August 24, 2006, 9:54 PM CT

Chemical Compounds Restore Normal Glucose Levels In Obese Mous

Treatment of obese and diabetic mice with compounds that act as chemical chaperones called PBA and TUDCA restored healthy glucose levels and normal insulin action - and reduced the presence of fatty liver disease - according to a study published in the August 25 issue of Science. The work was conducted by a team of researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

Type 2 diabetes - 90 to 95 percent of all diabetes cases - affects an estimated 18 million people in the United States, and causes some 200,000 deaths a year. Obesity is closely associated with insulin resistance and is one of the leading risk factors for type 2 diabetes. The molecular mechanisms that link these two metabolic diseases remain under investigation, and current therapeutic options are limited.

Gokhan S. Hotamisligil, chair of the HSPH Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases, is the senior author of the Science paper. In 2004, he led a team that identified a major molecular pathway that causes diabetes. A cornerstone of that discovery was a hypothesis that the key to the obesity-diabetes connection might be found in the endoplasmic reticulum, or ER - a system of folded membranes and tubules in the cytoplasm of cells where proteins and lipids are manufactured, processed, and shipped around the cell. When unusual demands - such as excess fat - are put on the ER's capacity, the organelle starts failing, and the cell enters an emergency mode, emitting stress signals. The condition is called ER stress. Cellular inflammation, insulin resistance and diabetes result. (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/press/releases/press10142004.htm).........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

August 24, 2006, 6:44 PM CT

A Shortcut To Weight Loss

You may be spending very few hours for sleep, you try to relax sleep well and avoid weight gain, that's the message scientists have for you according to the findings from a recently published study. This interesting study has observed that women who tend to sleep less, 5 hours or less, weigh more in comparison to those women who sleep 7 hours. Scientists presented this study in the American Thoracic Society International conference during the later part of May 2006.

The study was interesting because it showed that women who sleep 5 hours or less per day had 32% higher chance of having significant weight gain in comparison to women who sleep for 7 hours per day. The criteria for significant weight gain mentioned above was a gain in weight of 33 pounds or more. The results of this study also indicated that women who sleep 5 hours or less have fifteen percent increased risk of becoming obese during the 16 year study period, in comparison to women who sleep more. The group in between, who had only 6 hours of sleep per day, had twelve percent higher chance of developing major weight gain and 6% higher risk of developing obesity when in comparison to women who regularly get 7 hours of sleep.

These conclusions are from a large study, which had 68,183 middle-aged women, who were part of the Nurses health study. Women who took part in the study were mandatory to state their sleeping habits and were asked to report their weights every couple of years of the span 16 years covered by the study. Even at the beginning of the study women who slept 5 hours or less per day weighed on an average 5.4 pounds more on the scale compared to women who had 7 hours of sleep. The principle investigator of this study, Sanjay Patel MD, who an Associate Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University located in Cleveland, Ohio, claims that this is the biggest study of its kind. Dr. Patel says that, this is the first study to show that lack of sleep is linked to increased risk of weight gain over time.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink

August 24, 2006, 6:39 PM CT

Did You Ever Have A Binge-eating Spell?

No one knows for sure what causes binge eating disorder. As a number of as 50 percent of all people having binge eating disease diagnosis have the diagnosis of clinical depression or have been diagnosed with depression in the past. Whether depression is the cause of binge eating disorder or if binge eating disease leads to depression is not clearly understood.

It is also unclear whether dieting and binge eating disorder are in fact associated. Some persons may binge eat after stopping a course of dieting. Dieting as used here means skipping regular meals, not taking adequate food every day, or avoiding certain types of food. These are dangerous ways to implement any alterations to your body appearance weight and outlook.

Studies suggest that persons with binge eating might have some intrinsic trouble dealing with some of their inner emotions. A number of persons who are binge eaters consider themselves they are being angry without reason, moody, bored with themselves, worried, or stressed. They think that these abnormal mood disorders might lead them to initiate a binge eating spell.

Certain behavioral characteristics and emotional problems are more usually seen among persons who have binge eating disorder. These behavioral problems might include abusing alcohol, acting quickly without thinking about consequences (impulsive type behavior), not feeling in control of themselves, not feeling as a part of the society, and not noticing and talking about their own feelings.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink

August 19, 2006, 6:51 AM CT

Salads With Some Fat Are Healthier

Here's some diet advice you don't hear every day -- the next time you prepare a fresh, healthy salad, be sure to throw in some fattening food.

Far from being a dieter's worst enemy, researchers are discovering that a little fat can actually do a lot of good. The researchers aren't saying fry your salad in bacon grease! But they say don't cut all fat out of your diet either. Why? It takes some fat to help your body absorb the cancer fighting nutrients in your vegetables.

Jennifer Jarvis has always tried to stick to a light, healthy diet. But when she volunteered for a food study recently, she learned something that was a little hard to swallow -- that cutting fat completely out of her diet, was actually robbing her body of nutrients.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

August 12, 2006, 6:16 AM CT

Breast Cancer Survivors Change Lifestyle

Breast cancer survivors' beliefs about what may have caused their cancer are connected to whether they make healthy lifestyle changes after a cancer diagnosis. This is the finding of a research study appearing in the August 2006 issue of Psycho-Oncology by researchers at The Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School.

"We found that breast cancer survivors who believed that an unhealthy behavior - such as consuming an unhealthy diet, contributed to their cancer - were more likely to say that they had changed that behavior since their diagnosis," says lead author Carolyn Rabin, PhD, a psychologist at The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine. "Likewise, breast cancer survivors who believed that a healthy behavior- such as consuming a healthy diet, could ward off a cancer recurrence - were more likely to say that they had adopted that behavior since their diagnosis".

