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Pesticide Exposure Raises Risk of Dementia

Posted March 15, 2013

LONG-TERM exposure to pesticides could raise the risk of dementia.

Researchers monitored the intellectual capacity of more than 600 vineyard workers for up to six years.

They found those who had been directly exposed to pesticides were more likely to perform worse in cognitive tests at the end of the study period than they had at the start.

Workers exposed to pesticides were twice as likely to drop two points in the mental state exam, one of nine tests, as those who had not been exposed.

The authors of the study said this was “particularly striking in view of the short duration of follow-up and young age of participants”.

They said: “The mild impairment we observed raises the question of higher risks of injury in this population and also of the possible evolution towards neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.”

LONG-TERM exposure to pesticides could raise the risk of dementia.

Researchers monitored the intellectual capacity of more than 600 vineyard workers for up to six years.

They found those who had been directly exposed to pesticides were more likely to perform worse in cognitive tests at the end of the study period than they had at the start.

Workers exposed to pesticides were twice as likely to drop two points in the mental state exam, one of nine tests, as those who had not been exposed.

The authors of the study said this was "particularly striking in view of the short duration of follow-up and young age of participants".

They said: "The mild impairment we observed raises the question of higher risks of injury in this population and also of the possible evolution towards neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's."

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Depression Linked to Stroke

Posted Dec 8, 2011

DEPRESSION may increase the chances of women having a stroke, research suggests.

A large six-year study found that a history of depression increased the risk of stroke in post-menopausal women by 29%.

Women who used common antidepressants such as Prozac had a 39% higher risk. But scientists said drugs on their own were not thought to be the primary cause of higher stroke risk and they urged women not to stop taking their medication.

Co-author Dr An Pan, from Harvard Public School of Health in Boston, said depression could be linked to inflammation, which in turn might increase the risk of stroke and other conditions.

“Regardless of the mechanism, recognising that depressed individuals may be at a higher risk of stroke may help the physician focus on not only treating the depression, but treating stroke risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes and elevated cholesterol, as well as addressing lifestyle behaviours such as smoking and exercise,” he said.

Dr Peter Coleman, deputy director of research at The Stroke Association, said more research was needed to determine whether depression alone could be a stroke risk factor.

Women suffering from depression may be less motivated to maintain good health or control other medical conditions linked to an increased risk of stroke, he said.

DEPRESSION may increase the chances of women having a stroke, research suggests.

A large six-year study found that a history of depression increased the risk of stroke in post-menopausal women by 29%.

Women who used common antidepressants such as Prozac had a 39% higher risk. But scientists said drugs on their own were not thought to be the primary cause of higher stroke risk and they urged women not to stop taking their medication.

Co-author Dr An Pan, from Harvard Public School of Health in Boston, said depression could be linked to inflammation, which in turn might increase the risk of stroke and other conditions.

"Regardless of the mechanism, recognising that depressed individuals may be at a higher risk of stroke may help the physician focus on not only treating the depression, but treating stroke risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes and elevated cholesterol, as well as addressing lifestyle behaviours such as smoking and exercise," he said.

Dr Peter Coleman, deputy director of research at The Stroke Association, said more research was needed to determine whether depression alone could be a stroke risk factor.

Women suffering from depression may be less motivated to maintain good health or control other medical conditions linked to an increased risk of stroke, he said.

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Clean Eating Simplified

Posted Nov 7, 2011

There’s nothing extreme about eating clean. You don’t have to give up meat, invest in a fancy juicer, or banish the sugar bowl from the kitchen table.

“I define clean eating as consuming whole, natural foods that have not been processed,” says Diane Welland, RD, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Clean. “It’s more of a lifestyle or an approach to food instead of a diet,” she adds, explaining that regular physical activity and eating small, frequent meals that are balanced with protein, fat, and carbohydrates are typically part of the approach.

A sense of social awareness is also essential to clean eating, says Susan Kleiner, PhD, RD, owner of High Performance Nutrition, a Seattle area consulting firm, and author of “The Good Mood Diet.” Kleiner defines clean eating as eating foods closer to the ground – more like the way they are picked, and as you might find them at a local farmers’ market. “Be mindful of how you’re eating and how what you eat affects the world around you,” she says.

Here, these experts explain nine guidelines of clean eating and suggest strategies for making healthy foods your go-to choice.

Lose Weight Naturally, But Don’t Obsess

There are countless benefits to eating more whole, natural foods: increased energy, improved immunity, lower risk of disease, and yes, loss of a few pounds.

“Weight loss comes naturally when you cut out junk food and high-calorie processed foods,” says Welland. “For this reason, you don’t have to worry so much about cutting calories.”

If you’re eating fresh fruits and vegetables, reducing foods high in fat or sugar (which are also high in calories), and having small meals throughout the day, you’ll be more likely to lose weight. Focus on looking and feeling better instead of obsessing over the scale.

Eating foods that are higher in fiber and richer in nutrients and healthy fats contribute to feeling fuller longer, says Kleiner. Plus, sugar and fats have a tendency to make you feel sluggish, so limiting them can make your body function better, which means you’ll feel more energized and be more likely to exercise, she adds.

Stick with Whole Grains (and Learn to Recognize Them)

Eating more whole grains has been shown to help reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers, and also helps you maintain a healthy weight. To get the most out of your grains, pick quinoa, bulgur, brown rice, or millet over refined grains, like white rice, white bread and grits, says Welland.

When shopping for cereal, bread and pasta, don’t just look for the words “whole grain” on a food’s packaging. Read ingredient lists carefully, looking for the word “whole” in front of each type of flour. Another trick for picking out clean-diet offenders: “High fructose corn syrup is a flag,” says Kleiner. “The fact that it’s added means the food is highly processed.”

A processed food is one that has been taken apart and put back together in order to create properties that may not occur naturally, or those that have to be replaced, says Kleiner, explaining that chemicals – some not found in nature – are often used in the process.

Grains are a good example. Like the name implies, whole grains contain an entire grain kernel (bran, germ and endosperm), while refined grains have been milled, a process that strips out bran and germ, along with fiber, iron and B vitamins. This process gives the grains a finer texture and a longer shelf life (think soft, fluffy white bread that lasts for weeks in the fridge). Refined grains are typically enriched, meaning iron and B vitamins, such as thiamin, riboflavin, folic acid and niacin, are removed and then added back after milling, but fiber is left out.

Keep in mind that many foods have to be processed in some way in order to make them edible, so the idea is to pick the least processed variety, says Kleiner. Cereal oats are a good example. While we can’t eat them unprocessed, we can select steel-cut oatmeal over oat flakes, or oat flakes over oat-based cereal with added coloring, flavoring and fun-shaped marshmallows.

Steer Clear of Sneaky Food Additives

When food additives and preservatives are considered, you probably think of a chemical compound spelled with no fewer than 16 characters – and one that you wouldn’t dare try to pronounce. But other extras sound much more benign – sugar and salt, for example, which are often added to food in excess to boost flavor or extend shelf life. The key to finding the “cleanest” possible foods is asking yourself a few questions: Are the ingredients natural or artificial? Are all the ingredients really necessary? Can I buy this product minus the offending ingredient, and will that absence affect the integrity of the food?

Take salt, for example. It’s used as a preservative in cheese, and is essential to the cheese-making process, says Welland. Adding salt to canned vegetables, on the other hand, is unnecessary, as it isn’t part of the production process and the veggies can be purchased either fresh or frozen without salt.

Another example is yogurt. Yogurt is produced by culturing milk, but fruit-flavored yogurt also have other things added to it including sugar, says Welland. Consider how easily fresh fruit can be stirred into plain yogurt for a lower sugar (and calorie) option, she says.

And what about the chemical-sounding additives? Only a few are natural and safe to consume regularly, says Kleiner. Citric acid (vitamin C, a natural antioxidant), vitamin E (an antioxidant that appears as tocopherols on food labels), and carotene (used to boost color) are commonly used as preservatives.

“Most everything else is chemistry,” she says.

Natural Sugar is Still Sugar

With excess sugar consumption linked to cancer, diabetes and heart disease, numerous white sugar alternatives have made their way onto grocery store shelves. Maple sugar, agave nectar and evaporated cane sugars, like secant, have stronger flavors than white sugar, which means you can get the same sweetness with fewer calories. Less-refined varieties of sugar come with a higher price tag, which Kleiner sees as something positive.

“When sugar is more expensive, you don’t treat it as nonchalantly. You think twice about using it and stop taking it for granted.”

Still, sugar is sugar, no matter what its form, and moderation is key.

A bonus that comes with cutting back on added sugar: “When you start taking out a lot of sugar and salt, you are retraining your taste buds and you tend to appreciate the natural sweet tastes of foods like beets and peas, or maybe the earthiness of a mushroom,” Kleiner says.

There Are No Safe Levels of Trans Fat

When it comes to fat, the hydrogenated oils typically found in empty calorie foods like doughnuts, candy, and cookies are the biggest offenders in a clean diet. Highly engineered fats, like the trans fat in man-made oils, are worse at promoting heart disease than natural fats, like lard, says Kleiner. According to Kleiner, a food label reading zero grams of trans fat – which is allowed for any item that contains less than half a gram per serving – can be misleading.

Kleiner’s general rule: “If it has hydrogenated oil in it, don’t buy it. It’s also a sign that it’s a highly processed food. Go for something less processed.”

