According to traditional Chinese belief, oolong tea is effective in the control of body weight. Few controlled studies, however, have been conducted to measure the impact of tea on energy expenditure (EE) of humans. A randomized cross-over design was used to compare 24-h EE of 12 men consuming each of four treatments: 1) water, 2) full-strength tea (daily allotment brewed from 15 g of tea), 3) half-strength tea (brewed from 7.5 g tea) and 4) water containing 270 mg caffeine, equivalent to the concentration in the full-strength tea treatment. Subjects refrained from consuming caffeine or flavonoids for 4 d prior to the study. Tea was brewed each morning; beverages were consumed at room temperature as five 300 mL servings. Subjects received each treatment for 3 d; on the third day, EE was measured by indirect calorimetry in a room calorimeter. For the 3 d, subjects consumed a typical American diet. Energy content of the diet was tailored to each subject's needs as determined from a preliminary measure of 24-h EE by calorimetry. Relative to the water treatment, EE was significantly increased 2.9 and 3.4% for the full-strength tea and caffeinated water treatments, respectively. This increase over water alone represented an additional expenditure of 281 and 331 kJ/d for subjects treated with full-strength tea and caffeinated water, respectively. In addition, fat oxidation was significantly higher (12%) when subjects consumed the full-strength tea rather than water.

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SummaryThe prevalence of allergic diseases is high in Japan, even in infants. Their risk for developing allergies is influenced by the antigens in the mother's diet during pregnancy. We hypothesized that, apart from the antigens, hypersensitivity induced through high en ergy and nutrient intake by mothers during pregnancy may be a factor for allergic diseases in their babies. In this study, we tried to confirm our hypothesis. Allergy histories of parents and their infants, body characteristics and food and nutrient intake were measured by a questionnaire and a food frequency questionnaire, respectively. A total of 2,642 responses were obtained (return rate, 94.7%). The major allergic diseases in the infants were atopic dermatitis (6.0%), food allergy (3.7%) and bronchial asthma or asthmatic bronchitis (3.2%). About 60% of the infants with allergies had a family history of allergies. Family his tory of allergy, age of infant, order of birth, head and chest circumferences of infants, BMI of mothers before pregnancy and delivery and intake of lipids (fat and vegetable oil) and veg etables by mothers related positively, and the intake of protein, carbohydrates and milk and its products correlated negatively with allergic diseases in the infants (p<0.05). The results, together with previous reports, suggest that a high intake of energy and lipids (fat and veg etable oil) during pregnancy may accelerate allergic diseases in infants.

The nutritional status of middle-aged Vietnamese in Ho Chi Minh City was characterized by undernutrition in 35% of the low-income population and by overnutrition in 18% the high-income population. Undenutrition was still a public health problem in the rural area whereas overnutrition started to become a noteworthy problem in the urban area. The suburban area suffered from both under- and overnutrition problems. Low lipid intake was the most important problem related to undernutrition in middle-aged residents of Ho Chi Minh City.