Drink Up Girls: Wine Isn’t Fattening
WOMEN who like a glass of wine after work can relax: they are likely to gain less weight than those who stick to mineral water.
Moderate female drinkers also have a lower risk of obesity than teetotallers, according to new research. The findings, from a study of more than 19,000 women, is at odds with most dietary advice: that alcohol consumption leads to weight gain.
The research suggests that a calorie from alcohol has less impact on weight than a calorie from other foods and that the way the body deals with alcohol is more complex than realised. One theory is that in regular drinkers the liver develops a separate metabolic pathway to break down alcohol, with surplus energy turned mainly into heat, not fat.
In the study, Lu Wang, a medical instructor at Brigham and Women’s hospital, Boston, and colleagues asked 19,220 American women aged 39 or older with a healthy body weight to describe their drinking habits in a questionnaire. About 38% drank no alcohol.
Over the next 13 years the researchers found that all the women tended to gain weight but the non-drinkers gained the most. The women’s overall weight gain decreased as alcohol intake increased.
There was also a difference according to the type of alcohol: red wine was associated with the lowest weight gain; beer and spirits were linked to the highest weight gain.
The report, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, seems to confirm that there is no clear connection between alcohol consumption and weight gain. By Jonathan Leake, The Times
Arthritis Too Is A Lifestyle Disease
Diabetes and hypertension are not the only lifestyle diseases, but possibly the most high profile. Arthritis is also a lifestyle disease, orthopaedicians insist.
While degenerative arthritis is essentially wear and tear of the joints, more manifest in the knees in India, it is also true that those affected are not necessarily people over 65 years.
Mrs. Al Saeed Nada Ali Kadhim is only 54. But she was suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis which affected both her knees for the last 20 years. For two years now, she has not been able to walk. At Apollo Speciality Hospital, surgeons put in a new generation Ceramic Coated Knee that will now ease her pain.
Even younger is Anjana Devi, 50, from Vijayawada. She too has benefitted from a ceramic joint and is now able to walk. “With these patients, conventional metal total knee replacement was not possible due to their relative youth. The advantage with the ceramic knee is that it would last twice as long as the conventional device,” says Vijay C.Bose, joint reconstructive surgeon, Apollo Speciality Hospital. “Arthritis is also a lifestyle disease. All of us, if we live to a 100, may develop arthritis, that is normal, as it is wear and tear. However, a lot of people are developing the condition much earlier, it is more common now,” Dr. Bose explained
Prithvi Mohandas, consultant hip surgeon, MIOT Hospitals, says a lot of young males with Ankylosing Spondylitis, a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease, are reporting early these days. “It is very common in India, occurs among 16-17 year old males and initially manifests as early morning stiffness. The natural progression is low back pain and stiffness of joints, really crippling movements,” he explains. However, if picked up early, it can be easily treated with a bunch of drugs. “Weight is a certain factor in degenerative arthritis,” Dr. Bose says. The heavier you are, the greater the wear and tear. Avoid becoming overweight and obese, the aggravating factors such as stress and make sure you get adequate exercise, complimented by a healthy diet, he advices.
“ Suppose you have an auto immune joint disease, once cartilage wear and tear has set in, it will damage the joint. The idea, therefore is to prevent the joint from becoming stiff, with exercises, and avoid putting on weight” Dr. Prithvi says. Kannan Pugazhendhi, sports physician, adds that most people ignore the fact that muscular strength provides integrity for the joint. “We can avoid arthritic manifestations by increasing muscular strength, especially for the lower body.” “The biggest misconception is that the knee will wear out with exercise. Exercise will strengthen the muscles, all you have to do is choose the right kind of terrain – non concrete surfaces, including beach sands,” Dr. Pugazhendi explains. By Ramya Kannan, The Hindu
Why Your Body Isn’t That Thirsty At Night
Brain cells collude to keep animals hydrated while they sleep, which prevents nightly dehydration or trips to the toilet, according to researchers.
Neurophysiologists Eric Trudel and Charles Bourque at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Canada, suggest the body’s internal clock helps to regulate a water-storing hormone
They insist the mechanism regulates the body’s circadian system, or internal clock and controls water regulation.
