Maintenance Of Optimal Health Research Articles

Функциональное питание: биологические свойства и влияние на здоровье человека

As is known, diseases associated with nutrition disorders account for a significant share in the structure of causes of general mortality. Cumulative research knowledge allows us to state that consumption of certain food products or related physiologically active components contributes to the maintenance of optimal health and helps reduce the risk of certain diseases. All food products are functional to some extent, because all foods have a certain nutritional value. The vast majority of functionally significant components are found in plant foods, but there are also several classes of physiologically active functional food ingredients of animal and microbiological origin. Health-oriented functional foods will be in demand over the next few decades, taking into account consumers’ interest in staying healthy for as long as possible, the demographic ageing of the world population and the rising health care costs. Functional foods are one of the most intensively researched and widely promoted areas in nutrition science, but they are not a panacea – a comprehensive approach that takes into consideration all principles of a healthy lifestyle is required for health preservation and maintenance. Key words: metagenomics, human microbiome, nutrigenomics, nutraceutical, prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, enterotype

ACTN3, Morbidity, and Healthy Aging.

As human longevity increases, recent research has focused on the maintenance of optimal health during old age. One such area of focus is that of muscle function in the elderly, with a loss of muscle mass increasing the risk of negative outcomes such as sarcopenia and a decrease in bone mineral density. In this mini-review, we focus on the impact of a single nucleotide polymorphism in ACTN3, shown to impact muscle phenotype in elite athletes, on loss of muscle function, maintenance of bone mineral density, and metabolic disorder risk in an elderly population. From the surveyed research, this polymorphism has a clear and demonstrable impact on muscle phenotype and bone mineral density in this population, and acts as a potential modulator for metabolic disorders. As such, knowledge of an individual’s ACTN3 genotype may better inform the management of risk factors in the elderly, as well as driving innovations in exercise program design. Subsequently, such insights may contribute to the prolonged maintenance of health and function long into old age.

Tackling serum folate test in European countries within the health technology assessment paradigm: request appropriateness, assays and health outcomes

Several authors have recently claimed an excess in serum folate test ordering, suggesting phasing out it from clinical use. According to studies performed in countries undergoing folic acid fortification policies, it is indeed no more cost-effective to test folate in the face of deficiency prevalence <1%. In this paper, we sought to evaluate request appropriateness, analytical issues, and cost-effectiveness of serum folate determination for clinical purposes in the European context, considering if evidence retrieved in fortified countries may be generalized. Studies performed in non-fortified countries have generally reported a suboptimal folate intake and suggest a remarkable prevalence of folate deficiency. Our internal data suggest that ~20%-25% of the subjects undergoing serum folate test are at risk for deficiency. However, a reliable evaluation of the risk for deficiency implies the knowledge of all issues related to the total testing process of folate measurement as well as the identification of the appropriate population in which to perform the test. The cost-effectiveness of the test is maximized when the request is oriented to subjects suggestive/at risk for deficiency, becoming low if the test is used as a screening tool or for monitoring of vitamin intake/supplementation. Because the individual folate status has a key role in ensuring normal development, physiologic growth, and maintenance of optimal health, the evaluation of its serum levels has to be retained in the clinical use in non-fortified countries, boosting for more appropriate request, and evidence from countries following fortification policies should be cautionary interpreted.

Tackling the Rising Trends of Noncommunicable Diseases During Public Health Emergencies.

