The Pulse

Fibre lowers heart risk

Fibre lowers heart riskTHE likelihood of developing heart disease is indeed lower with a diet high in fibre, especially water-soluble fibre, according to a study released this week.The findings are based on data from nearly 10,000 subjects participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I Epidemiologic Follow-up study. When they enrolled, the participants completed a 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire, which was used to calculate nutrient intake.They were then followed for an average of 19 years. During that time, over 1800 cases of coronary heart disease occurred, as well as nearly 3800 cases of other vascular diseases. Dr Jiang He of Tulane University in New Orleans estimated that individuals with the highest amount of fibre in their diet had a 12 per cent lower risk of heart disease than those with the lowest intake of fibre.The reduction in risk of other vascular diseases with high fibre consumption was 11 per cent.Archives of Internal MedicineX factor linked to autismX MAY mark the spot in the search for the cause of autism, a leading research scientist said on Tuesday.A part of the brain that is key to reading expressions in people’s faces and which is affected by the X chromosome could give a new insight into the causes of the disease, Professor David Skuse of the Britain’s Institute of Child Health said. “We have not discovered the cause of autism, but in the X chromosome we may have discovered a mechanism that could lead to a cause,” he said at the British Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference. Professor Skuse noted that 10 times more males than females suffered from autism, and that males had an X and a Y chromosome while females have two Xs. Women suffering from Turner Syndrome, in which they have only one X chromosome, had also been found to have far higher rates of autism than their double-X counterparts, he said. Professor Skuse said the key lay in the amygdala, a part of the brain directly involved in processing emotional expressions seen on another’s face. In most people the facial expression was immediately put in context with the aid of the amygdala, with the widely opened eyes that accompanied both fear and joy being correctly interpreted for what they actually represented. But in autistics the amygdala appeared not to function properly and meant all such expressions were interpreted as fear. This in turn could explain why autistics rarely made eye contact, Skuse added.(source: The Australian, September 13, 2003)