Which Healthy Lifestyle Change Can Reduce Disease Risk?
August 12, 2009
What aspects of a healthy lifestyle are important for reducing disease risk? If you had to choose which things you changed to improve your life and which ones you didn’t change, which would you choose?
A study in Germany looked at four lifestyle factors and 4 diseases in 23,513 Germans, aged 35 to 65.
The four factors were never smoking, having a body mass index lower than 30; doing 3.5 hours, or more, per week exercise; and adhering to healthy dietary principles (high intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain bread and low meat consumption). The 4 factors (ranked healthy, 1 point; unhealthy, 0 points) were summed to form an index that ranged from 0 to 4.
The diseases were heart attack, stroke and new diagnoses of diabetes, and cancer
Less than 4% of participants had zero healthy factors, most had 1 to 3 healthy factors, and approximately 9% had 4 factors.
During an average follow-up of 7.8 years, the percentages of participants that developed diabetes was 3.7%, myocardial infarction was 0.9%, stroke was 0.8%, and cancer was 3.8%.
Participants with all 4 factors had a 78% reduced risk of developing a chronic disease overall. The reduced risk for diabetes was 93%; heart attack was 81%; stroke was 50%; and cancer was 36%, compared to participants without a healthy factor.
The hazard ratio for developing a chronic disease decreased progres, the less likely you are to get a chronic disease of aging.
So which factors had the most impact on having a lower risk for common chronic diseases?
The largest reduction in risk was associated with having a BMI lower than 30, followed by never smoking, followed by at least 3.5 hours of exercise and last adhering to good dietary principles.
So, unfortunately this study suggests that the thing that you could do to have the greatest impact on long term health is to keep below a BMI of 30 (a BMI of 30 and greater is considered obese). For most of us this is probably the hardest of the four factors to control.
photo credit: dichohecho
Technorati Tags: disease risk, healthy lifestyle, BMI, smoking, healthy diet, exercise
Vinegar May Decrease Accumulation Of Body Fat
July 8, 2009
Vinegar has been used as a folk remedy for many years, by many cultures. Now there is evidence that vinegar may decrease accumulation of body fat.
Vinegar is made from many plants including fruits such as apple, barley, rice and wine. Different vinegars have diverse flavors. However, they all contain acetic acid, which is what the makes the vinegar acid, and gives it many of its properties.
Over the years, vinegar has been suggested to have many healthful effects. Some of these suggested positive effects on health have included fighting infections and detoxifying the body.
In most countries the sale of vinegar is not regulated, so there are huge variations between brands and types. The range of amount of acetic acid can be quite significant.
If large quantities of vinegar, or vinegars with high acetic acid content, are taken there can be negative health consequences. Vinegar can burn your throat, esophagus and stomach. Taking too much over a period of time can deplete your body of potassium in the body, increase the rate of osteoporosis and increased blood pressure.
In new research, mice were fed a high fat diet and some were given acetic acid. Those with acetic acid supplementation gained less body fat. Up to 10% less body fat!
The researchers suggest that acetic acid is acting on the liver, turning on genes that are involved in breaking down fat. If more fat is broken down, there is less to be taken up by fat cells. Therefore, there is less fat on the belly or other places.
So perhaps taking a sensible amount of vinegar every day may help with weight gain. However, exercise caution. Too much vinegar could have bad health effects such as those described above. More is not necessarily better.
Technorati Tags: vinegar, body fat, weight gain, acetic acid
More Weight, Lower Risk Of Osteoporosis
June 22, 2009
What is one advantage of carrying a bit too much weight? Yes, there is a benefit from extra weight. The answer is reduced risk of developing osteoporosis in your lifetime.
Peak bone mass is at about 20 years. After this time everyone starts to lose bone mass. Some fast, some slow. Everybody will develop osteoporosis eventually. That is why I said “in your lifetime”.
Bone density is defined by T score. 1.0 or greater is normal. -1.0 to -2.5 is osteopenia (some bone loss). -2.5 and below is osteoporosis. Bone density is measured by DEXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry – try saying that quickly 5 times in a row).
One of the major determinants of keeping bones strong is weight bearing exercise. The more you stress bones the stronger they try to be. Bone is constantly being lost and made. More stress favors more bone being made.
This is where being heavy comes in. More weight means more impact on your bones and more stress. I am not advocating weight gain, but it is nice to have some positive reinforcement once in a while.
