Although many dietary methods can lead to weight loss, a recent study found that high carbohydrate diets with a low glycemic index may be the ideal for weight loss and reduction of cardiovascular risk factors.
A recent study compared the relative effects of several diet methods on weight loss and cardiovascular risk. A total of 129 overweight or obese young adults were assigned to 1 of 4 reduced-fat, high-fiber diets for 12 weeks. Diets 1 and 2 were high carbohydrate (55% of total calories), with diet 1 carbohydrates being high-glycemic and diet 2 being low-glycemic. Diets 3 and 4 were high protein (25% of total calories), with high and low glycemic index carbohydrates respectively. The glycemic load was the highest in diet 1 and the lowest in diet 4. Changes in body composition and blood chemistries were then studied. The average weight loss from each group was similar, but those on diets 2 and 3 lost approximately 80% more fat mass than those on diet 1. LDL cholesterol levels declined significantly in diet group 2, but increased in diet group 3. Therefore, both high-protein and low-GI diets increase body fat loss, but cardiovascular risk reduction is enhanced by a high- carbohydrate, low-GI diet (diet 2).
Arch Intern Med 2006 Jul 24;166(14):1466-75
Friday, March 30, 2007
Comparison of four diets of varying glycemic load on weight loss and cardiovascular risk reduction
Mediterranean-style diet cuts risk of Alzheimer's disease by 68 percent
New research indicates that the Mediterranean diet rich in antioxidants and polyphenols reduce oxidative stress and protect against the development of Alzheimer's disease.The Mediterranean diet, rich in cereals, wine, fruits, nuts, legumes and whole grains, fish and olive oil, has been linked to lower incidence of heart disease, protection against some cancers, and a longer life. The diet's main nutritional components include beta-carotene, vitamin C, tocopherols, polyphenols and essential minerals. A new study published on-line in the Archives of Neurology indicates that it is these antioxidants and polyphenols that appear to offer protection, not simply an improvement in heart health.
After adjusting the results for age, education, BMI, smoking status, and ethnicity, the researchers reported that people with the highest adherence to a model Mediterranean diet were associated with a 60 per cent lower risk of Alzheimer's disease, compared to people with the lowest adherence to the diet.
When the researchers took into account general heart health, such as history of stroke, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and cholesterol, the associations for the high adherence group grew stronger, with an associated risk reduction of 68 per cent.
These results indicate that the protection gained by following a Mediterranean- type diet is not a result of the cardiovascular factors, and it may be more related to factors such as inflammation and oxidative stress. The researchers noted that the Mediterranean diet contains high levels of important antioxidants and polyphenols, and it could be the combination of these various dietary compounds that could partially explain the reduced risk of Alzheimer's Disease.
The study follows another study by the same researchers, published earlier this year in the Annals of Neurology (Vol. 59, pp. 912 - 921), in which elderly individuals whose diet closely resembled the Mediterranean diet had a 40 per cent lower risk of Alzheimer's than those who followed the diet the least.
Folate intake still below recommendations despite fortification
Despite significant improvements in public health measures to increase folate intakes through fortification of grain products, dietary intakes still fall well below recommendations. Regular use of a multivitamin supplement containing folic acid is an easy way to ensure that you receive an adequate intake.
A new study, published in October's American Journal of Public Health, concluded that since fortification was implemented folic acid intake has in fact increased, but not nearly enough to meet FDA goals and recommendations. Even with significant improvements and widespread fortification, only 39 percent of white women, 26 percent of black women, and 28 percent of Mexican American women attained the 400 microgram per day target for folate consumption. In addition, over half the subgroups showed a decrease in folic acid intake since fortification began in 1998.
The FDA recommends at least 400 micrograms of folate daily for nonpregnant women, and adult men, as well as children four and older. However, the daily recommendation for pregnant women increases to at least 800 micrograms per day. Despite the fact that recent surveys show that the majority of women know the importance of folic acid, daily folic acid supplementation appears to be critical since dietary intakes still fall well below recommendations.
Population-Level Changes in Folate Intake by Age, Gender, and Race/Ethnicity after Folic Acid Fortification. American Journal of Public Health. October, 2006.
Canadian study indicates that quality of nutritional supplements is still a concern
This study illustrates that disintegration, one basic indicator of product quality, is still a concern for dietary supplements.
