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.

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