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NUTRITION NEWS VI from Paula Harrison, M.S., R.D. CONSUMERS- BEWARE OF DIOXIN IN YOUR FOOD! Dioxin is a family of 75 chemicals, including dioxins, furans, and PCBs. Dioxin can easily invade the nucleus of animal and human cells, where it can damage DNA, and could cause cancer or birth defects. Furthermore, it could affect the DNA's instructions to make normal enzymes, hormones, and other proteins, which could lead to any number of diseases. Dioxin has been shown to impair the immune systems of animals, making them both under-reactive and over-reactive to stimuli. An over-reactive immune system may increase the risk of auto-immune diseases like lupus, while an under-reactive immune system is less able to anti-genic challenge; in other words, it makes vaccines less effective and renders the animal less able to battle infections and possibly diseases like cancer. Dioxin and its chemical cousins, the furans and PCBs are found in air, water, soil, and sediment as a result of emissions from incinerators and spills from electrical transformers. It then makes its way into plants, and as animals eat the plants, and people eat the animals, the concentration of dioxin increases. Dioxin has a cumulative effect in the human body as it is consumed over time. How can you minimize your exposure to dioxin? One way is to avoid animal foods, including dairy products. A more targeted approach is to consume less animal fat, since that is where dioxin and its fat-soluble relatives reside. You can avoid much of the dioxin in milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream by buying fat-free and low-fat versions. The good news is that our children will be exposed to less dioxin because the EPA has cracked down on the major sources. According to Dwain Winters of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), " In the late 1980's municipal incinerators were emitting more than 8,000 grams of dioxin a year in the U.S." "Under the new regulations, they'll emit less than 12 grams." GLUCOSAMINE AND CHONDROITIN FOR JOINT RELIEF Twenty-one million Americans are affected by osteoarthritis. While painkillers such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and indomethacin can help, the gastrointestinal distress and other side effects bother many people. When the cartilage that cushions the joints in your hands, hips, knees, or back breaks down faster than it can be replaced, bone rubs painfully against bone, causing tenderness, stiffness, and swelling. Glucosamine and chondroitin are two of the many components of cartilage. They can be found in some foods and can also be manufactured by our bodies. Both are widely marketed, alone or in combination, to arthritis sufferers, and there is strong evidence to support their use. Timothy McAlindon and his colleagues at the Arthritis Center of the Boston University School of Medicine recently assimilated the results of the six best studies on glucosamine and the nine best studies on chondroitin into two large studies, called metanalyses. The bottom line was as follows: 1.) Glucosamine and chondroitin relieve symptoms in at least half of the arthritis suffrers who take eithre one for at least a month. Researchres don't know whether taking both together is better than taking either one separately. 2.) Most of the successful studies used a 1,500 milligrams a day of glucosamine and/or 1,200 milligrams a day of chondroitin. 3.) Many chondroitin supplements don't deliver the amount listed on the label. (See www.consumerlab.com for the brands that passed its analysis.) IRON-DEPLETED WOMEN AND IMPAIRED EXERCISE According to researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, you won't get as much out of your exercise program if you are deficient in iron. Pamela Hinton and colleagues studied 42 women whose blood iron levels were low, but not low enough to make them anemic. Throughout the six-week study, about half took a placebo and half took a ten-milligram iron supplement twice a day. After the first two weeks, all the women participated in five training sessions a week on a stationary cycle. At the end of the experiment, the women taking the iron had taken 3.4 minutes off the time it took them to cycle for seven miles. The placebo-takers only cut their time by 1.6 minutes. "It is estimated that 11 to 13 percent of premenopausal women have iron deficiency without anemia, " according to Hinton. "Too little iron may keep them from reaping the benefits of exercise because the muscle enzymes involved in producing energy need iron to function optimally." OLIVE OIL AND REDUCED NEED FOR ANTIHYPERTENSIVE MEDICATION A recent study published in the March 27, 2000 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine concluded that substitution of extra-virgin olive oil for other dietary fats may decrease patient need for medication to control hypertension. This may be mediated by reduced intake of saturated fat, increased intake of monounsaturated fat, or increased intake of other substances in extra-virgin olive oil(e.g. antioxidant polyphenols). Twenty-three subjects, ranging in age from 25 to 70 years with blood pressure less than 165/104 mm Hg with use of antihypertensive medication ate a diet high in MUFAs or polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) for 6 months each in random order. The high-MUFA and High-PUFA diets used olive oil and sunflower oil, respectively as the source of added fat but were otherwise similar. Blood pressure at rest was significanly lower after the subjects ate the high-MUFA versus high-PUFA diet. Also, daily drug dose was significantly lower than at baseline when subjects ate the high- MUFA but not when they ate the high-PUFA diet. All patients required antihypertensive medication when they ate the high PUFA diet; 8 patients did not need drug therapy when they consumed the high-MUFA diet. The bottom line: if you are taking antihypertensive medication, substituting olive oil for other fats in your diet may reduce your need for the medication. REFERENCES: Nutrition Action Health Letter, Volume 27, Number 8, Center for Science in the Public Interest, October 2000. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Volume 100, Number 9, September 2000. *****Paula Harrison is a registered dietician practicing in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Paula is a graduate of New York University with a M.S. in Nutrition. If you have any questions you might want to ask her, you may E-mail her at: gpgodart-smile@worldnet.att.net |
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