Preventable causes. Salt. Trans fatty acids. Alcohol.

Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health, University of Toronto and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, have indicated ‘… smoking is responsible for 467,000 premature deaths each year, high blood pressure for 395,000, and being overweight for 216,000′

The scientists have also estimated numbers of deaths in the U.S. due annually to individual risk factors:

  • “Smoking: 467,000″
  • “High blood pressure: 395,000″
  • “Overweight-obesity: 216,000″
  • “Inadequate physical activity and inactivity: 191,000″
  • “High blood sugar: 190,000″
  • “High LDL cholesterol: 113,000″
  • “High dietary salt: 102,000″
  • “Low dietary omega-3 fatty acids (seafood): 84,000″
  • “High dietary trans fatty acids: 82,000″
  • “Alcohol use: 64,000 (alcohol use averted a balance of 26,000 deaths from heart disease, stroke and diabetes, because moderate drinking reduces risk of these diseases. But these deaths were outweighed by 90,000 alcohol-related deaths from traffic and other injuries, violence, cancers and a range of other diseases)”
  • “Low intake of fruits and vegetables: 58,000″
  • “Low dietary poly-unsaturated fatty acids: 15,000″

More from a Release dated 27 April 2009, sourced from Harvard School of Public Health:
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Bariatric surgery. Calcium. Oxalate. “… doctors may be able to help patients avoid kidney stones through calcium supplements or other interventions.”

Brian Matlaga MD, Assistant Professor of Urology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has said:

  • “Our study is not an indictment of bariatric surgery–the benefits of this surgery are well known …”
  • “Rather, we’d like to help physicians understand that their bariatric patients could be at risk for kidney stones, a condition that could be avoidable with proper preventative care.”

Matlaga has indicated that ‘…kidney stones are often caused by an excess of a dietary component known as oxalate, which normally binds with calcium and is flushed out of the body.’

More from a Release dated 17 June 2009, sourced from Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions:
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Traumatic brain injury. “… researchers believe other naturally used compounds, including pyruvate, beta-hydroxybutyrate, lactate and ketones, should be considered in treatment.”

David Hovda, Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of the BIRC has informed:

  • “Many patients with a traumatic brain injury exhibit hyperglycemia — high blood sugar — by the time they arrive in the ER …”
  • “So the standard protocol was to give the patient insulin to tightly control the levels of glucose that would take them to normal. For many regions of the injured brain, this may be the wrong thing to do.”
  • “The majority of head injuries are called mild traumatic brain injuries …”
  • “But what we’ve discovered is the path of physiological consequences measured in severe head injuries also occurs in mild traumatic head injuries as well.”
  • “So this research might just change what’s put in the IV bag at the onset of treatment.”
  • “We wish there was a cure for TBI …”
  • “But for now all that’s available is rehabilitation therapy.”
  • “Patients diagnosed with epilepsy or depression have medications that may help.”
  • “But as of now there is no cocktail remedy for TBI.”
  • “Our hope is to change that.”

More from a Release dated 2 June 2009, sourced from University of California – Los Angeles:
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Caffeic acid. Colitis.”… caffeic acid, an anti-inflammatory antioxidant compound widely distributed in foods.”

Scientists from Iowa State University have indicated “…  that increased expression of a form of cytochrome P-450 (CYP4B1) is a key marker of inhibition of colitis in mice by caffeic acid, an anti-inflammatory antioxidant compound widely distributed in foods.”

More from a Release dated 26 May 2009, sourced from Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine:
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Lettuce. Suntan. “After 43 hours of exposure to UVB light, the growing lettuce plants were noticeably redder than other plants that only saw white light.”

According to a Release from the Optical Society of America:

  • “Now a team of plant physiologists has developed a way to make lettuce darker and redder–and therefore healthier–using ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs).”

More from the Release dated 18 May 2009, sourced from Optical Society of America:
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Curcumin. Turmeric. “Weight gain is the result of the growth and expansion of fat tissue, which cannot happen unless new blood vessels form, a process known as angiogenesis.”

Mohsen Meydani DVM PhD, from the Vascular Biology Laboratory at the USDA HNRCA has informed:

  • “Weight gain is the result of the growth and expansion of fat tissue, which cannot happen unless new blood vessels form, a process known as angiogenesis.”
  • “Based on our data, curcumin appears to suppress angiogenic activity in the fat tissue of mice fed high fat diets.”
  • “It is important to note, we don’t know whether these results can be replicated in humans because, to our knowledge, no studies have been done.”

More from a Release dated 18 May 2009, sourced from Tufts University Health Sciences:
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Dietary acrylamide. “… not associated with lung cancer risk in men …”

Acrylamide is a chemical that may form during high-temperature cooking of carbohydrates.

Lorelei A Mucci ScD and Hans-Olov Adami MD PhD, from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, have presented a review referring to studies of dietary acrylamide and to observation of acrylamide in food.

More from a Release dated 28 April 2009, sourced from Journal of the National Cancer Institute:
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Glutamine. Stomach ulcers. “Our findings suggest that extra glutamine in the diet could protect against gastric damage caused by H. pylori …”

Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have indicated “… that the amino acid glutamine, found in many foods as well as in dietary supplements, may prove beneficial in offsetting gastric damage caused by H. pylori infection.”

More from a Release dated 15 May 2009, sourced from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center:
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Folic acid. Preconceptional supplement.

According to a Release from Public Library of Science: “… previous studies have suggested that lower concentrations of folate (folic acid) are associated with shorter duration of pregnancy.”

More from the Release dated 11 May 2009, sourced from Public Library of Science:
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Vitamin D. Asthma. “… optimal intake of vitamin D and the possible prevention and treatment of asthma …”

Juan Celedón MD, DrPH, and Augusto Litonjua MD, MPH, from Harvard Medical School have reported:

  • “To our knowledge this is the first study to demonstrate an inverse association between circulating levels of vitamin D and markers of asthma severity and allergy …”
  • “While it is difficult to establish causation in a cross-sectional study such as this, the results were robust even after controlling for markers of baseline asthma severity.”

More from a Release dated 23 April 2009, sourced from the American Thoracic Society:
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