Category: Public Health News

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People who haven’t eaten for many hours turn to high-calorie foods like starches and proteins – not vegetables – once they can satisfy their hunger, a new study suggests.

And, researchers found, fasters ended up eating extra of whatever foods they chose to chow down on first at that meal.

The findings carry a message for anyone who goes for long spans of time without eating, researchers said. That includes patients fasting before a procedure or blood test, some dieters and medical interns working long shifts without a snack break, for example.

“I think this really pushes the importance of what (food) options you have in your environment,” said Aner Tal, one of the study’s authors from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab in Ithaca, New York.

Tal told Reuters Health that if he knew he wouldn’t be able to eat for long periods, he would pay extra attention to what types of food he kept at home.

“It would be important to not overstock on unhealthy options,” he said.

For the study, published as a letter in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Tal and his colleagues recruited 128 students from Cornell University.

The students were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group was told not to eat or drink anything after 6 p.m. the day before the lunchtime study. The other group, which acted as a comparison, was able to eat normally.

By the time students sat down for lunch on the test day, the fasting group had not had anything to eat for about 18 hours. Each student was offered a buffet lunch of dinner rolls, French fries, chicken, cheese, carrots and green beans, while under video surveillance.

Using the video logs, the researchers recorded which foods the students ate off their plates first. They also measured how much students ate by embedding scales in the lunch table.

Forty-three of the original students didn’t follow their assignment and so weren’t included in the main analysis.

Of the remaining 40 fasters, 30 first went for the dinner rolls, French fries, chicken or cheese, compared to 20 of 45 students in the comparison group.Participants ended up eating almost 47 percent more calories of their first-choice food compared to other menu items.

The study cannot say why some students went for the starches and proteins first, but Tal told Reuters Health it may have something to do with an internal drive to seek high-fat foods after a period of deprivation.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

The researchers suggest hospitals and cafeterias who serve people going long periods of time without food should consider these findings and make vegetables and other healthy foods “more convenient, visible, and enticing.” That, they say, may encourage people to pick healthier foods if they haven’t had a chance to eat for several hours.

In a commentary published with the study, two nutrition researchers suggest the findings may apply to settings outside of hospitals and cafeterias.

They say this type of research is important for people who are experiencing hunger and food insecurity.

“I think we’re just starting to understand some of these factors with obesity, food insecurity and related factors as things that interrelate. I think it will be a missed opportunity if we don’t (look into this),” said Amy Yaroch, one of the commentary’s authors and the director of the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition in Omaha, Nebraska.

Original Post from: http://www.empowher.com/healthy-eating/content/people-turn-high-calorie-food-first-after-fasting

Cutting back on calories is the cornerstone of any successful weight-loss plan, but as dieters can attest, that’s easier said than done.

So it’s encouraging to learn that three simple strategies can provide a boost: Eat regular meals, write down everything you eat, and avoid restaurants and takeout at lunchtime.

These three habits were each linked to greater weight loss in a new study of 123 overweight and obese middle-aged women, all of whom managed to shed at least a few pounds over a one-year period.

Women who reliably ate breakfast, lunch and dinner lost an average of 11% of their body weight, compared to just 7% among women who skipped meals. (That’s equivalent to a 5-foot, 6-inch woman who weighs 180 pounds losing 20 pounds instead of 13.)
Methodically keeping a food journal was associated with losing roughly 4% more body weight. And women who never ate restaurant lunches lost 3% more body weight than those who did so at least once a week – probably due to super-size restaurant portions and less-than-healthy dishes, the researchers say.
“Knowing what you eat and controlling the portion sizes is key to any weight-loss diet,” says Anne McTiernan, M.D., the senior author of the study and a diet and exercise specialist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle. Strategies such as food journals are “about accountability,” McTiernan adds.

Other behaviors in the study that appeared to boost weight loss included consuming fewer calories from fat and carbohydrates and weighing and measuring food portions.
None of these findings was especially surprising. Doctors and dietitians have long touted the benefits of regular meals, food journals, and home cooking, but the new study is among the first to look at a wide range of weight-loss strategies and quantify which ones are most effective, McTiernan says.

