The aim of the present study was to evaluate the importance of social status and lifestyle for dietary habits, since these factors may influence life expectancy. We studied the association of four indicators for healthy dietary habits (fruits and vegetables, fibre, fat and Hegsted score) with sex, age, socio-economic status, education, physical leisure exercise, smoking and personal attention paid to keeping a healthy diet. Data were gathered with a self-administered quantitative food-frequency questionnaire distributed to a representative sample of Norwegian men and women aged 16–79 years in a national dietary survey, of whom 3144 subjects (63%) responded. Age and female sex were positively associated with indicators for healthy dietary habits. By separate evaluation length of education, regular physical leisure exercise and degree of attention paid to keeping a healthy diet were positively associated with all four indicators for healthy dietary habits in both sexes. Socio-economic status, location of residence and smoking habits were associated with from one to three indicators for healthy dietary habits. In a multiple regression model, age, education and location of residence together explained from 1 to 9% of the variation (R2) in the four dietary indicators. Length of education was significantly associated with three of four dietary indicators both among men and women. By including the variable ‘attention paid to keeping a healthy diet’ in the model, R2 increased to between 4 and 15% for the four dietary indicators. Length of education remained correlated to three dietary indicators among women, and one indicator among men, after adjusting for attention to healthy diet, age and location of residence. Residence in cities remained correlated to two indicators among men, but none among women, after adjusting for age, education and attention to healthy diet. In conclusion, education was associated with indicators of a healthy diet. Attention to healthy diet showed the strongest and most consistent association with all four indicators for healthy dietary habits in both sexes. This suggests that personal preferences may be just as important for having a healthy diet as social status determinants.

The effects of physical exercise on the lipid profile in mitochondrial membranes of liver and skeletal muscle were examined in rats fed with virgin olive oil or sunflower oil. Thirty male Wistar rats, 21 d old, were randomly assigned to four groups according to fat ingestion and physical activity over an 8-week period. For each type of oil, one group acted as a control group while rats from the other were trained to run for 40 min daily on a horizontal treadmill, at a speed of 35 m/min. The results show that diet affected the fatty acid profile of the mitochondrial membranes from skeletal muscle and liver. Physical exercise also modified the fatty acid profile of the mitochondrial membranes. Total monounsaturated fatty acids decreased (P < 0.001) in liver mitochondria of exercised animals. Total polyunsaturated fatty acids in mitochondrial membranes of liver increased (P < 0.005) after exercise but those in mitochondrial membranes of skeletal muscle decreased (P < 0.05). These changes due to the exercise may arise via several mechanisms, e.g. fluidity regulation; changes in the eicosanoid metabolism; differences in the availability or oxidation rate of the different fatty acids.

Present literature indicates that whereas an acute fat intake of 5 g does not elicit a postprandial triacylglycerolaemic response, 20 g of fat does. Since 67 % of fat intake occasions involve fat doses of less than 20 g, the present study examined the effect of a relatively low-fat (LF) meal (0·2 g/kg body weight; mean 14 g) on postprandial triacylglycerol (TAG) metabolism, compared with a high-fat (HF) meal (0·6 g/kg body weight; mean 43 g), a fat dose which is more typical of laboratory studies. Plasma- and chylomicron-TAG concentrations increased significantly (P ≤ 0·001) following both meals, and the increase was significantly (P ≤ 0·02) greater after the HF meal. The postprandial areas under the curves and maximal postprandial TAG concentrations for plasma- and chylomicron-TAG were significantly higher following the HF meal (P ≤ 0·05). Postprandial plasma insulin and gastric inhibitory polypeptide concentrations increased significantly (P ≤ 0·001) after each meal, but there was no difference between the two meals. These data show that modest amounts of fat in a meal will elicit a measurable postprandial TAG response. Since postprandial lipaemia affects the composition and concentration of the TAG- and cholesterol-rich lipoproteins, controlling dietary TAG supply may influence the metabolic fate of these lipoproteins.