Vegetarianism Is Optional

“Clean eating doesn’t mean vegetarian. It means choosing meat from grass- or vegetarian-fed (grass and grain-fed) animals,” says Kleiner. Animal feed can be filled with antibiotics, hormones, fertilizers and chemicals. Instead, turn to pasture-fed or free-range animals, which have more nutritiously rich meat and a healthier fatty acid composition. Meat that comes from pasture-fed animals is naturally lower in saturated fat and contributes less to heart disease risk.

You can also have a clean diet without meat. Beans, legumes, nuts and nut butters are big in the clean-eating realm. They provide crunch, texture, protein and a concentrated source of calories, says Welland.

You Don’t Have to Eat Organic

“Diets abundant in fruits and veggies – whether grown organically or conventionally – are healthier than diets without them,” say Kleiner. “What’s most important is eating veggies and fruit, and less important to buy organic.”

A significant body of research shows the link between fruit and vegetable consumption and lower incidences of cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer, and improved gastrointestinal and optical health. Additionally, in a review of 97 studies that compared the nutritional composition of organic versus conventional foods, researchers found that organic fruits, vegetables, and grains were 25 percent more nutrient-dense than conventional food. Organic produce and grains contain higher levels of 8 out of 10 nutrients studied, according to the report published by The Organic Center.

If you’ve purchased conventional fruits and vegetables, scrub them thoroughly, using a produce detergent to remove wax, or peel off the skin before eating, suggests Kleiner.

Caffeine Is a Personal Preference

Water, unsweetened tea, milk, and 100 percent fruit juice mixed with water or seltzer are standard beverages for clean eaters, but caffeine isn’t out of the question. Still, experts are on the fence about where it falls in a clean diet. Welland points out that many beverages that are high in caffeine, like soft drinks, also tend to be high in sugar. On the other hand, coffee and tea are natural products that are high in antioxidants. Welland’s general rule: If you’re sensitive to caffeine, limit your consumption or cut it out of your diet. If you don’t have a strong reaction, caffeine is fine in small amounts, she says.

Kleiner recommends drinking no more than two caffeinated drinks per day and avoiding those beverages after noontime.

“If you feel like you need caffeine later in the day, you probably should to take another look at the way you’re living your life,” she says. “Are you dehydrated? Do you need to be more active? Do you need more sleep? Do you have too much stress in your life?”

If you can’t get by without a boost, Kleiner suggests reaching for tea instead of coffee in the afternoon.

“Tea is much lower in caffeine, less acidic, and less harsh on the body, she says.

A Clean Diet Isn’t Always Convenient

If there’s one downside to clean eating it’s the extra time it takes to shop for and prepare your meals – but for many, it’s time well spent.

“You have to prioritize,” says Welland. “Ask yourself, ‘Do I want more time or a healthy meal, better health, and to feel good?’”

With a little planning and creativity, Welland says, cooking clean meals can become easier than playing around with combinations of prepared or microwave-ready foods. She likes to start with basic ingredients and think of ways to bring out the natural flavors in food – drizzling roasted sweet potatoes with a little maple syrup, or stirring cilantro and salsa into a side of black beans, for example. Welland dresses up veggies by experimenting with simple spice blends, tinkering with combinations of chili powder, cumin, coriander, basil and garlic.

Snacks and meals should be balanced with protein, fat, and carbohydrates and are generally not overly done in any one area. For example, instead of grabbing an apple for a snack, have an apple with peanut butter, or try red bell pepper slices with hummus, suggests Welland.

For more tips and tricks, visit Fitbie.com.

© 2011, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

There's nothing extreme about eating clean. You don't have to give up meat, invest in a fancy juicer, or banish the sugar bowl from the kitchen table.

"I define clean eating as consuming whole, natural foods that have not been processed," says Diane Welland, RD, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Clean. "It's more of a lifestyle or an approach to food instead of a diet," she adds, explaining that regular physical activity and eating small, frequent meals that are balanced with protein, fat, and carbohydrates are typically part of the approach.

A sense of social awareness is also essential to clean eating, says Susan Kleiner, PhD, RD, owner of High Performance Nutrition, a Seattle area consulting firm, and author of "The Good Mood Diet." Kleiner defines clean eating as eating foods closer to the ground - more like the way they are picked, and as you might find them at a local farmers' market. "Be mindful of how you're eating and how what you eat affects the world around you," she says.

Here, these experts explain nine guidelines of clean eating and suggest strategies for making healthy foods your go-to choice.

Lose Weight Naturally, But Don't Obsess

There are countless benefits to eating more whole, natural foods: increased energy, improved immunity, lower risk of disease, and yes, loss of a few pounds.

"Weight loss comes naturally when you cut out junk food and high-calorie processed foods," says Welland. "For this reason, you don't have to worry so much about cutting calories."

If you're eating fresh fruits and vegetables, reducing foods high in fat or sugar (which are also high in calories), and having small meals throughout the day, you'll be more likely to lose weight. Focus on looking and feeling better instead of obsessing over the scale.

Eating foods that are higher in fiber and richer in nutrients and healthy fats contribute to feeling fuller longer, says Kleiner. Plus, sugar and fats have a tendency to make you feel sluggish, so limiting them can make your body function better, which means you'll feel more energized and be more likely to exercise, she adds.

Stick with Whole Grains (and Learn to Recognize Them)

Eating more whole grains has been shown to help reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers, and also helps you maintain a healthy weight. To get the most out of your grains, pick quinoa, bulgur, brown rice, or millet over refined grains, like white rice, white bread and grits, says Welland.

When shopping for cereal, bread and pasta, don't just look for the words "whole grain" on a food's packaging. Read ingredient lists carefully, looking for the word "whole" in front of each type of flour. Another trick for picking out clean-diet offenders: "High fructose corn syrup is a flag," says Kleiner. "The fact that it's added means the food is highly processed."

A processed food is one that has been taken apart and put back together in order to create properties that may not occur naturally, or those that have to be replaced, says Kleiner, explaining that chemicals - some not found in nature - are often used in the process.

Grains are a good example. Like the name implies, whole grains contain an entire grain kernel (bran, germ and endosperm), while refined grains have been milled, a process that strips out bran and germ, along with fiber, iron and B vitamins. This process gives the grains a finer texture and a longer shelf life (think soft, fluffy white bread that lasts for weeks in the fridge). Refined grains are typically enriched, meaning iron and B vitamins, such as thiamin, riboflavin, folic acid and niacin, are removed and then added back after milling, but fiber is left out.

Keep in mind that many foods have to be processed in some way in order to make them edible, so the idea is to pick the least processed variety, says Kleiner. Cereal oats are a good example. While we can't eat them unprocessed, we can select steel-cut oatmeal over oat flakes, or oat flakes over oat-based cereal with added coloring, flavoring and fun-shaped marshmallows.

Steer Clear of Sneaky Food Additives

When food additives and preservatives are considered, you probably think of a chemical compound spelled with no fewer than 16 characters - and one that you wouldn't dare try to pronounce. But other extras sound much more benign - sugar and salt, for example, which are often added to food in excess to boost flavor or extend shelf life. The key to finding the "cleanest" possible foods is asking yourself a few questions: Are the ingredients natural or artificial? Are all the ingredients really necessary? Can I buy this product minus the offending ingredient, and will that absence affect the integrity of the food?

Take salt, for example. It's used as a preservative in cheese, and is essential to the cheese-making process, says Welland. Adding salt to canned vegetables, on the other hand, is unnecessary, as it isn't part of the production process and the veggies can be purchased either fresh or frozen without salt.

Another example is yogurt. Yogurt is produced by culturing milk, but fruit-flavored yogurt also have other things added to it including sugar, says Welland. Consider how easily fresh fruit can be stirred into plain yogurt for a lower sugar (and calorie) option, she says.

And what about the chemical-sounding additives? Only a few are natural and safe to consume regularly, says Kleiner. Citric acid (vitamin C, a natural antioxidant), vitamin E (an antioxidant that appears as tocopherols on food labels), and carotene (used to boost color) are commonly used as preservatives.

"Most everything else is chemistry," she says.

Natural Sugar is Still Sugar

With excess sugar consumption linked to cancer, diabetes and heart disease, numerous white sugar alternatives have made their way onto grocery store shelves. Maple sugar, agave nectar and evaporated cane sugars, like secant, have stronger flavors than white sugar, which means you can get the same sweetness with fewer calories. Less-refined varieties of sugar come with a higher price tag, which Kleiner sees as something positive.

"When sugar is more expensive, you don't treat it as nonchalantly. You think twice about using it and stop taking it for granted."

Still, sugar is sugar, no matter what its form, and moderation is key.

A bonus that comes with cutting back on added sugar: "When you start taking out a lot of sugar and salt, you are retraining your taste buds and you tend to appreciate the natural sweet tastes of foods like beets and peas, or maybe the earthiness of a mushroom," Kleiner says.

There Are No Safe Levels of Trans Fat

When it comes to fat, the hydrogenated oils typically found in empty calorie foods like doughnuts, candy, and cookies are the biggest offenders in a clean diet. Highly engineered fats, like the trans fat in man-made oils, are worse at promoting heart disease than natural fats, like lard, says Kleiner. According to Kleiner, a food label reading zero grams of trans fat - which is allowed for any item that contains less than half a gram per serving - can be misleading.