Why does skipping meals backfire? It’s not entirely clear, but research suggests missed meals can lead to snacking and overeating, and may even change the body’s metabolism so that calories aren’t used as efficiently. Skipping meals also may go hand in hand with other behaviors that can promote weightgain, such as eating on the go.
Although the three healthful habits highlighted in the study might seem straightforward, they may prove harder to follow in the real world than in the somewhat artificial setting of a clinical trial.

The women in this study were all part of a larger trial looking at the effect of diet and exercise on hormones, and they received weight-loss guidance not always available to women struggling with weight issues on their own. This included meeting with a registered dietician and exercise physiologist and also learning how to read labels and count calories.
As it was, less than 5% of the study participants completed a food journal entry every day for the first six months of the study, as the researchers had asked.

The study findings were published today in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Original Post from: http://www.ktvq.com/news/three-simple-weight-loss-strategies-that-work/

A group of chemicals found in personal care products may raise the risk of diabetes, a new study suggests.

Women in the study with highest concentrations of these chemicals, called phthalates, in their bodies were more likely to have diabetes than women with lowest concentrations, the researchers said.

Phthalates are found in a variety of products, including nail polish, hair sprays, soaps and shampoos.

There was also a link between high concentrations of phthalates and insulin resistance among women who did not have diabetes. (Insulin resistance is often a precursor to Type 2 diabetes).

The findings suggest that phthalates could disrupt blood sugar metabolism, said study researcher Tamarra James-Todd, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Division of Women’s Health.

However, the researchers cautioned the study surveyed participants at only one point in time, and more research is needed that follows women over years to confirm the results.

Phthalates are present in certain medications and medical devices, and its possible women with diabetes have higher phthalate concentrations in their bodies due to the use of these medications or devices, James-Todd said.

James-Todd and colleagues analyzed information from 2,350 women ages 20 to 80 who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2001 and 2008. As part of the survey, participants underwent physical exams and provided urine samples. Of the participants, 217 reported having diabetes.

Women who had the highest levels of two chemicals — mono-benzyl phthalate and mono-isobutyl phthalate — in their urine samples were nearly twice as likely to have diabetes as women with the lowest levels of those chemicals, the study found.

Women with moderately high levels of the chemicals mono-n-butyl phthalate and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate had approximately a 70 percent increased risk of diabetes.The findings held even after the researcher accounted for factors that could influence phthalate levels, such as the amount of calories of fat women consumed.

Previous studies in rats have found that exposure to certain phthalates increases blood glucose levels.

It’s possible that phthalates indirectly increase the risk of diabetes by interfering with the metabolism of fat tissue, which can lead to insulin resistance, the researchers said.

“If future studies determine causal links between phthalates and diabetes, then reducing phthalate exposure could decrease the risk of diabetes in women,” the researchers write in the July 13 issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. 

Original Post from: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/07/13/chemicals-in-nail-polish-hair-spray-may-increase-diabetes-risk/

NEW YORK — Vitamin D deficiency is associated with poor lung function in asthmatic children treated with inhaled corticosteroids, according to a new study from researchers in Boston released Friday.

“In our study of 1,024 children with mild to moderate persistent asthma, those who were deficient in vitamin D levels showed less improvement in pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) after one year of treatment with inhaled corticosteroids than children with sufficient levels of vitamin D,” stated Ann Chen Wu, assistant professor in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. “These results indicate that vitamin D supplementation may enhance the anti-inflammatory properties of corticosteroids in patients with asthma.”

The findings were published online ahead of print publication in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

The study was conducted using data from the Childhood Asthma Management Program, a multi-center trial of asthmatic children between the ages of 5 years and 12 years who were randomly assigned to treatment with budesonide (inhaled corticosteroid), nedocromil, or placebo. Vitamin D levels were categorized as deficient (≤ 20 ng/ml), insufficient (20-30 ng/ml), or sufficient (> 30 ng/ml).

Among children treated with inhaled corticosteroids, pre-bronchodilator FEV1 increased during 12 months of treatment by 330 ml in the vitamin D insufficiency group and 290 ml in the vitamin D sufficiency group, but only 140 ml in the vitamin D deficient group.

