Dieting may not be wise if what MSU researchers found in mice translates to humans as well. BBC reports that the MSU researchers found that mice that were fed 40% less were more likely to catch the flu. Mice fed less also took longer to recover from the flu.
The team at Michigan State University found even though the mice on the lower calorie diet received adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals, their bodies were still not able to produce the number of killer cells needed to fight an infection.
As well as being more likely to die from the virus, the mice - which were consuming around 40% of the calories given to their counterparts on a normal diet - took longer to recover, lost more weight and displayed other symptoms of poor health.
"Our research shows that having a body ready to fight a virus will lead to a faster recovery and less-severe effects than if it is calorically restricted," said study author Professor Elizabeth Gardner.
It would be interesting to see if the study gets the same results with other viruses such as the common cold virus. Flu activity has been pretty low so far this year but it is starting to pick up in the Northeast - you can see the latest graphic showing activity in the U.S. state here on the CDC's website.
Registered dietician Keri Glassman shares with Today's Lara Spencer some super-foods for living longer. The foods discussed include yogurt, keifer, apples, avocado, seaweed, blueberries, gojiberry, pomegranate and green tea. You can read Keri Glassman's bio here. Here's Keri's top five recommendations to eat every day.
Nutritional deficiencies caused by a lack of a balanced diet.
Lack of physical activity from emphasis on diet only can increase the risk of heart disease.
Lack of variety in foods can cause boredom and frustration, and make it difficult to maintain the diet for more than a brief period.
Severe restrictions on the foods you can eat may make it difficult to establish and maintain a healthy diet in the future.
Many quick weight-loss diets are based on unfounded claims that may do more harm than good.
People try fad diets because they want to lose weight fast but that isn't a healthy way to lose weight. The American Heart Association says the right way to diet and lose weight is "slowly, over time, and while eating a balanced diet with plenty of healthy foods." That's not what people desperate to lose weight want to hear but it is better for your heart and overall health if you avoid risky dieting.
We have launched a twitter profile which provides news updates about diets and dieting. We also run the health news Twitter and bird flu news Twitter. Twitter is a microblogging service and communication tool that allows you to post short 140 character updates. To get our updates on Twitter you need to join Twitter and then follow our Twitter profile.
The BBC reports that experts from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Journal of the American Medical Association have found that eating beneficial is so beneficial that it outweighs the risk from deadly chemicals found in the fish.
The Harvard School of Public Health reviewed existing studies that looked at the health effects of eating fish.
They concluded eating up to two portions of fish a week was beneficial, and eating fish could cut the risk of death from heart disease by a third.
Experts said the Journal of the American Medical Association findings backed UK recommendations.
The evidence across different studies showed that fish consumption lowers the risk of death from heart disease by 36%.
The reduced rated of heart disease comes, researchers say, from eating about three ounces of farmed salmon or six ounces of mackerel each week.
The benefits come from the omega-3 fatty acids that salmon and mackerel contain. The risks from eating fish are because of pollutants in the oceans and specifically the following chemicals: mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins.
Every once in a while there is a case that baffles the experts. This is one of those cases. George Johnson lived to 112 years of age. He was a WW1 veteran and his diet consisted of junk food and food items like sausages and waffles. An autopsy showed that he had the organs of a 50 or 60 year-old. He was even able to continue driving until he was 102. MSNBC.com reports that some experts think it is probably due to excellent genes.
"He had terrible bad habits. He had a diet largely of sausages and waffles," Dr. L. Stephen Coles, founder of the Gerontology Research Group at the University of California, Los Angeles, said Friday.
The 5-foot-7, 140-pound Johnson died of pneumonia Wednesday at his Richmond home in Northern California.
"A lot of people think or imagine that your good habits and bad habits contribute to your longevity," Coles said. "But we often find it is in the genes rather than lifestyle."
Johnson, who was blind and living alone until his 110th birthday when a caregiver began helping him, built the Richmond house by hand in 1935. He got around using a walker in recent years.
Johnson was the only living Californian considered a "supercentenarian," a designation for those ages 110 or older, Coles said. His group is now in the process of validating a Los Angeles candidate who claims to be 112 years old.
It was probably great genes. Or, maybe we should start studying what kind of syrup Johnson used on those waffles.
A study by the Heart Research Institute in Sydney, Australia, compared people eating two meals of carrot cake and a milkshake one month apart. One meal was high in saturated fat -- using coconut oil -- and the other was high in polyunsaturated fat -- using safflower oil. MSNBC.com reports that the study found that ill effects from eating the meal high in saturated fat were discovered almost immediately.