Kleiner's general rule: "If it has hydrogenated oil in it, don't buy it. It's also a sign that it's a highly processed food. Go for something less processed."

Vegetarianism Is Optional

"Clean eating doesn't mean vegetarian. It means choosing meat from grass- or vegetarian-fed (grass and grain-fed) animals," says Kleiner. Animal feed can be filled with antibiotics, hormones, fertilizers and chemicals. Instead, turn to pasture-fed or free-range animals, which have more nutritiously rich meat and a healthier fatty acid composition. Meat that comes from pasture-fed animals is naturally lower in saturated fat and contributes less to heart disease risk.

You can also have a clean diet without meat. Beans, legumes, nuts and nut butters are big in the clean-eating realm. They provide crunch, texture, protein and a concentrated source of calories, says Welland.

You Don't Have to Eat Organic

"Diets abundant in fruits and veggies - whether grown organically or conventionally - are healthier than diets without them," say Kleiner. "What's most important is eating veggies and fruit, and less important to buy organic."

A significant body of research shows the link between fruit and vegetable consumption and lower incidences of cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer, and improved gastrointestinal and optical health. Additionally, in a review of 97 studies that compared the nutritional composition of organic versus conventional foods, researchers found that organic fruits, vegetables, and grains were 25 percent more nutrient-dense than conventional food. Organic produce and grains contain higher levels of 8 out of 10 nutrients studied, according to the report published by The Organic Center.

If you've purchased conventional fruits and vegetables, scrub them thoroughly, using a produce detergent to remove wax, or peel off the skin before eating, suggests Kleiner.

Caffeine Is a Personal Preference

Water, unsweetened tea, milk, and 100 percent fruit juice mixed with water or seltzer are standard beverages for clean eaters, but caffeine isn't out of the question. Still, experts are on the fence about where it falls in a clean diet. Welland points out that many beverages that are high in caffeine, like soft drinks, also tend to be high in sugar. On the other hand, coffee and tea are natural products that are high in antioxidants. Welland's general rule: If you're sensitive to caffeine, limit your consumption or cut it out of your diet. If you don't have a strong reaction, caffeine is fine in small amounts, she says.

Kleiner recommends drinking no more than two caffeinated drinks per day and avoiding those beverages after noontime.

"If you feel like you need caffeine later in the day, you probably should to take another look at the way you're living your life," she says. "Are you dehydrated? Do you need to be more active? Do you need more sleep? Do you have too much stress in your life?"

If you can't get by without a boost, Kleiner suggests reaching for tea instead of coffee in the afternoon.

"Tea is much lower in caffeine, less acidic, and less harsh on the body, she says.

A Clean Diet Isn't Always Convenient

If there's one downside to clean eating it's the extra time it takes to shop for and prepare your meals - but for many, it's time well spent.

"You have to prioritize," says Welland. "Ask yourself, 'Do I want more time or a healthy meal, better health, and to feel good?'"

With a little planning and creativity, Welland says, cooking clean meals can become easier than playing around with combinations of prepared or microwave-ready foods. She likes to start with basic ingredients and think of ways to bring out the natural flavors in food - drizzling roasted sweet potatoes with a little maple syrup, or stirring cilantro and salsa into a side of black beans, for example. Welland dresses up veggies by experimenting with simple spice blends, tinkering with combinations of chili powder, cumin, coriander, basil and garlic.

Snacks and meals should be balanced with protein, fat, and carbohydrates and are generally not overly done in any one area. For example, instead of grabbing an apple for a snack, have an apple with peanut butter, or try red bell pepper slices with hummus, suggests Welland.

For more tips and tricks, visit Fitbie.com.

© 2011, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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USDA’s MyPlate Challenged By Other Healthy Plates

Posted October 22, 2011

Forget the four food groups (circa 1956). Forget the food pyramids (so 1992). Today’s nutrition advice is served on a plate.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently updated the icon that translates the agency’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans into an easy-to-understand visual. Called MyPlate, the new graphic recommends that we base our meals on vegetables and grains with lesser portions of fruits and protein and a side of dairy.

MyPlate represents an upgrade from past USDA efforts, but it still falls short in the eyes of some nutrition experts.

“It’s a huge improvement over the pyramid because at least now it’s a plate that people can relate to,” said Joan Lavery-McLaughlin, a nutritionist at The Wellness Solution in Falmouth and an oncology dietitian at Mercy Hospital. “But certainly they could do better.”

Susan Fekety, a registered nurse and nutrition counselor at True North Health Center in Falmouth, agreed with that assessment.

“It’s definitely better then the pyramid,” Fekety said. “I think it’s more sensible for people to use, and it has the portions a little better.”

One of the main complaints about MyPlate (and its predecessors) stems from the fact that the USDA operates under a conflicted mission. On one hand, it’s charged with helping Americans eat better. On the other, it’s responsible for promoting and subsidizing agricultural products.

Too often, the commodity crops that the USDA subsidizes and promotes become highly processed grocery store products and such quasi-foods as high-fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (commonly known as trans fat).

“MyPlate really reflects the connection to the agriculture industry and the subsidies,” Fekety said. “The USDA’s reason for being is not, unfortunately, healthfulness. Its reason for being is the support of these agribusinesses. Which is unfortunate, because this is the information that gets propagated into the schools and to dietitians.”

In response to this conflict, the Harvard School of Public Health and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine have produced their own plates.

Harvard calls its version the Healthy Eating Plate, and on first glance, it looks relatively similar to the USDA’s MyPlate.

However, one of the biggest differences is that instead of recommending a glass of milk at each meal, the Harvard guide recommends water. It also calls attention to better-for-you oils by recommending olive and canola oils, a limited amount of butter and avoidance of trans fats. Lavery-McLaughlin said she prefers this plate over the USDA’s option.

The Harvard guide says to limit milk and juice consumption and stay away from sugary drinks. While the USDA plate recommends eating grains every day, the Harvard plate goes further and recommends whole grains and only a limited amount of refined grains, such as white flour or white rice.

When it comes to the protein quadrant, the Harvard plate promotes fish, poultry, beans and nuts while advocating for limited red meat consumption and avoidance of bacon, cold cuts and other processed meats.

In a prepared statement, epidemiology and nutrition professor Walter Willett, who chairs the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health, said, “Unfortunately, like the earlier U.S. Department of Agriculture pyramids, MyPlate mixes science with the influence of powerful agricultural interests, which is not the recipe for healthy eating.

“The Healthy Eating Plate is based on the best available scientific evidence and provides consumers with the information they need to make choices that can profoundly affect our health and well being.”

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which is headed by Dr. Neal D. Barnard, introduced its vegetarian Power Plate more than a year ago. The group lobbied the USDA to adopt the Power Plate in place of the former MyPyramid.

Of the three, the Power Plate is the most simple. It divides the plate into four equal sections that represent grains, vegetables, legumes and fruits. It is the only plate that doesn’t recommend consumption of meat, eggs or dairy products.

The plate’s vegetarian composition is consistent with the nonprofit’s advocacy of plant-based diets as a way to prevent and reverse chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancer.

“Americans are getting fatter and sicker by the day,” Barnard said in a prepared statement. “If we’re going to beat this national crisis, the federal government must offer straightforward, accurate advice on the power of vegetarian foods to fight obesity. Our Power Plate offers lifesaving advice, and it is simple enough for a child to follow.”

Still, neither Fekety nor Lavery-McLaughlin view any of the plates as perfect.

“One shortcoming is they don’t tell you what size plate to use,” Lavery-McLaughlin said.

In her own practice, Lavery-McLaughlin recommends 9-inch plates for women and children and 10- to 12-inch plates for men and people who are really active.

She counsels her patients to eat a portion of protein equal to the size of their fist (people with bigger hands typically need more calories) and to eat a serving of grains equal to the size of their palm.

“All of these plates share a common flaw in that they’re trying to be useful to everyone, but that’s not possible because we’re all so biochemically different,” Fekety said.

As Lavery-McLaughlin pointed out, author Michael Pollan has it right with his advice to eat unprocessed, whole foods.

Or as Pollan said: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Staff Writer Avery Yale Kamila can be contacted at 791-6297 or at: akamila@pressherald.com

Twitter: AveryYaleKamila

©2011 the Portland Press Herald (Portland, Maine)

Forget the four food groups (circa 1956). Forget the food pyramids (so 1992). Today's nutrition advice is served on a plate.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently updated the icon that translates the agency's Dietary Guidelines for Americans into an easy-to-understand visual. Called MyPlate, the new graphic recommends that we base our meals on vegetables and grains with lesser portions of fruits and protein and a side of dairy.

MyPlate represents an upgrade from past USDA efforts, but it still falls short in the eyes of some nutrition experts.

"It's a huge improvement over the pyramid because at least now it's a plate that people can relate to," said Joan Lavery-McLaughlin, a nutritionist at The Wellness Solution in Falmouth and an oncology dietitian at Mercy Hospital. "But certainly they could do better."

Susan Fekety, a registered nurse and nutrition counselor at True North Health Center in Falmouth, agreed with that assessment.

"It's definitely better then the pyramid," Fekety said. "I think it's more sensible for people to use, and it has the portions a little better."

One of the main complaints about MyPlate (and its predecessors) stems from the fact that the USDA operates under a conflicted mission. On one hand, it's charged with helping Americans eat better. On the other, it's responsible for promoting and subsidizing agricultural products.

