Eggs May Help Prevent Heart Disease And Cancer

And how many times have we been warned about the Devil Egg?

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?

One of nature's most perfect foods may be even better for us than previously thought.

While eggs are well known to be an excellent source of proteins, lipids, vitamins and minerals, researchers at the University of Alberta recently discovered they also contain antioxidant properties, which helps in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Jianping Wu, Andreas Schieber and graduate students Chamila Nimalaratne and Daise Lopes-Lutz of the U of A Department of Agricultural Food and Nutritional Science examined egg yolks produced by hens fed typical diets of either primarily wheat or corn. They found the yolks contained two amino acids, tryptophan and tyrosine, which have high antioxidant properties.

After analyzing the properties, the researchers determined that two egg yolks in their raw state have almost twice as many antioxidant properties as an apple and about the same as half a serving (25 grams) of cranberries.

However, when the eggs were fried or boiled, antioxidant properties were reduced by about half, and a little more than half if the eggs were cooked in a microwave.

"It's a big reduction but it still leaves eggs equal to apples in their antioxidant value," said Wu.

The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Food Chemistry.

The discovery of these two amino acids, while important, may only signify the beginning of finding antioxidant properties in egg yolks, said Wu, an associate professor of agricultural, food and nutritional science.

"Ultimately, we're trying to map antioxidants in egg yolks so we have to look at all of the properties in the yolks that could contain antioxidants, as well as how the eggs are ingested," said Wu, adding that he and his team will examine the other type of antioxidant already known to be in eggs, carotenoids, the yellow pigment in egg yolk, as well as peptides.

In previous research, Wu found that egg proteins were converted by enzymes in the stomach and small intestines and produced peptides that act the same way as ACE inhibitors, prescriptions drugs that are used to lower high blood pressure.

That finding defied common wisdom and contradicted the public perception that eggs increased high blood pressure because of their high cholesterol content. Additional research by Wu suggests the peptides can be formulated to help prevent and treat hypertension.

Think, again.

NHS chiefs warn of rising hospital waiting times

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Financial problems in the NHS are likely to cause a rise in waiting times in England, health chiefs believe.

Mike Farrar, the head of the NHS Confederation, said the difficulties could even lead to the 18-week limit for elective operations being broken.

He made the warning after feedback from senior NHS managers showed many feared it would get harder for patients to access care in the next 12 months.

Oops.

Eating Disorders Often 'Overlooked' in Elite Athletes

Eating to be very fit is an eating disorder?

Eating disorders, which are highly prevalent among both male and female athletes, is a largely ignored problem, an expert says.

In a presentation at the International Congress of the Royal College of Psychiatrists 2011, sports psychiatrist Alan Currie, MD, consultant psychiatrist and honorary clinical lecturer for the Assertive Outreach Team, Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Trust, Newcastle, United Kingdom, said athletes get a "raw deal" when they develop mental illness.

These days...

Natural Marijuana-Like Chemicals In Our Bodies Make Fatty Foods Hard To Resist

Calorie Madness.

Recent studies have revealed potato chips and french fries to be the worst contributors to weight gain - and with good reason. Have you ever wondered why you can't eat just one chip or a single fry? It's not just the carbohydrates at fault.

UC Irvine researchers Daniele Piomelli, Nicholas DiPatrizio and colleagues found that fats in these foods make them nearly irresistible and trigger a surprising biological mechanism that likely drives our gluttonous behavior. The apparent culprit? Natural marijuana-like chemicals in the body called endocannabinoids.

In their study, the Piomelli team discovered that when rats tasted something fatty, cells in their upper gut started producing endocannabinoids. Sugars and proteins, the researchers noted, did not have this effect.

The process starts on the tongue, where fats in food generate a signal that travels first to the brain and then through a nerve bundle called the vagus to the intestines. There, the signal stimulates the production of endocannabinoids, which initiates a surge in cell signaling that prompts the wanton intake of fatty foods, Piomelli said, probably by initiating the release of digestive chemicals linked to hunger and satiety that compel us to eat more.

"This is the first demonstration that endocannabinoid signaling in the gut plays an important role in regulating fat intake," added the Louise Turner Arnold Chair in the Neurosciences and professor of pharmacology.

Just say "No."

Obesity Contributes To Poor Oral Health

Fat Britannia.

Poor oral health has joined the list of knock-on effects of obesity, a recent study has concluded.

The study revealed the deeper the periodontal pockets, the higher the proportion of subjects with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or over, a figure according to the World Health Organization is generally considered as obese.

Smile pretty.

Fattiest States Named In New Obesity Report

What are the "fattiest states"?

The United of America ones.

Sixteen out of the 50 U.S. states have gotten fatter according to a new report released this week. Thus, obesity rates in a dozen states have risen about 30% with Mississippi being the largest state in the commonwealth overall.