J Pharm Pharmaceut Sci (www.cspsCanada.org) 9(1):40-49, 2006
http://www.ualberta.ca/~csps/JPPS9 (1)/Loebenberg.R/tablets.pdf
Vitamin D deficiencies widespread among pregnant women and infants despite prenatal vitamin usage
Vitamin D deficiency early in life is associated with rickets, a disorder characterized by soft bones. New research has shown that despite taking a prenatal vitamin, vitamin D deficiency is very common in pregnant women and newborn infants. Higher-dose supplementation and increased sun exposure is needed to improve maternal and infant vitamin D status.
More than 80% of African American women and nearly half of white women tested at delivery had levels of vitamin D that were insufficient, even though more than 90% of them used prenatal vitamins during pregnancy.
In addition, umbilical cord blood from newborns showed 92.4% of African American babies and 66.1% of white infants had insufficient vitamin D levels at birth, leaving them at risk for rickets and other health problems. A newborn relies completely on its mother for its vitamin D stores.
These results suggest that black and white pregnant women and newborns residing in the northern US are at high risk of vitamin D insufficiency, even when mothers regularly take prenatal vitamins. Higher-dose supplementation is needed to improve maternal and infant vitamin D status.
J. Nutr. 137:447-452, February 2007
Zinc supplements decrease incidence of infections in the elderly
Elderly adults are increasingly susceptible to infections, oxidative stress and immune dysfunction. According to new research, supplementing with zinc for one year decreased the incidence of infections and lowered markers of oxidative stress in a group of adults aged 55-87 years.
Adults over the age of 55 years are more susceptible to infections, immune dysfunction, increased oxidative stress, and zinc deficiency. Since zinc has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, new research sought to determine the effect of zinc on the incidence of total infections in the elderly.
Researchers also tested the effect of zinc on markers of oxidative stress. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of zinc supplementation was conducted in 50 healthy subjects of both sexes aged 55-87 years. The zinc- supplemented group received 45 mg of zinc orally for 12 months. Incidence of infections during the supplementation period was documented. Plasma zinc concentrations and markers of oxidative stress were measured at the beginning and after supplementation.
After zinc supplementation, the incidence of infections was significantly lower, plasma zinc was significantly higher, and generation of oxidative stress markers was significantly lower in the zinc-supplemented than in the placebo group.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 85, No. 3, 837-844, March 2007
Supplementation with Vitamin K Improves Anti-anticoagualtion Control in People on Warfarin
Daily supplements of vitamin K could help to control anticoagulation in over half the people taking the blood thinning medication warfarin, scientists from the
The new randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study looked at the effects of a daily vitamin K supplement (150 micrograms, about twice the RDA) or placebo on anti-coagulation in 70 warfarin treated patients with unstable anticoagulant control.
Fluctuations in anti-coagulation control, measured as a function of standard deviation, were found to have a significantly greater decrease in the vitamin K supplementation group than placebo, despite a significant reduction in the placebo group (decrease of 0.24 versus 0.11, respectively). Out of the 35 patients receiving the supplements, 33 had significantly improved anticoagulation, with 19 of these fulfilling the criteria for having stable control of anticoagulation. On the other hand, only 24 out of 33 patients in the placebo group had some improvement, with seven fulfilling the stable control criteria.
“Concomitant supplementation of vitamin K, perhaps through reducing the relative day-to-day variability in dietary vitamin K intake, can significantly improve anticoagulation control in patients with unexplained instability of response to warfarin,” said the researchers.
The result is particularly important because daily dietary control of vitamin K intake is difficult to maintain and even small changes in vitamin K intake are reported to translate into large variations in the production of clotting factors.
Additionally, because vitamin K is known to participate in blood clotting, people taking blood thinners like warfarin are usually recommended to avoid supplementation with the vitamin.
However, researchers from
“We hypothesised that supplementation with oral vitamin K would improve stability in patients with previously unstable control of anticoagulation,” explained lead author Elizabeth Sconce in the journal Blood.
Source: Blood First Edition Paper
Published online ahead of print, doi 10.1182/blood-2006-09-049262
“Vitamin K supplementation can improve stability of anticoagulation for patients with unexplained variability in response to warfarin”
Authors: E. Sconce, P. Avery, H. Wynne, and F. Kamali
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed
Pass The Butter...Very Interesting...
Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings.
DO YOU KNOW.. the difference between margarine and butter?
Read on to the end...gets very interesting!
Both have the same amount of calories.
Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.
Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.
Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!
Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.
Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.
And now, for Margarine..
Very high in trans fatty acids.
Triple risk of coronary heart disease.
Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)
Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold.
Lowers quality of breast milk.
Decreases immune response.
Decreases insulin response.
And here's the most disturbing fact.... HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!
Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Message from Majid Mokhbery, USANA Diamond Director
Just wanted to share some thoughts. I’ve always felt it’s a true blessing we’re in a business that allows success for ALL types and backgrounds and personalities. How much more different can you get from Jeremy, Collette and Vincent … just look through your “success at home” magazine and read those stories. Anyone can succeed.
Some of the key points to take away as possible “formula for success”
· Be bold. Go after what you want.
· Be specific. Set dates for your goals. Commit.
· To create massive results, it takes massive action.
· Care about people. Be genuinely interested in what’s important to THEM.
· Be compassionate. Don’t forget that the “USANA Difference” is not just in the products, but each of us, our sense of family, the heart we bring into our interactions with people and our integrity.
· You don’t have to have a big existing network. You can meet people anywhere. Build new relationships.
· Team up and create friendly supportive win-win atmosphere.
· Magnetize yourself with the qualities YOU value.
· Busy is just a state of mind. It is possible to own 2 businesses and 4 teenagers and become successful in USANA.
· You don’t have to be a Collette or Jeremy, just know that people like that are out there, looking. Find your 2.
· Stay grounded. Build your belief. Be unshakable.
· One truth, many paths.
It took me 5 years to Gold and 8 years to Diamond. There are those who have gotten there in a fraction of the time. A big lesson I got was that we have to pay our dues sometime. I had a lot to learn and grow so it took me 8 years. Some people like Tim Lewis took 11 months. I guarantee you he paid his dues elsewhere. He learned what he needed to learn elsewhere. The length of time is not important. The key is challenging yourself and giving yourself the quality of life that you were destined to live. Tomorrow never comes. Do it today. Give to yourself. Remember whether you want to own a Ferrari or build a church or give money to charity like Collette and many of us do, there is no judgment. What matters is “do good and do well”.
Over the past few months, our USANA business has allowed my family to spend 2 weeks at Sanoviv, Sail the Alaskan seas with friends, and spend a lot of quality time with our children. I worked hard. Now balance is important to me. What’s important to you?
My belief is, we have great products, but don’t lead with the products. We have a great business opportunity, but don’t lead with the business. Lead with your heart and genuinely care and your success will be unavoidable and LASTING.
Each of us have the opportunity to “set the pace and the culture” for our people and each of us as “independent associates” can do the business with the mindset that works for us. What a responsibility and what a blessing.
Let’s BE the difference and let’s make a difference.
Your partner in success,
Majid Mokhbery
USANA Health Sciences – Diamond Director
GRA – Executive Member
Fortune 100 Top Income Earner
Top Growth 100 member
Platinum Pacesetter
San Diego, California, USA
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Higher Antioxidant Intakes Reduce Risk of Lung Cancer in Male Smokers
Research in the 1990's seemed to indicate that beta-carotene supplements may increase lung cancer risk in smokers. However, a new analysis of dietary records from one of these studies led researchers to a different conclusion. Male smokers with the highest overall antioxidant intake, including beta-carotene, actually had a reduced risk of lung cancer.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Produce has been losing vitamins and minerals over the past half-century
San Francisco Chronicle
Saturday, March 25, 2006
The fruits and vegetables that our parents ate when they were growing up were more nutritious than the ones we'll serve our children tonight. On average, the produce we grow in the United States has lower levels of several vitamins and minerals today than it did 50 to 60 years ago. By growing or buying and eating organic produce, however, we can make up much of the difference. Organically grown fruits and vegetables are proving to have higher levels of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals than their conventionally grown counterparts.
Donald R. Davis, a research associate with the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas, Austin, recently analyzed data gathered by the USDA in 1950 and 1999 on the nutrient content of 43 fruit and vegetable crops. He found that six out of 13 nutrients had declined in these crops over the 50-year period (the seven other nutrients showed no significant, reliable changes). Three minerals, phosphorous, iron and calcium, declined between 9 percent and 16 percent. Protein declined 6 percent. Riboflavin declined 38 percent and ascorbic acid (a precursor of vitamin C) declined 15 percent.
A study of the mineral content of fruits and vegetables grown in Britain between 1930 and 1980 shows similar decreases in nutrient density. The British study found significantly lower levels of calcium, magnesium, copper and sodium in vegetables, and of magnesium, iron, copper and potassium in fruit. The report concludes that the declines indicate "that a nutritional problem associated with the quality of food has developed over those 50 years."
The decline in our produce's nutritional value corresponds to the period of increasing industrialization of our farming systems. As we have substituted chemical fertilizers, pesticides and monoculture farming for the natural cycling of nutrients and on-farm biodiversity, we have lessened the nutritional value of our produce. Integrated well-established organic farming systems can counter the decline.