Too often, the commodity crops that the USDA subsidizes and promotes become highly processed grocery store products and such quasi-foods as high-fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (commonly known as trans fat).

"MyPlate really reflects the connection to the agriculture industry and the subsidies," Fekety said. "The USDA's reason for being is not, unfortunately, healthfulness. Its reason for being is the support of these agribusinesses. Which is unfortunate, because this is the information that gets propagated into the schools and to dietitians."

In response to this conflict, the Harvard School of Public Health and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine have produced their own plates.

Harvard calls its version the Healthy Eating Plate, and on first glance, it looks relatively similar to the USDA's MyPlate.

However, one of the biggest differences is that instead of recommending a glass of milk at each meal, the Harvard guide recommends water. It also calls attention to better-for-you oils by recommending olive and canola oils, a limited amount of butter and avoidance of trans fats. Lavery-McLaughlin said she prefers this plate over the USDA's option.

The Harvard guide says to limit milk and juice consumption and stay away from sugary drinks. While the USDA plate recommends eating grains every day, the Harvard plate goes further and recommends whole grains and only a limited amount of refined grains, such as white flour or white rice.

When it comes to the protein quadrant, the Harvard plate promotes fish, poultry, beans and nuts while advocating for limited red meat consumption and avoidance of bacon, cold cuts and other processed meats.

In a prepared statement, epidemiology and nutrition professor Walter Willett, who chairs the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health, said, "Unfortunately, like the earlier U.S. Department of Agriculture pyramids, MyPlate mixes science with the influence of powerful agricultural interests, which is not the recipe for healthy eating.

"The Healthy Eating Plate is based on the best available scientific evidence and provides consumers with the information they need to make choices that can profoundly affect our health and well being."

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which is headed by Dr. Neal D. Barnard, introduced its vegetarian Power Plate more than a year ago. The group lobbied the USDA to adopt the Power Plate in place of the former MyPyramid.

Of the three, the Power Plate is the most simple. It divides the plate into four equal sections that represent grains, vegetables, legumes and fruits. It is the only plate that doesn't recommend consumption of meat, eggs or dairy products.

The plate's vegetarian composition is consistent with the nonprofit's advocacy of plant-based diets as a way to prevent and reverse chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancer.

"Americans are getting fatter and sicker by the day," Barnard said in a prepared statement. "If we're going to beat this national crisis, the federal government must offer straightforward, accurate advice on the power of vegetarian foods to fight obesity. Our Power Plate offers lifesaving advice, and it is simple enough for a child to follow."

Still, neither Fekety nor Lavery-McLaughlin view any of the plates as perfect.

"One shortcoming is they don't tell you what size plate to use," Lavery-McLaughlin said.

In her own practice, Lavery-McLaughlin recommends 9-inch plates for women and children and 10- to 12-inch plates for men and people who are really active.

She counsels her patients to eat a portion of protein equal to the size of their fist (people with bigger hands typically need more calories) and to eat a serving of grains equal to the size of their palm.

"All of these plates share a common flaw in that they're trying to be useful to everyone, but that's not possible because we're all so biochemically different," Fekety said.

As Lavery-McLaughlin pointed out, author Michael Pollan has it right with his advice to eat unprocessed, whole foods.

Or as Pollan said: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Staff Writer Avery Yale Kamila can be contacted at 791-6297 or at: akamila@pressherald.com

Twitter: AveryYaleKamila

©2011 the Portland Press Herald (Portland, Maine)

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The Push to Get More Protein from…..Bugs?

Posted Oct 15, 2011

Much of the world eats insects, but they’re a hard sell in Europe and the United States. Now a Dutch warehouse store similar to Costco is trying to change our minds and palates.

One of the arguments against a meat-based diet is that the production of livestock like beef and pork causes almost one-fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions. It’s one reason why some people espouse eating bugs. According to a story in the New York Times, Sligro, a chain of 25 membership-only warehouse stores in the Netherlands, is “part of a drive to convince the Dutch that crickets, worms and caterpillars are healthier sources of protein, and are less taxing on the environment, than steaks and pork chops.”

The article stresses “that insects are already a major source of protein elsewhere in the world. Caterpillars and locusts are popular in Africa, wasps are a delicacy in Japan, crickets are eaten in Thailand. Yet in Europe, as in the United States, most people, except some very young children, consider them, well, pretty disgusting.”

Dutch breeders of insects for pet food are hoping the bug drive will create a new market for them, and the Dutch government is helping with nearly $1.5 million for research.

Katherine Miller: kmiller@oregonian.com

To see more of The Oregonian, or to subscribe the newspaper, go to http://www.oregonian.com.

Copyright © 2011, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

Much of the world eats insects, but they're a hard sell in Europe and the United States. Now a Dutch warehouse store similar to Costco is trying to change our minds and palates.

One of the arguments against a meat-based diet is that the production of livestock like beef and pork causes almost one-fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions. It's one reason why some people espouse eating bugs. According to a story in the New York Times, Sligro, a chain of 25 membership-only warehouse stores in the Netherlands, is "part of a drive to convince the Dutch that crickets, worms and caterpillars are healthier sources of protein, and are less taxing on the environment, than steaks and pork chops."

The article stresses "that insects are already a major source of protein elsewhere in the world. Caterpillars and locusts are popular in Africa, wasps are a delicacy in Japan, crickets are eaten in Thailand. Yet in Europe, as in the United States, most people, except some very young children, consider them, well, pretty disgusting."

Dutch breeders of insects for pet food are hoping the bug drive will create a new market for them, and the Dutch government is helping with nearly $1.5 million for research.

Katherine Miller: kmiller@oregonian.com

To see more of The Oregonian, or to subscribe the newspaper, go to http://www.oregonian.com.

Copyright © 2011, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

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Foods to Fight Cancer

Posted October 8, 2011

Blueberries? Mushrooms? Tuna? Cottage cheese? Veggie burgers?

No one super cure-all food exists. The risk of being one of the estimated 232,620 newly diagnosed breast cancer cases in 2011 lingers. But eating a nutritious diet boosts the immune system to help fight off the disease and prepare the body for battle if diagnosed.

Scientists have studied the effects of certain foods on breast cancer. The recommendations depend on the study and at times include contradictory information. Choose butter, not margarine; eat olive oil but homemade, not commercially produced olive oil; eat beef, and avoid red meat.

In the often confusing world of nutrition, two dieticians offered tips for the best cancer-fighting, nutrition-building diet.

“Basically what the American Cancer Society is stressing for prevention is a healthy lifestyle and eating habits,” said Paula Eakins, a nutritionist who held seminars at Clearview Cancer Institute.

Vegetables, fruits and whole grains top the list of high-nutrition foods.

“We have to commit ourselves to eating healthy, and that is hard because we are programmed not to. We are either too busy or don’t have the money to eat healthy. The key is taking old recipes that the family likes and switch them around to make them healthier,” Eakins said.

Instead of milk shakes, try smoothies. Replace fries with baked fries topped with herbs. Switch hamburgers for veggie burgers. Cut back on the amount of oil used by heating a skillet before covering it with oil. With that tip, a cook can reduce a recipe that calls for three tablespoons of oil to two tablespoons.

The American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute recommended a healthy, nutritional diet, with an emphasis on plant sources, which would fit anyone, battling cancer or not.

Diane Magnuson, dietician with Athens-Limestone Hospital, said high alcohol intake and a high fat diet can increase the risk of any cancer, including breast cancer. Foods cited as “good foods” include colorful fruits and vegetables,

“No foods can prevent breast cancer, but a healthy diet that includes fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains, is a good plan for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. It would be a good idea to try to use plant proteins like dried beans and peas, and legumes instead of meat for protein, at least two or three times a week,” Magnuson said.

Tips from the American Cancer Society:

–Choose foods and drinks in amounts that help achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

–Eat five or more servings of vegetables and fruits a day.

–Choose whole grains over processed grains.

–Limit intake of processed and red meats.

“It’s about taking foods and making them accessible to you and your taste. Brown rice is a super food, but some people may not like it because of its texture. We have little tips to make the foods work for you,” Eakins said.

Suggested brown rice recipe:

Place the brown rice in a hot skillet without any oil.

You will hear the kernels popping. Boil 2 1/4 cups of water in a saucepan. Place the brown rice in the boiling water. The rice will come out softer but not gummy, Eakins said.

Eakins knows first hand the benefit of a healthy diet.

In July 2006, the nutritionist and health junkie found three lumps in her breast. Doctors diagnosed her with stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma.

The breast cancer survivor celebrated her fifth year cancer free two months ago.

“I was told if it had not been for my lifestyle and healthy eating habits the cancer would have caused more damage,” Eakins said. “I know a healthy diet works.”

Foods to avoid: high fat, high sugar and high salt foods.

Top foods:

–Vegetables: mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, kale and cabbage.

–Fruit: blueberries, dark cherries, grapes, plums and peaches.

–Fish: tuna and salmon.

–Also add beans, brown rice, vitamin D, garlic and walnuts.

Below find recipes to meet a craving and also boost the immune system. Recipes are from Breastcancer.org, a nonprofit organization.

