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U of M study shows fast food as family meals limits healthy food intake, increases obesity risk

01-08-2007 · EurekAlert!

Families whose meals frequently consist of fast food are more likely to have unhealthy eating habits, poor access to healthy foods at home and a higher risk for obesity, according to researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Keywords: study, shows, fast, food, family, meals, limits, healthy, intake, obesity, risk, show, meal, limit

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Advance in understanding of blood pressure gene could lead to new treatments
02-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
Research by scientists at UCL (University College London) has clearly demonstrated for the first time the structure and function of a gene crucial to the regulation of blood pressure. The discovery could be important in the search for new treatments for illnesses such as heart disease, the UK's biggest killer. In a paper published online today in Nature Medicine, the team, led by Professor Patrick Vallance and Dr James Leiper, UCL Department of Medicine, reveal the role of the human gene dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH), showing that loss of DDAH activity disrupts nitric oxide (NO) production. NO is critical in the regulation of blood pressure, nervous system functions and the immune system. The role of DDAH is to break down modified amino acids (Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA)) that are produced by the body and have been shown to inhibit NO synthase. These molecules accumulate in various disease states including diabetes, renal failure and pulmonary and systemic hypertension, and their concentration in plasma (the fluid component of blood) is strongly predicative of cardiovascular disease and death. In a healthy human body, the majority of ADMA is eliminated through active metabolism by DDAH. Scientists have hypothesised that if DDAH function is impaired, NO production is reduced, and that this could be an important feature of increased cardiovascular risk. To examine this pathway in more detail, the researchers deleted the DDAH gene in mice. These mice went on to develop hypertension, or high blood pressure. They also designed specific inhibitors (small molecules) which bind to the active site of human DDAH. These small molecule inhibitors also induced hypertension in mice, confirming the importance of DDAH in the regulation of blood pressure. Dr Leiper, UCL Medicine, said: “These genetic and chemical approaches to disrupt DDAH showed remarkably consistent results, and provide compelling evidence that loss of DDAH function increases the concentration of ADMA and thereby disrupts vascular NO signalling. “There has been considerable scientific interest in this pathway and the role of ADMA as a novel risk factor, but so far there's been little evidence to support the idea that it's a cause of disease, rather than just a marker. Genes and their pathways are crucial to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and a better understanding of DDAH-1 could lead to important new treatments. “It could help us to establish if genetic variation predisposes certain people to these diseases, or whether environmental factors exert some of their effects through modulation of DDAH activity. “Our research also shows that this pathway could be harnessed therapeutically to limit production of NO in certain situations where too much nitric oxide is a bad thing; for example, hypotension and septic shock. These are some of the biggest problems in intensive care medicine and there is a huge unmet need for drug treatments.” The study, which was carried out at UCL's Rayne Institute, was funded by grants from the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The unexpected finding in the 1980s that a simple gas, nitric oxide (NO), is made by cells in the blood vessel wall and is a powerful control of blood vessel relaxation led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 1998 to its discoverers. "More recently, there has been increasing evidence that impairment of NO production is likely to be an important factor in the development of heart and circulatory disease, but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. "This study suggests for the first time that the loss of the activity of the enzyme DDAH-1 leads to reduced NO production and may cause heart and circulatory disease. These findings are likely to be important in the search for new ways to optimise the health of our blood vessels." ### Notes for Editors 1. For more information, please contact Ruth Metcalfe in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9739, mobile: +44 (0)7990 675 947, out of hours: +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail: r.metcalfe@ucl.ac.uk2. 'Disruption of methylarginine metabolism impairs vascular homeostasis' is published in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Advance online publication is embargoed to 18.00 GMT (13.00 US Eastern) Sunday 4 February 2007. Journalists can obtain copies of the paper by contacting the UCL Media Relations Office.3. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. About UCL Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence. UCL is the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2006 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Mahatma Gandhi (Laws 1889, Indian political and spiritual leader); Jonathan Dimbleby (Philosophy 1969, writer and television presenter); Junichiro Koizumi (Economics 1969, Prime Minister of Japan); Lord Woolf (Laws 1954, Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales); Alexander Graham Bell (Phonetics 1860s, inventor of the telephone), and members of the band Coldplay.
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Eating soup will help cut calories at meals
05-01-2007 · EurekAlert!
Eating low-calorie soup before a meal can help cut back on how much food and calories you eat at the meal, a new Penn State study shows.
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No breakfast and frequent fast food leads to extra pounds in aging teens
01-08-2007 · EurekAlert!
The phrase "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" has taken on new meaning for teenagers. A new study suggests that as teens enter adulthood, they are more likely to skip breakfast and increase their fast food consumption, and that both behaviors lead to an increased risk of weight gain. Researchers at the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at the Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School conducted the study.
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Dietary preferences and patterns may be linked to genes
06-07-2007 · EurekAlert!
Research indicates that the APOA2 gene is associated with food preferences and dietary patterns. About 15 percent of study participants had the genotype CC, which was linked to higher fat intake and almost two times the risk of obesity, as compared to people with more common genotypes of APOA2.
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Chronic family turmoil and other problems cause physical changes
04-20-2007 · EurekAlert!
Adolescents who are chronically exposed to family turmoil, violence, noise or other chronic risk factors show more stress-induced physiological strain on their organs than other youth. But when they have supportive mothers, they do not experience these changes, finds a new Cornell study.
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New discovery could reduce the health risk of high-fat foods
01-02-2008 · EurekAlert!
Just as additives help gasoline burn cleaner, a research report published in the January 2008 print issue of The FASEB Journal shows that the food industry could take a similar approach toward reducing health risks associated with fatty foods. These "meal additives" would be based on work of Israeli researchers who discovered that consuming polyphenols (natural compounds in red wine, fruits, and vegetables) simultaneously with high-fat foods may reduce health risks associated with these foods.
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Obesity boosts gullet cancer risk 6-fold
10-10-2007 · EurekAlert!
Obese people are six times as likely to develop gullet (esophageal) cancer as people of "healthy" weight, shows research published ahead of print in the journal Gut.Rates of esophageal cancer have been rising rapidly, and in some countries, they have risen faster than those of every other major cancer, say the authors.
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Orexigen: Laboratory studies show Contrave acts on specific brain pathways to reduce food intake
10-23-2007 · EurekAlert!
Laboratory studies show the combination of bupropion and naltrexone (the components of Contrave) acts in a part of the brain where food reward pathways are located and resulted in a 95 percent reduction in food intake in obese mice. This mechanism of action may differentiate Contrave from other obesity therapeutics. Concurrent with these studies, Contrave is in phase 3 clinical trials.
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Parents can sneak veggies into kids' diet
05-01-2007 · EurekAlert!
Parents who want their kids to consume fewer calories and eat more vegetables might find a healthy solution with "stealth vegetables." A Penn State study headed by Dr. Barbara Rolls shows that decreasing the calorie density of foods by adding vegetables and other lower-calorie ingredients leads to a reduction in children's calorie intake and an increase in vegetable consumption.
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Study shows cane sugar, corn sweeteners have similar effects on appetite
07-10-2007 · EurekAlert!
A new study of sweetened beverages shows that cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup have similar effects on hunger, fullness and food consumption at lunch. The results suggest that while appetite and food intake are influenced by the number of calories consumed earlier, the types of sugars consumed in those calories seem to make little or no difference.
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