Low-Carb Diet Effective in Lowering Blood Pressure

A new study initiated by researchers at Veterans Affairs Medical Centre and Duke University Medical Centre, reveals that a low-carbohydrate diet is equally effective for weight loss as the weight loss drug orlistat, but in a surprising twist, a low-carbohydrate diet proved more advantageous in lowering blood pressure, as well than the weight-loss medicine.

Researcher William S. Yancy, Jr., MD, an associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Centre, says, “If people have high blood pressure and a weight problem, a low-carbohydrate diet might be a better option than a weight loss medication”.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, involved 146 obese or overweight adults who were randomly segregated into two groups. Among them many were suffering from high blood pressure or diabetes.

A low-carbohydrate was imposed on the first group while the second group received the weight loss drug orlistat thrice a day.

The results revealed weight loss was similar in the two groups. The low-carb diet group lost an average of 9.5% of their body weight and the orlistat group lost an average of 8.5%. However, those in low-carbohydrate group witnessed a fall in their blood pressure, compared to only 21% of those in the orlistat group.

Researchers say weight loss itself typically produces a healthy reduction in blood pressure, but it appears that a low-carbohydrate diet has an additional blood pressure-lowering effect that merits further study.

Source: topnews.us

Hour's exercise 'to lose weight'

Women who want to lose weight - and keep it off - need to be exercising for almost an hour, five days a week, according to US experts.

The University of Pittsburgh study found the 55-minute regime was the minimum needed to maintain a 10% drop in weight.

Only a quarter of the 200 women in the study managed to lose this amount.

A UK expert said it was clear that regular moderate exercise was the way to lose weight, and keep it off.

Approximately two-thirds of adults in the UK are overweight or obese, with some estimates suggesting this could rise to nine in ten by 2050.

Research points to a combination of exercise and calorie control as having the best chance of success in weight loss - although the majority of people who attempt these diets fail to keep the weight off.

The latest research, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine journal, confirms that plenty of exercise is a key ingredient of success.

The Pittsburgh researchers looked at a group of overweight and obese women over a four year period.

They were all told to eat between 1,200 and 1,500 calories a day, and split into four different exercise programmes, varying the intensity and amount of exercise carried out.

After six months, women in all four groups had lost up to 10% of their body weight - but most could not keep this going.

The women who did maintain the 10% loss were those who reported doing more exercise, on average 275 minutes per week.

Hour target

In the UK, everyone is encouraged to manage at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week, but scientists say that people wanting to maintain weight loss need much more.

Professor Paul Gately, a specialist in exercise and obesity, from Leeds Metropolitan University, said: "This study is excellent - it's the best evidence that this higher level of exercise is needed.

"Thirty minutes a day is good for general health, but if you want to lose weight, you need to be doing more, and if you want to sustain weight loss, you need to be doing even more than that.

"In this country, between an hour and 90 minutes of exercise a day is the recommended level for maintaining weight loss."

He said that "moderate" exercise covered anything that made you slightly breathless, from brisk walking to gardening.

Some US researchers have been looking at novel ways to increase the level of activity among those with "couch potato" lifestyles.

Dr James Levine is helping develop the "Walkstation", a computer terminal with a treadmill instead of a chair.

Writing in the same journal, he said: "Sitting at one's desk uses barely any more calories than staying in bed, but walking at 1mph while working increases caloric expenditure by approximately 125 calories an hour."

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The Reason Fat People Find It Hard to Lose Weight Is Found

The reason fat people find it hard to lose weight is found.

The difference in the number of fat cells between lean and obese people is established in childhood and, although fat people replenish fat cells at the same rate as thin ones, they have around twice as many.

This remarkable glimpse of what gives us beer guts, love handle and muffin tops could also lead to new approaches to fight the flab, by cutting the overall number of fat cells in the body, as well as providing an insight into why fat people find it so hard to lose weight, because the number of fat cells in a person remains the same, even after a successful diet.

The details of how humans regulate their fat mass is reported today in the journal Nature by a team led by scientists at the Karlolinksa Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, as a second team, led by Imperial College London, reports in the journal Nature Genetics the discovery of a gene sequence present in half the population linked to three quarters of an inch bigger waistline, four lb gain in weight, and a tendency to become resistant to insulin, which can lead to type 2 diabetes.

The fundamental new insight into the cause of obesity comes from an international team lead by Dr Kirsty Spalding, Prof Jonas Frise'n and Prof Peter Arner who found the body constantly produces new fat cells to replace equally rapid break down of the already existing fat cells due to cell death.

They also show, that overweight people generate and replace more fat cells than do lean - and that the total number of fat cells stays equal after a diet program.

Until now, it was not clear that adults could make new fat cells. Some had assumed that they increase their fat mass by incorporating more fats into already existing fat cells in order to maintain their body weight (lean, overweight, obese). However now it seems we constantly produce new fat cells irrespective of our body weight status, sex or age.

"The total number of fat cells in the body is stable over time, because the making of new fat cells is counterbalanced by an equally rapid break down of the already existing fat cells due to cell death", says Prof Arner.

The study was made possible by a method to use radioactive isotopes in fat cells from people who had lived through the brief period of Cold War nuclear bomb testing from 1955 to 1963 to determine the age of the fat cells in the body.

This was combined with methods to carefully measure the size of the fat cells in relation to the total amount of adipose tissue in 687 people with a large individual variation in body weight who had undergone liposuction and abdominal reconstruction surgery.