An alternative to weight is jumping-style activities. This mimics a higher body weight since gravity is being used.
I was surprised to read that the US Preventative Services Task Force, who I had never heard of before, recommended DEXA screening for women 60-64 years who weighed less than 70 kg (154 lbs) and all women over 65. I would have thought that preventative would mean younger.
DEXA just involves lying on table with no metal on your body, while your spin and hip are scanned. I had one about 5 years ago after destroying my hand, whacking it on the wall, trying to play squash. My doctor was convinced that to due to the significant damage that I did to the bones in my hand, I must have really low bone density. No. I just whacked it really hard, and eventually ended up having to have reconstructive surgery for tendon damage. The hand is now a bit knobbly and does not work quite as well as it did.
If you are depressed about your weight – remember there is one positive effect – stronger bones.
Technorati Tags: osteoporosis, osteopenia, weight bearing, DEXA, bone, T score
Xtreme Eating Awards For 2009
June 10, 2009
Eating out can be a minefield. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has released the Xtreme Eating Awards for 2009.
The subtitle of the article, about the Xtreme Eating Award, put out by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is “Care for an entrée with your entrée?” Another good quote is, “Forget the arms race. It’s the waist race.”
The article highlights some of the more extreme choices at chain restaurants.
An example is the Chicken and Biscuits from the Cheesecake Factory. This entrée has 2,500 calories. Since most of us would probably have some type of appetizer, and a drink or too, we could be consuming close to 3,500 calories at one meal.
Another featured dish is Applebee’s Quesadilla burger. Which is a bacon cheeseburger inserted into a quesadilla. This actually sounds quite good to me. However, it has 1,820 calories, 46 g of saturated fat and 4,410 mg of sodium. Apparently you can add chili fries, or more cheese to this entree.
To put the Quesadilla burger in perspective, 46g of saturated fat is more than 3 oz of butter (3/4 of a stick). The entrée also contains 4,410 mg of sodium. The daily recommended amount of dietary sodium in the US is 2,300 mg per day and in the UK it is 1,600 mg. The DASH diet, designed by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NIH) to lower blood pressure, suggests a goal of 1,500 mg dietary sodium for effective lowering of blood pressure. Using the UK level, or the lower level suggested for blood pressure control, the quesadilla has almost 3 days worth of sodium. With that much sodium I am sure I would drink quite a bit, which would increase the calorie intake.
The question is, would seeing the calories, saturated fat and sodium listed for every item on the menu make us make better choices. My guess is that initially yes, but then we would not pay much attention. What do you think? Would seeing the nutrition data affect what you chose? Check out the article.
Technorati Tags: Xtreme Eating Awards, calories, saturated fat, sodium, blood pressure, quesadilla
Healthy Lifestyle? What Me?
May 28, 2009
What is a healthy lifestyle? This is not a trick question.
My answer would be something like the following. A healthy lifestyle is eating a good diet that has lots of servings of vegetables and fruits and is not too high in “bad” fats or simple carbs. It is not smoking, not drinking too much alcohol, exercising and maintaining a BMI (body mass index) appropriate for height and muscle mass.
Why did I even ask? We are bombarded with news items, articles, etc., about diet, exercise and lifestyle habits. Nearly everybody already knows all this.
However, comparison of NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) data from 1988-1994 and 2001-2006 shows that though we might know this, we are not following through.
In the 10+ years between the surveys, in adults who were 40-74 years, the percentage with a BMI greater than 30 (considered obese) has increased from 28% to 36%, and eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables has decreased from 42% to 26%. Looking at five categories, physical activity, eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, moderate alcohol use and not smoking the percentages of people who were in all five categories had dropped from 15% to 8%.
Is this a big surprise? No.
Education and knowledge is not where it is at. It is what is available, makes our lives easier and more pleasurable. Plus unhealthy lifestyles are usually cheaper.
How do we reverse this change? Short of transporting us all back 50, or more, years to a different era, I don’t think we can. We are in a different era, busy, stressed and short of time. Preparing healthy tasty meals takes personal interest and time. Not something that is that common.
The current economic crisis has to be making this worse, since cheap and frugal means more fast food. Plus major stress does not usually lead to good lifestyle choices.
