This exercise lowers diabetes risk, study finds
Among people at high risk for diabetes who get very little exercise, those who manage to walk more throughout the day are less likely to actually develop the blood sugar disorder, according to a U.S. study.
Earlier studies have shown that walking more is tied to a lower risk of diabetes, but few studies have looked into precise measures of how many steps people take each day, said Amanda Fretts, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“Our finding wasn’t surprising given that other studies have shown that even light activity is associated with a lower risk of diabetes,” Fretts wrote in an email to Reuters Health.
To get a better sense of the potential benefits of walking, Fretts and her colleagues asked more than 1,800 people to wear a pedometer for a week to tally the number of steps they typically took each day.
All of them came from native American communities in Arizona, Oklahoma and North and South Dakota that are known to have low physical activity levels and high rates of diabetes.
About a quarter of the group were considered to have very low activity, taking fewer than 3,500 steps a day, while half took fewer than 7,800 steps a day. One mile is around 2,000 steps and daily walking recommendations typically point to a minimum of 10,000 steps a day.
At the beginning of the study, none of the participants had diabetes. But after five years of follow-up, 243 people had the condition.
Sleep deprivation and stress both activate immune system
Missing a night’s sleep has the same effect on the immune system as experiencing physical stress, a new study from the Netherlands finds.
In the study, men who were kept continuously awake for 29 hours showed an increase in levels of white blood cells called granulocytes. And while levels of these white blood cells usually go through vary throughout a normal day, this rhythm was lost during sleep deprivation
, the researchers said.
Sleep deprivation is known to be associated with the development of obesity, and with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and breast cancer. Further research is needed to understand how changes in the immune system may influence the development of these diseases, the researchers said.
Because the study was small, future research is needed to confirm the results.
The researchers compared the white blood cell counts of 15 healthy young men under normal and severely sleep-deprived conditions. During the study, blood samples were collected every three hours for a 48-hour period.
The study is published today (June 30) in the journal Sleep.
Study finds eating breakfast decreases diabetes risk
Eating breakfast helps keep you thin and diabetes-free.
A large U.S. study sought to find out whether breakfast consumption is protective against obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Results were dramatic.
“We found that those who reported eating breakfast daily had a 34 per cent decreased risk of developing type 2 diabetes over 18 years,” says Andrew Odegaard, a research associate at the University of Minnesota school of public health.
Odegaard and colleagues from Minnesota, Chicago and Boston tracked 3,598 people for nearly 20 years, assessing their dietary habits, their weight, and their health.
Participants were young — between the ages of 18 and 30 — when the study started, and about 10 per cent of them developed type 2 diabetes.
When scientists crunched the data, they found that those who ate breakfast most days of the week were better off than those who never or rarely ate breakfast.
And eating breakfast every day was best of all.
But why is that first meal of the day so good for you? Odegaard explains.
“The research to date on the subject suggests that ‘break-ing the fast’ in the morning has day-long effects on factors related to metabolism and appetite, which would affect the development of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes.”
He warns that just because you eat breakfast doesn’t mean you can pig out on junk food the rest of the day, and still remain thin.
“Breakfast may be important, but overall diet quality still needs to be emphasized.” The study was presented at the 2012 American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions.
American ginseng may reduce fatigue during cancer treatment
Already known as a popular herb for its reputed energy-boosting effects, American ginseng may help reduce symptoms of fatigue for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiation, according to a new study.
Mayo Clinic researchers found that after eight weeks of receiving 2,000 milligrams of ginseng daily, 340 study patients showed a significant decrease in exhaustion compared with participants in a placebo group. Sixty percent of patients had breast cancer. Researchers used capsules with pure, ground American ginseng root for the study because store-bought ginseng can be processed with ethanol.
Study patients were either receiving chemotherapy or radiation or had completed a course of treatment.
“It’s actually one of the most common problems for cancer survivors today,” said Debra Barton, associate professor of oncology at Mayor Clinic and lead author of the study. “Studies tell us that as much as 100 percent of patients at some point in treatment have a debilitating fatigue and though it does get better once treatment is over, many patients don’t get back to their pretreatment energy level,” Barton said.
A High Intake of Certain Dietary Fats Associated With Lower Live Birth Rates in IVF
Women with a higher intake of dietary saturated fats have fewer mature oocytes available for collection in IVF, according to results of a study from the Harvard School of Public Health funded by the US National Institutes of Health. The study investigated the effect of dietary fat (classified as total, saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, omega 6, omega 3 and trans) on a range of preclinical and clinical outcomes in women having IVF. Results showed that the intake of saturated fat was inversely related to the number of mature oocytes retrieved, while polyunsaturated fat consumption was inversely associated with early embryo quality.