Fat cells are replaced at the same rate that they die - roughly 10 per cent every year. The level of obesity is determined by a combination of the number and size of fat cells, which can grow or shrink as fat from food is deposited in them.

Even if obese subjects go on a diet they keep the total number of fat cells in the body constant, but the size of individual fat cells is decreased markedly.

The findings therefore provide a new target for treatment of obesity, namely by attacking the signals and genes in fat cells that control the formation of new such cells.

"The results may, at least in part, explain why it is so difficult to maintain the weight after slimming", adds Prof Arner.

"Until now it was not clear whether there was fat cell turnover in adults," adds Dr Spalding. "Now we have established this does occur, we can target the process.

"Various groups are looking at compounds that might regulate the formation of fat cells but this work is at too early a stage to say when anti obesitiy drugs based on this understanding will be tested on patients, if at all."

Other new insights into how to treat obesity could come from the gene sequence linked to an expanding waist line, weight gain and a tendency to develop type 2 diabetes in the Imperial led study.

Professor Jaspal Kooner, the paper's senior author from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, says: "Finding such a close association between a genetic sequence and significant physical effects is very important, especially when the sequence is found in half the population."

The study shows that the sequence is a third more common in those with Indian Asian than in those with European ancestry. This could provide a possible genetic explanation for the particularly high levels of obesity and insulin resistance in Indian Asians, who make up 25 per cent of the world's population, but who are expected to account for 40 per cent of global heart disease by 2020.

The new gene sequence sits close to a gene called MC4R, which regulates energy levels in the body by influencing how much we eat and how much energy we expend or conserve. The researchers believe the sequence is involved in controlling the MC4R gene, which has also been implicated in rare forms of extreme childhood obesity.

Previous research on finding the genetic causes of obesity has identified other energy-conserving genes. Combining knowledge about the effects of all these genes could pave the way for transforming how obesity is managed.

This research, backed by the British Heart Foundation, was carried out with scientists from the University of Michigan and the Pasteur Institute, France.

Last year a British led team found that if people carry one copy of a variant in a gene called FTO, as does half of the general population, it will lead to a gain in weight of 2.6lb or put just over half an inch on their waists and raise their risk of being obese by one third.

If people have two copies of this variant in the FTO gene, which is the case in one in six of the population, then they will gain almost 7lb more than those who lack the variation and are at a 70 per cent higher risk of obesity.

According to the 2001 Health Survey for England, more than a fifth of males and a similar proportion of females aged 16 and over were classified as obese.

Half of men and a third of women were classified as overweight.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Calorie Count to Appear Soon on New York Menus

Did you hear that beginning March 31, all chain restaurants in New York City will have to prominently post calorie data on their menus?

Indeed, as noted here previously, the city's Board of Health voted unamimously last month to require this information in the hopes that it will help combat obesity, as CNN and CSPI pointed out.

About 54 percent of adults in New York City are overweight or obese.

The new regulation applies to restaurants with 15 or more outlets nationwide – or about 10% of all New York City restaurants.

This move has the backing of a number of health groups. In fact, the The Obesity Society just came on board to show support.

Not surprisingly, New York's restaurant lobby is against this requirement, and the group even filed a lawsuit suit last summer to stop it. (One of their arguments was that listing calories would make menus look too cluttered. Forgive me for smiling, but that strikes me as a somewhat ludicrous excuse.)

While it may be useful for New Yorkers - and people in other cities - to learn how many calories are in foods they're thinking of ordering, I think it would be useful to know sugar content, too.

As I've said previously, calories just don't tell the full picture.

But the big questions are these:

• Will this calorie information spur overweight or obese people to select options that are lower in calories?
• And if they're eating at a fast-food restaurant in the first place, do you really think weight loss is a big consideration for them?

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. But don't look for me at fast-food restaurants to gauge the effectiveness of this new regulation. (I just don't hang out at those places.)

Source: www.commonvoice.com

Obesity Increases Cancer Risk, Analysis Of Hundreds Of Studies Shows

Researchers from the University of Manchester, Christie Hospital and University of Bern in Switzerland have today published findings in the Lancet medical journal which further support the link between obesity and risk of developing cancer.

Following on from findings reported by the World Cancer Research fund last year, the study reveals that risk is increased not only in common cancers such as breast, bowel and kidney, but also in less common cancers such as blood cancers (myeloma and leukaemia) and melanoma (a form of skin cancer).

Dr Andrew Renehan and colleagues from the University of Manchester and Christie Hospital, did a meta-analysis (a combined analysis of 221 previous studies), looking at over 250,000 cases of cancer, to determine the risk of cancer associated with a 5kg/m2 increase in body mass index (BMI).

The researchers found in men, a 5kg/m2 increase in BMI raised the risk of oesophageal adenocarcinoma by 52%, thyroid cancer by 33%, and colon and kidney cancers each by 24%.

In women, a BMI increase of 5kg/m2 increased the risk of endometrial (59%), gallbladder (59%), oesophageal adenocarcinoma (51%) and kidney (34%) cancers.

They also noted weaker, but significant, positive associations between increased BMI and rectal cancer and malignant melanoma in men; postmenopausal breast, pancreatic, thyroid, and colon cancers in women; and leukaemia, multiple myeloma, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in both sexes. They found associations were stronger in men than in women for colon cancer - 24% in men compared with 9% in women.

