Good news if you don’t like long work outs

We all know that exercise is a necessity if we are going to stay healthy. It needs to be part of a healthy lifestyle. Not everybody enjoys spending a lot of time in the gym however.

For those who would rather exercise for a short time when they do, the following study should be good news. The research was done on patients with diabetes, but you don’t have to be diabetic to benefit from this type of regime (Eriksen L, et al, 2007). These patients were randomly assigned to one of two exercise programs carried out at home on a bicycle. The training was done at 60% of maximal oxygen uptake, this was termed as moderate to high-intensity. One group did three 10-minute sessions per day while the other group did one 30-minute session per day. The program lasted for 5 weeks.

The cardiorespiratory fitness increased similarly in both groups, but there were additional benefits documented for the 10-minute 3 times daily group.

On an oral 3 hour glucose tolerance test fasting glucose, 120 minutes glucose and blood glucose concentration areas under the curve at 120 minutes and 180 minutes decreased in the 10-minute 3 times daily exercise group, but not in the 30-minute daily group.

For people who have blood sugar issues being insulin resistant or having type 2 diabetes, exercising in short intervals three times during the day definitely is the preference.

People who don’t have any blood sugar problems will not lose any benefits exercising in intervals during the day since the cardiorespiratory fitness increased similarly in both groups.

Reference:

Eriksen L, et al. Comparison of the effect of multiple short-duration with sing long-duration exercise sessions on glucose homeostasis in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetologia. 2007 Nov;50(11):2245-53.

Low glycemic index foods reduce the risk for chronic disease.

The glycemic index is a way to rate how high a certain food will raise the blood sugar when compared to glucose or white bread. The higher the glycemic index of a food the higher it will raise the blood sugar.

Glycemic load is another way to rate food using both the glycemic index and the amount of carbohydrates in a serving.

There has been controversy for awhile over the effects of dietary glycemic index and glycemic load on the risk of chronic diseases and the important of eating low glycemic index, low glycemic load foods.

Researchers at the University of Sydney looked at studies with 4 to 20 years of follow up investigating if the glycemic index, load had any impact on chronic disease (Barclay AW, et al, 2008). They found a positive association between glycemic index and glycemic load for type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, gall bladder disease, breast cancer and also all disease combined.

The conclusion was that their findings support the hypothesis that higher blood sugar levels after eating is a universal mechanism for disease progression.

An example of a very low glycemic index meal would be a salad with beans which also is high in micro nutrients. This type of meal will stabilize your blood sugar and give you prolonged energy.

Reference:

Barclay AW, et al. Glycemic index, glycemic load, and chronic disease risk—a meta-analysis of observational studies. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Mar;87(3):627-37.

Feeling hungry? Just exercise.

Recent published research shows interesting connection between exercise and appetite (Broom DR, et al, 2008).

Two types of exercise regimes were evaluated for their effect on hunger and levels of the gut hormones acylated ghrelin and peptide YY. 90 minutes of weight training using free weights were compared with a 60 minute run as an aerobic exercise. A comparison was also made with the participants resting.

Changes in acylated ghrelin indicating suppressed hunger was seen with both the resistance training and the aerobic training while the peptide YY was only elevated after the aerobic training also indicating reduced hunger. The feeling of hunger was rated with both types of exercise and with rest.

This was only a small study, but interesting. The participants reported decreased hunger with both resistance training and aerobic exercise. If you are looking for appetite suppression, you may be better off with aerobic type exercise, but weight training should also help you feel less hungry.

Wishing you the best for the holidays. Now you know what to do to combat the urge to eat too much.

References:

Broom DR, et al. The influence of resistance and aerobic exercise on hunger, circulating levels of acylated ghrelin and peptide YY in healthy males. Am J Regul Physiol Integr Comp Physiol. 2008 Nov 5.

News headlines, vitamin C, E don’t protect against cancer

It has just been in the news that vitamin C and E did not protect against cancer, referring to an article appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Gaziano JM, et al, 2008). The study included 14,691 participants including 1,307 men with a history of prior cancer when enrolled. 400 IU of vitamin E every other day and 500 mg of vitamin C daily was used. Researchers are quoted in the news saying that “large-scale, randomized trials” must still be conducted on the use of vitamin supplements and cancer, which is fine.

What is bad is that some of these news reports make it sound like nutritional supplements in general does not provide any benefits whatsoever.

Does this mean that nutritional supplements don’t provide any health benefits? To draw a conclusion like that would be to make a huge error since numerous studies have documented a variety of benefits from supplements.

