Svenska unga män äter minst dubbelt så mycket salt än vad som rekommenderas. Det visar en studie genomförd i samarbete mellan Sahlgrenska akademin och Sahlgrenska Universitetssjukhuset.

– Det är alarmerande att unga svenska män äter så mycket salt, och det måste åtgärdas. Vi kan egentligen bara spekulera om vilka konsekvenser det höga saltintaget kommer att få senare i livet, i form av hjärt- kärlsjukdom och stroke, säger Lena Hulthén, professor i klinisk nutrition vid Sahlgrenska akademin.

I studien ingår nästan hundra killar i 20-årsåldern. Urinprov från ett dygn har analyserats från samtliga deltagare. De fick också svara på frågor om vad de brukar äta och hur mycket. Urinanalyserna visade att ynglingarna åt minst dubbelt så mycket salt än det intag som världshälsoorganisationen WHO rekommenderar, maximalt sex gram om dagen.

– Högt saltintag kan leda till högre blodtryck, men det sambandet kunde vi inte se i vår studie. Högt blodtryck utvecklas vanligen inte förrän i 30- eller 40-årsåldern, eftersom njurarnas förmåga att ta hand om överskottssaltet blir sämre med åldern, säger Lena Hulthén.

Saltet i kosten kommer i stor utsträckning från färdiga rätter som pizzor och djupfryst oxpytt, men även från bröd, ost, köttpålägg, fiskprodukter, frukostflingor och annan mat som livsmedelsindustrin producerar. En tidigare dansk studie har visat att bara en tiondel av saltet vi får i oss kommer från vårt eget saltkar.

– Om den totala saltmängden ska minska behövs tydliga regler för hur mycket salt matindustrin får använda. Ett sätt skulle kunna vara att göra som i Finland, där salthalten måste anges tydligt på alla förpackningar så att konsumenter lättare kan välja produkter med mindre salt, säger Lena Hulthén.

Källa:  Sahlgrenska akademin vid Göteborgs universite

Bariatric surgery is a procedure designed to help patients lose weight, but what may be even more important is that it can also help resolve diabetes for patients with this disease.

“Diabetic patients who undergo bariatric surgery are often cured of diabetes following the procedure,” said Christopher Still, D.O., director of the Geisinger Center for Nutrition and Weight Management. “This has been an incredible breakthrough for patients, as diabetes is often a very challenging condition to manage.”

A 2004 study by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that diabetes was completely resolved for more than 76 percent of the 22,000 surveyed patients, and 86 percent of patients saw improvement in their diabetes. In an Annals of Surgery study, 83 percent of diabetic patients were cured after undergoing gastric bypass surgery, the primary bariatric procedure used at Geisinger Medical Center.

Although the procedure is most effective against type 2 diabetes, it also has been shown to improve other medical problems such as obstructive sleep apnea and fatty liver disease, Dr. Still said. By resolving diabetes via surgery, patients are often able to avoid medications and insulin injections as well as not needing their CPAP breathing machines at night.

“Many non-surgical treatments for diabetes can be ineffective, expensive and difficult for patients to maintain,” Dr. Still said. “Bariatric surgery may completely resolve diabetes in one procedure, and in the long run surgery may be less expensive than the lifetime commitment to purchasing medications.”

To ensure that patients have the best chances of resolving their diabetes following surgery, Dr. Still makes sure that patients dedicate themselves to maintaining a healthy diet and exercise program. .

“Approximately 90 percent of patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are obese, and obese patients are nearly twice as likely to develop diabetes compared to someone who is not obese,” Dr. Still said. “As a result, patients who are unable to maintain their new body weight after bariatric surgery run the risk of a resurgence of their diabetes.”

While the correlation between bariatric surgery and the resolution of diabetes is clear, research is still being conducted to determine the exact mechanisms of action on how this occurs, Dr. Still said.

“Studies are being done to investigate a variety of potential explanations, including the way that fat cells can affect how the body responds to insulin, or how hormones are altered by the procedure,” Dr. Still said. “There is no definitive conclusion, but it is clear that the surgery can resolve obesity as well as other obesity related diseases and help patients enjoy a higher quality of life.”

Source: Geisinger Health System

Mayo researchers collaborating with investigators at the University of Iowa, University of Connecticut and New York University (NYU) have discovered a molecular mechanism that controls energy expenditure in muscles and helps determine body weight. Researchers say this could lead to a new medical approach in treating obesity. The findings appear in the journal Cell Metabolism.

