BACKGROUND Primary iron overload in African Americans has been reported predominantly from autopsy studies. METHODS We characterized hepatic iron phenotypes in 83 African Americans who underwent liver biopsy during the interval 1990 to 1995. We tabulated pathology report form data, iron grades in hepatocytes (0-4) and Kupffer cells (0-3) and abnormal liver histology. Increased iron was define...

Background: Beneficial effects of vitamins and dietary supplements in the prevention and treatment of metabolic syndrome (MS) are controversial. This study aims to evaluate the association between dietary supplements intake and MS. Methods: This analytical cross-sectional analysis was conducted on 9539 people aged 35-70 years who participated in the recruitment phase of Shahedieh Cohort Study i...

Use of performance-enhancing supplements occurs at all levels of sports, from professional athletes to junior high school students. Although some supplements do enhance athletic performance, many have no proven benefits and have serious adverse effects. Anabolic steroids and ephedrine have life-threatening adverse effects and are prohibited by the International Olympic Committee and the Nationa...

Iron deficiency, one of the most important nutritional problems in the world, can be caused not only by foods deficient in iron but also by poor availability of dietary iron. Iron food fortification in combination with highly available iron from supplements could effectively reduce this deficiency. The aim of this study was to examine the iron availability from iron-fortified spirulina. We have...

Multivitamin/multimineral complexes are the most common dietary supplements. Unlike minerals in foods that are incorporated in bioorganic structures, minerals in dietary supplements are typically in an inorganic form. These minerals can catalyze the generation of free radicals, thereby oxidizing antioxidants during digestion. Here we examine the ability of a matrix consisting of an amino acid a...

Background Males looking to improve their body composition may ingest thermogenic supplements for the purpose of losing body fat. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a commercially available dietary supplement (Arnold Iron CutsTM, which contains ingredients that promote thermogenesis) on body composition and maximal strength in a randomized, double-blind, placebocontrolled p...

BACKGROUND It is estimated that 60% of pregnant women worldwide are anemic. OBJECTIVE We aimed to examine the influence of iron status on iron absorption during pregnancy by measuring supplemental iron absorption, red blood cell iron incorporation, and iron status in pregnant women. DESIGN Subjects were 45 pregnant Peruvian women (33+/-1 wk gestation), of whom 28 received daily prenatal sup...

Various types of dietary supplements (DS) are popularly taken by young individuals. We surveyed 1,190 Korean senior high school third grade students for their DS use, motivational factors for this use, and potential dietary consequences of vitamin/mineral supplement (VMS) use. The use prevalence of DS-including VMS, tonic medicines, manufactured health food supplements, cordial food supplements...