With an ageing population, dietary approaches to promote health and independence later in life are needed. In part, this can be achieved by maintaining muscle mass and strength as people age. New evidence suggests that current dietary recommendations for protein intake may be insufficient to achieve this goal and that individuals might benefit by increasing their intake and frequency of consump...

Who among us hasn't fantasized about a diet that allows ingestion of a surfeit of calories that are burned off effortlessly by ramping up energy expenditure? In this issue of the JCI, research led by Christopher Morrison suggests that this dream may become a reality; however, a complete understanding of the molecular interface that connects nutrient choices with our cellular metabolism will be ...

Undernutrition - of both macronutrients and micronutrients - is still a surprisingly common problem among older people in the UK. There is a variety of nutritional supplements that community nurses need to be aware of in managing their patients' nutritional requirements. Different supplements are taken for different disease states. This article looks at the various nutrient and energy requireme...

While it is assumed that reintroduction of saturated fat might be deleterious, recent research suggests that the role of saturated fatty acids needs to be re-examined. “Current dietary intake recommendations of macronutrients have targeted total fat, cholesterol and saturated fat as the principle means to improve human health,” says Bruce German, professor, Department of Food Science & Technolo...

Adequate maternal nutritional status before and during pregnancy is important for healthy pregnancy outcomes [1]. Poor maternal nutrition is associated with intrauterine growth restriction, low birth weight, and preterm birth, and it increases the risk of neonatal deaths [2], as well as post-natal stunting [3]. In low and middle income countries (LMICs), diets of pregnant women are predominantl...

Recommended dietary allowances for fat and fatty acid (FA) intakes are set on global standards aimed at prevention of lifestyle diseases. Yet, the fat composition of a diet is both ethnic/region specific as well as income dependent. Indian diets are predominantly vegetarian and relatively low in fat. Furthermore, the main sources of fat are of plant origin rather than animal origin. This result...

Over the last 40 years, a growing body of evidence has accumulated regarding the relationships among consumption of dietary fat, carbohydrate, protein, and energy and risk of chronic disease. The fact that diets are usually composed of a variety of foods that include varying amounts of carbohydrate, protein, and various fats imposes some limits on the type of research that can be conducted to a...

Caloric restriction (CR) has proved to be the most effective and reproducible dietary intervention to increase healthy lifespan and aging. A reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in obese subjects can be already achieved by a moderate and sustainable weight loss. Since pharmacological approaches for body weight reduction have, at present, a poor long-term efficacy, CR is of great inter...

15 There is lack of evidence on the differential impact of maternal macronutrient consumption: 16 carbohydrates (CHO), fats and protein on birthweight. We investigated the association between 17 maternal dietary macronutrient intakes and their sub-components such as saccharides and fatty acids 18 and birthweight. This analyses included 1,196 women with singleton pregnancies who were part of 19 ...