The energy-saving mechanism is controlled by ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels. ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, is the “energy currency” utilized by cells in the body. These particular channels can sense ATP pools and regulate heart and skeletal muscle performance accordingly. Animals lacking this energy-saving mechanism burn more stored energy by dissipating more heat when at rest or when
normally active.

As in humans, excess energy from food is stored as glycogen or fat that could be converted into ATP according to energy demand. Eliminating the KATP channel forces the body to use energy less efficiently, consuming more and storing less gaining low weight, even when on a high-calorie
“Western” diet.

“While mechanisms that preserve energy are naturally protective — in times of food shortage or environmental stress — they promote obesity in a sedentary, modern society,” says Alexey Alekseev, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic electrophysiologist and first author of the study. “Our findings suggest that therapeutic targeting of the KATP channel function, specifically in muscle, could offer a new option for obese patients with lower capacity for exercise.”

How the study was done

Dr. Alekseev and his colleagues suspected that the KATP channel could control energy expenditure. To test the hypothesis, they studied genetically modified mice in which the KATP channel had been inactivated in the whole body or muscle tissues. They compared these mice to normal mice and found that as early as 5 months of age, the modified mice were leaner and stayed that way throughout their life span.

Researchers compared activity patterns, hormone levels, food intake, and respiratory gas exchange while at rest and under moderate exercise. A hallmark of the study was the discovery that activity in the absence of the KATP channel function resulted in increased consumption of carbohydrates and lipids. That, in turn, led to enforced burning of glycogen and stored body fat.

“By sensing cellular energy content, KATP channels continuously, at any activity level, optimize energy use and define the balance between energy availability and consumption,” explains Dr. Alekseev. “In principle, a positive energy balance favoring weight gain could be reversed by targeting muscle KATP channels to control obesity in patients with low to moderate exercise capacity imposed by the overweight state.

Source: Mayo Clinic

Small-scale studies have documented low vitamin D levels in children and adolescents, even as evidence mounts about the role of this vitamin in maintaining health and preventing disease. Three studies further our understanding of vitamin D status in children. One study was based on data from 6275 children and adolescents who participated in the 2001–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Overall, 9% of respondents (representing 7.6 million children and adolescents) were vitamin D deficient (serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] <15 ng/mL), and 61% (representing 50.8 million) were vitamin D insufficient (serum 25[OH]D, 15–29 ng/mL). Only 4% of participants reported taking 400 IU of vitamin D daily during the past 30 days. Among those aged 13–21 years, vitamin D deficiency was detected in 3% and 5% of white boys and girls, 43% and 59% of non-Hispanic black boys and girls, and 7% and 20% of Mexican American boys and girls. Deficiency rates were generally lower in children aged 7–12 years and lowest in children aged 1–6 years. Risk factors associated with deficiency were obesity (odds ratio, 1.9), drinking milk less than once per week (OR, 2.9), and television /video/computer use for more than 4 hours per day (OR, 1.6). Reported use of daily vitamin D supplements reduced the risk for deficiency (OR, 0.4). Compared with participants with vitamin D levels 30 ng/mL, those with deficiency had higher parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels and systolic blood pressure (BP) and lower HDL and serum calcium levels. Other investigators used the same dataset to examine the effects of low serum 25(OH)D levels in 3577 fasting adolescents (age range, 12–19 years). In analyses that were adjusted for sociodemographic factors and physical activity, 25(OH)D levels were inversely associated with systolic BP and plasma glucose concentrations. Compared with children with vitamin D levels in the highest quartile (>26 ng/mL), those with levels in the lowest quartile (<15 ng/mL) had adjusted ORs of 2.36 for hypertension, 2.54 for fasting hyperglycemia (glucose 100 mg/dL), and 3.88 for metabolic syndrome. In the third study, investigators examined the relation between serum 25(OH)D levels and insulin and glucose dynamics in 51 black adolescents (mean body-mass index, 43.3 kg/m2) at a hospital-based weight-management clinic. After controlling for BMI and PTH levels, the investigators found no metabolic differences between children with 25(OH)D levels <20 ng/mL and those with levels >20 ng/mL. However, insulin sensitivity was significantly lower and insulin resistance was higher among those with 25(OH)D levels <15 ng/mL compared with those with levels 15 ng/mL.

Published in Journal Watch Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine November 4, 2009