Food Addiction and Sugar Addiction
Sugar Addiction:
Are You a Sugar Addict
Canadian Living
http://www.canadianliving.com/health/nutrition/are_you_a_sugar_addict.php
In my
practice, I would say a large proportion of my clients are "addicted to
sugar" or some type of food substance. This being said, I am
defining "addiction" as using/abusing a substance for purposes other
than basic necessity. Living in North American society we eat for a variety of
different reasons, most of which have nothing to do with true "stomach
hunger". In my experience, I've found we have lost touch with our
bodies and what they actually need (nutrient-wise) and when they need it.
Because sugar, or carbohydrates usually in the form of glucose, is our
body's major source of energy, this tends to be the type of food most people
turn to as their choice "food substance" to abuse.
In my practice I see 3 major types of eating apart from true "stomach
eating" where we would eat because our body needs certain nutrients at
that time. I've labelled the 3 major types of eating that, in my opinion,
feed into our "food addiction" as: heart eating; mouth eating; and
mind eating. Heart eating, otherwise known as emotional eating; is when
we eat out of boredom; to satisfy certain emotional needs; to help relax us
after a long or stressful day; to help us forget about, or feel better about,
or even feel worse about, a certain situation. Mouth eating; is when we
eat because we enjoy the taste of certain foods; we would like to try the taste
of something new; we pass by a great smell and want to feed into our senses by
exploring the "mouth" pleasures. Mind eating is when we eat
because we feel this is the time we "should be eating" and these are
the foods we "should be eating". We are bombarded with messages
about 'mind' eating in the media and all around us. This is when
we eat because of scheduling and social functions: it's a meal or
snack time, we have a minute to grab something before our next meeting, we have
a dinner with friends or a pizza party to go to. It's also when we feel
we should eat a certain type of food, or mix this food with that food, or eat
at this time of day so we don't eat at that time of day. In these
scenarios, we are abusing food on a more subconscious level by trying to
manipulate it's true function due to; myths; today's latest research that has
not necessarily been validated; or social trends.
The
key way to assess if you may be “addicted” to food/sugar is if you are no
longer in touch with your body. The most basic way to understand food and
sugar addiction, is to know that it is eating for purposes other than our
body's actual need for it. If you find yourself eating for reasons other
than that you are hungry for a particular food at a particular time- and most
importantly- you are able to decipher HOW hungry you are for that particular
food- then you know you are not eating to fulfill a basic survival need. This,
in turn, means that you are abusing the chemical substances in your food for
your own pleasure- be it mind, mouth or emotional- which leads to the addiction
you are referring to.
In terms of specific physiological consequences to food, or glucose “addiction”
there are several "symptoms" that have been documented. These
symptoms can include headaches, large energy shifts (extreme energy
"high's" and "low's"), mood swings, frequent colds and
infections (low immunity), as well as bowel/digestive (particularly
constipation problems and bloating) and weight management problems.
Unfortunately, these same signs and symptoms can be the result of various
other health indicators. So my advice would be that if you do notice
these symptoms, to visit your primary health care provider and first make sure
that there aren't any other health problems associated with these symptoms.
If not, then likely they are due to the "sugar addiction" most
of our society suffers from.
Unfortunately
a sugar addiction is very difficult to manage due to the basic need our body
has for this type of energy. Our body requires that up to 60% of our
daily Calories come from carbohydrates- which in turn are converted to glucose
(simple sugar) and used for basic body functions and energy. It is not
like an alcohol addiction, where it is possible to completely cut out the
particular "problem" substance. The only way to manage this
problem is to once again become connected to your body and learn to listen to what
it's telling you. Although this sounds
simple, it is a very complex task with many confounding variables. In my
practice we do a lot of counselling with regards to this, and getting help is
the best way to beat your “addiction”. Here are my best tips on how to go
about doing this:
1) Become aware of the reasons that you eat:
Keep a food diary and each time you eat, write what
type of eating you are doing
2) Stick to whole foods. Our society is laden with processed,
pre-packaged/pre-prepared and "fake" foods. A lot of the time
we play G-d and think we know exactly what our bodies need (as if we even had
all the tools to do so!!). We end up changing the basic combinations and
ratios of nutrients in our bodies, and filling ourselves with substances in
quantities that nature never intended us to. This in turn plays tricks
with our mind-body-soul relationship and makes it very difficult for us to
connect to ourselves. If you can skip out on the latest health food bar-
be it protein or fruit- and stick to whole foods instead, you will be on your
way to overcoming your biggest problem: man-made confounding variables to
nature. Nature is our bodies best nourishment. Once we get back to
the basics we'll be able to start functioning to our highest abilities again.
1) Find a registered health care professional who has experience with this, and
who will work as a team-mate with you to help you get in touch with your hunger
cues.
2) Focus on your positive efforts as oppose to slip-ups. It's not about
being perfect, but about being "good enough". When we are able
to stop berrating ourselves for being less than perfect, then we are able to
start living life the way we were meant to- as humans. We're not perfect,
but we make efforts to be great. We use our bodies in this way as well.
When we are realistic about our expectations from ourselves and our
bodies, then we can really enjoy them. In turn, when you are able to
enjoy your body and helping it to function, you will be successful at doing
exactly that.
A
sugar craving is your body telling you that it is lacking something of
importance. The best way to handle that is to understand what that is
exactly. Is it a food substance that it is lacking, or something else?
If it is a food substance, it is best to find out what that is exactly.
