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Do You Avoid Eating Late at Night to Prevent Weight Gain?

Dr Dreams — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:18:46 +0000

On one hand, knowing how to eat right can be simple – eat when you’re hungry, and stick to nutritious foods that fill you up and keep you satisfied. But another component of playing the weight loss game is when you eat, and that’s when things can get complicated. While studies have proven that eating late at night doesn’t automatically lead to your body storing more fat , a new study in mice has found a link between when you eat and weight gain. Researchers looked at two groups of mice, both of which were fed the same amount of a high-fat diet, and found that the mice who were only allowed to eat during an eight-hour period during the day ended up gaining less weight than the mice that were allowed to eat the same amount of food any time during the day and night. Researchers believe that the difference in weight gain is due to the fact that the body’s organs operate at peak efficiency at different times, so everything from your liver to your muscles may be burning more calories and working harder depending on the time of day or night. Frequent eating throughout the day and night, they say, may throw off your body’s metabolic cycles, so you may be more successful with weight loss if you stop eating at a certain point during your day (even if you are eating the same amount of food). This newest study is just one more piece of information in the late-night eating debate, but the theory hasn’t been tested on humans yet. And it’s important to note that this study doesn’t prove the myth that you shouldn’t eat past a certain time to avoid your food turning into fat – the study is just saying that restricting when you eat to a certain time period may help regulate your metabolic cycles. In any case, what’s your take on the issue: do you avoid eating late at night to prevent gaining weight? Do You Avoid Eating Late at Night to Prevent Weight Gain? Yes – I think eating at night makes me gain weight. No – I eat late if I want to, and it hasn’t been an issue. No, but I want to stop.

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Do You Avoid Eating Late at Night to Prevent Weight Gain?

Long Commutes Are Detrimental to Your Health, Study Says

Martin Neumann — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:14:05 +0000

Working a nine-to-fiver is mandatory for most people, and unfortunately, a long commute often comes with the territory. According to a study published today in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine , those who travel 16 or more miles each way weigh more and have higher blood pressures than those with less than 10-mile commutes. Of the almost 4,300 residents from Dallas and Austin involved in the study, researchers discovered that for every 10-mile increase in driving distance, the commuter’s BMI (body mass index) rose .17 units. People with lengthy commutes are nine percent more likely to be obese, either because they didn’t exercise as much, are eating fast food while driving, or they’re not getting enough sleep because their long commute forces them to wake up early. Weight isn’t the only thing affected by a long drive to work. Spending that much time in the car, especially stuck in traffic, also makes a person tired, moody, and stressed out, which is one reason 52 percent of those in the study with a longer commute suffered from high blood pressure. So what’s a commuter to do? Quitting your job is obviously not an option, and if working at home part-time isn’t feasible and neither is finding a job closer to where you live, keep reading to learn what commuters can do to avoid weight gain and other health issues.

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Long Commutes Are Detrimental to Your Health, Study Says

