Marinating meat may cut cholesterol compounds

Last Updated: 2006-07-03 9:14:06 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Just in time for holiday grilling, scientists have found that marinating meats may help reduce unhealthy cholesterol compounds that form during cooking.

Researchers in Taiwan found that marinades made with soy sauce or sugar inhibited the formation of cholesterol oxidation products (COPs) in pork and eggs as they cooked.

COPs are generated when cholesterol-rich foods are processed or heated, and research suggests that, in excess, the compounds may damage body cells and contribute to ills such as heart disease or cancer.

To study the effects of marinades on COP formation, Dr. Bing-Huei Chen and colleagues at Fu Jen University in Taipei soaked ground pork and hard-boiled eggs in marinades containing soy sauce, sugar or both. The only other ingredient in each marinade was water.

In general, the researchers found, all of the marinades cut COP formation during cooking, with sugar being particularly effective.

Marinating may create the benefit, Chen told Reuters Health, by generating so-called "browning reaction products." These substances are thought to act as antioxidants, which mean they help neutralize COPs and similar molecules that can damage body cells.

It's also possible, Chen added, that healthful nutrients in soy sauce, such as isoflavones, help quash COP formation.

Whether other types of marinades have such anti-COP abilities is unknown, according to the researcher. The simple sugar-soy sauce marinade, Chen noted, was only 1 percent soy sauce and 10 percent sugar, so it would add few calories and little salt to a health-conscious cookout.

SOURCE: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, June 28, 2006.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

Training may cut female soccer players' knee risks

Last Updated: 2006-07-03 9:30:06 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adding injury-prevention exercises to soccer practice may help prevent a common knee ligament injury in female athletes, study findings suggest.

The small study, of 18 teenage soccer players, adds to evidence that training young female athletes to move more "like boys" can lower their risk of tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), an important stabilizer of the knee joint.

ACL injuries are most common in sports that require quick pivots, jumps and sudden stops and starts -- including basketball, volleyball and soccer.

Female athletes are four to eight times more likely than their male counterparts to injure the ACL, and experts believe that one reason is that they often move differently from males. They are more likely, for example, to land from a jump in a relatively straight-legged, knock-kneed manner, or to move in a more upright position rather than low to the ground, with knees deeply bent.

In the new study, Dr. Christine D. Pollard and colleagues at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles tested the effects of an injury-prevention training program on female soccer players' jumping mechanics.

Three club and high school teams replaced their standard warm-up with a regimen of strengthening and stretching, as well as jumping and agility exercises. Eighteen girls on the teams had their jumping and landing mechanics assessed at the beginning and end of soccer season.

By season's end, the researchers found, the girls were able to land from jumps with their hips in a position that was less likely to torque the knees -- an improvement that could translate into fewer ACL injuries, Pollard's team concludes in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.

Past research has shown that specific injury-prevention training does lower rates of ACL injury. One study found that the same program used in the current report cut female soccer players' risk by 88 percent.

SOURCE: Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, May 2006.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.