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Benefits of zinc
The zinc thing: adolescents need adequate doses of zinc in their food
Zinc may be good for teenagers' brains, according to a paper presented at a meeting of the American Society of Nutritional Sciences.
In a study led by Dr. James Penland of the Agricultural Research Service of the Department of Agriculture, 209 seventh graders were randomly assigned to one of three groups.
The first group received 4 ounces of fruit juice a day containing 20 milligrams of zinc, the second drank the same juice with 10 milligrams of zinc, and the third drank the juice with no zinc added.
At the beginning and end of the 12-week study, students were examined with a series of tests of attention, memory, problem solving and hand-eye coordination.
Students who had taken 20 milligrams of zinc increased their scores significantly on visual memory, word recognition and attention and vigilance tasks compared with the plain-juice drinkers.
Penland said if further studies confirmed those results, it might follow that the current recommended dietary allowance for zinc of 10 milligrams should be increased for adolescents.
"But for the moment," he said, "the prudent thing to do would not be to run out and buy zinc supplements, but to make sure that teenagers get the recommended 9 to 11 milligrams of zinc per day." He suggests lean red meat, fish and some grains as good sources of zinc.
Baby talk
TALKING TO babies in their own language — baby talk — may help them learn new words faster.
A group of researchers led by Dr. Erik D. Thiessen, an assistant professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, tested forty 8-month-old infants. The babies were played tapes of two sets of four-word nonsense sentences, one spoken in ordinary adult conversational tones, the other in the pitch and rhythm of baby talk.
For a few minutes, the babies listened to the sentence. Then a single word was repeated while a light flashed on one side of the room. As long as the infant looked at the light, the word continued to repeat. When the baby looked away, the recording stopped.
Thiessen says earlier studies have shown that infants consistently focus longer on the light when they hear a word they know. By timing the infant's gaze, the researchers showed that they learned words more efficiently when trained with baby talk than with adult speech.
Discussing his findings, Thiessen said, "This way of talking, which we all have an urge to do, is actually beneficial for babies."
But he warns against adopting any particular method to help a baby's linguistic development. "Babies can learn from a wide variety of speech, not just baby talk," Thiessen said. "It's more important to interact through language in natural ways than to try to use some specific technique you think will make your baby grow up smarter."
Cold shoulder them
OBESE SHOPPERS routinely suffer rude and dismissive treatment at the hands of sales clerks. According to a study undertaken by graduate students at Rice University, sales clerks act unfriendly, neglect to smile, avoid eye contact and end interactions prematurely when dealing with overweight customers.
The research was led by Eden King. a doctoral candidate in industrial and organisational psychology and will be presented in Los Angeles on April 15 at a meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
Rice University undergraduates posed as shoppers for the study. Volunteers of normal weight went into stores in a large Houston shopping mall and interacted with sales clerks; then they returned equipped with an `obesity prosthesis' — padded clothing that made them look fat. Observers recorded their interactions with the sales staff.
While obese shoppers were in general treated more brusquely than normal weight customers, style made a difference. Obese shoppers who were dressed professionally were treated better than those dressed casually, and those who appeared to be dieting (they carried cans of diet soda, and mentioned their diets to the clerks) were treated better than those who came in eating desserts and claimed they were unconcerned about their weight.
"The stigma of obesity is one of the worst there is," King said, and retailers may want to take note.
The researchers used questionnaires to survey actual obese customers.
When these shoppers perceived discrimination, they spent less time and money in the store than they had intended to, and they were less inclined to return. "There are bottom line financial consequences for the storekeeper in these interactions," King concluded.
(Courtesy: New York Times)
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