Informed Patient: Doctors Ramp Up Type 1 Diabetes Screening

Sean Duffy — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:26:37 +0000

With Type 1 diabetes on the rise, researchers are stepping up efforts to screen patients’ family members, who are at higher risk of also getting the disease, the Informed Patient column reports . More than 100,000 relatives have been screened through a free program offered by Diabetes Type 1 TrialNet , a research network of 18 centers world-wide seeking volunteers to participate in its studies of ways to prevent, delay and cure Type 1, long known as juvenile diabetes. TrialNet Chairman Jay Skyler , a professor and diabetes expert at the University of Miami, tells the Health Blog that the program has grown to about 200 sites and aims to expand testing sites further. “We’ve been broadening our base and the aim is to convince all medical practices to participate,” he says. The goal is to screen at least two to three relatives of patients diagnosed with Type 1 “so we can really make progress” with research. Distinct from the far more prevalent Type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity, Type 1 is an autoimmune disease that inhibits the body from producing the hormone insulin needed to convert food into energy. It requires lifelong insulin injections. iStockphoto TrialNet uses a simple blood test to determine if patients have antibodies that indicate a risk for developing Type 1. Close blood relatives of people with Type 1 diabetes have 10-to-15-times-greater risk of developing the disease than others in the population. Nevertheless, about 80% of those with the disease have no family history. JDRF , formerly called the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, helps fund TrialNet and hosts mobile-screening units at its fundraising walks. Richard Insel , JDRF’s chief scientific officer, says that new ways to score a patient’s risk can identify those with the highest chance of developing the disease within a couple of years, and can also be used to monitor the disease’s progression. TrialNet provides family members who qualify for the screening testing kits on request and asks for a signed consent form. The kits can then be taken to a local doctor or lab. In addition to grassroots efforts like mobile testing units, TrialNet teams also offer screenings at diabetes summer camps and has even sent a team to test one extended family. If a group asks for a screening, “we will get a team out there to do it,” Dr. Skyler says. Among TrialNet studies underway is the Natural History Study, which is observing people at increased risk for Type 1 diabetes to learn more about the immune and metabolic events that precede actual symptoms. Another is testing whether one insulin capsule a day can prevent or delay Type 1 diabetes in a specific group at risk, after an earlier clinical trial suggested that it might delay the disease for about four years in certain people. Yet a third study is testing whether treatment with the drug teplizumab can prevent or delay the disease in high-risk relatives of people with type 1 diabetes. Earlier studies in people newly diagnosed suggest that the drug reduces the loss of insulin production during the first year of type 1 diabetes. For Type 1 patients with a family history, participation in the study includes close monitoring and the potential to prevent or delay the onset of the disease, says Henry Rodriguez , a principal investigator at the University of South Florida. If diabetes can be delayed, even for a few years, those at risk may be able to postpone the difficult challenges of trying to control their disease and the development of potentially serious complications. “We have the ability to identify those who are at that precipice before developing diabetes and start them on therapy before they get very ill,” Dr. Rodriguez says.

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Informed Patient: Doctors Ramp Up Type 1 Diabetes Screening

More Americans Skipped Needed Health Care in 2010, Study Shows

Dr Joe — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:44:26 +0000

iStockphoto More adults went without needed medical treatment, a dental visit or routine check-ups in 2010 than a decade earlier, according to a new study . In 2010, some 21% of adults under the age of 65 told a government survey that they had an unmet health-care need, 20% said they hadn’t been able to get into a doctor’s office and 39% said they hadn’t had a dental visit. Those numbers were all higher than responses in 2000, researchers at the liberal Urban Institute think tank found after analyzing National Health Interview Survey questionnaires that asked adults under the age of 65 about their health. The latest numbers are likely to add further fuel to the debate over the future direction of health costs. National health-spending growth was at a near-historic low in 2010, as WSJ reported , but experts are divided over whether the trend is a good thing or not. As the Health Blog explained in January , many observers attribute the decline in spending to people cutting back on care because of the weak economy. But they also say the long-term cost implications depend on whether the people postponed necessary treatments for conditions that will worsen, or put off unnecessary treatments that they would be better off skipping. In the study, adults without health insurance were much more likely to say they didn’t have access to care or didn’t see a doctor or a dentist. In 2010, 46% of these people said they had had unmet medical needs, 48% said they had seen a doctor in the previous year, and 28% said they had seen a dentist.

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More Americans Skipped Needed Health Care in 2010, Study Shows

A.M Vitals: “Good” Cholesterol Drug Fails; Alzheimer’s and Depression Linked

Sean Duffy — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:07:40 +0000

Roche Drug to Raise ‘Good’ Cholesterol Fails (WSJ): The drug’s failure in a large human trial spelled a setback for pharmaceutical companies that see an opportunity in medicines that seek to ward of heart disease by raising so-called “good” cholesterol. Competitors Merck and Eli Lilly said they remain confident in late-stage drugs in their pipelines that work similarly. Study Examines Depression and Aging Brain (WSJ): The onset of depression late in life can be an early warning of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia later, according to a new study of 13,535 Kaiser Permanente members. A Regime’s Tight Grip on AIDS (New York Times): Cuba’s AIDS rate is only one-sixth that of the U.S., thanks in part to aggressive tactics taken in the early years of the epidemic, such as forced quarantines for people who tested positive for HIV. F.D.A. Staff Raises Concerns About Arthritis Drug (New York Times): Documents released ahead of a Food and Drug Administration review Wednesday show regulators are concerned a new Pfizer treatment for rheumatoid arthritis raised concerns of significant side-effects. Court Dismisses Vets’ Suit on Mental Health Care (San Francisco Chronicle): A San Francisco appeals court dismissed a five-year-old suit by veterans groups accusing the Department of Veterans Affairs of delaying needed mental health services. Drug-Defying Germs from India Speed Post-Antibiotic Era (Bloomberg): The widespread use of antibiotics in India is helping cultivate new breeds of drug-resistant bacteria bred from otherwise benign microorganisms.

