1. Soybeans: Good Source of Iron
A new study reports that p urified ferritin from soybeans is easily adsorbed in the body and could provide a new way of raising iron levels in low-iron populations.
2. Wholegrains: Reducing Metabolic Syndrome in Elderly
Research from the University of Maryland claims that eating more than three wholegrain servings per day could reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease in older adults.
3. High Carb Diet: Improve Insulin Control
A new review claims that a diet rich in carbohydrates may help improve insulin control, giving more support to FAO/WHO recommendations for a high-carbohydrate diet with low GI foods.
4. Grains in the News:
Fibre: Soluble on the Rise
Insoluble fibre, from wholegrains, is currently enjoying attention from consumers and the food industry, but interest in the soluble variety is rising fast, according to recent market research.
Grains: Boho Chic
Celebrities are known to influence fashion and hairstyles but apparently the ' boho-chic ' celebrity lifestyle is now invading the kitchen as sales of wholefoods reach record levels.
New Beans : Prim and Proper
A new variety of the bean called Prim Beans that claim to be ?flatulence free' may encourage more people to eat the fibre and protein-rich food.
Sandwich Diet : Bread is back
Branded as the enemy of the dieter over recent years, bread is set to enjoy a comeback with the release of a new book called ?The Bread for Life Diet'.
Purified ferritin from soybeans is easily adsorbed in the body and could provide a new way of raising iron levels in low-iron populations, reports a new study.
Dietary ferritin, an iron mineral surrounded by a protein cage, is proposed to be an underestimated source of bio-available iron.
The new research, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , looked at iron adsorption among 16 women eating a standardised meal, containing either the ferrous salt (FeSO4) or a purified soybean ferritin.
The randomised, crossover study measured iron levels after 28 days of eating the standardised meal. No significance difference was recorded in either whole-body or red blood cell levels of iron adsorption for FeSO4 or the soybean ferritin.
Lead author, Professor Bo Lönnerdal from the University of California, concluded: "Iron from soybean ferritin is well adsorbed and may provide a model for novel, utilisable, plant-based forms of iron for populations with low iron status."
The study has important public health implications, according to Professor Sue Fairweather-Tait, from the UK's Institute of Food Research.
"Research by Lönnerdal's group uses state-of-the-art techniques to measure iron absorption from animal and plant ferritin, and they have generated data that shows ferritin contains iron of high bioavailability," said the Professor.
"Increasing plant ferritin is one of the objectives of the HarvestPlus programme funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in their drive to eradicate iron deficiency anaemia worldwide."
"The results of the study on iron absorption from soybean ferritin provides important evidence suggesting that increasing plant ferritin should be an effective strategy to reduce iron deficiency in developing countries," she said.
Iron deficiency is estimated to affect half of all children in the developing world, and undermines the health of 500 million women of reproductive age, according to UNICEF.
2. Wholegrains: Reducing Metabolic Syndrome in Elderly | ( back to contents )
More than three wholegrain servings per day could reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in older adults, new research claims.
The observational study, the first to look at the relationship between wholegrain consumption in an exclusively older population, was started in 1981 and has up to 14 years of mortality follow-up.
MetS is a condition characterised by central obesity, hypertension, and disturbed glucose and insulin metabolism. The syndrome has been linked to increased risks of both type 2 diabetes and CVD.
"Our results do confirm that the association between wholegrains and metabolic syndrome can still be seen among an older population who may have different metabolic characteristics than a younger population," said lead author of the study, Nadine Sahyoun, from the University of Maryland.
The study, published in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vol. 83, pp. 124-131), required 535 healthy volunteers with an average age of 72 to complete three-day food records and undergo blood tests for metabolic risk factors.
Volunteers in the highest wholegrain intake group (3 servings per day) were statistically half as likely to develop MetS as those who consumed less than half a serving per day.
The benefits of wholegrain are proposed to be due to its favourable effect on total blood cholesterol, thereby improving lipid profiles. Other possible explanations included improved endothelial function, fibrinolysis, and coagulation.
The study also highlighted an important difference between wholegrain and refined grain intake.
"We observed in our older population that higher intake of refined grains was associated with higher prevalence of the metabolic syndrome. This was not consistently found among younger populations in other studies," said Sahyoun.
"This is probably due to the fact that this was an older population and, therefore, more susceptible to impaired glucose tolerance," she said.
A new review claims that a diet rich in carbohydrates may help improve insulin control .
The review aims to clarify current scientific knowledge of dietary carbohydrate intake and insulin resistance, giving a much needed 'progress report' on the state of current nutrition research.
Modern dietary advice to reduce the risk of diabetes is to avoid simple carbohydrates and sugars and to eat starch and complex carbohydrates.
"However, this approach assumes that simple sugars are digested and absorbed more quickly and does not take into account metabolic evidence that many starchy foods can produce even higher glycaemic responses than simple sugars," wrote author Dr Neville McClenaghan from the University of Ulster.
Insulin resistance occurs when the body does not respond appropriately to the effects of insulin and is a precursor and feature of type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes in the UK.
