healthcare info 21

Yet in a study published recently in the  American Journal of Human Biology , researchers at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, in collaboration with colleagues at CU Boulder and the University of Costa Rica, tested an explanation for greater obesity among these women: limited access to dietary protein leads them to consume a lower proportion of protein in the diet, driving higher calorie intake and obesity. The study, "Using the protein leverage hypothesis to understand socioeconomic variation in obesity," examined elements of the protein leverage hypothesis in a sample of Costa Rican women. "Studies conducted in a laboratory setting show that when people eat a diet with a lower proportion of protein, they tend to consume more calories," said lead author Traci Bekelman, a post-doctoral fellow in pediatrics at the CU School of Medicine. "We tested out this relationship between protein and calories in a real world setting in order to provide insight into risi...

Whole grain consumption has been associated with reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes , and some cancers. Researchers have speculated that whole grains lessen risk for diseases through reducing inflammation, but studies comparing the effects of whole grains versus refined grains consumption have not controlled the diets of study participants and have not evaluated cell-mediated immune responses to uncover the impact of whole grains on immune and inflammatory responses. The research team analyzed the results from an eight-week randomized, controlled trial with 81 participants to see what effect a diet rich in whole grains, as opposed to a diet rich in refined grains, would have on immune and inflammatory responses, gut microbiota, and stool frequency in healthy adults. For the first two weeks, participants consumed the same weight-maintaining Western-style diet rich in refined grains. For the next six weeks, 40 of those participants stayed on that diet, while 41 participan...

Gluten-free merchandise usually include rice flour as an alternative choice to wheat. Rice is thought to bioaccumulate sure poisonous metals, together with arsenic and mercury from fertilizers, soil, or water, however little is thought in regards to the well being results of diets excessive in rice content material. Credit score: © Marek / Fotolia Individuals who eat a gluten-free weight loss plan could also be in danger for elevated publicity to arsenic and mercury -- poisonous metals that may result in heart problems, most cancers and neurological results, in response to a report within the journal  Epidemiology . Gluten-free diets have change into in style within the U.S., though lower than 1 % of Individuals have been recognized with celiac illness -- an out-of-control immune response to gluten, a protein present in wheat, rye and barley. A gluten-free weight loss plan is advisable for individuals with cel...

The team has discovered a gene that triggers a feeling of fullness, as well as the need to sleep after eating. A similar gene is found in people, opening up the potential to develop a drug that could help control obesity by reducing appetite and increasing the desire for exercise. The team, led by Associate Professor Roger Pocock at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and his colleagues at the University of Copenhagan, published their results today in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , a prestigious US journal. Associate Professor Pocock and his team discovered a gene, encoding a transcription factor called ETS-5, which controls signals from the brain to the intestines. Associate Professor Pocock explained that when the intestine had stored enough fat, the brain would receive the message to stop moving, effectively putting the worm to sleep. "When animals are malnourished they seek out food by roaming their environment. When they're well fed...

High levels of low-density lipoproteins (LDL -- the "bad cholesterol") and triglycerides, a type of blood fat, are associated with an increased risk of heart and blood vessel diseases. HDL cholesterol is associated with a lower risk because these lipoproteins help eliminate the excess cholesterol from the bloodstream. "However, studies have shown that HDL doesn't work as well in people at high risk for heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases, and that the functional ability of HDL matters as much as its quantity," said senior study author Montserrat Fitó, M.D., Ph.D., and coordinator of the Cardiovascular Risk and Nutrition Research Group at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute in Barcelona and at the Ciber of Physipathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN), Spain. "At the same time, small-scale trials have shown that consuming antioxidant-rich foods like virgin olive oil, tomatoes and berries improved HDL function in huma...

In the paper, published Feb. 10 in  Gastroenterology , investigators from the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine underscore the necessity for physicians to evaluate the potential side effects and interactions of medications they prescribe for patients with obesity, and to familiarize themselves with alternatives that may limit weight gain or may even assist with weight loss. "Physicians know that some medications can increase weight, but they don't always know what alternatives are out there," said lead author Dr. Leon Igel, an assistant professor of clinical medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Weill Cornell Medicine. "We want physicians who treat patients with obesity to feel more comfortable prescribing these alternatives. Our paper looks at how to practically manage patients with obesity by prescribing the optimal medications for them." Numerous factors contribute to obesity and the body's...

"People vary in their distribution of body fat -- some put fat in their belly, which we call abdominal adiposity, and some in their hips and thighs," says Sekar Kathiresan, MD, director of the MGH Center for Genomic Medicine, associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and senior author of the  JAMA  report. "Abdominal adiposity has been correlated with cardiometabolic disease, but whether it actually has a role in causing those conditions was unknown. We tested whether genetic predisposition to abdominal adiposity was associated with the risk for type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease and found that the answer was a firm 'yes'." While several observational studies have reported greater incidence of type 2 diabetes and heart disease among individuals with abdominal adiposity, they could not rule out the possibility that lifestyle factors -- such as diet, smoking and a lack of exercise -- were the actual causes of increased disease ris...

"In many ways, Indonesia is a prime example to study these phenomena," says Masoud Vaezghasemi. "As the fourth most populous country in the world, Indonesia is undergoing very fast transitions -- economically, demographically, health-wise and also nutrition-wise. The Indonesian diet transformed very fast from its traditional diets high in cereal and fibre towards Western pattern diets high in sugars, fat, and animal-source foods. This caused a swift increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity while undernutrition remains a great public health concern." The researchers started off with exploring the distributions of body mass index (BMI) across different socioeconomic groups in Indonesia using the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) dataset, which stands out as one of the biggest longitudinal health surveys outside the OECD. According to the results: Difference in BMI among people from different socioeconomic groups became smaller while people within ...

Is there a way to get metabolism to ramp up -- even when it's not cold out? TSRI Assistant Professor Anutosh Chakraborty is on a mission to answer this question. His past research revealed a new therapeutic target in this battle -- a protein that actually promotes fat accumulation in animal models by slowing stored energy (fat) breakdown and encouraging weight gain. Now, in a study recently published online in the journal  Molecular Metabolism , Chakraborty and his colleagues have shown that deleting the gene for this protein, known as IP6K1, protects animal models from both obesity and diabetes. This protective effect is seen regardless of diet, even at what's known as a thermoneutral temperature (around 86?F). This means inhibiting IP6K1 should help animals burn more energy, regardless of outside conditions. "In genetically altered animal models that lack IP6K1, we found that deletion dramatically protects these knock-out mice from diet-induced obesity and insul...

The team hope that the findings will inform the design of future supplementation studies, and begin to answer questions as to the optimal levels of vitamin D required for healthy muscles. The study, published in  PLOS ONE , builds on previous knowledge showing levels of inactive vitamin D to be associated with a lack of muscle mass. The research is the result of a cutting edge technique that allowed both active and inactive forms of vitamin D to be assessed alongside their impact on various muscle functions. Dr Zaki Hassan-Smith, from the University of Birmingham , explained, "We have a good understanding of how vitamin D helps bone strength, but we still need to learn more about how it works for muscles. When you look at significant challenges facing healthcare providers across the world, such as obesity and an ageing population, you can see how optimising muscle function is of great interest." "Previous studies have tested for the inactive forms of vitamin D ...