HEALTH TRENDS

Depression influences what we eat

New research is suggesting that mildly depressed people cannot tell the difference between high-and low-fat foods when they are in a good or bad mood.

Researchers led by Petra Platte of the University of Wurzburg in Germany found that among the 80 men and women who participated in the study, those who scored higher on measures of anxiety and depression (and who didn't have a clinical disorder) were more sensitive to sweet and bitter tastes after watching happy and sad movies. But those same participants were less sensitive to the taste of fat after watching the happy and sad movies. Neutral movies had no effect on taste sensitivity.

The findings of the study, examining the correlation between food and feelings, shows that a person's relationship to food involves complex psychological and biological factors that scientists still don't fully understand.

The researchers aren't sure exactly how the relationship between mood, affect, and taste sensitivity works, but they think it has something to do with our neurotransmitter systems, or the chemicals in our brains. Moreover, they suggest that their findings might mean mildly depressed people are at special risk for unhealthy eating habits.

Studies are showing that persons have found food more rewarding when stressed and that eating sweet, fatty foods actually lifts the spirits when feeling down. Every food choice made is the result of complicated biological and psychological processes, the study found.

Health ministry commits $25m to prostate cancer study

The Jamaican Government has committed $25 million over the next five years to advance prostate cancer research in Jamaica. Minister of Health Dr Fenton Ferguson said the Government is partnering with the Medical Association of Jamaica and the University of the West Indies to embark on the study, which will be led by consultant urologist Dr William Aiken.

Speaking at the JMA's 25th annual general meeting last Friday, Ferguson said the funding represented an average of $5 million per year for the study, which was in addition to the personnel and technical assistance from the health ministry.

Prostate cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths among males worldwide, while Jamaica has one of the highest rates in the world with approximately 150 men diagnosed each year. Medical experts believe that a large percentage of affected men remain undiagnosed.

Ferguson said there was a lack of research in Jamaica, and called for many more studies to be done, particularly as it relates to non-communicable diseases. He said this study was expected to go a far way in advancing Jamaica and the wider region's cancer treatment and preventative efforts.

He noted that work would also be carried out in cervical cancer research, which remains the second most common cancer among women worldwide and the leading cause of deaths in developing countries. The ministry will be pushing to ensure that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine becomes available to all young women in Jamaica.

UWI lab rated among top in the world

The International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS), located at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, has been rated among the top laboratories in the world for the quality of its chemical analysis work.

An international evaluation programme for neutron activation analysis (NAA) laboratories placed ICENS at the topmost level in a bracket called 'consolidated state of the practice', which recognises laboratories that consistently and competently deliver quality chemical analysis.

ICENS, which operates the only research reactor in the Caribbean region, has been placed in the topmost level with laboratories in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Peru, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa and Syria.

ICENS has been conducting chemical analysis for minerals, food, environmental and construction industries as well as public sector agriculture and water agencies for 29 years.

With support from UWI, Mona, and the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, ICENS plays an important role by ensuring that Jamaican science and technology continues to benefit from the international standards that its work sustains.

ICENS operates internal quality-control procedures and has provided NAA data since 1984 for an array of more than 60 chemical elements to a wide range of clients. Its international clients recognise the value of obtaining results of such quality without the additional costs and delays involved in sending samples off the island.