Due to advances in detection and treatment, there are now more than 10 million Americans who are cancer survivors, according to the American Cancer Society. However, researchers have not yet determined why some cancer survivors are motivated by a cancer diagnosis to make healthy lifestyle changes, while others are not. This question prompted the study by researchers at The Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

August 10, 2006, 11:54 PM CT

Parental Time And Childhood Obesity

The fight against obesity in children just got a new weapon, thanks to a multi-year study by scientists from Texas A&M University.

The study observed that the amounts and quality of time parents spent with their children has a direct effect on children's rates of obesity, said Dr. Alex McIntosh, lead researcher. McIntosh is professor of sociology with a research appointment from Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture study, "Parental Time, Role Strain and Children's Fat Intake and Obesity-Related Outcomes," was published in June.

In general, scientists found the amount of time a mother spent with her child, her work stress and her income level had a larger impact in lowering the child's risk of obesity than the father's time, work stress and income, McIntosh said.

Furthermore, the more time a mother spends with the child, the less likely that child is to be obese; on the other hand, the more time a father spends with a child, the more likely the child will be obese, he said.

"The impacts were greater for 9- to 11-year-old children than for 13- to 15-year-old children," he added.

As a sociologist, McIntosh has long wondered how parents influence their children's nutritional habits, he said.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

August 8, 2006, 8:42 PM CT

Nutrition's Role In Genes And Birth Defects

Expectant mothers may someday get a personalized menu of foods to eat during pregnancy to complement their genetic makeup as a result of new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Scientists used transparent fish embryos to develop a way to discover how genes and diet interact to cause birth defects.

"By the time most women know they are pregnant, the development of the fetus' organs is essentially complete," said Bryce Mendelsohn, co-author and an M.D./Ph.D. student in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University School of Medicine. "Since we currently do not understand the interaction between genetics and nutrition, the goal of this research was to understand how the lack of a specific nutrient, in this case copper, interacts with an embryo's genetics during early development."

Mendelsohn is doing the research in the laboratory of Jonathan D. Gitlin, M.D., the Helene B. Roberson Professor of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine, director of genetics and genomic medicine at St. Louis Children's Hospital and scientific director of the Children's Discovery Institute.

Mendelsohn and collaborators Stephen L. Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor of genetics at the School of Medicine, and graduate student Chunyue Yin, working with Lila Solnica-Krezel, associate professor of biology at Vanderbilt University, studied the impact of copper metabolism on the development of zebrafish, a vertebrate that develops similarly to humans. Zebrafish have become staples of genetic research because the transparent embryos grow outside of the mother's body, which allows development to be easily observed.........

Posted by: Emily      Permalink         Source

August 7, 2006, 3:38 PM CT

Classification of Diets

People have come to identify some essential factors which influence the general state of health and quality of life. These factors include eating, working, exercising, resting and spiritual activity closely associated with one's mental state.

Eating crucially influences the state of health. It provides the body with essential vital substances which are subsequently converted into the necessary forms of energy for life. For this reason, special attention has always been given to eating. A wide range of diets emerged from various traditions and philosophies.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

August 1, 2006, 7:02 AM CT

Reduce Prostate Cancer Growth Rate

UCLA scientists observed that altering the fatty acid ratio found in the typical Western diet to include more omega-3 fatty acids and decrease the amount of omega-6 fatty acids may reduce prostate cancer tumor growth rates and PSA levels.

Reported in the Aug. 1 issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research, this initial animal-model study is one of the first to show the impact of diet on lowering an inflammatory response known to promote prostate cancer tumor progression and could lead to new therapy approaches.

The omega-6 fatty acids contained in corn, safflower oils and red meats are the predominant polyunsaturated fatty acids in the Western diet. The healthier marine omega-3 fatty acids are found in cold-water fish like salmon, tuna and sardines.

"Corn oil is the backbone of the American diet. We consume up to 20 times more omega-6 fatty acids in our diet in comparison to omega-3 acids," said principal investigator Dr. William Aronson, a professor in the department of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a researcher with UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center. "This study strongly suggests that eating a healthier ratio of these two types of fatty acids may make a difference in reducing prostate cancer growth, but studies need to be conducted in humans before any clinical recommendations can be made".........

Posted by: Mark      Permalink         Source

July 25, 2006, 8:52 PM CT

Overweight Teens Reduce Risk Of Diabetes

Teens at risk of developing diabetes can prevent or delay its onset through strength training exercise, a University of Southern California study has observed.

Research led by Michael Goran, PhD, professor of preventive medicine in the Keck School of Medicine of USC, showed that overweight Latino teenage boys who lifted weights twice per week for 16 weeks significantly reduced their insulin resistance, a condition in which their bodies don't respond to insulin and can't process sugars properly. Insulin resistance is common in obese children and is a precursor of diabetes. The findings were reported in the recent issue of Medicine and Science of Sports Exercise.

Prior research has demonstrated that aerobic and resistance exercise is effective in improving insulin sensitivity in adults, but no controlled studies of resistance exercise had been done on overweight youth. Goran and his colleagues hypothesized that overweight teens would be more likely to stick with a resistance training regimen in comparison to aerobic exercise because it is less physically taxing and gives visible results quicker.

The scientists chose to focus on Latino teens because they are at particular risk for diabetes. As per the Centers for Disease Control, about half of all Latino children born in 2000 are expected to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source