A good way to do this is by looking at your diet as a whole, and finding
out what may be lacking and therefore causing these cravings. A
registered dietitian can help with this. If it is, in fact, a need for
energy (sugar or glucose), then the best way to deal with this is to: 1) make
sure you are spreading out your carbohydrate intake evenly throughout the day
to prevent blood sugar high's and low's; 2) Obtain your glucose from whole
grain sources, and whenever possible mix them with a protein. This will
help the glucose to be released into your bloodstream at a more even rate,
leading to a better energy distribution. 3) Avoid refined sugar products
that will cause spikes in your blood sugars, followed by another low and subsequent
sugar cravings; 4) Avoid caffeine- this can cause a false energy high followed
by an energy crash- leading to a strong sugar craving. It also causes
dehydration- a good way to deplete your body of energy; this leads into 5)
drink lots of water- to prevent dehydration-related food cravings, help with
better blood sugar control, and keep natural energy levels up. 6) Make sure you
are meeting your daily activity needs- this will help with natural energy
boosts and help to prevent burn-out: a major cause of sugar cravings in our
society.
Food addiction: There are more questions than answers
The
National Post, March 14, 2011
http://www.nationalpost.com/life/Food+addiction+There+more+questions+than+answers/4438167/story.html
· Food addiction is a
condition that falls outside of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, which means that, at least for now, one cannot receive a formal,
medical diagnosis of being a food addict.
· Those who feel they are
addicted to food, however, tend to share a number of common experiences, such
as out of control eating, frequent high calorie food choices or even binges,
secrecy and a sense of intense, overwhelming craving for certain foods.
· The psychological triggers
for food addiction can be similar to the triggers of other addictive behaviour,
but there is also mounting evidence that our food environment can compound the
issue.
· Aside from the numerous
environmental factors that predispose us to overeating, there is also mounting
evidence that food addiction actually reflects a change in the way our brains
and nervous system, also known as our neurobiology, function.
· Using studies of both human
and rodent brains after eating, researchers have demonstrated that certain
foods, especially foods high in fats, sugars or refined carbohydrates and salt
can elicit a similar response in the brain as we see from drugs such as
cocaine.
· That can also mean that we
might see the same kind of habituation process over time, so the dose of the
“drug” (which, in the case of a food addict, could be a burger and fries, a
plate of pasta, ice cream, a bagel and so on) needs to be continually higher or
more frequent to generate the same response. So, much like a drug addict
needing a fix, a food addict might experience such an intense craving for these
foods over time that virtually all other thoughts are excluded until the
craving is filled.
Restaurant Numbers Don’t Always Add Up
Food chains fail to meet self-declared fat content limits
Canada.com, December 20, 2010
http://www.canada.com/health/Food+chains+fail+meet+self+declared+content+limits/4003673/story.html
• According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, restaurant chains have all posted at least one "unsatisfactory" test result in declaring the nutritional values of their menu items.
• This means the numerical values they declared for fat, sodium or calories for a menu item were off the mark by at least 20 per cent. (CFIA allows a margin of 20 per cent to account for natural variations among ingredients.)
• The CFIA monitoring tests were conducted between 2007 and 2009, after some quick-service restaurants started voluntarily posting nutrition numbers for standard menu items on their websites.
• To determine whether nutritional claims — or "declared values" — held up at individual restaurants across large franchise operations, inspectors purchased three of the same item at the same location and sent the food to CFIA laboratories.
• On calorie counts, only two of 15 menu items tested had significantly more calories than advertised: Boston Pizza's Yam French fries were packed with 663, not 390 calories as advertised — a difference of 70 per cent. At Chuck E Cheese, the French fries were supposed to contain only 241 calories but actually packed in 383 calories — a deviation of nearly 60 per cent.
• The calorie counts were accurate for burgers, sandwiches or regular fries at Boston Pizza, Arby's, Druxy's, Extreme Pita, Greco, Harvey's, Jugo Juice, St. Hubert, Subway and Wendy's.
• Fat content was a different story. Of 33 samples from 17 restaurants, only 19 met the standard.
Does lunch in front of a computer make us eat more?
Canada.com, December 16, 2010
http://www.canada.com/health/Does+lunch+front+computer+make+more/3987669/story.html
• In a lab study of 44 men and women, researchers found that those who ate lunch while playing a computer game ended up eating more cookies 30 minutes later than those who'd had their lunch with no distractions.
• The reason? Researchers say the computer users had a fuzzier memory of their lunch and felt less full afterward compared with the computer-free lunch group.
• This suggests that distractions like computers and TV muddy our memories of mealtime, which in turn may have real effects on appetite.
For more information: http://www.ajcn.org/content/early/2010/12/08/ajcn.110.004580.abstract
Taking a Step Back…
Nutrition Month this year was themed: From Field to Table
By: Nicole Berkowitz, RD, Nutrition Consultant
Suzanne Fish, M.A., Political economics of agricultural development
While it’s no longer nutrition month, I wanted to take a step back, now that the weather is getting nicer and many of us are more focused on our diets, and take a look at the meaning of this theme.
What is the link between field and table?
