Science shorts: Swisse’s krill oil, Amway's personalised nutrition RCT findings, India’s CBD research

Swisse eyes exclusive therapeutic knee health claims for krill oil product following positive RCT findings​​

Swisse will be applying for new therapeutic claims related to knee health under the nascent ‘assessed listed’ medicines scheme in Australia for its krill oil supplement, following positive human clinical trial findings.

A recent study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition​​ demonstrated that the company’s product, Swisse Ultiboost High Strength Deep Sea Krill Oil, could improve knee pain, stiffness and physical function.

The six-month double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial involved 235 adults between 40 and 65 years old and were suffering from mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis.

Personalised nutrition significantly improved BMI, waistlines in obese Chinese adults – Amway-funded RCT​

Personalised nutrition intervention could be more beneficial than conventional methods in improving the health statuses of overweight and obese Chinese adults, according to an Amway-funded RCT.

Findings of the trial were published in Frontiers in Nutrition.​

It has shown that with tailored nutritional advice, supplement intake and service, subjects involved in the 12-week RCT had better BMIs, body fat percentages, waist circumferences, blood lipids and uric acid levels.

CBD and cancer pain relief: India’s national research institute boss outlines study plans – LISTEN​

India’s national research agency is hoping to study cannabidiol (CBD) and its effects on cancer pain relief, the director of the agency has revealed in our latest NutraChampion podcast.

As part of the research, the institute is working in developing cannabis varieties yield greater amounts of CBD – the non-psychoactive component of cannabis, Dr. D. Srinivasa Reddy, director at the Council of scientific and industrial research - Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine Jammu (CSIR-IIIM Jammu) said. 

The goal in a year’s time is to conduct one human clinical trial on medical cannabis and its effects on pain relief.

Obese women with high intake of vitamin C and B6 associated with lower breast cancer risk – cohort study​

Obese women who took vitamin C and B6 at amounts that exceeded the recommended daily intake levels were associated with a lower risk of breast cancer, according to a five-year long South Korean cohort study.

However, no significant association was not observed in women with normal weight.

“Obesity is associated with higher estrogen levels in postmenopausal women due to the aromatase change of testosterone to estrogen in adipose tissue, as well as chronic inflammation status with increased oxidative stress permanently. Thus, the antioxidant effect of vitamin C may be more prominent in women with obesity,” ​the researchers explained.  

Zinc supplementation shows no significant benefits for preventing diabetes – 12-month Australia RCT ​

A 12-month RCT conducted in Australia has found that zinc supplementation did not produce significant benefit in preventing diabetes, a finding which is in contrary to the existing body of scientific literature.

Involving 98 pre-diabetic subjects, the intervention group took 30mg of elemental zinc gluconate, while the other group took placebo for 12 months. Both the intervention and placebo materials were provided by Blackmores.

In both intervention and placebo groups, an equal number of individuals – three of them from each group – had developed diabetes.