DEAR EDITOR, The 21st century has witnessed multiple public health emergencies (viz. Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, civil wars, natural calamities, etc.), most of which are often associated with local, national, and international adverse consequences.[1,2] Further, amidst the serious deterioration of climate and other global circumstances, it is quite unlikely that in the coming years a reduction in disasters will be observed.[1,2] Simultaneously, an unexpected rise in the global magnitude of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has also been observed, with close to 38 million deaths being attributed to them on an annual basis, of which almost three-fourths are from low- and middle-income nations.[3] The public health emergencies and the NCDs present together as a deadly combination, with emergencies interfering with the maintenance of optimal health (owing to the presence of factors like overcrowding, interruption in the food supply/drinking water/sanitation/healthcare services, etc.), while NCDs acting as a major hurdle to ensure financial development and equity.[2,4] Furthermore, most of these determinants act together at times of disaster and either result in the rise in incidence of NCDs or facilitate the progression of the existing diseases.[4,5] Subsequently, the routine healthcare services are not only interrupted, but even there is a lack of coordination among relief agencies, resource/logistics constraints, shift of focus of health workers towards the containment of the disaster, and no capacity to monitor and evaluate the efforts.[4,5,6,7] Although, it is absolutely true that at times of acute stages of an emergency, the primary focus should be towards the effective management of the emergencies nevertheless, there should be an inbuilt mechanism or an action plan to simultaneously address the needs of people suffering from NCDs.[1,5,7] In fact, a definitive rise in NCDs associated morbidity and mortality has been reported at times of emergencies owing to the inability of the patients with NCDs to cope without access to adequate nutrition, medications, and follow-up; exacerbation of the existing NCDs leading to the development of various acute complications; and the persistence of the complications for a longer period of time in the form of disability and impact on quality of life.[5,6,7] However, till date, no precise recommendations have been proposed to comprehensively address the issue of NCDs during emergencies.[1,3,7] On a global scale, in an attempt to successfully respond to the problem of NCDs in emergencies and reduce the associated morbidity and mortality, the need of the hour is to create awareness about the significance of NCDs during emergencies, both among general population and health providers; conduct thorough review of the existing literature so that any cost-effective intervention can be identified and subsequently implemented (if needed), and to explore the morbidity/mortality pattern during and following an emergency through various research projects.[5,6,8] In addition, interventions like including different aspects of the NCDs into emergency strategies; formulating precise guidelines to enable targeted management of the NCDs during emergencies; enhancing collaboration between all the concerned sectors; and orienting health workers about different aspects of emergency through periodic training sessions, can further enhance the extent of benefit to the patients with existing NCD.[3,4,5,6] Further, an emergency health kit was developed and successfully employed in tackling the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, and there is a definitive proposal to upscale it in the next few years.[7] To conclude, a significant rise in the NCDs associated morbidity and mortality has been observed during public health emergencies and thus extending appropriate and timely treatment to them will not only save their lives but even alleviate the risk of long-term complications. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.

Pregnancy outcomes in women with thalassemia in North America and the United Kingdom

Improved survival in thalassemia has refocused attention on quality of life, including family planning. Understanding the issues associated with infertility and adverse pregnancy outcomes may impact clinical care of patients with thalassemia. We report the number and outcomes of pregnancies among subjects enrolled in Thalassemia Clinical Research Network (TCRN) registries and examine variables associated with successful childbirth. We identified 129 pregnancies in 72 women among the 264 women, age 18 years or older in our dataset. Over 70% of pregnancies resulted in live births and 73/83 (88%) of live births occurred at full term. Most pregnancies (78.2%) were conceived without reproductive technologies. Most (59.3%) pregnancies occurred while on chronic transfusion programs, however only 38.9% were on iron chelation. Four women developed heart problems. Iron burden in women who had conceived was not significantly different from age- and diagnosis-matched controls that had never been pregnant. There was also no difference in pregnancy outcomes associated with diagnosis, transfusion status, diabetes or Hepatitis C infection. Pregnancies occurred in 27.3% of women with thalassemia of child-bearing age in the TCRN registries, a notable increase from our previous 2004 report. With optimal health maintenance, successful pregnancies may be achievable.

Comparison of some mineral contents of common Iranian food items with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) table

PurposeThe importance of adequate dietary intake of essential minerals for the maintenance of optimal health and growth in humans is well recognized. Accordingly, food composition tables are used for evaluating nutrient adequacy and for nutritional policy making. As in Iran there is no up‐to‐date national food composition table, usually data of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are used. However, because of environmental and genetic differences, the applicability of this information in Iran had been questioned. Hence, the purpose of the present study is to analyze micronutrients content of different food items.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 85 samples of 17 different food items were chosen for this study. The iron, phosphorus, calcium and zinc contents of food items were measured using spectrophotometric method and the values were compared with the data of USDA food composition table.FindingsThere were differences between the micronutrient content of Iranian food items when compared with USDA values. The greatest variation was observed in the case of calcium content for which 58.82 percent of products had appreciable differences followed by iron (47.17 percent), phosphorus (47.05 percent) and zinc (35.29 percent). Given these differences, caution must be taken in using data from other countries tables especially in the case of evaluating nutrient adequacy and nutritional policy making.Originality/valueThis paper is believed to be the only one which compared some mineral content of Iranian food items with USDA food composition table as a most commonly used table in Iran.

Evidence-Based Medicine: Best Practices and Practice Guidelines

Any thoughtful physician would want to provide the best services for his or her patients, and as far as we know, this has been a precept that has been accepted since the beginning of recorded history as it relates to the practice of healing. This position is one of simple ethical behavior and is part of any vow taken by doctors who practice in one of the branches of medicine. This ethic is characterized by the old and often repeated principle “primum non nocere,” which, interpreted means “first do no harm.” Although that precept is the foundation for ethical practice, it only speaks to what a physician should not do, and we all know that is not sufficient guidance for a strong patient-based practice. In addition to causing no harm, onewho healsmust be expected to provide a service that will bring a restoration of optimal health or the maintenance of optimal health, and those are terms which are subject to interpretation. On what basis does one measure “optimal health”? Clearly, there are hundreds or perhaps thousands of parameters of testing that are routinely applied to humans in the form of various tests and procedures with the intent to use the information gained to help the physician determine the individual's “state of health.” Such parameters of testing are typically based upon an analysis of what would usually be called normal people, but even that term includes some clear pitfalls. What exactly is meant by “normal”? Is a person with 6 digits on one hand, who otherwise shows no evidence of illness, “normal”? If on the other hand we choose to use the word healthy, what does that term mean? Is it generalizable to the patient? How do we describe a person who shows no evidence of other illness, but has a nail fungus? Is that person “healthy”? Clearly, as the process of healing has become more sophisticated, it has also become much more complex. This complexity is further affected by the insertion of third party

