Natural Cure

Cases of esophageal cancer (adenocarcinoma) in the U.S. have risen in recent decades from 300,000 cases in 1973 to 2.1 million in 2001 at age-adjusted rates. A new study published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology shows that these rates in the U.S. closely mirrored trends of increased carbohydrate intake and obesity from 1973-2001.

The study illustrates what may be a public heath concern as the composition of U.S. diets changes and total carbohydrate and refined carbohydrate intakes increase. Obesity is a risk factor for a number of types of cancer, and a diet that includes a high percentage of calories from refined carbohydrates is a common contributor to obesity. Carbohydrates were also unique in that no other studied nutrients were found to correlate with esophageal cancer rates.

The causes of esophageal cancer remain largely unknown. Despite recent advances in therapy, esophageal cancer has a poor prognosis. The five-year rate of survival for esophageal cancer remains below 20 percent and is the eighth-leading cause of cancer related death in American men.

"If we can reverse the trends in refined carbohydrate intake and obesity in the U.S., we may be able to reduce the occurence rate of esophageal cancer," says Dr. Li Li, senior author of the study.


Posted by: Evelyn    Source

Want to lose weight" It might help to pour that diet soda down the drain. Scientists have laboratory evidence that the widespread use of no-calorie sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their intake and body weight. The findings are reported in the recent issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, which is published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Psychology experts at Purdue Universitys Ingestive Behavior Research Center reported that relative to rats that ate yogurt sweetened with glucose (a simple sugar with 15 calories/teaspoon, the same as table sugar), rats given yogurt sweetened with zero-calorie saccharin later consumed more calories, gained more weight, put on more body fat, and didnt make up for it by cutting back later, all at levels of statistical significance.

Authors Susan Swithers, PhD, and Terry Davidson, PhD, surmised that by breaking the correlation between a sweet sensation and high-calorie food, the use of saccharin changes the bodys ability to regulate intake. That change depends on experience. Problems with self-regulation might explain in part why obesity has risen in parallel with the use of artificial sweeteners. It also might explain why, says Swithers, scientific consensus on human use of artificial sweeteners is inconclusive, with various studies finding evidence of weight loss, weight gain or little effect. Because people may have different experiences with artificial and natural sweeteners, human studies that dont take into account previous consumption may produce a variety of outcomes.

Three different experiments explored whether saccharin changed lab animals ability to regulate their intake, using different assessments the most obvious being caloric intake, weight gain, and compensating by cutting back.

The experimenters also measured changes in core body temperature, a physiological assessment. Normally when we prepare to eat, the metabolic engine revs up. However, rats that had been trained to respond using saccharin (which broke the link between sweetness and calories), relative to rats trained on glucose, showed a smaller rise in core body temperate after eating a novel, sweet-tasting, high-calorie meal. The authors think this blunted response both led to overeating and made it harder to burn off sweet-tasting calories.

The data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to greater body-weight gain and adiposity than would consuming the same food sweetened with a higher-calorie sugar, the authors wrote.

The authors acknowledge that this outcome may seem counterintuitive and might not come as welcome news to human clinical scientists and health-care practitioners, who have long recommended low- or no-calorie sweeteners. Whats more, the data come from rats, not humans. However, they noted that their findings match emerging evidence that people who drink more diet drinks are at higher risk for obesity and metabolic syndrome, a collection of medical problems such as abdominal fat, hypertension and insulin resistance that put people who are at risk for heart disease and diabetes.

Why would a sugar substitute backfire" Swithers and Davidson wrote that sweet foods provide a salient orosensory stimulus that strongly predicts someone is about to take in a lot of calories. Ingestive and digestive reflexes gear up for that intake but when false sweetness isnt followed by lots of calories, the system gets confused. Thus, people may eat more or expend less energy than they otherwise would.

The good news, Swithers says, is that people can still count calories to regulate intake and body weight. However, she sympathizes with the dieters lament that counting calories requires more conscious effort than consuming low-calorie foods.

Swithers adds that based on the labs hypothesis, other artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose and acesulfame K, which also taste sweet but do not predict the delivery of calories, could have similar effects. Finally, eventhough the results are consistent with the idea that humans would show similar effects, human study is mandatory for further demonstration.


Posted by: Evelyn    Source

Obese people are less likely to use their seatbelts than the rest of the population, adding to the public health risks linked to this rapidly growing problem.

The connection was made by Vanderbilt University psychology expert David Schlundt and colleagues at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn.

