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This is the fifth issue of TOP NUTRITION NEWSLETTER in 1998. In this issue, various nutrients such as whey protein, monounsaturated fatty acids, omega-3 fatty acids, carnitine, and hormone DHEA. Although no comments or opinions were received, I hope you will enjoy the continuous nutritional education.

The 1997 International Whey Conference held at the Westin Hotel O'Hare Hotel in Chicago was truly an international event, with scientists from Australia, Germany, France, New Zealand, Japan, the U.S., Canada, Poland, and other countries in attendance and/or giving lectures. There was a wide range of topics covered regarding the many uses of whey proteins. Although human trials are going on, we could observe some of the interesting applications in cancer and immunosuppression.

Nutrition research cannot improve people's health until the results influence their purchases and consumption of food and drink. There is much noise in the food information system. The most efficient solution to the problem of insufficient or conflicting public information is for all the data to be critically evaluated by a well-balanced expert committee convened by an authoritative body to produce dietary guidelines for wide publication. Such guidelines in different countries have many similar elements. Guidelines cannot be revised every year, but should be adapted only in response to major new research findings rather than to reports about nutrition in the media, which are no more than trivial distractions. In developed countries, consumption of some foods has changed along with the guidelines; consumption of other foods has not. Coronary artery disease mortality has declined but obesity has increased. A more food-based approach to nutrition education is to use ideal diets as the model, such as the traditional Mediterranean diet, or Japanese diet. The abstracts of the Second International Conference on Fats and Oil Consumption in Health and Disease: How We Can Optimize Dietary Composition to Combat Metabolic Complications and Decrease Obesity will indeed contribute to our knowledge of the changing approach to tackle current problem of obesity in Clinical Medicine. {The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: Volume 67 Number 3(S) March 1998 }

The annual American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine held in Les Vagas had several topics on how to prevent aging. This DHEA and Memory article emphasized the interesting role of DHEA to improve the aged memory problems. DHEA occurs in high levels in our brain, and low DHEA also involves a loss of memory. It improves the metabolic level of neurons and can sometimes make EEG tracings more normal. Moreover, when given to old and young mice, DHEA enhances memory. Some clinical case reports suggest that it can enhance memory in younger people, and completely rejuvenate the memory of old mice.

In seeking to derail aging, there's nothing more important than our brain. Therapies that slow brain aging pay multiple dividends; they help to maintain our identity, while preserving the vital functions that enable us to enjoy our lives in good health and vigor. There is considerable evidence that a wide variety of compounds have beneficial effects on brain aging, including vitamin E, selenium, beta-carotene, hydergine, piracetam, centrophenoxine, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylserine. Based upon current evidence however, the two most potent anti-aging therapies for the brain are deprenyl and acetyl-l-carnitine. This review article "Therapies to slow brain aging: Carnitine" emphasized the role of acetyl-l-carnitine and the brain aging.

Another nutritional topic that is receiving a great deal of attention, is that of the essential fatty acids, and in particular, the role of omega-3 fatty acids in preventing diseases and/or improving health. Broughton and coworkers point out that it is not only the deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids that is posing a problem, but the fact that the all important ratio of omega-6:omega-3 fatty acids is unbalanced due to high intakes of the former and low, or nonexistent, intakes of the latter fatty acid. In their study, Broughton et al, could demonstrate that supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids in relatively large quantities, improved asthma symptoms in asthmatic patients when they were challenged with methacholine. The solution to the modern dilemma of too high an omega-6 fatty acid intake coupled to a very low omega-3 fatty acid intake, is to encourage populations to increase their intakes of omega-3 fatty acids. At present, the prime source of omega-3 fatty acids in most countries, is fatty and other fish. However, we hope that omega-3-enriched foods will soon be available in Thailand.

Wish you will enjoy updated information. I will try to update this important issue whenever I can. The information era is not "NO INFORMATION, BUT TOO MUCH INFORMATION". I have selected only the most reliable sources for you. If you have different opinions, please do not hesitate to e-mail [shwewin@thai-otsuka.co.th].