This paper results from the final phase of the ENDO project (DGXII AIRII-CT94-1095), a European Commission-funded project on non-digestible oligosaccharides (NDO). All participants in the programme met to perform a consensus exercise on the possible functional food properties of NDO. Topics studied during the project (including a workshop on probiotics and prebiotics) and related aspects, for which considerable evidence has been generated recently, were evaluated on the basis of existing published scientific evidence. There was a general consensus that: (1) there is strong evidence for a prebiotic effect of NDO in human subjects. A prebiotic effect was defined as a food-induced increase in numbers and/or activity predominantly of bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria in the human large intestine; (2) there is strong evidence for the impact that NDO have on bowel habit; (3) there is promising evidence that consumption of inulin-type fructans may result in increased Ca absorption in man; (4) there are preliminary indications that inulin-type fructans interact with the functioning of lipid metabolism; (5) there is preliminary evidence in experimental animals of a preventive effect against colon cancer. Human nutrition studies are needed to substantiate these findings. It was concluded that the nutritional properties of NDO may prove to be a key issue in nutritional research in the future.

Two experiments were carried out on cattle nourished entirely by intragastric infusion, to determine the extent to which glucose or a glucose precursor determines the response to protein infusion in energy-undernourished animals. In order to determine the requirement for glucose in 1-year-old fasting cattle, glucose was infused at increments to supply 0, 1·5, 2·5, 3·5, 4·5, 5·5 and 6·5 g/kg metabolic body weight (W0·75) and the effects on plasma β-hydroxybutyrate and N excretion were measured. At 5·5 g glucose/kg W0·75 plasma β-hydroxybutyrate was reduced to a basal level of 1·65 mmol/l and fasting N excretion reduced from 529 to 280 mg N/kg W0·75. No further reduction was observed with the higher level of 6·5 g glucose/kg W0·75. In the second trial, three steers were used in a 3 × 3 Latin square design and infused with a volatile fatty acid mixture of 65, 27 and 8 mol acetic, propionic and butyric acids respectively/100 mol, either at an estimated maintenance energy level of 450 kJ/kg W0·75 and supplying a calculated glucose equivalent level of 13·0 g/kg W0·75 (M1A), or at 1·5 × maintenance supplying a glucose equivalent of 20 g/kg W0·75 (M1·5A). Another mixture infused at the maintenance energy level contained 49, 43 and 8 mol acetic, propionic and butyric acids respectively/100 mol but with a glucose equivalent of 20 g/kg W0·75 (M1P). Casein was infused at each of these energy treatments to supply 0, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and 2500 mg N/kg W0·75 daily, and N balance and blood metabolites were measured. N retention increased linearly (r 0·98) with casein infusion. The coefficients for N retention were 0·55, 0·57 and 0·64 for M1A, M1·5A and M1P respectively. The mean efficiency of N utilization was 0·58. The results suggest that provided the glucose need is met there is no relationship between energy supply and efficiency and level of protein retention. However, the results also indicate that glucose requirement in cattle may be higher than that previously observed in sheep.

The contribution of the total splanchnic tissue (TSP; portal-drained viscera (PDV) plus liver) to whole-body protein metabolism was estimated in relation to intake (0·6, 1·0 and 1·6 × maintenance requirements), in six multicatheterized growing beef steers used in a double 3 × 3 Latin square design. At the end of each 21 d experimental period, [1-13C]leucine was infused into a jugular vein (1·05 mmol/h for 5 h, preceded by a priming dose of 1·05 mmol). Arterial, portal and hepatic blood samples were collected hourly during the infusion. The increment in TSP leucine irreversible loss rate (ILR) observed with increasing intake reached significance (P < 0·10) only for PDV, while whole-body ILR increased markedly (P < 0·001) with intake. The relative contribution of TSP to whole-body leucine ILR averaged 44 % (25 % from PDV and 19 % from the liver). Although these proportions were not affected by intake, on an incremental basis more than 70 % of the increase of whole-body leucine ILR between the 0·6 and 1·0 × maintenance originated from the changes in TSP ILR, while the corresponding value was below 13 % between 1·0 and 1·6 × maintenance. Total whole-body leucine oxidation and fractional oxidation increased (P < 0·05) with intake. Protein retention increased with intake (P < 0·01), as a result of a greater increase in protein synthesis compared with protein degradation. Protein breakdown had a major impact on protein turnover as 65 % of the protein synthesized was degraded when intake varied from 1·0 to 1·6 × maintenance. Net leucine portal absorption increased (P < 0·001) with intake and represented 1, 16 and 23 % of whole body leucine ILR, for 0·6, 1·0 and 1·6 × maintenance, respectively. Although leucine oxidation was not a major component of whole body ILR (9·3–19·9 %), it represented 69 % of the net available leucine (portal absorption) even at 1·6 × maintenance. The lower relative contribution of the TSP to whole-body leucine ILR at higher intake indicates the proportional increase in the metabolic activity of peripheral tissues as the animals moved into positive protein balance.

