Author Archives: Colby Vorland

Weekend Update

Leave a reply
Late this week but here goes:   Are Telomere Tests Ready for Prime Time? Updated Genetic Score Based on 34 Confirmed Type 2 Diabetes Loci Is Associated with Diabetes Incidence and Regression to Normoglycemia in the Diabetes Prevention Program. [Diabetes. 2011] - PubMed result People who take supplements feel more invulnerable to disease and take bigger health risks Are dietary supplements working against you? Could effect large studies if supplement intake is not accounted for A Read more [...]

PLIN4 allele-specific influence on microRNA binding has subtle effects on obesity phenotypes

1 Reply
Kris Richardson et al. (including Larry Parnell and Jose Ordovas who are on Twitter) give a fascinating example of a gene-diet interaction yesterday in PLoS One (press release); the variant on a mRNA region allows microRNA to bind (miR; short chain non-coding RNA) that is of relevance to nutrition. The perilipins (PLIN1 - 5) are proteins coat the surfaces of lipid droplets in adipocytes where triacylglycerols are stored.  PLIN4 facilitates free fatty acid uptake, whereas PLIN1 and other perilipins Read more [...]

Weekend Update

Leave a reply
Heart needs work after heart attack: New study challenges the notion that the heart must rest Observations: What makes old beer taste bad? Why, it's the trans-iso-alpha acids, of course How Effective is Lifestyle Management of Obesity? | Dr. Sharma's Obesity Notes PLoS ONE: Oxidative Stress Accumulates in Adipose Tissue during Aging and Inhibits Adipogenesis A recent review of: Antioxidant supplementation and endurance training: Win or loss? - European Journal of Sport Science And Read more [...]

A consensus paper on dietary fats and cardiovascular disease

11 Replies
The AJCN has a nice short "consensus" paper from many of the top researchers examining the supposed link between saturated fat and cardiovascular disease, which is open access here. Arne Astrup and Walter Willett organized an invitation-only symposium last year with big names in nutrition research; among the other participants were Frank B Hu, Ronald M Krauss, Jørn Dyerberg, Peter Elwood, Kjeld Hermansen, Marianne Uhre Jakobsen, Frans J Kok, Jean Michel Lecerf, Philippe LeGrand, Paul Nestel, Ulf Read more [...]

Private nonprofit foundations & Public Health: Potential conflicts of interest in corporate links

2 Replies
Corporate involvement in public health is a sensitive topic, but one I am largely against.  It is pretty clear that corporations usually get the benefit of bettering their brand image (which is often largely unhealthy processed products) at a low cost of sponsorship of health campaigns.  See plenty of great/unfortunate examples on blogs such as Food Politics, Weighty Matters, and Appetite For Profit, or my own criticisms of the ADA/Hershey partnership as a specific case.  Such relationships, Read more [...]

Weekend Update

Leave a reply
Some interesting links last week:   Atherosclerotic plaques formed during a late and limited time period in life | e! Science News A short commentary in JAMA by David Ludwig on ultra-processing: Technology, Diet, and the Burden of Chronic Disease, April 6, 2011, Ludwig 305 (13): 1352 — JAMA Gut flora metabolism of phosphatidylcholine promotes cardiovascular disease : Nature : Nature Publishing Group Ghrelin haplotypes associated with sweet consumption PLoS ONE: The Ghrelin Read more [...]

Weekend Update

Leave a reply
Lots of good stuff this week: Yoni wonders why the health organizations in Canada don't speak out against the Canadian Food Guide Weighty Matters: A deafening nutritional silence. he ends with the sad reality that "the silence here isn't just deafening, it's deadly." Important molecular findings for colitis: involvement of p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA) Journal of Clinical Investigation -- PUMA-mediated intestinal epithelial apoptosis contributes to ulcerative colitis in Read more [...]

Evidence-based nutrition: is proof of efficacy for nutrients too high?

4 Replies
...evidence-based nutrition (EBN), has seemingly swallowed EBM [evidence-based medicine] whole without either asking how well it might fit, or adapting it to the unique features of the nutrition context evidence-based nutrition (EBN), has seemingly swallowed EBM whole without either asking how well it might fit, or adapting it to the unique features of the nutrition context. This passage is from a new paper by Robert Heaney, Connie Weaver, and Jeffrey Blumberg titled "EBN (Evidence-Based Nutrition) Read more [...]

Weekend Update

2 Replies
Some neat things I came across this week: Walking through the forest reduces blood pressure and increases adiponectin compared to walking through Tokyo Acute effects of walking in forest environments on... [Eur J Appl Physiol. 2011] - PubMed result Alex writes about a study showing that muscle accretion in response to resistance training occurs faster than previously thought: Sweat Science » How fast can you start putting on muscle? Another huge study finds that multi-vitamins don't alter Read more [...]

Human serum metabolome (better) quantified

Leave a reply
An important paper in PLoS One was published last month by Psychogios et al. that details a huge effort that yielded the most comprehensive characterization of the human serum metabolome yet.  I recommend reading the paper if you are casually interested in this area like me, as the intro provides a nice background and context. Briefly, searchable e-databases for metabolomics has lagged behind other omics areas until recently, but there still wasn't an attempt to identify the majority of compounds Read more [...]