Mississippi has an adult obesity rate of 34.4% and Colorado is winning with a rate of 19.8% obesity level overall, being the only state with an adult obesity rate below 20%. Four years ago, only one U.S. state had an adult obesity rate above 30%, according to the report.

The study also explained that over the past 15 years, seven states have doubled their rate of obesity and 10 states have doubled their rate of diabetes, and since 1995, obesity rates have risen fastest in Oklahoma, Alabama and Tennessee, while Colorado, Connecticut and Washington, D.C., had the slowest increases.

This somewhat coincides with a similar study presented by Men's Health Magazine last month that listed Jackson, Mississippi as the third least active city in The Union.

Lexington, Kentucky, with its really blue bluegrass, world class horse farms and home of the University of Kentucky Wildcats, ranks as the absolutely laziest city in the United States.

Indianapolis in Indiana and Jackson, Mississippi also ranked among the least active, while Seattle, San Francisco and Oakland, California were the most physically active.

Editors looked at how often residents exercise, the number of households that watched 15 hours of cable television a week and bought more than 11 video games a year, and the rate of DVT, a blood clot in a vein, usually in the leg, which is associated with inactivity. The clot can block blood flow and cause swelling and pain. When a clot breaks off and moves through the bloodstream, this is called an embolism. An embolism can get stuck in the brain, lungs, heart, or other area, leading to severe damage.

Here just below are the full lists released by Men's Health Magazine. These are the last ten and top ten out 100 ranked.

Least Active:
Lexington, KY
Indianapolis, IN
Jackson, MS
Charleston, WV
Oklahoma City, OK
Tulsa, OK
Little Rock, AR
Nashville, TN
Laredo, TX
Birmingham, AL
Most Active:
Seattle, WA
San Francisco, CA
Oakland, CA
Washington, DC
Salt Lake City, UT
Reno, NV
Portland, ME
Atlanta, GA
Denver, CO
Minneapolis, MN

However, don't forget that Men's Health magazine is a useless POS, IMHO.

Still, that does not change the fact that the US of A is the "fattiest state."

Losing Weight, Keeping It Off Might Require Distinct Skill Sets

Crap. Just one skill set...

A new study indicates that the practices that help people to lose weight and the practices that help them keep it off do not overlap much.
No one announces to a dieter, 'You're moving into the weight-maintenance stage. You'll have to do things differently,' said lead author Christopher Sciamanna, M.D. His group investigated whether two distinct sets of behaviors and thought patterns were involved in weight loss and its maintenance.

Practices associated with successful weight loss only were:

- Participate in a weight-loss program
- Look for information about weight loss, nutrition or exercise
- Eat healthy snacks
- Limit the amount of sugar you eat or drink
- Plan what you'll eat ahead of time
- Avoid skipping a meal, including breakfast
- Do different kinds of exercise
- Do exercise that you enjoy
- Think about how much better you feel when you are thinner

Practices significantly associated with successful maintenance only were:

- Eat plenty of low-fat sources of protein
- Follow a consistent exercise routine
- Reward yourself for sticking to your diet or exercise plan
- Remind yourself why you need to control your weight

If the two stages do demand different practices, then weight loss programs might need to guide people about key strategies for each phase explicitly, said Sciamanna, a professor of medicine and public health sciences at the Penn State College of Medicine. The study appears online and in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Do not overconsume Calories.

Period.

Brown Fat May Help People Lose Weight, Lower Blood Pressure

The future that never arrived.

Looking for the holy grail of weight loss? In the future, people may be able to receive an injection that burns calories and melts away fat, or at least that's what a new study on mice may suggest.

You will be long dead of too-fatness before this will happen (if ever).

Moderate Salt Reduction Reduces Blood Pressure But Not Risk Of Dying

OR



Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?

Reducing daily salt intake by a moderate amount reduces blood pressure but not people's chances of dying or getting cardiovascular disease, said UK researchers who systematically reviewed evidence available from published trials. Trials involving much larger groups cutting their salt intake by more than a moderate amount could tell a different story, they noted.

"We believe that we didn't see big benefits in this study because the people in the trials we analyzed only reduced their salt intake by a moderate amount, so the effect on blood pressure and heart disease was not large," lead author Professor Rod Taylor who works at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Exeter, told the press.

Taylor and colleagues wrote about their findings in the latest issue of the The Cochrane Library.

An earlier Cochrane review concluded in 2004 there wasn't sufficient evidence to say what effect reducing salt intake had on mortality or cardiovascular events, so Taylor and colleagues set out to find more recent studies to pool data from. They found seven studies covering a total of 6,489 participants.

