How Related Are Weight And Health?
August 14, 2008
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The conventional wisdom is that if you are normal sized you are healthy and if you are overweight you are unhealthy. However, a recent analysis has suggested that it is not that simple and that weight and health may not be related in a straightforward way.
More data from NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) suggests that some “normal weight” people are unhealthy and that some people considered overweight do not have signs of cardiac disease or other diseases that have been conventionally associated with obesity.
Of course being thin has never necessarily meant healthy. For instance, my mother who suffers form Crohn’s disease is thin due to her disease. However, in this analysis of the NHANES surveys, of those with normal weight there were a significant proportion who had what the authors called “metabolic markers of obesity”.
What were considered to be metabolic markers of obesity? They included high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, high fasting blood glucose, high levels of C reactive protein (hsCRP) and low levels of HDL (the good) cholesterol.
The proportion of normal weight people with these markers increased with age, from 10.3% for ages 20 to 24 years , 16.9% between 35 and 49 years, 41.7% between 50 and 64 years, 54.7% between 65 and 79 years, and 56.2% 80 years and older.
Conversely, for those considered overweight and would be expected to have the metabolic markers, there were many who were in the optimal range. Healthy levels of the markers decreased with age, but represented a substantial proportion of the survey participants. The ranges were 47.7% between 20 and 34 years, 31.1% between 35 and 49 years, 20.4% between 50 and 64 years, 14.3% between 65 and 79 years, and 22.1% 80 years and older.
This sort of goes against what we are told. It will be interesting to see how the discussion of the data develops. The data does suggest that you need to go and get tested for cholesterol, glucose, triglycerides etc, whatever your size. Find out what your numbers are, then go from there.
Technorati Tags: weight, metabolic, obesity, NHANES
Popularity: 11% [?]
Foods You Should Be Eating?
July 1, 2008
The NY Times today has a list of 11 foods that you should be eating, but likely are not. How many do you eat?
They are 1) beets, 2) cabbage, 3) chard, 4) cinnamon, 5) pomegranate juice, 6) dried plums (newish name for prunes), 7) pumpkin seeds, 
turmeric*, 9) sardine, 10) frozen blueberries and 11) canned pumpkin.
I didn’t do very well. I regularly eat cabbage, chard, pomegranate juice, frozen blueberries and canned pumpkin. I loathe beets, so maybe for me the list should be 10. I am not very keen on sardines but will eat them. Perhaps I can find some way to disguise them a bit.
I started to buy canned pumpkin for the dog. It is good for dogs to get a dollop a day, particularly when they are getting old and/or have a significant part of their diet as raw meat, offal etc. They benefit from beta carotene too. So I usually have a dish of canned pumpkin (don’t leave in the can) in the fridge and often add a human dollop or two, to stews etc.
Wasn’t too keen on chard until one day I tried removing the stems, chopping them into about 1 inch lengths and frying them for a good few minutes before adding the wet leaves. Shame it is not cheaper.
Pomegranate juice and vodka is pretty good.
Between them these foods have a whole range of benefits such as anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidants, lower cholesterol, improve diabetes, etc. See the article or more info.
So, I guess next time I go to the store, I might buy some prunes and pumpkin seeds and at home will cook with more cinnamon and turmeric. Will have to think about the sardines.
* I have no idea where the happy face came from and why it replaced number eight. Deleting and retyping the text surrounding it does not help, it pops back up again instead of 8). I usually type the posts in Word and then copy and paste. Probably some weird piece of code that came from Word.
Technorati Tags: beets, pomegranate, chard, canned pumpkin
Popularity: 45% [?]
Garlic for Blood Pressure, Heart Disease, Stroke, Diabetes And Antioxidant Status
May 15, 2008
Garlic has long been known to be good for you. In the last few years it has been demonstrated that it may play a beneficial role in many aspects of health including lowering blood pressure, reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke, and improving antioxidant status.
Garlic has been shown recently to decrease blood pressure and to help lessen the risk of heart attack. The decrease in blood pressure is due to widening of the inside of blood vessels which makes the pressure drop.