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A.M Vitals: “Good” Cholesterol Drug Fails; Alzheimer’s and Depression Linked

Rates of Obesity and Severe Obesity to Climb by 2030 — Study

Sean Duffy — Mon, 07 May 2012 19:39:54 +0000

iStockphoto Everyone knows there’s an obesity epidemic in America. Now the question is: How much heavier are Americans going to get? Obesity rates largely leveled off in the U.S. a decade ago, suggesting the worst might have been over. But about one-third of Americans are still obese, and a new study out Monday predicts that percentage will climb to 42% by 2030. And many more of those people will be severely obese, meaning they’re at least 50% over their ideal weight. By 2030, 11% of people will be severely obese, or more than double the current rate, according to the study by researchers at Duke University, research firm RTI International, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A person with a body mass index — a measurement of height and weight — of 30 or more is considered obese. Anyone with a body mass index of 40 or more is considered severely obese. Severe obesity was extremely rare before the early 1970s, but rates have risen sharply since then and continue to rise. “The world has changed in a way that allows people to be that overweight,” Eric Finkelstein , lead author of the study and associate professor at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore, tells the Health Blog. “Sixty or seventy years ago you couldn’t sustain the excess caloric intake needed to be that heavy.” “This is a group that’s really at risk of health complications,” he adds. Another major concern is how adult obesity rates will be affected as obese children mature into adults, said Bill Dietz , director of the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. One study that tracked the weights of children to adulthood found that about 50% of severely obese adults were obese as children, he said. Predictions vary as to where the obesity epidemic is headed. At least one study projects that just over half the U.S. population will be obese by 2030. Obesity rates have climbed during some recent years among particular groups — boys, for example — while they have leveled off generally over the past decade. The researchers in this new study, published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine , based their estimates on current CDC data; U.S. Census population projections; projections of the prices of healthy foods, fast food and alcohol; and other factors that could influence weight. But some other factors believed to have a major influence on obesity rates, such as the ability to walk and be active in a community, as well as drugs, weren’t counted. It also didn’t take into account future technological advances that could affect obesity rates, Finkelstein said. “As new drugs and new technologies come out, those things will matter, but we can’t model that. I think these are very reasonable estimates of what the future will hold, but they’re estimates.”

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Rates of Obesity and Severe Obesity to Climb by 2030 — Study

This Weekend, Go For a Jog

Dr Dreams — Fri, 04 May 2012 19:23:12 +0000

In the midst of all your margarita- or mint julep-fueled celebrating this weekend, here’s a reminder to pull on your running sneakers and go for a jog: a new study has found that regular jogging can help you live longer . The study compared joggers and nonjoggers as part of a larger Danish study that’s been tracking 20,000 people for over 30 years. Researchers compared about 2,000 joggers from the study with nonjoggers and found that the joggers were 44 percent less likely to die from any cause compared to those who didn’t jog, and in general had longer life spans – up to six years longer. Running and jogging can help lower your risk of many diseases and conditions, like high blood pressure, cancer, and high cholesterol, so it’s no surprise that the regular joggers in the study were healthier overall. The good news is that you don’t have to become a serious runner to reap the benefits; researchers say that the most benefits came from jogging at a slow or average pace (not strenuous enough to feel too out of breath) for one to two and a half hours a week, and it’s fine to break your jogs up into a few sessions during the week. Why not start now? Here’s an easy jogging-walking workout for you to try this weekend.

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This Weekend, Go For a Jog

Is Doing Cardio Before Strength Training Bad?

