Cold acclimation has been shown to produce a substantial increase in the number of brown adipocytes in the parametrial fat pad of female BALB/c mice ‐ a site normally thought to consist of typical white adipocytes. The brown adipocytes have been identified not only on the basis of their morphology using light and electron microscopy, but also on the basis of the content of the mitochondrial ‘uncoupling protein’ (M r = 32 000) which is characteristic of the proton conductance pathway of brown adipose tissue.

EURRECA has an excellent opportunity to develop tools to improve transparency on the approaches used in setting micronutrient recommendations, including the selection of criteria for adequacy, weighing of evidence, and interpretation of data.

No abstract

Interest in the glycemic impact of diet on health and well-being is growing among health care professionals and consumers. Diets with high glycemic impact have been postulated to increase risk of obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. A reduction in the glycemic impact of the diet has been proposed as a means of assisting body weight management, improving blood glucose control, and reducing diabetic, cardiovascular, and related risks. Foods are increasingly carrying labels that describe their glycemic properties. Yet, a scientific debate exists about whether a relation between the glycemic response to diet and health truly exists, and, if so, which descriptor of a food's glycemic properties best predicts its effect on health outcomes. This article reports the proceedings of a workshop at which a meta-analysis of the relation between the glycemic response to foods and health was presented and the merits of glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL), and glycemic glucose equivalent as predictors of health outcomes were discussed. The conclusions include the findings that many studies purporting to investigate lower GI interventions actually studied lower GL interventions; that unavailable carbohydrate (eg, dietary fiber), independent of GI, seems to have at least as big an effect on health outcome as GI itself; that lower GI and GL diets are beneficial for health in persons with impaired glucose metabolism, but that it is as yet unclear what they mean for healthy persons; and that the larger the divergence of glucose metabolism from the norm, the larger the effect of lower GI and GL interventions.

The EURRECA Network will contribute to the broader field of food and nutrition policy by encouraging and enabling the alignment of nutrient recommendations. It will do this through the development of a scientific toolkit by its partners and other stakeholders across Europe. This will facilitate and improve the formulation of micronutrient recommendations, based on transparently evaluated and quantified scientific evidence. The Network aims to be sustainable beyond its EC funding period.