In Western society we seem to have lost touch not only with our bodies- how, what and how much are we hungry for, but also with the other important connections to food. We know that food often satisfies emotional and social needs more often than physical needs, but many of us may not have considered that the way we grow and buy our food may actually be fuelling our social and emotional emptiness. Growing food on large commercial farms which are far away from where we live destroys the community element of growing, buying, selling and eating food. Growing and selling food products in a market place used to be extremely social activities, where whole communities came together not only to share and exchange food products, but social ties as well. The community aspect of growing food and cultivating the land has gotten lost in our busy lives and commercial farming structure. Instead of depending on and appreciating each other and our land for our main source of sustenance, we are now cultivating this relationship with Mr. Sobeys. So our community ties and interpersonal relationships, and even sense of belonging in our community, is weakened by our ever weakening link from field to table. This in turn lowers our self-confidence, self-esteem and drives us to overeat and distort the way we use food.
How does our weakened link from field to table affect others outside of our own community?
When we buy foods from the grocery store that were not grown in our local community, we are harming the environment and at times also exacerbating poverty in third world countries. Transporting food from far away by truck or boat uses a huge amount of fossil fuels which is a major source of global warming. Not to mention the energy used to keep the food refrigerated as it travels. To top it all off, most large commercial farms package their food in lots of plastic to keep it fresh and make it look appealing to customers. Eating this way is destroying our planet!
Not only does buying food which is grown far away waste global resources, but it wastes lives too. Most of our luxury items like chocolate, sugar, bananas and coffee are imported from Africa, Asia and South America. Large agro-companies like Nestle and Chiquita Banana buy their products from farmers in third world countries at rock bottom prices so they can be sold cheaply in your grocery store. In order for farmers in Africa, Asia and South America to make a living, many of them resort to employing child slaves. Others are forced to sell their land to the large companies and become under-paid labourers themselves. The chocolate that we find so sweet, causes so much pain to those producing it half way across the world.
How does all this affect our nutrition and health?
We seem to have created a vicious poverty-inducing cycle whereby our economy exploits poverty-stricken areas to help us get cheap and readily available foods – which in turn is fuelling an obesity epidemic here.
All this cheap food in sexy appealing packages is not only driving an obesity epidemic, but diabetes, heart disease, eating disorders... And the list goes on...
What foods are so readily available and cheap enough for us to be able to use as emotional vices? Chocolate, sugar-laden products, white flour products, etc. The foods that our bodies actually need for the climate that we live in, and the activities that we perform, are very different from the foods that we have readily available to us.
We have caused a situation where we feel emotionally empty because of our lack of community and interpersonal relationships. This comes from our weakened link from field to table. This emotional emptiness, coupled with a now unbalanced and unjust food distribution system, leads us to abuse food ourselves, and ultimately destroy the environment and rob people of their livelihoods. Who is benefitting from all of this, aside from the few wealthy managers of the large international agro-companies? Some food for thought...
Diets, supplements and food options
The National Post, February 22, 2010
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/story.html?id=2595559
- Dietitians of Canada contributed to a special series of articles in the National Post on obesity.
- Although reducing calories will result in weight loss, where those calories come from will likelydetermine the success of maintaining the weight loss. We need to get the maximum pleasure and
satiety in relation to the calories consumed rather than focusing on calories only. A healthy diet that
includes foods of high satiety (higher in lean protein, fibre and healthy fats while lower in sugar, highcalorie
beverages and alcohol) will allow you to make the best food choices to still feel full and
reduce caloric intake.
- When it comes to supplements, there is no shortage of products in the market claiming to assist inweight loss. A review of studies conducted on many of these supplements reported in the 2006
Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines on obesity concluded that "there is insufficient evidence to
recommend in favour of or against the use of herbal remedies, dietary supplements or homeopathy
for weight management in the obese individual." Most studies were very short term from a few weeks
to six months. The studies that were used to develop this recommendation were on chitosan,
chromium picolinate, ephedra sinica, yohimbe, and growth hormone. Studies on glucomannan,
guar gum, psyllium, hydroxycitric acid, and Yerba mate were also reviewed but were too short to be
useful in developing the recommendation.
Study says restaurant food often has more calories than advertised
Adapted from:
CBC News, January 7, 2010
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/100107/x010708A.html
US restaurant food has more calories than stated
CTV News, January 7, 2010
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100107/fastfood_calories_100107/20100107?hub=H
ealth
Study says restaurant food often has more calories than advertised
Canoe.ca, January, 7, 2010
http://chealth.canoe.ca/channel_health_news_details.asp?news_id=29825&rss=67&rid=999999&news_chan
nel_id=159&channel_id=159&rot=3
- The food at many popular chain restaurants and in the freezer section of the supermarket may
- A U.S. study of 10 chain restaurants, including Wendy's and Ruby Tuesday, found that the number of
- Also, frozen supermarket meals from Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers, Healthy Choice and South
.
For more information: http://www.adajournal.org/article/S0002-8223(09)01679-4/abstract
Adapted from:
Obesity's disease burden worse than smoking
CBC News, January 7, 2010
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/01/06/obesity-smoking-public-health.html
- Obesity is emerging as a greater threat to public health than smoking, a U.S. study suggests.
- The largest ongoing health survey interviewed more than 3.5 million American adults every year from
- As smoking rates tailed off in the U.S., the proportion of smokers among American adults fell from 22.7
over the same time period.
For more information: http://www.ajpm-online.net/webfiles/images/journals/amepre/AMEPRE2701.pdf
Obesity and heart disease risk underestimated
Adapted from:
Obesity heart risk underestimated: study
CBC News, December 23, 2009
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/12/23/obesity-heart-parents-offspring.html
- The risk of dying from heart disease because of excess weight may be higher than thought.
