New Hampshire Health News Digest

'U' Study: Vitamin D May Be Tied To Weight Loss - wcco.com : "A University of Minnesota study has found that higher levels of vitamin D on low-calorie diet may help people lose more weight, especially around the abdomen. Researcher Shalamar Sibley, M.D., headed the study that measured 38 overweight men and women participants who had insufficient vitamin D levels. The participants were monitored for 11 weeks while on diet programs that contained 750 calories fewer than their estimated daily needs. The study found that the subjects lost a quarter to a half pound more fat when their vitamin D level was increased."

Fat Head More On Alzheimer’s First, statins: If you want to delve into the chemistry of how statins affect brain function, you can read this article. In the meantime, here are a few highlights: There is a clear reason why statins would promote Alzheimer’s. They cripple the liver’s ability to synthesize cholesterol, and as a consequence the level of LDL in the blood plummets. Cholesterol plays a crucial role in the brain, both in terms of enabling signal transport across the synapse and in terms of encouraging the growth of neurons through healthy development of the myelin sheath. Nonetheless, the statin industry proudly boasts that statins are effective at interfering with cholesterol production in the brain as well as in the liver. Researchers are only recently discovering that both fat and cholesterol are severely deficient in the Alzheimer’s brain. It turns out that fat and cholesterol are both vital nutrients in the brain. The brain contains only 2% of the body’s mass, but 25% of ...

Choline: an essential nutrient for public health. Steven H Zeisel. 2009; Nutrition Reviews - Wiley InterScience Choline was officially recognized as an essential nutrient by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1998. There is significant variation in the dietary requirement for choline that can be explained by common genetic polymorphisms. Because of its wide-ranging roles in human metabolism, from cell structure to neurotransmitter synthesis, choline-deficiency is now thought to have an impact on diseases such as liver disease, atherosclerosis, and, possibly, neurological disorders. Choline is found in a wide variety of foods. Eggs and meats are rich sources of choline in the North American diet, providing up to 430 milligrams per 100 grams. Mean choline intakes for older children, men, women, and pregnant women are far below the adequate intake level established by the IOM. Given the importance of choline in a wide range of critical functions in the human body, coupled with less-than-o...