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Darling Husband's picture

Omega 3 fats didn't help heart patients, study suggests

Hm... people who are being treated with heart medicines don't get any benefit from increasing intake of Omega 3 fats:

Study: More omega-3 fats didn't aid heart patients
By STEPHANIE NANO (AP)

NEW YORK — Eating more heart-healthy omega-3 fats provided no additional benefit in a study of heart attack survivors who were already getting good care, Dutch researchers report.

After nearly 3 1/2 years, there was no difference in deaths, heart attacks and other heart problems between those who ate margarine with added omega-3 fatty acids and those who didn't, the study found.

The results don't mean that getting more of the essential nutrient has no value. Several studies have offered evidence that the fats — mostly from fish oil — reduce heart disease.

Darling Husband's picture

Drink a couple of glasses before eating to aid dieting, study says

Here's something I've known for a long time: drink a couple of glasses of water before meals. It can help you lose weight:

Drinking water before meals can help people to lose weight, says a US study.

Scientists from Virginia found that slimmers can lose an average of 5lb extra if they drink two glasses of water three times a day before meals.

Source: Drinking water before meals helps dieting, says study

Darling Husband's picture

Top 10 vices that are good for you: CNN Health

CNN's web site reports the following ten 'vices' that are actually good for you. Some of the items on the list have been covered here before.

Here's a summary:

  1. Get enough sleep.
    This one is obvious. You need to get enough sleep.
  2. Play hooky from work (take a 'mental health' day off from work).
    Hey, who can argue with that one?
  3. Have sex (um...)
  4. Have some chocolate.
    We've covered that one -- chocolate (dark, sans all the stuff that's in the typical junk food candy bars) seems to have all kinds of health benefits.
  5. Go out and have some fun.
    Did they really need to tell us this?
  6. Eat full fat dressing.
Darling Husband's picture

Research challenges long-held ideas on calcium, fat

Americans like simple solutions to complicated problems. This is especially true in medicine.

Two fundamental “truths” of health advice are 1) calcium builds strong bones and 2) saturated fat clogs coronary arteries. Both may turn out to be wrong.

The calcium story has been building for decades. Because everyone knows that bones contain calcium, it seemed logical to assume that taking more of this mineral would make bones stronger. As a result, millions of women have been told to swallow a couple of calcium pills daily to ward off osteoporosis.

Darling Husband's picture

An Updated Guide for Low-Carb Dieters (New York Times)

While not strictly news, this interview discusses some of the misconceptions about low-carb dieting in light of recent studies confirming what we've known for a long time -- there are health benefits to low-carb dieting.

An Updated Guide for Low-Carb Dieters (New York Times)

LowCarbForLife's picture

Progress Report - August 2010

I have been extremely happy with the progress I am making while getting myself fit and healthy. I continue to follow CALP and even though I am allowed to eat three to four times a day, I am still satisfied with two. Of course, if I consider my two cups of black coffee that I drink every morning as my first meal of the day, I would be having three. I have never been hungry in the mornings and this program does not require me to eat breakfast, which is perfect for me. I have been enjoying my Reward Meal, RM, during the noon hour recently, and it is working out well for both my husband and me. We decided to switch the Complementary Meal to our evening meal because we would rather eat our big meal earlier in the day.

Darling Husband's picture

Research links waist size to risk of early death (once again)

Once again, research shows a correlation between waist size and increased death risks.

...new research suggests that waist size could play as important a role as body weight in determining how long you live. After examining a database of more than 100,000 men and women ages 50 and older participating in a cancer prevention study, researchers found that those with the largest waistlines had about twice the risk of dying over a nine-year period as those with the smallest waistlines.
Link (usnews.com)

Darling Husband's picture

Obesity on the rise, no end in sight (CDC)


Source: CDC

Well, the obesity train keeps on a-rollin'.