There are many ways to design a research study. In general the more participants involved in a study the more reliable the study would be if the researchers have paid attention to important details. This does not mean that studies not having huge amount of participants would be invalid. If they are conducted properly they can give very valuable information. Most publish studies does not include 15,000 participants or more.

To call for more studies is good, but would you stop watching for cars before you cross a street just because you want more studies to prove that it would prevent injuries? I don’t think so because you believe there is enough existing evidence present even if there have been no large-scale studies conducted on the topic.

However, if you look at this a certain way there are a lot of reasons why it is pointless to watch for cars before you cross the street. There are of course times when there would be no cars coming, and even if one was coming the driver may be able to see you in time to stop, even if you did get hit, maybe you would not get hurt.

Still with all these maybe’s most sensible people would think it would be really irresponsible not to watch for cars when crossing a street.

Maybe we should ask these reporters to participate in a study on this topic. I suggest they should volunteer to be in the group that did not watch for cars when crossing.

Reference:

Gaziano JM, et al. Vitamins E and C in the prevention of Prostate and Total Cancer in Men: The Physicians’ Health Study II Randomized Controlled Trial. JAMA. 2008 Dec 9.

Fruit juice increases risk of diabetes

There are two types of diabetes, type I and type II. Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease where not enough insulin is produced. While type I diabetes can occur in adult life it is much more common to be born with this condition. Since the pancreas of people with type I diabetes is not able to produce adequate insulin it has to be supplied as a medication.

Type II diabetes is also called adult onset diabetes because it usually occurs later in life, it often does not require the supply of insulin. People with this condition are still able to produce insulin even if they may not be producing as much as they used to. The problem with type II diabetes is what is called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance means that the receptors on the cells get less responsive (less sensitive) to the insulin. The insulin is for that reason not able to transfer the blood glucose (sugar) into the cells as effectively as it used to. Genetic factors can make somebody more susceptible to this problem, but high glycemic index foods and too little physical activity are major contributors to insulin resistance. High glycemic index foods are foods that are absorbed quickly and elevates the blood glucose high.

An interesting study involving 71, 346 female nurses aged 38-63 years of age was recently published. The researchers investigated the association between fruit, vegetable and fruit juice intake and the development of type 2 diabetes (Bazzano LA, et al, 2008).

Both increased fruit and vegetable consumption was documented to be associated with a lower risk for diabetes while the consumption of fruit juice was associated with an increased risk for diabetes.

This may not be that strange since fruit juice is quite sweet. It takes a lot of fruit to make a glass of juice, you would usually not be able to eat that much fruit at one time.

Reference:

Bazzano LA, et al. Intake of fruit, vegetables, and fruit juices and risk of diabetes in women. Diabetes Care. 2008 Jul;31(7):1311-7.

Strokes linked to increased nonfasting triglycerides

Nonfasting triglycerides mean the fat that is transported by your blood throughout the day.

It has been common practice for many years to test the fasting level of triglycerides together with cholesterol. It is less common however to test the triglyceride levels during the day when we have been eating because the triglycerides in the blood will be affected by what we eat. For that reason it would be difficult to compare one test to another unless we ate exactly the same food and had the blood drawn at the same time of the day. That of course is not practical so it is done by fasting. That does not mean that the triglycerides we transport in the blood during the day after we eat is not important. A recently published study showed us how important it is. This study involved 13,956 individuals and investigated the risk of ischemic stroke and the connection to nonfasting triglyceride levels (Freiberg JJ, et al, 2008).

The interesting results showed that as the nonfasting triglycerides went up, so did the risk for stroke.

Why would triglyceride levels be high during the day? Fat and sugar might be the culprit. Both insulin resistance and fatty foods can raise blood triglycerides. If you were to measure the triglyceride levels after eating french fries and a sweet milk shake you would be surprised how high it would be.

What can you do to decrease the blood triglyceride levels during the day? Cut down on high glycemic index foods, sweets and bad fats like saturated and trans fats, and don’t forget to exercise.

References:

Freiberg JJ, et al. Nonfasting triglycerides and risk of ischemic stroke in the general population. JAMA. 2008 Nov 12;300(18):2142-52.

It is not only how much you weigh, but where you carry your weight that is important.

The latest research on the association of body fat and the risk of death was just published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a very prestigious publication (Pischon T, et al, 2008). Most of the studies in the past have relied on the body mass index (BMI) and only few have examined if it is important where the fat is distributed.

