Outbreak cases on rise, WHO says

The World Health Organization is reporting that there seem to be more food-borne illness outbreaks happening in countries rich and poor, but more research needs to be done to determine exactly how many people are getting sick and dying from these outbreaks. It’s estimated that about 30 percent of new infectious diseases come from pathogens introduced through the food supply and food should be monitored every step of the way to make sure potentially harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites and chemicals aren’t being introduced, experts say. In addition, the bureaucracy needs to be streamlined, as can easily be seen in China, where 16 different agencies are involved in the response to the melamine contamination.

Vitamin E doesn’t prevent RA

It’s been a bad stretch for studies hoping to prove that taking vitamin supplements can prevent disease. The latest victim is a study that found taking vitamin E supplements for around 10 years did not make women any less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis. The women were all older than age 45 and were taking part in the Women’s Health Study. Nearly 40,000 women were given either 600 international units of E or a placebo. Fifty of the women taking E got RA during the study, compared to 56 who weren’t taking the supplement.

Genetic testing for diabetes not helpful

Genetic testing can provide a lot of insight into who might be more likely to get certain diseases, but when it comes to diabetes, getting a genetic test is no better than a traditional risk factor assessment at determining risk. While a genetic test can highlight risk-associated genes, and having more of those variants would indicate higher risk, a physical checkup for such things as being overweight or having high blood pressure and blood sugar tells patients and doctors what they need to know about an individual’s risk, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine. Still, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital said genetic testing can be helpful if it motivates people to make changes who otherwise wouldn’t.

Diabetes may slow brain processing

Some studies have linked diabetes and cognitive dysfunction, but a new study suggests that mental processing speed may be the brain function most severely affected by diabetes. Researchers looked at data from the AGES Reykjavik Study and found that people who had been diagnosed with diabetes were slower to process information than people who didn’t have diabetes. People with undiagnosed diabetes had similar problems, but those with pre-diabetes had mental functioning similar to people without diabetes. Both memory and “executive function or the ability to plan and multitask, were comparable in people with and without diabetes, though people who’d had diabetes more than 15 years also had impaired executive function, according to the report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Farmers see huge price drop after boom

Finally, grain prices had been going up along with the price of everything else, but as prices fall farmers find themselves paying more to produce crops than they’ll likely be able to sell them for if prices stay low or go lower. While many farmers thrived in the recent boom times when wheat was going for $10 a bushel, now that it’s down to about $5 or less, farmers are once again worried about being able to stay in the business or being profitable in the near future. The price of land is also sinking, and more part-time farmers are leaving the business, but some say it just takes patience, and things will go up again.

(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 and is filed under Diabetes, Food safety, Foreign stories (non-U.S.), Nibbles: diet news shorts, Nutrition. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Permalink.