Pleasant Stone Farm Clinical Reports

Consuming more white rice is associated with a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes, whereas consuming more brown rice may be associated with a lower risk for the disease, according to a report in the June 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine (2010;170(11):961-969).

“Rice has been a staple food in Asian countries for centuries,” the authors wrote as background information in the article. “By the 20th century, the advance of grain-processing technology made large-scale production of refined grains possible. Through refining processes, the outer bran and germ portions of intact rice grains (i.e., brown rice) are removed to produce white rice that primarily consists of starchy endosperm.”

U.S. rice consumption is lower than Asian countries, but is increasing rapidly, and more than 70 percent of the rice consumed is white.

Qi Sun, M.D., Sc.D., of Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues assessed rice consumption and diabetes risk among 39,765 men and 157,463 women in three large studies: the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study and the Nurses’ Health Study I and II. After adjusting for age and other lifestyle and dietary risk factors, those who consumed five or more servings of white rice per week had a 17-percent increased risk of diabetes compared with those who consumed less than one serving per month. In contrast, eating two or more servings of brown rice per week was associated with an 11-percent reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes than eating less than one serving per month.

Based on the results, the researchers estimated replacing 50 g (equivalent to one-third of a serving) of white rice per day with the same amount of brown rice would be associated with a 16-percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Replacing white rice with whole grains as a group could be associated with a risk reduction as great as 36 percent.

In general, white rice has a higher glycemic index—a measure of how much a food raises blood glucose levels compared with the same amount of glucose or white bread—than brown rice, the authors noted. “The high glycemic index of white rice consumption is likely the consequence of disrupting the physical and botanical structure of rice grains during the refining process, in which almost all the bran and some of the germ are removed,” they wrote. “The other consequence of the refining process includes loss of fiber, vitamins, magnesium and other minerals, lignans, phytoestrogens and phytic acid, many of which may be protective factors for diabetes risk.”

The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that at least half of carbohydrate intake come from whole grains. “From a public health point of view, replacing refined grains such as white rice with whole grains, including brown rice, should be recommended to facilitate the prevention of type 2 diabetes,” the authors concluded.

A study from Ukraine has found that supplementation with probiotics for two months had significant benefits for children with atopic dermatitis, adding to the growing body of evidence for the bacteria’s skin health benefits.

Conducted using a mixture of probiotics from US based UAS Laboratories, the study involved 90 preschool children with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis (AD).

AD, also known as Eczema, is one of the first signs of allergy during the early days of life and is said to be due to delayed development of the immune system. It is a common inflammatory skin disorder, which occurs in early childhood and may persists into adult life. According to the American Academy of Dermatologists it affects between 10 to 20 per cent of all infants, but almost half of these kids will ‘grow out’ of eczema between the ages of five and 15.

Current treatments focus on alleviating symptoms, but probiotics have been studied for over 20 years for their therapeutic benefits for the condition.

Presented last week at the New York Academy of Sciences symposium Probiotics: From Bench to Market, the current study was designed to determine the impact of a mixture of L. acidophilus DDS-1 and B. lactis UABLA-12.

Double blind placebo controlled

Conducted by Dr SV Gerasimov, MD, PhD from the Department of Pediatrics, Lviv National Medical University, Lviv, Ukraine, the study involved two groups of children aged one to three.

One group received doses of the probiotics twice a day, to provide a total of 10bn CFU/gram of a combination of Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1 and Bifidobacterium lactis UABLA-12 with FOS (fructooligosaccharide). The second group received a placebo.

After four weeks, both groups demonstrated a decrease in SCORAD indexes (scoring of atopic dermatitis), which was the primary outcome measure used to track improvements. The decrease in the group taking probiotics was almost 34 per cent after eight weeks, while the placebo group demonstrated a decrease of 19 per cent.

Secondary outcomes included corresponding lymphocyte subset changes in peripheral blood. The researchers said that more investigation is needed for the efficacy of probiotic therapy in adults with AD.

Daily supplements of an extract of green tea may reduce levels of a protein linked to heart disease, says a new study from the US.