The study looked at cancer data from all over the world, and while the results for North America, Europe, Australia and the Asia-Pacific region were broadly similar, there was a stronger link between increased BMI and both premenopausal and post menopausal breast cancers in Asia-Pacific populations.

The senior author on the study, Dr Andrew Renehan, said: "This was a hugely comprehensive piece of research looking at 221 different studies in 20 types of cancer. For some cancer types, associations differ between sexes and populations of different ethnic origins and this should inform the exploration of biological mechanisms that link obesity with cancer."

He added: "Over the past five years, there was been increasing proof that obesity is linked with cancer risk, but despite this, we do not know whether weight reduction in people protects them against cancer. The findings of this study are important to address these issues and explore ways to prevent cancers in the future."

In an accompanying comment, Dr Susanna Larsson and Dr Alicja Wolk, Division of Nutritional Epidemiology, National Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, say: "The number of deaths per year attributable to obesity is about 30000 in the UK and ten times that in the USA, where obesity has been estimated to have overtaken smoking in 2005 as the main preventable cause of illness and premature death."

They conclude: "Efforts will be needed to increase education on diet and physical activity, train health professionals, restrict advertisements of high-calorie and low-nutrient foods, limit access to unhealthy foods in schools and workplaces, levy taxes on sugary drinks and other foods high in calories, fat, or sugar, lower the prices of health foods, and promote physical activity in schools and workplaces. National cancer plans should include all these factors to reduce obesity, and thus decrease cancer incidence and increase survival."

Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Sugar Substitutes May Contribute to Weight Gain

Surprising research suggests a popular artificial sweetener has the unexpected and unwelcome effect of packing on the pounds.

Purdue researchers report that saccharin altered the ability of rats to control their appetites. However, the head of an artificial sweetener trade group scoffed at the findings, saying they don't necessarily translate to humans.

"We found that the rats that were getting artificially sweetened yogurt gained more weight and ate more food," said study author Susan Swithers, an associate professor of psychological sciences at the Ingestive Behavior Research Institute at Purdue University. "The take-home message is that consumption of artificially sweetened products may interfere with an automatic process."

That process, she said, involves the body's ability to detect that it will soon be full. "We often will stop eating before we've been able to absorb all of the calories that come from a meal. One of the reasons we might stop eating is that our experience has taught in the past that, 'After I eat this food, I'll feel this full for this long,' " she explained.

It seems to be a subconscious process based on automatic estimations of how much energy certain foods will provide, she said. For example, a sweet taste might be a sign that "calories are coming, and I should prepare my body for the arrival of those calories." However, when the sweetness is not followed by a lot of calories, the body's digestive system gets confused, and the metabolism rate does not gear up as much the next time sweetness is tasted.

To test this theory, the researchers fed two different types of plain Dannon yogurt to male rats. Some received yogurt sweetened with glucose, a form of sugar, while others ate saccharin-sweetened yogurt. All also ate unsweetened yogurt.

The rats who ate artificially sweetened yogurt consumed more food overall and gained more weight. The body temperatures of those rats also didn't rise as high as the others. "That might be a kind of measure of energy expenditure, suggesting not only are the animals eating more calories, they may be expending or burning up fewer calories," Swithers said.

The findings were published in the February issue ofBehavioral Neuroscience.

Essentially, she said, it appears that the bodies of the rats are learning to not expect much in the way of calories from sweet foods. "The artificial sweetener provides the signal that not as many calories are going to come, and the animal responds by consuming more calories."

As for humans, she said, previous research has provided conflicting indications about whether obesity is a bigger problem among people who use artificial sweeteners.

According to her, launching a similar study among people would be difficult, because few have never encountered artificial sweeteners before. The next step, she said, is to do more research in rats.

Lyn Nabors, president of the Calorie Control Council trade group, lambasted the study, saying it has "no basis in science" and "no relation to the human experience whatsoever."

Artificial sweeteners can help people lose weight, she said. "The scientific community firmly believes that calories in, calories out is what makes a difference. The recommendation is that you reduce calories and exercise if you want to lose weight."

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

10 'Healthy' Foods That Aren't So Healthy

Ever wonder why you can’t lose weight even though you’re eating “healthy?”

More than likely it’s because you’re misinformed as to what really constitutes healthy food, nutritionist and dietician Tanya Zuckerbrot told Foxnews.com.

“When I see some of the food choices people make I wonder if it’s just that people don’t care,” said Zuckerbrot, author of the F-Factor Diet. “But I really think it’s just that people don’t know what’s good for them and what’s not.”

Here are 10 healthy foods that aren’t:

Olive oil: Sure it’s a heart-healthy monounsaturated oil, but it’s also rich in calories and fat. “Oil is oil,” Zuckerbrot said.

“Whether it’s olive oil or some other kind of oil, it still has 120 calories and 14 grams of fat per tablespoon. You’re better off using a pat of butter (for bread) than dipping it in olive oil because the bread sops up the oil like a sponge. So a little bit of butter is better than a lot of olive oil.”

Tuna fish: Think that tuna sandwich is a light lunch? Think again. The average overstuffed tuna sandwich served in a restaurant contains 700 calories and 43 grams of fat.

The reason? The mayo. “Tuna fish has just 35 calories per ounce and it’s full of omega-3s, but mayonnaise has 100 calories per tablespoon,” Zuckerbrot said. “You’re better off having a turkey or even a roast beef sandwich. Even chicken salad is better than tuna salad, because tuna is so fine there’s a lot more surface area for the mayonnaise to fill.”

