Archive for July, 2006
Atkins has fallen in the public esteem from its glory days, but in case there’s anyone out there who still thinks the ultra low carb, high protein diet is the way to go for weight loss, check out this report.
Doctors at UCLA compared a group of “normal weight” adults with a similar sized group of overweight adults with respect to their diets. They found that the normal weight adults consumed much more dietary fiber and complex carbohydrates. The researchers suggested several mechanisms whereby these dietary differences might help people maintain a lower, healthier weight. Check out Reuters Health article on this research.
July 24th, 2006
Reported in Reuters Health, studies presented at a meeting in Madrid, Spain suggest a connection between diabetes treatment and lessening the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
There is a link between exercise and diet and the prevalence of Alzheimer’s. Since these lifestyle variables are clearly also related to diabetes, it is easy to see that the two diseases might be addressed by the same healthy lifestyle activities. Weight loss and exercise generate all kinds of good outcomes.
The underlying causes of Alzheimer’s are not understood, but if there are common factors causing both dementia and disease, they may lie in lifestyle practices.
July 22nd, 2006
A “dementia risk score” has been created by researchers at the famed Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, that may be predictive of the onset of Alzheimer’s 20 years down the road from middle age (click here for a summary article).
The factors cited as foretelling the onset of this dementia include “older age, lower education, high systolic blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and physical inactivity.” These are markers of lifestyle.
America, with its legions of overweight and diabetic people, may have a dementia epidemic next in store for the baby boomers. Adopting a healthy lifestyle may be a way for you to avoid being part of it.
July 18th, 2006
HealthDay News carries an interesting - and important - article on dieting: Don’t do it. The article cites Julie Miller Jones, professor of nutrition at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, MN, as saying that people need to get away from the word “diet” and substitute the words “eating plan”. And then stick with it, always. (Click here for the article.)
There is evidence that dieting increases the chances of long-term weight gain - not long term weight loss (large scale Scandinavian studies support this idea). There is also evidence that many women who are very overweight began dieting in their teens. This “yo-yo dieting” pattern may be harmful in itself, and it certainly doesn’t get the weight off.
In words that could have been written by the Hilton Head Health Institute staff regarding weight loss, Miller Jones recommends a healthy lifestyle approach with good nutrition and exercise, modest goals every month, and persistence. ‘Diet’ is a four-letter word.
July 17th, 2006
Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia find that exercise helps cancer patients deal with the side effects of treatments (click here). In better shape to begin with, exercisers also seem to cope better and perform daily activities better, as well as enjoy mood improvements.
July 17th, 2006
Back on the roller coaster: this time, the study is showing that fish oil may help to prevent age-related maculopathy (macular degeneration). This is different than we previously believed, so don’t take it to the bank, yet.
Still, this research from Australia, reported in the Archives of Opthalmology, makes it hard to justify not taking a fish oil supplement. Check out the summary in Reuters (click here).
This would make fish oil your general magic supplement to fight against diabetes, high blood pressure, and not being able to see well enough to choose the fish oil pill bottle.
July 14th, 2006
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