Lentil Soup

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 onion, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups lentils, any color except red

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 quarts vegetable stock

1 cup chopped carrot

1 lemon, juiced

5 cloves minced garlic

1 cup organic low-fat plain yogurt

Heat a large pot to medium-high heat and add olive oil. Add onions, sea salt and pepper. Saute until onions are clear. Add celery, carrot, garlic, cumin, coriander and chili pepper. Stir until veggies are soft. Add lentils. Add enough stock to cover the lentils and vegetables. Cover pot, let simmer until lentils are soft, 30-45 minutes. Remove from heat, add lemon juice and 1/2 cup of yogurt. Reheat before serving. Garnish with remaining yogurt. Makes 8 servings

Peanut Butter Vanilla-Banana Popsicles

1 cup organic low-fat vanilla or banana yogurt

2 small bananas

1 cup organic fat-free milk

3/4 cup seltzer water

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

In blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour mixture into popsicle molds, dividing evenly between 6-8 popsicles. Place in freezer overnight.

Seared Salmon Salad with Curry

12 small new or fingerling potatoes, halved

2 teaspoons salt, divided

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

1 teaspoon curry powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

2 pounds boneless, skinless salmon filet

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 large shallots, diced finely

2 cups plain organic Greek yogurt

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

6 cups arugula

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss potatoes in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, some salt, and pepper. Place in a roasting dish and cook for 20 minutes until tender. Cut salmon filet into six even-sized pieces and rub with remaining olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spray nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat to medium-high. Sear salmon on each side for 2 minutes. Transfer to baking sheet. Bake in the oven with potatoes for 5 minutes. If you prefer well done, cook for 8 minutes. In a small bowl, combine shallots, cider vinegar, salt, curry, cayenne, sugar and yogurt.

Divide arugula evenly between six plates. Place a piece of salmon and two potatoes over arugula and drizzle generously with yogurt curry mixture. Makes six servings.

Diane Magnuson’s Favorite Desserts

Choose any fresh fruit and add a dollup of low-fat whipped cream, drizzle with chocolate syrup or layer with yogurt or low-fat cream cheese. Top a scoop of low-fat ice cream with fresh fruits and nuts or granola. For fall weather, top the ice cream with roasted, grilled or baked apples or pears, low-fat whipped cream or yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

©2011 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.)

Blueberries? Mushrooms? Tuna? Cottage cheese? Veggie burgers?

No one super cure-all food exists. The risk of being one of the estimated 232,620 newly diagnosed breast cancer cases in 2011 lingers. But eating a nutritious diet boosts the immune system to help fight off the disease and prepare the body for battle if diagnosed.

Scientists have studied the effects of certain foods on breast cancer. The recommendations depend on the study and at times include contradictory information. Choose butter, not margarine; eat olive oil but homemade, not commercially produced olive oil; eat beef, and avoid red meat.

In the often confusing world of nutrition, two dieticians offered tips for the best cancer-fighting, nutrition-building diet.

"Basically what the American Cancer Society is stressing for prevention is a healthy lifestyle and eating habits," said Paula Eakins, a nutritionist who held seminars at Clearview Cancer Institute.

Vegetables, fruits and whole grains top the list of high-nutrition foods.

"We have to commit ourselves to eating healthy, and that is hard because we are programmed not to. We are either too busy or don't have the money to eat healthy. The key is taking old recipes that the family likes and switch them around to make them healthier," Eakins said.

Instead of milk shakes, try smoothies. Replace fries with baked fries topped with herbs. Switch hamburgers for veggie burgers. Cut back on the amount of oil used by heating a skillet before covering it with oil. With that tip, a cook can reduce a recipe that calls for three tablespoons of oil to two tablespoons.

The American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute recommended a healthy, nutritional diet, with an emphasis on plant sources, which would fit anyone, battling cancer or not.

Diane Magnuson, dietician with Athens-Limestone Hospital, said high alcohol intake and a high fat diet can increase the risk of any cancer, including breast cancer. Foods cited as "good foods" include colorful fruits and vegetables,

"No foods can prevent breast cancer, but a healthy diet that includes fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains, is a good plan for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. It would be a good idea to try to use plant proteins like dried beans and peas, and legumes instead of meat for protein, at least two or three times a week," Magnuson said.

Tips from the American Cancer Society:

--Choose foods and drinks in amounts that help achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

--Eat five or more servings of vegetables and fruits a day.

--Choose whole grains over processed grains.

--Limit intake of processed and red meats.

"It's about taking foods and making them accessible to you and your taste. Brown rice is a super food, but some people may not like it because of its texture. We have little tips to make the foods work for you," Eakins said.

Suggested brown rice recipe:

Place the brown rice in a hot skillet without any oil.

You will hear the kernels popping. Boil 2 1/4 cups of water in a saucepan. Place the brown rice in the boiling water. The rice will come out softer but not gummy, Eakins said.

Eakins knows first hand the benefit of a healthy diet.

In July 2006, the nutritionist and health junkie found three lumps in her breast. Doctors diagnosed her with stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma.

The breast cancer survivor celebrated her fifth year cancer free two months ago.

"I was told if it had not been for my lifestyle and healthy eating habits the cancer would have caused more damage," Eakins said. "I know a healthy diet works."

Foods to avoid: high fat, high sugar and high salt foods.

Top foods:

--Vegetables: mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, kale and cabbage.

--Fruit: blueberries, dark cherries, grapes, plums and peaches.

--Fish: tuna and salmon.

--Also add beans, brown rice, vitamin D, garlic and walnuts.

Below find recipes to meet a craving and also boost the immune system. Recipes are from Breastcancer.org, a nonprofit organization.

Lentil Soup

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 onion, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups lentils, any color except red

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 quarts vegetable stock

1 cup chopped carrot

1 lemon, juiced

5 cloves minced garlic

1 cup organic low-fat plain yogurt

Heat a large pot to medium-high heat and add olive oil. Add onions, sea salt and pepper. Saute until onions are clear. Add celery, carrot, garlic, cumin, coriander and chili pepper. Stir until veggies are soft. Add lentils. Add enough stock to cover the lentils and vegetables. Cover pot, let simmer until lentils are soft, 30-45 minutes. Remove from heat, add lemon juice and 1/2 cup of yogurt. Reheat before serving. Garnish with remaining yogurt. Makes 8 servings

Peanut Butter Vanilla-Banana Popsicles

1 cup organic low-fat vanilla or banana yogurt

2 small bananas

1 cup organic fat-free milk

3/4 cup seltzer water

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

In blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour mixture into popsicle molds, dividing evenly between 6-8 popsicles. Place in freezer overnight.

Seared Salmon Salad with Curry

12 small new or fingerling potatoes, halved

2 teaspoons salt, divided

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

1 teaspoon curry powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

2 pounds boneless, skinless salmon filet

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 large shallots, diced finely

2 cups plain organic Greek yogurt

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

6 cups arugula

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss potatoes in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, some salt, and pepper. Place in a roasting dish and cook for 20 minutes until tender. Cut salmon filet into six even-sized pieces and rub with remaining olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spray nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat to medium-high. Sear salmon on each side for 2 minutes. Transfer to baking sheet. Bake in the oven with potatoes for 5 minutes. If you prefer well done, cook for 8 minutes. In a small bowl, combine shallots, cider vinegar, salt, curry, cayenne, sugar and yogurt.

Divide arugula evenly between six plates. Place a piece of salmon and two potatoes over arugula and drizzle generously with yogurt curry mixture. Makes six servings.

Diane Magnuson's Favorite Desserts

Choose any fresh fruit and add a dollup of low-fat whipped cream, drizzle with chocolate syrup or layer with yogurt or low-fat cream cheese. Top a scoop of low-fat ice cream with fresh fruits and nuts or granola. For fall weather, top the ice cream with roasted, grilled or baked apples or pears, low-fat whipped cream or yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

©2011 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.)

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Diet Soda Dilemma

Posted October 2, 2011

By Jane J. Lee

San Jose Mercury News

SAN JOSE, Calif.

No good deed goes unpunished, and that seems to include people who virtuously reach for diet sodas instead of the calorie-laden good stuff.

Before guzzling that artificially sweetened beverage in a haze of guilt-free carbonation, bear in mind that your diet soda may only be adding to your bottom line – or your waistline. At least that’s the conclusion of a recently completed 12-year study.

The study looked at 474 people, ages 65 to 74, and found that, on average, those who drank diet sodas ended up with waistlines that increased three times more than those who avoided them.

People who consumed more than two diet sodas a day had waistlines that increased five times more than the nondiet soda drinkers, which included people who drank water, juices and even regular sodas, said Helen Hazuda, chief of clinical epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, and one of the study’s investigators.

These results were comparable to similar studies in younger people, Hazuda said.

Belmont, Calif., resident Karen Krebser, 46, has been drinking diet soda since high school in an effort to help manage her weight. “I’m currently mostly off refined sugar and have tried a zillion different diets, but the one constant has been diet soda,” she said.

Krebser consumes three or four cans a day since she gave up refined sugar in April. But after hearing about this unpublished study – presented at the American Diabetes Association Conference in June – she threw out the can of diet soda sitting on her desk.

There isn’t a single explanation as to why drinks with artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose or saccharin result in us having to squeeze our bulging bellies into larger pants.

Part of the reason could be psychological, Hazuda said. Some people splurge on calories in their food because they’re saving on calories in their drinks.

Another factor Hazuda thinks plays a role in expanding waistlines is something called taste dysfunction. Because artificial sweeteners taste hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar, our bodies come to expect sugary foods to be extremely sweet, so we start to seek out more sugar-laden options.