Compared with children who were vitamin D sufficient or insufficient, children who were vitamin D deficient were more likely to be older, be African-American and have higher body mass index. Compared with being vitamin D deficient, being vitamin D sufficient or insufficient was associated with a greater change in pre-bronchodilator FEV1 over 12 months of treatment after adjustment for age, gender, race, BMI, history of emergency department visits, and season that the vitamin D specimen was drawn.

The study had some limitations, including a small sample size of 101 vitamin D deficient children, and the investigators only studied vitamin D levels at one time point, the authors suggested.

“Our study is the first to suggest that vitamin D sufficiency in asthmatic children treated with inhaled corticosteroids is associated with improved lung function,” Wu said. “Accordingly, vitamin D levels should be monitored in patients with persistent asthma being treated with inhaled corticosteroids. If vitamin D levels are low, supplementation with vitamin D should be considered.”

Original Post from: http://www.drugstorenews.com/article/vitamin-d-deficiency-associated-poor-lung-function-child-asthmatics?utm_source=GoogleNews&utm_medium=Syndication&utm_campaign=ManualSitemap

When Karen Frost got a call from her mother saying “I just want to keep you in the loop,” she knew to pay attention.

Her father got lost trying to find his wife in the hospital after a routine appointment and was missing for several hours before she found him.

When Alita Aldridge got a call from her mother accusing her grandson of taking money and stealing her food, she, too, knew something was wrong. Her mother had always been loving and rarely raised her voice. Suddenly, expletives peppered her outbursts.

Though their symptoms were different, both women’s parents were ultimately diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, a brain-wasting illness that afflicts 5.4 million people in the USA, destroying memory, thinking and personality. It also takes a heavy toll on caregivers. The Frosts got a quick diagnosis and started mapping out their future. But Aldridge says her mother’s condition went undetected for several years, and the personality changes distanced her from her family and finally landed her in the emergency room.

“I didn’t know very much about Alzheimer’s disease,” she says. “I thought memory was affected, but I didn’t think personality was. My mother’s personality had changed. We even went to a doctor who said my mother was fine. What were we supposed to do at that point?”

Starting Sunday, researchers at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2012 in Vancouver, Canada, will discuss new findings on early warning signs to evaluate cognitive function sooner and on new therapies that might slow the disease’s progression. The conference is expected to draw 5,000 researchers from around the world, and it follows the U.S. government’s announcement in May of an ambitious plan to increase awareness and find a way to prevent the disease by 2025. Nearly half of those 85 and older have it, and the number is expected to be 16 million by 2050.

Alzheimer’s is the second-most-feared disease — behind only cancer, says Beth Kallmyer, vice president of constituent services for the Alzheimer’s Association. Even though there is no cure, early diagnosis is the ticket, she says: People can treat symptoms and plan for their future while they’re still able. “People can also check that bucket list,” she says, and “maybe reprioritize.”

Karen Frost, 44, says she and her siblings noticed their father, Bill, had been losing bits of vocabulary for several years. Part of normal aging, they thought. But when he got lost in the hospital five years ago, the family headed to experts for an answer.

He was hospitalized for three days; doctors ruled out a stroke, then ran other tests, which showed he had mild cognitive impairment (MCI), defined as early-stage Alzheimer’s. It is often treated with Aricept, which improves certain mental functions. It doesn’t slow disease progression forever, but it helps some patients for a while. He went on Aricept immediately.

“When they told me I had Alzheimer’s, my mood went down,” says Bill Frost, 74. “But that night I said a prayer. Ever since then, I’ve said I’ll never, ever give up.”

He took part in one drug trial and is participating in another. “I’m going to be the first person cured of this disease,” he says.

Early diagnosis is key

Though current trials and several others about to begin probably will be too late to benefit Frost, research is showing the importance of early diagnosis. Once the process that destroys brain cells has begun, the disease is irreversible. But if researchers can find a way to catch it early and slow it down, they think they can prevent much of the worst damage.

