March 27, 2006, 6:45 AM CT

Exercise And Weight Training Programs Benefit Breast Cancer Patients

Exercise and weight training programs significantly improves the quality of life of women who were recently treated for breast cancer, as per a new study. This study was published in the May 1, 2006 issue of CANCER, a journal of the American Cancer Society.

The study indicates six months of twice weekly exercise that improved strength and body composition was enough to result in improvements in the overall physical and emotional condition of the patients. This is the first randomized trial to study the effects of weight training on quality of life in breast cancer patients.

Newly diagnosed and treated breast cancer patients often suffer from a multitude of quality of life limiting complaints, including insomnia, weight gain, chronic fatigue, depression, and anxiety. While efficacious treatments for breast cancer have progressed rapidly in recent years, developing new management strategies for these secondary complaints, often related to the treatment itself, is only a recent area of study.

Exercise has been identified as a possible treatment for quality of life-limiting symptoms. A recent review of the effect of aerobic exercise on quality of life among recently treated breast cancer survivors indicated an effect only half as large as the effect noted from six months of strength training. This study represents the first exploration of the effect of strength training on quality of life among breast cancer survivors. ........

Posted by: Emily      Permalink         Source

March 22, 2006, 11:11 PM CT

When It Comes To Obesity Age Matters

For the approximately 30 million morbidly obese people in the United States considering weight reduction surgery, age should be a prime consideration, as per a new study led by Oregon Health & Science University bariatric surgeon Robert O' Rourke, M.D. The research is reported in the recent issue of the Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

In a retrospective study of patients who underwent weight reduction surgery, also known as bariatric surgery, in the OHSU Digestive Health Center from April 14, 2000, to December 23, 2003, O' Rourke and his colleagues found that increased age is a predictor for complications.

"With the demand for obesity surgery markedly increasing, the ability to predict patients" outcomes has become increasingly important," said O' Rourke, also an assistant professor of surgery (general surgery) in the OHSU School of Medicine. "Bariatric procedures are technically challenging operations performed on high-risk patients. In addition to the traditional risk factors - BMI, other illnesses - surgeons should counsel patients about the higher risks associated with increased age and about the higher risks of some procedures".

The scientists examined several risk factors, including age, BMI (body mass index), gender, surgeon experience, other illnesses, type of procedure and whether the procedure was open or performed laparoscopically, that is performed through several tiny quarter-sized incisions with fiberoptic instruments. They found that bariatric surgery patients aged 60 and older had longer hospital stays, regardless of the type of bariatric procedure, and more major and minor complications.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

March 21, 2006, 9:09 PM CT

Kids With Cavities And Overweight

New evidence from pediatric dentists at the University at Buffalo has shown that, contrary to prior findings, most young children with decayed "baby" teeth are not underweight, and actually may be overweight or at risk of being overweight.

A study of children ages 2-5 who underwent aggressive dental therapy under general anesthesia in the operating room by UB's pediatric dentists at the Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo found that at least a quarter of the patients were over the recommended weight for their age or close to it, unlike their peers who had good teeth. Results of the research were presented at the International Association of Dental Research meeting held March 9-12 in Orlando, Fla.

"Previous studies in the 1990s found that children with rampant tooth decay appeared to be underweight, and this was attributed to a failure to thrive," said Hiran Perinpanayagam, D.D.S., Ph.D., an endodontist and assistant professor in UB's School of Dental Medicine and senior author on the study.

"In contrast, a more recent study found that the children with tooth decay did not have reduced bodyweight. Given these conflicting results, we thought a more definitive study was needed".

Sandra McDougal, D.D.S., pediatric dental resident was first author on the study.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

March 20, 2006, 7:48 PM CT

Researchers Find Fat Gene

Rutgers scientists have identified a gene - and the molecular function of its protein product - that provides an important clue to further understanding obesity and may point the way to new drugs to control fat metabolism.