This study however, which was really large, it included 359,387 participants from nine countries in Europe, looked at both BMI, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio as it relates to the risk of death. The follow-up was 9.7 years.

The lowest risks of death were observed at a BMI of 25.3 for men and 24.3 for women. The researchers also found that waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio were strongly associated with the risk of death, the bigger waist circumference and the bigger waist-to-hip ratio, the higher was the risk of death.

The investigations concluded that both general adiposity and abdominal adiposity are associated with the risk of death.

References:

Pischon T, et al. General and abdominal adiposity and risk of death in Europe. N Engl J Med. 2008 Nov 13;359(20):2105-20.

Sleep, an easy way to improve your health

Getting enough sleep on a regular basis seems to be one of many steps you can take to help stay healthy.

In a recent study the researchers checked the blood of the participants for an important inflammatory factor called NF-kappaB which has shown to be linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer (Irwin M, et al, 2008).

After a night of normal sleep the measurements of NF-kappaB in the participants was compared to samples taken after a night where they had stayed up very late.

After the late night the inflammatory factor in the women, but not in men, had increased significantly. A night of normal sleep restored the levels to normal again.

Most of us realize that too little sleep on a regular basis is not healthy, but that it is as harmful as this research documented is probably surprising.

References:

Irwin MR, et al. Sleep loss activates cellular inflammatory signaling. Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Sep 15;64(6):538-40.

The food that will keep you lean and reduce cardiovascular risk

It does not matter how much you eat of it, you will not gain weight from it. The more you eat of it, the more your cardiovascular disease risk will go down.

What kind of super food could that be? You might have guessed it, it is vegetables.

We all have heard that vegetables are good for us. This is exactly what a large recent study involving 13,355 men and 15,724 women living in Japan documented (Nakamura K, et al, 2008). It showed that the highest quartile of vegetables intake for women was associated with a 38% reduced risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease compared with the lowest quartile intake.

Eat at least one salad a day and of course you could even have two. When you eat something hot include some steamed or stir-fried vegetables.

If you add beans or lentils to a salad it will be a really low glycemic index meal that will give you prolonged energy.

References:

Nakamura K, et al. Fruit and vegetable intake and mortality from cardiovascular disease are inversely associated in Japanese women but not in men. J Nutr. 2008 Jun;138(6):1129-34.

Vigorous physical activity linked to breast cancer prevention

We all know that physical activity provides numerous health benefits. A recent study which included 32,269 women examined the relationship between both vigorous and non-vigorous physical activity and its effects on postmenopausal breast cancer risk (Leitzmann MF, et al, 2008).

It was interesting that it was only vigorous activity in lean women that was found to be associated with reduced risk for postmenopausal breast cancer. The same relationship was not found for women with a body mass index of greater than or equal to 25.

Vigorous activity can be a variety of things. Some of the things that researchers mentioned were running, biking uphill and competitive tennis, but there are of course other things you can do as well. You want to keep in mind when you exercise to do it hard enough so that you get your heart rate elevated and you start to breathe heavier.

If you exercise harder, you also need to spend less time exercising to get in shape. That is why top athletes usually incorporate interval training in their routine which means short bursts of high intensity exercise alternating with low intensity or rest.

References:

Leitzmann MF, et al. Prospective study of physical activity and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. 2008 Oct 31;10(5):R92.

Low HDL cholesterol associated with poor memory

HDL cholesterol is the good cholesterol which protects against harmful buildup in the arteries. It is considered good to have high HDL since it can provide some protection against cardiovascular disease.

It is interesting that low levels of HDL have now been found to also be associated with poor memory (Sigh-Manoux A, et al, 2008.) The study referred to here included 3673 male and female participants with an average age between 55-61 years. When the memory was evaluated, it was documented that a decrease in HDL over the five year follow up period was associated with a decline in memory.

This is another good reason for keeping your HDL level high. You can increase your HDL cholesterol by incorporating low glycemic index meals, avoiding trans fat and including omega 3, fat like fish oil in your diet, and also by exercising regularly.

Singh-Manoux A, et al. Low HDL cholesterol is a risk factor for deficit and decline in memory in midlife: the Whitehall II study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2008 Aug;28(8):1556-62. Epub 2008 Jun 30.

Optimal vitamin D level may help you lose more body fat

Vitamin D has been found to be important for numerous reasons. In a recent study it was also documented that women who had a higher blood level of 25 hydroxyvitamin D lost more body fat when compared with women with a lower 25 hydroxyvitamin D level (Ortega RM, et al, 2008). 25 hydroxyvitamin D is the preferred test for vitamin D status.

