New Hampshire Health News Digest

Carbohydrate nutrition and inflammatory disease mortality in older adults -- Buyken et al. 92 (3): 634 -- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Background: Several studies suggest that carbohydrate nutrition is related to oxidative stress and inflammatory markers. Objective: We examined whether dietary glycemic index (GI), dietary fiber, and carbohydrate-containing food groups were associated with the mortality attributable to noncardiovascular, noncancer inflammatory disease in an older Australian cohort. Conclusion: These data provide new epidemiologic evidence of a potentially important link between GI and inflammatory disease mortality among older women.

Too Much Sugar Is Bad, But Which Sugar Is Worse: Fructose Or Glucose? : ScienceDaily (Apr. 25, 2009) — In 2005, the average American consumed 64kg of added sugar, a sizeable proportion of which came through drinking soft drinks. Now, in a 10-week study, Peter Havel and colleagues, at the University of California at Davis, Davis, have provided evidence that human consumption of fructose-sweetened but not glucose-sweetened beverages can adversely affect both sensitivity to the hormone insulin and how the body handles fats, creating medical conditions that increase susceptibility to heart attack and stroke." In the study, overweight and obese individuals consumed glucose- or fructose-sweetened beverages that provided 25% of their energy requirements for 10 weeks. During this period, individuals in both groups put on about the same amount of weight, but only those consuming fructose-sweetened beverages exhibited an increase in intraabdominal fat. Further, only these individuals became...

Fructose sugar makes maturing human fat cells fatter, less insulin-sensitive, study finds Fructose Sugar Makes Maturing Human Fat Cells Fatter, Less Insulin-Sensitive, Study Finds ScienceDaily (June 21, 2010) — Fructose, a sugar widely used in soft drinks and processed foods, often gets some of the blame for the widespread rise in obesity. Now a laboratory study has found that when fructose is present as children's fat cells mature, it makes more of these cells mature into fat cells in belly fat and less able to respond to insulin in both belly fat and fat located below the skin.

Cancer cells slurp up fructose, US study finds | Reuters Cancer cells slurp up fructose, US study finds Mon Aug 2, 2010 5:20pm EDT * Study shows fructose used differently from glucose * Findings challenge common wisdom about sugars WASHINGTON Aug 2 (Reuters) - Pancreatic tumor cells use fructose to divide and proliferate, U.S. researchers said on Monday in a study that challenges the common wisdom that all sugars are the same. Tumor cells fed both glucose and fructose used the two sugars in two different ways, the team at the University of California Los Angeles found. They said their finding, published in the journal Cancer Research, may help explain other studies that have linked fructose intake with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancer types. "These findings show that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation," Dr. Anthony Heaney of UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center and colleagues wrote. "They have major significance for cancer pa...

Feds admit storing checkpoint body scan images | Privacy Inc. - CNET News For the last few years, federal agencies have defended body scanning by insisting that all images will be discarded as soon as they're viewed. The Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer, for instance, that "scanned images cannot be stored or recorded." Now it turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images after all. The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse. This follows an earlier disclosure (PDF) by the TSA that it requires all airport body scanners it purchases to be able to store and transmit images for "testing, training, and evaluation purposes." The agency says, however, that those capabilities are not normally activated when the devices are installed at airports. Body scanners ...