A third explanation is that our bodies are smarter than we think. When we suck down sweet things, our bodies register the sugary taste and wait for the accompanying calories, said Lillian Castillo, a public health dietitian with the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.

But with artificial sweeteners, our bodies don’t get the calories they expect, so we start to crave foods high in fat and sugar. Santa Clara resident Karl Watanabe has consumed diet sodas since his wife started buying them exclusively three years ago. But it hasn’t really affected his weight, he said. “Of course, it helps that I run marathons and do triathlons all the time.”

“Once in a while, it’s OK to have one,” Castillo said. “But water is the only thing that’s going to quench your thirst.”

If water is just too bland, Castillo and Hazuda recommended adding slices of lemon or cucumber to brighten the flavor.

It may take a couple months for your brain to adjust to the different flavors, but the research suggests if you want those six- pack abs, it doesn’t look as if you’ll be able to find them at the bottom of a six-pack of diet soda.

EXPANDING WAISTLINES

The 12-year study found that, on average, those who drank diet sodas ended up with waistlines that increased three times more than those who avoided them.

NOT SO SLIMMING

While diet sodas have fewer calories and less refined sugar than regular sodas, the study found they can lead to bigger waistlines.

increasing girth

Median increase in waist size among study participants, 474 people ages 65 to 74, who drank diet soda.

drink more, gain more

The study showed the waistline increases in relation to the number of 12-ounce cans of diet soda drunk daily.

0.31 inch

0.83 inch

Nondiet soda drinkers

Diet soda drinkers

0.30 inch

.65 inch

0.84 inch

0.79 inch

1.9 inches

None

Less than half a can

Half to less than 1

1 to less than 2

2 or more

By Jane J. Lee

San Jose Mercury News

SAN JOSE, Calif.

No good deed goes unpunished, and that seems to include people who virtuously reach for diet sodas instead of the calorie-laden good stuff.

Before guzzling that artificially sweetened beverage in a haze of guilt-free carbonation, bear in mind that your diet soda may only be adding to your bottom line - or your waistline. At least that's the conclusion of a recently completed 12-year study.

The study looked at 474 people, ages 65 to 74, and found that, on average, those who drank diet sodas ended up with waistlines that increased three times more than those who avoided them.

People who consumed more than two diet sodas a day had waistlines that increased five times more than the nondiet soda drinkers, which included people who drank water, juices and even regular sodas, said Helen Hazuda, chief of clinical epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, and one of the study's investigators.

These results were comparable to similar studies in younger people, Hazuda said.

Belmont, Calif., resident Karen Krebser, 46, has been drinking diet soda since high school in an effort to help manage her weight. "I'm currently mostly off refined sugar and have tried a zillion different diets, but the one constant has been diet soda," she said.

Krebser consumes three or four cans a day since she gave up refined sugar in April. But after hearing about this unpublished study - presented at the American Diabetes Association Conference in June - she threw out the can of diet soda sitting on her desk.

There isn't a single explanation as to why drinks with artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose or saccharin result in us having to squeeze our bulging bellies into larger pants.

Part of the reason could be psychological, Hazuda said. Some people splurge on calories in their food because they're saving on calories in their drinks.

Another factor Hazuda thinks plays a role in expanding waistlines is something called taste dysfunction. Because artificial sweeteners taste hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar, our bodies come to expect sugary foods to be extremely sweet, so we start to seek out more sugar-laden options.

A third explanation is that our bodies are smarter than we think. When we suck down sweet things, our bodies register the sugary taste and wait for the accompanying calories, said Lillian Castillo, a public health dietitian with the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.

But with artificial sweeteners, our bodies don't get the calories they expect, so we start to crave foods high in fat and sugar. Santa Clara resident Karl Watanabe has consumed diet sodas since his wife started buying them exclusively three years ago. But it hasn't really affected his weight, he said. "Of course, it helps that I run marathons and do triathlons all the time."

"Once in a while, it's OK to have one," Castillo said. "But water is the only thing that's going to quench your thirst."

If water is just too bland, Castillo and Hazuda recommended adding slices of lemon or cucumber to brighten the flavor.

It may take a couple months for your brain to adjust to the different flavors, but the research suggests if you want those six- pack abs, it doesn't look as if you'll be able to find them at the bottom of a six-pack of diet soda.

EXPANDING WAISTLINES

The 12-year study found that, on average, those who drank diet sodas ended up with waistlines that increased three times more than those who avoided them.

NOT SO SLIMMING

While diet sodas have fewer calories and less refined sugar than regular sodas, the study found they can lead to bigger waistlines.

increasing girth

Median increase in waist size among study participants, 474 people ages 65 to 74, who drank diet soda.

drink more, gain more

The study showed the waistline increases in relation to the number of 12-ounce cans of diet soda drunk daily.

0.31 inch

0.83 inch

Nondiet soda drinkers

Diet soda drinkers

0.30 inch

.65 inch

0.84 inch

0.79 inch

1.9 inches

None

Less than half a can

Half to less than 1

1 to less than 2

2 or more

Tags: , , , , ,



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Second Hand Smoke Makes Kids Miss More School

Posted Sept 24, 2011

There’s been news on the smoking front in recent weeks, and we can only hope the result will be a further decline in the destructive tobacco habit.

The journal Pediatrics reported that children who live in homes where at least one person smokes inside the house miss more days of school than those who live in nonsmoking homes.

The story was based on research from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and the findings back the results of earlier research that took place in California and New Jersey.

Scientists in Boston looked at data from a 2005 National Health Interview Study that provided information about the number of people who smoked in their homes and issues with the health of the children ages 6 to 11 living there.

The researchers found that children living with one adult who smoked in the home had 1.06 more days absent from school per year than kids who lived with nonsmokers.

Those who lived with two or more adults who smoked in the home missed 1.54 more days than smoke-free kids.

According to the study authors, 24 percent of absences among children with one smoker in the house were tied to smoking-related illness. The figure was 34 percent for those living with two or more indoor smokers. In particular, ear infections and colds were more common among children living with smokers.

As the researchers pointed out, this situation posed two problems: a risk to educational performance and a cost to families when parents have to stay home to care for a sick child.

According to the study, American parents lose $227 million worth of work time per year caring for children absent from school.

We can only hope that this news offers further incentive for people to quit smoking, or to at least stop doing it in their homes and cars when children are present.

People who decide to quit will find themselves in good company. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a decline in the number of adults who said they smoked from 2005 to 2010.

The CDC said 19.3 percent of adults surveyed said they smoked in 2010, down from about 21 percent in 2005. The rate for smoking 30 or more cigarettes daily dropped to about 8 percent from almost 13 percent during the same time period.

Researchers interpreted the numbers to mean 3 million fewer adults were smoking, thanks in part to new restrictions on smoking in public in many areas.

CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden made clear the stakes involved.

“About half of all smokers will be killed by tobacco if they don’t quit,” he said. “You don’t have to be a heavy smoker or a longtime smoker to get a smoking-related disease or have a heart attack or asthma attack.”

So the message is clear. Quitting smoking is good for both the smoker and for his or her family.

The Great American Smokeout is approaching — this year’s date is Nov. 17 — but there’s no need to wait until then. It’s always a good time to kick the habit.

©2011 the Reading Eagle (Reading, Pa.)

There's been news on the smoking front in recent weeks, and we can only hope the result will be a further decline in the destructive tobacco habit.

The journal Pediatrics reported that children who live in homes where at least one person smokes inside the house miss more days of school than those who live in nonsmoking homes.

The story was based on research from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and the findings back the results of earlier research that took place in California and New Jersey.

Scientists in Boston looked at data from a 2005 National Health Interview Study that provided information about the number of people who smoked in their homes and issues with the health of the children ages 6 to 11 living there.

The researchers found that children living with one adult who smoked in the home had 1.06 more days absent from school per year than kids who lived with nonsmokers.

Those who lived with two or more adults who smoked in the home missed 1.54 more days than smoke-free kids.

According to the study authors, 24 percent of absences among children with one smoker in the house were tied to smoking-related illness. The figure was 34 percent for those living with two or more indoor smokers. In particular, ear infections and colds were more common among children living with smokers.

As the researchers pointed out, this situation posed two problems: a risk to educational performance and a cost to families when parents have to stay home to care for a sick child.

According to the study, American parents lose $227 million worth of work time per year caring for children absent from school.

We can only hope that this news offers further incentive for people to quit smoking, or to at least stop doing it in their homes and cars when children are present.

People who decide to quit will find themselves in good company. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a decline in the number of adults who said they smoked from 2005 to 2010.

The CDC said 19.3 percent of adults surveyed said they smoked in 2010, down from about 21 percent in 2005. The rate for smoking 30 or more cigarettes daily dropped to about 8 percent from almost 13 percent during the same time period.

Researchers interpreted the numbers to mean 3 million fewer adults were smoking, thanks in part to new restrictions on smoking in public in many areas.

CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden made clear the stakes involved.

"About half of all smokers will be killed by tobacco if they don't quit," he said. "You don't have to be a heavy smoker or a longtime smoker to get a smoking-related disease or have a heart attack or asthma attack."

So the message is clear. Quitting smoking is good for both the smoker and for his or her family.

The Great American Smokeout is approaching -- this year's date is Nov. 17 -- but there's no need to wait until then. It's always a good time to kick the habit.

