[Assessment of Farsi nutrition articles in Iranian scientific journals 2006-2011: an opportunity to revise nutrition research policy]

Periodic assessment is a useful strategy for analyzing the situation of nutrition research, and its results would help direct any future study. This study was conducted to assess Farsi nutrition articles in Iranian scientific journals, during 2006-2011 on the basis of the study design, publication type and subject headings. In a descriptive study, Farsi articles during 2006-2011 were searched and collected using "Iran's Nutrition Publication abstracts" database, and their study design, publication type and subject headings were determined. The data were analyzed using ?2, PASW Statistics 18 to find the significant differences of the study design, publication type and subject headings of the selected articles. The number of Farsi articles was 1518. There was a maximum number of original research articles [98.7%]; while, the number of systematic reviews was only two. "Clinical nutrition" [42.1%] and "techniques and methods" [3.4%] were the most and the least frequent topics respectively. The most frequent articles in study design were descriptives then trials. There was no significant difference in publication patterns of the study design, publication type and subject headings of the articles. Although the number of descriptive research articles has decreased during this period, it is still more than that of analytical articles. The consistent pattern of study design, publication type and subjects, beside the high number of descriptive publications show the necessity of revising the nutrition research policies

[Comparison of the effects of rice bran and wheat bran on serum lipid profiles in hypercholesterolernic women]

Cardiovascular diseases are the most important causes of mortality in Iran. Hypercholesterolemia is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Dietary modification such as cereal bran consumption is an approach to reduce this risk factor. The purpose of this present study was to compare the effects of rice bran and wheat bran on serum lipids in hypercholesterolemic women. This study was a randomized clinical trial in which 19 women aged 35-65 years with fasting serum total cholesterol 240-300 mg/dl randomly allocated in two groups of wheat bran and rice bran. All subjects recieved 40 g/day bran in addition to their usual diet for 4 weeks. Anthropometric measurements, dietary assessments by using a 24-hr dietary recall questionnaire and determination of serum lipids were done at the beginning and the end of the study. Data were statistically analyzed by t-test and paired t-test. There were no significant differences between groups for mean body weight, BMI and dietary confounding factors. During 4 weeks, wheat bran significantly reduced serum total cholesterol and LDL-C by 11% and 21% respectively [P<0.01] but rice bran had no effects on these parameters. No significant changes were found in mean serum triglyceride, HDL-C levels, LDL-C/ HDL-C and total cholesterol/ HDL-C ratios in both groups. It is concluded that wheat bran have benefical effects on serum total cholesterol and LDL-C levels in hypercholesterolemic women in comparision with rice bran