Sean Duffy — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:22:35 +0000

Many of you say that you go to the gym twice in a day , but does the order of your workout matter? New studies, according to The New York Times , may answer the age-old debate held by many hardcore fitness fanatics – whether or not doing cardio before or after your strength training routine is bad for your muscle development. Many athletes and serious exercisers try to avoid doing both in the same session because they think that cardio inhibits the muscles’ ability to grow and become stronger. Two studies looked to figure out if this long-held belief was true. In one, researchers had healthy young men pedal on a stationary bike for 45 minutes using one leg, followed by strenuous leg strength training exercises six hours later (they compared the differences in the men’s legs, since only one leg had done both cardio and resistance training). In another study, researchers had older men exercise on a stationary bike and then strength train in two different ways – once by riding the bike for 40 minutes and then doing eight difficult leg exercises the next day, and another by doing four of the leg exercises followed immediately by 20 minutes on the bike. The muscle biopsy results of both studies found that there was no difference in muscle makeup in participants, no matter when or how they combined their cardio and strength training. And although the researchers say they only looked at immediate results, they think that long-term observation would also show no differences. These new studies may put an end to the belief that the order of your workout routine matters, but many people swear by their own experiences of how their bodies react to their training regimens. Tell us, do you believe that doing cardio before strength training is good, bad, or makes no difference for you?

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Is Doing Cardio Before Strength Training Bad?

California Study Shines Light on Cost of Preventable Diseases

Martin Neumann — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:20:20 +0000

iStockphoto How much is spent on medical care for preventable chronic diseases? The answer today: a lot, but maybe not as much as you think. Around a quarter of the dollars spent treating workers enrolled in the California public employees’ health plan are for illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and kidney disease, according to researchers at the Urban Institute think tank. Those are all conditions that can be prevented, at least in part, through changes in diet and physical activity. In all, the California Public Employees Retirement System health program spent $1.6 billion in 2008 providing care for current workers, of which $362 million, or 22.4%, was for avoidable, chronic illnesses, the study found. The finding comes as the government, lawmakers and policy analysts are all debating ways to stop people from getting sick in the first place, as well as treating them once they fall ill. Most people agree that prevention is better than cure. As WSJ reported , there’s less consensus on whether public or private dollars are the best way of funding prevention efforts, or how much can be saved from prevention.

The Bilingual Brain Is Sharper and More Focused, Study Says

Dr Dreams — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:01:19 +0000

iStockphoto The ability to speak two languages can make bilingual people better able to pay attention than those who can only speak one language, a new study suggests. Scientists have long suspected that some enhanced mental abilities might be tied to structural differences in brain networks shaped by learning more than one language, just as a musician’s brain can be altered by the long hours of practice needed to master an instrument. Now, in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , researchers at Northwestern University for the first time have documented differences in how the bilingual brain processes the sounds of speech, compared with those who speak a single language, in ways that make it better at picking out a spoken syllable, even when it is buried in a babble of voices. That biological difference in the auditory nervous system appears to also enhance attention and working memory among those who speak more than one language, they say. “Because you have two languages going on in your head, you become very good at determining what is and is not relevant,” says Dr. Nina Kraus , a professor of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern, who was part of the study team. “You are a mental juggler.” In the new study, Kraus and her colleagues tested the involuntary neural responses to speech sounds by comparing brain signals in 23 high school students who were fluent in English and Spanish to those of 25 teenagers who only spoke English. When it was quiet, both groups could hear the test syllable — “da” — with no trouble, but when there was background noise, the brains of the bilingual students were significantly better at detecting the fundamental frequency of speech sounds. “We have determined that the nervous system of a bilingual person responds to sound in a way that is distinctive from a person who speaks only one language,” Kraus says. Through this fine-tuning of the nervous system, people who can master more than one language are building a more resilient brain, one more proficient at multitasking, setting priorities, and, perhaps, better able to withstand the ravages of age, a range of recent studies suggest. Indeed, some preliminary research suggests that people who speak a second language may have enhanced defenses against the onset of dementia and delay Alzheimer’s disease by an average of four years, as WSJ reported in 2010 . The ability to speak more than one language also may help protect memory, researchers from the Center for Health Studies in Luxembourg reported at last year. After studying older people who spoke multiple languages, they concluded that the more languages someone could speak, the better: People who spoke three languages were three times less likely to have cognitive problems compared to bilingual people. Those who spoke four or more languages were five times less likely to develop cognitive problems. Not so long ago, people worried that children who grew up learning two languages at once were at a developmental disadvantage compared with those who focused on only one. New research suggests that even babies have little trouble developing bilingual skills. Researchers at the University of British Columbia’s Infant Studies Centre reported that babies being raised in a bilingual family show from birth a preference for each of the native languages they heard while still in the womb and can readily distinguish between them. Moreover, bilingual infants appear to learn the grammars of their two languages as well as babies learning a single language, even when the two languages are as different from one another as English and Japanese, or English and Punjabi.

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The Bilingual Brain Is Sharper and More Focused, Study Says