The American journal of clinical nutrition
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The battle over salt has changed over the centuries from one of where to find salt sources to one of how much salt to use in a healthful manner. Many questions were answered by the INTERSALT Study across numerous countries and, yet, many questions persist. It is a love-hate relationship, an approach-avoidance paradigm. ⋯ In some cases stress unmasks the salt sensitivity. For instance, the social context can modulate blood pressure responses to a high-sodium diet. Therefore, 24-h monitoring of blood pressure becomes important, especially in salt-sensitive persons.
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This report addresses the current controversy about possible health hazards of dietary trans fatty acid isomers, which are created during hydrogenation of unsaturated fats to change their textural properties and melting points. Estimates of intakes are approximations based on limited data and problematic analytic techniques. Major contributors in the diet are fried and baked foods and margarine, in which partially hydrogenated vegetable oils may replace fat sources richer in saturated fatty acids and cholesterol. ⋯ The nutrition labeling issue is unresolved. The options, recommendations, and research suggestions in this report should outline for nutrition scientists the database needed before any new dietary recommendations or changes in nutrition policy concerning trans fatty acids can be made. The debate about trans fatty acids should not detract from dietary recommendations to limit the intake of saturated fat and total fat.
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The rise of blood glucose in normal and diabetic subjects after meals varies markedly and depends on many factors, including the source of the carbohydrate, its method of preparation, and the composition of the total meal. Classification of carbohydrates as simple or complex does not predict their effects on blood glucose or insulin. Rapidly absorbed carbohydrates, which produce large blood glucose and insulin responses, may be in the form of both sugars and starches. ⋯ The natural sugars in fruit and fruit juices raise blood glucose approximately as much as does sucrose and less than do most refined starchy carbohydrate foods. The optimum amount of sugars in the diet is not known. However, undue avoidance of sugars is not necessary for blood glucose control and is not advised because it may result in increased intakes of fat and high-glycemic-index starch.
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Carbohydrate sweeteners in the diet, which are sources of added sugars, have recently undergone changes that vary considerably among countries. The major driving force for these changes is a technological development that permits conversion of corn and other starches to sweeteners. Major changes in the type of sweeteners used in the United States began in the mid-1970s. ⋯ A UK Department of Health report followed in 1989. An overview of issues is provided, terminologies used to describe sugars and sweeteners are defined, the findings of the US and UK reports are reviewed, trends in the availability of added and naturally occurring sugars are evaluated, and recommendations for future assessment of sugars are discussed. The potential problem of underreporting of food intakes in national food consumption surveys is also reviewed.
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Review
The epidemiology of selenium deficiency in the etiological study of endemic diseases in China.
The distribution of chemical elements in rocks and soils varies widely. Selenium is one of the elements that has remarkable regional variations in distribution and bioavailability. This paper reviews the epidemiology of selenium deficiency in China in connection with the etiology of human selenium-responsive diseases, the well-defined Keshan disease (KD) and the less-well-defined Kashin-Beck disease (KBD).