Obesity continues its rise unabated, and there's no end in sight. According to the CDC, 72.5 million adults are considered 'obese':

Over the past decade, obesity has become recognized as a national health threat and a major public health challenge. In 2007--2008, based on measured weights and heights (1), approximately 72.5 million adults in the United States were obese (CDC, unpublished data, 2010). Obese adults are at increased risk for many serious health conditions, including coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer, and premature death (2,3). Adult obesity also is associated with reduced quality of life, social stigmatization, and discrimination (2,3). From 1987 to 2001, diseases associated with obesity accounted for 27% of the increases in U.S. medical costs (4). For 2006, medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at as much as $147 billion (2008 dollars); among all payers, obese persons had estimated medical costs that were $1,429 higher than persons of normal weight (5). In 2001, the Surgeon General called for strong public health action to prevent and decrease overweight and obesity (3).

[snip]

In 2009, all states continued to have high prevalences of obesity among adults, although the prevalences varied geographically. No state met the Healthy People 2010 target of 15%, and the number of states with obesity prevalence of ≥30% increased from none in 2000 to nine in 2009. The results of this report also indicate that the prevalence of adult obesity in the United States, as measured by BRFSS, continued to increase. Using 2007 population data for both years, the increase of 1.1 percentage points from 2007 to 2009 corresponds to approximately 2.4 million additional adults whose self-reported heights and weights yielded a BMI of ≥30. Previously documented disparities in obesity prevalence continued by age, education, and race/ethnicity (6,7). Of particular concern are the high prevalences among non-Hispanic black women and persons with less education.
Vital Signs: State-Specific Obesity Prevalence Among Adults --- United States, 2009

The method used to determine obesity appears to be the flawed Basal Metabolic Index (BMI) (more on the BMI flaws here).

On the flip side, the survey's "BMI was calculated from self-reported weight and height". Do people provide honest weight numbers when the report their weights, even if anonymously?

Darling Husband's picture

Study shows that low-carb diets may help reduce heart risk factors

Yet another study shows that the lipophobes were wrong -- that low-carb dieting isn't bad for your heart:

Low carb diets may have edge in some heart risk factors

The fascination with low-carb versus low-fat diet continues; the latest news comes from a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine released today that found that people on both diets lost about the same amount of weight over two years. However, the low-carb group had an edge in raising HDL (good) cholesterol and lowering diastolic blood pressure

Darling Husband's picture

Get more sun! You are probably Vitamin D deficient. (New York Times)

Interesting article in the New York Times discussing the need for more Vitamin D -- either by diet or through sunlight exposure.

Vitamin D promises to be the most talked-about and written-about supplement of the decade. While studies continue to refine optimal blood levels and recommended dietary amounts, the fact remains that a huge part of the population — from robust newborns to the frail elderly, and many others in between — are deficient in this essential nutrient.

LowCarbForLife's picture

Teri's weight loss results chart

Here's my weight loss chart as of June 1, 2010.

Darling Husband's picture

"Honey", a digital painting by Catrina

Our daughter, Catrina, has completed her first all-digital work.

Honey, a digital painting of a Chihuahua by Catrina

"Honey", by Catrina Curry

You can see more of her works in her gallery.

Update: You can purchase Honey the Apple-headed Chihuahua on a coffee mug and other products on zazzle.com Tell us what you think!

Darling Husband's picture

Fruit and vegetables offer 'limited protection' against cancer, says Nobel winning scientist

Sir Tim Hunt, a Nobel-winning scientist, says that fruits and vegetables offer limited protection against cancer:

There is no evidence a healthy diet can prevent people developing cancer, a Nobel-winning scientist has warned.

Sir Tim Hunt said eating healthy foods could only provide a modest reduction in the risk of developing the disease.

He said the two "most terrible" cancer-causing poisons in the environment were air and water.

The scientist made his comments in a keynote address at the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR) conference in Fife.