Granola: The term granola may be used to describe health-conscious people, but the cereal itself is actually quite fattening. That’s because granola cereals often contain oils, including high in saturated fat coconut oil, sugar, nuts and other high calorie foods.

“Something like Fiber One has 60 calories per half cup and 14 grams of fiber versus a half cup of granola, which was 240 calories, 5 to 10 grams of fat and just 3 grams of fiber,” Zuckerbrot said, adding that fiber is the key to feeling full and satiated.

Organic food: Organic food may be preservative and pesticide free, but that doesn’t mean it’s also calorie-free, said Zuckerbrot. “I mean they make organic potato chips so what does that tell you,” she said.

Sushi: Tuna sashimi is very healthy. A California roll or tempura roll, not so much, said Zuckerbrot.

“Japanese food is inherently healthy, but when you Americanize it and start adding things like cream cheese and avocado, that’s when you run into problems,” she said.

Tuna sashimi, for example, has about 35 calories and 1 gram of fat per ounce. But a spicy tuna roll has 290 calories and 11 grams of fat, and a tempura roll has 320 calories and 17 grams of fat. “You’re better off going with tuna sashimi, miso soup (36 calories) and a salad (35 calories with a tablespoon of non-creamy ginger dressing).”

Pizza: “Yes the sauce is high in lycopene, but all the lycopene in the world is not going to convince me pizza is a heart-healthy food,” Zuckerbrot said. “And mozzarella cheese is a good source of calcium, but it’s also high in calories.”

An average slice of pizza sold in New York City has between 600 and 700 calories. A more traditional slice, about one-twelfth of a pie, has between 300 and 400 calories, said Zuckerbrot. “And most people eat at least two slices to feel satisfied,” she said. “Your best bet is to eat one slice and get a salad or a cup of minestrone soup on the side so that you feel satisfied and save on the calories.”

Frozen diet meals: Sure Lean Cuisine and Weight Watcher frozen entrees are fairly low in calories and convenient, but they’re also highly processed and high in sodium.

“I understand the convenience factor, but most of these meals have more than 600 milligrams of sodium and the portions are really small and they’re not really satisfying,” Zuckerbrot said. “So you eat one for dinner and then by 9:00 you’re hungry again. You’re better off eating a slice of whole wheat bread with some light sauce and light mozzarella or an egg white omelet with some vegetables.”

Protein bars: Another convenient food, but not very nutritious. Zuckerbrot describes protein bars as her least favorite food and said they are basically glorified candy bars. They’re also often high in calories, fat and do little to satisfy a person’s hunger.

A better choice, said Zuckerbrot, is hitting the salad bar and grabbing lots of lettuce, artichokes and broccoli, topped with plain balsamic vinegar. For 100 to 200 calories, you get a lot more for a lot less calories.

Pretzels: They’re low in fat and low on nutrition. “They’re basically empty calories,” Zuckerbrot said. “Inherently, pretzels themselves are not unhealthy, but they’re basically all sugar so they’ll make you hungrier and you’ll gain weight as a result of over-eating."

Fat-free, sugar-free muffins: Regardless of whether a muffin is fat free or sugar free, they still usually have around 600 calories, according to Zuckerbrot.

“It’s nothing but cake in disguise, especially these double chocolate chip-type muffins,” she said. “But even bran muffins, they’re very dense, very high in calories. The same thing goes for scones. People think that because they’re not sweet, they’re healthy. But scones are full of butter.”

Source: www.foxnews.com

High-Fat, High-Protein Atkins Diet Increase Risk Of Heart Disease

www.allheadlinenews.com

The high-fat, high-protein and low-carbohydrate Atkins diet of eggs, meat and cheese may put the followers at risk for heart disease in just one month, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Maryland say the popular diet raises your "bad" cholesterol and damages the blood vessels thus increasing the risk of heart disease.

Dr. Michael Miller, lead author of the study said, "I think the Atkins diet is potentially detrimental for cardiovascular health, if maintained for a long duration and without attempts to lose weight."

"A stabilizing Atkins diet is not the way to go," he added.

After putting 26 people on three diets, the high-fat Atkins and the low-fat South Beach and Ornish diets, researchers found that the Atkins Diet raised the study subjects' bad cholesterol by an average of 16 points.

It also brought on symptoms of hardening of the arteries, a precursor to strokes or heart attacks. However, the subjects had better lab tests on the other two diets.

The Ornish Diet lowered their bad cholesterol by 25 points, while the South Beach Diet lowered it by 10 points. The conditions of their arteries also improved on both diets.

Though the Atkins diet does help in losing weight but the experts say the consumption of saturated fats are not good for heart health. In addition, many people experience rebound weight gain which is not good. The results were presented at this week's annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Fla.

Sleepless nights linked to obesity in children

www.guardian.co.uk

By Alok Jha

Scientists have found that getting a good night's sleep reduces a child's chances of being obese.

Every additional hour of sleep a night a child gets at the age of eight or nine reduces the risk of obesity at the age of 11 or 12 by 40%.

Julie Lumeng of the University of Michigan, who led the research, said that getting more than nine hours 45 minutes of sleep lowered the chances of obesity in later life significantly.

"Many children aren't getting enough sleep, and that lack of sleep may not only be making them moody or preventing them from being alert and ready to learn at school, it may also be leading to a higher risk of being overweight," said Dr Lumeng. The study appears in this month's issue of the journal, Pediatrics.

