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Magnesium and Diabetes Mellitus: Their
relation
Sales CH; Pedrosa Lde F.
Clin Nutr. 2006; 25(4): 554-562.
This article is a review of research on magnesium and
diabetes mellitus over the last 14 years. Magnesium
deficiency has been associated with chronic diseases,
including diabetes mellitus. Epidemiological studies have
shown that low level of magnesium intake is associated with
diabetes mellitus, while ingestion of food rich with
magnesium lead to a reduction of diabetes and its
complications. Although hypomagnesemia is frequently seen in
diabetics, however, the mechanism by which magnesium
deficiency leads to this problem has not been clarified. It
has been shown that in the presence of diabetes, inadequate
metabolic control can impact total body magnesium
concentration, developing hypomagnesemia, which can be
directly related to some of the micro and macrovascular
complications seen in diabetes, such as cardiovascular
disease, retinopathy, and neuropathy. The researchers
conclude that based on the findings to date, supplementation
with magnesium can be suggested in patients with diabetes
mellitus who have been shown to be hypomagnesemic in the
presence of its complications.
Iron Fortification Reduces Blood Lead
Levels in Children in Bangalore, India
Zimmermann MB, et al.
Pediatrics 2006 Jun;117(6):2014-21.
It is known that chronic lead poisoning and iron
deficiency are a primary problem in urban children of lower
socioeconomic status, and both will impair neurocognitive
development. This study was done to evaluate the effect of
iron fortification on blood lead levels in lead exposed,
iron deficient children. The study was a randomized,
double-blind, controlled schoolbased feeding trial. At
baseline, a high prevalence of lead poisoning was found in
the younger children (n=134). The children were from 5 to 9
years of age. These children were followed to see if iron
fortification would affect their serum lead levels.
In the course of the trial, the children were fed 6
days/week for 16 weeks with either an iron fortified rice
meal (containing 15 mg of elemental iron) or an identical
control meal without iron. Feeding was directly supervised
and compliance monitored. It was found that the prevalence
of iron deficiency was significantly reduced in the iron
group (from 70% to 28%) compared to the control group (76%
to 55%). In addition the blood lead levels in the iron group
were significantly reduced when compared to the control
group. This study suggests that improving the iron intake to
lead exposed children may reduce chronic lead intoxication.
Iron fortification may be an effective and sustainable
strategy to environmental lead abatement.
Possible Relationship Between Low
Birth Weight and Magnesium Status: From the
Standpoint of "Fetal Origin" Hypothesis
Takaya J; Yamato F; Kaneko K.
Magnes Res. 2006; 19(1):63-9.
Magnesium deficiency is
frequently seen in pregnant women due to less than
adequate intake of magnesium. When
magnesium deficiency occurs during pregnancy, it can
lead to maternal and fetal health problems, and can have
consequences to the offspring that last throughout their
lives. Epidemiology studies show that restricted fetal
growth, or intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) is
associated with an increased risk of insulin resistance
in adulthood. We had previously postulated that
intracellular magnesium in cord blood platelets is lower
in the small for gestational group population as
compared to the appropriate for gestational group
population. This suggests that intrauterine magnesium
deficiency may result in IUGR. These things point to
intrauterine magnesium deficiency of the fetus leading
to or programming for insulin resistance after birth.
The researchers hypothesize that intrauterine magnesium
deficiency induces metabolic syndrome later in life.
Prospective studies are now needed to clarify whether
infants with IUGR induced by magnesium deficiency are at
a higher risk for metabolic syndromes at a later age.
Fortification of milk with calcium:
effect on calcium bioavailability and interactions
with iron and zinc
Perales S; Barber R; Legarda MJ;Farr R.
J Agric Food Chern. 2006; 54(13):4901-6.
Calcium solubility,
dialysability, and transport and uptake by Caco-2 cells as
indicators of calcium bioavailability were
estimated in the in vitro gastrointestinal digests of milk
and calcium fortified milk. A linear correlation between
calcium
uptake and the amount of soluble calcium added to the cells
was seen. The same was seen between the percentage of
calcium uptake and the calcium measured in the analyzed
samples. Solubility, dialysis, transport, and uptake values
were higher for the calcium fortified milk than for non
fortified milk. Calcium fortification of milk increases
calcium content and its bioavailability. It was seen that
iron absorption was negatively impacted by the calcium in
fortified milk, while the effect of calcium fortification of
milk on zinc bioavailability was dependent on the in vitro
method used. Zinc solubility and dialysis decreased in
calcium fortified milk, while the percentage of zinc uptake
did not change.
Pro-inflammatory states and the IGF-1
level in ischemic heart disease with low or high
serum iron
Lee SD, et al.
Clin Chem Acta. 2006 Aug ; 370(1-2):50-56.
There is an association of atherosclerosis and ischemic
myocardial damage with serum iron overload and with iron
deficiency. The role of either of these iron states with
respect to ischemic heart disease (IHD) is controversial. In
the study, serum samples from 73 normal subjects and 90
patients with ischemic heart disease (classified as low,
normal, or high serum iron) were collected and analyzed for
biochemical and immunological factors. The serum testing
indicated that tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF -alpha),
interleukin-6 (IL-6), high sensitive C-Reactive protein (hsCRP),
and interleukin-IO (IL- 10) were increased, while
insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I was decreased in IHD
patients with low serum iron. These factors were not changed
in IHD patients with normal or high serum iron, compared
with normal subjects. Total bilirubin was increased above
all other groups for IHD patients with high serum iron. The
findings were that IHD patients with low serum iron were in
a pro-inflammatory state, as suggested by increased TNF
-alpha, IL-6, and hsCRP, accompanied by an increase in
anti-inflammatory activity, such as seen with increased
IL-10. This low serum iron group exhibited a decrease in
cardiac protective factors, as evidenced by the decrease in
their I GF -1. IHD patients with low serum iron have less
cardiac protection and are in a more pro-inflammatory
position than normal subjects or IHD patients with either
normal or high serum iron.
Strontium
ranelate reduces the risk of vertebral and nonvertebral
fractures in women
eighty years of age and older
Seeman E, et al
J Bone Miner Res. 2006; 21(7): 1113-20
Strontium ranelate
(an organic acid) is supposed to produce an early and
sustained reduction of both vertebral and non vertebral
fractures in patients >/= 80 years of age. Women who are
80 years of age or older are at high risk for all types
of fracture, and they account for 25-30% of the
population burden of all fragility fractures in the
community. There had been very little evidence of
therapies that could reduce both the vertebral and non
vertebral fractures for this age group. This study was
conducted to determine whether strontium ranelate, an
agent that reduces the risk of vertebral and
nonvertebral fractures in postmenopausal women >50 years
of age, would do so in the elderly. The study was
randomized, placebocontrolled, and double-blind format.
It included 1488 women with osteoporosis, between the
ages of 80 and 100 years over the course of three years.
Yearly spinal x -rays were performed on 895 patients.
Only radiographically confirmed non vertebral fractures
were included. The baseline characteristics of the
placebo and the treatment (receiving strontium ranelate)
groups did not differ. At the end of 3 years, the risk
of vertebral, nonvertebral, and clinical fractures were
reduced by 32%, 31 %, and 22%, respectively. Strontium
ranelate treatment safely reduces the risk of vertebral
and nonvertebral fractures in women with osteoporosis
>/= 80 years of age.
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