Sir Tim, a principal scientist with Cancer Research UK, said there was no evidence from studies that diet could prevent cancer.

He agreed with recent research which found eating the recommended "five-a-day" will only provide limited protection in preventing the disease.

He pointed out anything which damages chromosomes or attacks DNA can cause cancer.

"The two most terrible poisons in the environment causing cancer are air and water," he said.

"If you stopped breathing, you wouldn't get cancer, but you have to breathe to stay alive.

"It is the air itself, not any pollutants in it, and water which are constantly attacking our DNA."
Link

So, if you're on a low-carb diet, and aren't eating as many veggies and fruits as "the experts" say you should, perhaps you can stop stressing over that. Maybe.

Darling Husband's picture

The high fructose corn syrup wars: New studies spark debate

The High-Fructose Corn Syrup ("HFCS") debate continues...

The HFCS wars are heating up. Another study shows problems with HFCS consumption:

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) accounts for as much as 40% of caloric sweeteners used in the United States. Some studies have shown that short-term access to HFCS can cause increased body weight, but the findings are mixed. The current study examined both short- and long-term effects of HFCS on body weight, body fat, and circulating triglycerides. In Experiment 1, male Sprague-Dawley rats were maintained for short term (8weeks) on (1) 12h/day of 8% HFCS, (2) 12h/day 10% sucrose, (3) 24h/day HFCS, all with ad libitum rodent chow, or (4) ad libitum chow alone. Rats with 12-h access to HFCS gained significantly more body weight than animals given equal access to 10% sucrose, even though they consumed the same number of total calories, but fewer calories from HFCS than sucrose. In Experiment 2, the long-term effects of HFCS on body weight and obesogenic parameters, as well as gender differences, were explored. Over the course of 6 or 7months, both male and female rats with access to HFCS gained significantly more body weight than control groups. This increase in body weight with HFCS was accompanied by an increase in adipose fat, notably in the abdominal region, and elevated circulating triglyceride levels. Translated to humans, these results suggest that excessive consumption of HFCS may contribute to the incidence of obesity.
Source: High-fructose corn syrup causes characteristics of obesity in rats: Increased body weight, body fat and triglyceride levels. [NIH]

Taken together, it appears that rats (especially males) are able to adjust their caloric intake when given access to small amounts of sucrose, but not so much when given equivalent amounts of HFCS. Earlier work has shown that access to higher levels of sucrose or other sugars, though, will indeed cause rats to gain weight. But not everyone, it seems, even sees these effects. A study from last December looked at a variety of sweetened waters, given to rats 12 hours/day for ten weeks, but only three days out of each week. No differences in weight were seen, although it should be noted that in head-to-head tests, the rats preferred HFCS to agave or Stevia sweeteners. (I wish this group had run sucrose in this experiment, too).
Source: Rats and High-Fructose Corn Syrup

Counterpoints

(CNN) -- Acolytes of "Food Rules" guru Michael Pollan and other well-meaning foodies who've made corn a scapegoat for the nation's health crises have welcomed a new study from Princeton University that suggests high-fructose corn syrup causes more significant weight gain than table sugar.
But the findings have been criticized by food science experts and industry veterans, who say the study unfairly demonizes corn syrup and implicitly absolves cane sugar of responsibility for making Americans fat.
Source: Latest high-fructose corn syrup study generates buzz, debate

Every day, more people are pointing out flaws in last month’s Princeton University study finding that rats fed high fructose corn syrup gained more weight than rats fed sucrose (table sugar). The authors of the research speculated that this could signify that high fructose corn syrup has a unique role in fueling America’s “obesity epidemic.” Earlier in the week, however, nutrition professor Marion Nestle detailed her confusion about how the researchers could have reached that conclusion. Today Washington Post health writer Jennifer LaRue Huget voices her skepticism with the Princeton study, writing that the evidence is “not convincing enough” to support the authors’ speculations.
Source: Skepticism Grows About High Fructose Corn Syrup Hype

Darling Husband's picture

Our daughter's portrait drawings...

