Nutrition Frenzy

Scientists hope findings lead to pill that helps shed pounds, control diabetes

Fight fat with fat? The newest obesity theory suggests we may one day be able to do just that.

Just like good and bad cholesterol, there apparently are good and bad types of body fat. Scientists until recently believed this good fat, which spurs the body to burn calories to generate body heat, played an important role in keeping infants warm but by adulthood was mostly gone or inactive.

Now three studies — from researchers in Boston, Finland and the Netherlands — show that some good fat remains in adults, affecting metabolism and potentially offering a target to help people shed pounds.

Brown is good

The good fat is actually brownish, while the more predominant bad fat is white or yellow. Brown fat is stored mostly around the neck and under the collarbone. White fat tends to concentrate around the waistline, where it stores excess energy and releases chemicals that control metabolism and the use of insulin.

All three research groups documented the presence and activity of the brown fat by examining tissue samples from some patients and using high-tech imaging that indicated how much sugar, and therefore calories, the fat burned.

One group from Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School and three hospitals in Boston looked at scans done on nearly 2,000 patients to diagnose various health problems. The other two groups scanned small numbers of patients, first at room temperature and then after a couple hours in mild cold, about 60 degrees.

Here’s what the scientists learned about brown fat:

Lean people had far more than overweight and obese people, especially among older folks.
It burns far more calories and generates more body heat when people are in a cooler environment.
Women were more likely to have it than men, and their deposits were larger and more active.

From cnn health: Nearly one-fifth of American 4-year-olds are obese, and children of color are at higher risk, according to new research.

Researchers calculated the body mass index from a sample of 8,550 Hispanic, black, white, Asian and Native American 4-year-olds. The children were born in 2001, and in 2005, their height and weight were measured — 18.4 percent of them were obese.

“Significant differences in the prevalence of obesity between racial/ethnic groups were evident at 4 years of age,” the researchers wrote in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Using body mass index, they found that 31.2 percent of American Indian/Native Alaskans, 22 percent of Hispanics, 20.8 percent of blacks, 15.9 percent of whites and 12.8 percent of Asians were obese.

“It’s surprising that there are large differences by racial/ethnic group by that age,” said Sarah Anderson, an assistant professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University and lead study author.

Anderson and co-author Robert Whitaker’s analysis showed that children were becoming obese even before encountering soda and candy vending machines in schools.

“These results really do point to the need for us to focus attention on early childhood and the need for research to understand how these differences can emerge so early,” Anderson said. “To do that, we may need to understand the different family and cultural factors that are at play in these children’s lives.”

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults fare no better. Approximately 45 percent of blacks, 36.8 percent of Mexican Americans and 30 percent of whites are obese.

“It’s a very bad sign if we see obesity at a young age,” Robinson said. “When we see children obese at age 4, we’re likely to see complications — high blood pressure, abnormal lipids — which can lead to heart disease and stroke, diabetes in children.”

A good way to avoid weight gain as you age? Eat.

Research shows that people who eat meals regularly throughout the day tend to have smaller waists than people who sometimes skip breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Get Regular
Regular eaters not only weigh less and have smaller waists but also are less likely to develop metabolic syndrome or experience insulin resistance — conditions that can pave the way for heart disease and diabetes.

Plan for More
An even better plan? Eat many small meals throughout the day instead of three large ones. This helps keep your appetite from getting out of control, so you eat less overall throughout the day.

Anti-Meal-Skipper Recipe
Are you typically too time-pressed to eat breakfast? Make these simple, scrumptious muffins this weekend so you’ll have an easy grab-and-go option during the week:

Apricot-Wheat Germ MuffinsNutty toasted wheat germ and tangy dried apricots give these muffins a homey, satisfying flavor. Plumping dried fruit before adding it to the batter keeps the muffins moist.

Ingredients
3/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup orange juice, divided
1 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon toasted wheat germ, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup buttermilk, (see Tip)
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons freshly grated orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray.
2. Combine apricots and 1/4 cup orange juice in a small bowl. Cover with vented plastic wrap and microwave on high for 1 minute. (Alternatively, bring to a simmer in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat.) Set aside to plump.
3. Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
4. Whisk eggs and brown sugar in a medium bowl until smooth. Whisk in buttermilk, oil, orange zest, vanilla and remaining 1/4 cup orange juice. Add to the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula just until moistened. Add apricots and mix just until blended. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon wheat germ.
5. Bake the muffins until lightly browned and the tops spring back when touched lightly, 15 to 25 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges and turn muffins out onto a wire rack to cool slightly.