Though scientists are not certain how sleep would directly affect a child's weight, Dr Lumeng said well-rested children may be more energetic and more likely to go out and play, rather than lying around watching TV. Tired children may seek out food when they become irritable or moody, she added.

According to Eve Van Cauter, an endocrinologist at the University of Chicago who was not involved in the new research, lack of sleep can disrupt the production of two hormones involved in regulating appetite.

Her own experiments show that sleep-deprived adults produced more ghrelin, a hormone that promotes hunger, and less leptin, a hormone that signals fullness.

Dr Lumeng's team analysed details of sleep, height and weight of 785 children when they were eight and again when they were 11. The children came from 10 US cities and were part of a larger federal study. On average, the eight-year-olds got about nine-and-a-half hours' sleep but some slept as little as seven hours and others as much as 12.

Of the children that slept 10-12 hours a night, 12% were obese by the time they were 11. Of those that slept less than nine hours at eight, 22% were obese a few years later. The research team controlled their experiment for other obesity risk factors, such as the children's body mass index when younger, but acknowledged that the parents' weight and behaviour - which may also have an influence on a child's weight - had not been taken into account.

Jodi Mindell ,of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's sleep centre , said there were many reasons for encouraging good sleep habits, such as success in school. "I don't want parents to think, 'If I get her to sleep, she's not going to be overweight'. I think this is a small piece in the picture."

Dr Lumeng's study concluded: "Our findings also provide additional support for policies that propose later school start-times. The very early school start-times for US adolescents have raised concerns in the paediatric community because of their apparent adverse impact on sleep duration and, consequently, children's general academic and behavioural functioning."

Keep slim or risk cancer

Report ties meat, body fat to cancer

www.guardian.co.uk

Even people of a healthy weight should slim if they want to reduce their risk of developing cancer, a landmark study advised today.

Everyone should aim to be as slim as possible without being underweight, said the World Cancer Research Fund.

Its analysis of 40 years of international research into the links between lifestyle and cancer also advised that people should not eat processed meat, such as ham and bacon, gain no weight after 21 years of age, and avoid drinking alcohol.

The researchers found "convincing" evidence that excess body fat can cause six different types of common cancers, including those of the breast, bowel and pancreas.

They said that to enjoy maximum protection against cancer everyone should be at the lower end of the healthy weight range.

Sir Michael Marmot, who chaired the expert panel, said: "We are recommending that people aim to be as lean as possible within the healthy range, and that they avoid weight gain throughout adulthood.

"This might sound difficult, but this is what the science is telling us more clearly than ever before. The fact is that putting on weight can increase your cancer risk, even if you are still within the healthy range.

"So the best advice for cancer prevention is to avoid weight gain, and if you are already overweight then you should aim to lose weight."

People with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 18.5 to 24.9 are considered to be within a healthy weight range. Those with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 are considered "overweight", while anyone with a 30+ rating is classified as clinically obese.

But the study said the risk of cancer rises as people get nearer to a BMI of 25 and everyone should try to be as close to the lower end of the weight range as possible.

The researchers said body fat was a key factor in the development of cancer, claiming that its links to cancer are much stronger than generally realised.

The report is based on an analysis of 7,000 cancer studies published since the 1960s, and includes recommendations from a panel of 21 world-renowned scientists.

The report concludes there is strong evidence that excess body fat is a trigger for cancers of the oesophagus, pancreas, bowel, kidney, the lining of the womb, and breast cancer in post-menopausal women.

The survey also links diet to the risk of developing certain cancers, particularly those of the bowel.

The researchers particularly warned against eating processed meat, including ham, bacon, pastrami, salami, and frankfurters.

The study also found a strong link between eating red meat and colorectal cancer and recommend that people consume no more than 500g of cooked red meat a week.

All alcoholic drinks should be avoided to protect against cancer, but the study acknowledged that modest consumption was said to have a protective benefit for heart disease. Alcohol was particularly linked to mouth, oesophagus and breast cancers.

Mothers are advised to breastfeed exclusively for six months and to continue with complementary breastfeeding after that to protect against breast cancer and "probably" protect their child against obesity later in life. The most recent data shows that in 2004 nearly a quarter of men and women in England were obese, as well as 10% of girls and 8% of boys aged under 20.

A government report published earlier this month warned that if trends continue some 60% of UK men, 50% of women and a quarter of all children could be clinically obese by 2050.

Funny Diet and Weight Loss Stories

The Global Problem of Obesity

www.webmd.com

More Than Half of Those in Worldwide Study Overweight or Obese

By Salynn Boyles

The obesity epidemic is actually a worldwide pandemic that has global implications for health and disease, new research shows.

In one of the largest studies ever to examine obesity rates across the globe, researchers found that more than 60% of men and 50% of women were either overweight or obese.

They concluded that obesity is a growing problem in all regions of the world, even among traditionally lean Asian populations.

"The study shows that excess body weight is pandemic, with one-half to two-thirds of the overall study population being overweight or obese," researcher Beverley Balkau, PhD, of the French health service INSERM, says in a news release.

Obesity Worldwide

The study involved 69,409 men and 98,750 women from 63 countries across five continents evaluated by their primary care doctors for body weight, height, cardiovascular disease (heart disease or stroke), diabetes, and waist circumference. The U.S. was not included in the study.

Waist circumference is now considered an important marker of obesity-related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. A waist circumference of more than 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women is considered a risk factor for these diseases.