©2011 the Reading Eagle (Reading, Pa.)

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How Spicy Flavors Affect Your Tongue

Posted September 17, 2011

Time to stop blaming chilies for setting your mouth on fire. Culinary culprits ginger and garlic deserve some grief. So do cinnamon, horseradish and wasabi.

When a few show up in a single recipe, expect a power kick to your mouth. You can trust Bruce Bryant on this.

He’s a senior research associate at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, where he studies chemical irritants (chili peppers, carbonation, menthol, etc.) and their effect on the nerve endings (neurons), especially those in the mouth, eyes and nose.

Bryant knows a lot about the pungent compounds in chilies (capsaicin), ginger (gingerol) and garlic (allicin), and explains that their effect has less to do with taste and more to do with feeling.

“Things are pungent when one or several compounds activate pain receptors on neurons on the tongue, on the inside of your mouth, going down your throat, inside your nose, eyes and all the other delicate membranes in the body,” says Bryant. “It’s a sharp and sometimes painful sensation.

“Capsaicin and gingerol activate one kind of sensory receptor on these pain neurons. Garlic and horseradish and radishes activate a different kind of receptor that’s on many of the same neurons. It doesn’t really discriminate.”

Mix them together, though, with some acidity tossed in (vinegar, citrus juice, etc.), and “this is all sort of funneled into the perception of pain.” Especially in the fresh state (think: salsa, pesto). Cooking, however, can temper pungency (curries, moles).

“In many cases, garlic is used only in small amounts or the pungency is cooked out of it, so the compounds decompose and they’re no longer pungent,” Bryant says. “With ginger, the compound is less pungent than the compound – on a molecular basis – in hot peppers.”

Time to stop blaming chilies for setting your mouth on fire. Culinary culprits ginger and garlic deserve some grief. So do cinnamon, horseradish and wasabi.

When a few show up in a single recipe, expect a power kick to your mouth. You can trust Bruce Bryant on this.

He's a senior research associate at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, where he studies chemical irritants (chili peppers, carbonation, menthol, etc.) and their effect on the nerve endings (neurons), especially those in the mouth, eyes and nose.

Bryant knows a lot about the pungent compounds in chilies (capsaicin), ginger (gingerol) and garlic (allicin), and explains that their effect has less to do with taste and more to do with feeling.

"Things are pungent when one or several compounds activate pain receptors on neurons on the tongue, on the inside of your mouth, going down your throat, inside your nose, eyes and all the other delicate membranes in the body," says Bryant. "It's a sharp and sometimes painful sensation.

"Capsaicin and gingerol activate one kind of sensory receptor on these pain neurons. Garlic and horseradish and radishes activate a different kind of receptor that's on many of the same neurons. It doesn't really discriminate."

Mix them together, though, with some acidity tossed in (vinegar, citrus juice, etc.), and "this is all sort of funneled into the perception of pain." Especially in the fresh state (think: salsa, pesto). Cooking, however, can temper pungency (curries, moles).

"In many cases, garlic is used only in small amounts or the pungency is cooked out of it, so the compounds decompose and they're no longer pungent," Bryant says. "With ginger, the compound is less pungent than the compound - on a molecular basis - in hot peppers."

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Coral Could Lead to Sunscreen Pill

Posted Sept 10, 2011

SECRET from the sea could lead within five years to a pill that prevents sunburn, say scientists.

British researchers have uncovered the unique way coral shields itself against harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. They believe the discovery could pave the way to a sunscreen revolution with a tablet that protects both skin and eyes.

The scientists are close to producing a synthetic anti-sun compound based on those found in coral.

If developed, any pill might have to be prescription-only to prevent people overdosing and harming their health. Some skin reaction to UV is vital for the production of vitamin D and too much sun protection can lead to vitamin D deficiency, resulting in weak bones.

It is a particular problem in countries such as Scotland, where a lack of natural sunlight can cause low levels of vitamin D. However, there are also high rates of skin cancer north of the Border, with concerns that many people are still not protecting themselves against the damage caused by UV rays.

Coral is an animal that only survives because of the algae living within it. The mutually dependent relationship between the two organisms is the key to coral sun protection.

Dr Paul Long, heading the three-year project at King’s College London, said: “Algae living within the coral makes a compound that we think is transported to the coral, which then modifies it into a sunscreen for the benefit of both the coral and the algae.

“This protects them both and we have seen that fish which feed on the coral also benefit from this sunscreen protection, so it is clearly passed up the food chain.

“This led us to believe we could biosynthetically develop it to create a sunscreen for humans, perhaps in the form of a tablet, which would work in a similar way.

“We are close to being able to reproduce this compound in the lab, and if all goes well we would expect to test it within the next two years.”

Dr Long led a team that analysed coral samples from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. By collecting coral in the dark on night dives and then exposing it to the sun, the scientists were able to see the sunscreen-manufacturing mechanism at work.

They believe coral might make more than 20 sun-protection compounds, but are focusing on the structure of just one. This will provide the “scaffold” for a laboratory-made synthetic version.

Early tests will be conducted on human skin samples obtained from cosmetic surgeons, said Dr Long.

The ultimate aim is to produce a pill that provides sun protection for the whole body. “It’s absolutely conceivable,” said Dr Long.

SECRET from the sea could lead within five years to a pill that prevents sunburn, say scientists.

British researchers have uncovered the unique way coral shields itself against harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. They believe the discovery could pave the way to a sunscreen revolution with a tablet that protects both skin and eyes.

The scientists are close to producing a synthetic anti-sun compound based on those found in coral.

If developed, any pill might have to be prescription-only to prevent people overdosing and harming their health. Some skin reaction to UV is vital for the production of vitamin D and too much sun protection can lead to vitamin D deficiency, resulting in weak bones.

It is a particular problem in countries such as Scotland, where a lack of natural sunlight can cause low levels of vitamin D. However, there are also high rates of skin cancer north of the Border, with concerns that many people are still not protecting themselves against the damage caused by UV rays.

Coral is an animal that only survives because of the algae living within it. The mutually dependent relationship between the two organisms is the key to coral sun protection.

Dr Paul Long, heading the three-year project at King's College London, said: "Algae living within the coral makes a compound that we think is transported to the coral, which then modifies it into a sunscreen for the benefit of both the coral and the algae.

"This protects them both and we have seen that fish which feed on the coral also benefit from this sunscreen protection, so it is clearly passed up the food chain.

"This led us to believe we could biosynthetically develop it to create a sunscreen for humans, perhaps in the form of a tablet, which would work in a similar way.

"We are close to being able to reproduce this compound in the lab, and if all goes well we would expect to test it within the next two years."

Dr Long led a team that analysed coral samples from Australia's Great Barrier Reef. By collecting coral in the dark on night dives and then exposing it to the sun, the scientists were able to see the sunscreen-manufacturing mechanism at work.

They believe coral might make more than 20 sun-protection compounds, but are focusing on the structure of just one. This will provide the "scaffold" for a laboratory-made synthetic version.

Early tests will be conducted on human skin samples obtained from cosmetic surgeons, said Dr Long.

The ultimate aim is to produce a pill that provides sun protection for the whole body. "It's absolutely conceivable," said Dr Long.

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Sports Dietitians Help Football Players Win

Posted Sept 3, 2011

LINCOLN, Neb. – Rex Burkhead arrived at Nebraska two years ago like a lot of other college students. He had weaknesses for ice cream and late-night hamburgers.

Nowadays, under the supervision of the Cornhuskers’ sports nutrition staff, the junior running back can account for every calorie and carb that goes into his body. Those midnight burgers are out, and Burkhead said he’s never felt, or played, better.

Can a winning diet lead to wins on the football field?

The Collegiate & Professional Sports Dietitians Association said 13 schools in the preseason Top 25 poll employ at least one full-time sports registered dietitian and five of those schools have two. The group said there are only 13 full-time sports RDs spread across the other 95 members of the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The CPSDA said schools serious about competing at the highest level need people to oversee what, when and how much their football players are eating.

“I take a lot of pride in feeling like our guys are going to be the best-fueled team out there,” Nebraska director of sports nutrition Josh Hingst said. “When it comes to the third and fourth quarters, our guys aren’t going to be dragging. We’re going to fuel them to perform, and nutrition isn’t an aspect where we’re going to drop the ball.”

Long gone are the days of the old-school training table, usually a partitioned dormitory dining hall where steak was served once a week and the athletes could go back for second helpings where it wasn’t allowed for other students.

Nebraska will spend more than $1 million this year on specially prepared foods for its athletes, and that doesn’t include more than $200,000 for supplements or Hingst’s $74,000 salary.

Nebraska, however, is one of the few athletic departments that operate in the black. Cost-conscious athletic directors have been slow to commit resources to sports nutrition, CPSDA president Dave Ellis said. Typically, he said, an outside consultant or someone from a university’s student health department will give a talk to athletes about healthy eating and then provide no follow-up.

Tom Osborne, Nebraska’s Hall of Fame coach and now the athletic director, was among the first to buy in to the value of sports nutrition. Nebraska built a premier training table complex with the money it received for appearing in the 1983 Kickoff Classic, and the school hired Ellis as its first sports nutritionist in 1994.