Nutrition Information
Per muffin
Calories: 242
Carbohydrates: 38g
Fat: 7g
Saturated Fat: 1g
Monounsaturated Fat: 3g
Protein: 7g
Cholesterol: 36mg
Dietary Fiber: 4g
Potassium: 138mg
Sodium: 184mg

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy found that over a 15-year period the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables rose 40 percent, while prices on sweets and soda dropped. Adam Drewnowski, PhD, director of the University of Washington Center for Obesity Research, found that a dollar buys 1,200 calories worth of potato chips and cookies but just 250 carrot calories.

Buy direct
Jake Brown, a communications director in Montpelier, Vermont, bypasses the supermarket whenever possible. Each fall, he buys a lamb from the farmer down the road, paying $70 for 50 pounds of meat that comes butchered and wrapped in meal-size portions. Another local farmer sells him a box of freshly harvested fruits and vegetables each week at a 15 percent discount.

Make it automatic
Set up a shopping list at a site such as peapod.com or freshdirect.com in the East, or winderfarms.com in the West, and you can do a week’s shopping in minutes and have it delivered. For nonperishable items, consider amazon.com, where signing up for regular deliveries will knock 15 percent off your bill.

Don’t rule out warehouses
Bottom line: Buying in bulk can save significant money. Tropicana orange juice costs $1.31 a quart at Costco versus $2 a quart at Giant. Filippo Berio extra-virgin olive oil costs $6 a quart, versus $15.92 a quart at Giant. Got a newborn? Parents can save about 10 cents a diaper by going with the Costco brand; that adds up to nearly $200 saved a year.

the frozen-food aisle
While your instinct may be to buy fresh food, you can save time and boost the nutrition factor by heading to the freezer case.
Bottom line: You’ll cut your vegetable bill in half by going with frozen. In a survey, we found that fresh broccoli, snap peas, squash, and green peppers ran $3 or more a pound, while the frozen versions were $1.50 or less a pound. To maximize your savings, look for bags of frozen vegetables, which tend to cost less than the boxed variety.

Know when to go organic
When is it worth it to go out of your way and spend more on organic foods? Studies have shown benefits for milk and eggs, largely because they have more omega-3 fatty acids.

Plant a garden
The cheapest, most convenient, most carbon-footprint-friendly source for healthful food is your own backyard. Even a little container garden can produce enough lettuce, tomatoes, and herbs for a summer’s worth of salads.

Study finds what people have known for years.

The largest study of its kind finds that older Americans who eat large amounts of red meat and processed meats face a greater risk of death from heart disease and cancer.

The federal study of more than half a million men and women bolsters prior evidence of the health risks of diets laden with red meat like hamburger and processed meats like hot dogs, bacon and cold cuts.

Calling the increased risk modest, lead author Rashmi Sinha of the National Cancer Institute said the findings support the advice of several health groups to limit red and processed meat intake to decrease cancer risk.

The findings appear in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine.

Over 10 years, eating the equivalent of a quarter-pound hamburger daily gave men in the study a 22 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease. That’s compared to those who ate the least red meat, just 5 ounces per week.

Women who ate large amounts of red meat had a 20 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease than women who ate less.

For processed meats, the increased risks for large quantities were slightly lower overall than for red meat. The researchers compared deaths in the people with the highest intakes to deaths in people with the lowest to calculate the increased risk.

So watch out for how much red meat you eat. If you have concerns, contact your dietician, health care physican or nurse.

7 products that claim to shrink your belly, fight cancer and help your heart

Acai Berry

Claims: This small purple berry, harvested from the Açai Palm in Brazil, is said to fight heart disease due to a potent mix of antioxidants, minerals and amino and fatty acids. Some product makers also claim the berry helps people lose weight, prevents aging and stops cancer.

Reality check: Açai berries do contain beneficial fatty acids and high levels of phytochemicals, an anti-inflammatory, fibrous, antioxidant blend that research suggests may reduce chronic-disease risk. However, there isn’t enough scientific evidence to claim that açai berries are more beneficial than other phytochemical-rich berries such as blueberries, raspberries or cranberries

Claims: This relatively low-caffeine, less processed form of tea is said to contain high levels of antioxidants that help prevent cancer and heart disease. Some vendors also claim it helps people lose weight.