The nutritional quality of milk proteins, evaluated both in terms of digestibility and postprandial oxidation and retention in human subjects, was investigated in this study. Five healthy adult volunteers were given 480 ml 15N-labelled milk (i.e. 190 mmol N). 15N was subsequently determined at the ileal level, using a naso-intestinal intubation technique, as well as at the faecal level. Plasma and urine were sampled for 8 h after meal ingestion. Dietary exogenous N recovered at the terminal ileum after 8 h reached 8·6 (se 0·8) mmol while the amount collected in the faeces was 6·5 (se 0·7) mmol after 5 d. The true ileal and faecal digestibilities were 95·5 (se 0·4)% and 96·6 (se 0·4)% respectively. The appearance of [15N]amino acids in the plasma was rapid and prolonged. The measurement of 15N in the body urea pool and in the N excreted in the urine allowed us to calculate the deamination occurring after [15N]milk protein absorption. The net postprandial protein utilization (i.e. NPPU = (Nabsorbed - Ndeaminated)/Ningested), calculated as an index of protein quality 8 h after milk ingestion, was 81·0 (se 1·9)%. Our data confirm that milk protein has a high oro-ileal digestibility in man and demonstrate that milk protein has a high NPPU, an index corresponding to a period in which the dietary protein retention is maximal.

In March 1997, official dietary guidelines were for the first time published in Belgium by the National Council on Nutrition. These guidelines are entirely focussed on nutrient intake and do not translate this information into specific ‘food-based’ recommendations. In this paper, actual intake data for the adult Belgian population are compared to these guidelines. It is concluded that the overall macronutrient intake pattern in Belgium corresponds to the typical Western so-called affluent diet. As a next step, an attempt is made to outline a conceptual framework for developing food-based dietary guidelines on the basis of existing food consumption databases. For that purpose, nutrient and food intake profiles — percentage of consumers and mean intakes for the total population and for consumers only — are studied for subgroups of the population that do or do not comply to predefined dietary goals for total fat intake, fibre intake, and fruit and vegetable intake. Finally, it is shown with an example that these data can be used as a basis for formulating healthy food recommendations towards the general population in terms of specific foods or food groups to be avoided or to be chosen preferably. The food and nutrient intake data used in this paper are from the BIRNH study (Belgian Interuniversity Research on Nutrition and Health, 1980–1984), the only nationwide food consumption survey on an individual level ever carried out in Belgium.

The effects of different polyphenol-containing beverages on Fe absorption from a bread meal were estimated in adult human subjects from the erythrocyte incorporation of radio-Fe. The test beverages contained different polyphenol structures and were rich in either phenolic acids (chlorogenic acid in coffee), monomeric flavonoids (herb teas, camomile (Matricaria recutita L.)), vervain (Verbena officinalis L.), lime flower (Tilia cordata Mill.), pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium L.) and peppermint (Mentha piperita L.), or complex polyphenol polymerization products (black tea and cocoa). All beverages were potent inhibitors of Fe absorption and reduced absorption in a dose-dependent fashion depending on the content of total polyphenols. Compared with a water control meal, beverages containing 20–50 mg total polyphenols/serving reduced Fe absorption from the bread meal by 50–70 %, whereas beverages containing 100–400 mg total polyphenols/serving reduced Fe absorption by 60–90 %. Inhibition by black tea was 79–94 %, peppermint tea 84 %, pennyroyal 73 %, cocoa 71 %, vervain 59 %, lime flower 52 % and camomile 47 %. At an identical concentration of total polyphenols, black tea was more inhibitory than cocoa, and more inhibitory than herb teas camomile, vervain, lime flower and pennyroyal, but was of equal inhibition to peppermint tea. Adding milk to coffee and tea had little or no influence on their inhibitory nature. Our findings demonstrate that herb teas, as well as black tea, coffee and cocoa can be potent inhibitors of Fe absorption. This property should be considered when giving dietary advice in relation to Fe nutrition.

