Health Wrap - Salty Foods; Nuts; Sleep

A person's liking for salty taste may be related to how much they weighed when they were born. In a paper looking at two month old babies, lighter birth weight infants showed greater acceptance of salt-water solutions than do babies who were heavier at birth. The authors believe the early appearance of this relationship suggests that developmental events occur while the baby is in the uterus and may have a lasting influence on an individual's preference for salty taste.

A similar relationship was found in a subset of the same children at preschool age, suggesting that the relationship between salty taste preference and birth weight persists at least through early childhood, a critical time for the formation of flavor and food preferences.

By studying individual differences in liking for salty taste, scientists hope to obtain needed insights into the underlying factors driving salt preference and intake. This type of information could potentially be used in programs designed to reduce salt intake, which is believed by many to contribute to the development and maintenance of high blood pressure.

Researchers have known for some time that nuts and seeds are rich sources of phytosterols, a class of plant chemicals that have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels and improve heart health. Now, chemists at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va., analyzed 27 nut and seed products and found that pistachios and sunflower kernels had the highest levels of phytosterols among the nuts and seeds that are most commonly consumed as snack foods in the united states.

Sesame seed and wheat germ actually ranked highest but are not consumed as frequently as individual foods, the researchers say. Brazil nuts and walnuts ranked the lowest in phytosterols Their study appears in the nov. 30 issue of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

According to a new review of studies on sleeping pills, including sonata, ambien and lunesta, no one drug stands out as the best. There were different effects; for example, in the four studies comparing sonata to ambien, sonata was better than ambien at putting people to sleep quickly, while patients on ambien slept longer and reported having a better quality sleep than those taking sonata. Short-term side effects such as headaches and daytime sleepiness also occurred at similar rates between the drugs.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that more than 70 million Americans have trouble sleeping, with the likelihood of insomnia increasing with age. Sleeping pill use among adults 20 to 44 years old has doubled in the past four years. And the number of sleep aid prescriptions for children and younger adults ages 10 to 19 jumped 85 percent between 2000 and 2004.

For more on this and other health stories, visit "National Sleep Foundation."