The review, published in Nutrition Research Reviews , pulls together numerous epidemiological and intervention studies to fully evaluate the effects of high and low carbohydrate diets on blood sugar control in people with and without diabetes.
"Collectively, the data described in the present paper support the view that high-carbohydrate diets do not adversely affect insulin sensitivity, and may offer some beneficial effects," said Dr McClenaghan.
The review also appears to support the method of ranking foods by their glycaemic index (GI). The system has been slow to gain public acceptance due to its complexity.
"GI values cannot be used in isolation and nutrient composition of the foods and overall dietary pattern are also important," he warned.
"Although an increasing body of evidence would suggest merit in adopting high-carbohydrate, low-GI diets, the charge that high-GI diets result in insulin resistance is unproven on the basis of current experimental data," he said.
While the debate about the validity of GI continues, it is widely accepted that a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet is associated with insulin resistance and diabetes development.
Insoluble fibre, from wholegrains, is currently enjoying more attention from consumers and the food industry than soluble fibre, but interest in the soluble variety is rising fast, according to Frost and Sullivan market researchers.
According to a recent market report, the entire fibre market in the US was worth $192.8 million in 2004, $176.2 million of which is insoluble fibre and $16.6 million soluble.
But while Frost and Sullivan predicts overall growth to $470 million by 2011, the soluble fibre sector is expected to increase by almost twice the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) compared to insoluble fibre ? 26.3 per cent compared to 13.1 per cent.
This balance is in sharp contrast to the European and Japanese markets, where soluble already has a greater share.
Fibre is edible matter, often from plants, that is not absorbed by the small intestine. When it passes through to the large intestine, soluble fibre, such as beta-glucan from oats and barley, inulin and polysaccharides, is fermented. It is understood to help slow blood glucose absorption and have a prebiotic effect (stimulate probiotic bacteria in the gut).
Insoluble fibre, meanwhile, are excreted intact, providing fecal bulking and helping to regulate bowel function and prevent constipation.
However although they have quite different functions in the body, most of the advice on fibre bundles the two together.
The IOM recommends that American adults consume between 28 and 35g of fibre per day, but in practice most Americans consumer only 15g. One reason for this may be because fruits and vegetables do not figure as largely as they should in the American diet.
The message contained in the USDA's new dietary guidelines was heavily weighted towards insoluble fibre, advising that people should eat at least six servings of grains per week, three of which should be wholegrain. But in fact Frost and Sullivan points out that the correct balance is the subject of some controversy with no nutritional expert having yet set out the correct balance.
Certainly the whole grain message is responsible for boosting the segment as a whole. But there are several consumer trends are stirring interest in soluble fibre in particular.
In particular, the low-carb trend that has apparently mutated into a low-GI, whereby consumers are keen to prevent peaks and troughs in their blood sugar levels. The approach was originally developed to help diabetics with glucose control. Despite some criticism that it is complicated for consumers to follow, it has gained popularity as an approach to weight loss in Australia and Europe, and the signals are that the US is following suit.
Celebrities are known to influence fashion and hairstyles but apparently the 'boho-chic' celebrity lifestyle is now invading the kitchen as sales of wholefoods reach record levels.
According to new research, the UK wholefoods market rose 20 per cent last year to £232 million with products such as monkey nuts, soya beans and red lentils now featuring on the weekly shopping lists of millions. A nd i ndustry experts say the trend is being led by celebrities, such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Jade Jagger, whose eating habits have helped to swell the popularity of health foods. Following her first pregnancy, Gwyneth followed a high wholegrain diet of brown rice and pulses.
Sales of brown rice, pulses and dried fruit have "rocketed" over the past year, according to Tesco . Data from retail analysts Taylore Nelson Sofres (TNS) shows the UK's wholefood market is now worth £233 million - up 26% in the past 12 months.
Boho chic celebrities have leant a dash of glamour to products previously considered "hippy food", said a spokesperson from a leading UK supermarket chain.
Red split lentils are the supermarket's best-selling wholefood followed by brown whole grain rice and couscous. TNS figures show a 57% increase in seed sales since last year. Nuts are up 32%, followed by fruit snack packs at 27% and dried fruit up 21%.
Cereal sales have risen 24% while pulses and lentil sales have seen a 19% boost.
The retailer's wholefood spokesman, Jonathan Church, said, "Not so long ago wholefood was still considered by many to be hippy food eaten by the Woodstock generation, but now it has finally entered the mainstream.
"Thanks to the radiant looks of boho chic celebrities such as Jade Jagger, Joss Stone and Anna Friel the trend has really caught on."
Many people are put off from eating beans by the much joked-about side effect of flatulence. However, a new variety of the flatulence-free manteca bean, grown in the UK, could help encourage more people to consume the fibre and protein-rich food.
Known as Prim Beans, the new variety was developed by Dr Colin Leakey who first started looking into flatulence-free beans in the late 1960s when he was working in Uganda. He noticed that mothers were reluctant to feed their children beans because they would develop colic. This meant that they were missing out on a very valuable source of protein.