The study included overweight/obese women between the age of 20-35 years of age. The women were put on slightly caloric restricted diets which led to a reduction in body weight and body mass index in both the women with lower and higher vitamin D levels. What made this study interesting was that women with hydroxyvitamin D levels of 50 nmol/L or more lost more body fat than the women who had hydroxyvitamin D levels of less than 50 nmol/L.

We get vitamin D from sunshine, but because of less exposure and protection from sunscreens, most people need to supplement with vitamin D to reach optimal levels. Vitamin D3 is the recommended form to take.

References:

Ortega RM, et al, 2008. Preliminary data about the influence of vitamin D status on the loss of body fat in young overweight/obese women following two types of hypocaloric diet. Br J Nutr. 2008 Aug; 100(2):269-72

Eating irregularly is a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance.

The metabolic syndrome is a condition consisting of multiple symptoms including elevated blood glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, LDL (the bad cholesterol) and decreased HDL (the good cholesterol). A part of the metabolic syndrome is insulin resistance which occurs when the insulin is not able to transfer the bloodsugar into the cells as efficiently as it used to. This will first result in elevated insulin levels as the pancreas compensates trying to transfer the glucose into the cells so it can be used for energy. Later the blood glucose may also increase as the pancreas is not able to compensate and the insulin resistance get worse. Symptoms are usually weight gain especially around the waist, less energy and increased low grade inflammation.

Risk factors associated both insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome are not enough physical activity, stress and high glycemic index foods. Skipping meals can also be added to the list of risk factors, this was documented in a Swedish study recently (Sierra-Johnson J, et al, 2008). This makes sense since going a long time without eating results in glucose production in the liver to avoid low blood sugar. With time, the liver may produce more glucose than needed which will result in increased blood sugar.

Triggering this response is the hormone glucagone which stimulates the body to break down its own protein. The protein (amino acids) are then converted to glucose in the liver. This is a quicker way to produce energy than using fat which the body also will do.

The results is usually weight gain especially around the waist, the break down of muscle tissue because that is a big source of protein, and lack of energy.

The best way to ensure that you have high energy and stay lean is to eat high nutrient, low glycemic index foods regularly and not skip meals. Many smaller meals are better than 1 or 2 big meals. Exercise should of course also be a part of your routine.

References:

Sierra-Johnson J, et al, 2008. Eating meals irregularly: a novel environmental risk factor for the metabolic syndrome. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008 Jun;16(6): 1302-7.

Losing fat may slow your thyroid.

It has been a belief for a long time that starving yourself would slow down the thyroid and not be productive in the long run if you want to lose weight, especially if you want to lose fat.

This was now confirmed in a recent study where the participants were randomly assigned to either a caloric restriction group, an exercise induced weight loss group, or a placebo group for 12 months (Weiss EP, et al, 2008).

The fat mass decreased significantly in both the caloric restricted group and the exercise group, but not in the placebo group. There were not a significant difference in fat loss between the caloric restriction group and the exercise group. What was interesting however was that the plasma concentration of the thyroid hormone T3 decreased in the caloric restricted group, but not in the exercise group even if both of the groups lost about the same amount of fat.

The lesson is that if you want to lose weight and stay healthy, exercise should be a part of the program in addition to a healthy diet.

References:

Weiss EP, et al. Caloric restriction but not exercise-induced reductions in fat mass decrease plasma triodothyronine concentrations: a randomized controlled trial. Rejuvenation Res. 2008 Jun;11(3):605-9.

Common drug linked to increased risk of asthma and eczema in children.

If you have children the results of a new study just published should be of interest to you.

This was a large study that included 205,487 children aged 6-7 years old from 73 centers in 31 countries (Beasley R, et al, 2008). The researchers investigated the association between the use of paracetamol which is acetaminophen and asthma. Acetaminophen is sold under the brand name Tylenol which you probably are more familiar with.

The result showed that the use of paracetamol in the first year of life and in children aged 6-7 years was associated with the risk of severe asthma symptoms and also with an increased risk of symptoms of rhinoconjunctivitis (inflammation of the eyes) and eczema.

You may want to think twice before you give your child a medication to reduce fever and pain. In most cases it would probably not be necessary and the child could be better off without it.

References:

Beasley R, et al. Association between paracetamol use in infancy and childhood, and risk of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, and eczema in children aged 6-7 years: analysis from Phase Three of the ISAAC programme. Lancet. 2008 Sep 20;372(9643):1039-48.

