Are popular books about diet and health written based on scientific evidence? A comparison of citations between the USA and Japan.

OBJECTIVES: To describe and compare the references cited in popular books about diet and health between the USA and Japan. DESIGN: Books were selected based on their best-seller rankings in the diet and health category of online bookstores. We identified references throughout all pages of the books and examined the number of references, reference format (identifiable or not) and presence of specific types of references, such as systematic reviews of human research. We compared the characteristics of references between the two countries and examined related factors to citation. SETTING: Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: Books (n 100 in each country). RESULTS: Among 100 books from each country, sixty-five US and sixty-six Japanese books had references. Forty-five US books cited more than 100 references, against only five Japanese books. The number of books that cited systematic reviews of human research differed between the USA (n 49) and Japan (n 9). Additionally, the number of books that provided identifiable information for all references was significantly higher in the USA (n 63) than in Japan (n 42). Books whose first authors have licences of medical doctors were more likely to cite references than those without in both countries. CONCLUSIONS: Two-thirds of books about diet and health cited references in both the USA and Japan, but Japanese books cited fewer references and were less likely to cite systematic reviews and provide identifiable references than US books. Further research into the scientific reliability of information in books about diet and health is warranted.

Laser-heating thermal modulation voltammetric determination of phosphate ion using a graphite-reinforced carbon electrode.

Thermal modulation (TM) voltammetry was successfully applied to the determination of phosphate ion in natural water, by using a He-Cd dual laser as a heating source and a graphite-reinforced carbon (GRC) electrode. A heteropoly ion, i.e., 12-molybdophosphate ion ([PMo(VI)(12)O(40)](3-)), was formed through a reaction between a phosphate ion and molybdate ions in an acidic solution, and its electroreduction was examined in a flow electrolytic cell by TM voltammetry. Measured TM voltammograms showed two peaks corresponding to two successive two-electron reductions of the 12-molybdophosphate ion, and the peak intensities were proportional to the concentration of the phosphate ion. Because of the strong adsorption of 12-molybdophosphate ion onto the GRC electrode, a detection limit as low as 0.8 nmol dm(-3) (S/N = 3) was achieved. The determination of phosphate ion in real samples (river water) was carried out by spectrophotometry (the molybdenum-blue method) and TM voltammetry, and the determination values obtained by both methods were in a good agreement with each other. These results prove the possibility of TM voltammetry as an electroanalytical method.