News
Vitamin B6 may slash colorectal cancer risk
21 May 2009
Increased intake of vitamin B6 from diet and supplements may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by over 50%.
26 September 2012
According to a new Spanish study, vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy could hinder infants' brain and motor development.
In the observational study, the blood vitamin D concentrations of 1,820 mothers were measured during pregnancy and their infants' mental and psychomotor scores were noted at 14 months of age (1). The study results showed that the average vitamin D level of the mothers during pregnancy was 29.6 ng/mL. Twenty percent of the women were vitamin D deficient, while another 32% showed insufficient vitamin D levels. After adjusting for confounders such as birth weight, maternal age, mother’s level of education, and whether the mother smoke or drank during pregnancy, the researchers found that infants whose mothers' vitamin D levels were above 30 ng/mL displayed higher mental and psychomotor scores when compared with infants of mothers with vitamin D levels below 20 ng/mL.
The researchers commented that the measured differences in the mental and psychomotor development scores would not be likely to make any difference at the individual level, but might have an important impact on a wider scale, e.g., at population level. A recently published review confirms that more than one third of all the populations studied in the developing and industrialized world show insufficient levels of vitamin D (2).
21 May 2009
Increased intake of vitamin B6 from diet and supplements may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by over 50%.
1 October 2015
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common form of liver disease. The increasing prevalence of NAFLD in recent years is thought to be closely associated with similar rises in metabolic syndrome and obesity. There is no cure at present for NAFLD, but changes in eating habits can be beneficial, such as lowering your calorie intake, adhering to a Mediterranean diet, and consuming pre- and probiotics. Specifically, the antioxidant function of vitamin E when consumed in high doses appears to play a useful role in preventing further liver damage. Further, vitamin D has antifibrotic effects, which may prove an effective intervention in future NAFLD studies.
1 January 2016
It is a universal wish of parents around the globe that their children should sleep longer, deeper and wake as little as possible. There is growing evidence that good sleep is important for the child’s mental development. This article will examine whether simple nutritional intervention, for example with foods high in marine omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins or tryptophan can improve children’s sleep.