August 19th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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There’s a strong association between daily servings of red meat, especially processed meat, and a nearly 20% increased risk of type 2 diabetes, researchers found.
Replacing red meat with healthier proteins, such as low-fat dairy, nuts, or whole grains, can significantly lower the risk, according to a study was published online at the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Researchers reviewed questionnaire responses from 37,083 men followed for 20 years in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, from 79,570 women followed for 28 years in the Nurses’ Health Study I, and from 87,504 women followed for 14 years in the Nurses’ Health Study II. Diet was assessed by validated food-frequency questionnaires, and data were updated every four years. Diabetes was confirmed Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
August 18th, 2011 by Dr. Val Jones in Book Reviews
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Food Truths, Food Lies, written by family physician Eric Marcotte, M.D., may be the most refreshingly evidence-based diet book of the decade. You will not find a single mention of super-foods, magical berries, or supplement “must-haves” in the entire book. What you will find is the cold, hard truth about why many Americans are overweight, and what it takes to become a healthy eater.
Marcotte writes for the average American – his simple language, matter-of-fact tone, and regular reminders of what the reader has learned, make for a quick and memorable read. Although it’s clear that Marcotte has carefully distilled his dietary advice from the scientific literature, he refrains from burdening the reader with too many footnotes and references. Instead, he has created a kind of Cliff’s Notes of nutrition, having done the “heavy sifting” for us. What remains are the most basic principles underlying all healthy eating, such as:
*You can’t exercise your way to weight loss (i.e. you can’t outrun your own mouth – it’s much easier to eat more calories than you burn) Read more »
August 17th, 2011 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Health Tips, Research
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Attention, pregnant women! The foods you eat now might influence your babies’ palates after they are born. New research published in the journal Pediatrics, shows that the fetus actually drinks amniotic fluid in the womb. The amniotic fluid is flavored by the foods the mother has recently eaten and flavors can be transmitted to the amniotic fluid and mother’s milk.
It makes sense that as the baby is developing, memories are being created by a sense of taste. Could what a mother eats influence food preferences and odor preferences for life? Researchers fed babies cereal flavored with carrot juice vs. water. They showed that babies who experienced daily carrots in amniotic fluid or mother’s milk ate more carrot-flavored cereal and made less negative faces when eating it.
Julie Mennella studies taste in infants at the Monell Chemical Senses Center (Philadelphia) and she says Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
August 9th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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People with exceptional longevity have the same bad lifestyle habits as the rest of us, suggesting that their genes may interact with environmental factors differently than others. There’s not much you can do if you’re not one of the lucky ones born with superior genes. For the rest of us, a healthy lifestyle is still the best option to live longer.
To assess lifestyle factors including physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, and diet in men and women with exceptional longevity, researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of community dwelling Ashkenazi Jews with exceptional longevity defined living independently at age 95 and older. The Ashkenazi population descended from tens of thousands of Jews originating in the 15th Century who eventually moved to or were born in the U.S. before World War II.
The researchers compared Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
August 5th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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More on the Mediterranean diet shows that olive oil is the key component associated with less stroke risk in seniors, a French study found.
The Mediterranean diet has already been linked to better cardiovascular effects, so researchers poured it on to assess its link to stroke. A study of people 65 and older in the French cities of Bordeaux, Dijon and Montpellier divided 7,625 residents into three categories of olive oil consumption: no use, moderate use for cooking or dressing, or intensive use for both cooking and dressing. Researchers used plasma oleic acid as an indirect biological marker of oleic acid intake from olive oil. (They acknowledged that it could also stem from use of butter and goose or duck fat.) Results appeared in the Aug. 2 issue of Neurology.
In the study, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