Effect seen in 3 hours
The researchers, led by Dr. Stephen Nicholls, a cardiologist now at the Cleveland Clinic, found that three hours after eating the saturated-fat cake and shake, the lining of the arteries was hindered from expanding to increase blood flow. And after six hours, the anti-inflammatory qualities of the good cholesterol were reduced.
But the polyunsaturated meal seemed to improve those anti-inflammatory qualities. Also, fewer inflammatory agents were found in the arteries than before the meal.
To put this study into a real life situation it means that any meal you eat that is high in saturated fats probably creates inflammation and hinders your blood flow that very same day.
The BBC reports that a study on mice suggests that eating veggies may reduce the risk of atherosclerosis, or artery hardening. The scientists studies two groups of mice: one group received vegetables while the other group did not. The group of mice eating the veggies had 38% smaller artery plaques.
Half the mice were fed a vegetable-free diet and half the mice were fed a diet which included broccoli, green beans, corn, peas and carrots.
After 16 weeks, researchers measured cholesterol content in the blood vessels and estimated that plaques in the arteries of the mice were 38% smaller.
Although there was also a reduction in total cholesterol and body weight in mice fed the vegetable-rich diet, analysis showed that this could not explain the reduction in atherosclerosis.
Lead researcher Dr Michael Adams said: "While everyone knows that eating more vegetables is supposed to be good for you, no-one had shown before that it can actually inhibit the development of atherosclerosis."
Atherosclerosis increases the likelihood of a stroke. Any reduction in the risk of having a stroke is a good thing. This appears to be just one more benefit of eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.
The bad news about belly fat (visceral fat) is that it is very bad -- worse than other body fat reports the L.A. Times. The good news is that belly fat is the easiest fat to lose.
"Visceral fat is very bad for you," says Richard N. Bergman, a professor at USC's Keck School of Medicine. "It seems to have a more negative outcome on health than overall fat."
The evidence now is so compelling that some experts suggest it's time to forget about scales and weight loss and focus on waists and "inch loss."
Luckily, visceral fat doesn't appear to be a particularly stubborn enemy. Health experts have discovered that consistent, moderate exercise by itself appears to help the body rid itself of vast amounts of deep abdominal fat — even when the scales show the pounds aren't dropping very fast.
This emerging science carries a message for consumers: Measure your waist circumference. And reduce it if need be. Doing something about that paunch could help save your life.
The article cites a November study that appeared in the Lancet that found that a higher waist-to-hip ratio was linked to a greater risk of heart attacks. Other diseases were linked to belly fat as well -- even dementia.
That's the bad news. Here is the good news about how belly fat is easier to lose.
That is probably the best news about visceral fat: It's not all that hard to lose, and losing even a little might make a big difference in cardiovascular health. Sit-ups and liposuction won't work (sit-ups merely tighten the muscle and liposuction only removes subcutaneous fat), but studies show that regular diet and exercise can lead to a substantial drop. "It's easier than reducing any other fat because the abdominal fat is metabolically very active," Sharma of McMaster University says.
In fact, studies show that people who lose only 10% to 15% of total body weight can still lose up to 30% of their visceral fat — and reap fast, important benefits. A 2001 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that white and black women on a diet-and-exercise program lost 41% and 37% of their visceral fat, respectively, with a total weight loss of about 15%.
Thinking positive: if you add some regular exercise you can burn off some belly fat and reduce your risk of dementia, heart attacks and other disease at the same time.
Reuters reports on a study that examined people's consumption of seven foods that are known to cause food-borne illnesses like E. coli, vibrio and salmonella. The seven foods studied were pink hamburger patties, pink ground beef, raw fresh fish, raw oysters, unpasteurized milk, runny eggs and alfalfa sprouts. Runny eggs were the most commonly eaten food of the seven food items. The study found less people are eating these risky foods.
The survey, made public at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, led researchers to conclude that media reporting and public health education efforts on risky eating habits and food-borne illnesses may be working.
But people under 18 years old with compromised immune systems were much more likely -- by 21 to 14 percent -- to eat risky foods than healthy people of the same age, the survey found, leading researchers to believe they may have to target specific groups for education.
The proportion of people eating risky foods dropped from 31 percent in 1998 to 21 percent four years later, according to the results of telephone surveys of 15,000 to 20,000 people conducted by the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, known as FoodNet.
The study didn't give any insight as to why people under age 18 were 14 to 21% more likely to eat these risky foods. More discussion on this story at Health Beat, Slashfood and MedPage Today.
Doctors are warning of health risks associated with the low-carb or Atkins diet following the case of a 40 year-old woman who developed a serious blood condition after following the Atkin's diet. The woman was suffering from ketoacidosis and doctors believe Atkins was to blame according to a BBC article.