Green Tea

Reality check: Research confirms that green tea is rich in antioxidants. However, evidence that it benefits heart health or prevents cancer is not conclusive, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

What about the weight-loss claims? They’re not completely unfounded, says Washington, D.C., nutritionist Katherine Tallmadge, an American Dietetic Association spokesperson. Green tea contains the fat-burning compounds catechins, but you’d have to drink at least three cups of it daily for the slightest drop in weight, she says.
Black tea actually packs a bigger weight-loss wallop, she says, because in addition to catechins, it contains more caffeine — also a weight-loss aid.

Mangosteen fruit

Claims: This purple fruit from Asia is said to contain powerful antioxidants called xanthones, which are found in a few tropical fruits. Xanthones are supposed to boost the immune system, improve intestinal health and ward off cancer.

Reality check: As with some açai berry manufacturers, a marketing network is selling mangosteen as a blended juice. In the U.S., a bottle of XanGo goes for $37. And as with the açai berry, no rigorous research on humans exists to back the immunity-boosting claims, notes nutritionist Salge Blake.

Dark chocolate

Claims: The cocoa in dark chocolate contains phytochemicals known as flavonols, which marketers say help the heart by controlling bad cholesterol and ease blood pressure by expanding blood vessels.

Reality check: The flavonols in dark chocolate — not regular or milk chocolate — do appear to fight cholesterol and may even give your brain a boost, research indicates.

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Five easy ways to helpyour metabolism speed up.

Exercise more. When you walk, run, or lift weights, you increase the energy required of your body, which raises your metabolism then, and for hours afterward.

Work out with weights. During weight training, muscle tissue is stressed; afterward, it’s repaired — which raises metabolism.

Practice portion control. This helps ensure you don’t overload your metabolism with a surplus of unusable energy (that is, food).

Use a food scale or measuring cups to identify proper portions. Or use your hand as a guide. A fist equals a serving of fruit, a cupped hand equals a serving of cereal or grains, two cupped handfuls equal a serving of leafy green vegetables and an open palm equals a serving of meat.

Eat smaller meals more often. Some experts recommend eating smaller meals throughout the day, known as grazing. “Grazing helps normalize blood sugar levels rather than producing three large spikes, which is what happens eating three meals a day,” says Nick Flynn, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas.

Determine the amount of calories you need at Mypyramid.gov. Then keep that number in mind as you transition from eating three ordinary-sized meals to five smaller ones.

Laugh it off. When researchers from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, put people into a “metabolic chamber” (a small room that measures heat output in order to calculate a person’s metabolic rate) and showed them funny videos, the subjects’ metabolic rates rose by 10 to 40 calories. It’s a small increase, but every calorie counts for those seeking weight loss, says lead researcher Maciej Buchowksi, PhD.

Gabrielle Reece of yahoo health has some fantastic hints, tips and guides for eating healthy when you’re out running errends and have to stop at a fast food restaurant. Great tips!

Remove all the extras.
Avoid cheeses, sour cream, dressings, and spreads. I know it’s not quite as exciting, but you will save yourself a lot of calories and fat.

Pay attention to how your food is prepared.
The answer may be right in front of you: If you see the words “fried”, “breaded”, or “creamy” then you know that’s not going to work. Some places offer you a choice for how you want your food prepared; if it’s available, always go for the broiled or steamed version.

Drink water.
You would be amazed how many calories and how much sugar are in sodas. Avoid all sugary drinks, and yes this means diet drinks as well. We drink about 20% of our daily calories, so you can eliminate 1/5 of your calories by simply drinking water. If you get really bored, grab a lemon and throw it in your water or go for an unsweetened tea.

Don’t inhale your food.
If you are going to have a meal, then do your best to chew it, smell it, taste it, and enjoy it. You will eat more slowly and digest your food better overall. Plus, I think we have the tendency to eat less if we pay attention to what we are consuming.

If you love your buns, then get the bun on the side.
I enjoy bread just like you, but if you ditch the bun you will see how great you feel, and in time, how white flour affects your gut and butt. If you happen to be at the world’s most delicious Italian restaurant, where they make their own baguettes, then go for it. If we are talking about a store-bought hamburger bun, then pass.

Your food is salty enough.
I am quoting Dr. Oz, but he said the number one harmful risk to your health is high blood pressure. Don’t add any more salt to your already salty food.

time. What better way to give your body and mind a little breather? But if you choose a certain color of tea, you may really do your brain a favor.

A large study in Singapore showed that black tea might have the power to slash Parkinson’s disease risk by almost a third.