When they analyzed the pooled data they found evidence that moderate reductions in salt intake reduces blood pressure:

"Intensive support and encouragement to reduce salt intake did lead to a reduction in salt eaten and a small reduction in blood pressure after more than six months," said Taylor.

But what they wanted to see was evidence that this change in diet also reduced people's risk of dying or having cardiovascualr disease, he explained. But they did not find this.

What to believe, what to believe.

What to believe?

Believe in fitness.

Study Finds Americans Are Eating More

Just what they need.

Americans may be cutting back on super-sized meals, but waistlines continue to expand from more frequent eating, according to a study released on Wednesday.

The number of daily meals and snacks consumed by U.S. adults rose to 4.8 in 2006 from 3.8 in 1977, according to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers who examined surveys of daily eating habits over a 30-year period.

In the top decile, the number of daily meals and snacks rose to seven from five.

The analysis also found that although the size of meal portions has stabilized in recent years, but the number of total calories consumed is rising.

Plug the piehole.

And not with food.

NIH findings in mice have potential to curb obesity and type 2 diabetes

Wanna bet?

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have uncovered a pathway in mice that allows white fat — a contributor to obesity and type 2 diabetes — to burn calories in a way that’s normally found in brown fat and muscle. The findings are in the July 6 edition of Cell Metabolism.

White fat is used to store calories. However, too much white fat (obesity) increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and other diseases. Brown fat generates heat to maintain body temperature and, like muscle, has lots of iron-containing, calorie-burning mitochondria in its cells. Changing white fat into brown fat or muscle is a potential new approach to treating obesity and type 2 diabetes, although the research is a long way from being applicable to people.

Now I will bet that the last part is true.

Smoking Does Not Keep You Slim

But lung cancer can.

You might think that you will gain weight if you quit smoking. But it's not that simple. A master's thesis from NHV shows that smoking doesn't help you get thinner.

While cigarette smoking has decreased in western countries, obesity has increased. Recent studies have suggested that today's smokers may have less weight problems than non-smokers. "That's why I wanted to study whether the relationship between smoking and overweight has changed over time", said Lisa Webb, Master of Public Health at NHV.

Approximately 6,000 people have participated in a study on the relationship between smoking and obesity. Two measure of body fat have been used: BMI (body mass index) and WHR (waist hip ratio). The master's thesis "Smoking in the age of obesity: an investigation of secular trends in body fat and cigarette smoking" shows higher WHR for male and female smokers but lower BMI for female smokers, as compared with non-smokers.

Too high a price to pay not to be a porker, IMHO.

Obese Mexican-Americans Lack Diet, Exercise Advice From Doctors

They are the lucky ones since diet and exercise advice from doctors is bulls**t. (e.g., see here, here, here and here)

Only half of obese Mexican-American adults receive diet and exercise advice from their physicians, a new study finds, although obesity is on the rise for this group.

"Among this obese population, not seeing 100 percent of people receiving advice is discouraging. There is a much higher risk of having negative health consequences," said Ha Nguyen, Ph.D., an assistant professor of family and community medicine at the Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Precisely the opposite of correct.

Physician weight loss and exercise advice will result in "a much higher risk of having negative health consequences."

Childhood Obesity And Liver Disease A Serious Public Health Concern In England

Coming to other countries near you.

Up to half-a-million overweight/obese children in England have a significant risk of developing "fatty liver disease", Professor Martin Lombard, the country's National Clinical Director for Liver Disease has warned.

Fatty liver disease, also known in this case as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, is a condition in which fat accumulates in the liver, it can cause inflammation and liver scarring. Many patients have no signs or symptoms. Severe fatty liver disease is sometimes called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. In severe cases the condition can progress to liver failure.

Prof. Lombard said that excessive fat in liver cells undermines its proper function, raising the risk of having a stroke or heart attack. The risk of cirrhosis of the liver and diabetes later in life is high.

Fatty liver disease can have many causes, including obesity, diabetes, corticosteroids, some poisons (such as carbon tetrachloride and yellow phosphorus), Cushing's syndrome, and hyperlipidemia (high fat levels in blood). It can also be caused by long-term high alcohol consumption, in which case it is called Alcoholic Liver Disease - there are three stages: Alcoholic fatty liver disease, Alcoholic hepatitis, and Cirrhosis.

Fatty liver disease during childhood is mainly caused by overweight/obesity.

Nutritional child abuse.

Nail the parents and the enablers.

A Woman's Diet Prior To Pregnancy Affects The Health Of Her Future Offspring

Getting nutritional child abuse started really early.

Poor maternal diet before conception can result in offspring with reduced birth weights and increased risk of developing type II diabetes and obesity.

Kudos, fatsos.

Surgical Complications Twelve Times More Likely In Obese Patients

Cut me.



Another reason to have the bronto-sapiens pay for their own sick care and sign waivers before receiving sick care.

