March 2005 Newsletter

Prof Mark Wahlqvist AO, MD, FRACP

We have 2 new products now available: 1. The innovative "Food Web" on-line dietary assessment program developed by HEC nutritionists 2. Asia Pacific Journal Volumes 1-13 (1992-2004) on CD

Dr Antigone Kouris-Blazos PhD, Grad Dip Diet, BSc (Hons)

HEC PRODUCTS

Food Web

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HEC has developed a NOVEL on-line dietary assessment tool called FOOD WEB. more...

Past and Current subscribers:
We have made Food web freely available to our past and current subscribers (including megabyte members).
Simply use your ID and Password more...

New subscribers:
New subscribers will get access to Food Web, along with access to the on-line book "Food Facts" by Professors Mark Wahlqvist and David Briggs and the course module "Healthy Eating Tips" for only $29.95 per annum. more..


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Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Volumes 1-13 (1992-2004) and Supplements on CD rom for only $190 order here

APJCN vol 14, issue 1, 2005 issue out now - read abstracts.

APJCN vol 14, supplement, 2005 out now (papers from APCNS/IUNS conference in Brisbane 2004)abstracts.

Subscribe to APJCN for only $135 hardcopy/online or $120 on-line onky

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WHAT'S NEW IN NUTRITION RESEARCH

Does diet matter for survival in long-lived cultures?

Published in APJCN, vol 14, issue 1 2005. Authors: Wahlqvist M, Darmadi-Blackberry I, Kouris-Blazos A, Jolley D, Steen B, Lukito W, Horie Y.

This interesting study set out to determine if diet is important for longevity in 5 long-lived cultures.
The study was called "Food Habits in Later Life" and was coordinated by HECs Professor Mark Wahlqvist and Dr Antigone Kouris-Blazos at Monash University (the descriptive data is availabe on CD rom more...)
Between 1988 and 1991 data were collected on diet, health and lifetsyle on about 800 people aged 70 and over from countries/cultures experiencing longevity: Swedes,, Greeks, Australians (Greeks and Anglo-Celts) and Japanese. They were followed up for 5-7 years to determine survival.

Much to the surprise of the investigators, the elderly Greeks in Australia had the lowest risk of death (even though they had the highest rates of obesity and other CVD risk factors), followed by the slimmer and more athletic elderly Swedes, Japanese, Anglo-Australians and the elderly Greeks in Greece had the highest risk of death. more....

Low Glycaemic Index foods: can they help prevent diabetes?

The glycaemic index (GI) of a food is a measure of how rapidly the carbohydrates in the food are absorbed and result in blood glucose and insulin elevations . The GI is not related to whether the carbohydrate is simple or complex. The GI measures the rise in blood sugar levels caused by a measured quantity of a particular food. High GI foods are rapidly absorbed and cause a large rise in blood sugar levels and insulin. Thus, one may well expect that high GI foods could be linked long term to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and of insulin resistance.
Although not all studies have found this to be so, the weight of evidence suggests clearly that this is indeed the case (Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Aug;80(2):243-4.), and two new studies (below) add to that weight.

Study 1: A US study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2004 (Vol 80, no.2, pp 348-56) on
91,249 adult women showed that a higher GI and lower amounts of cereal fibre in the diet (especially when combined with inactivity) are associated with greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Study 2: Another US study published in Diabetes Care in 2004 (Feb;27(2):538-46) on 2,834 adults showed that the likelihood of developing insulin resistance (pre-diabetes) was reduced in those who consumed more
cereal fibre and whole grain and had a lower GI diet, but the association with glycaemic load was not significant.

The results are consistent with a recent Australian prospective study, involving 36,787 adults and 365 cases of diabetes (Diabetes Care. 2004 Nov;27(11):2701-6).

What does this mean for the average person? If you have a family history of diabetes or if you are overweight/obese and/or inactive then consuming low GI foods may help prevent insulin resistance or diabetes developing. If you already have diabetes, low GI foods can help manage blood sugar levels.

 View a Table of Low Glycaemic Index Foods.
 Read an article about the Glycaemic Index .