The researchers found that the human protein known as lipin is a key fat-regulating enzyme. "Lipin activity may be an important pharmaceutical target for the control of body fat in humans, treating conditions that range from obesity to the loss of fat beneath the skin, as seen in HIV patients, " said George M. Carman, a professor in Rutgers' department of food science.

In a paper published online by the Journal of Biological Chemistry (print version, April 7), Carman and his research team at Rutgers' Cook College describe their scientific detective work, moving from clue to clue in a series of logical connections to reach their discoveries.

Prior studies with mice showed that a lack of lipin causes a loss of body fat, whereas an excess of lipin promotes extra body fat. So scientists knew that lipin was involved in fat metabolism; they just didn't know how.

The Carman team's first revelation came with the discovery that lipin is an enzyme (phosphatidic acid phosphatase or PAP), a protein catalyst that is mandatory for the formation of fats - triglycerides, specifically.........

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March 13, 2006, 10:39 PM CT

Obesity Surgery May Confer Cardiac Benefit

As rates of obesity in America continue to soar, surgery has become an increasingly popular solution when diet and exercise regimens fail. Bariatric surgery is now an approved therapeutic intervention for class II-III obesity, and may correlate to improved risk for heart disease. In a study presented today at the American College of Cardiology's 55th Annual Scientific Session, a team of scientists from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota evaluated the effect of bariatric surgery on longterm cardiovascular risk and estimated prevented outcomes. ACC.06 is the premier cardiovascular medical meeting, bringing together over 30,000 cardiologists to further breakthroughs in cardiovascular medicine.

The team completed a historical study between 1990 and 2003 of 197 patients with class II-III obesity who undertook Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery (sometimes referred to as "stomach stapling"), compared to 163 control patients enrolled in a weight reduction program. With an average follow-up time of 3.3 years, the team recorded changes in cardiovascular risk factors such as cholesterol levels, body mass index (BMI) and diabetes criteria.

Though the team originally estimated a higher 10-year risk for cardiac events in the surgical group at the start of the study due to their associated conditions, scientists found at follow-up that the patients had a much lower risk than the control group for having a heart complication (18.3 vs. 30 percent). Using the study parameters and risk models based on previously published data, the team estimated that for every 100 patients, the surgery would prevent 16.2 cardiovascular events and 4.1 overall deaths, as compared to the control group. However, should the number of deaths during surgery approach 4 percent, the protective effect is limited, as may be in the case in centers with very low volumes of weight loss surgeries.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

March 13, 2006, 10:20 PM CT

Diabetic patients overestimate body weight

Heavier patients with diabetes are more likely to overestimate their "healthiest" body weight compared to those of normal weight, as per a research studyreported in the current issue of Diabetes Care.

"We wanted to understand how well patients with diabetes could identify healthy body weight because self-management is an essential part of diabetes therapy," said Kathleen McTigue, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and first author of the study. "Understanding weight-related health risk could be an important step toward setting healthy lifestyle goals and effective weight management."

In a survey of 2,461 diabetes patients, responses revealed that a number of had a less-than-accurate view of healthy body weight.

"Among respondents, 41 percent reported a 'healthiest' weight for their height that actually measured in the overweight body mass index (BMI) range, and 6 percent reported a 'healthiest' weight that was obese," said Dr. McTigue, who also is an internal medicine specialist associated with the University of Pittsburgh Diabetes Institute (UPDI). "One participant selected a BMI in the underweight range as 'healthiest.' ".

Among respondents whose BMI measurements classified them as obese, 66 percent identified overweight or obese dimensions as ideal for health. Among the overweight, some 41 percent chose a higher-than-optimal body weight as healthy. In contrast, only 4 percent of normal-weight patients overestimated healthy body weight.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

March 9, 2006, 11:51 PM CT

children enter schools already overweight

A study reported in the current issue of The Journal of School Health finds that nearly one quarter of children, ages three to five years, were entering school in Chicago overweight. For the authors, this is an urgent problem reflecting the nutritional status and health influence of the children's home and community. The results signify a need for schools, in and outside the Chicago area, to develop protocol and procedures to support the physical and mental health of overweight and at risk of overweight children. "Cities that lack data on the weight status of their young children can use the data from Chicago..... to guide their planning until local data are available," the authors explain.

