International Journal of Nutrition Sciences
Volume:3 Issue: 3, Sep 2018

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common metabolic diseases worldwide. In patients with type 2 diabetes, insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis are impaired and leading to hyperglycemia. Several studies have reported that camel milk with various mechanisms can improve hyperglycemia and its subsequent complications in type 2 diabeticpatients. The present study uses the information in Google Scholar and PubMed databases from 2002 to 2016 to review the role of camel milk in treatment of type 2 diabetes. The key words “type 2 diabetes”, “insulin resistance”, “oxidative stress”, “hyperglycemia”, “insulin”, and “camel milk” were used to collect information. Camel milk was shown to be effective in improving glucose homeostasis by insulin-like proteins. Also, it has RQ-8 peptide that can act as an antioxidant and reduce the damage caused by oxidative stress in the development of diabetes. This kind of milk is effective in improving insulin sensitivity due to its unique combination of fatty acids. It can be concluded that camel milk can be used as a natural product which can be useful to delay or slow down the progression of type 2 diabetes.

Overweight and obesity is a public health problem worldwide. Green tea catechins are a group of plant flavonoids from flavanol subgroup. The beneficial effects of catechins on weight loss and prevention of obesity has been previously acknowledged. A great number of animal and human studies have investigated the possible mechanisms of catechins action in prevention of obesity, but this area of research is still under investigation. What has been known for now is that the mechanisms of anti-obesity effects of catechins are very diverse. These mechanisms include increased fat oxidation, stimulation of sympathetic nervous system activity, upregulation of mRNA level of fat β-oxidation genes, downregulating expression of enzymes involved in fat synthesis, and increased expression of adipose tissue uncoupling proteins. Many of these effects are exerted through induction of genes or inhibition of transcription factors. Catechins can also inhibit fat absorption through suppression of pancreatic lipase. By correction of colonic microbiota, catechins improve production of small absorbable metabolites in the colon, which can display anti-obesity effects after absorption.

Menarche is an important period in the health of adolescent girls, and different factors, including genetic and environmental factors affect the age of menarche. The aim of the present study was to determine the age at menarche and its nutrition-related factors in school girls in Shiraz, southern Iran.
In a cross-sectional study, 481 adolescent girls aged 10-13 years were enrolled based on a two-stage cluster random sampling. Weight, height and body mass index (BMI) were assessed. Z-scores for weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ), and BMI-for-age (BMIZ) were determined based on World Health Organization standards. Associations between food intake and anthropometric measures and menarche age and also between anthropometric measures and menarche age were tested using Pearson correlation and linear regression, respectively.
Mean age at menarche was 12.27±0.73 years. A significant correlation was observed between the age of menarche and cheese, dairy, legume, and egg consumption. Logistic regression analyses showed z-scores significantly for WAZ (-0.64, -0.24), HAZ (-0.70, -0.37), and BMIZ (-0.59, -0.16) as strong predictors for age at menarche.
HAZ, WAZ, and BMIZ and consumption of cheese, dairy, legume, and egg had significant inverse associations with menarches's age.

It is important to know the physiological needs of athletes in relation to the type of sport, exercise, and the competition, about the amount of energy intake, macronutrients, micronutrients and fluids. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the nutritional knowledge, attitude, and the performance of Shiraz top fitness clubs' sport trainers and ranking the clubs in this regard.
In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire of Parmenter and Wardle were used to record nutritional information including nutritional knowledge, attitude, and the performance of the sport coaches of 26 top clubs in Shiraz, southern Iran. To determine the weight of questionnaire's dimensions, the Shannon entropy method was used and the Topsis technique was used to rank the clubs.
The mean scores of the top fitness clubs' coaches in Shiraz in different aspects of nutritional knowledge, attitude, and performance were 14.367, 9.17, and 3.381, respectively. The ranking of clubs showed that 73% and 27% of the top clubs in Shiraz, respectively, had a moderate and poor status in the knowledge, attitude and performance of the coaches, and none of the clubs been in a good condition. In addition, the highest scale in this ranking was related to nutritional knowledge of coaches.
The top sport clubs' coaches in Shiraz had a low level of nutritional knowledge, attitude and performance, and none of the clubs had a good score in this regard. Therefore, the need for interventional actions to promote these items seems necessary.

Diabetes is the 5th cause of mortality among women and the 16th cause of mortality among men. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate and comparison of blood glucose levels, physical activity and blood pressure between medical sciences university employees and general population.