William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer at the Alzheimer’s Association, says he expects antibodies already in trials to someday help prevent Alzheimer’s by stopping the formation of harmful protein deposits called amyloid plaques, a hallmark of the disease.

“There are a number of ideas out there for prevention,” Thies says. “The most prominent has been if you moderate the amyloid plaque, you moderate the course of the disease.”

Thies has watched the evolution of preventive therapies before; he worked for 10 years at the American Heart Association and remembers when cholesterol-lowering statin drugs were given to people only after they had heart attacks. Now, they are used for prevention and are among the most widely prescribed drugs in the USA.

When the government launched a plan in May to step up its attack on Alzheimer’s, the National Institutes of Health chipped in $17 million for a $100 million trial. It is being discussed at the conference.

The initiative is hailed by researcher Eric Reiman as “a new era of Alzheimer’s research.” Reiman is with Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, which is partnering with the NIH, drugmaker Genentech and the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia, home of a large family with a genetic predisposition to develop the disease at a young age, and who, Reiman says, regard it “as a curse.”

An experimental antibody called crenezumab will be tested to see whether it can sustain memory and cognition in about 300 family members who are in their 30s. They have the gene for early-onset Alzheimer’s but have not yet shown symptoms.

Laurie Ryan of the National Institute on Aging says the timing of this trial follows others that have advanced the understanding of how the disease progresses. For instance, several trials concluding this summer are testing antibodies in people exhibiting symptoms, but some research suggests even that might be too late to start. The results are expected by October.

“New research is telling us earlier intervention is better,” says Ryan, program director for the institute’s Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Trials program.

Knowledge is power

Nancy Frost, Bill’s wife, wants more money for research.

“AIDS was 100% fatal before the government stepped in and spent millions on research,” she says. “Now that disease is a chronic one like diabetes. They didn’t cure AIDS, but they’re controlling it. That’s what we have to do with Alzheimer’s. The Baby Boomers are going to be hit hard by this.”

Her kids are aware of that reality; the disease appears to run in their family. “We think our dad’s mother had it, and we’re pretty sure his grandmother had it,” says Alison Frost, 49.

David Frost, 46, wants to know if he is carrying a gene that increases his risk for Alzheimer’s, but his physician “is resistant,” he says.

Alita Aldridge, 60, knows that when doctors defer making a diagnosis, the result may be life-threatening.

Aldridge lives in Los Angeles; her mother lived alone nearby. Last September when Aldridge stopped by to visit, she found her mother slumped over her kitchen table.

“I took her to the emergency room,” she says. “It was horrible. They had to restrain her because she kept getting up. Her anxiety levels were off the charts. She had forgotten to eat.”

Doctors there diagnosed her. Bertha Aldridge, 92, is now living at home with 24-hour care. She still recognizes her children and is gaining weight, but little holds her interest, not even television, says her daughter, who worries about how long they can afford the 24-hour care.

Meanwhile, Bill and Nancy Frost are still making their own plans. That’s another plus to early diagnosis, Kallmyer says: “No one wants to have a spouse or children have to take care of them,” and people with Alzheimer’s can’t monitor their own food intake or medications. If they have other conditions, like diabetes, they need close supervision.

Last weekend, Nancy Frost says, “we filled out the forms for a life care facility in Corpus Christi. Bill can move into a memory care center when he needs to, and I can stay in assisted living. We looked at other places, but we like Corpus Christi, being near the beach.”

One of Bill’s favorite activities has hooked him on the move.

“They take them out charter fishing every day,” says Karen Frost. “He’s one happy man.

“We have gained so much respect for him because of how he’s handling this.”

Original Post from: http://www.freep.com/article/20120713/FEATURES08/120713023/Detecting-Alzheimer-s-early-could-change-lives

Keeping track of how much you eat by writing it down each day, rather than what you eat, is key for weight loss, a new U.S. study suggests.

The No. 1 piece of advice would be to keep a food journal to document every morsel that passes your lips and thereby help monitor daily calorie intake, concluded researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Wash.

“It is difficult to make changes to your diet when you are not paying close attention to what you are eating.” said lead investigator Anne McTiernan.