The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and seasonal variation of hypovitaminosis D (defined as serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level below 30 nmol/l) among healthy subjects and hospitalized patients living in central Italy. We studied 297 subjects, 131 in February 1997 and 166 in July 1997, subdivided into four groups: (a) young healthy blood donors; (b) healthy postmenopausal women; (c) inpatients with various medical diseases and (d) inpatients engaged in long-term rehabilitation programmes because of various neurological disorders. In all subjects and patients serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D were measured by radioimmunoassay. We found a significant seasonal variation (P < 0·0001) of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, mean values being higher in summer in all groups, except in patients with a longer hospitalization time (group (d)). In each group, a significantly higher prevalence of hypovitaminosis D was found in winter compared with summer time (P < 0·001), being unexpectedly high in postmenopausal women (winter 32 % and summer 4·5 %); furthermore, in both seasons, inpatients were characterized by the highest incidences of hypovitaminosis, particularly those in group (d) (winter 82·3 % and summer 57·8 %). The results of the present study emphasize the importance of 25-hydroxyvitamin D measurement, and the need to increase vitamin D intake in Italy; foodstuff fortification and supplement use must be considered in order to prevent negative effects of vitamin D deficiency on skeletal integrity.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the capacity of the‘Determine Your Nutritional Health’ Checklist (NSI Checklist) and the ‘Mini Nutritional Assessment’ (MNA) methods to predict nutrition-related health problems. Data were from the Danish part of the ‘Survey in Europe of Nutrition in the Elderly, a Concerted Action’ (SENECA) baseline survey from 1988, and the follow-up study from 1993. Based on the baseline survey thirty-nine (19.3 %) of the subjects were classified at high nutritional risk, 103 (51 %) were considered at moderate nutritional risk and sixty (29.7 %) were within the ‘good’ range according to the criteria in the NSI Checklist. With the MNA, 171 subjects were classified according to their nutritional risk into a well-nourished group, comprising 78.4 %, and a group who were at risk of undernutrition, comprising 21·6 % at baseline. A total of 115 subjects participated in the follow-up study. The mortality rate and the prevalence of various morbidity indicators were compared between the different risk groups. The analysis showed that subjects with a high MNA score (≥ 24) had significantly lower mortality (rate ratio estimate: 0.35; 95 % Cl 0.18, 0.66) compared with subjects with a low MNA score (≤ 23.5). In contrast, the NSI Checklist score was not a significant predictor of mortality (rate ratio estimate: 1.45; 95 % Cl 0.78, 2.71). The sixteen Danes judged to be at high nutritional risk by the NSI Checklist in 1988, had more acute diseases (P < 0.001) than the rest of the participants, between 1988 and 1993. No significant differences were found in the participation rates, hospitalization rates, physician visits, need of help or weight loss between the groups. The thirteen Danes judged to be at risk of undernutrition in 1988 by the MNA, had a lower participation rate (P < 0.01) and higher occurrence of acute disease (P < 0.05), need of help (P < 0.05), and weight loss (P < 0.001) than the well-nourished group, between 1988 and 1993. No significant differences were found in hospitalization rates and physician visits between the two groups. In conclusion, the results indicate that modified versions of the NSI Checklist and the MNA are capable of identifying a group of 70–75-year-old subjects with increased risk of certain nutrition-related health problems. Further, an MNA score ≤ 23.5 predicts mortality in a Danish population.

Most of the P in oilseed meal is in the form of phytate P, and phytate forms complexes with protein. Phytate P has been considered to be absorbed easily in ruminants because of phytate degradation in the rumen. Treatment of oilseed meals with formaldehyde improves the nutritional value of protein through suppressing its ruminal degradation. The present experiment was conducted to study the effects of formaldehyde treatment on phytate degradation in the rumen. The ruminal degradation of phytate in formaldehyde-treated soyabean meal or rapeseed meal was determined by a nylon-bag technique in sheep. Soyabean meal and rapeseed meal were treated with formaldehyde at levels of 3, 5 or 10 g/kg. Treatment with formaldehyde suppressed phytate and protein degradation in both the oilseed meals. Compared with the regular soyabean meal, the regular rapeseed meal showed lower degradability of phytate in the rumen. These results suggest that treatment with formaldehyde suppresses ruminal degradation of phytate in oilseed meal. Thus, the absorption of P from oilseed meal is probably decreased by this treatment in ruminants.