Obese people with metabolic syndrome experienced decreases in levels of amyloid alpha, said to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, after drinking green tea or taking green tea extracts, scientists from Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma report in Nutrition.

The eight week study also supported the tolerability of both the beverage and the extracts, but the researchers note that the regime did not affect the various features of metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a condition characterised by central obesity, hypertension, and disturbed glucose and insulin metabolism. The syndrome has been linked to increased risks of both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

“Thus, green tea may be included as part of a comprehensive strategy involving diet, exercise, and specific dietary supplementations aimed at reversing inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and cardiovascular risk factors in subjects with metabolic syndrome,” wrote the researchers, led by Arpita Basu.

The study adds to an ever-growing body of science supporting the potential benefits of green tea and its constituents, most notably EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate). To date green tea has been linked to a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s and certain cancers, improved cardiovascular and oral health, as well as benefits in weight management.

Green tea contains between 30 and 40 per cent of water-extractable polyphenols, while black tea (green tea that has been oxidized by fermentation) contains between 3 and 10 per cent. Oolong tea is semi-fermented tea and is somewhere between green and black tea. The four primary polyphenols found in fresh tealeaves are epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin gallate (ECG), and epicatechin (EC).

Study details

Basu and her co-workers recruited 35 obese people with MetS to participate in their randomised controlled trial. The participants, who had an average age of 42.5, were randomly assigned to consume four cups of green tea, two capsules of green tea extracts, or four cups of water per day for eight weeks.

Both sources of green tea (Camellia sinensis) were decaffeinated, and provided an average daily dose of about 450 mg of EGCG.

At the end of the study, Basu and her co-workers did not observe any differences in the various features of MetS, such as biomarkers of inflammation. However, both green tea interventions reduced levels of amyloid alpha compared to the control group, said the researchers. Specifically, the green tea drink reduced amyloid alpha levels by 14.5 per cent, while the extract reduced levels by 24.6 per cent after eight weeks.

“To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the effects of decaffeinated green tea supplementation on biomarkers of inflammation and features of metabolic syndrome in obese population in the US,” wrote the researchers.

“Our study results show that green tea beverage or extract supplementation selectively lowers plasma serum amyloid alpha versus the no treatment group,” they added.

Extracting growth

The success has translated into a booming extract market, valued at a around $44m (€29.7m), according to recent report from Frost & Sullivan. The market is expected to grow by more than 13 per cent over the next seven years. Key players include DSM, Taiyo, and Tate & Lyle. Innovation in delivery has also seen companies like Maxx Performance release an encapsulated green tea extract for bakery applications.

Source: Nutrition
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2010.01.015
“Green tea minimally affects biomarkers of inflammation in obese subjects with metabolic syndrome”
Authors: A. Basu, M. Du, K. Sanchez, M.J. Leyva, N.M. Betts, S. Blevins, M. Wu, C.E. Aston, T.J. Lyons

Higher blood levels of vitamin B6 may reduce the risk of lung cancer by about 50 per cent, says a new analysis of almost 400,000 people, including current and former smokers.

Researchers also report that the amino acid methionine, which is found in most protein, may also reduce the risk of lung cancer.

“Given their involvement in maintaining DNA integrity and gene ex­pression, these nutrients have a potentially important role in inhibiting cancer devel­opment, and offer the possibility of modi­fying cancer risk through dietary changes,” wrote the authors in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

One in three Europeans are smokers, while the US figure is one in five. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 compounds, of which 60 are known carcinogens. The oxidative stress levels of smokers are significantly greater than non-smokers, and as such there is a bigger drain on the levels of antioxidants in the body.

Furthermore, the new study indicated that folate may also be beneficial, and that high folate levels combined with methionine and B6 were associated with a 66 per cent reduction in lung cancer risk.

Study details

Led by Paul Brennan from the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, the researchers used data from 385,747 people who donated blood while participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Out of this, 899 people with lung cancer were identified and matched with 1,770 cancer-free people.

The researchers noted that increasing blood levels of vitamin B6 were associated with lower risks of lung cancer. A similar risk reduction was observed for methionine, which extended to never, former, and current smokers. This indicated that smoking habits were not confounding the results.