Do you like hot beverages?

If you do, try green tea!
It is probably the healthiest hot beverage you can drink.

Green tea and especially a constituent of green tea, called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has shown to inhibit cancer growth (Zhang XD, et al. 2008, Ahn WS. et al. 2003). You may have heard that the human papilloma virus has been associated with cervical cancer. Data suggests a possible gene regulatory role of EGCG and the research supports the inhibitory effect of EGCG on cervical cancer cell growth. It has also shown an anti-tumor effect(which slows the growth of tumors).

Not only cervical cancer inhibition has been documented, but a higher consumption of green tea has been associated with a reduced risk of adult leukemia.

So if you enjoy hot beverages, green tea is a great choice. Not only is green tea good hot, but if preferred, it can also be served cold.

Reference:

Zhang XD, et al. A case-control study on green tea consumption and the risk of adult leukemia. Zhonhua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi. 2008 Mar;29(3):290-3.

Ahn WS, et al. A major constituent of green tea, EGCG, inhibits the growth of a human cervical cancer cell line, CaSki cells, through apoptosis, G(1) arrest, and regulation of gene expression. DNA Cell Biol. 2003 Mar;22(3):217-24.

Is your brain getting smaller?

Your brain may be getting smaller according to a recent study published in the journal, "Neurology" (Vogiatzoglu A, et al, 2008). The good news is that you can prevent it by taking Vitamin B 12.

The study cited here involved volunteers between the ages of 61 and 87 years who were free of cognitive impairments when the study began. It was found that greater brain volume loss was associated with lower levels of vitamin B12. These individuals were not even vitamin B12 deficient according to the blood tests, but they had a lower level of vitamin B12 than the subjects with less brain volume loss.

If you want to prevent brain atrophy and likely cognitive impairment (memory loss) be sure to take not only vitamin B, but a high quality b-complex since all the b-vitamins are important for a variety of reasons.



References:

1. Vogiatzoglou A., et al. Vitamin B12 status and rate of birth volume loss in community-dwelling elderly. Neurology.2008 Sep 9;71(11):826-32
   

Be aware of what you drink

What you drink can affect you in many ways.

High fructose corn syrup, which commonly is added to both food and beverages, favors fat metabolism even more that regular glucose.

When we ingest fructose we get less feedback on when we are full, because fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion or affect leptin production, both of which are key factors in the regulation of food intake. Fructose may for that reason result in over consumption of calories and lead to weight gain (Bray GA, et al. 2004). By drinking sweet beverages, it is extremely easy to consume more calories than we need. A large container of a sweet beverage may even amount to as many calories as in a whole meal.

Sugar sweetened beverages are also a risk factor for type 2 diabetes (Palmer JR, et al, 2008). This was documented in a study including 43,960 women. These types of beverages are often marketed as healthy juices and natural fruit drinks, with the intention of making the product sound healthy to the consumer.

A recent study showed that when fructose was consumed, the lipogenisis which is the conversion of sugar to fat was twice as great as when it was absent, leading to increased triglyceride levels (Parks E.J. et al, 2008)

I have for a long time observed that when patients change their eating habits from eating high glycemic index meals (which means foods that elevate the blood sugar high), to low glycemic index meals (which are foods which rather stabilize the blood sugar at a good level instead of elevating it really high), both triglycerides total cholesterol, and LDL, the bad cholesterol all go down substantially. The good cholesterol HDL, however, usually goes up.

According to the research referenced here, you need to pay close attention to what you drink because beverages can be a big source of sugar elevating your blood sugar and lead to all the negative effects from that. Not only can it make you gain weight, but it is also a risk factor for diabetes, because it can contribute to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance which is caused by high glycemic index food and drinks (sweets), weight gain, and lack of exercise can lead to diabetes and can put you at risk for many chronic diseases. It affects your eyes, heart, and brain, as well as other tissue, because it affects the production of inflammatory chemicals in the body which again is a risk factor for these types of conditions.

References:

1. Bray GA, Nielsen SJ, et al. Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Apr;79(4):537-43.
2. Palmer JR, Boggs DA, et al. Sugar-sweetened beverages and incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in African American women. Arch Intern Med. 2008 Jul 28; 168(14): 1487-92.
3. Parks EJ, Skokan LE, et al. Dietary sugars stimulate fatty acid synthesis in adults. J Nutr. 2008 Jun; 138 (6):1039-46