Food-based dietary guidelines in Denmark have usually been expressed in simple terms only and need to be elaborated. Quantitative recommendations on fruit and vegetable intake were issued in 1998, recommending 600 g/d (potatoes not included). This paper is based on a national dietary survey in 1995 (n = 3098, age range 1–80 years) supplemented with data from a simple frequency survey in 1995 (n = 1007, age range 15–80 years) and from the first national survey in 1985 (n = 2242, age range 15–80 years). Only data on adults are included in this paper. Fat intake, saturated fat in particular, is too high (median intake 37 %energy and 16 %energy, respectively). Main fat sources are separated fats (butter, margarine, oil, etc.: 40 %), meat (18 %), and dairy products (21 %). Total fat intake decreased from 1985 to 1995 but fatty acid composition did not improve. Dietary fibre intake is from 18 to 22 g/d (women and men, respectively) with 62 % from cereals, 24 % from vegetables and 12 % from fruit. Mean intake of vegetables and potatoes was from 200 to 250 g/d (women and men, respectively). Mean intake of fruit and vegetables (potatoes not included) was 277 g/d, or less than half of the new recommendation (600 g/d). Only 15 % of participants in the frequency survey reported consuming both fruit and vegetables every day, and only 28 % reported to do so almost every day. In conclusion, dietary intake in Denmark is characterized by a high intake of saturated fat and total fat, and by a relatively low intake of fruit and vegetables.

The effect of a maternal diet high in fat, similar to Western foods, and of diabetes on liver essential fatty acid composition of the mother and the newborn and sucking pups was investigated. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were fed on either a low-fat (42 g/kg) or a high-fat (329 g/kg) diet for 10 d before mating, throughout pregnancy and post-partum. On the first day of pregnancy, diabetes was induced by intravenous administration of streptozotocin in half the animals from the two diet groups. Half the pups were killed at birth, and the remaining pups and mothers at days 15 and 16 respectively. At birth, there was a significant reduction in the proportions of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the liver phosphoglycerols and neutral lipids of the pups of both high-fat control and diabetic mothers compared with those of low-fat control and diabetic mothers. Diabetes decreased arachidonic (AA) and linoleic acid values in both the low- and high-fat groups at birth. The sucking pups of both the high-fat control and diabetic mothers exhibited a significant reduction in DHA and a concomitant compensatory increase in AA and a lowering in DHA–AA balance. In the mothers, the high-fat diet significantly increased the proportions of DHA in ethanolamine phosphoglycerols but had no observable effect in choline phosphoglycerols and neutral lipids. In the fetus the DHA level (g/100 g total fatty acids) was disproportionately reduced by the maternal high-fat diet. The adverse effect of the high-fat diet on the level of DHA (g/100 g total fatty acids) was greater in the neonate (and by implication the fetus) than in the sucking pups or mothers. It is concluded that a distortion of the biochemistry is induced in the offspring through a maternal high-fat diet, without genetic predisposition.