Nutrigenomics: Concepts and Applications to Pharmacogenomics and Clinical Medicine

The maintenance of health and the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases are influenced by naturally occurring chemicals in foods. In addition to supplying the substrates for producing energy, a large number of dietary chemicals are bioactive--that is, they alter the regulation of biological processes and, either directly or indirectly, the expression of genetic information. Nutrients and bioactives may produce different physiological phenotypes among individuals because of genetic variability and not only alter health, but also disease initiation, progression and severity. The study and application of gene-nutrient interactions is called nutritional genomics or nutrigenomics. Nutrigenomic concepts, research strategies and clinical implementation are similar to and overlap those of pharmacogenomics, and both are fundamental to the treatment of disease and maintenance of optimal health.

Asian Indian Immigrant Women

ABSTRACT The present paper is an attempt to understand various theories that explain mental health issues of Asian Indian immigrant women. It further explores depression as a threat to mental health and also examines the various supports to mental health. The literature will delve into the ways in which systems deter or promote members of the chosen population in the maintenance of optimal health and well-being, implication for the Human Behavior in the Social Environment (HBSE) curriculum, and future research needs are also explored. The paper looks specifically at middle-class women from first and second generations. It would also make an effort to understand the concept of mental health, women and mental health, the immigration history, and the Asian Indian immigrant family. This is imperative, as it would provide a better understanding of these issues among Asian Indian immigrant women. Knowledge of these issues will help the social work practitioners and counselors to deal effectively with the Indian women. It will also help in providing a different perspective in understanding human behavior. The term Asian Indian immigrant women has been abbreviated as AIIW throughout the paper to focus on women who have their roots in India.

Selenium supplementation affects broiler growth performance, meat yield and feather coverage

1. Selenium (Se) is an essential part of numerous selenoproteins, most of which are involved in the antioxidant system of the body. It is also required by poultry for the maintenance of optimal health and meat quality. This paper reports data from a study examining the effect of dietary source and concentration of selenium on broiler performance and meat quality. 2. Increased dietary selenium content markedly reduced feed conversion ratio (FCR) as a result of significantly lower feed intakes of birds while maintaining the same weight gains. 3. Selenium supplementation increased feathering, with organic selenium (selenised yeast) being superior to inorganic selenium (sodium selenite). 4. Birds receiving organic selenium in their diets had improved eviscerated weight, breast yield and reduced drip loss. 5. There were significant concentration × source interactions on yields of breasts and marylands (thigh plus drumstick), with elevated levels of organic selenium increasing the yields, whereas the opposite was true for the inorganic selenium.

Understanding Milk's Bioactive Components: A Goal for the Genomics Toolbox

The challenges to food research are to propel foods beyond the successes of safety, convenience, and inclusion of all the essential nutrients, and to build the knowledge of genetics, metabolism, and biomolecules necessary for developing foods that deliver optimal health to each individual. How then can scientific and biological principles be developed to assemble this knowledge? The evolutionary success of milk has afforded compelling examples of a food material designed by selective pressure to provide optimal health to healthy mammalian offspring. Milk contains components that are more than assembled essential amino acids and that provide biological activities that improve the competitive success of offspring who consume them. Many of these molecules are proteins that protect individuals from exogenous stresses, toxins, and pathogens; encourage optimal growth, development, and adaptation to a chosen environment; and promote metabolic regulation for physical and intellectual performance. These structures and their actions are the basis of nutritional benefits that were not recognized when freedom from amino acid deficiency was the sole criterion of protein quality. The rapidly expanding tools of biotechnology are enabling a new perception of ingested proteins, how they are regulated, and how they achieve their specific functions. Genomes and their analyses are revealing the molecular details of their remarkable structural complexity and design. Milk proteins, either exclusively synthesized in the mammary gland during lactation or transported from plasma and concentrated in the mammary gland, have been largely co-opted from other functions. Establishing the evolutionary lineage of orthologous milk proteins, including the physiological process from which they were recruited, will lead to identification of their bioactivity. While most emphasis has been placed on the genes per se, our approaches implicate the regulatory regions of the genome as additional targets of milk's biological information content. Understanding the structures is guiding scientists to new food ingredients. Understanding structures and regulation will guide scientists to new benefits and ultimately to the knowledge to build a new generation of delicious foods that genuinely deliver on the promise of safety and maintenance of optimal health.