Hell, now that I have decided that it is hopeless, I might as well have to have a drink to forget about my unhealthy lifestyle.
photo credit: ripplestone garden
Technorati Tags: healthy lifestyle, unhealthy lifestyles
Sleep And Weight Are Related
May 20, 2009
There is increasing evidence that long term lack of sleep is not good for health. Recently there has been further evidence that less sleep equals more weight gain, and that diet plays a role in sleep.
Previously on this blog there have been several posts about how lack of sleep has negative health effects. A recent post Sleep more and weight less discussed how the regulation of appetite is controlled by the hormones. Lack of sleep decreases leptin levels and increases ghrelin levels, resulting in more food intake, less energy expenditure and more fat deposition.
Yet another study has come out showing that those who tend to sleep less are more likely to be obese. A study of nurses who wore 24 hour activity monitors, showed that those who slept the least more likely to have a higher BMI (body mass index).
Further it has been shown in a study that eating a high fat diet, particularly having a fatty evening meal, can result in poorer and less sleep, suggesting that in some people there could be a sort of negative downward spiral.
Short sleep times have also been suggested to increase the risk of both high blood pressure and diabetes. And of course, there can be a link between diabetes and obesity.
Here are some suggested guidelines for getting more and good quality sleep.
- Follow a consistent bedtime routine.
- Establish a relaxing setting at bedtime.
- Do not watch TV in bed.
- Avoid foods or drinks that contain caffeine, or any stimulant, including medications, prior to bedtime.
- Do not go to bed hungry, but don’t eat a big meal before bedtime either.
- Make your bedroom quiet, dark and relatively cool.
- Get up at the same time every morning
Perhaps it is time to consider good sleep habits as important as other health factors such as good nutrition. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has a website www.sleepeduction.com that has guidelines and useful information about sleep.
Technorati Tags: sleep, diet, weight, weight gain, obese, fatty meal, health
Teas Are The Universal Cure-All?
May 11, 2009
Suddenly tea and tea extracts seem to be everywhere, in all kinds products. You would think teas are the universal cure-all.
For instance, over the weekend I was looking at the ingredient lists for a number of cosmetic products, including daily chemical peel products and after peel moisturizers. Many of the products had tea extracts in them, usually called extract of Camellia sinensis. Additionally, tea extracts have been suggested to be helpful for treating skin damaged in cancer patients after radiation.
White tea has been suggested to help with obesity. An extract of white tea has been shown to stop the formation of new fat cells, and to make the existing fat cells start to break down the fat that they contain.
So what is white tea? I had no idea. It made from the same plant as regular tea, but only young still downy white buds and young leaves are used, and not fermented like regular tea. If you are going to make it and drink it, apparently you should not use boiling water. The water used for brewing should be quite a bit cooler than boiling water. This is supposed to be the best for its delicate taste. White tea is lower in caffeine but higher in antioxidants than regular tea.
Another news item suggests that an African tea that is used in traditional Nigeria medicine may help with diabetes. It is made from leaves of the lovely sounding Rauvolfia vomitoria and the fruit of Citrus aurantium. The tea helped mobilize fat, and in a small human trial after 4 months there was better glucose control. The genus Rauvolfia, a tropical evergreen shrub, is widely used in folk medicine and has been shown to lower blood pressure, have psychological effects, be a hypnotic and can irritate those with digestive diseases.
In Asia though the population tends to smoke heavily there is less cardiovascular disease and cancer than in the west. This is known as the Asian paradox. It has been suggested that part of the reason, for the lower levels of these diseases, is the high consumption of tea, particularly green tea.
Green Tea has also been suggested to have antibacterial activity too.
Low calorie and healthy. So, have a cuppa (used in the UK, for a cup of tea).
Technorati Tags: teas, white tea, green tea, Rauvolfia, obesity, fat cells, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, skin, chemical peel, antibacterial
Do You Have Much Brown Fat?
April 9, 2009
On reading the question do you have much brown fat; you are probably thinking I really hope not. However, you should be thinking the reverse.
So why on earth would you hope to have some brown fat? We nearly all hope for less fat, and brown fat sounds pretty yucky.
When we are born we have quite a bit of brown fat, or as it is also known, brown adipose tissue. The main purpose of brown fat is to make heat. Newborn babies are not able to move much, have little surface body fat, usually not able to shiver and their nervous system is not fully developed. Therefore, newborns use brown fat to help keep them warm in cool conditions.
White fat, the “regular” fat, has two purposes, one is protection and cushioning, particularly of our organs, the other is to store energy.