Participants in the study were given a printed booklet to record their food and beverage consumption, but a food journal doesn’t have to be fancy.

“Any notebook or pad of paper that is easily carried or an online program that can be accessed any time through a smart phone or tablet should work fine,” McTiernan said.

Other specific behaviours that support weight loss include not skipping meals and avoiding eating in restaurants – especially at lunch.

The findings were published online Friday in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

The study focus was on how self-monitoring and other diet-related behaviors, as well as meal patterns, effect weight change in overweight and obese postmenopausal women.

“When it comes to weight loss, evidence from randomized, controlled trials comparing different diets finds that restricting total calories is more important than diet composition such as low-fat versus low-carbohydrate,” McTiernan said.

The study involved 123 overweight-to-obese, sedentary, Seattle-area women, aged 50 to 75, who were randomly assigned to two groups: one group tried to lose weight based on diet alone, while the second group relied on exercise plus diet.

In the year-long study, participants filled out a series of questionnaires to assess dietary intake, weight-control strategies, self-monitoring behaviors and meal patterns. They also filled out a 120-item food-frequency questionnaire to assess dietary change from the beginning to the end of the study.

At the end of the study, participants in both groups lost an average of 10 per cent of their starting weight, which was the goal of the intervention.

Among the study’s findings:

• Women who kept food journals lost about six pounds more than those who did not.
• Women who skipped meals lost almost eight fewer pounds than women who did not
• Women who ate out for lunch at least weekly lost on average five fewer pounds than those who ate out less frequently (eating out often at all meal times was associated with less weight loss, but the strongest association was observed with lunch).

Eating at regular intervals and avoid skipping meals, is another effective weight loss strategy, the study found.

“The mechanism is not completely clear, but we think that skipping meals or fasting might cause you to respond more favorably to high-calorie foods and therefore take in more calories overall,” McTiernan said.

“We also think skipping meals might cluster together with other behaviors. For instance, the lack of time and effort spent on planning and preparing meals may lead a person to skip meals and/or eat out more.”

Meanwhile, eating out frequently in restaurants may make it difficult to make healthy dietary choices because it usually means less control over ingredients and cooking methods as well as larger portion sizes, the study concluded.

Original Post from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/07/13/weight-loss-study.html

Weight loss that occurs in conjunction with a low-fat, high fruit and vegetable diet may help to reduce or eliminate hot flashes and night sweats associated with menopause, according to a Kaiser Permanente Division of Research study that appears in the current issue ofMenopause. This Women’s Health Initiative study of 17,473 women found that women on a diet low in fat and high in whole grains, fruit and vegetables, who had menopausal symptoms, who were not taking hormone replacement therapy, and who lost weight (10 or more pounds or 10 or more percent of their baseline body weight), were more likely to reduce or eliminate hot flashes and night sweats after one year, compared to those in a control group who maintained their weight.

Many women experience hot flashes at some point before or after menopause, when their estrogen levels are declining, explain the researchers.

“While the mechanism is not completely understood, hot flashes and night sweats are thought to be caused by a complex interaction that involves fluctuating hormone levels, the hypothalamus region of the brain that regulates body temperature, brain chemicals and receptors, and the body’s blood vessels and sweat glands,” said Candyce Kroenke, ScD, MPH, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research and lead author of the study.

Although previous research has shown that high body weight and weight gain are associated with hot flashes and night sweats associated with menopause, this study is the among the first — and the largest to date — to analyze whether weight loss on a diet designed to reduce fat and increase whole grains, fruit and vegetable intake might ameliorate symptoms. It is also among the first to examine the influence of a dietary change on symptoms that include hot flashes and night sweats, said Kroenke.

“Since most women tend to gain weight with age, weight loss or weight gain prevention may offer a viable strategy to help eliminate hot flashes and night sweats associated with menopause,” said Bette Caan, DrPH, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research and the senior author of the study.

She explained that greater body fat provides insulation that may hinder heat loss, and hot flashes and night sweats provide a way to dissipate that heat.

“Weight loss, especially loss of fat mass but not lean mass, might also help alleviate hot flashes and night sweats,” added Kroenke.

