L. Mallory Boylan’s research while affiliated with Texas Tech University and other places

  Available data for cholesterol content of beef, pork, poultry, and processed meat products were reported. Although the cholesterol concentration in meat and poultry can be influenced by various factors, effects of animal species, muscle fiber type, and muscle fat content are focused on in this review. Oxidative red muscles tend to have greater total lipid and cholesterol contents, although differences in the same types of muscles or cuts have been reported. Moreover, contradictory results among various studies suggest that unless there are pronounced changes in muscle structure and composition, cholesterol content is unlikely to be affected. Second, multiple issues in cholesterol analysis, including sample preparation, detection, and quantification, were evaluated. Cholesterol content of meat and poultry has been determined mostly by colorimetry and chromatography, although the latter has become predominant because of technological advances and method performance. Direct saponification has been the preferred method for hydrolyzing samples because of cost- and time-effectiveness. The extraction solvent varies, but toluene seems to provide sufficient recovery in a single extraction, although the possible formation of an emulsion associated with using toluene requires experience in postsaponification manipulation. The most commonly used internal standard is 5α-cholestane, although its behavior is not identical to that of cholesterol. Cholesterol can be analyzed routinely by gas chromatography (GC)-flame ionization detector without derivatization; however, other methods, especially high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with different detectors, can also be used. For research purposes, HPLC-ultraviolet/Visible/photodiode array detector with nondestructiveness is preferred, especially when cholesterol must be separated from other coexisting compounds such as tocopherols. More advanced methods, such as GC/HPLC-isotope dilution/mass spectrometry, are primarily used for quality control purposes.

To explore depressed mood in the breastfeeding dyad. N = 50 mothers of 12-day-olds reported depressed mood (EPDS) and anxiety (STAI), then were videotaped while breastfeeding. Infants were weighed before and after breastfeeding. An ANCOVA on weight gain, which controlled for infant age and birth weight, found EPDS inversely related to weight gain. Following a significant MANCOVA on infant biobehavioral measures, ANCOVAs which controlled for birth weight, age, hunger at time of testing, and degree of exclusivity in breastfeeding, found EPDS inversely related to infants' milk intake and latch quality. Following a significant MANOVA on maternal behaviors, ANOVAs revealed EPDS inversely related to mothers' sensitive positioning and touch frequency. Contrastingly, anxiety was associated with increased touch. In the breastfed newborn, mothers' depressed mood is associated with lesser weight gain, lower milk intake, poorer latch to the breast, and receiving less frequent touch and less-sensitive positioning at the breast by mother.

In this chapter we address whether and how breastfeeding contributes toward differences in the newborn infant’s neurobehavioral development. We then consider how differences of this nature might underlie or help account for some of known benefits of breastfeeding to infant health, and to possible advantages to intellectual development. The chapter reports that crying in the breastfed infant may be more frequent but of shorter duration and lesser intensity. Its relation to pain threshold is unclear. Findings on the breastfed infant’s sleep appear to suggest that sleep latency is shorter in duration, sleep intervals are of shorter duration, and arousability is greater. The breastfed infant’s sleep architecture may relate to child health. Some potential benefits relate to the incidence of SIDS, enuresis, and obesity. Breastfed newborns show more optimal social behavior, alertness, motor development, and neurological organization. Correspondingly, they have been found having longer heart rate, elevated heart period variability, and higher vagal tone, suggesting more optimal physiological organization. These strengths may contribute to superior cognitive skills, especially the ability to concentrate. They may also help advance cognitive and social development through their enhancing effects on parenting behavior.

Selenium (Se), an essential trace mineral, is obtained by individuals from foods ingested and is necessary for 25 human proteins including the antioxidant family of glutathione peroxidases. Since plants are not known to require Se for growth, the quantity of this mineral in plant foods depends on the soluble Se in soils that is passively accumulated by plants. As all animals require Se, it is usually stored more uniformly and to a greater degree in animal than plant protein foods. Owing to the alluvial origin, high rainfall and flooding upon the soils of Bangladesh these soils appear to be low in measured soluble Se. These low levels of soluble Se in Bangladeshi soils reflect the low levels of Se in plant foods, rice and vegetables, staples of the rural and poor Bangladeshi's diet. This study reports on the dry-weight content of Se found in samples of rice, other plant foods and fish from Bangladesh. Rice grain averaged 0.105 µg Se g−1 from Jessore and 0.212 µg Se g−1 from 5 other districts of Bangladesh. Gourds and potatoes from Jessore averaged 0.471 and 0.181 µg Se g−1 respectively. All other district plant foods averaged 0.26 µg Se g−1. All 7 different but unidentified species of fish sampled in Jessore and quantitated fluorimetrically averaged 1.318 µg Se g−1. Fish was the single highest food source of dietary Se per unit dry weight. Fish in particular, but also other animal foods, are likely to serve as better dietary sources of Se for the people of Bangladesh.

