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The consumption of large-fibre cereal-based breakfast with high carbohydrate and energy content on daily energy and macronutrient intakes is a healthy dietary habit. This has beneficial effects on the regulation of bowel motility and reduces blood cholesterol levels. It also prevents the onset of various gastrointestinal tumours. Ultimately it is seen to favour long-lasting good health.

A study of the effects of high intakes of fibre ingested at breakfast on satiety shows that a diet of highest fiber content gives feeling of maximum fullness and satiety. The satiety and fullness produced by a high-fiber breakfast is higher than that produced by low-calorie and low-fiber diets and remains at high levels till 4 hours after the consumption. Higher satiety and fullness feelings are observed for brans than the bran flakes.

Hematopoiesis and vascular homeostasis are closely linked to each other via subsets of circulating bone marrow-derived cells with potent activity to repair endothelial injury and promote angiogenesis. As a consequence, abnormalities in hematopoiesis will eventually affect vascular health. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a vascular disease characterized by severe remodeling of the pulmonary artery wall. Over the past decade, circulating hematopoietic cells have been assigned an increasing role in the remodeling, such that these cells have been used in new therapeutic strategies. More recently, research has been extended to the bone marrow where these cells originate to identify abnormalities in hematopoiesis that may underlie PAH. Here, we review the current literature and identify gaps in knowledge of the myeloid effects on PAH.

A 4-year old girl affected by intractable seizures was treated with ketogenic diet. The diet was calculated to provide appropriate protein intake for growth (1.4 g/kg body weight) and adequate calories (1600 kcal) derived from 4 parts fat and 1 part protein + carbohydrates. The child remained on the diet for 8 months and had a decrease in seizure frequency of 90%. No serious side effects were reported and it was possible to discontinue or decrease antiepileptic drugs. Our results confirm the efficacy of ketogenic diet in the treatment of epilepsy. Since it is known that 20 to 30% of all patients with epilepsy do not have their seizures completely controlled with established antiepileptic drugs, it would be useful to increase the application of this dietetic treatment in selected patients in Italy as it already happens in other countries.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the changes in mean skin temperature and the energy expenditure induced by drinking coffee containing 4 mg of caffeine/kg body weight. Twelve healthy, weight-stable subjects were studied (five males, seven females; mean age +/- s.d., 25.3 +/- 3.3 years; BMI 22.5 +/- 3.1). Energy expenditure (EE) was measured by open-circuit indirect calorimetry, and skin temperature was determined with thermometric probes applied to the four body regions indicated by Ramanathan (chest, arm, thigh, calf). The calorimetric and thermometric measurements were carried out for 120 min with the participants lying down quietly. A significant correlation was found between the total thermogenic responses (net responses) and the temperature changes between 90 and 120 min from the coffee intake. Multiple regression analysis using mean EE after coffee intake as the dependent variable, and mean skin temperature and body weight as the independent variables yields the following equation: EE (kcal/min/m2) = -1.44 + 0.052 (mean skin temperature) + 0.004 (body weight). (r = 0.71 and P = 0.01) Our results indicate that small interindividual differences in mean skin temperature could explain energy expenditure differences in subjects with the same body weight, body composition and physical activity. This, in turn, could help explain variations in proneness to obesity.

We performed bio-electrical impedance analysis (BIA) on 38 healthy adults with an initial body mass index (+/- s.d.) of 30 kg/m2 (+/- 5) before and after a low calorie diet. Five weeks later a mean weight loss of 4.2 +/- 2.3 kg was observed. According to BIA, fat-free mass (FFM) decreased in 28 subjects and increased in ten. In four cases the reduction was greater than the weight loss. At the end of the ten week diet regimen all 27 subjects followed up demonstrated a further weight reduction. According to BIA, FFM decreased in 22 subjects, increased in four and did not change in one case. In one case the reduction was greater than the weight loss. Although mean FFM values assessed by skinfolds and BIA were not significantly different before and after the weight loss period, no correlations were found among the individual changes in FFM evaluated by the two methods. Our results suggest that single frequency (50 KHz) impedance must be used with care in clinical conditions.

The value of mean skin temperature as an estimate of energy expenditure was verified in a sample of 10 normal-weight adult male subjects. Measurements were carried out with thermometric probes under conditions of rest and environmental thermoneutrality. Total heat losses were then calculated through a computerized complex mathematical formula. The value for mean energy expenditure obtained in this manner (100.2 +/- 7.02 kcal/h) is extremely close to the value for theoretical metabolism derived from the predictive equations in the literature (95.01 +/- 6.14). This verification of the validity of transforming cutaneous temperature data into energy expenditure, in accurately standardized experimental conditions, confirms the importance that the value of mean skin temperature, in the area of variability among individuals, can have in conditioning the energy balance at different levels, for a given caloric intake and with all other parameters being equal (age, sex, physical activity). In this connection, these results suggest that skin temperature may play a role in the pathogenesis of obesity.

