Folate helps keep men's sperm normal,

Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:06pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vitamins known as folates that prevent birth defects when consumed by women also help to keep men's sperm normal, researchers reported on Wednesday.

Men who took folic acid supplements and who ate folate-rich foods such as leafy greens had fewer abnormal sperm, the team at the University of California, Berkeley said.

Specifically, the men had fewer abnormal sperm in which a chromosome had been lost or gained, known as aneuploidy, they reported in the journal Human Reproduction.

"We found a statistically significant association between high folate intake and lower sperm aneuploidy," said Brenda Eskenazi, who helped lead the study.

"There was increasing benefit with increasing intake, and men in the upper 25th percentile who had the highest intake of folate between 722-1150 micrograms, had 20 percent to 30 percent lower frequencies of several types of aneuploidy compared with men with a lower intake," Eskenazi added in a statement.

She said larger studies were needed to confirm the findings.

Sperm aneuploidy can cause failure to conceive, causes up to a third of miscarriages and causes children to be born with Down's syndrome and other rare chromosomal syndromes.

Chemotherapy for cancer and exposure to pesticides also can damage sperm in this way but diet had not been investigated, the researchers said.

Folic acid can prevent nerve damage in growing babies and is so important that it is added to flour, rice and other staples in many countries.

But few studies had looked its effects on fathers.

Eskenazi's team said estimates suggest that between 1 percent and 4 percent of sperm in a healthy man have some type of aneuploidy but this varies from man to man.

Her team analyzed sperm samples from 89 healthy, non-smoking men of all ages and also questioned them about their daily total intake of zinc, folate, vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene in both food and supplements.

Eskenazi said her team and others had previously shown that vitamin intake may help make men more fertile by improving the quality of the sperm. "This study is the first to suggest that paternal diet may play a role after conception in the development of healthy offspring," she said.

The current U.S. recommended daily intake of folate for men aged over 19 is 400 micrograms. Men seeking to become fathers may need more, Eskenazi said.

Men who ate the most zinc and beta-carotene also had fewer instances of some sperm abnormalities, but not aneuploidy, the researchers found.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Will Dunham and Eric Walsh)

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN1960164920080319

Children with healthier diets do better in school

A new study reveals that children with healthy diets perform better in school
Alberta, Canada – March 20, 2008 – A new study in the Journal of School Health reveals that children with healthy diets perform better in school than children with unhealthy diets.

Led by Paul J. Veugelers, MSc, PhD of the University of Alberta, researchers surveyed around 5000 Canadian fifth grade students and their parents as part of the Children's Lifestyle and School-Performance Study.

Information regarding dietary intake, height, and weight were recorded and the Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I) was used to summarize overall diet quality. The DQI-I score ranges from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better diet quality. Less healthful dietary components included saturated fat and salt, while healthy foods were classified by fruits, vegetables, grains, dietary fiber, protein, calcium and moderate fat intake.

A standardized literacy assessment was administered to the children. Multilevel regression methods were used to examine the association between indicators of diet quality and academic performance.

Students with an increased fruit and vegetable intake and less caloric intake from fat were significantly less likely to fail the literacy assessment. Relative to students in the group with the lowest DQI-I scores, students in the group with the best scores were 41 % less likely to fail the literacy assessment.

"We demonstrated that above and beyond socioeconomic factors, diet quality is important to academic performance," the authors conclude. "These findings support the broader implementation and investment in effective school nutrition programs that have the potential to improve student's diet quality, academic performance, and, over the long term, their health."