Professor Klaus-Dieter Lessnau, who led the team from the New York School of Medicine, wrote: "Our patient had an underlying ketosis caused by the Atkins diet and developed severe ketoacidosis possibly when her oral intake was compromised from mild pancreatitis or gastroenteritis.
"This problem may become more recognised because this diet is becoming increasingly popular worldwide."
The Atkins diet suggests rapid weight loss by cutting carbohydrates out of a diet.
For a month before she fell ill, the woman had lived on meat, cheese and salads, said the doctors.
She monitored her urine twice daily using dipsticks.
During the period when she dieted, she lost around nine kilograms of weight.
The incident was written up by medics in the Lancet. A doctor from the Atkins Foundation said comments in the Lancet article were "troublesome" and "inappropriate." However, these are not the first complaints doctors have made about the Atkins diet and many doctors consider the diet unhealthy.
A new report published in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity forecasts child obesity to soar in children worldwide. The AP reports that the forecast says nearly half of North and South American children will be over weight by 2010.
The number of overweight children worldwide will increase significantly by the end of the decade, and scientists expect profound impacts on everything from public health care to economies, a study published Monday said.
Nearly half of the children in North and South America will be overweight by 2010, up from what recent studies say is about one-third, according to a report published by the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity.
In the European Union, about 38 percent of all children will be overweight if present trends continue — up from about 25 percent in recent surveys, the study said.
Half of all American kids will be overweight within 3-4 years? Many health experts continue to suggest "less exercise, better diet" but there seems to be more going on here. Dr. Phillip Thomas, a surgeon who works with obese patients in Manchester, England, told the AP, "This is going to be the first generation that's going to have a lower life expectancy than their parents."
A large study on fat and diet has found that a low-fat diet has no added health benefit. The New York Timesreports that the study followed nearly 49,000 women and found that women on low-fat diets had similar cancer and heart problems as people who did not follow a low-fat diet.
The $415 million federal study involved nearly 49,000 women ages 50 to 79 who were followed for eight years. In the end, those assigned to a low-fat diet had the same rates of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart attacks and strokes as those who ate whatever they pleased, researchers are reporting today.
"These studies are revolutionary," said Dr. Jules Hirsch, physician in chief emeritus at Rockefeller University in New York City, who has spent a lifetime studying the effects of diets on weight and health. "They should put a stop to this era of thinking that we have all the information we need to change the whole national diet and make everybody healthy."
The study, published in today's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, was not just an ordinary study, said Dr. Michael Thun, who directs epidemiological research for the American Cancer Society. It was so large and so expensive, Dr. Thun said, that it was "the Rolls-Royce of studies." As such, he added, it is likely to be the final word.
A doctor cited in the Times article would like to see a large study and trial conducated on the Mediterranean diet.
Of course, Dr. Libby acknowledged, the latest advice, to follow a Mediterranean diet and get regular exercise, has never been tested in a large randomized clinical trial. "If they did a study like that and it was negative," he said, "then I'd have to give up my cherished hypotheses for data."
That would be an interesting study. It would be interesting to find out whether the type of fat people eat matters -- an olive oil versus animal fat type of scenario. Most health experts believe limiting animal fats and eating more plant fats (nuts, olive oil) is better for you.
The BBC reports on a new study that has linked red meat consumption with damage to DNA damage and bowel cancer. The study found that people that ate two portions of red meat per day were three times a likely to get bowel cancer than people who ate red meat just once per week.
In the latest study the same Dunn team examined cells from the lining of the colon taken from healthy volunteers eating different diets.
They found higher levels of DNA damage in the cells taken from people eating red meat.
Work by the Open University team suggests the reason could be the presence of substances called N-nitrosocompounds, which form in the large bowel after eating red meat.
Their work suggests that these compounds combine with DNA, and alter it so that it is more likely to undergo harmful changes or mutations that increase the likelihood of cancer
Several experts and the Beating Bowel Cancer charity said the new study is more evidence of a red meat link to cancer while the UK's Meat and Livestock Commission downplayed the study's findings.
Jared Fogle, who is best-known for the Subway diet, blames the Nintendo for the start of his weight gain back in the third grade in an article in the Columbia Daily Tribune.
Most people know part of Fogle's story, he said, but don’t realize he started gaining weight in third grade. "I can trace it back to when I was given the best birthday present of my life: a Nintendo."
At that point, Fogle said, he started playing video games more and riding his bike and playing sports less. He became sedentary. With his love of video games, he developed a love of junk food.
"I usually had one hand on the controller and one in a bag of chips," he said. By the time he reached sixth grade, he was bigger than the other children, he said, and his father, a doctor, started to worry.
"They tried restricting my Nintendo time, but I found ways to get around it," Fogle said.