Obese patients are nearly 12 times more likely to suffer a complication following elective plastic surgery than their normal-weight counterparts, according to new research by Johns Hopkins scientists.

"Our data demonstrate that obesity is a major risk factor for complications following certain kinds of elective surgery," says Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H, an associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the study published online in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Not only are these findings relevant to physicians who need to pay special heed to issues such as potential surgical site infections in heavier patients but, the authors argue, they are relevant to policymakers whose increasingly applied metrics for surgical quality and reimbursement do not account for the higher risk of worse outcomes in the obese.

Fight back - this is costing all of us.

Local Laws Fighting Fat Under Siege

Good.

The article is a NYT piece of crap based on unproven statements.

But the bottom line is good - mothballing these insipid laws.

Several state legislatures are passing laws that prohibit municipalities and other local governments from adopting regulations aimed at curbing rising obesity and improving public health, such as requiring restaurants to provide nutritional information on menus or to eliminate trans fats from the foods they serve.

In some cases, lawmakers are responding to complaints from business owners who are weary of playing whack-a-mole with varying regulations from one city to the next. Legislators have decided to sponsor state laws to designate authority for the rules that individual restaurants have to live by.

Florida and Alabama recently adopted such limits, while Georgia, Tennessee and Utah have older statutes on their books. Earlier this year, Arizona prohibited local governments from forbidding the marketing of fast food using “consumer incentives” like toys.

And this week, Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed the state budget, which contains sweeping limitations on local government control over restaurants.

This is what sensibility looks like.

It is not the vendors.

It is the individual.

Now, on to limiting coverage and making the fat pay for their diseases of choice.

Answers for Treating Obesity-Related Diseases May Reside in Fat Tissue, Study Shows

True - when the fat tissue is the bronto sapien, him- or her-self.

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have shown that the quality -- not just the quantity -- of adipose, or fat, tissue is a significant contributing factor in the development of inflammation and vascular disease in obese individuals. The study, which is a special feature on the iPad version of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, provides compelling evidence that the answer to treating cardiovascular disease and other obesity-related disorders, such as type 2 diabetes and cancer, might be found in the adipose tissue itself.

The answer resides in fewer Calories in than out.

Only the fatso can make that happen, no one else.

NHS faces 'diabetes time bomb'

Not if we refuse to pay for this disease of choice.

The health service could face a "diabetes time bomb" according to an audit of patients in England and Wales.

The report says 800,000 Type 1 and Type 2 patients have elevated blood sugar levels which could lead to kidney failure, limb amputation and stroke.

It warned that many of the patients were young or middle aged and could require "substantial hospital care in a matter of years".

Diabetes UK said the findings highlighted the need for urgent action.

All forms of diabetes result in raised blood sugar levels. If this is not controlled then it can cause serious damage.

The NHS Information Centre report confirmed that the number of cases of diabetes, especially Type 2, is increasing - particularly in deprived communities.

Hogwash.

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

No time bomb - do not pay and let the fatsos get hoisted by their own petard.

Children And Adolescents Who Eat Candy Are Less Overweight Or Obese

Still think they have any idea what is going on?

Children and adolescents who eat candy tend to weigh less than their non-consuming counterparts, according to a new study published in Food & Nutrition Research, a peer-reviewed journal.

This is potentially important news given the current state of the childhood obesity epidemic. But lead researcher Carol O'Neil, PhD, MPH, LDN, RD, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, wants to ensure the study is put into perspective.

"The study illustrates that children and adolescents who consume candy are less likely to be overweight or obese," O'Neil said. "However, the results of this study should not be construed as a hall-pass to overindulge. Candy should not replace nutrient-dense foods in the diet; it is a special treat and should be enjoyed in moderation."

Similar to a sister study that focused on adults (published earlier this year in Nutrition Research), this study examined the association of candy consumption on intakes of total energy, fat, and added sugars; diet quality; weight/adiposity parameters; and risk factors for cardiovascular disease in 11,182 U.S. children 2-13 years of age and adolescents 14-18 years of age participating in the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Striking a Balance: Candy and Health

While children and adolescent candy consumers in the study did have slightly higher intakes of total energy and added sugars, they were 22 percent and 26 percent, respectively, less likely to be overweight or obese than non-candy consumers - suggesting their ability to successfully navigate the "calories in, calories out," balance over time.

Good luck sorting this out.

BTW, here is the funding disclosure:

FUNDING DISCLOSURE: The study is a publication of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA/ARS) Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the USDA, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement from the U.S. government.

This research project was supported by the USDA Agricultural Research Service through specific cooperative agreement 58-6250-6-003. Partial support was received from the USDA Hatch Project LAB 93951. Partial support was also received from the National Confectioners Association.

You decide.