Good science comparing the nutritional value of organic and conventional foods is accumulating rapidly. It isn't uncommon for researchers to find that the higher nutrient levels in organic produce completely offset the declines Davis found in conventional produce. "What all our data shows," says Charles Benbrook, chief scientist at the Organic Center and a former executive director of the Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences, "is that whenever there's been a valid comparison between conventional and organic, organic is virtually never lower than conventional and, in a significant number of cases, it's higher. Sometimes it's significantly higher in several important nutrients."
For example, Virginia Worthington, a clinical nutritionist who earned her doctorate in nutrition at Johns Hopkins, published a review in 2001 of 41 studies comparing the nutritional value of organic and conventional produce. After tallying the data across all the studies, Worthington concluded that organic produce had on average 27 percent more vitamin C, 21.1 percent more iron, 29.3 percent more magnesium and 13.6 percent more phosphorous than conventional produce.
Benbrook released a review in 2005 of the research comparing antioxidant levels in conventional and organic foods. In humans, antioxidants reduce damage to cells and DNA from free radicals (molecules generated by metabolic processes within the body), and thereby promote cardiovascular health, inhibit the reproduction of cancerous cells, slow the aging process in the brain and nervous systems, and lessen the risk and/or severity of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. Benbrook found that in 85 percent of the comparable data points, produce from organic farms had higher levels of antioxidants than did produce from conventional farms. On average, antioxidant levels in organic produce were 30 percent higher.
Earlier this year, a Swedish team of scientists demonstrated that extracts from organically grown strawberries slowed the proliferation of colon and breast cancer cells to a significantly greater degree than extracts from conventional strawberries did. The levels of all the antioxidants analyzed by the team were higher in the organic strawberries than in the conventional.
"As someone that has been involved with science and science policy for my whole life," says Benbrook, "I think the scientific case has been made for organic produce. The case has been made firmly enough so that it is appropriate and, indeed, irresponsible at this point not to tell consumers straight up that choosing organic fruits and vegetables probably delivers nutritional benefits because of the higher levels of antioxidants and vitamins and minerals."
The decline in nutrients
Our push for higher yields per acre and cheaper food is largely to blame for the decline in nutrient levels in conventional produce. With irrigation and fertilization we can get more pounds per acre, but often not without sacrificing nutrients per pound produced. This "dilution effect" on nutrient density was widely observed by agricultural scientists even 20 to 30 years ago. The use of hybrids selected for high yields has probably compounded the trade-off between yield and nutrients. Davis writes, "Modern crops that grow larger and faster are not necessarily able to acquire nutrients at the same, faster rate, whether by synthesis or by acquisition from the soil."
In addition to pushing a plant to grow big fast, heavy fertilization can interfere with a plant's ability to synthesize vitamin C. A plant will increase protein production and reduce carbohydrate production when it absorbs an abundance of nitrogen. "Because vitamin C is made from carbohydrates, the synthesis of vitamin C is reduced," writes Worthington.
Use of potassium fertilizers (potassium is the "K" in N-P-K fertilizers) can reduce the phosphorous content of some plants. For the plant to absorb phosphorous, it must have adequate amounts of magnesium. But when potassium is added to soil, plants absorb less magnesium, and, indirectly, less phosphorus as well.
Organic farmers do not use synthetic formulations of fertilizers, and this restriction is part of the reason organic produce has relatively higher nutrient values. Organic farmers feed their crops only indirectly. Instead of plying plants with nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium in readily dissolved and absorbed powders and solutions, they fertilize their crops by adding organic matter to the soil in the form of composts, cover crops and manures. The organic matter feeds microorganisms in the soil that, in the process of eating and living and dying, recycle the nutrients embedded in the organic matter. The microbes slowly release not only nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium but also a host of other nutrients in ratios difficult to replicate with synthetic fertilizers.
The large populations of microorganisms that typically inhabit organically managed fields also produce substances that combine with minerals in the soil and make them more available to plants, a function that can be especially important for iron absorption. Iron is usually present in soil, but it is often in an unavailable form.
The relatively larger root-balls of organic plants are another reason organically grown plants can absorb a wider variety of nutrients than chemically fertilized plants can. Because organic plants don't have macronutrients spoon-fed to them, they grow larger root systems out of necessity. Roots on organic plants have to range farther to access sufficient nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. In the process, they come into contact with more trace minerals and micronutrients than the smaller root-balls of conventional plants do. "When plants are growing, they sense how big a root system they have to produce to draw from the soil the nutrients and moisture they need to grow and reach maturity and reproduce," says Benbrook. "On a conventional farm where there are high levels of fertilizer nutrients in the soil, along with lots of water, there is little incentive for roots to penetrate far."
