Volume 148 (6) | June 2018
Pubs banner
The Journal of Nutrition Media Alerts
The following articles have been published in the June 2018 issue of  The Journal of Nutrition , a publication of the American Society for Nutrition. Summaries of the selected articles appear below; the full text of each article is available by clicking on the links listed. Manuscripts published in  The Journal of Nutrition  are embargoed until the article appears online either as in press ( Articles in Press ) or as a final version. The embargoes for the following articles have expired ( Editor's Choice Articles in bold ):

  • Healthy eating patterns associated with lower risk of hearing loss in women
  • Walnuts – are their health benefits due to shifts in our intestinal bacteria?
  • Can eating yogurt lower inflammation
  • The limiting amino acids for endurance-trained men are likely branched chain amino acids
  • The relationship between childhood wasting and stunting
  • Potential biomarkers of habitual food intake are detected using untargeted metabolomics
Healthy eating patterns associated with lower risk of hearing loss in women
Hearing loss is common as we age, affecting nearly 48 million Americans and contributing to a variety of poor health outcomes such as decreased quality of life and depression. As such, understanding ways to prevent and treat hearing loss continues to be a major public health goal. In this paper, a research team led by Harvard Medical School’s and Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Dr. Sharon Curhan reports its findings that consuming foods matching a Mediterranean or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet may be one way of lowering risk of experiencing hearing loss so commonly associated with aging.

Reference: Curhan SG, Wang M, Eavey RD, Stampfer MJ, Curhan GC. Adherence to healthful dietary patterns is associated with lower risk of hearing loss in women . J Nutr 2018; 148(6):944-51.
For More Information  To contact the corresponding author, Dr. Sharon Curhan, please send an e-mail to SCurhan@bwh.harvard.edu .

Walnuts – are their health benefits due to shifts in our intestinal bacteria?
In addition to adding an earthy and delicious crunch to salads and cookies, walnuts are packed with nutrients such as protein, fiber, healthy fats, and magnesium. Interestingly, because of their complex food architecture, the body cannot extract all the calories walnuts contain – making them less calorically dense than one might anticipate from the fat, protein, and carbohydrates they contain. Consequently, some of the energy contained in walnuts is available to the trillions of bacteria that share our lower intestines – a fact that begs the question as to whether consumption of walnuts might influence the bacteria that thrive there. Findings from a study conducted by Holscher and colleagues at the University of Illinois, Tufts University, and USDA Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center suggests that the answer to this question is yes .

Reference: Holscher HD, Gutterman HM, Swanson KS, An Ru, Matthan NR, Lichtenstein AH, Novotny JA, Baer DJ. Walnut consumption alters the gastrointestinal microbiota, microbially derived secondary bile acids, and health markers in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial . J Nutr 2018; 148(6):861-67.
For More Information:  To contact the corresponding author, Dr. Hannah Holscher, please send an e-mail to hholsche@illinois.edu

Can eating yogurt lower inflammation?
The ability of the body to mount an inflammatory response is generally a good thing, as it protects us from infection. Inflammation also helps repair damaged tissues. However, sometimes the body deploys its inflammatory capacity when it’s not needed. This can result in the body's normally protective immune system causing damage to its own tissues. Over the past decade, scientists have discovered that many common conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity are all related to either low-grade chronic inflammation or transient inflammation triggered by eating a meal. Moreover, experts agree that this sort of inflammation may be causing some of the negative outcomes associated with these diseases. In this study, Bolling and colleagues report promising results of a study they conducted to determine if yogurt consumption might help lower systemic inflammation that occurs after a meal. Particularly, consumption of yogurt before a meal improved participants’ ability to sequester pro-inflammatory components from gut microbiota. 

Reference: Pei R, DiMarco DM, Putt KK, Martin DA, Chitchumroonchokchai C, Bruno RS, Bolling BW. Premeal low-fat yogurt consumption reduces postprandial inflammation and markers of endotoxin exposure in healthy premenopausal women in a randomized controlled trial . Journal of Nutrition. 2018; 148(6):910-16
For More Information:  To contact the corresponding author, Dr. Bradley Bolling, please send an e-mail to bwbolling@wisc.edu .

Read full summaries here .
JN  Editor's Choice Articles

The limiting amino acids for endurance-trained men are likely branched chain amino acids
Protein requirements are elevated for exercising individuals. However, current work using the indicator amino acid oxidation (IAAO) method does not explain whether the elevated requirements are for all amino acids or certain classes of amino acids.  Kato and colleagues report on the results of a study designed to address this question in endurance-trained men. They discovered reductions in labeled CO2 excretion when basal diets (protein levels for sedentary individuals) were supplemented with branched-chain amino acids or contained sufficient levels of protein for trained athletes. Diets supplemented with either branched-chain amino acids, essential amino acids or nonessential amino acids resulted in lower rates of phenylalanine oxidation. The authors concluded that branched-chain amino acids were the primary limiting class of amino acids that contributed to the elevated overall protein requirements for trained athletes. The authors indicate more work is needed in order to determine whether it is all branched-chain amino acids or a single one that is necessary to support whole body protein synthesis needs after exercise.