Arsenic (As) contamination of the available domestic drinking water from shallow aquifers to villagers in Bangladesh often exceeds the newest WHO standard of <10 µg As L−1 and the older Bangladeshi standard of <50 µg As L−1. An estimated 9.2 million shallow tube wells in Bangladesh deliver water to 97% of the rural population, placing an estimated 57 million people at risk for arsenicosis. The contamination of drinking water by As extends to W. Bengal, India and Nepal. The same shallow aquifers used for domestic water are also used to irrigate food crops, particularly rice. Irrigation adds As to soils and increases exposure of the population to additional As via foods consumed. Selenium (Se), an essential trace mineral found in soils, is absorbed by plants, entering the human food chain. It was suggested that a low dietary intake of Se may be contributing to the problem of human arsenicosis in Bangladesh. Dietary Se acts as a natural antidote to As by (1) accelerating As excretion, (2) sequestering As by complexation and (3) as an antioxidant component of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase that may counteract the prooxidant effects of As that contribute to arsenicosis and cancer. Analysis of 70 agricultural soil samples from Bangladesh by fluorimetry, ICP-AES and Neutron Activation Analysis showed the soils analyzed to be high in As (33 µg g−1) and biologically low in soluble Se (0.02 µg g−1). A low dietary intake of Se related to low soil content and this mineral in foods may be contributing to human arsenicosis in the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in milk are vital for normal growth and development of infant mammals. Changes in fatty acid composition were observed in milk fat from goats dosed with perchlorate (0.1 and 1 mg/kg body weight/day) for 31 days, but the effect was not persistent. Adaptation may be induced in these goats to compensate for the perchlorate effect. In an analysis of fatty acid composition in human milk samples, a weak negative correlation was observed between perchlorate concentrations and total PUFA in 38 human milk samples.

The carcinostatic activities of selenium (Se) compounds have been shown to be composition and concentration dependent. Several studies have indicated that the ratios between glutathione (GSH) and Se may play an important role in Se catalysis and toxicity. The present study examined the catalytic effect of three selenium compounds on GSH oxidation using lucigenin-dependent chemiluminescence (CL) as an indirect measure of superoxide generation. Various GSH:Se ratios were assayed for the glutathione oxidase activity of selenite, selenocystamine and diselenodipropionic acid. CL emitted from the reaction of selenite with GSH increased more rapidly and was greater than those from the diselenides, but the diselenide CL reactions were sustainable. Both selenite- and diselenide-induced CL were markedly suppressed by superoxide dismutase (SOD). Iodoacetic acid (IAc) effectively inhibited CL generated from selenite-, selenocystamine- and diselenodipropionic acid-catalyzed GSH oxidation. These results suggest that GSH oxidation catalyzed by selenite, and the diselenides selenocystamine and diselenodipropionic acid, generated the superoxide radical in which the CL was inhibited by SOD. Furthermore, CL inhibition by IAc suggests that the catalytic species producing superoxide were the GSSe(-) or RSe(-) anion. This redox chemistry may be responsible for selenite and organoselenium toxicity and apoptosis, making possible the design and synthesis of organoselenium-containing pharmaceuticals.

To assess whether natural variations in decosahexaenoic acid (DHA) levels in breast milk would relate to infant neurobehavioral outcomes at the newborn stage following equivocal findings on infant and toddler outcomes of exposure to DHA in formula and breast milk. Breast milk samples from N = 20 mothers were collected 9 days after delivery, while the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) was administered on the infant. Milk samples were later analyzed for fatty acids, including DHA. Pearson correlations revealed a positive association between DHA concentrations in breast milk and infants' scores on the NBAS Range of State cluster score, suggesting that DHA is related to the infant's superior ability to maintain optimal arousal. These results suggest that breast milk DHA is beneficial to the neonate's neurobehavioral functioning and call for investigative attention to DHA's role in potentiating optimized intellectual functioning at later stages of development. The findings may also be interpreted as supporting formula supplementation with DHA.

The trace element selenium (Se) is an essential nutrient, but is toxic when consumed in excessive quantities. Selenosis or selenium toxicity signs in animals were described by Marco Polo in 1295 during his travels to China. It was 1934 before Franke ¹ identified Se as a toxic agent found in some plant foods. About 20 years later, Schwarz and Foltz ² demonstrated that, for the rat, Se was an essential dietary element that prevented liver necrosis. Subsequently, Se deficiency syndromes have been identified in animals and humans. Cardiomyopathy, muscle pain and osteoarthropathy are key features of Se deficiency in humans. ³.