My daughter, Catrina, has been working on more of her fantastic portrait drawings. You can see some of them, including her more recent works, on her gallery.

Oh, and in case you didn't know, we've been using her portrait of Norma Jeane Baker (AKA Marilyn Monroe) for the site logo for a while now... As you can see, Catrina has an affinity for classic movie stars and starlets.

Norma Jeane Baker Portrait by Catrina
Graphite portrait of Hedy Lamarr by Catrina
Darling Husband's picture

Are all calories the same?

I've been skeptical about the claimed metabolic advantage of low-carb diets. It sounds almost too good to be true, like magic: somehow, dieters on a low-carb diet lose more weight when on a low-carb diet compared to other types of diets (with identical caloric intake).

I've been looking for science-based evidence of the advantage before accepting it as real.

Reading Dr. Eades' blog entry (proteinpower.com) today provided some enlightening information on the subject. There are interesting quotes from previous posts, describing the metabolic processes that might lead to the metabolic advantage.

Darling Husband's picture

Score another win for chocolate: Studies show stroke risk reduction

This is starting to sound like a broken record, but there are more studies showing potential health benefits of eating chocolate (especially dark chocolate).

From http://www.webmd.com/stroke/news/20100211/chocolate-chips-away-stroke-risk

A new review of recent research on chocolate and stroke risk found at least two large studies are suggestive of the health benefits of chocolate in lowering the risk of stroke. The results will be presented in April at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Toronto.

The first study found 44,489 people who ate one serving of chocolate per week were 22% less likely to have a stroke than people who didn’t eat chocolate.

Darling Husband's picture

My, what long telemeres you have! (Why some people seem to age more slowly than others)

Here's an interesting article about why some people seem to age more slowly than others. Apparently, the length of your telemeres – tiny biological clocks at the ends of chromosomes – get shorter over time, until cells die. Here's the punch line: some people have longer telemeres.

Scientists have found a 'Peter Pan gene' that could explain why some people remain baby-faced while others become old before their time.
Millions of Britons are blessed with DNA that makes them look up to eight years younger than their peers.

Darling Husband's picture

Are doctors glorified drug peddlers?

Is it ethical for a doctor to talk up a drug in exchange for payments from drug companies?

You may be unaware of a practice that is considered 'ethical' conduct between drug companies and doctors. Doctors are offered compensation to give talks to other doctors about the benefits of certain drugs.

Here's an interesting story from a doctor on the receiving end of drug company 'incentives'. The story begins:

On a blustery fall New England day in 2001, a friendly representative from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals came into my office in Newburyport, Mass., and made me an offer I found hard to refuse. He asked me if I’d like to give talks to other doctors about using Effexor XR for treating depression. He told me that I would go around to doctors’ offices during lunchtime and talk about some of the features of Effexor. It would be pretty easy. Wyeth would provide a set of slides and even pay for me to attend a speaker’s training session, and he quickly floated some numbers. I would be paid $500 for one-hour “Lunch and Learn” talks at local doctors’ offices, or $750 if I had to drive an hour. I would be flown to New York for a “faculty-development program,” where I would be pampered in a Midtown hotel for two nights and would be paid an additional “honorarium.”

One month already!!!

Yesterday marked 1 month of my CALP experience. I cannot beleive that I have come this far on this programme. On other diets, I would have fallen off the band wagon 50 times already by now but on CALP I had gone off 3 times only to date. My first was at my inlaw's house and the 2nd & 3rd was during a recent 2-day office retreat. I notice that I have no difficulty following CALP when I am on my own but cave in when I am following other people's eating schedule. I know it was nobody's fault but my own. I should have been stronger and just say no. But often , I dont have the heart to dissapoint them when they have gone to so much trouble preparing food for me. hmmm.... i wonder how most of you out there deal with situations like this?

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