Objective: To investigate the influence of ingestion of beverages with sucrose or with intense sweeteners on food intake (FI) and on hunger ratings in before and after a month of daily consumption of beverages. Design: Experimental study. Setting: Department of Physiology, University Hospital, Dijon, France. Subjects: In all, 12 men and 12 women, aged 20-25 y. Intervention: Four beverages contained either sucrose (E þ :100 g/l, 1672 kJ) or intense sweeteners (EÀ: null energy content) and were flavoured with either orange (O) or raspberry (R). FI was measured in the lab during two 2-consecutive-day periods, carried out on 2 successive weeks (session 1). The subjects drank 2 l of either E þ or EÀ beverages on the first day of both weekly periods, according to a balanced randomised design. E þ was paired with O for 50% of subjects and with R for the other 50%. Subjects were then habituated over a 4-week period to both beverages, consuming 1 l of E þ beverage on odd days and 1 l of Edrink on even days. After this period, the measurements of session 1 were repeated (session 2, weeks 7-8). Finally, FI was measured for two more 2-day periods (weeks 9-10) after the association between flavour and energy content was reversed (session 3). Results: The E-drinks were less palatable than the E þ drinks. Besides, we observed that FI was not reduced in response to a liquid extra caloric load and there was no change in hunger ratings after the beverages in any of the sessions. Conclusion: Ingestion of caloric beverages induced a positive energy balance and the continuous exposure phase to these beverages over 1 month did not improve FI adaptation in response to the extra energy provided by the beverages. Sponsorship: This study was sponsored by SEV, Bourg la Reine, France; the French Ministère de la Recherche et de la Technologie (Programme AGROBIO-Aliments Demain) and the Regional Council of Burgundy (Dijon, France).

Silica in drinking water may reduce the risk of developing AD in elderly women. The results corroborate those of another epidemiologic study carried out in France. The potential effect of silica needs to be confirmed in additional investigations.

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True fractional Ca absorption from six foods was measured in twelve normal healthy women, aged 20-29 years. The tested foods were commercially available fresh cheese, fresh cheese prepared by new technology and rich in Ca, similar cheese with added Fe, enteral food, mineral water alone and combined with a spaghetti meal. The aim of the study was to investigate: (1) Ca absorption from a new Ca-rich fresh cheese and to compare it with that from the traditional commercial type of fresh cheese; (2) the effect of Fe enrichment of the new cheese on Ca absorption; (3) Ca absorption from the mineral water and the enteral product and to compare it with that from the dairy products; (4) the effect of a meal combined with the mineral water on Ca absorption. All test foods were consumed by all subjects according to a design with two Latin squares. Each treatment of 2 d was followed by a wash-out period of 2 weeks. Ca absorption was measured using a double stable-isotope (44Ca and '%a) extrinsic labelling technique. Mean fractional Ca absorption from the new fresh cheese was not significantly different from that from the traditional type (37.7 (SD 102)% Y. 42.2 (SD 11.6)%). The addition of Fe to the new cheese did not significantly influence Ca absorption. Ca-absorption values from the mineral water (37.0 (SD 98) YO) and from the enterd product (42.6 (SD 11.4) "0) were not significantly different from those from the dairy products (37.7-42*2%, SD 10.2-11*6%). The co-ingestion of a spaghetti meal with the mineral water significantly enhanced Ca absorption from 37 (SD 9.8)Y0 to 46.1 (SD 11.7)%. It is concluded that a new process leading to a fresh cheese with a higher Ca concentration does not alter Ca bioavailability compared with the standard technology and for a constant Ca supply. Thus this new fresh cheese would probably provide more Ca than the standard one. The fractional Ca-absorption values for mineral water and the enteral product indicate that these products can make an interesting contribution to Ca supply for populations with a low Ca intake and patients with specilic diseases respectively.