Spanish researchers seeking information on prevention of osteoporosis placed 127 elderly men on one of three different healthy diet plans – a Med Diet enriched with nuts, a Med Diet enriched with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, or a control low-fat diet – for a period of two years. Two important markers of bone health increased significantly with the olive-oil enriched Med Diet, but not with the other two diets, suggesting positive effects on bone.
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2012 August 1. [Epub ahead of print] [Fernández-Real et al.]

Commercially available sugar-sweetened beverages have not been traditionally consumed as part of the Costa Rican diet.  Because of the rising obesity rates in Latin American countries, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health designed a study to determine the association between consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity in Hispanic adults in Costa Rica.  The study involved more than 2000 adults and compared sugar-sweetened beverage consumption to BMI and skinfold thickness.  Overall, higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with increased measures of adiposity and increased BMI in Costa Rican adults.
Public Health Nutrition, August 2012; 15(8): 1347-1354 (Rhee J et al.)

Starting a good diet early makes a difference in one’s later years. That’s the conclusion of researchers in Maastricht, the Netherlands. As part of the Amsterdam Growth and Health Longevity Study, they assessed the Mediterranean Diet adherence during adolescence and young adulthood, and compared this to arterial stiffness measured by ultrasonography at age 36. They found that the women (all were women) who followed the Med Diet most closely had the healthiest arteries, with the least evidence of stiffening.
Journal of Internal Medicine. 2012 July 19. [Epub ahead of print] [van de Laar et al]

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that women who regularly eat avocados, olive oil, and other monounsaturated fats were 3.4 times more likely to conceive a child when undergoing IVF (in vitro fertilization). After studying the fat intake of 147 women, they found that those consuming the most saturated fat produced fewer good eggs.
Preliminary results presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (Istanbul) – not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal. 2012 July.

Scientists in Kuopio, Finland, reviewed four-day food records of 1261 older adults (age 58-78) to see which dietary factors might correlate with impaired glucose regulation. They found that those eating more saturated fat were more likely to show measures of impaired blood-sugar management, while those eating more whole grain bread and more dietary fiber were less likely to have glucose management problems.

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 2012; 66(7):819-24. [Epub March 14, 2012.] (Heikkilä et al.)

A group of scientists in Northern Ireland conducted a series of focus groups to explore the attitudes to and awareness of whole grains, perceived barriers and facilitators of whole grains consumption and feelings about how best to promote consumption. The focus groups were composed of those responsible for purchasing food in their household. They found that participants were generally aware of the term “whole grain” yet many barriers to consumption remained despite the increase in availability and promotion in the UK. Despite this it is noteworthy that after reading about health benefits, mothers of young children discussed introducing whole grains to their children in order to establish lifelong habits. 
Public Health Nutrition. 2012; 16(4): 743-751. [Epub July 4, 2012] (McMackin et al.) 

Researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada examined the glycemic impact of different commercial breads on twelve overweight and obese men at risk for diabetes. They fed the men five kinds of bread on different occasions — sprouted grain bread, 11-grain bread, 12-grain bread, sourdough bread and white bread — then measured glucose response. Sourdough bread and sprouted grain bread outperformed the other three breads in different measures of glycemic and metabolic response.
Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism. 2012; 2012:184710. Mofidi et al.

Whole grains are an important source of carbohydrates, but some fad diets discourage this essential food group. To study how this may affect heart disease risk, researchers analyzed the diets and medical records of over 40,000 Swedish women for 15 years. They found that women eating a low carbohydrate diet were at a higher risk of heart disease, and that every 20g decrease in carbohydrates per day and 5g increase in protein per day corresponds to a 5% higher risk of heart disease. This suggests that grain-based diets rich in carbohydrates, the centuries-old traditional food pattern of our ancestors, are associated with a lower risk of heart disease than low carbohydrate diets.
British Medical Journal. 2012 Jun 26;344:e4026. (Lagiou P et al.)

Researchers from Towson University and the University of Pennsylvania conducted two studies on a total of 486 participants to determine whether diet type (vegan, lacto ovo vegetarian, semi-vegetarian including pescatarians and red meat vegetarians, and omnivorous) was associated with eating disordered behavior including emotional  eating, restrained eating, and desire for thinness. They found that the semi-vegetarians were relatively the most disordered in terms of their food-related behaviors and attitudes. Vegans had the healthiest attitudes toward food, closely followed by vegetarians – a somewhat surprising result, given the inherent restrictions of the diets. The authors call for further research on the relationship between semi-vegetarianism and disordered eating.
Appetite. 2012 Jun;58:982-90. (Timko et al.)

This report documents the problem of childhood obesity in China.  One of the key contributing factors is the consumption of fast food.  Fast food establishments are growing rapidly in China.  Eating at McDonald’s is convenient for Chinese families and also signifies social status.
International Journal of Cardiology. 2012 June 14;157(3):315-317. (Cheng)

researchers involved with the PREDIMED trial compared inflammatory markers in three groups of adults involved in an intervention trial where one group’s diet was supplemented with virgin olive oil (VOO), the second group’s diet was supplemented with nuts, and the third group ate a low fat diet. After three months, both the VOO group and the nuts group had lower levels of several inflammation markers.

Pharmacological Research. 2012 Jun;65(6):577-83. Urpi-Sarda et al.

As part of the PREDIMED Trial, scientists in Spain studied 447 elderly men and women at high cardiovascular risk to find possible associations between polyphenol-rich foods common to the Mediterranean Diet and better cognitive function. They found that overall consumption of anti-oxidant-rich foods was associated with better cognitive performance, and that olive oil, coffee, and walnuts were especially associated with cognitive health.
Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. 2012 April; 29(4):773-82. [Valis-Pedret et al.]