The people in the study had visited their doctor on one of two specially designated days in which detailed information on weight, height, waist circumference, and disease history were collected for the trial, providing a snapshot of the prevalence of obesity worldwide.

Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from the weight and height measurements. BMI looks at a person's weight in relation to height and is used to determine obesity and overweight. Forty percent of men and 30% of women met the criteria for being overweight, meaning they had a BMI of 25 to 29.9.

Fully a quarter of men and women met the BMI definition of obese (BMI of 30 or greater), but obesity rates did differ by region, ranging from a low of 7% among men and women living in southern and eastern Asian countries to a high of 36% among men and women living in Canada.

Just under one in three men and almost half of the women had waist circumferences of more than 40 and 35, respectively, putting them at higher risk for heart disease and diabetes.

The rate of diagnosed heart disease among male and female study participants was 16% and 13%, respectively. A total of 13% of men and 11% of women had known diabetes.

The men and women in the study with the largest waists were more than twice as likely as those with the smallest waists to have heart disease.

Diabetes risk was three times higher for the quarter of men with the biggest waists and almost six times higher for women, compared with the quarter of the study population with the smallest waists.

The study is published in the latest issue of the American Heart Association (AHA) journal Circulation.

Reversing the Obesity Trend

While people living in southern and eastern Asia fared better than other populations in terms of obesity and waist circumference, the researchers point out that this is not necessarily reassuring because their rates of obesity are also rising.

American Heart Association spokesman Gerald Fletcher, MD, of the Jacksonville branch of the Mayo Clinic, tells WebMD that the study provides important confirmation of the global reach of obesity.

"We have known that obesity is a worldwide problem, but this is the largest study yet to actually show this," he says.

Balkau and colleagues conclude that unless the trend is reversed, the rise in obesity will result in major increases in sickness and death from related diseases like diabetes.

Fletcher agrees, adding that major public health initiatives are needed to address the problem.

"We have seen that such initiatives can work to reduce cigarette smoking," he says. “We have to have the same kind of commitment to make a difference in obesity rates."

Funny Diet and Weight Loss Stories

Obesity linked to colon cancer in women

abclocal.go.com

Obesity causes a number of health problems. But now, researchers say, it's the biggest risk for a certain kind of cancer in women.

Researchers led by doctors at Stony Brook University in New York say obesity is the single biggest risk factor for colon cancer in women. They found that women with precancerous polyps in the colon were more likely to be obese than women without polyps. And obesity was better at predicting who would have these growths than smoking or having a family history of colon cancer.

Colorectal cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer death in the United States. It will affect 153,000 Americans this year.

This study was presented to a meeting in Philadelphia of the American College of Gastroenterology.

Is dieting or exercise better for weight loss?

www.boston.com

JUDY FOREMAN

It's a bit complicated, but basically, it's the net calorie deficit - expending more energy than you consume - that counts, said Eric Ravussin, a physiologist at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La.

In a small, randomized, controlled clinical trial, Ravussin divided three dozen overweight but healthy men and women into three groups. One group reduced their calorie intake by 25 percent. Another group cut calories by half as much (12.5 percent) while increasing energy output through exercise by 12.5 percent; and the third group made no diet or exercise changes.

The researchers looked at weight loss, body composition, and measures of superficial and deep fat. They found that it doesn't matter whether people lose weight by diet or by exercise or a combination, although exercise has the important benefit of improving cardiovascular health.

"So long as the energy deficit is the same, body weight, fat mass, and abdominal fat will all decrease the same way," said Ravussin, in an e-mail.

It's a good idea to include exercise in any weight control program, said William J. Evans, director of the Nutrition, Metabolism and Exercise Laboratory at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

"When you exercise during weight loss, you lose more fat from the visceral stores - around the waist because this fat is very metabolically active and turns over more rapidly," he said in an e-mail. There's some evidence that this fat is used first by the body.

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Obesity linked to elevated risk of esophageal cancer

FoodConsumer.org

By David Liu

Obese people are more likely to develop cancer of the gullet than those with a normal body weight, a new study finds. But the finding does not mean that obesity is the cause of the disease.

The study published in the British journal Gut looked at 793 people with esophageal cancer and 1,580 controls matched for age and residence location.

The study found people with a body mass index of 40 or higher were six times more at risk than those with a BMI between 18.5 and 25, which is normal by definition.

Those with obesity and acid reflux were 16 times more likely to have the disease.

The association was still significant even after other factor such as smoking and alcohol consumption were taken into account.

In obese people, high levels of insulin boost production of insulin-like growth factor which is known to stimulate cell growth and inhibits apoptosis, programmed deaths of cells. Both may increase the cancer risk.

But further research is needed to confirm the mechanism. The study per se could not reveal any causal relationship between obesity and esophageal cancer.

A scientist affiliated with foodconsumer.org, who was not part of the study team, said that obesity may be a marker. If the association turns out to be causal, then the risk factors for obesity may also be risk factors for the cancer also obesity in itself may also be a risk factor.

Esophageal cancer is expected to be diagnosed in 15,560 men and women and kills 13,940 in the United States this year.

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Obese Women Should Not Gain Weight During Pregnancy

www.ivanhoe.com

New research shows obese pregnant women need to stop eating for two. Researchers highlight the need for new guidelines and suggest obese and overweight women should gain very little weight during pregnancy and severely obese women should actually lose weight.

Obesity is a major public health crisis. Researchers from St. Louis University School of Medicine conducted the largest population-based study to look at the effects of weight gain during pregnancy in obese expectant moms. The study analyzed data on more than 120,000 obese pregnant women.