Dietary fat intake has been previously studied for its effect on reproductive health; for example, a high intake of trans-fats has been associated with ovulatory infertility (as in polycystic ovary syndrome) and miscarriage, while saturated fats have been related to lower sperm concentrations. But so far little has been known about the effect of dietary fat intake on the outcome of fertility treatment.
The results of this study were presented July 3 at the annual meeting of ESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) by Dr Jorge Chavarro, Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health, USA.
Caffeine Linked to Lower Skin Cancer Risk
Coffee fanatics are less likely to develop the most common type of skin cancer, a new study found.
The study of nearly 113,000 men and women found those who drank three or more cups of coffee a day had a 20 percent lower risk of basal cell carcinoma than those who said no to Joe.
“I think we’re seeing more and more evidence for the beneficial effects of coffee consumption,” said study author Jiali Han, associate professor of dermatology and epidemiology at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard School of Public Health, explaining that java has also been linked to a reduced risk of diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. “I wouldn’t recommend drinking coffee solely based on this work, but it does add one more thing to the list.”
The study, published today in the journal Cancer Research, sheds new light on a skin cancer that affects 2.8 million Americans each year.
The Secret to Healthier Cream Sauces
Building in Flavor
In their most basic state, cream sauces can be rich but bland. In the healthy kitchen, we can change that by packing in the vegetables. Fresh or dried mushrooms are a great choice, but so are roasted peppers, roasted butternut squash, carrots, and caramelized onions.
Herbs, tomato puree, horseradish, and even mustard can help build flavor and thicken the sauce. In summer, I chop up parsley, thyme, and basil, then freeze in ice cube trays. Later I add a cube or two to sauces for a burst of freshness.
Healthy Swaps for Thickeners
Most sauces are thickened with flour or starch of some sort using one of two methods: a roux or a slurry. Rouxs are equal parts of fat (oil, pan drippings, or butter) and flour that are cooked together before adding the liquid. Slurries are a cool mixture of water and flour or starch that are shaken or stirred together then added to sauce that’s already partially cooked. Rouxs are often used to start sauces; slurries are used to thicken sauces or pan juices
Even the traditional roux can be tweaked to make it lighter. The easiest swap is to use whole wheat flour in place of white or all-purpose flour. Traditionally you would use equal parts of fat, usually butter, and flour, the higher-gluten whole-wheat flour requires a bit more liquid so you’ll need to experiment.
Flaxseed Has Big Benefits
For something so small, flaxseed has big benefits. Recent studies have shown that flaxseed, known to the world for thousands of years, may aid in lowering cholesterol, stabilizing blood sugar, reducing bone loss, promoting weight loss, increasing immunity, and fighting cancer, says clinical nutritionist Stella Metsovas of Laguna Beach, Calif.
Flaxseed is high in:
- Vitamins and minerals, including most of the B vitamins, magnesium, and manganese
- Fiber, both soluble and insoluble
- Phytochemicals, including many powerful antioxidants such as lignans. In fact, because it’s a plant, flaxseed is one of the best sources of lignans around, Metsovas says.
- Omega-3 fatty acids, key to fighting inflammation. Flaxseed is a mega-source of the plant version of omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). Flaxseed oil is about 50 percent ALA — five times more than walnut oil or canola oil, which are the next highest sources of ALA.
Why drinking alcohol makes you fat
There are many factors that affect weight loss, making the process more complicated than it may seem. The body produces different hormones in response to different types of foods and/or drinks. Losing weight is not only about calorie consumption but also about the types of foods and drinks consumed. Alcohol is one of the worst culprits when it comes to inhibiting weight loss because it disrupts the delicate balance of nutrition, fluid and hormones needed to lose fat.
Alcohol boosts cortisol, a fat-creating hormone
Drinking heavily or even occasionally increases the body’s release of cortisol – the hormone that breaks down muscle and retains fat. This loss of muscle can mean a huge slowdown in one’s metabolism, making it easier to gain weight. In addition, alcohol causes a drop in testosterone in men, a hormone which helps burn fat.
Alcohol also blocks the body from burning fat. Research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that fat metabolism can be reduced by as much as 73 percent after only two drinks of vodka and lemonade in a one-hour time period. In effect, alcohol shuts down the body’s ability to access fat stores for energy. The body needs to be well-hydrated in order to build muscle and burn fat. Alcohol has the effect of dehydrating the body.
Coffee May Reduce the Risk of Heart Failure
Hey java drinkers, that coffee buzz you love so much may also help prevent heart failure, according to a new study published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation Heart Failure.
While many believe coffee drinking may be dangerous to the heart, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston said moderate consumption of your daily jo could be beneficial.
The scientists analyzed five prospective studies, which included more than 140,000 men and women, that related to coffee consumption and heart risk. Four of the studies were based in Sweden, and one was conducted in Finland. They found that those who drank a moderate amount of coffee daily, defined as the equivalent of two 8-ounce American cups per day, may experience protective benefits against heart failure by as much as 11 percent.