Making healthful choices
The role that antioxidants play in plant health probably also contributes to the higher antioxidant levels found in organic produce. Many antioxidants help a plant resist diseases, deter pests and recover from insect damage. Because organically grown plants do not "benefit" from the protection of pesticides, they must be able to muster their own defenses and therefore produce high levels of antioxidants.
By providing plants with more balanced nutrition and by triggering production of higher levels of antioxidants, organic farming systems yield fruits and vegetables that are, on average, more nutrient dense than conventional produce. We can maximize the nutritional benefits of eating fruits and vegetables by choosing organic.
"For the average consumer that's looking for a way to tilt their odds in favor of healthy development and graceful aging for themselves and for their families, the single most important thing they can do is eat more fruits and vegetables and less added fat, sugar and highly processed foods," says Benbrook. "The second most important thing for them to do is to seek out organic fruits and vegetables known to be high in vitamins and antioxidants."
Foods rated "very high" and "high" in antioxidants
VERY HIGH
Blueberry, wild; artichoke, cooked; black plums; broccoli raab; blackberry; strawberry; blueberry, cultivated; cabbage, red; raspberry; apple ('Red Delicious'); apple ('Granny Smith'); sweet cherry; bean, red kidney; navel orange; prune; bean, pinto; pear ('Red Anjou'); grape, red; potato, russet; raisin
HIGH
Asparagus, raw; lettuce, red leaf; asparagus, cooked; beet; grapefruit, red; peach; pepper, yellow; tangerine; onion, yellow, cooked; apricot; grape, green; pineapple; potato, white; black-eyed pea; almond
Source: The Organic Center
Resources
-- Donald R. Davis: "Trade-Offs in Agriculture and Nutrition," Food Technology, March 2005, Vol. 59, No. 3. A graph that illustrates the nutrient declines mentioned in the article is titled, "Trends in 43 Garden Crops USDA Data, 1950-1999" and can be found at www.organic-center.org/reportfiles/Davis_ppt.pdf.
-- Virginia Worthington: "Nutritional Quality of Organic Versus Conventional Fruits, Vegetables and Grains." The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Vol. 7, No 2, 2001.
-- Anne-Marie Mayer: "Historical Changes in the Mineral Content of Fruits and Vegetables," British Food Journal, 99/6, 1997.
-- The Swedish study, conducted by Marie E. Olsson, C. Staffan Andersson, Stina Oredsson, Rakel H. Berglund and Karl-Erik Gustavsson, is "Antioxidant Levels and Inhibition of Cancer Cell Proliferation in Vitro by Extracts From Organically and Conventionally Cultivated Strawberries," Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, American Chemical Society, published on the Web, Jan. 21, 2006.
-- The Organic Center, www.organic-center.org.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
High antioxidant levels are associated with a reduced risk of periodontitis
Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease that affects the supporting tissues of the teeth and is associated with an increased risk of stroke, type-2 diabetes, and heart disease. A new study reveals that increased serum antioxidant concentrations are associated with a reduced risk of periodontitis, even in people who have never smoked.Periodontitis is an inflammatory condition of the tissue surrounding the teeth which has been linked with an increased risk of stroke, type-2 diabetes, and heart disease. A new report published in the Journal of Nutrition revealed that higher serum antioxidant levels are associated with a reduction in the risk of periodontitis.
The current research examined data from 11,480 participants in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), for whom periodontal measurements and serum levels of several antioxidants had been recorded. These antioxidants included alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, selenium, lutein, beta-cryptoxanthin, vitamins A, C and E, and total antioxidant levels. Mild periodentitis was found in 14% of the subjects and 5% had severe disease. Higher vitamin C and total antioxidant levels were associated with a lower incidence of periodontitis, especially with severe disease. Individuals whose vitamin C levels were in the top 20% of participants had a 39% lower risk of periodontitis than participants with the lowest intakes.
For subjects who had never smoked, those with the highest intake of vitamin C experienced only half the risk of periodontitis compared to those with the lowest vitamin C levels. Vitamin C has a role in collagen synthesis and maintenance of connective tissue, which may explain its benefit in protecting against periodontitis. In addition, it is known as a potent antioxidant that may also help reduce inflammation.
Journal of Nutrition Vol. 137, 657-664, March 2007.