- A new study measured BMI and mortality among more than one million pairs of Swedish sons and
- The researchers found strong links between offspring BMI and parental mortality. For example, the risk
on offspring BMI.
- The link to heart-related deaths was much stronger than suggested by previous studies.
Adapted from:
Fake sugar may alter how the body handles real sugar
The National Post, December 19, 2009
http://www.nationalpost.com/life/health/story.html?id=055b4632-96ff-4515-90cf-ebd9442cbe28
- There is some evidence that artificial sweeteners may trigger secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1
- GLP-1 is released from the digestive tract when a person eats as a "fullness" signal to the brain,
- The research team had 22 healthy normal-weight young people take two glucose challenge tests.
- Ten minutes before consuming the "glucose load," study participants drank either roughly two-thirds
- People secreted significantly more GLP-1 when they drank diet soda before the glucose challenge
For more information: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/32/12/2184.abstract
Adapted from the Wall Street Journal - November 25th 2009 While many people are still waiting for swine-flu vaccine to become available in their area, there is a lot they can do in their own kitchens to help fight off disease and build a strong immune system.
Scientists in the growing field of nutritional immunology are unveiling new evidence of the complex role that nutrition plays in fighting off infectious diseases like influenza. A diet rich in nutrients such as vitamin A, found in colorful fruits and vegetables, and zinc, found in seafood, nuts and whole grains, can provide the critical fuel the body needs to fight off disease, heal injuries, and survive illness when it does strike, experts say.
Scientists are still studying all the complex ways in which nutrients interact with the immune system. There is still much that they don't know about minerals such as zinc, for instance, including how they are absorbed and all the roles they play in the body. But scientists do know that certain vitamins and minerals can improve the body's ability to fight off infection: Studies in healthy elderly adults, for example, have shown an improved immune response to vaccination and fewer infections after receiving extra doses of vitamin E.
To create immune cells to fight off a specific infection, the body has to rapidly draw nutrients from the bloodstream, says Anuraj Shankar, a researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health. "If you don't have an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals, you won't be able to produce the number of immune cells you need, and the immune cells you do produce may be compromised," Dr. Shankar says. That makes it impossible to mount an effective response to infection, he says.
The benefits of good nutrition may have been recognized first by Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician who declared "let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food." An 18th century naval surgeon's discovery that citrus fruits could cure scurvy in sailors was later recognized as a vitamin C deficiency, and after the 1930s, when dairies began to fortify milk with vitamin D, the disease known as rickets was virtually eliminated in the U.S.
Researchers warn that malnourished people may be a breeding ground for more dangerous infectious diseases. Animal studies at the University of North Carolina show that in a host with poor nutrition, viruses mutate in the face of a weak immune response to become more powerful. And once those mutations occur, even well-nourished hosts are susceptible to the newly virulent virus. "A lot of people may think malnutrition on the other side of the world isn't their problem," says Melinda A. Beck, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. But malnutrition "is a driving force in emerging infectious diseases that are spreading around the world," she says.
The human body doesn't have to be starving to suffer from malnutrition. Studies show that obesity, in addition to its other health risks, may also make people more susceptible to infections like the flu. A diet heavy on processed and fast foods may be low in the vitamins and minerals important for health. And diets that are high in saturated fat appear to actually depress the body's immune response, increasing the risk of infections.
Dr. Beck says studies of mice show that only 4% of lean animals infected with the flu virus die. That compares with a death rate of between 40% and 60% in obese mice infected with the virus. And after a small study showed that obese people vaccinated for the flu didn't mount a strong immune response, the University of North Carolina is expanding its trials to compare vaccination response rates in lean and obese people.
When obese people fall ill, "their immune function may not be strong enough to mount an effective response," says Donald Hensrud, a Mayo Clinic specialist in preventive and internal medicine and editor-in-chief of "The Mayo Clinic Diet," a new book promoting weight loss through a healthy diet that allows unlimited quantities of fruits and vegetables.
Warning on Supplements
Dr. Hensrud and other experts caution against loading up on supplements to add vitamins and minerals to the diet. While a multivitamin is a good addition to any balanced diet, individual supplements and vitamin pills may not be as well absorbed by the body as nutrients in foods. Some supplements also can have toxic effects in too-high quantities. An excess of zinc, for example, can interfere with absorption of other nutrients, including iron and copper. And too much of the mineral selenium can cause nerve damage and has been linked recently to an increased risk of diabetes.
There is no single test to measure if your body has enough vitamins and minerals, and assays for individual nutrients are generally expensive and unreliable. Blood tests used to screen for blood-cell abnormalities can pick up changes that are linked to possible vitamin or mineral deficiencies, but they can't necessarily identify the cause.
Scientists have long known that some vitamins, minerals and other nutrients can play a key role in the immune system by acting as antioxidants. These protect and repair cells from oxidative stress, the damage caused by molecules known as free radicals.
But nutrients work in ways beyond acting as antioxidants, says Dr. Beck. For example, vitamin A can enhance the immune system "by stimulating specific proteins necessary for immune function by activating specific genes," she says. So, if vitamin A is deficient, then the immune cells that require vitamin A to function properly won't work as efficiently. Animal studies show that a deficiency of vitamin B-6, which helps maintain the health of organs that make white blood cells, can decrease antibody production and suppress the immune response. And selenium in small amounts can help stimulate immune cells and may prevent the growth of some tumors.
