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Health & Nutrition News Alert

January - February 2000 (Vol. 4 No. 1)

Adequate Calcium Intake May Help Moms-To-Be Reduce Blood Pressure
Pregnancy-induced hypertension is a common complication during pregnancy and can put the life of both mother and baby at risk. A recent study found that consuming the recommended daily calcium-intake of at least 1,000 mg/day (the equivalent of 3 glasses of milk) may help keep a woman’s blood pressure in check during pregnancy. The study measured calcium intakes in 82 pregnant women ages 18 to 35 during the third trimester and found that women who consumed more than the amount of calcium in 3 glasses of milk had lower blood pressure than those who consumed less than that. Results showed that 7.3 percent of the pregnant women studied suffered from high blood pressure. The researchers recommend pregnant women get their calcium from food first such as lowfat milk, yogurt and cheese to help meet calcium recommendations and keep their blood pressure in check.

Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism , "Influence of calcium intake on gestational hypertension," 43: 37-46, 1999.

Boys Beat Girls in the Calcium Game
When it comes to meeting calcium recommendations, boys are beating girls. A recent study compared the dietary calcium intakes of elementary school and high school boys and girls up to age 19. Overall, boys had a higher dietary calcium intake than girls, especially when compared to adolescent girls ages 13 to 19. On average, adolescent girls consumed less than 1,000 mg of calcium per day – well below the recommended daily intake of 1,300 mg of calcium for adolescents ages 9 to 18. The authors emphasized concern about the calcium crisis among teen girls since these low calcium intakes may impact future bone development.

Nutrition Research , "Levels, sources, and seasonality of dietary calcium intake in children and adolescents enrolled in the University of Saskatchewan pediatric bone mineral accrual study," 19: 1471-1483, 1999.

[Editor’s note: For a consumer brochure about the importance of milk and calcium in a teenager’s diet, call 1-800-WHY-MILK and request "Clueless about Calcium."]

Americans Suffer from Fast Food Frenzy
Did you know that Americans are eating out now more than ever and as a result, are increasing fat consumption and skimping out on important nutrients such as calcium? According to a USDA report, between 1977 and 1995, away-from-home meals have increased by more than two-thirds from 16 percent to 27 percent. The report also found that fat accounted for 38 percent of calories in away-from-home foods versus 32 percent of foods prepared at home. The calcium content of home-prepared foods (425 mg per 1,000 calories) was close to the benchmark (recommended) calcium density but away-from-home foods had a calcium density of only 343 mg per 1,000 calories, more than 20 percent below the benchmark. Also school cafeteria meals tended to be higher in calcium and lower in fat than other away-from-home meals.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, "Away-from-home foods increasingly important to quality of the American diet," 1999.

Take a Close Look at Calcium
Leading nutrition experts recently presented the latest research on the importance of calcium in women’s diets at the "Calcium Close Up: An Inside Look at Nutrition Research Especially for Women" research meeting. Research highlighted calcium’s link to weight loss, reduced PMS symptoms and reduced risk of osteoporosis. In addition, experts discussed how heavy exercise and vegetarian diets may affect calcium intake. The experts encouraged women to drink more milk, especially since nearly 9 out of 10 women fail to meet current calcium recommendations (1,000 mg/day or the equivalent of at least 3 glasses of milk each day).

"Calcium Close Up: An Inside Look at Nutrition Research Especially for Women," November 11, 1999.

More Research Links Dairy Components to Reduced Cancer Risk
Although still preliminary, there’s more emerging research showing that a natural component of milk, cheese and butter, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), may help reduce the risk of certain cancers. A new study showed that a diet enriched with naturally-occurring CLA (high-CLA butter) reduced mammary cancer risk in rats by approximately 50 percent when compared to rats fed a non-enriched diet. According to study author, Dr. Clement Ip, "What makes these findings exciting is that this is the first time dietary CLA showed similar results to the commercial version of CLA for helping reduce mammary cancer risk." In addition, rats fed the diet naturally enriched with CLA (high-CLA butter) accumulated more CLA in their tissue than did rats fed the synthetic, commercial version. Researchers will further investigate this novel finding.

Journal of Nutrition , "Conjugated linoleic acid-enriched butter fat alters mammary gland morphogensis and reduces cancer risk in rats," 129: 2135-2142, 1999.

Who’s Double Clicking Now?
An even better question is: who isn’t? Over a span of seven months, an estimated 17 million U.S. adults searched for health and medical information on-line and the number is estimated to reach 30 million in the next year, according to a commentary by Lisa Sutherland in the November 1999 issue of JADA. Health-related information is the second most popular category on the Web.

The Journal of the American Dietetic Association , "Nutrition professionals in cyberspace: Getting wired in the new millennium," 99: 1365-1366, 1999.

You can rely on the National Dairy Council and the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council of (ADA/DC) Nebraska for credible, up-to-date news on dairy nutrition research, public policies on nutritional issues and special dairy nutrition campaigns. Please browse the Nutrition/Health Research tab for more information. If you need addition information or would like to schedule an interview, please contact Director of Nutrition Education Jennifer Meyer at (402) 592-3355 or toll free at (888) NEB-MILK.