Milk supplement reduces falls among the elderly

[LahoreEstate]

Wednesday, March 25, 2009
LAHORE

A simple and cheap nutrition supplement can reduce falls amongst the elderly, according to a study.

The two-year study was based on 1,200 residents at 20 old age homes. The dairy based supplement was added to their food.

The supplement powder is made predominantly from proteins and minerals in milk and is high in protein, calcium and Vitamin D.

It can be added to common foods such as cakes, quiches, and sauces.

Researchers, based at Austin Health, saw the rate of falls significantly drop in those who took the supplement, especially in those who had a history of falls.

Sandra Iuliano-Burns of the University of Melbourne said: “Some of the benefit may result directly from slowing bone loss. However it is also possible that the supplement impacts other physical aspects such as muscle strength and the ability to balance. If residents fall over less often they are less likely to have a fracture.”

Falls in the elderly and the consequent bone fractures and other injuries often result in greater disability and the need for more intensive aged care support, said a university release.

The research findings support the recommendations in a joint position statement on calcium and bone health published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Carbohydrates help you develop your own vaccines: Carbohydrates are propelling the development of futuristic new vaccines and drugs to battle malaria, HIV and many other disorders.

Carbohydrates play vital roles in the body’s defences against disease-causing viruses and bacteria.

Present as markers on microbes’ surfaces, they are recognised by the immune system as foreign material, which creates antibodies to battle the infection.

Peter H. Seeberger, doctoral researcher at Colarado University, and his team tracked a carbohydrate on the malaria parasite’s surface that enables it to infect human red blood cells, solving a long-standing mystery about how infection happens.

Subsequently, his group used a carbohydrate synthesiser to develop a malaria vaccine. Clinical trials for the vaccine are scheduled for 2010 in Mozambique and Tanzania. Its unique “anti-disease” mechanism makes it the only vaccine of its kind, he says.

The synthesiser, developed by Seeberger’s team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, is fully automated and the fastest ever that produces significant quantities of these intricate and otherwise inaccessible carbohydrate molecules in a few hours - rather than the months or years with existing technology.

The synthesiser “allows us to make not one but many carbohydrate structures from a particular organism and test those to see if they protect against the microbe. Synthetic carbohydrates that show promising protective qualities then may become the basis for new vaccines,” Seeberger added.

Scientists trying to synthesise DNA and protein-based molecules faced a similar problem decades ago, until the invention of automated DNA and protein synthesisers.

These devices helped start a revolution in genetics and proteomics.

The carbohydrate synthesiser may do the same thing for the emerging fields of glycochemistry and glycobiology - named for carbohydrate sugar chains known as “glycans.”

“Our automated synthesiser is now the fastest method to make complex carbohydrates,” Seeberger told the 237th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society during a presentation.

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