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Background. The rates of colon cancer in various countries are strongly correlated with the per capita consumption of red meat and animal fat and, to a lesser degree, inversely associated with the consumption of fiber. Methods. We conducted a prospective study among 88,751 women 34 to 59 years old and without a history of cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, or familial polyposis who completed a dietary questionnaire in 1980. By 1986, during 512,488 person-years of follow-up, 150 incident cases of colon cancer had been documented. Results. After adjustment for total energy intake, animal fat was positively associated with the risk of colon cancer (P for trend = 0.01); the relative risk for the highest as compared with the lowest quintile was 1.89 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.13 to 3.15). No association was found for vegetable fat. The relative risk of colon cancer in women who ate beef, pork, or lamb as a main dish every day was 2.49 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.24 to 5.03), as compared with those reporting consumption less than once a month. Processed meats and liver were also significantly associated with increased risk, whereas fish and chicken without skin were related to decreased risk. The ratio of the intake of red meat to the intake of chicken and fish was particularly strongly associated with an increased incidence of colon cancer (P for trend = 0.0005); the relative risk for women in the highest quintile of this ratio as compared with those in the lowest quintile was 2.49 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.50 to 4.13). A low intake of fiber from fruits appeared to contribute to the risk of colon cancer, but this relation was not statistically independent of meat intake. Conclusions. These prospective data provide evidence for the hypothesis that a high intake of animal fat increases the risk of colon cancer, and they support existing recommendations to substitute fish and chicken for meats high in fat

The effect of temperature on the antioxidant activity of phenolic acids (gallic, gentisic, protocatechuic, syringic, vanillic, ferulic, caffeic, and sinapic; 0.5 mmol/kg) was studied in pork lard, using an Oxipres apparatus, at a temperature range of 90 deg C to 150 deg C. The antioxidant activity of all studied compounds decreased with increasing working temperature, whereas a linear relationship (P less than 0.01) existed between temperature and the antioxidant activity in all cases. However, the relative rate of the antioxidant activity decrease with increasing temperature (i.e. in comparison with the activity at 90 deg C) was not the same for all studied phenolic acids. Easily oxidisable phenolic acids (i.e. gallic, gentisic, protocatechuic, and caffeic) showed a slower decrease in antioxidant activity with increasing temperature (in comparison with their activity at 90 deg C) than the less oxidisable ones (i.e. syringic, ferulic and sinapic acids, and especially vanillic acid). Consequently, only gallic, gentisic, protocatechuic, and caffeic acids showed a significant antioxidant activity at 150 deg C and vanillic acid was active only at 90 deg C.

Background. Dietary plant sterols, especially sitostanol, reduce serum cholesterol by inhibiting cholesterol absorption. Soluble sitostanol may be more effective than a less soluble preparation. We tested the tolerability and cholesterol-lowering effect of margarine containing sitostanol ester in a population with mild hypercholesterolemia. Methods. We conducted a one-year, randomized, double-blind study in 153 randomly selected subjects with mild hypercholesterolemia. Fifty-one consumed margarine without sitostanol ester (the control group), and 102 consumed margarine containing sitostanol ester (1.8 or 2.6 g of sitostanol per day). Results. The margarine containing sitostanol ester was well tolerated. The mean one-year reduction in serum cholesterol was 10.2 percent in the sitostanol group, as compared with an increase of 0.1 percent in the control group. The difference in the change in serum cholesterol concentration between the two groups was -24 mg per deciliter (95 percent confidence interval, -17 to -32; P0.001). The respective reductions in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were 14.1 percent in the sitostanol group and 1.1 percent in the control group. The difference in the change in LDL cholesterol concentration between the two groups was -21 mg per deciliter (95 percent confidence interval, -14 to -29; P0.001). Neither serum triglyceride nor high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations were affected by sitostanol. Serum campesterol, a dietary plant sterol whose levels reflect cholesterol absorption, was decreased by 36 percent in the sitostanol group, and the reduction was directly correlated with the reduction in total cholesterol (r

Glucocorticoid hormones, acting via nuclear receptors, regulate many metabolic processes, including hepatic gluconeogenesis. It recently has been recognized that intracellular glucocorticoid concentrations are determined not only by plasma hormone levels, but also by intracellular 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (11 beta-HSDs), which interconvert active corticosterone (cortisol in humans) and inert 11-dehydrocorticosterone (cortisone in humans). 11 beta-HSD type 2, a dehydrogenase, thus excludes glucocorticoids from otherwise nonselective mineralocorticoid receptors in the kidney. Recent data suggest the type 1 isozyme (11 beta-HSD-1) may function as an 11 beta-reductase, regenerating active glucocorticoids from circulating inert 11-keto forms in specific tissues, notably the liver. To examine the importance of this enzyme isoform in vivo, mice were produced with targeted disruption of the 11 beta-HSD-1 gene. These mice were unable to convert inert 11-dehydrocorticosterone to corticosterone in vivo. Despite compensatory adrenal hyperplasia and increased adrenal secretion of corticosterone, on starvation homozygous mutants had attenuated activation of the key hepatic gluconeogenic enzymes glucose-6-phosphatase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, presumably, because of relative intrahepatic glucocorticoid deficiency. The 11 beta-HSD-1 -/- mice were found to resist hyperglycemia provoked by obesity or stress. Attenuation of hepatic 11 beta-HSD-1 may provide a novel approach to the regulation of gluconeogenesis

The aim of this paper was to analyze the development of food industry in the Czech Republic in 2000-2006, its position (in 2006) and development trends of main economic indicators compared with the development of the whole manufacturing industry. In comparison with the dynamic development of the whole Czech manufacturing industry, the key position of the food industry has decreased. As the structure of the food industry is heterogeneous, the development of its different branches is very variable. Labour productivity of the food sector as a total has markedly accelerated.

Analyses of economic and food availability data for 1962 - 1994 reveal a major shift in the structure of the global diet marked by an uncoupling of the classic relationship between incomes and fat intakes. Global availability of cheap vegetable oils and fats has resulted in greatly increased fat consumption among low-income nations. Consequently, the nutrition transition now occurs at lower levels of the gross national product than previously, and is accelerated further by high urbanization rates. Data from Asian nations, where diet structure is rapidly changing, suggest that diets higher in fats and sweeteners are also more diverse and more varied. Given that preferences for palatable diets are a universal human trait, fat consumption may be governed not by physiological mechanisms but by the amount of fat available in the food supply. Whereas economic development has led to improved food security and better health, adverse health effects of the nutrition transition include growing rates of childhood obesity. The implications of these trends are explored