The investigators emphasize that further research is needed to better understand the relationship between diet, weight and hot flash/night sweat symptoms. They explain that the beneficial impact of a healthy diet alone (regardless of weight change) may also help ameliorate symptoms.

This study follows a related study published in March in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in which Kaiser Permanente researchers found that preventing weight gain after a breast cancer diagnosis may offer a viable intervention for relief of hot flashes. The researchers noted that intentional weight loss in breast cancer survivors requires further study.

The Women’s Health Initiative Dietary Modification trial enrolled a diverse group of 48,835 post-menopausal women between 1993 and 1998 at 40 United States clinical centers to evaluate the effects of a low-fat dietary pattern on heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer, and fracture in post-menopausal women. The dietary intervention was aimed at reducing fat intake and increasing fruit, vegetable and whole grain intake. Although weight loss was not a goal, participants assigned to the intervention group lost on average 4.5 pounds between baseline and year one, compared to the control group.

Original Post from: http://esciencenews.com/articles/2012/07/11/weight.loss.resulting.a.low.fat.diet.may.help.eliminate.menopausal.symptoms

Antioxidants and your health: does vitamin c matter?

bet most of us have heard about antioxidants, but I also can bet that most people do not really know what they are and how they work. Here’s the deal: As you know, every cell in your body needs oxygen to function normally.

It is very basic, no oxygen no life. Unfortunately, the utilisation of this oxygen produces harmful by-products called free radicals – and they are really radical in the way they wreak havoc in the body and destabilise even the healthiest of individuals. Free radicals are also created from environmental pollution, certain industrial chemicals and smoking.

Outside the body, the process of oxidation is responsible for a sliced avocado, or banana or apple turning brown, or an iron nail or any metal rusting. That is the visible part of things. Inside the body, oxidation contributes to heart disease, cancer, eye cataracts (when the lens becomes opaque resulting in blurred vision), aging, and a slew of other degenerative diseases. In short, free radicals are the enemy. In simple speak; free radicals can be described as unstable, hyperactive atoms that literally trek around the body damaging healthy cells and tissue.

So why are we all not falling apart due to these monsters called free radicals? Well in part thanks to antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, and selenium to help mop up these nasty radicals. And you thought vitamin C was only good for fighting colds and flus, well think again.

That’s why when you squeeze lemon or orange juice over the cut fruits they do not turn brown. Now you know – vitamin C is fighting oxidation. A similar process takes place inside the body when we consume adequate amounts of antioxidants.

Vitamin C. What can it really do aside from the above? Let’s just say that if all the vitamins and minerals were on a pay scale according to the jobs they perform, vitamin C would be a billionaire. Vitamin C wears many hats you see, from helping to keep your bones, teeth, and blood vessels healthy to healing wounds, boosting your immune system and therefore resistance to infection, and participating in the formation of collagen (a protein that helps support body structures).

Another benefit is that eating foods rich in vitamin C helps in increasing the absorption of the mineral iron – good news for people with iron deficiencies or higher iron requirements such as pregnant women. For some interesting and unclear reasons, cigarette smokers require 50 percent more vitamin C than non-smokers. So instead of popping vitamin C pills, why not just quit smoking?

Although vitamin C deficiency is relatively uncommon compared to say vitamin A for instance, it can cause a lowered resistance to infection, sore gums, bleeding, and in severe cases the disease scurvy. So you don’t to be a sailor exploring the high seas to get scurvy. Alcoholics though are prone to scurvy. Scurvy is characterised by bleeding and swollen gums, joint pain, muscle wasting and bruises.

If you happen to experience any of these check and increase your vitamin C intake. But there is no need to mega-dose because since vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin, it cannot be stored by the body, and you certainly do not want expensive urine… instead by a fruit.

Foods rich in vitamin C include melons, tomatoes, citrus fruits – such as oranges, lemons, grapefruit, mangoes, papaya, yellow peppers, guava, morula, berries, fortified juices, kiwi, and even potatoes.