The aim of this experiment was to determine CH4 production and energy partition for a range of diets fed to Bos indicus cattle. Six Brahman cattle were fed on three different diets in a replicated Latin square experiment over three periods. The diets were (1) long-chopped Angleton grass (Dicanthium aristatum) hay ad libitum (DM digestibility (DMD) 41 (se 2)%; 4 g N/kg), (2) long-chopped Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) hay ad libitum (DMD 60 (se 1)%; 14 g N/kg) or (3) 2 kg long-chopped lucerne (Medicago sativa) hay/d plus a high-grain diet (ad libitum) (DMD 70 (se 1)%; 31 g N/kg). CH4 production was measured using confinement-type respiration chambers. Metabolizable energy intake (MJ/d) of cattle fed on Angleton grass (18·4 (se 2·0)) was lower (P< 0·01) than that for Rhodes grass (54·9 (se 2·1)), which was lower (P< 0·01) than that for the high-grain diet (76·7 (se 5·8)). CH4 production (g/d) for cattle fed on Rhodes grass (257 (se 14)) was higher (P< 0·01) than that for cattle fed on both the high-grain diet (160 (se 24)) and Angleton grass (113 (se 16)). CH4 conversion rate (MJ CH4 produced per 100 MJ gross energy intake) was not significantly different between cattle fed on Angleton (10·4 (se 1·1)) and Rhodes (11·4 (se 0·3)) grass, but was higher (P< 0·01) than for cattle fed on the high-grain diet (6·7 (se 0·7)). CH4 production (g/kg live-weight gain) was associated (P< 0·001) with both live-weight gain and feed: gain ratio. We conclude that the relationships between CH4 production, energy utilization and live-weight change of cattle fed on tropical forages differ from those of cattle fed on diets based on temperate forages.

Whole-body and gastrointestinal tract (GIT) metabolism of [5-15N]glutamine were monitored in lambs (33 kg live weight) fasted for 24 h. Animals were previously prepared with vascular catheters across the mesenteric-(MDV) and portal-drained viscera (PDV) to permit quantification of mass and isotopic transfers of metabolites by arterio-venous difference. Continuous infusions of [5-15N]glutamine into the jugular vein were conducted for 10 h and integrated blood samples withdrawn over 75 min intervals for the last 5 h of infusion. The lambs were then killed and portions from various tissues of the digestive tract and other body organs removed for determination of 15N enrichment in RNA, DNA and protein (the latter obtained by difference using total acid-precipitable N). Whole-body glutamine flux was 108 μmol/min of which 23 and 47 % could be attributed to MDV and PDV metabolism (P < 0·001) respectively. There was a small net production of glutamine across the MDV. GIT blood-flows and NH3 production were partitioned 3:2 between MDV and non-MDV components. Less than 5 % of the NH3 produced was derived from the amido-N of glutamine, while across the small intestine (MDV) 26 % of the glutamine flux was converted to NH3, compared with 18 % for non-MDV transfers. The 15N enrichments in protein were of the order jejunum > duodenum > ileum with mucosal cells more labelled than serosal (P < 0·001). Lesser enrichments were observed for other GIT tissues (abomasum > caecum > rumen) while liver and lymph were comparable with the abomasum; kidney, spleen and muscle were lower still (P < 0·05). Enrichments of RNA were similar to that of protein and followed the same pattern, except for higher relative values for liver, spleen and lymphoid tissue. The lowest enrichments were observed for DNA, but again the pattern order was similar except for increased label in lymph, caecum and the spleen. For the MDV there was reasonable agreement between 15N-disappearance as glutamine and appearance in NH3 (24 %), protein (81 %), RNA (3·6 %) and DNA (2·1 %). For the total PDV there was a shortfall (−12 %), however, which may be due to losses in lumen components. These results show the importance of the GIT as a contributor to total glutamine plasma flux, but indicate a lesser reliance on glutamine metabolism by the digestive tract of the ruminant compared with observations from non-ruminants.

The gastrointestinal handling and metabolic disposal of [1-13C]palmitic acid, [1-13C]stearic acid and [1-13C]oleic acid administered within a lipid–casein–glucose–sucrose emulsion were examined in normal healthy women by determining both the amount and nature of the 13C label in stool and label excreted on breath as 13CO2. The greatest excretion of 13C label in stool was in the stearic acid trial (9.2 % of administered dose) whilst comparatively little label was observed in stool in either the palmitic acid (1.2 % of administered dose) or oleic acid (1.9 % of administered dose) trials. In both the palmitic acid and oleic acid trials, all of the label in stool was identified as being present in the form in which it was administered (i.e. [13C]palmitic acid in the palmitic acid trial and [13C]oleic acid in the oleic acid trial). In contrast, only 87 % of the label in the stool in the stearic acid trial was identified as [13C]stearic acid, the remainder was identified as [13C]palmitic acid which may reflect chain shortening of [1-13C]stearic acid within the gastrointestinal tract. Small, but statistically significant, differences were observed in the time course of recovery of 13C label on breath over the initial 9 h of the study period (oleic acid = palmitic acid > stearic acid). However, when calculated over the 24 h study period, the recovery of the label as 13CO2 was similar in all three trials (approximately 25 % of absorbed dose). These results support the view that chain length and degree of unsaturation may influence the gastrointestinal handling and immediate metabolic disposal of these fatty acids even when presented within an emulsion.