For More Information: To contact the corresponding author, Daniel R. Moore, please send an email to dr.moore@utoronto.ca

The relationship between childhood wasting and stunting
In many parts of the world, childhood health is negatively impacted by acute or chronic malnutrition, which has major implications for immediate and long-term health status of individuals. Acute malnutrition resulting in rapid weight loss is referred to as wasting, whereas stunting results from chronic malnutrition. There are existing observations suggesting a relationship between wasting and stunting, but those observations have typically not been made in longitudinal studies.  Stobaugh and colleagues report on a study that observed children for 12 months after been released from a supplementary feeding program to combat moderate acute malnutrition. They discovered those children with declining height-for-age Z scores (HAZ) were more likely to relapse into moderate acute malnutrition or to develop severe acute malnutrition. The authors concluded that acute wasting was a predictor for subsequent stunting. They recommended that nutritional intervention programs should be redesigned to address both weight loss and linear growth depression. In a commentary on this article, Smith concurs that within the current study design the outcomes suggest that negative changes in HAZ scores are predictive of subsequent relapse. However, she raises two methodological concerns that could influence the outcomes. One issue is the directionality of the outcomes and the problem of HAZ scores being confounded by changes in age within a longitudinal study. She recommends different approaches to data analysis to mitigate these problems, while at the same time acknowledging the outcomes of the study establish a relationship between stunting and wasting.

References: Stobaugh HC, Rogers BI, Rosenberg IH, Webb P, Maleta KM, Manary MJ, Trehan I.  Children with poor linear growth are at risk for repeated relapse to wasting after recovery from moderate acute malnutrition. J Nutr 2018; 148(6):974-79. Commentary by Smith LE.  Convergence and divergence in statistical and programmatic approaches to address child stunting and wasting. J Nutr 2018; 148(6):823-24.
For More Information: To contact the corresponding author, Daniel R. Moore, please send an email to dr.moore@utoronto.ca. To contact the corresponding author for the commentary, Laura E. Smith, please send an email to lesmith6@buffalo.edu

Potential biomarkers of habitual food intake are detected using untargeted metabolomics
Current dietary assessment approaches are thought to not accurately reflect habitual food intake because of self reporting errors, which has a negative impact on the ability to establish relationships between food intake patterns and health status in either epidemiological or intervention studies.  Wang and colleagues report on the results of a study to address this problem. They used untargeted metabolomics (mass spectroscopy) approaches to analyze metabolites in serum samples from postmenopausal women. Their data replicated observations from other studies for 63 food and metabolite correlations and identified several new metabolites that appear to be indicators of intake. The conclusions drawn by Wang and colleagues are that these observations contribute to the literature describing potential biomarkers of food intake. Westmark writes in a commentary on the article that the approach used by Wang and colleagues is promising, but that challenges remain. Westmark suggests that the use of metabolomics to analyze multiple fluid types collected in a variety of study designs should contribute towards the identification of accurate biomarkers of food intake.

References: Wang Y, Gapstur SM, Carter BD, Hartman TJ, Stevens VL, Gaudet MM, McCullough.  Untargeted metabolomics identifies novel potential biomarkers of habitual food intake in a cross-sectional study of postmenopausal women . J Nutr 2018; 148(6):932-43 . Commentary by Brennan L.  Moving toward objective biomarkers of dietary intake . J Nutr 2018; 148(6):821-22.
F or More Information: To contact the corresponding author, Ying Wang, please send an email to ying.wang@cancer.org . To contact the corresponding author for the commentary, Lorraine Brennan, please send an email to Lorraine.brennan@ucd.ie .
To arrange an interview with an ASN spokesperson, email media@nutrition.org

Advertising opportunities include the ASN monthly e-newsletter , on-site convention newspaper, and  job board . Visit our advertising page to learn about all available opportunities to reach our membership. 
9211 Corporate Blvd.
Suite 300
Rockville, MD 20850
ASN is the authoritative voice on nutrition and publisher of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, The Journal of Nutrition, Advances in Nutrition, and Current Developments in Nutrition. Established in 1928, ASN's more than 6,500 members in nearly 100 countries work in academia, practice, government and industry. ASN advances excellence in nutrition research and practice through its publications, education, public affairs and membership programs.