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Study: Young Children May Make Parents Less Fit

April 12, 2011 By

Could kids be to blame for new parents’ bad health habits? A study found that mothers of young children were heavier and ate more calories, sugary drinks and fatty foods than childless women. Dads and moms in the study were less active than their peers without kids.

Sheri Lee Schearer, 34, says the results reflect her life with a 5-month-old son. Before, when she worked as a paralegal, she had time to make a spinach salad or go out for one. Now, as a stay-at-home mom in southern New Jersey, she grabs whatever is easiest and quickest.

“I often find that his needs come before mine,” she said. “Do I get to the gym? No. Do I eat always healthy? No.”

Quick, easily prepared foods are often high in fat and calories. Parents who choose these foods may end up serving them to their children, perpetuating a cycle of unhealthy eating, the study authors said. [Read more...]

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Blame Your Genes For Your Addiction To Coffee

April 10, 2011 By

If you can’t get through the day without a caffeine hit, your genes may be to be blame.

US researchers have revealed that some people inherit genes, which make them more reliant on caffeine, reports the Daily Mail.

Those with the ‘caffeine addict’ genes need to drink more coffee or tea to get the same buzz.

The researchers came to the conclusion after scrutinising the DNA and diets of 45,000 people.

This flagged up two genes associated with the high intake of tea, coffee, chocolate and caffeinated soft drinks such as colas.

One – CYP1A2 – is key to the breakdown of caffeine in the liver. The other, called AHR, regulates the first.

“It’s been known for decades that this CYP1A2 gene is what metabolised caffeine,” said researcher Neil Caporaso. [Read more...]

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‘Tempting Foods As Addictive As Cocaine’

April 6, 2011 By

Seeing a milkshake can activate the same areas of the brain that light up when an addict sees cocaine, US researchers said.

The study helps explain why it can be so hard for some people to maintain a healthy weight, and why it has been so difficult for drugmakers and health experts to find obesity treatments that work. “If certain foods are addictive,this may partially explain the difficulty people experience in achieving sustainable weight loss,” Ashley Gearhardt of Yale University in Connecticut and colleagues wrote in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Gearhardt’s team wanted to see what happens in the brain when young women are tempted by a tasty treat. They used a type of brain imaging known as functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to study brain activity in 48 young women who wereoffered a chocolate milkshakeor a tasteless solution. Women in the study rangedfrom lean toobese. [Read more...]

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Breast Milk Test That Examines Cells To Predict Cancer

April 5, 2011 By

A mother’s breast milk could be used to predict whether she is at risk of developing breast cancer, scientists say.

Cells in the milk can easily be tested to see if they contain certain genes linked to the illness.

And within a few years, it is hoped that all women who give birth in hospital could provide milk for screening.

As some 80 per cent of women have children, researchers believe that testing milk would provide a cheap, simple way of checking their risk.

Up to one in eight women will develop breast cancer at some stage – and the incidence has increased by 50 per cent over the past 25 years.

Although the illness is far more common among the over-50s, around one in five cases occurs in younger age groups.

But there is currently no effective way of screening them, because mammograms do not always detect tumours in women who have not reached the menopause – particularly if they are breast feeding. [Read more...]

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Avoid Coffee With Fast Food

April 4, 2011 By

Avoid coffee during a fast food meal because it could have dangerous repercussions for your wellbeing as it causes a spike in blood sugar levels.

A healthy person’s blood sugar levels shoot up after eating a high-fat meal, but that spike doubles after having both a fatty meal and caffeinated coffee – jumping to levels similar to those of people at risk of diabetes, says Marie-Soleil Beaudoin from University of Guelph.

“The results tell us that saturated fat interferes with the body’s ability to clear sugars from the blood and, when combined with caffeinated coffee, the impact can be even worse,” said Beaudoin, doctoral student who conducted the study, reports the Journal of Nutrition.

“Having sugar remain in our blood for long periods is unhealthy because it can take a toll on our body’s organs,” adds Beaudoin, who conducted the study with Guelph professors Lindsay Robinson and Terry Graham, according to a University of Guelph statement. [Read more...]

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Depression May Be Treated In Same Way As Diabetes

April 3, 2011 By

As diseases, they seem to be worlds apart, but could depression and related psychiatric conditions actually be treated in much the same way as diabetes?

Intriguing new research detailed at a Toronto conference Monday suggests that insulin does play a central role in triggering mood disorders, and that tackling metabolic imbalances in the brain could turn upside down how medicine combats the little-understood ravages of mood disorders.

“New treatments are not going to be simple modifications of Prozac, but something completely different,” Dr. Roger McIntyre, a psychiatrist and University of Toronto researcher, told the conference. “We’re going to have a very novel array of not just pharmacological, but behavioural treatments for our patients.”

A trial completed this month at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital saw bi-polar patients receive insulin through a nasal inhaler. Though the findings have yet to be fully tabulated or published, the results appear to be positive, said Dr. McIntyre, who led the research. [Read more...]

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Fat Stigma Spreads Around the Globe

March 31, 2011 By

The runway ideal is changing the cultural norm even in countries where plump has traditionally been viewed as attractive.Kevin Coombs/Reuters The runway ideal is changing the cultural norm even in countries where plump has traditionally been viewed as attractive.

In Mexico, the latest anti-obesity public health campaign shows people with bulging stomachs eating greasy food.

“I have always thought that it’s your own fault,” said Sergio Miranda, 35, who has a shoeshine stand in Mexico City. “People eat just things that make them fat, like bread and pizza.”

Mr. Miranda said he did not really notice whether his clients were fat or not. But he does when he is wedged in a crowded city bus.

“The fatties take up a lot of space,” he said. “People are annoyed. It’s uncomfortable.” [Read more...]

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