Selenium as a 'nutraceutical': how to conciliate physiological and supra-nutritional effects for an essential trace element.

To review how selenium has been appreciated in nutrition and therapeutics for the last few decades. Selenium is a powerful micronutrient constituting the active centre of about 20 eukaryotic proteins highly relevant in biochemistry, mostly for redox state-regulating properties. This element is now better recognized as a biologically important nutrient. Insufficient dietary intake for satisfying biological requirements in several physiological or pathological conditions has been demonstrated, and it is now established that inadequate intake has adverse consequences for disease susceptibility and the maintenance of optimal health. The 'recommended dietary allowances' for selenium actually seem inadequately defined considering not only the recent evolutions of selenium biochemistry, but also the way in which selenium requirements are estimated. Indeed, the element also seems active at supra-nutritional levels of dietary intake, mostly in the field of cancer prevention, and maybe also at pharmacological levels as an adjuvant treatment of some cancers. Selenium perfectly illustrates the concept of 'nutraceutical' and the need for changing paradigms in nutrition. Indeed, intakes for satisfying physiological needs as reflected by classical selenium-dependent biochemical functions (mostly glutathione peroxidase activity) only explain a part of selenium biological potency. Other beneficial effects can be obtained at higher nutritional intakes, which in turn implies specified chemical forms and doses. Studies are under way to document these effects in a more complete and convincing manner.

A Current Perspective on Nutrition and Exercise

Nutrition has always been a subject of great interest to athletes. In recent years use of exercise has, however, expanded from competitive sports to prevention/management of chronic diseases and maintenance of optimal health. Exercise is recommended in the prevention/management of noninsulindependent diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, osteoporosis, obesity, mental health, colon cancer, stroke and back injury. Similarly, there is evidence that certain nutrients (e.g., vitamins C and E, β-carotene and calcium) may reduce the risk of certain cancers, coronary heart disease, osteoporosis, hypertension and cataract. Thus, there seems to be concordance between the health benefits of exercise and certain nutrients. However, several human and animal studies suggest that strenuous exercise may promote free radical production, leading to lipid peroxidation and tissue damage. On the other hand, there is evidence that vitamins C and E and β-carotene may protect against such damage. Thus, concordance between the health benefits of exercise and nutrition and a compensatory role of antioxidant nutrients against the potentially harmful effects of exercise suggests that nutrition and exercise should form important components of any regimen for prevention of chronic diseases and/or promotion of optimal health.

Vitamin C therapy in geriatric practice.

ABSTRACT: Numerous recent reports on the use of high‐dosage vitamin C in the treatment of the sick, injured, and convalescent have created a renewed interest in therapeutic nutrition. This article reviews the metabolism of vitamin C, its role in the maintenance of optimal health, the consequences of vitamin C deficiency, and the need for therapeutic diets in homes and hospitals. Also discussed are modern concepts of the body's adaptation to emotional and physical stress, the effect of stress on aging, and the role of vitamin C in the etiology and treatment of specific disease syndromes, e.g., the common cold, atherosclerosis, nutritional encephalopathies, low‐back pain, surgical stress, hemorrhage, and shock. A new, practical method (Cevi‐Bid sustained medication capsules) is described for maintaining therapeutic levels of vitamin C in the blood.

Fortification of cereals with amino acids

The grim race between the growth in population and the efforts to maintain, much less to increase, the quantity and quality of the world's per eapita food supply is perhaps the most critical struggle taking place today. Aside from the pressing need for population control, it is perfectly clear that agricultural, economic, cultural, sanitary, and medical problems are all important factors limiting the assurance of adequate nutrition and the maintenance of optimal health. Thus, the problem of malnutritioll is said to be multifaceted or multifactorial. These quite fashionable adjectives really explain nothing; worse, there is the risk of these labels' merely providing a cynical excuse for not vigorously attacking particular aspects of a health problem, assuming this would be a partial solution and even naive. And so it is with malnutrition; a multidisciplinary approach to a multifaeeted problem will doubtless be necessary for the ultimate achievement of optimal health in developing countries. Furthermore, regional differences will make some flexibility necessary in programs aimed at lessening malnutrition in various areas. Since all of the factors involved in bringing about an increase in both quantity and quality as well as better storage and distribution of food supplies are complex, it is also true that we need more research-research into the techniques, and logistics of bringing about agricultural and social change. On the other hand, this ought not to stop us from attempting action now, even though such action be on only a limited facet of the malnutrition problem and so long as we do not delude ourselves into thinking that such action is a