Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
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nutrition

Americans cutting sugar – but it’s still not enough

In America’s battle against obesity, there is some good news. According to a study conducted by Emory researchers, Americans consumed nearly a quarter less added sugars in 2008 than they did 10 years earlier.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in July 2011, found that the consumption of added sugars, such as those found in sodas, sports drinks, juices and sweetened dairy products, decreased among all age groups over a decade. The largest decrease came in the consumption of sodas, traditionally the largest contributor to added sugar consumption, according to Jean Welsh, MPH, PhD, RN, study author and post-doctoral fellow in pediatric nutrition at Emory University School of Medicine.

“While we were hopeful this would be the case, we were surprised when our research showed such a substantial reduction in the amount of added sugar Americans are consuming,” said Welsh. “We’re hopeful this trend will continue.”

So, why the change? One of Welsh’s partners in the study, Miriam Vos, MD, MSPH, an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Emory University School of Medicine, and a physician on staff at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, attributes much of the shift to public education.

“Over the past decade, there has been a lot of public health awareness about obesity and nutrition, and I think people are starting to get the message about sugar,” says Vos. “We’re not trying to send a message that sugar is inherently bad. It’s more that the large amounts of sugar we consume are having negative effects on our health, including increasing our risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”

The study interpreted data of 40,000 people’s diets collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over 10 years.  From the surveys, researchers were able to calculate how much added sugar – that is sugar that is not originally part of a food – that Americans are consuming. In 1999-2000, the typical person’s daily diet included approximately 100 grams of added sugar, a number that had dropped to 77 grams by 2007 and 2008.

While the study shows that the amount of added sugar Americans are consuming is lower, it doesn’t mean the amount is low enough.

“The American Heart Association recommends that we get about five percent of our calories from added sugars,” says Vos. “In 1999 to 2000, people were consuming about 18 percent of their calories from added sugars. Over 10 years, that amount decreased to 14.5 percent of our daily calories, which is much better. But, clearly, 14.5 percent is still three times more than what is considered a healthy amount. We’re on the right track, but we still have room for improvement.”

Posted on August 15, 2011 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Emory Cardiologist Weighs in on U.S. News Diet Ranking

 

Laurence Sperling, MD

U.S. News & World Report recently announced the results of its first-ever Best Diets rankings evaluating some of the country’s most popular diets.

Emory Heart & Vascular Center cardiologist Laurence Sperling served on a panel of 22 health experts selected by U.S. News to help develop the rankings. Sperling is the medical director of the Emory Heartwise Risk Reduction Program and professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.

Sperling and his panel colleagues reviewed information about 20 well-known diets, from Atkins to Zone, and rated each one on specific measures such as safety, easiness to follow and nutritional completeness.

Using the experts’ ratings, U.S. News developed five diet categories to address a broad range of consumers’ dieting goals and needs including Best Diabetes Diets, Best Heart Diets, Best Weight Loss Diets and Best Overall. “The goal of the Best Diets rankings is to help consumers find authoritative guidance on healthful diets that will work for them over the long haul,” said Lindsay Lyon, U.S. News‘s Health News Editor.

Weight Watchers ranked first in the Weight Loss category. Tied for number two were Jenny Craig and the Raw Food Diet, an approach that challenges dieters to avoid foods that have been cooked.

The government-endorsed DASH Diet took the top spot as the best diet overall. Three diets tied at number two, excelling in all measures U.S News considered: the Mediterranean Diet, the TLC Diet, and Weight Watchers.

For a complete list of the new diet rankings, please visit:

http://health.usnews.com/best-diet

Posted on July 12, 2011 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

A good reason to enjoy a little Valentine’s Day chocolate

From the Clinic to You

BY CHERYL WILLIAMS, RD, LD

If you’re looking for an excuse to indulge in the yummy chocolate you get this Valentine’s Day, research suggests it may not be so bad for you. You might also want to register and place your bets with confidence at สมัครและเดิมพันที่ UFABET.

A number of studies, conducted over the last decade have associated cocoa and dark chocolate consumption with heart health benefits. These benefits come from cocoa, derived from the cacao plant, which is rich in flavonoids (cocoa flavanols to be exact). Flavonoids are antioxidants also found in berries, grapes, tea, and apples. As a whole, antioxidants prevent cellular damage and inflammation which are two major mechanisms involved in the development of heart disease.

So what does the research say?

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that high-flavanol dark chocolate reduced bad cholesterol (LDL) oxidation and increased good cholesterol (HDL) levels. LDL oxidation promotes the development of plaque and hardening of the coronary arteries, thus lessening oxidation could help to prevent heart disease.

A Harvard research study found that flavanol-rich cocoa induced nitric-oxide production, which causes blood vessels to relax and expand, thus improving blood flow. Improved coronary vasodilation could potentially lower the risk of a cardiovascular event.

In a double-blind randomized Circulation study flavonoid-rich dark chocolate (containing 70% cocoa) reduced serum oxidative stress and decreased platelet activity (clumping) in heart transplant recipients. This favorable impact on vascular and platelet function is relevant because vascular dysfunction and platelet activation (adhesion upon damaged cell wall) are the basis of atherothrombosis (blood clotting) and coronary artery disease.

How can you reap chocolate’s potential benefits?

Not all cocoa products and/or chocolates are created equal. Milk chocolate, for example, is not rich in flavanols (contains only 10-20% cocoa solids) and white chocolate contains none at all. In addition, some cocoa products and chocolates are processed with alkali, which can destroy flavanols.