The body regulates its water content mainly by balancing water intake through thirst with water loss through urine production.
Scientists had the knowledge that low water levels excite a group of cells called osmosensory neurons, which direct another set of neurons to release vasopressin, a hormone that instructs the body to store water, into the bloodstream.
Vasopressin levels increase during sleep; clock neurons, meanwhile, get quieter.
Trudel and Bourque wanted to test the idea that lower clock-neuron activity might allow osmosensory neurons to more easily activate vasopressin-releasing neurons, which would mean more water retention and less urine production during sleep.
For this, they isolated thin slices of rat brain containing intact sensory, vasopressin-releasing and clock neurons. Even when removed from the brain, clock neurons continue to mark time.
The pair then stimulated the sensory neurons and recorded any electrical activity in the vasopressin-releasing neurons to monitor communication between the two cell groups.
They then moved on to look at the effect of the clock cells on this pathway. When they did not activate the clock cells during the ’sleep’ part of their cycle, it was easier for the sensory ells to communicate with vasopressin-releasing cells.
Conversely, when they activated the clock cells, this communication decreased markedly.
The results indicate that clock cells function as a dimmer switch for water control. When their activity is high, they prevent sensory cells from instructing secretory cells to release vasopressin. Then, when clock cells are less active, sensory cells can easily instruct secretory cells to release vasopressin, ensuring that the body holds on to its water reserves.
Colwell points out that despites rats, are nocturnal, the vasopressin cycle and clock-neuron activity are similar in rats and humans.
“We show this for this one circuit, but it’s possible that clock neurons regulate other circuits in a similar manner and this remains to be studied,” Nature quoted Bourque, as saying. Newstrack India
The SUPER-TOMATO with double the power to fight cancer
Is there nothing the humble tomato can’t do? Not satisfied with being a hangover cure, a good source of vitamin C and great for your skin, the little red fruit is now tackling cancer.
Touted as a ’super superfood’ for its ability to reduce the risk of prostate cancer, the Moruno tomato has twice the normal levels of a natural cancer-fighting substance and as much vitamin C as a similar-sized orange.
And, from today, it’s all yours for £1.50 for a 280g pack in the Tesco Finest range.
The Moruno, which took Spanish scientists two years to develop and is the result of cross-breeding 2,000 varieties, has double levels of lycopene, which gives tomatoes their red colour, and which scientists have linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer.
Lycopene is more easily absorbed into the bloodstream when the tomatoes are cooked with certain oils, such as olive oil.
In a recent study, more than 1,000 men with prostate cancer had their post-diagnosis diets examined. Patients who had tomato sauce more than twice a week had a 44 per cent lower risk of the disease spreading.
The cancer is less likely to spread when patients ate large amounts of tomatoes and oily fish, according to American researchers.
Tesco’s tomato buyer Ashleigh McWilliams said yesterday: ‘Tomatoes are already considered superfoods because they have so many health giving qualities. However, the Moruno, because of its very high lycopene and vitamin C levels, may actually qualify as being the first super superfood.’
She added: ‘Tomatoes have naturally high levels of lycopene, but this naturally-bred are genetically programmed to age at a faster rate.’ variety has double the level of standard ones.
‘But besides its exceptional nutritional content, the Moruno tastes great and has thick, juicy flesh. And, gram for gram, it has as much vitamin C as an orange.’
The Moruno tomato, which is grown in Spain, has twice the normal levels of cancer-fighting lycopene and a higher vitamin C content than other varieties
The Moruno tomato, which is grown in Spain, has twice the normal levels of cancer-fighting lycopene and a higher vitamin C content than other varieties
Last week scientists unveiled a tomato which is said to stay fresh for 45 days – three times longer than the conventional version.
Researchers ‘turned off’ the genes linked to the production of ripening enzymes.
The researchers believe the same process could be applied to other fruits, but the need for extensive safety testing means it will be years before the GM fruits go on sale in British supermarkets, if ever.
Tomato Facts
A laboratory study found that lycopene has a similar effect to the cholesterol-lowering drugs, statins.