We observed that when weight goes up, seatbelt use goes down, Schlundt, associate professor of psychology and assistant professor of medicine, said. This is an additional public health problem linked to obesity that was not on the radar screen. We hope these new findings will help promote awareness campaigns to encourage people to use their seatbelts and that additional resources, like seatbelt extenders, will be made more readily available.

Schlundt and colleagues examined 2002 data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Controls Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, a telephone survey used to collect data on risky behaviors and health decisions linked to death.

The study observed that approximately 30 percent of individuals with a body mass index (kilograms per meter squared) that qualified them as overweight, obese or extremely obese reported not using a seatbelt, in comparison to approximately 20 percent of the average population. Furthermore, seatbelt use declined as BMI increased, with approximately 55 percent of extremely obese individuals reporting they did not use a seatbelt. The correlation between increased body mass index and decreased seatbelt use held even when controlling for other factors, such as gender, race and seatbelt laws in the respondents state.

The scope of the public health problem posed by the lack of seatbelt use is magnified by the growing rate of obesity; nearly 60 percent of the survey respondents fell into the categories of overweight, obese or extremely obese.

We know obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some cancers, Schlundt said. We now know that increased risk of injury or death due to a car accident can be added to the list of risk linked to obesity.

The authors suggest that a reason why people with a high BMI do not use seatbelts is because doing so is uncomfortable.

Efforts should be made to raise public awareness about seatbelt extender availability, and manufacturers not offering seatbelt extenders should be encouraged, or required, to make them available, they wrote. Engineering solutions such as seatbelts with wider, more cushioned bands and greater adjustability may also be helpful by making seatbelts more comfortable for overweight and obese persons.

Seatbelt usage reduces automobile crash-related deaths and injuries by at least 50 percent.


Posted by: Evelyn    Source

Paul Helton, one of the study participants, examines whole-grain foods and the refined foods used in the research. The study found that diets with high amounts of whole grains may help achieve significant weight loss, and also reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Credit: Heather Katcher, Penn State Diets with high amounts of whole grains may help achieve significant weight loss, and also reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, as per a team of Penn State scientists at University Park and the College of Medicine.

"Consumption of whole grains has been linked to a lower body weight and lower blood pressure," said co-author Penny Kris-Etherton, distinguished professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State. "We thought that incorporating whole grains into a heart-healthy weight loss diet may provide the same benefits to people who are at risk from chronic diseases".

The scientists recruited 50 obese adults 25 male and 25 female between ages 20 to 65 and known to have metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

They were randomly assigned to either a group that received instructions to have all of their grain servings from whole grains or all of their grain servings from refined grains.

"We asked participants in the whole grain group to focus on foods that had whole grains as the first ingredient," said lead author Heather Katcher, a Penn State Ph.D. recipient and currently a dietetic intern at Tulane University.

Over the 12-week study period, all participants received the same dietary advice on weight loss, and encouragement to participate in moderate physical activity. Scientists also asked participants to consume five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, three servings of low-fat dairy products, and two servings of lean meat, fish or poultry.

The study's findings appear in the January 2008 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Results from the study showed that waist circumference and body weight decreased significantly in both groups between 8-11 pounds on average but weight loss in the abdominal region was significantly greater in the whole grain group.

As per Katcher, the whole grain group experienced a 38 percent decrease in C-reactive protein levels in their blood. A high level of this inflammatory marker is thought to place patients at a higher risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

"Typically you would expect weight loss to be linked to a decrease in C-reactive protein, but the refined grain group showed no decrease in this marker of inflammation even though they lost weight," said Kris-Etherton.

The Penn State researcher suggests that the finding is because the consumption of refined grains has been associated with increased levels of the protein. So even though people in the refined grain group lost weight, the fact that they ate so a number of refined grains probably negated the beneficial effect of weight loss on C-reactive protein levels.

While it is not fully clear how exactly the protein is decreased in the whole grain group, Richard Legro, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and a co-investigator, says the scale of reduction is similar to that seen with the use of statin drugs, highlighting the potential of diet to prevent serious medical complications.

Participants in the whole grain group also showed an increased intake of fiber and magnesium, both of which may prevent or delay the potential onset of diabetes.

Scientists say the study is timely as it addresses the wide choice of whole grains in the market.

"There are a lot of foods around that claim they contain whole grain but are not really major sources of whole grain," said Kris-Etherton. She recommends whole grain foods where at least 51 percent of the grain comes from whole grain. These include oatmeal, whole grain cereal, brown rice, whole-wheat pasta and snacks such as granola bars, popcorn and whole-wheat crackers.

"This is the first clinical study to prove that a diet rich in whole grains can lead to weight loss and reduce the risk of several chronic diseases," added Kris-Etherton.


Posted by: Evelyn    Source