain products used to make cereal, bread, pasta and other foods. The ruling, which was intended to prevent neural tube defects (NTDs) – see Sidebar – has been very successful: The incidence of NTDs fell 36% over the following decade.
The FDA’s ruling was unique because the target population (women of child-bearing age) is much smaller than the population affected (anyone eating fortified foods), especially now that so many countries around the world add FA to wheat, corn, and rice. Luckily, studies around the globe prove that FA benefits the general population by lowering the incidence of heart disease, stroke, and even mood disorders…which is why FA is also present in multivitamin supplements.
Pinpointing Individual Susceptibility for Heart Disease
March 31, 2015 • The following has been reprinted from NC Research Campus, transforming-science.com
Eat a healthy and balanced diet. That is the first advice that people who need to reduce their risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) receive. But what if some nutrients in “healthy” foods interact with an individual’s genetic make-up in a way that actually increases their risk for CVD.
That is the question that Brian Bennett, PhD, is trying to answer. Bennett is an assistant professor of genetics, nutrition and heart disease with the UNC Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) at the NC Research Campus in Kannapolis. He is pushing the boundaries of nutrigenomics, which is the study of how genes and diet interact, to reveal new clues about individual susceptibility for atherosclerosis and other forms of CVD.
April 2015
April 22 • April 2015’s edition of SoundBites features: The Folic Acid Dilemma, Appetite for Life Lecture, Liver Cancer Report Reveals New Links, Training Your Doctor in Nutrition, and 2015 ISNN Congress.