“Our results suggest that above-median serum measures of both B6 and methionine, assessed on average 5 years prior to disease onset, are associated with a reduction of at least 50 percent on the risk of developing lung cancer,” wrote the researchers. “An additional association for se­rum levels of folate was present, that when combined with B6 and methionine, was associated with a two-thirds lower risk of lung cancer,” they added.

More research needed

Correlation does not prove causation, however, and more research is needed to clarify the role of B vitamins and methionine in lung cancer, said the researchers.

“It is essential that for lung cancer prevention, any additional evidence about causality does not detract from the importance of reducing the numbers of individuals who smoke tobacco,” wrote Brennan and his co-workers

“With this in mind, it is important to recognize that a large proportion of lung cancer cases occur among former smokers, making up the majority in countries where tobacco campaigns have been particularly successful, and a non-trivial number of lung cancer cases oc­cur also among never smokers, particu­larly among women in parts of Asia.

“Clarifying the role of B vitamins and re­lated metabolites in lung cancer risk is likely therefore to be particularly relevant for former smokers and never smokers,” they concluded.

Authors: JAMA
2010, Volume 303, Number 23, Pages 2377-2385
“Serum B Vitamin Levels and Risk of Lung Cancer”
Authors: M. Johansson, C. Relton, P.M. Ueland, et al.

Daily supplements of an extract from the bark of the French maritime pine may ease symptoms of hay fever, says a new study.

Seven weeks of supplementation with the branded ingredient Pycnogenol also reduced the level of non-prescription antihistamine medication use to only 12.5 per cent. Fifty per cent of participants in the placebo group required the antihistamines.

Hayfever is an allergic reaction to pollen or fungal spores, most commonly grass pollen. According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, about 60 million people in the U.S. are affected by allergic rhinitis.

The immune system mistakes the spores for harmful invaders and white blood cells – T-helper type 2 (Th2) lymphocytes – produce protein-like cytokines, such as interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-5 and IL-6, which in turn promote the synthesis of the immune chemicals immunoglobulins (Ig) to bind to the pollen and fight them off.

The researchers looked at levels of birch pollen specific IgE in 60 people with birch-related hayfever. Participants were assigned to receive the pine bark extract supplement (100 mg per day of Pychnogenol) or placebo throughout the allergy season.

Results showed that IgE levels increased by 32 per cent in the placebo group, compared with only 19 per cent in the pine bark extract group.

“The present study demonstrated that Pycnogenol decreases nasal and ocular symptoms in allergic rhinitis patients,” wrote the researchers, led by KGK Synergize’s Dale Wilson. “It is possible to suggest that Pycnogenol may represent a new and promising therapeutic modality for subjects with allergic rhinitis.”

Study details

Wilson and his colleagues recruited hay fever sufferers between the ages of 18 and 65 in Ontario, Canada. Participants began receiving the pine bark extract or the placebo three to eight weeks before the start of birch allergy season.

Results of the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study showed that a ‘lag-time’ of at least five weeks was required before exposure to pollen for Pycnogenol to impact hay-fever symptoms.

“Our findings suggest that taking Pycnogenol in a timely manner does substantially contribute to better symptom relief,” stated the researchers. “Unfortunately, the small cohort of eight best responding subjects, those who took Pycnogenol 7 to 8 weeks prior to birch pollen exposure was too small to provide statistical relevance.

“As a further variable, a higher Pycnogenol dosage, such as applied in previous asthma studies should be expected to contribute to more pronounced rhinitis symptoms relief. Based on the positive results of this study it is likely that a higher sample size would provide significance between the Pycnogenol and the placebo group,” they added.

The researchers were affiliated with KGK Synergize and Horphag Research, the company behind the Pycnogenol ingredient.

Source: Phytotherapy Research
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1002/ptr.3232
“A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled exploratory study to evaluate the potential of Pycnogenol for improving allergic rhinitis symptoms”
Authors: D. Wilson, M. Evans, N. Guthrie, P. Sharma, J. Baisley, F. Schonlau, C. Burki