Tomatoes contain high levels of beta-carotene, an antioxidant that supports the immune system and helps maintain healthy skin and tissue lining.
They are packed with antioxidant flavonoids and vitamin E, both of which are essential for heart health, and are a good source of potassium.
One medium-size tomato provides 50 per cent of the recommended daily dose of vitamin C.
Analysis of the Mediterranean diet suggested that cooking tomatoes with olive oil further improves their potency.
Lycopene and beta-carotene are broken down by heating, and are soluble in oil but not water, so cooking tomatoes in olive oil prepares these beneficial chemicals perfectly for absorption by the body.
Other research suggests that lycopene may enhance chemical communication between the cells, which helps to regulate unusual cell growth and may even reverse the process by which a tumour becomes malignant.
Tomatoes are also rich in the antioxidant lutein, which is believed to protect the retina from free radical damage. By Luke Salkeld, The Daily Mail
Sleep Lets Brain To consolidate Memories
Scientists at Northwestern University reported that playing specific sounds while people slept helped them remember more of what they had learned before they fell sleep, to the point where memories of individual facts were enhanced.
Science has never given much credence to claims that you can learn Chinese or French by having the instruction CDs play while you sleep. If any learning happens that way, most scientists say, the language lesson is probably waking the sleeper up, not causing nouns and verbs to seep into a sound-asleep mind.
But a new study about a different kind of audio approach during sleep gives insight into how the sleeping brain works, and may eventually come in handy to people studying a language, cramming for a test or memorising lines in a play.
Scientists at Northwestern University reported that playing specific sounds while people slept helped them remember more of what they had learned before they fell sleep, to the point where memories of individual facts were enhanced.
In a study published by the journal Science, researchers taught people to move 50 pictures to their correct locations on a computer screen.
Each picture was accompanied by a related sound, like a meow for a cat and whirring for a helicopter. Then, 12 subjects took a nap, during which 25 of the sounds were played along with white noise. When they awoke, none realised that the sounds had been played or could guess which ones had been used. Yet almost all remembered more precisely the computer locations of the pictures associated with the 25 sounds that had been played while they slept, doing less well placing the other 25 pictures.
Specific information
“We were able to cue people to specific information they had learned,” said Ken A. Paller, a cognitive neuroscientist at Northwestern and co-author of the study. The thinking is that during sleep, memory consolidation is going on and that rehearsal is a good way to strengthen memories.
“We showed that you can get information in during sleep using the auditory system and that you can cue that rehearsal by providing sounds specific to each episode of learning.”
The study adds a dimension to a theory that sleep allows the brain to process and consolidate memories. A 2007 study found that people who were given whiffs of rose scent as they learned a task remembered the task better when they also inhaled rose scent while sleeping. But the new research suggests that individual memories can be explicitly singled out for strengthening.
Robert Stickgold, a cognitive neuroscientist at Harvard also not involved in the study, noted that the researchers did not play literal phrases recapping the memory, like “the cat is in the lower left,” but instead sound cues associated with a picture and a spatial task.
“It’s not really that you reminded them of what they needed to know,” Stickgold said, “but rather you reminded them of a larger memory that they needed to know.”
Not every scientist who studies sleep was impressed. Robert P Vertes, a neuroscience professor at Florida Atlantic University, said the results showed “such a minor effect that it’s not significant,” adding that the effect was even less significant because other study subjects who remained awake showed similarly better recall with sound cues.
Sara C Mednick, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California who was not involved in the study, was intrigued that the sleeping subjects appeared to show slight electrical shifts in their brain waves shortly after cues were played, suggesting that the brain replayed “prior experiences.”
The subjects napped 90 minutes or less, long enough to experience slow-wave or deep sleep but not REM sleep. Some scientists believe that in slow-wave sleep the brain reinforces factual memories, while in REM sleep the brain sorts and organizes memories.
The authors and other experts said the study’s primary contribution was helping to understand the brain’s memory-making process and reinforcing, as Walker put it, “how important it is to get a good eight hours.” By Pam Belluck , Deccan Herald