Nutritional experts generally agree that the best way to get the right balance of nutrients is a balanced diet that includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and dietary fiber. Each individual is different, so see your registered dietitian to find out what diet is best suited for you and how to balance your personalized needs in order to get all the nutrients your body needs in a balanced way.
A survey by the CDC in 2007 showed that the majority of adults consume less than the government's recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. But quantity matters: A 2004 Harvard study of 110,000 men and women showed that people who averaged eight or more servings of fruit and vegetables daily were 30% less likely to have had a heart attack or stroke than those who had only 1.5 servings daily.
Nutrition experts say to boost immunity it is also important to avoid processed foods, and to minimize trans fats and unhealthy saturated fats from animal products and vegetable oils like palm and coconut. Instead, they say, people should eat foods rich in unsaturated fats such as olive oil.
Contradictory Advice
Some advice for a healthy diet can seem contradictory. For example, heart-healthy diets typically include unsaturated fats such as omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish such as salmon and trout and in flaxseed and walnuts. For people who don't want those foods, nutritionists may recommend fish-oil supplements, which can be beneficial in suppressing chronic inflammation in the body, a condition that can lead to coronary artery disease and arthritis.
But those same anti-inflammatory properties of fish oil can also suppress the immune responses necessary to combat an acute viral infection. Studies at the University of North Carolina have shown that mice fed with fish oil have an impaired resistance to infections, including the flu. "If I suppress the immune response and get a viral infection, I'm worse off," says Dr. Beck, who is studying the links between fish oil and resistance to influenza.
One nutrient hard to get in food is vitamin D. Even with the fortification of milk, orange juice and other food products, some experts have been sounding the alarm in recent years about wide deficiencies, especially in children. Tests are available for about $100 to determine vitamin D levels, but their accuracy is in question. And just how much vitamin D different people need is the subject of considerable debate. The federal government's current recommendations range from 200 international units daily for children to 600 IUs for adults, with a safe upper limit of 2,000 IUs daily. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 400 IUs for children, and vitamin D experts at Oregon State University and elsewhere recommend 2,000 IUs daily for all adults. The Institute of Medicine, a government advisory group, is expected next year to update the recommendations.
Adrian Gombart, a researcher at Oregon State University's Linus Pauling Institute, says vitamin D, in addition to building strong bones and fighting off a variety of diseases, appears to activate proteins that help the body fight off infection. "Vitamin D won't prevent you from getting the flu, but it might allow you to mount an optimal immune response, suffer less of the effects, and resolve the infection more quickly," says Dr. Gombart, who is researching the nutrient's role in stimulating immune cells.
Fast Eating Limits Gut Hormones That Induce Fullness
CBC News, November 5, 2009
Eating too fast can lead to overeating because gulping down food limits the release of hormones in the gut that trigger the feeling of being full. For the study, volunteers ate 300 milliliters of ice cream at different rates. Blood levels of glucose, insulin, lipids and gut hormones were measured before and after consumption of the ice cream.
Participants who took 30 minutes to finish the ice cream had higher concentrations of the gut hormones peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide and also tended to feel more full than those who took less time to eat the ice cream. Previous research has shown that the release of these hormones after a meal tells the brain the person is full, but this is the first study to examine how different rates of eating affect the release of the hormones.
For more information: http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/94/11/4463
Obese Middle-Aged Women Face Unhealthy Future
CBC News, September 30, 2009
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/HealthScout/090930/6093027AU.html
According to a new study, women who are obese in middle age are almost 80 per cent more likely to have multiple health problems by the time they reach age 70. The study authors analyzed data on 17,065 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study. Volunteers were, on average, 50 years old when the study began with no major chronic conditions or major mental or physical problems. Twenty years later, only about 10 per cent of women had "healthy survival," and obese women were 79 per cent less likely to have healthy survival than the slim minority.
For more information: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/339/sep29_1/b3796
MedPage Today
Published: August 10, 2009
Yet another study has confirmed that a healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of chronic disease, researchers say. German patients who adopted four healthy lifestyle choices had a nearly 80% reduced risk of major chronic illness including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer, compared with those who adopted none, according to Earl S. Ford, MD, MPH, a medical officer in the U.S. Public Health Service at the CDC, and colleagues.
They reported their findings in the Aug. 10/24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
The researchers focused on four factors tied to reduced disease risk: never smoking, having a body mass index (BMI) lower than 30, performing at least 3.5 hours per week of physical activity, and following a healthy diet.
"The message from our analysis . . . is clear," the researchers said. "Adopting a few healthy lifestyle factors can have a major impact on the risk of morbidity."
David L. Katz, MD, of Yale, wrote in an accompanying editorial that the findings "fundamentally reaffirm what we already know" about healthy habits.
Numerous other studies have yielded similar conclusions, and the new findings further solidify public health recommendations for healthy living, Ford said.
For their prospective study, the researchers looked at data from 23,153 German patients ages 35 to 65 from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Potsdam study.
In picking their healthy lifestyle factors, researchers said they chose not to include alcohol because of the "well-documented harms caused by alcohol abuse."
The study enrolled men ages 40 to 65 and women ages 35 to 65 between 1994 and 1998. About 4% followed no healthy factors at baseline, while most had one to three healthy factors, and 9% followed all four.
During a mean follow-up of 7.8 years, the researchers found that 3.7% of participants developed diabetes, 0.9% developed myocardial infarction, 0.8% developed stroke, and 3.8% developed cancer.
