Should you exercise when you have a cold or flu and will it help or hinder your recovery asks the New York Times (see here).
Here is my take on the issue, speaking only from personal experience:
NY Times reports:
People with Type 2 diabetes on a high-fiber diet kept their blood sugar under better control when they ate foods like beans and nuts instead of the recommended whole-grain diet, researchers have found.It's important to consider that some of the low-glycemic foods are only generally considered low-glycemic under certain conditions. For example, instant oatmeal is often considered to be higher glycemic than the whole oats long-time cooking variety. Read more...
Beans and nuts are among foods that only modestly increase blood glucose levels; scientists describe these foods as having a low glycemic index. . . .
The high-cereal high fiber diet emphasized “brown foods” such as whole-grain bread and breakfast cereal, brown rice and potatoes with the skin on. The low-glycemic diet included beans, peas, lentils, pasta, quickly boiled rice and certain breads, like pumpernickel and rye, as well as oatmeal and oat bran cereals.
Why not design your own drug? Hat tip: David.
Science News reports:
In perhaps the largest cancer chemoprevention trial ever conducted, researchers have found that supplementation with vitamin E or selenium, alone or in combination, was not associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer or other cancers. This study, along with another cancer prevention study, will be published in the January 7 issue of JAMA, and both reports are being released early online because of public health implications.I have not gone out of my way to take either E or Selenium in supplement form for years now.
Bloomberg reports on a study of the effect of the so-called "Mediterranean-diet" Vs a low-fat diet on heart disease. The study found:
The article notes that other studies have made similar findings:One of the Mediterranean-diet groups was given 1 liter (33.8 ounces) a week of virgin olive oil. The other received 30 grams (1.06 ounces) a day of mixed nuts, half of which were walnuts and the rest almonds and hazelnuts.
The prevalence of metabolic syndrome decreased 6.7 percent in the group given the olive oil compared with 13.7 percent among those in the nut group, the study found.
Weight didn’t change among the participants after one year. Those on the Mediterranean diet plus nuts experienced more of a drop in waist size, triglycerides and blood pressure compared with those on the low-fat diet, Ros said.
Nuts contain nutrients that may affect insulin resistance, blood pressure and blood fats such as cholesterol. Studies have shown that eating nuts may protect against heart disease, the researchers said. A July report in the New England Journal of Medicine found that overweight people lost more pounds on a Mediterranean diet than did those on a diet low in fat.Read more...
Kristof at the NY Times writes:
One unfortunate consequence of the "heath" trends in the West to choose sea salt over table salt is that the iodine has not been added to sea salt. Deficiencies may result where local soils are deficient in iodine. One scientist observes:Almost one-third of the world’s people don’t get enough iodine from food and water. The result in extreme cases is large goiters that swell their necks, or other obvious impairments such as dwarfism or cretinism. But far more common is mental slowness.
When a pregnant woman doesn’t have enough iodine in her body, her child may suffer irreversible brain damage and could have an I.Q. that is 10 to 15 points lower than it would otherwise be. An educated guess is that iodine deficiency results in a needless loss of more than 1 billion I.Q. points around the world.
Worldwide, the soil in large geographic areas is deficient in iodine. Twenty-nine percent of the world's population living in approximately 130 countries is estimated to live in areas of deficiency (see Table). This occurs primarily in mountainous regions such as the Himalayas, the European Alps, and the Andes, where iodine has been washed away by glaciation and flooding. Iodine deficiency also occurs in lowland regions far from the oceans, such as central Africa and eastern Europe. Those who consume only locally produced foods in these areas are at risk for IDD.Wikipedia notes, "The introduction of iodized salt since the early 1900s has eliminated this condition in many affluent countries; however, in Australia, New Zealand, and several European countries, iodine deficiency is a significant public health problem."
The NY Times reports:
Read more...How happy you are may depend on how happy your friends’ friends’ friends are, even if you don’t know them at all.
And a cheery next-door neighbor has more effect on your happiness than your spouse’s mood.
So says a new study that followed a large group of people for 20 years — happiness is more contagious than previously thought. . . .
In fact, said his co-author, James H. Fowler, an associate professor of political science at University of California, San Diego, their research found that “if your friend’s friend’s friend becomes happy, that has a bigger impact on you being happy than putting an extra $5,000 in your pocket.”
The researchers analyzed information on the happiness of 4,739 people and their connections with several thousand others — spouses, relatives, close friends, neighbors and co-workers — from 1983 to 2003.
“People think they’re smarter on caffeine, but this study is a strong argument for taking a nap instead of having a cup of coffee," the researcher said to the NY Times. Here's what they found:
Those who had caffeine had worse motor skills than those who napped or had a placebo. In the perceptual task, the nappers did significantly better than either the caffeine or placebo group. On the verbal test, nappers were best by a wide margin, and the caffeine consumers did no better than those given a placebo. Despite their mediocre performance, caffeine takers consistently reported less sleepiness than the others.Speaking of napping, did you know that "the Chinese are napping maniacs?" Read more...
We know marketers try to fool us, but that's not enough. We have to consider how they get away with it.
The NY Times has an excellent op-ed on the "Health Halo" effect. If you are having trouble losing weight, take note of this study.
Read more...Half of the 40 people surveyed were shown pictures of a meal consisting of an Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad and a 20-ounce cup of regular Pepsi. (You can see it for yourself at TierneyLab.) On average, they estimated that the meal contained 1,011 calories, which was a little high. The meal actually contained 934 calories — 714 from the salad and 220 from the drink.
The other half of the Park Slopers were shown the same salad and drink plus two Fortt’s crackers prominently labeled “Trans Fat Free.” The crackers added 100 calories to the meal, bringing it to 1,034 calories, but their presence skewed people’s estimates in the opposite direction. The average estimate for the whole meal was only 835 calories — 199 calories less than the actual calorie count, and 176 calories less than the average estimate by the other group for the same meal without crackers.
Science Daily reports:
Treating Vitamin D DeficiencyRead more...
In the absence of clinical guidelines, the authors outline specific recommendations for restoring and maintaining optimal vitamin D levels in CV patients. These patients should initially be treated with 50,000 IU of vitamin D2 or D3 once weekly for 8 to 12 weeks. Maintenance therapy should be continued using one of the following strategies:
* 50,000 IU vitamin D2 or D3every 2 weeks;
* 1,000 to 2,000 IU vitamin D3 daily;
* Sunlight exposure for 10 minutes for Caucasian patients (longer for people with increased skin pigmentation) between the hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Vitamin D supplements appear to be safe. In rare cases, vitamin D toxicity (causing high calcium levels and kidney stones) is possible, but only when taking in excess of 20,000 units a day.
SD reports:
A growing body of evidence links low 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels to common CVD risk factors such as hypertension, obesity and diabetes, as well as major cardiovascular events including stroke and congestive heart failure. . . .Personally, I think it's a better idea to cover yourself in clothing than in sunscreen (after you get your dose of sun for the day). Read more...
It is estimated that up to half of U.S. adults and 30 percent of children and teenagers have vitamin D deficiency."We are outside less than we used to be, and older adults and people who are overweight or obese are less efficient at making vitamin D in response to sunlight," said Dr. O'Keefe. "A little bit of sunshine is a good thing, but the use of sunscreen to guard against skin cancer is important if you plan to be outside for more than 15 to 30 of intense sunlight exposure."
Vitamin D can also be consumed through supplements and food intake. Natural food sources of vitamin D include salmon, sardines, cod liver oil, and vitamin D-fortified foods including milk and some cereals.
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