Putting out heat means using lots of energy, which of course, is using lots of calories. So brown fat uses calories, whereas white fat stores calories.
It was thought until recently that as a baby developed it lost all its brown fat. However, it has been shown by activity and biopsy that most adults do have some brown fat. Not a lot, but some.
Now it has been shown that the brown fat is activated when somebody is in cool conditions for an hour or two. This makes sense when the body is cold, it tries to heat itself. One way this happens is by shivering. Shivering is using your muscles to move, which generates heat. Activating brown fat is another way to heat your body.
So, generally, who has the most brown fat? Thinner people tend to have more than fatter people – less of an insulating layer of white fat. Younger had more than older. Those with lower glucose levels. Women had more than men.
This raises some interesting questions. If you kept yourself slightly cold how many extra calories would you burn? Would it be enough for weight loss? Are people who live in cold climates or cold houses likely to be thinner? If you keep brown fat activated, will the amount you have increase?
Should we all turn down the thermostat and take a blanket off the bed?
Technorati Tags: brown fat, brown adipose tissue, non-shivering thermogenesis, calories, baby
Weight: It Is Not What You Eat, But What You Drink?
April 3, 2009
A study suggests that controlling what you drink may be an important key to long term loss of weight. Cutting liquid calories may be what is needed for weight loss.
Researchers examined the relationship between what people ate and drank, and weight loss. There were two findings.
A reduction in the calories consumed in beverages was associated with weight loss. This is a bit of a no-brainer. Less calories in, the greater the potential to lose weight.
The second finding was that the amount of calories consumed in beverages had a greater effect on weight loss than the number of calories consumed in solid food. In the study cutting calories in both solid food and beverages resulted in weight loss. However, at follow up, 6 and 12 months later, those that were not getting as many calories from drinks had significant weight change.
The study found that the culprit seems to be sweetened beverages. One explanation is that foods or drinks high in simple sugars stimulate appetite (see Fructose messes with appetite control). So sweetened beverages that make you consume more.
In addition, many people do not really think so much about what they drink as what they eat. For instance a Starbucks medium size mocha frappucino has 380 calories and 47g (a bit less than two ounces) of sugar. I have a friend who is on a diet pretty much permanently, who has a Starbucks coffee drink most day.
Perhaps giving up that mocha frappucino or soda will reduce the calories enough to tip us over into the weight loss category.
photo credit: sillygwailo
Technorati Tags: liquid calories, weight loss, sweetened beverages, drinking
Do the microbes in your gut make you obese?
January 21, 2009
One of the mysteries of the human race, is why it so hard to lose weight. For some people the answer looks obvious, whether they acknowledge it or not, they are eating way too many calories. However, for other people it is harder to figure out why they find it so hard to lose weight, and really difficult to maintain any weight loss.
One new avenue of research suggests that the microbes that you have in your gut make you obese.
An older explanation, for this weighty problem, suggested a few years ago, is that in obese people metabolism slows down. This slower metabolism would mean that you would need to eat even less food than somebody who was “normal” weight to maintain weight. Further this means to lose weight very few calories per day would be needed.
The new research suggests, in those that are obese, that microbes in their guts are more efficient at extracting energy from food. Our intestines are full of different microbes. We have what is called a symbiotic relationship with most of them. They help digest our food and extract nutrients, inactivate some harmful compounds such as toxins and even make some nutrients such as vitamin K. They also help with our immune systems and may help fight off bad microbes from our food. In return the microbes have a protected environment and a continuous food source. So both us and the microbes benefit.
If obese people have microbes that can extract energy more efficiently this would mean that those with obesity would effectively get more calories from the same food than somebody who is not obese. This could be another reason it is hard to maintain weight, let alone lose it.
In the study there were three groups of people those who were not obese, those who were obese and those that had been obese but had had gastric bypass surgery. Those who were not obese and those that had lost weight due to the surgery had a different microbial profile than those that were obese. The good news is that those that had had the surgery and lost weight had the same profile as those that were not obese. This suggests that the profile can change, so with significant weight loss you may be able to revert to having less efficient microbes in your gut, and then actually need more calories to put on weight. More information about the study.
If either or both the slower metabolism and gut microbe theories are both correct, this would help explain why is so very hard to lose and weight. Life is sometimes not fair.
photo credit: davitydave
Technorati Tags: microbes, gut, energy efficient, obese
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