Hormone Helper?
In the study, people who drank the most black tea were 29 percent less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease (PD), compared with the least enthusiastic black-tea drinkers. Although the researchers were poised to credit the caffeine in black tea for the benefit, it turned out not to be so. Instead, it may be that black tea somehow affects estrogen levels in a favorable anti-Parkinson’s way (the disease is less common in women than in men). Interestingly, green tea showed no protective effects against PD.

More Tea-Time Extras
There’s no shortage of other reasons to drink tea, including:
A healthier heart. The brew is bursting with cardioprotective polyphenols. Just make sure to skip the milk.

Lower odds of female cancers. Drinking tea may cut the risk of ovarian cancer by almost half.

Less stress. In a study, men who drank a black-tea-like beverage recovered more quickly from a stressful event

More and more Americans are discovering the many varieties of tea. In my local grocery store there is a whole wall of shelving full of different brands and types of teas. My cupboard has Black, White, Orange (pekoe), Green (with antioxidants, w/white, plain), trademarked teas, among others. Science is discovering more health benefits of teas.

Great news for soup lovers!

The first Campbell soup is getting a low-sodium makeover.

The Campbell Soup Co. announced Wednesday that its tomato soup — the one painted by Andy Warhol — will have its sodium cut by 32 percent by August.

The new level will have 480 milligrams of sodium per serving — low enough to qualify for the government’s definition of low-sodium.

The company is using low-sodium sea salt to modify a product that hasn’t changed much since it was introduced in 1897. Sea salt is used more and more by food manufacturers to introduce low-sodium foods to the public.

Over the past three years, Camden-based Campbell has used the sea salt in dozens of its offerings.

Denise Morrison, the president of the Company’s North American soup, sauces and beverage operations, says that by fall half the company’s soups will be low-sodium.

Campbells Tomato soup is the go-to soup for a quick lunch, dinner, or addition to recipes. Great news that they are reducing sodium in their soups, and that their classic Tomato is the first to get the makeover. There have been more and more food products that include Sea salt and it is a nice change from the bombardment that your taste buds endure with the regular foods that are difficult to stomach.

Hopefully, this new wave of Campbells foods will encourage other food manufacturers to produce more low-sodium foods when they see how popular Campbells Tomato Soup has become. There is one kitchen that will be stocked with this new low-sodium soup.

9 resistance-boosting foods and ingredients to help you win the cold war

Yogurt

Probiotics, or the “live active cultures” found in yogurt, are healthy bacteria that keep the gut and intestinal tract free of disease-causing germs. Although they’re available in supplement form, a study from the University of Vienna in Austria found that a daily 7-ounce dose of yogurt was just as effective in boosting immunity as popping pills.

Sweet potatoes

You may not think of skin as part of your immune system. But this crucial organ, covering an impressive 16 square feet, serves as a first-line fortress against bacteria, viruses, and other undesirables. To stay strong and healthy, your skin needs vitamin A. “Vitamin A plays a major role in the production of connective tissue, a key component of skin,” explains Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in Derby, Conn.

Tea

Take frequent tea breaks this winter, and you may just get through it without a sniffle. Immunologists at Harvard University discovered that people who drank five cups of black tea a day for 2 weeks transformed their immune system T cells into “Hulk cells” that pumped out 10 times more cold and flu virus-fighting interferon — proteins that defend against infection — than did the immune systems of those who didn’t drink black tea. Green tea should work just as well.

Chicken soup

When University of Nebraska researchers tested 13 brands, they found that all but one (chicken-flavored ramen noodles) blocked the migration of inflammatory white cells — an important finding, because cold symptoms are a response to the cells’ accumulation in the bronchial tubes.

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Since many fast food restaurants have adopted the “bigger is better” attitude, classic small, medium, and large sizes are no longer available.

Great question on the American Diabetes Association webpage.

Now you have large, extra large, and supersize. Because of these larger portion sizes, the average American takes in 150 more calories a day, and most of these calories are fat. Although an extra 150 calories a day doesn’t sound like much, these calories add up with bad results for you. And don’t forget about carbs! Fast food restaurants are notorious for their high carb count and content.

There are many ways you can lower calories, carbs and fat in a fast food restaurant. The easiest way is to choose the smallest serving available. Just choosing a plain cheeseburger instead of a double cheeseburger will remove more than 200 calories. Most important is to choose low-fat items in place of high-fat items. For example, choose a baked potato with salsa or steak sauce (instead of butter and sour cream) to replace French fries. Order sandwiches without fancy sauces, and order salads with low-fat dressings (or “on the side” to control the amount of dressing you put on your salad). When low-fat options are not available, leave a few fries on your plate or a few bites of your sandwich, and skip dessert. Also don’t forget salads, minus bread/croutons and artificial bacon bites. Salads are a person’s best friend. Ask for double veggies on a salad as well. Feeling some meat? Ask for a broiled/grilled lean chicken breast on top.