Researchers found limiting weight gain in obese women has many health benefits. Obese women who gain less than 15 pounds during a pregnancy are less likely to develop preeclampsia, less likely to need a cesarean delivery and more likely to have a baby of normal weight. Study authors go on to say that severely obese women should actually lose weight during pregnancy.

Investigators say pregnancy is a big factor in the obesity crisis. Study author Raul Artal, M.D., says, “Weight gain increases in subsequent pregnancies because women accumulate weight with each pregnancy and don’t lose it.” He says it really comes down to mom to control the rest of the family. They write, “This is a multi-generational problem. The behavior modification starts with mom. If mothers are overeating and not exercising, that’s how the rest of the family is likely to behave.”

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Weight Loss Can Normalize Blood Pressure

www.medpagetoday.com

By Charles Bankhead

At least half of overweight patients with stage I hypertension can normalize their blood pressure with modest weight loss, Italian investigators reported here.

After six months on a reduced-calorie diet, supplemented by a lipase inhibitor in some cases, about half of 210 patients lost more than 5% of their body weight, which was associated with about a 5% reduction in blood pressure, Roberto Fogari, M.D., of the University of Pavia, reported at a conference of the American Heart Association's Council for High Blood Pressure Research.

The results demonstrated not only that weight loss alone can normalize hypertension but also that many overweight hypertensive patients have been misdiagnosed as having essential hypertension. The results emphasize the importance of initiating dietary intervention in overweight patients with high blood pressure before resorting to drug treatment, said Dr. Fogari.

"This is important because it means that in these patients with elevated blood pressure who were overweight, the blood pressure is not a form of essential hypertension but was hypertension secondary to body weight," said Dr. Fogari.

"These findings apply to western societies in general, but only to overweight patients, not to obese patients, with high blood pressure," he added.

The study involved men and women ages 29 to 65 and who had a body mass index of 25 to 29 kg/m2, defining them as overweight but not obese. All the patients had stage I hypertension, reflected in a systolic blood pressure of 140 to 159 mm Hg and a diastolic pressure of 90 to 99 mm Hg. None of the patients had a history of antihypertensive therapy.

Upon entry to the study, each patient consulted with dietary authorities who developed individualized reduced-calorie food plans that reflected a patient's food preferences. About half the patients also received the lipase inhibitor orilistat (Xenical) as an aid to weight loss and weight maintenance.

"We gave orilistat only when diet alone was not able to achieve the appropriate reduction in body weight," said Dr. Fogari.

After six months of follow-up, 49% of the women and 53% of the men had lost more than 5% of the baseline bodyweight. The 5% reduction in blood pressure that accompanied the weight loss was sufficient to normalize blood pressure in many patients.

There was a significant reduction in plasma leptin (from 17.3±4.4 to 10.9±3.2 ng/mL, P<0.01), active renin (from 12.9±6.8 to 9.1±5.2 pg/mL P<0.05), and aldosterone (from 71.8±28.4 to 59.7±23.5 P<0.01).

Forty-eight percent of the those with bodyweight loss of 5% or more achieved a normal BMI (< 25 Kg/m2) and 53% showed a BP blood pressure normalization (< 140/90 mmHg). Plasma leptin, active renin and aldosterone decreases were not different than those of the 25 patients who did not achieve the blood pressure normalization despite the BMI normalization.

The study will continue until all patients have been followed for a year.

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Childhood Obesity - Eating Habits in Children influenced by Easily Accessible Unhealthy Choices

www.bestsyndication.com

By Mark Barone

A group of studies were reported in this week’s supplemental issue of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. The journal compiled a number of studies that showed the different pressures that cause children and teenagers eat the wrong foods, and may be the reason for obesity epidemic.

Researchers from the University of Michigan found that there were several factors that influence children into eating unhealthy food choices. One discovery is that most middle and high schools across the United States have contracts with the soft drink industry. The study reports 67 percent of the middle schools and 83 percent of the high schools will have soft drinks available for children to purchase. These kids have easy access to sugary drinks when they attend school. Why would the schools allow this? They do this for the extra income. The schools earn on average $6,000 per year or $6.48 per student at the high school level and $500 per year on average or 70 cents per child at the middle school level.

The researchers also point out that the schools make readily available, high-fat, high- sugar and salty foods through vending machines and snack carts. So children have easy access to unhealthy food choices, but often are lacking healthy choices.

There is also a decline in PE class as the children goes into the older grades. In 8th grade they average 172 minutes a week and by 12th grade they get only 89 minutes per week. The researchers point out that in the 12th grade only about a third of the students are even participating in a PE class at some time during the year.

Another problem the researchers report is that low income neighborhoods have a problem with more fast food restaurants and more convenience stores, but they lack on supermarkets to purchase healthier food choices. The neighborhoods that were better off had less fast foods restaurants and more grocery stores. The researchers say that the minority students get more television advertisement exposures to buy junk food according to studies.

Minorities are also hurt when they attend school for eating healthy. The researchers said that less fortunate schools did not offer as many healthy food choices. The researchers also said the minority schools had less extra curricular sports activities available for the children to participate.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago found a number of new pieces of evidence that is contributing to childhood obesity at an alarming rate. The nation research program is called Bridging the Gap and is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. School policies, neighborhood demographics and advertising all are factors to the childhood obesity epidemic. These factors combined make it extremely difficult for children to avoid the obesity trap.