The history of recommending certain food composition to the diet of the general public in Finland goes back to the 1950s. Since that time, the food circle with modifications has been the only official, and most widely used, tool for diet composition visualization for nutrition education. Official national dietary recommendations and guidelines have been launched in 1981, 1987 and the newest ones in 1998. Nordic Nutrition Recommendations have been used in Finland as a reference when national dietary guidelines have not been available or up to date. Specific quantitative food-based dietary guidelines have not been given, because dietary guidelines may be reached with a wide range of foods. Data from the 1992 Dietary Survey of Finnish Adults was used to identify differences in dietary intake and food consumption patterns between subgroups of the study population that represented the highest and lowest quartiles of fat, saturated fatty acid (SFA), fibre, and fruit and vegetable intake. The population groups having the lowest fat or SFA intakes or the highest fibre or fruit and vegetable intakes reached the nutrient recommendations of macronutrients and fibre reasonably well. Similarities in food consumption pattern associated with a nutrient profile close to the recommendations were high consumption of fruit, berries, vegetables, roots, legumes and rye. Differences, e.g. in fats used, were also found between diets that were close to the nutrient recommendations. More research is needed to determine the differences in food consumption patterns of different population groups before developing food-based dietary guidelines for these groups.

Serum Cu and caeruloplasmin levels have been suggested to be independent risk factors for CHD operating through oxidative modification of LDL. However, given its function as an acute-phase protein, the question has been raised whether an elevated caeruloplasmin level is not merely an indicator of inflammation. In the current study, we investigated whether serum caeruloplasmin was associated with subsequent myocardial infarction, taking into account indices of inflammation. The study population consisted of 210 cases of first myocardial infarction and controls, frequency-matched on age (5-year categories) and sex, selected from the population-based cohort of the Rotterdam Study. Serum caeruloplasmin levels were significantly elevated in cases of myocardial infarction compared with controls (510 (sd 110) v. 470 (sd 100) mg/1; P = 0·007). Risk of myocardial infarction for the highest compared with the lowest quartile of caeruloplasmin was 2·46 (95 % CI 1·04, 6·00; Ptrend = 0·043) after adjustment for age, sex, BMI, pack-years smoked, serum cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, and income. The relative risk was most evident in current smokers. Adjustment for C-reactive protein and leucocyte count reduced the excess risk by 33 %. This suggests that a substantial part of the observed association between serum caeruloplasmin and CHD may be attributed to inflammation processes rather than to the pro-oxidant activity of caeruloplasmin.

Experimental Mg deficiency leads to alterations in the immune response. Reduction of thymus weight and histological changes were previously observed in Mg-deficient rats after several weeks on a deficient diet, suggesting that functions of this immune organ may be affected by Mg deficiency. More recently, changes in the immune system during early Mg deficiency were shown. Thus, in the present study we examined modifications in the thymus during the early stages of Mg deficiency in weanling rats. From our results, it appears that Mg deficiency accelerates thymus involution. The assessment of apoptosis (enumeration of apoptotic cells on the basis of morphological criteria and intranucleosomal degradation of genomic DNA) showed greater values in thymuses from Mg-deficient rats as compared with controls. This was observed very early, since a significant difference was shown on the second day of deficiency, before reduced weight of thymus, which was recorded in the later period. These results indicate the relationship of accelerated thymus involution with an active process of cell death. Mg deficiency led to histological changes in the thymus. In the early stage of deficiency (second day) the presence of inflammatory cells was shown, suggesting that the inflammatory process was already occurring in the tissue studied. Later (eighth day) an increased proportion of epithelial reticular cells in the cortex was shown, indicating a remodelling process occurring in this period. Enhanced susceptibility to peroxidation also occurred very early during Mg deficiency. It may be hypothesized that disturbances in Mg status of short duration could have cellular effects with various deleterious consequences.