How much antioxidants should you be taking?
The primary and secondary focus should be on eating foods rich in antioxidant vitamins. Contrary to what people might think, there are no magic bullets or pills to good health. Sorry to burst your bubble if you have cabinets full of all manner of potions and pills for this and that.

Another plug on good health is that nutrition scientists are constantly discovering new food substances that might help with the quest for well-being and longevity. Furthermore what’s important is that it’s not about one isolated vitamin or mineral but he interactions between several food ingredients that enhance disease prevention and provide improvements in health and well-being. In a nutshell, food remains the best medicine.

The bottom line is if you decide to take antioxidant supplements, you better stay on top of the current research and speak with a competent health and nutrition professional. Save your hard earned cash and be streetwise when it comes to some of the quacks floating around with bogus nutrition products and advice.

Original Post from: http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=7&aid=1596&dir=2012/July/Monday9

DHA and EPA help with inflammation.

Inflammation occurs with many painful and fatal diseases. Fish oil, a source of omega-3 fatty acids, may help curb the inflammation associated with chronic and acute diseases.

A recent review of clinical trials focusing on the effects of omega-3 from fish oil has shown that incorporating these complex fatty acids into treatment plans can provide benefits.

The trials showed a health benefit for both healthy individuals and for people suffering from various conditions, including cardiovascular disease, pancreatitis, Alzheimer’s disease, renal failure and sepsis.

This review was authored by Oscar D. Rangel-Huerta, a researcher with the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Molecular, Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology and Jose Mataix Biomedical Research Centre at the University of Granada in Spain.

The review examined 26 clinical trial studies by Asian, European, Canadian, Australian and American researchers on the effects of two types of fish oil omega-3 fatty acids: docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Rangel-Huerta and his colleagues found that DHA and EPA have the ability to reduce markers for inflammation across a wide range of people.

Inflammation is a necessary process that the body goes through when presented with harmful stimuli. This stimulus causes the body to make chemicals called eicosanoids, which control the inflammatory process. Examples of these chemicals include prostaglandins, prostacyclins and thromboxanes.

Cells in the body incorporate omega fatty acids into their cell walls. When inflammation is triggered enzymes turn these fatty acids into eicosanoids. Different fatty acids produce eicosanoids and omega-3 fatty acids make a specific series of eicosanoids called series 3 eicosanoids, which cause significantly less inflammatory effects than the more common series 2 eicosanoids.

Rangel-Huerta found more trials regarding fish oil and cardiovascular disease to include in the review than any other disease. Though there was some debate on the ideal dosage, fish oil proved to have positive effects in six out of the eight clinical trials dealing with cardiovascular disease.

Sepsis, commonly known as a blood infection, is inflammation resulting from an systemic infection that is most often bacterial. Many of the most detrimental symptoms are cause by inflammation. The review authors included 3 studies showing that intravenous parenteral administration of EPA and DHA lessened the damage of the septic inflammatory response and strengthened the immune response to the infection.

Two studies in the review covered renal disease, and both found fish oil improved inflammation marker levels compared to placebo. Fish oils benefits renal disease patients by reducing certain cardiovascular disease risks.

Two studies on the effects of fish oil on Alzheimer’s patients found opposed results. The first study found that fish oil helped reduce inflammatory immune responses, and the second study found no effects. This was probably due the dosage, which was roughly three times less DHA and EPA than the first study.

Rangel-Huerta and his colleagues found ten trials that studied the inflammatory response effects of fish oil on healthy users. A majority of the studies on healthy subjects found that fish oil had no effect on inflammatory marker levels compared to placebo.

However, three of the ten studies on healthy subjects found reductions in the patient’s inflammatory biomarker compounds.

A stronger dose of the omega-3 was associated with better anti-inflammatory results, both for one test on healthy subjects and for the successful trial on Alzheimer’s. Both of these trials used higher dosages and had more success.

Only two of the studies in this review had more than 100 subjects, so these studies suffer in general from low participation. Understanding of proper dosage levels is also a problem with research into omega-3 fish oil that will have to be addressed with further research.

Because of the positive effects fish oil can provide for many disease conditions, Rangel-Huerta and his colleagues encourage both the use of this supplement and further research that focuses on the different effects of different doses.