In the present study, the plasma and erythrocyte Se concentration and the erythrocyte and leukocyte glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in 20 patients affected by multiple sclerosis (MS) were compared with those of a group of healthy controls. The Se concentration in the food was also studied and found to be less than the minimum values suggested by the US Food and Nutrition Board. The erythrocyte Se levels were found to be similar in both MS patients and in controls, while the plasma Se values were higher in the MS patients. The Se-dependent GSH-Px activity in the erythrocytes was found to be lower in the MS patients while no difference was found in the two groups as far as the leukocytes were concerned. Our data confirm that of other authors and indicate that the modified GSH-Px activity found in erythrocytes of MS patients is independent from the Se concentration and probably due to genetic factors.

The increasing use of the atomic absorption technique makes it possible to study man's trace-element requirements with a very accurate methodology. Some of these elements are present in the daily diet in minute quantities of micrograms which are, however, indispensable for the proper functioning of the body. But apart from such trace quantities present in conditions which are not affected by abnormal environmental concentration, there may be situations in which trace-element levels in foods and diets reach very high values. If very high, the levels may expose a population to the risk of toxicity; on the other hand, they may lead to wrong interpretations of trace-element requirements because they may lead the nutritionist to regard some high values as normal levels and therefore appropriate for meeting man's requirements. Inversely, they may also induce the nutritionist to regard lower values as unsatisfactory. Therefore, since these environmental factors, which are not always identifiable, can induce erroneous judgements due to overestimation of the requirements, it would seem appropriate, if figures on the total supplies of the diet are to be used, to refer to the tabled values of the individual foods of the diet, rather than to analyses of the whole diet ready for consumption. In fact, an abnormally high or low value of a trace element of any single food of a food composition table would have little influence on the calculation of the total supply of the diet, whereas the use of values obtained from meals which have been exposed to contamination during technological processes(e.g., through the cooking water of foods or cooking utensils) may result in overestimation. However, the analysis of global diets seems to be the method of choice in toxicological research, because in this type of investigations the basic elements of an evaluation often derive indeed from abnormal conditions identified at consumer level. Regarding the importance of copper and iron in haematopoiesis, the following hypotheses can be put forward: (a) In the haematopoietic phenomena occurring in intrauterine life, copper seems to play a role equal to that of iron, and perhaps even more important. (b) This role does not seem to be an autonomous one, but is mediated by availability of serum globulin to the child. In other words, this hypothesis relates the problem more generally to the protein nutrition of mother and foetus...

We compared the data referring to the percentage of body fat in 40 healthy adults (20 males and 20 females) of different weight, aged between 18 and 33 years, measured by biological impedance analysis and skinfold thickness measurement. Of these, 26 were shown to be of normal weight, 9 overweight and 5 underweight according to the body mass index (Weight/Height). All subjects were analysed for bioelectrical impedance with a BIA-103 (Ryl-Detroit) appliance and the skinfolds were measured with a Harpenden Caliper. The correlation between the values obtained with the two methods was shown to be linear and highly significant for both sexes (males: r = 0.71; females: r = 0.77). The study also showed that the content of body fat was higher than the mean values indicated in the literature for the age range considered in 23% of the males and 31% of the females of normal weight.

Female Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a torula diet or wheat diets containing 4 levels of Se partially supplemented (24-402 ppb) for 120 days. Selenium content and glutathione-peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in plasma and erythrocytes were measured every 20 days. In rats fed torula diet or basal wheat diet, plasma Se (P-Se) increased for up to 60 days, then remained constant, while erythrocytes Se (E-Se) and E-GSH-Px decreased in basal-diet rats during the first 40-60 days, then increased. In rats fed supplemented diets, P-Se and P-GSH-Px increased more rapidly than E-Se and E-GSH-Px, plateauing at 60-80 days. The best correlation was found between P-GSH-Px and dietary Se indicating that this index is the most sensitive for evaluating changes resulting from different Se intakes. In addition, correlations became more significant with time. The results from rats fed a low Se diet suggest the existence of regulatory mechanisms working in different ways and at different times in plasma and erythrocytes.

40 wistar rats were divided into two groups which had been fed one year earlier a diet in which 30% of the caloric intake consisted of rapeseed oil and peanut oil respectively. Both groups were then fed a diet of 30% peanut oil for five months and then fed a normal diet for seven months. At this time each of the two main groups was subdivided into four smaller groups, each group receiving a different diet: one of 25% rapeseed oil, one of 25% peanut oil, one of 25% butter, and one internal control group. At the end of the experiment the rats were sacrificed by decapitation. One portion of each heart was used for measuring its fatty acid content and the remaining portion was used for preparing sarcosomes on which the exigen consumption was measured polarographically. It was found that no erucic acid was present in the hearts of the rats fed rapeseed oil one year previously, and then then refed the same diet in the present experiment. The mitochondrial respiratory activity of the treated rats did not show any significant difference with respect to the found in the control groups, unlike the first experiment.