Follow these tips for heart healthy chocolate consumption:

  • Avoid cocoa products processed with alkali (dutched) as seen in the ingredient list
  • Choose dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa
  • Enjoy 100% unsweetened non-dutched cocoa (great for hot chocolate!)

Also, remember that chocolate is not a health food, as it is high in calories, fat and added sugar. Thus, make room for dark chocolate by cutting extra calories elsewhere in your diet. Additionally, stick to small amounts (e.g. 1 ounce) and do not eat in place of plant-based whole foods such as vegetables and fruits.

Cheryl Williams is a registered dietitian at the Emory Heart & Vascular Center. She provides nutrition therapy, wellness coaching, monthly nutrition seminars and healthy cooking demonstrations working with the Emory HeartWise Cardiac Risk Reduction Program.

Posted on February 12, 2011 by admin in Uncategorized 2 Comments

The science behind the Mediterranean diet

The diet calls for lots of fruits and vegetables.

Researchers, physicians, and health care providers from across the United States and Italy met recently at the Rollins School of Public Health for the first Emory Conference on Mediterranean Diet and Health. Participants focused on the diet’s relation to cardiovascular disease, cancer, neuropsychiatric disorders, and vascular health.

The Mediterranean diet is characterized by a high consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, complex carbohydrates, and nuts; moderate consumption of fish and red wine; low consumption of cheese and red meat; and olive oil as the chief source of fat, explains Viola Vaccarino, MD, PhD, one of the conference chairs.

When topped with exercise, the Mediterranean diet really a pattern of eating habits traditionally followed by people in the Mediterranean regions in the early 1960shas proven beneficial for many throughout the years. But why this is so isnt clear.
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Posted on December 10, 2010 by admin in Heart Leave a comment

Reading the blood: metabolomics

In the Star Trek series, Dr. McCoy could often instantly diagnose someone’s condition with the aid of his tricorder. Medicine on 21st century Earth has not advanced quite this far, but scientists’ ideas of how to use “metabolomics” are heading in this direction.

What is metabolomics? Just as genomics means reading the DNA in a person or organism, and assessing it and comparing it to others, metabolomics takes the same approach to all the substances produced as part of the body’s metabolism: watching what happens to food, drugs and chemicals we are exposed to in the environment.

This means dealing with a huge amount of information. Human genomes may be billions of letters (base pairs) in length, but at least there are only four choices of letter!

A recent article in Chemical & Engineering News explores this concept of the “exposome” and quotes Dean Jones. He and his colleagues recently described how they can use sophisticated analytical techniques to resolve thousands of substances in human plasma. Jones is the director of the Clinical Biomarkers Laboratory at Emory University School of Medicine. The paper is in the journal Analyst, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Analytical techniques can discern more than 2500 metabolites from human plasma within 10 minutes

Using a drop of blood, within ten minutes the researchers can discern more than 2,500 substances in a reproducible way. One fascinating tidbit: when they compared the metabolic profiles for four healthy individuals, most of the “peaks” were common between individuals but 10 percent were unique.

The potential uses for this type of technology are staggering.

Jones reports he has been working with researchers at Yerkes National Primate Research Center to discern early signs of neurodegeneration in transgenic monkeys with Huntington’s disease. He has been collaborating with clinical nutrition specialist Tom Ziegler to examine how diet interacts with oxidative stress, and with lung biology to identify markers for fetal alcohol exposure in animal models.

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Quinn Eastman in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Micronutrients: food for thought

Conrad Cole, MD, MPH

Physicians and researchers are seeing a resurgence of micronutrient deficiencies in certain high-risk populations of children. But what exactly does that mean to those children—right now and in the future?

For children who don’t get enough micronutrients it means life-long problems, including decreased neurodevelopment and diminished cognitive abilities.

“Micronutrients are nutrients that are needed by the body in small quantities and are important for development, growth and sustaining life,” says Conrad Cole, MD, MPH, assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition in Emory School of Medicine. “That’s why they’re called micronutrients, and the ones we commonly think about are iron, vitamin D, calcium and zinc because they all have significant importance.”

To listen to Cole’s own words about micronutrients, access Emory’s new Sound Science podcast.

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Posted on May 17, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Delivering nutrition to critical care patients

Emory clinical nutrition expert Thomas Ziegler, MD, has a case report article in the Sept. 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The case report describes a woman with diabetes who needed surgery because of loss of blood flow to abdominal organs. While she is in intensive care after surgery, it becomes clear that a feeding tube leading from her nose to her stomach is not working. That makes her a good candidate for parenteral nutrition, or bypassing the digestive system and delivering nutrients directly into her blood.

Malnutrition is common in patients who are critically ill and often worsens with prolonged hospitalization. Some patients can’t eat normal food or benefit from a feeding tube into the stomach.

Thomas Ziegler, MD, Director, Center for Clinical and Molecular Nutrition, Department of Medicine

Thomas Ziegler, MD, Director, Center for Clinical and Molecular Nutrition, Department of Medicine

Yet few well-designed clinical trials studying parenteral nutrition have been conducted, Ziegler writes. He also notes that there is considerable debate over when parenteral nutrition is appropriate during critical care and how to administer it.

Ziegler’s own research has shown the beneficial effects of the amino acid glutamine, which must be added fresh to feeding formulas, for some critical care patients.

Several of the questions Ziegler outlines in his article will be issues investigators at Emory’s new Center for Critical Care will tackle. Recently, Timothy Buchman, MD, PhD, joined Emory to lead the critical care team.

Posted on September 17, 2009 by Quinn Eastman in Uncategorized Leave a comment