The available evidence indicates that there are at least some benefits in healthy people supplementing with fish oil, though a person should always consult a doctor before taking a new supplement.

There were no mentions of any adverse events or side effects resulting from the fish oil. Even though it was fairly safe during the trials, users of fish oil should never exceed maximum dosage because fish oil can cause vitamin A toxicity.

This review of clinical trials was published in the June issue of BMJ. Funding was partially provided by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, which is a part of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.

Original Post from: http://www.dailyrx.com/news-article/dha-and-epa-help-inflammation-19865.html

Your heart and lungs will thank you for kicking your cigarette habit, but your waistline may not.

A new study finds that ex-smokers may end up packing on a few more pounds than they expected.

On average, say French and British researchers, people gain about 10 pounds after kicking the habit. That’s substantially higher than the roughly 6 pounds often quoted in smoking cessation literature, and double the 5 pounds that many female smokers report being willing to tolerate before attempting to quit, according to the authors.

Weight gain has long been associated with quitting — not surprisingly, considering that nicotine is an appetite suppressant and a stimulant — and many people who don’t quit cite fear of ballooning weight as a reason.
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But the new findings back up what any doctor will tell you: you’re still better off quitting.

For the new study, published in the British Medical Journal, the research team closely examined data from 62 previous randomized controlled trials of smoking cessation programs involving people who were motivated to quit.

All of the studies assessed weight changes among participants, and the researchers separated out those who used quitting aids like nicotine replacement therapy or the drugs buproprion (Zyban) or varenicline (Chantix) from those who quit without treatment.

“We kept these groups separate because these pharmacotherapies could have a small effect on weight gain in the short term,” the authors write.

The authors looked at weight gain in participants who had succeeded in quitting smoking for at least 12 months. On average, quitters who didn’t rely on drugs or nicotine replacement to kick cigarettes, had gained 2.5 pounds one month after quitting, 5 pounds at two months, 6.3 pounds at three months, 9.3 pounds at six months, and 10.3 pounds at 12 months.

But these numbers aren’t set in stone, the researchers say.

The study found great variability in the amount of weight people gained. Some people even lost weight. For instance, says study author Henri-Jean Aubin, professor of psychiatry and addiction medicine at Hôpital Paul Brousse, in France, a quarter of ex-smokers gained less than 2 pounds or lost weight after quitting, while an equal number gained more than 17 pounds.

“Although our study has confirmed that there is substantial weight gain on average during the first year of continuous abstinence, a prediction of average weight gain will be wrong for most individual smokers,” says Aubin, adding, “The good news is that after the first [three months], weight gain is decelerating substantially. Nearly 20% of the smokers actually lose weight after one year of continuous abstinence.”

So, while it’s true that some quitters will gain a significant amount of weight, a great many will actually lose extra fat – an added health bonus on top of putting out cigarettes for good.

In an editorial accompanying the new study, Esteve Fernández, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Barcelona, and Simon Chapman, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney, argue that many real-world quitters fare better than those included in the review.

The data in the study include only those smokers who volunteered for clinical trials and attended smoking-cessation clinics, a “self-selecting minority of smokers who may differ in important respects from those who quit without professional assistance,” the authors write.

Those who decide they need help to stop smoking tend to lack self-efficacy. They might have similar problems with the dietary and physical activity behaviors important in weight control. So these results may not be generalizable to all smokers who quit because two-thirds to three-quarters of ex-smokers stop smoking without professional help or interventions.

Fernández and Chapman urge potential quitters not to be put off by the new findings, noting further that previous studies have found that ex-smokers may gain weight in the short term after quitting, but not in the long term.

“Modest weight gain does not increase the risk of death,” they write. “Smoking does.”

Aubin says physicians should stress the long-term benefits of quitting to their patients and encourage them to start exercising, which not only helps reduce weight gain, but also may help them stay non-smokers.

“Quitting smoking at age 40 increases life expectancy by nine years, even taking into account the possible post-cessation weight gain. If their smoking patients do not take steps now to quit smoking despite the risk of weight gain, when will they do it?” he says.

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