Fogle's weight peaked at 425 pounds before his Subway diet and regularly walking eventually brought his weight down to 190. He is now teach a nutrition class an the University of Missouri-Columbia.
The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) has debuted a new health and fitness magazine called Get Active. The publication also has a website here.
The debut issue of Get Active magazine includes features on the life-enhancing powers of exercise, how to begin an exercise regimen, how fitness can boost your finances, how to flex your political muscle, and an interview with Catherine Oxenberg and Casper Van Dien, stars of the Lifetime television reality series, I Married a Princess. In addition, the magazine will provide tips on training, nutrition, gear, and choosing a personal trainer. Every edition of Get Active magazine will also consist of feature stories covering a variety of topics and the magazine will tell the personal stories of health club members who have achieved positive results in their fitness routines.
The website contains some free article include an article that explains why people trying to lose weight should not obsess over the scale. This excerpt explains why the scale might be lying to you.
"There's so much fluctuation in body weight due to fluid that you lose or gain, and that can represent two, three, sometimes four pounds," notes Harry DuVal, Ph.D., associate professor of exercise science and director of the fitness center at the University of Georgia in Athens. "You get all excited, thinking, 'Look what I lost!' and then you go and replenish your fluids and, bingo, you're right back up to where you were -- if not higher -- so you get discouraged."
The scale can also be inaccurate, particularly if you're strength training, because of the change in your muscle mass.
Of course, you've probably heard a million times that muscle weighs more than fat -- but just how much does that affect the number on the scale? "If you're doing a vigorous form of resistance training at any age, you can gain lean muscle mass," says DuVal. "And it takes very little gain in muscle mass to equate to pounds gained. You can still be losing significant body fat, but if you're gaining just a little bit of lean muscle mass, it doesn't show up as a loss on the scale."
CNN reports that a new study has found that eating fish sharpens the mind and reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease and stroke.
For the new study, researchers measured how well 3,718 people did on simple tests, such as recalling details of a story. The participants, all Chicago residents 65 and older, took the tests three times over six years. They also filled out a questionnaire about what they ate that included 139 foods.
"We found that people who ate one fish meal a week had a 10 percent slower annual decline in thinking," said co-author Martha Clare Morris, an epidemiologist at Rush University Medical Center. "Those who ate two fish meals a week showed a 13 percent slower annual decline."
Eating fish containing omega-3 fatty acids has been shown to have health benefits -- like preventing heart disease -- in past studies. The downside is that fish with omega-3s, like tuna and salmon, have also been linked to high levels of mercury.
Consumer Reports (CR) examined nine popular diets in its June issue. CR said they calculated the diets’ calorie counts and nutritional composition, checked whether they conformed to U.S. dietary guidelines, and evaluated their effectiveness with a comprehensive review of clinical research. Here are some of CR's findings:
Weight Watchers received the highest overall rating. A nutritionally
balanced diet, plus weekly meetings and weigh-ins for behavioral support,
give this large commercial weight loss program the highest long-term adherence
rate of any diet studied. This plan doesn't exclude any food group and its
point system encourages consumption of low-fat, high fiber meals.
Slim Fast, which received the second highest overall rating, is recommended for people who don't like to cook—branded bars and drinks replace part of breakfast and lunch—and dieters need to prepare only one full meal a day. People on the Slim Fast plan lost the most weight in six months using
products like 180-calorie shakes.
The Zone is high in protein and includes copious amounts of high-fiber
vegetables. Many companies offer home delivery of "Zone favorable meals."
It is recommended for those who want a short-term high protein diet plan.
Ornish offers ultra low-fat, high-fiber vegetarian meals, which provide
fairly large portions for the low calories.
Atkins Induction and Atkins Ongoing Weight Loss are appropriate for
people who want a short-term high protein diet plan. The Atkins diet worked
very well in the short term, with results at least as good as our other
top-rated diets. But its nutritional deficiencies—too much fat, and too
little fiber and too few fruits—depressed its overall Rating and may have
a negative effect on some people's health.
CR said several other popular weight-loss plans -- eDiets, Jenny Craig, South Beach, and Volumetrics -- are all low enough in calories to produce weight loss. But CR said they could not rate them for this report because these diets lacked data from large, long-term, published clinical trials.
CR said there are four ways to a winning diet:
Eat high-bulk, low-calorie
foods: This is a promising strategy for curbing hunger while keeping calories
down. Such foods include fruits, veggies, and other water-filled foods such as
soups.
Control blood sugar: One way is to stay away from starchy, easy-to-digest
carbohydrates, such as refined flour, white rice, and potatoes, and avoid added
sugar.
Eat plenty of high-fiber carbs, such as whole grains, fruits and
veggies.
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