Snack-eating patients experience lesser weight loss after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery.

BACKGROUND: In bariatric surgery patients, weight loss and long-term weight maintenance are related to food intake and eating patterns. To improve the diet orientation in the bariatric surgery postoperative period, we assessed the postoperative eating patterns and related them to weight loss. METHODS: This was a transversal, analytical, and descriptive study that assessed body mass index (BMI) values and percentage of excess weight loss (%EWL) in patients who had undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP) surgery. The eating pattern and energy intake were investigated based on data collected through a 4-day food intake record. From these records, we assessed the number of daily meals, the quantity of food per meal, and calorie value of snacks between main meals. Based on these records, patients were classified under sweet-eating, snack-eating, or normal-eating patterns. RESULTS: Seventy-five patients met our inclusion criteria. The normal-eating pattern group was the one with the greatest weight loss with an average %EWL of 71.4 +/- 21%, followed by the sweet-eating pattern with 69.9 +/- 16.8%, and the snack-eating pattern with 56.4 +/- 16.7%. This difference was significant only between the first and the third group (p = 0.04). The snack-eating patients had the highest caloric intake and highest number of daily meals (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Postoperative eating pattern influenced postbariatric surgery weight loss. In the present study, the snack-eating pattern was associated with the worst weight loss outcome, followed by the sweet-eating and normal-eating patterns. A screening and a differential approach to patients according to their eating patterns may lead to better results of weight loss.

Survey of the Use of Kampo Medicine at the Kampo Clinic / 日本東洋医学雑誌

Kampo medicines have been used for treatment by an increasing number of doctors in recent years, and are becoming more frequently prescribed in combination with Western drugs. In the present study, we conducted a questionnaire of outpatients at the Kampo Clinic of Keio University Hospital in order to determine their perceptions and compliance regarding Kampo medicines.Ninety eight percent of patients used Kampo medicines in granular form, and approximately 30% of these patients reported difficulty in taking medicine due to reasons such as “bad taste”. Sixty percent of patients used Kampo medicines three times daily. Patients most often forgot to take afternoon doses, and so desired doses once daily. Furthermore, the same number of patients preferred Kampo medicines in tablet form as those who preferred Kampo medicines in granular form.The present findings clarified patients' perceptions toward Kampo medicines. Doctors and pharmacists must provide suitable treatment for patients by recognizing their perceptions of Kampo medicines.

Efeitos terapêuticos dos fitosteróis e fitostanóis na colesterolemia / Therapeutic effects of phytosterols and phytostanols in cholesterolemia

Os ésteres de esterol e estanóis vegetais sao reconhecidos como componentes "funcionais" dos alimentos por apresentarem propriedades hipocolesterolêmicas. Os fitosteróis sao compostos esteróis osbtidos de óleos vegetais. Neste estudo foi realizado una análise críticarevisao de estudos experimentais e clínicos recentes, publicados em base de datos Medline e Lilacs, abordando a açao farmacológica dos fitoesteróis e fitoestanóis na colesterolemia. Os efeitos hipocolesterolemiantes sao observados pela ingestao de dosesmarciças, em dose única ou múltipla, de até 2,5 g/dia destes compostos. O consumo diário por durante quatro semanas tem evidenciado a reduçao dos níveis sanguíneos de colesterol total (CT) e LDL-colesterol (LDL-c) em cerca de 10 por cento. O mecanismo de açao na disminuçia da colesterolemia se deve, possivelmente, àsua semelhança estrutural com o colesterol, o que favorece uma competiçao na absorçao intestinal, entre ésteres de esterol e/.ou estanol e o colesterol. Efeitos adversos da suplementaçao de fitosteróis e fitostanóis ocasionaram a disminuçao da absorçao de algunas vitaminas e antioxidantes lipossolúveis

Effects of various levels of dietary calcium during pregnancy on maternal calcium utilization and fetal growth in rats.

The effects of calcium-free and normal (0.6%) and high (1.0%) calcium diets on the transfer of calcium from pregnant mothers to fetuses were investigated by balance experiments. Pregnant rats receiving calcium-free, normal and high calcium diets ate totals of 353, 324 and 280 g of the diet, respectively, during pregnancy, and the food consumption of the latter two groups decreased near term. The group on calcium-free diet was able to maintain pregnancy and produce normal fetuses by using calcium resorbed from the dam's bones. The calcium retentions due to pregnancy in rats on normal and high calcium diets were 116 and 128 mg, respectively, during the first 15 days, and -9 and -109 mg, respectively, during the last 6 days of pregnancy. Fetuses contained about 130 mg of calcium at term and most of this calcium was supplied from the dam's bones, in which extra calcium were retained during early-mid pregnancy. Unexpectedly, the true rate of calcium absorption was appreciably lower during late pregnancy than during early-mid pregnancy in both dietary groups. Thus, extra calcium retention during early-mid pregnancy seemed to be physiological adaptation to a decrease in either food consumption or calcium absorption during late pregnancy. Phosphorus absorption and its balance were examined in relation with the dietary calcium levels.