In across-sectional study using clustered sampling method, 238 subjects were enrolled, while 150 were Shiraz University of Medical Sciences employees and 88 were general population. A detailed standardized form was completed for all participants including demographic data, anthropometric measurements, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, diabetes and hypertension history and medication, physical activity, dietary habits, and nutrition.

The employee's abdominal circumference was 90.68±9.52 centimeter and that of general population was 78.18±26.9 centimeter (P<0.001). The systolic blood pressure of employees and general population were respectively 11.75±1.72 mmHg and 12.73±1.87 mm Hg and their diastolic blood pressure were 7.43±1.1 mmHg and 8.39±1.22 mmHg, respectively (P<0.001). Diabetes frequency in employees and general population was 9.9% and 41.8%, respectively (P<0.001).

The frequency of diabetes in medical personnel was less than general population which may reflect the impact of various factors on the physical activity; personal and social differences in different societies could explain the differences in the prevalence of physical inactivity and also proper control of blood glucose as well as appropriate and regular monitoring of blood glucose by medical staff.

Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are synthetic forms of testosterone that can be misused by bodybuilders to increase their athletic performance. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and characteristics of AAS use among male bodybuilders in Shiraz, Iran.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 246 men attending bodybuilding clubs in Shiraz, southern Iran using multistage cluster sampling method. To collect the data, self-administered questionnaire, containing demographic questions, type of AAS used, purpose of consumption, and the recommender of AAS use were completed. Participant’s anthropometric indices were assessed using standard methods, and body composition values were measured using bioelectric impedance analysis.

The mean age of participants was 29.09±7.76 years, and the prevalence of AAS use was 39%. Significant difference was observed in distributions of participants by bodybuilding history between AAS users and non-users. A significant higher weight, body mass index, fat free mass, total body water and lower fat mass were observed among AAS users compared with non-users. The main reason for using AAS was muscle mass increase (75.1%), and half of the participants started AAS with their trainer's recommendation (54.1%).

AAS misuse was prevalent amongst male bodybuilders and its consumption seems to be associated with some desirable body composition changes (higher fat free mass and lower fat mass).

Aquatic organisms as one of the most important source of human nutrition are widely exposed to heavy metals, which even at low concentrations causes harmful effects on human health. To assess the human health risks, estimating of nutritional exposure to metals through fish consumption and comparing these factors with the recommended values is of great importance.
Measurement of mercury, lead and cadmium in edible tissues of three wild fresh water fish species (Esox Lucius, Oncorhynchus mykiss and Cyprinus carpio) was carried out by using the atomic absorption method with the help of Perkin Elmer 4100. By the handling of the mean concentration of heavy metals, factors such as estimated daily intake (EDI), target hazard quotients (THQ) and the maximum amount of consumption (CRlim and CRmm) were evaluated.
The level of EDI in the samples was far below the tolerable daily intake (TDI). Mercury showed the lowest levels of EDI and the lead had the highest level in all three fish species. The highest levels of THQ were found for lead (0.66) and the lowest for cadmium (0.014), which has not gone further of the hazard threshold of 1. Lead in all three species of fish showed the lowest and cadmium indicated the highest level of CRLim.
Mercury and cadmium concentration and human health risk through fresh water fish consumption was lower than the recommended and reference values, but the evaluation of these factors in relation to the lead has not show a quite favorable condition.

Saffron roast chicken is one of the most popular and delicious foods in Iran, which is prepared from a mixture of saffron with chicken meat and then cooking the mixture. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of saffron on the chicken meat stored at refrigerator temperature.
After mixing chicken meat with saffron powder stigma, the microbial, physicochemical and texture factors such as Staphylococcus aureus, Fecal coliforms, mold and yeast, pH, water holding capacity (WHC), percentage of cooking loss, lipid oxidation (TBARs) and textural profile analysis were measured. All of these experiments were carried out during the storage period.
In samples treated with saffron, TBARs (Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) were less than control samples, and other parameters had no significant difference with the control sample. The overall conclusion is based on this principle that saffron reduces fat oxidation in chicken breast meat during storage, but has no statistically significant effect compared to the control sample in relation to other microbial parameters and texture quality. No antimicrobial activity was observed due to the lack of use of saffron as an aqueous or alcoholic extract.
saffron stigma powder can be considered as an improving agent of physico-chemical characteristics of chicken meat.