The links to the rest of the new site in the blog will not be added until the new version of the site is up. Bits and pieces of an older design and layout of the Age More Slowly website are currently viewable. If you are interested here is the old Age More Slowly home page.

photo credit: Andrew Michaels

a

According to an article about research at the Department of Homeland Security, our brains all have their own soundtrack. This soundtrack varies between individuals.

The aim of the research is to improve the reactions and reflexes of first responders while at an incident, and also to help them relax and de-stress afterwards.

The program called “Brain Music” analyzes brain waves of study participants, and then makes two musical compositions, for each participant. One composition is designed for when under stress, needing to focus and be productive and has a “Mozart sound”. The other composition is for reducing stress and relaxing, and has more of Chopin sonata feel to it.

This music is initially going to be tested on firefighters.

If the Brain Music is found to be effective, then it could have all sorts of uses.

You could have Brain Music that helps with insomnia, winding down after a hard day at work (cheaper and better for you than a couple of beers?) and coping with pain and health problems. The Brain Music could also help you with deadlines at work, driving in heavy traffic and playing sports. Your life would have its own personal soundtrack.

Listen to some alert Brain Music at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/multimedia/snapshots/st_brain_music_active.mp3

photo credit: Carlos Daniel Gomero

Technorati Tags: Brain Music, soundtrack, productive, stress, insomnia

a

Previously there has been a post on this blog Fructose messes with appetite control. Now there is a study that suggests that consuming fructose may be worse for you than glucose.

A new study gave overweight volunteers either fructose-sweetened drinks or glucose-sweetened drinks for 10 weeks. The amount fructose or glucose in the drinks represented a quarter of their energy requirements.

Both groups gained weight, but those that were drinking fructose had several changes that were worse than those drinking glucose.

Those that got the fructose-sweetened drinks put on more belly fat than those that got the fructose-sweetened drinks.

There was an increase in the levels LDL particles (bad cholesterol), including small dense LDL particles, which are the worst type of these bad cholesterol particles, as well as a few other types of lipid particles, except triglycerides.

Additionally, the consumers of the fructose-sweetened drinks had increased fasting glucose, higher levels or insulin and were less insulin sensitive. High fasting glucose and being less insulin sensitive (insulin resistant) are hallmarks of the development of diabetes.

This study suggests that in those that are overweight, that eating or drinking much fructose may increase belly size (see the post Chronic inflammation results from belly (visceral) fat for information about why belly fat is bad), give a worse blood lipid profile and increase the risk of developing diabetes.

Though this is a small study, did not look at anybody who was not overweight, and was only for 10 weeks long, the fact that there were changes in 10 weeks make you think.

The bottom line is that eating and drinking less fructose-containing products is probably a good idea. There is not really any negative impact of consuming less fructose, and there may be a positive impact on health.

photo credit: alan.stoddard

Technorati Tags: fructose, glucose, belly fat, lipids, LDL, insulin sensitivity, fasting glucose

a

Unfortunately there seems to be much disagreement about what is the best cooking method. Though there is general agreement that different fruits and vegetables react in different ways to the various cooking methods.

Part of the problem is that everybody seems to use their favorite method for measuring antioxidant power. The problem with antioxidants is that there is a range of them, with different structures and different mechanisms of action. So there can be very different methods for analysis.

However, it is clear that some vegetables have increased antioxidant power after cooking. Raw is not always best.

A recent study carried out in Spain, compared the effects of a number of different cooking methods on twenty vegetables.

The six cooking methods were boiling, pressure-cooking, baking, microwaving, griddling (hot pan without oil) and frying.

They found the following

• The highest antioxidant loss was observed in cauliflower after boiling and microwaving, peas after boiling, and zucchini after boiling and frying.
• Green beans, beets, and garlic were found to keep their antioxidant levels after most cooking treatments.
• The vegetables that increased their antioxidant levels after all cooking methods were green beans (except green beans after boiling), celery and carrots.

The researchers in this study suggest that water-based cooking methods most frequently resulted in losses. This is agreement with most, but not all, other studies that have suggested that for many vegetables, in particular brassicas such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower boiling is results in loss of some types of antioxidants.

It seems everything just gets more complicated. Do we have to cook all the components of a meal in different ways to get the most beenfit?

photo credit: miheco

Technorati Tags: vegetable, antioxidant power, broccoli, boiling, cooking

a

Energy drinks are everywhere. The supermarket has a big selection. Most of the energy drinks consumed contain some form of sugar and “energy ingredients” mainly caffeine.

There have been a number of well publicized studies that have shown that the some brands have little, to no, caffeine. However, since consumers seem to find all brands give them energy, it has been suggested that it is often the sugars that are responsible for the energy response.

Recently, it has also been shown that rinsing out your mouth with an energy drink and then spitting it out, not swallowing any, has the some effect as drinking the drink!

Why should just having the drink in your mouth have an effect? Previously it had been suggested that it was the rapid rush of calories that resulted in the energy effect.

However, recently it has been shown that just having calories in your mouth activates your brain! This activation can lead to improved athletic performance.

In a new study athletes were give one of three drinks. One contained glucose, one contained maltodextrin, a carbohydrate that we cannot taste, and the last one no carbohydrate, water. The taste of all three was adjusted with artificial sweetener so that they all tasted the same.

The athletes that were given drinks with carbohydrate, either glucose or maltodextrin, performed better than those given the water. Since the maltodextrin also had the effect, there must be carbohydrate receptors in our mouths that sense carbohydrate in addition to those sensing sweet.