There are several reasons why garlic may reduce both stroke and heart disease risk. One potential reason is that the antioxidant properties may reduce the oxidation of blood lipids, leading to a reduction in the rate of development of atherosclerosis (blocking of arteries). We are all developing atherosclerosis, so the aim is to make it slow enough that it never has any health impact. Garlic has also been shown to lower the level of platelet aggregation. Platelets are cells that circulate in the blood that are involved in clot formation, by sticking together and to cells in the walls of blood vessels. Lowering the level of platelet aggregation reduces the formation and growth of clots, which in turn lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Garlic has several other suggested health benefit including reducing inflammation, neurodegeneration (including possibly Alzheimer’s), diabetes and cancer. It has been suggested that garlic can reduce blood sugar levels.
To get the most benefit from garlic it should be “aged”. This means that garlic should be crushed and then left for 10 to 15 minutes before use. The reason for this is that when the garlic cells are broken by crushing, an enzyme is released that converts alliin to allicin. Leaving the crushed garlic for a while gives the enzyme time to work. It is allicin that our body uses either directly or indirectly for most of the health benefits.
Eat more garlic!
Technorati Tags: garlic, allicin, blood pressure, heart disease, stoke, diabetes, antioxidant
Popularity: 86% [?]
Noise Can Increase Blood Pressure
April 2, 2008
Several recent studies have demonstrated that noise can increase blood pressure. Studies have focused particularly on living next to busy roads, and for nighttime noise, living by airport.
There has been much interest recently on the health effects of noise. The modern world is very noisy, with vehicles, appliances and all sorts of media devices such as TVs and MP3 players. So does this does have any bad effects on us, and what are they?
Studies of people living by busy roads have shown that the noisier it is in the house the more likely the occupants are to have increased blood pressure. Whether a bedroom is on the road side of the house can even make a difference to the level of hypertension.
To look at nighttime noise researchers looked at people in a number of countries who lived by airports. They chose several different countries to make sure any effects where not cultural. Again they found that higher noise levels were correlated with higher blood pressure. They even found that those who lived close to airports were more likely to be taking medication for hypertension.
When asleep, even noise that does not wake you up can raise blood pressure temporarily. If you live with somebody who snores, their snoring may be raising your blood pressure, though eventually you may habituate and not be affected any more. Noises such as barking dogs, that do wake you up will also raise your blood pressure. Nighttime noise may be more important than daytime since it has been shown that elevated blood pressure at night can be more of a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
For our health we should all try to make the house as quiet and as restful at night as we can. Besides the obvious earplugs, things like curtains can deaden sound, and snoring remedies can be tried.
I am not sure what to do about my dog, who is in the house at night, barking when the coyotes and raccoons visit my yard. Maybe I should see if there are canine earplugs.
photo credit: davi sommerfeld
Technorati Tags: blood pressure, hypertension, nighttime noise, airport noise, road noise
Popularity: 63% [?]
Flying and deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
February 1, 2008
I hate flying. I got back last night from England, where I was visiting my parents. By the time I got home I felt, and looked like, an old rag that had been in the tumble drier for days, with the heat setting alternating between hot and frigid.
My food intake on the flights was appalling; banana bread, something I think was apple pie, twix, shortbread, very greasy ravioli and stale bread rolls. However, I could at least take comfort in the fact that I was unlikely to get deep vein thrombosis (or DVT). I wore my DVT socks and got up and walked around periodically. In Europe there seems to be much more concern and press coverage about DVT. For instance, in England you can buy DVT socks for travel in any regular supermarket.
DVT or deep vein thrombosis, sometimes called deep venous thrombosis, is the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein. When flying, due to sitting with out moving and dehydration, there is an increased risk of formation of a clot in the legs. Sometimes this is called economy class syndrome. There is a possibility that a clot could travel up to the lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism, which is bad news. This blockage of an artery to the lungs can cause difficulty breathing, chest pain and can in severe cases cause loss of consciousness and even death.
DVT often has no obvious symptoms. Swelling of one or both legs and pain and redness may occur for some people but usually it is silent.
DVT socks are compression socks or stockings. They are a gentler version of the stockings that you have to wear after surgery, if you are going to have to remain in bed for a day or two while recovering.
There have been a number of studies including Lancet, 12:185, 2001 looked at two groups of passengers on long flights, where half the study participants wore DVT hosiery. The Lancet study demonstrated that 10% of the people in the study who did not wear DVT socks, had asymptomatic (no symptoms) DVT. None of those wearing DVT socks had DVT.
So for long haul flights get yourself some knee high travel compression stockings and get up and walk around a couple of times to reduce the risk of DVT.
Technorati Tags: deep vein thrombosis, DVT, flying, economy class syndrome, compression socks
Popularity: 86% [?]
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