Wednesday, July 27, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
19
Nutrition emerging as a “hard science” in human health
By anne Glausser
Oregon State University
CORVALLIS – A much
better understanding of the
role of diet and supple-
ments in maintaining opti-
mum health well into old age
has emerged over the past
20 years, according to one
expert, and today is helping
to address chronic diseases
that kill most people in the
developed world — heart
disease, stroke, diabetes and
cancer.
As he retires this month
after leading the Linus
Pauling Institute at Oregon
State University since 1997,
Balz Frei, director and dis-
tinguished professor of bio-
chemistry and biophysics
in the College of Science,
has outlined some of the
key advances of that period,
and the steps still needed
for nutrition researchers to
work more closely and suc-
cessfully with the medical
community.
In the recent past, Frei
said, nutritional research was
rife with inconclusive stud-
ies that showed associations
but no firm cause-effect rela-
tionships of disease preven-
tion. Long-term trials with
humans to study disease
prevention are difficult and
often cost prohibitive, and
laboratory animal tests that
showed effects — such as
the effect of a certain food
on cancer incidence — often
lacked an explanation of
“why.”
In the past two decades,
a period of extraordinary
growth for the Linus Pauling
Institute, researchers have
worked to answer that ques-
tion of “why” with consider-
able success.
“What I wanted to
achieve with the institute
was to put science behind
nutrition,” Frei said. “We’re
helping to lead the field
of nutrition into more sci-
ence and mechanism-based
research that can have a
real impact on promoting
human health and preventing
disease.”
In this research, an
underlying cause of aging
and chronic disease has now
emerged — chronic inflam-
mation. Inflammation and its
accompanying surge of “free
radicals” are tied to several
major killers, including car-
diovascular disease and cer-
tain cancers. Scientists are
honing in on the mechanisms
of inflammation and the anti-
oxidants that can prevent free
radical damage.
What I wanted to
achieve with the institute
was to put science
behind nutrition.
— Balz Frei
Important discoveries
have been made with vitamin
E, in particular, in under-
standing why this nutrient
is required by the body and
the role it plays in protecting
critical fats, especially dur-
ing brain development and
in the aging brain. Research
on vitamin C showed that it
helps arteries relax and low-
ers high blood pressure, a
chief cause of stroke.
The institute has also
helped change the worldview
of vitamins and other nutri-
ents. Instead of seeing them
simply as a way to correct
or prevent a deficiency con-
dition like scurvy, they are
increasingly recognized as a
way to help prevent chronic
disease, counter toxins
and contribute to healthier
aging.
One molecule in particu-
lar, lipoic acid, has shown
promise in its ability to
“bring cells back to a youth-
ful state,” Frei said. This
compound triggers a reac-
tion in cells that makes them
more capable of fending off
free radicals and other toxic
insults that cause inflamma-
tion and disease.
Other findings of impor-
tance during Frei’s tenure at
the institute include:
• The discovery and
mechanisms of action of sev-
eral phytochemicals that may
help prevent cancer, meta-
bolic syndrome, and cardio-
vascular disease.
• Compounds of particular
interest range from catechins
in tea to quercetin in onions,
sulforaphane in broccoli and
xanthohumol in hops.
• Chlorophyll, a phyto-
chemical that gives plants
their green color, can bind
to a toxic mold compound
called aflatoxin that causes
liver cancer, and render it
inactive.
• Omega-3 fatty acids
found in fish or fish oil have
been shown to have impor-
tant health effects, including
their role in halting progres-
sion of fatty liver disease.
• The role of vitamin D in
boosting the body’s immune
system is being viewed with
significant future importance,
with the advent of multi-drug
resistant bacteria, including
one recently confirmed strain
that resists medicine’s last-
ditch antibiotic.
“Vitamin D plays a cru-
cial role in many functions
of the body, not just bone
health, and it’s now a public
health challenge to raise the
levels of it in the population
worldwide, so that everyone
has the best shot at fight-
ing infections,” Frei said.
“LPI works beyond the ivory
tower to help people make
the right decisions regarding
the use of diet and dietary
supplements.”
An important future
goal, Frei said, would be a
full outreach to the medical
community.
“Communication between
the nutrition science and
medical communities is not
happening at the scale it
needs to right now,” he said.
“We need a bridge, and LPI,
its Micronutrient Information
Center and other public out-
reach services are well-suited
to be that bridge. If we could
bring about a change in how
medical doctors are edu-
cated, I think that would be a
major contribution to public
health.”
There’s an urgency to
change perceptions on diet
and supplements among the
medical community as well
as the general public, Frei
said, as rates of chronic, pre-
ventable diseases continue to
increase.
Communication
between the nutrition
science and medical
communities is not
happening at the scale
it needs to right now.
— Balz Frei
“There’s so much mis-
leading information out
there, so many false promises
when it comes to dietary sup-
plements,” Frei said. “We’re
trying to counter these claims
with evidence-based health
information about vitamins,
minerals, and phytochemi-
cals. It has been, and to
some extent continues to be
an uphill battle for nutrition
science to establish itself as
a ‘hard’ science. But there’s
also a realization now of how
critical the field is to human
health.”
During Frei’s tenure as
director, LPI has grown from
one principal investigator to
12, focused on the study of
healthy aging, cardiometa-
bolic disease prevention,
and cancer prevention and
intervention.
More than 650 pub-
lished research papers
and review articles have
been cited by peers over
26,000 times, and more
than $55 million in fund-
ing came from the National
Institutes of Health and other
agencies.
The institute’s endow-
ment has quadrupled since its
inception at OSU, and dur-
ing the university’s recent
capital campaign LPI raised
$48 million, $15 million of
which went toward the con-
struction of the Linus Pauling
Science Center, a state-of-
the-art research and educa-
tion facility.
Ash canoe seats, bent
beechwood chairs, and
classic antique pressed back
side chairs are all restored
with machine-woven cane.
We’re glad to do custom
work for you, and especially
delighted to teach you how.
Call to schedule work to be
done on family treasures during
your vacation time here.
Wicker Restoration
Since 1974
541-923-6603
2415 SW Salmon Ave., Redmond
PARK IT
IN STYLE!
Bike racks...
we’ve got ’em!
541-549-9280
• Sisters Industrial Park
www.PonderosaForge.com | CCB# 87640
Serving Sisters Since 1976
Sisters Saver
er
m
m
u
s
r
u
For all yo t needs
projec
rs!
e
t
s
i
S
n
i
e
FREE
right her
Local
Delivery
Lumber • Hardware • Paint
Fencing & Decking • Doors & Windows
Hours: M-F 8 to 5, Sat. 8 to 4:30, Closed Sundays
440 N. Pine St. • 541-549-8141 • www.hoyts.net
Find it on page 24!
Save time, money & gas
when you shop Sisters!
To advertise in Sisters Saver,
call Karen at 541-549-9941.