The height, weight, and age of more than 1,500 boys and girls from Chicago's public and Catholic schools were reviewed for the study. Twenty-four percent of the children were defined as "overweight," or having a sex- and age-specific body mass index (BMI) that was higher than ninety-five percent of their peers. This is more than twice the national prevalence of overweight children and three times that of the Midwest region. Sixteen percent were "at risk of overweight," with a BMI between the eighty-fifth and ninety-fourth percentile. "These results indicate an urgent problem facing Chicago children, families, health providers, and schools," the authors state. "Ongoing monitoring of child weight status is warranted."........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

March 4, 2006, 10:09 PM CT

Delicious Apple Bars

Moist, chewy apple bars pack the flavor and nutritional boost of two orchard-fresh apples into a handy, all-natural snack. These sweet treats-about the size of an ordinary energy bar, but slimmer-result from patented technology developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in California.

The scientists' food-processing procedures enable the bars to stay moist and intensely flavorful without artificial preservatives. Also, the rich flavor means there's no need to add salt or sugar.

The bars make a tasty addition to a child's school lunch or a grown-up's afternoon coffee break, according to Tara H. McHugh in the agency's Western Regional Research Center at Albany, Calif.

The soft, single-serving bars are made from apple puree that's mixed with apple concentrate and shaped-in a standard piece of food-processing equipment-into neat rectangles.

Apple bars are the newest addition to the line of all-natural fruit snacks from McHugh's team, the Processed Foods Research Unit.

Gorge Delights of Hood River, Ore., uses crisp, delicious apples from the region's picturesque orchards to make the bars. Great Foods of America, the Cresskill, N.J., marketers for the well-known Earth Balance and Smart Balance brands, markets the bars under the Earth Balance name.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink     

March 4, 2006, 9:54 PM CT

How to Identify Added Dietary Sugars?

Dietary professionals and others interested in checking the amount of "added" sugars in foods can now tap a new data resource. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) nutritionists today launched an online table that lets users look up the added sugars, total sugars and carbohydrates in 2,041 common foods listed.

The "special interest table" was produced by scientists in the Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL), one of six units that make up the ARS Beltsville (Md.) Human Nutrition Research Center (BHNRC). The NDL is headed by nutritionist Joanne Holden. ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.

U.S. consumers eat about 74 pounds of added sugars per year, as per 1999-2002 survey data analyzed by scientists at the BHNRC's Community Nutrition Research Group. That's about 23 teaspoons of added sugars every day--or 460 calories that supply no additional nutrients.

In the new table, added sugars are defined as those sugars added to foods and beverages during processing or home preparation. The data reported are estimated values based on the added sweeteners listed under "ingredients" on the package labels of processed foods and beverages. Some added sugars listed under ingredients include honey, molasses, fruit juice concentrate, brown sugar, corn sweetener, sucrose, lactose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup and malt syrup.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink     

March 4, 2006, 9:11 PM CT

Fighting Weight Gain a Different Way

Education and coaching centered on health-rather than on weight loss-may help chronic dieters improve their blood pressure, cholesterol and other health indicators.

That's as per a research studydocumented earlier in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association and newly summarized in an obesity-focused issue of Agricultural Research magazine. The magazine is published by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief research agency.

ARS chemist Nancy Keim and physiologist Marta Van Loan, both with ARS' Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis, Calif., collaborated with University of California-Davis scientists for the study.

Seventy-eight obese women, aged 30 to 45, who volunteered for the investigation were assigned to either a health-centered team or a weight-loss-focused team. The teams met for specialized, 90-minute educational sessions weekly for the first six months of the year-long study, then met for six once-a-month sessions.

Both groups were instructed in nutrition basics. But women on the weight-loss track were taught how to monitor their weight and control their eating, while the other volunteers focused on how to build self-esteem and to recognize and follow the body's natural, internal cues to hunger and fullness.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink