Monthly Archives: August 2012

Fluoride Absorption

Fluorine is a highly reactive and highly electrochemical trace element, and its abundance in the earth’s crust results it in its near ubiquitous presence as fluorides in the environment. The main route of exposure for humans is through drinking water … Continue reading

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Tocopherol Half-Life

Vitamin E is actually a collection of chemicals (α-, β-, γ- and δ-tocopherol, and α-, β-, γ- and δ-tocotrienol) that all share the same biological activity as α-tocopherol. Vitamin E exerts strong antioxidant activity in cell membranes because of its … Continue reading

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Whey Protein and Weight Loss

A high protein intake is associated with reduced weight gain and improved body composition, and clinical trials investigating high protein diets have found them effective at aiding weight loss. The ability of protein to decrease body weight is likely a … Continue reading

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Glycaemic Index and Diabetes

The glycaemic index (GI) is a measure of the blood glucose response to carbohydrate food. High GI foods are associated with a rise in blood glucose and this is usually accompanied by a rise in plasma insulin. Continual consumption of … Continue reading

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Spices for Antioxidant Defence

Systemic oxidative stress is associated with many disease states including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Oxidative stress can promote inflammation, damage DNA and proteins, as well as detrimentally alter the metabolic milieu. Dietary antioxidants have been shown to be … Continue reading

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Sulphur Amino Acids and Postprandial Triglyceride Levels

Intakes of sulphur amino acids are implicated in the development of cardiovascular disease because they can affect plasma concentrations of homocysteine. High plasma levels of cystine (oxidised cysteine) and high levels of oxidise glutathione (glutathione disulfide) are associated with cardiovascular … Continue reading

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Vitamin D and Insulin Resistance

In recent years interest has been growing in the alternative physiological functions for vitamin D, asides from the traditional calcium and bone homeostasis role. Of particular interest is the role played by 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], the established marker for vitamin … Continue reading

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Mediterranean Diet Benefits Mental Health

The traditional Mediterranean diet is characterised by large intakes of whole grains, plant foods and red wine, as well as oily fish and lean meats. It addition the diet contains low levels of red and processed meat, and refined foods, … Continue reading

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Vitamin D Intake

The current European Community recommended daily amount (EC RDA) of vitamin D is 5µg/d. However, evidence suggests that the current recommendations for vitamin D intake are too low and that as a result large numbers of people have poor vitamin … Continue reading

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A Closer Look at Protein

Many research papers investigate macronutrient ratios and their effects on various physiological parameters. However, there is a tendency to oversimplify the categories and treat protein, fat and carbohydrate as single uniform macronutrients. This oversimplification does disservice to the science of … Continue reading

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