This study at Emory University reported on Eat for Life, a health intervention initiative to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among African Americans. Fourteen black churches were randomly assigned to give various levels of intervention and support to participants. One group received a one-time motivational health counseling call, while another group received a series of health counseling calls, enjoying ongoing motivational support. In a follow-up after 1 year, fruit and vegetable intake was assessed by three food frequency questionnaires. Change in fruit and vegetable intake was significantly greater in the group that received several counseling calls than in the group that received only one. Ongoing counseling support appears to be an effective strategy for helping people change the way they eat, and Black churches are an excellent setting to provide and evaluate health promotion programs.
American Journal of Public Health. October 2001, Vol 91, No. 10: 1686-1693. (Resnicow et al.)
Africans carried their foods and dietary customs into diaspora throughout the Americas as a result of the European slave trade. Their descendants represent populations at different stages of a nutrition transition. West Africans are more often in the early stage, where there are many challenges and conditions like undernutrition and nutrient deficiencies. Many Caribbean populations represent the middle stages, with undernutrition and obesity co-existing. African Americans and black populations in the United Kingdom suffer the worst, from the consequences of caloric excess and diets high in fat and animal products. Obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, and certain cancers are prevalent in the African-American and Afro-British populations, and they are beginning to emerge in populations that never before faced these diseases, as diets become more Western.
Annual Review of Nutrition, 2001;21:47-71. (Luke et al.)
Scientists at the University of Alberta germinated wheat under various conditions to determine how to maximize the production of antioxidants. First, they steeped the grains in water for 24 or 48 hours, then sprouted them in the dark for 9 days. Vitamins C and E and beta-carotene, which were barely detectable in the dry grains, increased steadiily during the germination period. Grains steeped for 48 hours became wet, sticky, discolored and acidic-smelling after germination, leading researchers to conclude that 24 hours of steeping and 7 days of sprouting would produce the best combination of antioxidant concentrations and sensory properties.
International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, July 2001; 52(4):319-30.
Reviewing data from around the world, Barry Popkin assessed associations between activity, food intake, and health over time and found “a marked shift in the structure of the diet.” Not only are dietary changes tied to increases in obesity, but they are occurring so rapidly that both malnutrition and obesity are co-existing in the same households.
The Journal of Nutrition. March 2001; 131(3):871S-873S (Popkin)
Tanzanian researchers observed that sorghum, although a staple food in many poorer areas of the world, is not highly esteemed, because of limits in its nutritional and sensory qualities. In an effort to make this easy-to-grow grain more useful and more widely accepted, they studied three traditional processing methods: germination (sprouting), fermentation, and a germination/fermentation comination. They concluded that germination was the best approach for improving the nutritional and functional qualities of the sorghum.
International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, March 2001; 52(2):117-26.
Scientists in Madrid studied the effect of three different components from wine and one from sorghum, to gauge their effects on the growth of human melanoma cells. While results were mixed, they concluded that all four components (phenolic fractions) “have potential as therapeutic agents in the treatments of human melanoma” although the way in which each slowed cancer growth may differ.
Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry. 2001 Mar;49(3):1620-4
In a joint effort to determine the characteristics of buckwheat starch and its potential for a reduced metabolic response after meals, researchers from Slovenia and Sweden scored human test subject’s responses to an assortment of buckwheat products, including boiled buckwheat groats, breads baked with 30-70% buckwheat flour, and bread baked from buckwheat groats. The highest level of resistant starch was found in the boiled buckwheat groats, while the resistant starch levels in the buckwheat breads were significantly lower, depending on whether flour or grouts had been used. The conclusion? All buckwheat products scored significantly lower on the after-meal blood glucose tests, while also scoring higher in satiety, than the control group’s white wheat bread.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, January 2001; 49(1):490–96. DOI: 10.1021/jf000779w
Rice is a staple in Asia, where breast and colon cancer rates are markedly lower than in the Western world. Scientists at the University of Leicester, UK, analyzed the phenolic compounds in brown rice, brown rice bran, and white milled rice (from the same varietal) to look for known cancer-suppressive compounds. They discovered that several such compounds were present in all three samples, but were found in much lower levels in the white rice. They postulated that consuming rice bran or brown rice instead of white rice may be advantageous with respect to cancer prevention.
Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. November 2000; 9(11): 1163-70.
The Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood in England included mothers who gave birth to 7928 boys, 51 of whom had a genital defect called hypospadias, in which the opening of the urethra is not at the tip at the penis as it should be. After controlling for other factors such as smoking, alcohol use and reproductive history, only three factors – vegetarian mothers, iron supplementation with omnivore mothers, and influenza during the first trimester – were associated with this defect. The authors hypothesize that increased exposure to phytoestrogens may affect development of the male reproductive system.
BJU International. January 2000; 85(1):107-113.[North and Golding]
USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, in Beltsville, MD, asked twenty-six healthy adults to consume four different samples: glucose solution, traditional white (refined) bread, conventional whole wheat bread, or bread made with ultra-fine whole wheat. The researchers then determined the subjects’ glycemic response, and determined that both whole wheat flours (conventional and ultra-fine) had similar effects. They concluded that “the particle size of whole grain wheat flour did not substantially affect glycemic responses.
Journal of the American College of Nutrition, December 1999; 18(6):591-7
Research from Loma Linda University on a large cohort of Seventh-Day Adventists suggests that there is a significantly decreased risk of colon and prostate cancers, ischemic heart disease, and all-cause mortality among vegetarians when compared with omnivores. Vegetarians were also found to have lower risks of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and arthritis. The author notes, however, that these effects cannot be ascribed only to the absence of meat. For this reason, further research into individual food groups and nutrients – especially with regard to specific cancers – is needed.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1999 Sep 1;70(suppl):532S-8S. (Fraser)
In the American diet, dairy foods are the primary source of calcium. Plant foods can also be a good source of dietary calcium, especially those such as as broccoli, kale, and bok choy; other plants high in calcium such as spinach, rhubarb, and beans may have lower bio-availability of calcium due to compounds called oxylates and phytates. Because the calcium content of common plant sources is rather low, it is difficult for most Americans to meet their requirements exclusively from these foods. Individuals who choose not to eat dairy products should therefore try to include calcium fortified foods or supplements in their diet in order to meet recommendations, and they should limit salt, protein and caffeine, all of which decrease calcium retention.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. September 1999;70(3 suppl):543S–8S [Weaver CM et al.]