Those who followed all four lifestyle factors had a 78% lower risk (P<0.001) of developing a chronic disease than those with no healthy factors. The decreased risks of individual diseases associated with keeping all four lifestyle factors were as follows:
- 93% lower risk of diabetes
- 81% lower risk of myocardial infarction
- 50% lower risk of stroke
- 36% lower risk of cancer
"There is undoubtedly some difference in the strength of the associations between the various healthy lifestyle factors and different chronic diseases," he said. For example, he noted, obesity is not a powerful risk factor for cancer.
The researchers said that having all four factors prevented 75% of diabetes cases, 45% of myocardial infarction, 18% of stroke, and 19% of cancer cases.
Reductions in risk were similar for men and women (P<0.001), and the risk of developing disease decreased progressively as the number of healthy factors increased, they said.
Having a BMI lower than 30 exerted the largest reduction in risk, the researchers said, followed by never smoking, physical activity, and following a healthy diet. BMI was a particularly strong protective factor for incident diabetes, they added.
While those who had all four factors had the smallest risk of disease, those who never smoked and had a BMI under 30 had a risk of the same order of magnitude, pointing to the importance of those two factors, they said.
The potential for preventing morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer through healthy living is "enormous," the researchers said, potentially yielding dramatic reductions "in the onset of major chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer."
For more information: http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/169/15/1355
Carbs: the secret to slim
The Globe and Mail, July 15, 2009
In the post-Atkins era, this might seem like strange advice: Eat carbohydrates to help you stay lean. But according to a study of 4,451 healthy Canadians, those whose diets contained the most carbohydrate had the lowest risk of being overweight or obese.
Recent studies suggest that a high carbohydrate diet is indeed effective for losing weight and outperforms a high protein diet when it comes to losing body fat and lowering cholesterol and blood sugar.
The current study assessed the diets and body weights of 4,451 healthy Canadians aged 18 years and older. The likelihood of being overweight or obese declined steadily as carbohydrate intake increased. Compared to people whose diets provided the least carbohydrate (36 per cent of calories), those who consumed the most (64 per cent of calories) had a 40 per cent lower risk of being overweight or obese.
In the study, participants with the highest carbohydrate intake had a lower intake of calories, protein, total fat and saturated fat than the lower carbohydrate eaters. They also consumed almost double the fibre and more fruits and vegetables that those with the lowest carbohydrate intake.
Earlier research has also revealed that a high carbohydrate diet is good for the waistline. A 2008 study found that the Mediterranean diet – high in whole grains, fruit and vegetables – was as effective as the low carbohydrate diet at shedding pounds over a two-year period. What's more, among people with diabetes, this high carbohydrate diet did a better job at reducing blood sugar and insulin levels.
For more information: http://www.adajournal.org/article/S0002-8223(09)00451-9/abstract
Exerts from the Globe and Mail June 24 2009
In October of 2007, then-federal-health-minister Tony Clement declared war on salt. The “silent invader of our food supply,” he said, was a bigger threat to the health of Canadians than artery-clogging trans fats. The minister announced the creation of a Sodium Working Group to draft an action plan and promised to move quickly. Twenty months later, there is still no plan and no deadline for coming up with one.
Meanwhile, Canadians remain among the top consumers of salt in the world, gobbling an average of 3,100 milligrams a day – more than twice the recommended daily amount. Canada is one of the few governments in the Western world that has not tackled salt, a common dietary additive that is contributing to a deadly epidemic of hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
Dietitian tips to keep salt and sodium intake in check:
Read nutrition labels -- A food that has 15 per cent or greater of DV would be high in sodium.
Balance your meals -- It's not possible to choose all foods with a low per cent DV for sodium. Instead try to balance your food choices over the course of the day.
Dine out less often -- Thanks to salty ingredients and hefty portion sizes, restaurant meals are often overloaded with sodium.
Order wisely -- When you do eat out, be aware of terms that indicate higher sodium: pickled, marinated, smoked, barbequed, teriyaki, soy sauce, broth, miso, gravy, bacon and, of course, salted.
Make it from scratch -- Make your own pasta sauces, chilis, soups and salad dressings. Simmer dried beans instead of buying them canned.
Adjust recipes -- Remove or reduce the salt called for in recipes whenever possible.
Start the day off right -- Choose ready-to-eat breakfast cereals with no more than 200 milligrams of sodium per serving.
Try a new slice – Most breads contain 200 mg sodium per slice.
Switch up your snacks -- Instead of pretzels, potato chips and salty crackers, snack on air-popped popcorn with a dash of chili powder, plain nuts, and unsalted crackers.
Be smart with convenience foods -- When convenience is important, choose pre-made and frozen dinners that contain no more than 200 milligrams of sodium per 100 calories. Select frozen burgers with less than 500 milligrams of sodium per patty. Look for store-bought soups with no more than 500 milligrams of sodium per serving.
Limit luncheon meats
Limit condiments
Choose herbs and spices
Keep the shaker at a distance
Health concerns raised by barbecued meats spur new ideas for the summer cookout
FRIDAY, May 22 (HealthDay News) -- If you're given the choice between a grilled hamburger or a grilled Portobello mushroom this Memorial Day weekend, go for the veggie.
Eating meat that's charred or well-done raises the risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a recent study. Grilled veggies don't carry the same risk.
