Calcium Intake Linked to Heart Attack
Cheese, Yogurt may keep diabetes at bay
There’s good news on the dairy front. Eating just a few slices of cheese or a serving of yogurt may help reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes by 12%, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
European researchers conducted a study to investigate the prospective association of total dairy products and different dairy subtypes with incidence of diabetes in populations with marked variation of intake of these food groups.
They examined dietary patterns from 16,800 healthy adults and 12,400 diabetic patients who participated in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) and Nutrition study. They found participants who consumed a combination of fermented dairy products, such as cheese, yogurt and thick fermented milk, had a 12% reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The authors concluded the large prospective study found no association between total dairy product intake and diabetes risk. An inverse association of cheese intake and combined fermented dairy product intake with diabetes is suggested, which merits further study.
Raisins boost athletic performance
For athletes participating in the London 2012 Olympics, here is a helpful tip!
According to a new research, you can now replace your dose of sports chews with the good old raisin as it provides the same workout boost.
Researchers from the University of California-Davis found that eating raisins can boost performance in athletes and long distance runners.
Many athletes like to fuel with energy gels or chews because they are easy to carry and digest.
The study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition evaluated the effects that natural versus commercial carbohydrate supplements have on endurance running performance.
Runners completed three randomised trials (raisins, chews and water only) separated by seven days.
The study found that those who ingested raisins or sports chews ran their 5 kilometres on average one minute faster than those who ingested only water.
Eating raisins and sports chews promoted higher carbohydrate oxidation compared to water only.
“Raisins are a great alternative to sport chews as they provide micronutrients, such as potassium and iron, and they do not have any added sugar, artificial flavour or colours,” said James Painter, nutrition research advisor for the California Raisin Marketing Board.
“As an added bonus, raisins are the most economical dried fruit according to the United Stated Department of Agriculture, so they are cost effective and convenient for use during exercise,” he said.
Dietary fiber cuts colorectal cancer risk
Diabetes Linked To Heavy Cosmetic Use
High-maintenance women could be at high-risk for developing diabetes, a new scientific study suggests.
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston said they found a link between phthalates – a class of chemicals found in products such as nail polish, soaps, perfumes, hair and tanning sprays – and the metabolic disease.
According to the study, women who had the highest levels of the chemicals mono-benzyl phthalate and mono-isobutyl phthalate had almost twice the risk of diabetes compared to women with the lowest levels of those chemicals. Women with levels slightly higher than the median of the chemical mono-(3-carboxypropyl) phthalate had approximately a 60 percent increased risk of diabetes. And women with just moderately high levels of the chemicals mono-n-butyl phthalate and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate had approximately a 70 percent increased risk of diabetes.
No-Fat, Low-Fat Dressings Don’t Get Most Nutrients Out of Salads
The vegetables in salads are chock-full of important vitamins and nutrients, but you won’t get much benefit without the right type and amount of salad dressing, a Purdue University study shows.
In a human trial, researchers fed subjects salads topped off with saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat-based dressings and tested their blood for absorption of fat-soluble carotenoids – compounds such as lutein, lycopene, beta-carotene and zeaxanthin. Those carotenoids are associated with reduced risk of several chronic and degenerative diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration.
The study, published early online in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, found that monounsaturated fat-rich dressings required the least amount of fat to get the most carotenoid absorption, while saturated fat and polyunsaturated fat dressings required higher amounts of fat to get the same benefit.
“If you want to utilize more from your fruits and vegetables, you have to pair them correctly with fat-based dressings,” said Mario Ferruzzi, the study’s lead author and a Purdue associate professor of food science. “If you have a salad with a fat-free dressing, there is a reduction in calories, but you lose some of the benefits of the vegetables.”
Study Shows Fruit and Vegetable Juice Concentrate May Reduce Abdominal Fat Mass
A new study published in the July issue of The Journal of Pediatrics shows that supplementation with an encapsulated fruit and vegetable juice concentrate (Juice Plus+® Orchard Blend and Garden Blend; NSA, LLC, Memphis, Tenn., USA) was associated with an increase in serum beta-carotene concentrations, reduced abdominal adipose tissue and improved insulin resistance in overweight boys compared to the placebo group. These study results add to the existing body of research about the role of nutrition in promoting children’s health.