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Reduce Calories And Live Longer

www.dbtechno.com

For decades we we have known that reducing calorie intake — not nutrients — can be beneficial and increase life expectancy, but we didn’t know why, until now.

According to U.S. researchers, the benefits of calorie reduction can be seen at a molecular level.

In a study released Thursday, scientists suggest that the link between calorie restriction and longevity may be a molecular response to stresses from reducing calorie intake.

Researchers believe that the reaction preserves critical cellular functions between enzymes created by two genes called SIRT3 and SIRT4,. The reaction increases the bodies ability to fight age related disease, reported CNN.

“We’re not sure yet what particular mechanism is activated by these increased levels of NAD, and as a result SIRT3 and SIRT4,” said David Sinclair, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School who worked on the study.

“These two genes, SIRT3 and SIRT4, they make proteins that go into mitochondria. … These are little energy packs inside our cells that are very important for staying healthy and youthful and, as we age, we lose them and they get less efficient,” Sinclair said.

“They are also very important for keeping the cells healthy and alive when they undergo stress and DNA damage, as we undergo every day during the aging process.”

“But we do see that normal cell-suicide programs are noticeably attenuated,” he said.

Their study, published in the journal Cell, helps explain why animals fed low-calorie diets live longer, but it also might lead to a pill which could lead to a pill to fight many diseases, the researchers said.

“What we are talking about is potentially having one pill that prevents and even cures many diseases at once,” said Sinclair.

The study is published in the latest issue of the journal Cell.

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Skinny Gene Offers New Hope for Obesity, Diabetes

ScienceMode.com

By Ann Baker

Ever wonder why some people can stuff their faces and never gain a pound, while others eat only rabbit food but can’t lose weight? A new study from a Texas medical center might have found the answer in what’s it’s calling a “skinny” gene.

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas have discovered a single gene that might be the body’s trigger to store fat or burn it off. It’s a promising find for new ways to fight obesity and diabetes.

“From worms to mammals, this gene controls fat formation,” says Dr. Jonathan Graff, associate professor of developmental biology and internal medicine at UT Southwestern and senior author of a study appearing in the Sept. 5 issue of Cell Metabolism. “It could explain why so many people struggle to lose weight and suggests an entirely new direction for developing medical treatments that address the current epidemic of diabetes and obesity,” he says.

The gene was first discovered 50 years ago in fat fruit flies. It’s called adipose. The UT Southwestern researchers looked into how adipose works by watching fruit flies, tiny worms and genetically engineered mice. By using sophisticated molecular techniques, they were able to manipulate adipose in those organisms by turning the gene off and on. That’s how they figured out that the gene, which humans also have, is much like a high-level master switch that tells the body to burn or store fat.

In the mice, the researchers found that increasing adipose activity improved the animals’ health in many ways. Mice with experimentally increased adipose activity ate as much or more than normal mice; however, they were leaner, had diabetes-resistant fat cells, and were better able to control insulin and blood-sugar metabolism.

In contrast, animals with reduced adipose activity were fatter, less healthy and had diabetes.

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Obese Toddlers Have Iron Deficiency

www.casperstartribune.net

By CARLA K. JOHNSON

Pudgy toddlers have an alarmingly high rate of iron deficiency, and Hispanic youngsters are more affected than other groups, a new study finds.

The study is the first to discover a link between obesity and low iron levels in preschoolers. Iron deficiency can cause mental and behavioral delays, so the findings underscore the importance of healthy eating habits in children ages 1 to 3.

The researchers found that 20 percent of obese toddlers have iron deficiency, compared to 7 percent of normal-weight toddlers. Lack of iron reduces the amount of oxygen carried through the body by the blood and can cause anemia.

Experts blamed parents who let toddlers drink cow's milk and juice from a bottle, instead of weaning them and introducing iron-rich foods such as meat, beans, eggs, spinach and fortified breads.

Toddlers still fed from bottles tend to drink too much milk and juice, which are low in iron, and don't get enough solid food, said Dr. Jane Brotanek of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, a study co-author.

"What you put in your baby's bottle can affect your child's future," she said.

The researchers also found that children who attend day care centers are about 50 percent less likely to have iron deficiency than children who aren't in day care. Day care providers may pay more attention to nutrition, Brotanek speculated.

Hispanic toddlers were more likely than white and black toddlers to be obese and not in day care, possibly explaining their increased risk of iron deficiency, Brotanek said. Twelve percent of Hispanic toddlers were iron deficient, compared to 6 percent of white children and 6 percent of black children.

The study appears in the September issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Dr. Geoffrey Allen, a specialist in blood diseases at Chicago's Children Memorial Hospital, said the findings are a reminder of the importance of childhood tests for iron deficiency.

"It's amazing how anemic children can be and still run around and play," Allen said. "It can be hard to detect mild and moderate anemia."

The researchers analyzed data from 960 U.S. toddlers who had three blood tests for iron deficiency. The information came from 1999-2002 data in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by a branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The survey has stopped collecting the iron status information, a change some experts are lamenting.

"NHANES is a great way to keep a finger on the pulse of the entire population," Allen said. "Now we're taking away an extremely valuable tool for measuring iron deficiency."

CDC spokesman Bill Crews said the decision to drop the iron tests stemmed from the fact that iron deficiency hasn't been rising or falling in recent years. Since only a small amount of blood is drawn on very young children participating in the survey, he said, a limited number of blood tests can be done.

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