Perspectives in Nutrition is an introductory nutrition text appropriate for the majors and mixed majors nutrition courses. This student-focused text presents the major concepts in nutrition including the body's use of food nutrients and diet planning throughout the life cycle. The text places special emphasis on the application of nutrition principles in everyday life by exploring the health consequences of nutrition practices.

Perspectives in nutrition

A pilot survey was made of the dietary calcium intake of normotensive and hypertensive individuals. Compared to 44 normotensive controls, 46 subjects with essential hypertension reported significantly less daily calcium ingestion (668 +/- 55 milligrams compared to 886 +/- 89 milligrams). The intake of other nutrients, including sodium and potassium, was very similar in the two groups. The hypertensives differed from the controls primarily in their consumption of nonfluid dairy products. The data suggest that inadequate calcium intake may be a previously unrecognized factor in the development of hypertension.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/217/4556/267.full.pdf

Dietary calcium in human hypertension

Epidemiologic and animal studies have suggested an inverse relationship between calcium intake and BP. Furthermore, calcium intake seems to be inversely correlated with the incidence of eclampsia in pregnancy. In a randomized clinical trial, young adults were allocated to a calcium-supplemented group receiving 1 g/day of elemental calcium (15 men and 15 women) or a placebo group (14 women and 13 men) for a period of 22 weeks. The calcium-supplemented group showed a significant decrease in diastolic BP; this effect was stabilized after nine weeks in women and six weeks in men. The reduction in diastolic BP was 5.6% and 9% from the initial values for women and men, respectively. This study supports epidemiologic and animal evidence of the effect of calcium intake on BP and suggests the need for more research exploring the mechanisms involved in the observed effect. ( JAMA 1983;249:1161-1165)

https://jamanetwork.com/HttpHandlers/ArticlePdfHandler.ashx?journal=jama&articleId=384306&pdfFileName=jama_249_9_033.pdf

Reduction of Blood Pressure With Calcium Supplementation in Young Adults

Cadmium, copper, and zinc levels in rice and soil of Japan, Indonesia, and China by soil type.

In attempting to eliminate disease caused by drinking polluted surface water, millions of shallow surface wells were drilled into the Ganges delta alluvium in Bangladesh. The latest statistics indicate that 80% of Bangladesh and an estimated 40 million people are at risk of arsenic poisoning-related diseases because the ground water in these wells is contaminated with arsenic. The clinical manifestations of arsenic poisoning are myriad, and the correct diagnosis depends largely on awareness of the problem. Patients with melanosis, leuco-melanosis, keratosis, hyperkeratosis, dorsum, non-petting edema, gangrene and skin cancer have been identified. The present article reviews the current arsenic contamination of ground water, hydrological systems, groundwater potential and utilization and environmental pollution in Bangladesh. This paper concludes by clarifying the main actions required to ensure the sustainable development of water resources in Bangladesh.

R. Masironi

Papers

Zinc, copper, cadmium and chromium in polished and unpolished rice.

Calcium content of river water, trace element concentrations in toenails, and blood pressure in village populations in New Guinea.