This double-blind placebo-controlled study was conducted at the Nemours Children’s Clinic Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism in Jacksonville, Fla., and was funded by the Nemours Research Program. It followed 30 age-matched boys between the ages of six and 10 years (nine lean and 21 overweight) for a six-month period. Randomized participants received either placebo or fruit and vegetable juice concentrate capsules in conjunction with nutrition and lifestyle counseling sessions at baseline and halfway (three months) with a registered research dietician.
Body composition and abdominal fat mass were determined using a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan. The study found a significant increase in serum beta-carotene levels in both the lean (303% +/- 85%) and overweight (334% +/- 57%) participants who received the fruit and vegetable juice concentrate capsules. The fruit and vegetable juice concentrate capsule group also showed a decrease in abdominal fat mass and significantly reduced triglycerides among the overweight participants (P=.032), which may have played an important role in their improved insulin sensitivity. These changes were observed in the absence of weight loss in the overweight boys in both the placebo and active groups.
Despite public health recommendations such as the Healthy People 2010 Report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the latest Expert Panel on the Integrated Guidelines for Cardiovascular Health and Risk Reduction in Children and Adolescents, few children meet recommended nutrition guidelines. The improvements seen in insulin resistance, triglyceride levels, and abdominal fat attenuation in the fruit and vegetable juice concentrate capsule group open new avenues for future research and underscore the need to enhance intake of nutrition from fruits and vegetables in overweight boys.
Iron Supplements Fight Fatigue
Some women with unexplained fatigue may get a bit more pep from iron supplements – even if they do not have full-blown anemia, a new clinical trial suggests.
The study focused on women who were chronically tired and had relatively low iron stores. They did not, however, have full-blown iron-deficiency anemia, in which the body has too few oxygen-carrying red blood cells.
It has not been clear whether iron supplements can help battle fatigue in non-anemic women.
To find out, Swiss researchers randomly assigned 200 women with unexplained fatigue to take either 80 milligrams of iron a day or a placebo (identical-looking pills with no active ingredient.)
Over 12 weeks, both groups improved. But women on iron supplements fared better, the researchers report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
On average, scores on a standard measure of fatigue fell by nearly half – from about 25 to 13, on a scale of zero to 40 – among women getting the extra iron.
That compared with a 29 percent decline in fatigue reported by the placebo group, whose average score fell from about 25 to just over 16.
Risk of insulin resistance greater when Vitamin D deficiency and obesity present
The combination of obesity and vitamin Ddeficiency may put people at even greater risk of insulin resistance than either factor alone, according to new research from the Drexel University School of Public Health recently published early online in the journal Diabetes Care. Insulin resistance is a major risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, a condition that affects 25.6 million adults and is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.
Vitamin D insufficiency and obesity are individual risk factors for insulin resistance and diabetes,” said lead author Shaum Kabadi, a doctoral candidate in epidemiology at Drexel. “Our results suggest that the combination of these two factors increases the odds of insulin resistance to an even greater degree than would have been expected based on their individual contributions.”
In the study, obese individuals who had healthy levels of vitamin D had insulin resistance almost 20 times more often than the overall study population. But in obese individuals whose serum vitamin D was low, insulin resistance was much higher: about 32 times more common than the average.
Almonds a healthy snack substitute for dieters
Substituting almonds for less healthy foods could help dieters stick to a calorie-controlled diet, and lower their cholesterol at the same time, says a new study.
“Nuts, and in this case almonds, shouldn’t be on the ‘do not eat’ list, they can be effectively incorporated in a weight loss plan, with the caveat that they have to be portion controlled,” said Dr. Gary Foster, who led the study at Temple University in Philadelphia.
The new study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and supported by the Almond Board of California, involved 123 generally healthy but obese people who followed a calorie-controlled diet for 18 months. Women ate 1,200-1,500 calories per day, while men ate 1,500-1,800.
Half the people, assigned at random by researchers, were given two 28-gram packages of almonds (about 24 almonds per package) to eat each day. That works out to about 350 calories’ worth. The other half agreed to avoid nuts altogether.