"It doesn't mean if you eat well-done steak that you will get cancer, but it is more evidence to suggest a relationship exists between eating grilled meats and certain cancers," said Denise Snyder, a nutrition researcher at the Duke University School of Nursing. Snyder was not involved in the study, which was recently presented by Minnesota researchers at an annual cancer meeting.
While red meat and processed meats such as hotdogs are high on the list of foods to eat only in limited quantities, all meats -- including chicken, pork and fish -- can also generate a cancer-causing reaction when cooked on a hot grill, Snyder said.
"When you apply high temperature to any grilled meat, it breaks down the muscle proteins and creates a cancer-causing substance which can damage our DNA and genetic material," Snyder said. "That can jump-start the cancer development process."
In the study, which was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting in Denver in April, researchers used survey information about meat intake and preferred cooking methods from 62,581 participants.
Researchers found that those who preferred very well-done steak were 60 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer compared to those who ate steak less well-done or did not eat steak.
High heat is believed to cause a chemical reaction that transforms amino acids and creatine found in muscle tissue into carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines.
While not a call to give up the backyard barbecue, there are steps you can take to reduce your risk.
- Try grilling more fruits and vegetables. Mushrooms, peaches, zucchini and pineapple are nutritional good choices and taste great when grilled. Skewer them to make grilling easier.
- Use a meat thermometer to make sure you don't keep the food on the grill any longer than necessary and use the lowest temperature to cook your food thoroughly.
- Microwave food for a short time before putting it on the grill and throw away the juices, which contain many of the potentially harmful chemicals.
- Choose thinner, leaner cuts of meat or kabobs, which cook faster and cut down on the time carcinogens have to form. Also, flip food frequently to prevent charring.
- Line the cooking surface with punctured foil to create a barrier between the coals and the meat. Flare-ups caused by dripping fat can coat the meat in smoke that contains cancer-causing substances.
- Use marinades, some of which have been shown to reduce the formation of cancer-causing substances.
- Raise your grill rack to keep the meat away from the direct heat.
The American Cancer Society has more on diet and cancer.
Health Canada is in the process of revising select prenatal guidelines to align them with the current nutrition standards, the Dietary Reference Intakes, and Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide.
Key messages for pregnant women from the latest revised guidelines include:
- Encourage all women to eat at least 150 g of fish each week. Fish contains omega-3 fats and other important nutrients for pregnancy.
- Women who could become pregnant and those who are pregnant should take a multivitamin containing 0.4 mg of folic acid every day.
- Pregnant women should also ensure that their multivitamin contains 16-20 mg of iron.
Go ahead, nuke those carrots
The Globe and Mail May 27, 2009
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/go-ahead-nuke-those-carrots/article1154365/
Recent studies suggest that cooking can actually increase the antioxidant content of some vegetables, even microwave cooking. The latest study demonstrated that microwave cooking without water and only until tender maintained the highest antioxidant levels. Baking and grilling also preserved antioxidants while boiling and pressure cooking led to the greatest losses.
The new study found that all cooking methods increased antioxidants in carrots, celery and green beans. It's thought heating vegetables releases antioxidants by breaking down cell walls.
Studies have found that eating cooked spinach and carrots – versus raw – results in much higher blood levels of beta-carotene. Cooking tomatoes also increases the amount of lycopene that's available for absorption in the body. You'll also get more lutein if you eat your leafy greens cooked instead of raw.
Some vegetables, however, are a better source of other phytochemicals when eaten raw. Cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, kale and turnip are best known for their high concentration of glucosinolates, compounds that are converted to anti-cancer chemicals called isothiocyanates.
For more information: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122267406/abstract
Adjusting your diet is a simple and effective way to elevate your mood and boost your metabolism. The benefits of this are obvious; maintaining a good mood will help you be more productive and increase your self-esteem. Metabolism is the process your body uses to breakdown food. “Ensuring your metabolism is working most effectively will help you feel your best and energized to get the most out of life”, explains Nicole Berkowitz, RD, Nutrition Consultant. Here are some simple tips to help you optimize your diet to augment your mood and boost your metabolism.
- Don’t skip meals. Missing a meal can cause a dip in your blood sugar, leading to crankiness and lethargy. Maintain your blood sugar levels, and your energy, by eating small amounts of food throughout the day.
- Stay hydrated. Dehydration can make you feel sluggish and lethargic. However, drinking too much water can be a problem too; if you’re over-hydrated you might start to feel delirious. Don’t worry about recording your water consumption. If you drink water according to your thirst, you should stay properly hydrated.
- Eat in moderation. Avoid a lot of caffeine, refined sugar, alcohol, salt or food additives. Any of these factors, especially in large amounts, can decrease your metabolic efficiency. For example, Heidi McIndoo, MS RD LD, freelance nutrition writer, points out that “Eating large quantities of carbohydrates tend to cause an energy rush and then a big crash; this can lead to crankiness and fatigue”. Excess salt can also disrupt your fluid balance, changing your daily water needs.
- Strive for balance. Properly combine protein, carbohydrates and fat to acheive a balanced energy intake. In general, a healthy diet includes a mix of whole grains and some protein, but each person has individual needs based on their age, sex, physical activity level, body size and stress factors. A nutritionist is best able to help you determine what balance is right for you.