Manteca beans have long been grown in Chile, and their no-flatulence property is believed to be due to the tannins in their seed coat. Dr Leakey found a way to make these beans suitable for the UK climate. Part of the rationale behind this was to give farmers another crop, which could help with crop rotation and reduce the need for agrichemicals.
Prim Beams are now being processed and marketed by UK-based Phaseolus, which sources beans from all around the world and soaks, cooks and freezes them for use by food manufacturers.
Phaseolus' Sandra Hooper says that she believes Prim Beans will have a good use in foods aimed at people who are more susceptible to digestive problems, in particular children and elderly people.
"I think kids' meals would be perfect," she said, "but it is yet to be proven how far this will push more people into eating beans."
Hooper said that Phaseolus' frozen beans has encouraged more food manufacturers to use beans in their products, and she likes to think that the company is contributing to a resurgence of interest in beans in the UK.
So far, the company has not found a food company that is prepared to market the benefits of Prim Beans, although Get Real, which has just started selling ready-to-cook organic adzuki beans, has expressed an interest in using them for a similar product.
But Rebecca Foster, a nutrition scientist for the British Nutrition Foundation, said she is not sure that the flatulence issue is what puts people off beans.
"The more you eat beans, the more your digestive system gets used to them and flatulence becomes less of a problem," she said.
She explained that intestinal gas results from colonic bacterial fermentation of the indigestible oligosaccharides, the carbohydrate in beans, and cited a small study which indicated that although there was no change in the quantity of gas excreted with long-term bean consumption over short-term, individuals reported greater tolerance and less physical discomfort the longer beans were in their diet.
Foster stressed that beans are an excellent source of nutrition since they contain many of the important nutrients we need ? that is, fibre, carbohydrates and protein.
A new book, recently released in the UK, has put bread back on the menu by asserting the kilo-shedding merits of ' The Bread for Life Diet'.
Olga Raz, a nutritionist from Israel, argues that sandwiches and toast, made taboo by the protein-laden Atkins Diet because of their high level of carbohydrates, are in fact good for you. She claims that eating eight to 12 slices of wholemeal light bread a day can help dieters lose up to 5kg in two weeks.
The theory is that bread's 'feelgood factor' makes people less likely to turn to sugary snacks. Bread's carbohydrate content causes the body to release tryptophan, which helps it produce the chemical serotonin, a mood-booster that means people are less in need of a sugar rush.
Serotonin also prevents the metabolism from slowing down, making it more likely that the person will burn calories than store fat.
But there is a downside: alcohol is banned and the dieter is expected to exercise for at least 30 minutes a day.
Raz, Director of Nutrition at Sourasky Medical Centre in Tel Aviv, said the diet was about eating regular, small meals, and keeping away from foods high in simple carbohydrates, such as sugar and processed cereals and from fat.
"I advise people to eat wholegrain and low-calorie breads, fresh fish, low-fat yoghurts, fruit and any favourite foods as long as they don't contain simple carbs or fat.
You must remember to eat every three to four hours. The way your body works means you should have snacks or small meals regularly," she said.
Raz criticised the strict regime of the Atkins Diet. "It is all about protein, and this is no way of living. We need many of the complex carbohydrates in bread and other foods, not just endless protein.
"People are really brainwashed that carbs are the enemy. This is true for simple carbs, like in sugar, but not for complex forms. Complex carbs are our friends. Eating bread, for example, makes the level of serotonin go up in your brain. Serotonin is important because it helps to stop cravings, improves your mood and tells your brain that you are satisfied with what you've eaten," she said.
'"I have spent the last 20 years working with obese people, and we found that wholegrain and low-calorie breads helped to stop their cravings and improve their mental health."'
Bread for Life dieters can eat as many vegetables as they like along with the bread (which can be spread thinly with butter, cottage cheese or cream cheese), one serving of fruit a day, three or four eggs a week, two to three tablespoons of olive oil a day, and plenty of water.
For three meals a week the dieter can eat limitless amounts of lean meat and fish, but must reduce their carbs by two to four slices that day. In addition, vitamin D and calcium tablets should be taken daily.
After two weeks of bread, toast and sandwiches you can add some beans, brown rice, sweet potatoes, muesli or high-fibre cereals.
Raz says the diet is already very popular in Israel and Russia and she hopes it will boom elsewhere.
The diet
8am-10am Two slices of toast with cottage cheese or a boiled egg. Coffee or tea, but if you like it sweet, make sure it's with sugar substitute.
11am-1pm Sandwich with wholegrain or low-calorie bread, filled with avocado, turkey or salmon. Limitless amount of vegetables . F resh fruit or low-fat yoghurt can be eaten as snacks.
2pm-4pm Scrambled eggs on one slice of bread.
5pm-7pm Large salad or sandwich with a kiwi fruit.
8pm-10pm Vegetable soup with toast.
11pm Low-fat yoghurt
Plus 7-8 glasses of fluid every day: tea, coffee, water or fruit juice. Olive oil is fine in moderate amounts. Three times a week, poultry or other light meats are allowed.
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