The best way to reduce fat in fast food? Reduce how often you eat fast food.

Newsweek posted an article on the six worst diets of 2009 so far.

As we all know, and say it with me, there’s no such thing as a diet! Newsweek has taken the trouble to research and find the worst of the worst. Without further ado:

1. The Fat-Free Diet
The theory: Eat whatever you want as long as it has no fat. If your diet contains no fat, you won’t get fat.
Reality check: While it’s true that extra fat in your diet adds calories, just sticking to foods touted as fat free doesn’t necessarily help. Supermarket shelves are crammed with products advertised as fat free that are loaded with sugar and empty calories and that offer little in the way of fiber, vitamins or minerals. Check product labels before you buy.

2. The Snack-Pack Diet
The theory: Cookies and chips sorted into 100-calorie packs help limit the damage from an attack of the munchies.
Reality check: The dozens of 100-calorie snack pack foods on the market now may offer a lower-calorie alternative, but few of them are truly healthy choices, and they aren’t likely to be very filling or fiber rich, which can send you running for another bag or something less healthy.

3. The Couch-Potato Diet
The theory: Who needs exercise? You can lose weight without working out! Cutting back on calories is enough.
Reality check: Who needs exercise? You do. Studies have shown that dieters who change what they eat and increase their regular activity are more likely to lose and keep weight off. Increasing activity has other health benefits as well, such as lowering your risk of heart disease, the leading killer of women. Even a brisk 20- to 30-minute walk most days of the week can make a big difference.

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Various reasons, mostly internet surfing, are the reasons for more kids turning to Vegetarianism.

While surfing the internet, more impressionable kids and teenagers are finding animal slaughter videos on YouTube (R), courtesy of organizations like PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Thus, causing kids and teenagers to avoid eating meat from that point forward.

Some parents and Doctors worry that growing kids are not meeting their protein, vitamins B12 and D, iron, calcium and other important nutrients that most people get from meat, eggs and dairy.

Also, vegetarian diets are not necessarily slimming. Some vegetarian kids cut out meat but fill up on doughnuts, french fries, soda or potato chips, experts said.

Multivitamin and supplements must be taken, and extra care to keep sugary, high-fat and cholesterol and high carb snacks, foods and drinks away from kids and teenagers who choose Vegetarianism. It is all too easy to fall into the trap that ‘as long as I don’t eat meat, i’ll be healthy and save the lives of animals’.

Most people are semi-vegetarian, which is what I consider myself. What it should be called is the normal American diet: 8 oz meat or protein a day, with the rest filled with fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, dairy products and low-carb, low-cholesterol breads and grains (I eat Dreamfieds Pasta–diabetic friendly).

If your child or teenager comes to you expressing interest in becoming a Vegetarian, applaud their desire to eat and live a more healthy lifestyle and educate yourselves about proper nutrition. It is possible to meet the FDA’s dietary guildelines for kids and teenagers.

Check out Living Without Meat for more information about Vegetarianism. Tell Sally that Brick sent you.

Study shows 34% are obese and 32% overweight, per the numbers posted by the National Center for Health Statistics .

As science has proven, being overweight or obese raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, arthritis and other conditions, more and more Americans are growing around the middle. Alarmingly, the CDC reported that 32 percent of U.S. children fit the definition of being overweight, 16 percent were obese and 11 percent were extremely obese. Want tosee of you fit the category of health? Find out your Body Mass Index here.

This makes me wonder if the figures (statistically) would be shown that as more and more Americans are losing their jobs, homes and way of life, that all they can afford to eat are the cheaper, high carb, high fat foods. The Government and the Food and Drug Administration spout that Americans should be buying and eating healthy, nutritious, low-fat, low-carb, high-fiber foods daily. That is an admiriable goal. From the FDA’s website, eating their recommended meal planwould cost between $200-300 per person per month. Who can afford to eat like that in this economy?

If the Government is truly concerned about the health of Americans, I propose that they start a reality check: Americans cannot afford healthy, nutritious foods. Start subsidizing each American’s monthly food bill at $200 per person per month. This would be cheaper in the long run than treating heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, organ failure, gastric bypass surgeries and the myriad other health problems and issues stemming from obesity.