- Look for good mood foods. Research about particular foods that can boost your mood and metabolism isn’t completely consistent. There are, however, a few foods you can look for to boost both your mood and metabolism. Foods high in the amino acid tryptophan can increase serotonin levels in the brain, contributing to feelings of optimism and calm. Add some bananas, avocados, dried apricots, walnuts, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds for some extra tryptophan. Polyunsaturated omega-3 fats help elevate mood and reduce anxiety and depression. Look for oil-rich fish, walnuts and pumpkin seeds for sources of these healthy fats.
- Keep a food diary. Specific foods can trigger changes in people’s moods, cause irritability or cause headaches. If you think a particular food might be affecting your mood, start a food diary. Record both the food you eat each day and how you feel. After two weeks, review it to see if any foods line up with specific moods, either good or bad.
Footnote:**Remember that although simple dietary changes can optimize mood and metabolism in a healthy person, remember that mood disorders like depression and anxiety are serious conditions that require a doctor’s attention.
The company that makes Hydroxycut dietary supplements is voluntarily recalling 11 of its products in Canada after a warning about them in the United States, Health Canada says.
The 11 products, and three others not sold in Canada, were the subjects of a public warning late last week after reports linking some of them to cases of serious liver damage and at least one death.
Canadian-based Iovate Health Sciences Inc. is voluntarily recalling the following products in Canada. The Hydroxycut products are promoted as natural health products for weight loss and energy enhancement. The Oakville, Ont., company that makes the diet pills said in a statement that the 2007 death of the teenager was not caused by Hydroxycut products, but the statement gave no details.
For more information: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/_2009/2009_66-eng.php
Low-down on diet cleanses
Body cleansing and detoxifying formulas have been around at least since the 19th century, when European spas promoted the idea of ridding the body of disease-causing poisons. The master cleanse was popularized in the 1970s with the publication of the book "The Master Cleanser" by Stanley Burroughs. However, spas and citrus elixirs cannot rid the body of toxins.
What detoxifying diets like the master cleanse can assist with is almost certain weight loss. At about 115 calories per serving with a minimum of six servings per day, cleanse dieters consume about 690 calories daily, compared with the 1,800 daily calories most women need to maintain their weight. Notably, however, most of the loss is water weight; within 24 to 48 hours of resuming a regular diet, many people will likely gain back two to three pounds.
Another popular detox method used for weight loss is a colonic irrigation, a process in which the gastrointestinal tract is flushed out with water. Colonics are most commonly performed in clinics by licensed practitioners though some may try at-home versions.
Popular belief is that toxins accumulated in the digestive tract are cleared out in the process. But the idea that toxins are building up there, perhaps for years, is a myth. A flush disturbs the colon environment by removing helpful bacteria that aid in digestion and contribute to a healthy immune system.
African Mango and Weight Loss
An extract derived from a West African fruit may help overweight people shed pounds and lower their cholesterol, a new study suggests. The extract comes from Irvingia gabonensis, also known as African mango, a fruit commonly eaten in West Africa. Lab research has shown that extracts from the plant's seed may inhibit body fat production, through effects on certain genes and enzymes that regulate metabolism.
For the current study, researchers at the University of Yaounde in Cameroon randomly assigned 102 overweight adults to take either the plant extract or a placebo twice a day for 10 weeks. The study participants did not follow any special diet and were told to maintain their normal exercise levels.
By the end of the study, the extract group had lost a significant amount of weight -- an average of roughly 28 pounds -- while the placebo group showed almost no change. At the same time, they showed declines in LDL cholesterol and blood glucose levels.
For more information: http://www.lipidworld.com/content/8/1/7
DHA From Fish Discussion
The Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) published an analysis that not only called into question the purported benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, but also criticized the use of fish oils as ecologically unsustainable. Just days later, the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL) issued a research summary confirming that omega-3s from plant sources such as flaxseed cannot be converted efficiently enough in the human body to offer any significant benefit, making marine sources of omega-3s our best bet for fighting disease.
Unfortunately, this kind of contradictory advice tends to generate frustration for consumers, who end up feeling pulled in different directions. The odd thing about this story, though, is that it turns out both sides make a good point.
The controversy addressed in the ISSFAL statement surrounds the conversion of ALA to DHA. In reality, the amount of ALA that finally becomes DHA is estimated to be close to zero. While ISSFAL wasn't breaking any new ground with their statement, their point is that the evidence is convincing enough that we should be focusing on consuming "pre-formed" DHA, rather than relying on ALA sources to get us our omega-3s.
If we go by the recommendations of numerous international health-related organizations, not only do we need to get our omega-3s from the sea, we need to get a couple of servings per week to prevent heart disease, and even more if we already have heart disease or high triglycerides. Since eating that much fish is not palatable for everyone, the next step for many is to take a fish oil supplement.
This is where the CMAJ analysis takes exception: Its authors argue that, with global fish stocks on the brink of collapse, it is irresponsible to recommend an increase in fish consumption, especially since (as they argue) the evidence to support the benefits of fish is not clear.
There are still enough researchers and medical organizations that believe omega-3s are good for us that it makes sense to look into alternatives to reduce pressure on the fish population. Smaller, bottom-feeding fish, such as sardines, herring and anchovies are not only rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids, but their rapid reproduction rates allow their populations to regenerate faster than larger fish.
Beyond the bottomfeeders, there is another, growing alternative to fish-based omega-3s: DHA from algae. Now available in supplemental form, as well as added to various food products, algal DHA is considered a far more sustainable means of getting your omega-3s while bypassing fish entirely. Having said that, there is limited research in algal DHA (we assume it works just as well as the fish form), but for now, it looks to have a bright future.