News
Omega-3 fatty acid may improve mental function
3 March 2010
Increased intakes of the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenonic acid may improve cognitive functions in middle age people, according to a new study.
31 July 2013
Decreasing fruit and vegetable intakes have triggered a comeback of scurvy and rickets in the UK due to insufficient supplies of vitamin C and D.
According to a new report, consumption of fruit and vegetables has fallen in the UK at a faster rate than in the rest of Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the US (1). On average, each person in Britain is eating approx. 4 kg (8 lb 13 oz) less fruit and vegetables a year than they were in 2007 (a drop of 3%). Britons eat 346 g (12 oz) of fruit and vegetables each day, which is well below the World Health Organisation’s recom-mendation, which roughly translates into five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. In 2009, an analysis of case studies showed that the number of children admitted to the hospital with scurvy (a symptom of vita-
min C deficiency) rose by more than 50% during the last three years (2). An earlier survey based on the blood vitamin C levels in 433 men and 876 women indicated that an estimated 25% of the men and 16% of the women in the low-income/materially deprived population had plasma vitamin C concentrations that were indicative of deficiency, and a further fifth of the population had levels in the depleted range (3). Reporting low-dietary vitamin C intake, not taking vitamin supplements, and smoking were all predictors of extremely low vitamin C levels. Nutrition experts commented that cases of scurvy and rickets (caused by vitamin D deficiency) seem to be coming back. The British Medical Association stated that food standards in the UK
are worse now than they were during wartime rations.
3 March 2010
Increased intakes of the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenonic acid may improve cognitive functions in middle age people, according to a new study.
27 June 2014
A new US review suggests that people with lower blood levels of vitamin D are twice as likely to die prematurely as people with higher blood vitamin D levels.
8 April 2010
Daily supplements of zinc may help reduce measures of anger and depression in young women, according to a new study.