MRI studies of brains showed that the glucose and maltodextrin triggered responses in the same part of the brain, but that there was not a similar response to artificial sweetener alone. This is good evidence that there are major effects are directly from the mouth to the brain. The drinks do not have to go into the tummy!

So, if you rinse, spit and don’t swallow energy drinks, you can get the benefits without the calories.

photo credit: urbaer

Technorati Tags: energy drink, spit, swallow, carbohydrate, maltodextrin, glucose, brain

a

Unless you measure your blood pressure, generally, you have no idea of what your blood pressure actually is. It could be low, normal or high. It is really a good idea to measure it once in a while.

There a whole range of treatment options for high blood pressure, ranging from controlled breathing to one or more drugs. These treatments will reduce blood pressure for most people. However, there are some people who are resistant to treatment; their blood pressure will only drop slightly, with combination therapy such as a three different drugs, and stays well above the target range.

A small study now suggests an alternative type of treatment for lowering blood pressure. This new method used minimally invasive surgery.

Using a catheter (tube threaded into the body) they were given radiofrequency treatment in a specific area close to the kidney. This treatment destroyed certain nerves. The kidney is one of the major organs for controlling blood pressure. By inactivating certain nerves, and hence stopping some signals to the kidney, blood pressure will drop.

All the subjects in the study were on three blood pressure drugs, and still had systolic pressure (upper number) of 160 mm Hg or greater. Those that had the surgery had a big drop in blood pressure and this drop was maintained 12 months later. The study participants that did not have the surgery, on average, had slightly higher blood pressure after 12 months.

There were no problems for any of the patients that had the surgery. Catheters are commonly used for other techniques such as angioplasty.

This technique could reduce the number of people with heart failure, strokes, heart attacks and eye damage significantly. The use of this surgery could translate into many people not getting a reduced quality of life due to the consequences of uncontrolled high blood pressure, and huge healthcare savings. Hopefully the early findings are repeated in larger studies.

photo credit: Zeusandhera

Technorati Tags: high blood pressure, kidney, catheter, surgery

a

Lipoic acid and alpha lipoic acid are generally used interchangeably. The lipoic acid that is found in foods is alpha lipoic acid. It is found in both animals and plants and in is the cells of our bodies. It is essential for life.

Lipoic acid is required for correct functioning mitochondria (the powerhouses of cells) and has antioxidant properties. One property of lipoic acid is that it is able to interact with both reactive oxygen species (ROS) in both water (aqueous) and fatty environments. This potentially makes it very effective as an antioxidant.

Lipoic acid is thought to be helpful for diabetes (discussed below), Alzheimer’s and several other conditions. Now comes a demonstration that lipoic acid may lower triglycerides

One effect of lipoic acid is to increase the uptake of glucose into cells. It does this by mimicking insulin, which increases the uptake of glucose by a type of glucose receptor called glut4. This may be of benefit for those with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. For many people increasing uptake of glucose into cells will help lower blood glucose. The studies with animal models of diabetes look promising, it remains to be seen if lipoic acid is helpful for human diabetes.

One of the effects of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes is that there is increased oxidative stress in the body. Since lipoic acid has antioxidant properties, it may also be useful in reducing some of the negative health consequences of diabetes. Again looking at animals with diabetes there is a benefit. One benefit is a reduction in peripheral neuropathy, which is damage to nerves in the body, caused by diabetes.

New research suggests that lipoic acid may reduce triglycerides. High triglycerides are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and are often increased in diabetics. Triglycerides levels increase in diabetes due to lipoprotein lipase, the enzyme that degrades triglycerides, becoming less sensitive to insulin. (Reduced sensitivity to insulin, called insulin resistance, is a hallmark of type 2 diabetes.) Since lipoic acid is thought to act as an insulin mimetic for glucose uptake, perhaps it also works the same way for lipoprotein lipase as it does with glucose uptake by glut4.

Most foods have low levels of lipoic acid. However, it is not possible to eat enough food to get the amounts of lipoic acid used in research. Therefore, anyone who wants to significantly increase their lipoic acid intake will have to take supplements.

photo credit: tgolf_69

Technorati Tags: lipoic acid, alpha lipoic acid, triglycerides, lipoprotein lipase, diabetes, glucose uptake, glut4, antioxidant, insulin

a

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?

photo credit: iZZo.mv

Technorati Tags: brown fat, brown adipose tissue, non-shivering thermogenesis, calories, baby

a

First, a couple of days ago I had a post Should You Consume Less Fish or Fish Oil. This post talked about how the fish stocks have crashed and whole ecosystems will probably get wrecked. It was suggested that plant sources are the way to go. The post talked about how yeast are being engineered to produce high levels of omega-3 fatty acids (Marmite plus, anyone?) and there are algae supplements too. The next post was about camelina, a plant related to rapeseed (canola) which is an excellent source of omega-3’s. So if you are already are or thinking of consuming high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, think about plant sources. Flax meal is good, since it also has high levels of good types of fiber.

Omega-3 fatty acids have been suggested to have a number of benefits including lowering the level of inflammation and lowering triglycerides.

Now, new research suggests that DHA (docosahexanoic or docosahexaenoic acid), an omega-3 fatty acid, may slow the growth of solid tumors, and further, both increased the effectiveness of cisplatin, a chemotherapy drug, and reduced the side effects.

This is just one study. If it is confirmed in other cancer models it has another implication. None of us know when a tumor is growing inside us, until starts to affect our health or is discovered accidentally. Perhaps DHA could slow the growth of any as yet undiscovered tumors that we have. Hopefully this research is confirmed.

small> photo credit: Deco Fernandes

Technorati Tags: omega-3 fatty acids, cancer, solid tumor, DHA

a

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

a