“It’s a student-welfare argument more than a keep-up-with-the-Joneses argument,” Ellis said. “How can you assume these are part-time athletes? They may only practice a set number of hours in season and in offseason workouts. The damage done takes longer than 24-hour cycles. It’s a very important thing to know we’re in the recovery business, and these athletes are always in a state of damage and recovery that requires quality rest and quality intervention with diet.”

Alabama’s Amy Bragg said she and other sports RDs must break their charges’ bad habits when they arrive on campus. Like many Americans, she said, most freshmen eat too much fast food and not enough fruits and vegetables.

Eating right – and at the right time – promotes faster muscle recovery and deters athletes from seeking shortcuts.

Bragg said sports RDs can also assess supplements and are on the lookout for the use of substances that are banned by the NCAA.

“Let’s feed them right so they don’t have to do the other things,” Bragg said.

At Nebraska, each football player is analyzed at the start of his freshman year to determine, among other things, whether he needs to gain or lose weight and how many calories he requires to perform at his highest level. Each gets a laminated meal card that he can refer to when he goes to the training table and for snacking tips.

Burkhead adheres to a 4,500-calorie-a-day diet that allows him to maintain his 210 pounds and 6.5 percent body fat. Offensive linemen, on the other hand, might require 5,000 calories a day to stay at 300 pounds and have 20 percent to 25 percent body fat.

The average male requires about 2,000 calories a day to maintain his weight.

Ellis founded an easy-to-follow 1-2-3 plan for players to follow. Fruits and vegetables are “1,” carbohydrates are “2,” and lean proteins are “3.”

At lunch and dinner Burkhead ladles up a predetermined number of servings of each. He visits an area in the football complex known as “the landing” throughout the day to snacks on fruits, trail mix and sports drink. He has a glass of milk at bedtime.

Players stop by the “fueling table” on their way in and out of practices to pick up approved supplements and other items that help them recover quickly from the wear and tear on their bodies.

Players are monitored through weekly weigh-ins, with Hingst tweaking their meal plans accordingly.

Hingst also offers cooking classes to players so they can prepare their own meals when the training table is closed, and nutrition staffers clip newspaper ads pointing players to the best grocery buys around Lincoln.

Burkhead said a football player can’t help but eat right at Nebraska – though he does admit to sneaking some ice cream from time to time.

“I thought I knew a lot about nutrition before I got here,” he said, “but I didn’t know nearly as much as I know now.”

Hingst said the dietitian’s role is as important as those of the strength coach and athletic trainer in college football.

“We’re trying to look at every single area of nutrition and do the best job we can and make sure it isn’t the limiting factor, the weak link in the chain,” he said.

LINCOLN, Neb. - Rex Burkhead arrived at Nebraska two years ago like a lot of other college students. He had weaknesses for ice cream and late-night hamburgers.

Nowadays, under the supervision of the Cornhuskers' sports nutrition staff, the junior running back can account for every calorie and carb that goes into his body. Those midnight burgers are out, and Burkhead said he's never felt, or played, better.

Can a winning diet lead to wins on the football field?

The Collegiate & Professional Sports Dietitians Association said 13 schools in the preseason Top 25 poll employ at least one full-time sports registered dietitian and five of those schools have two. The group said there are only 13 full-time sports RDs spread across the other 95 members of the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The CPSDA said schools serious about competing at the highest level need people to oversee what, when and how much their football players are eating.

"I take a lot of pride in feeling like our guys are going to be the best-fueled team out there," Nebraska director of sports nutrition Josh Hingst said. "When it comes to the third and fourth quarters, our guys aren't going to be dragging. We're going to fuel them to perform, and nutrition isn't an aspect where we're going to drop the ball."

Long gone are the days of the old-school training table, usually a partitioned dormitory dining hall where steak was served once a week and the athletes could go back for second helpings where it wasn't allowed for other students.

Nebraska will spend more than $1 million this year on specially prepared foods for its athletes, and that doesn't include more than $200,000 for supplements or Hingst's $74,000 salary.

Nebraska, however, is one of the few athletic departments that operate in the black. Cost-conscious athletic directors have been slow to commit resources to sports nutrition, CPSDA president Dave Ellis said. Typically, he said, an outside consultant or someone from a university's student health department will give a talk to athletes about healthy eating and then provide no follow-up.

Tom Osborne, Nebraska's Hall of Fame coach and now the athletic director, was among the first to buy in to the value of sports nutrition. Nebraska built a premier training table complex with the money it received for appearing in the 1983 Kickoff Classic, and the school hired Ellis as its first sports nutritionist in 1994.

"It's a student-welfare argument more than a keep-up-with-the-Joneses argument," Ellis said. "How can you assume these are part-time athletes? They may only practice a set number of hours in season and in offseason workouts. The damage done takes longer than 24-hour cycles. It's a very important thing to know we're in the recovery business, and these athletes are always in a state of damage and recovery that requires quality rest and quality intervention with diet."

Alabama's Amy Bragg said she and other sports RDs must break their charges' bad habits when they arrive on campus. Like many Americans, she said, most freshmen eat too much fast food and not enough fruits and vegetables.

Eating right - and at the right time - promotes faster muscle recovery and deters athletes from seeking shortcuts.

Bragg said sports RDs can also assess supplements and are on the lookout for the use of substances that are banned by the NCAA.

"Let's feed them right so they don't have to do the other things," Bragg said.

At Nebraska, each football player is analyzed at the start of his freshman year to determine, among other things, whether he needs to gain or lose weight and how many calories he requires to perform at his highest level. Each gets a laminated meal card that he can refer to when he goes to the training table and for snacking tips.

Burkhead adheres to a 4,500-calorie-a-day diet that allows him to maintain his 210 pounds and 6.5 percent body fat. Offensive linemen, on the other hand, might require 5,000 calories a day to stay at 300 pounds and have 20 percent to 25 percent body fat.

The average male requires about 2,000 calories a day to maintain his weight.

Ellis founded an easy-to-follow 1-2-3 plan for players to follow. Fruits and vegetables are "1," carbohydrates are "2," and lean proteins are "3."

At lunch and dinner Burkhead ladles up a predetermined number of servings of each. He visits an area in the football complex known as "the landing" throughout the day to snacks on fruits, trail mix and sports drink. He has a glass of milk at bedtime.

Players stop by the "fueling table" on their way in and out of practices to pick up approved supplements and other items that help them recover quickly from the wear and tear on their bodies.

Players are monitored through weekly weigh-ins, with Hingst tweaking their meal plans accordingly.

Hingst also offers cooking classes to players so they can prepare their own meals when the training table is closed, and nutrition staffers clip newspaper ads pointing players to the best grocery buys around Lincoln.

Burkhead said a football player can't help but eat right at Nebraska - though he does admit to sneaking some ice cream from time to time.

"I thought I knew a lot about nutrition before I got here," he said, "but I didn't know nearly as much as I know now."

Hingst said the dietitian's role is as important as those of the strength coach and athletic trainer in college football.

"We're trying to look at every single area of nutrition and do the best job we can and make sure it isn't the limiting factor, the weak link in the chain," he said.

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Sitting Too Much is Killing Us

Posted Aug 27, 2011

Is our modern lifestyle slowly killing us? We all know that we should exercise for good health every day, and most of us have heard the recommendations for 30 minutes of exercise a day. But our lifestyle is becoming more and more sedentary, as most of us spend hours in front of the computer and TV, work the entire day behind a desk, and drive where we need to go.

And to top it off, many of us do not have time or inclination to exercise with consistency.

Perhaps it is time to (literally) get moving for health. A recent study published this month in the The Lancet of 400,000 people followed for an average of eight years shows that small amounts of exercise help people live longer. The study showed that if sedentary people increased their physical activity by just 15 minutes per day, they could reduce their risk of death by 14 percent and increase their life expectancy by three years. The study compared inactive people with active people who engaged in varying levels of physical activity.

Studies have shown that even among those who exercise, having a sedentary lifestyle is bad for health. Case in point – a July 2010 study of more than 120,000 people, published in the Journal of Epidemiology, showed that being sedentary significantly increased the risk of death. What was interesting is that this study looked at time spent in leisure activity (TV, computer, driving) regardless of amount of exercise. The more leisure time spent sitting, the more likely people were to have died, especially from cardiovascular disease, even if they also exercised.

Women who sat six or more hours a day were 37 percent more likely to have died than were women who spent fewer than three hours a day sitting. Men’s risk was 18 percent higher. And women who were inactive and did not exercise had a 94 percent increased risk of dying (inactive men had a 48 percent increased risk of dying).

And finally, another study in January 2010 studying 8,800 people showed that each hour spent in front of a TV increased the risk of dying by 11 percent, and those who watched more than four hours a day had a 46 percent higher risk of death from all causes.

Take-home message? We need to find ways to bring more and more activity in our day-to-day living, sitting less and walking more even in our regular activities in our jobs and homes. We need to exercise with consistency – even 15 minutes a day is a good start. We need to walk or bike more and drive less. We need to watch less TV – the less the better. The health rewards are well worth it.

Drs. Kay Judge and Maxine Barish-Wreden are medical directors of Sutter Downtown Integrative Medicine program in Sacramento, Calif. Have a question related to alternative medicine? Email adrenaline@sacbee.com.

Distributed by MCT Information Services

Is our modern lifestyle slowly killing us? We all know that we should exercise for good health every day, and most of us have heard the recommendations for 30 minutes of exercise a day. But our lifestyle is becoming more and more sedentary, as most of us spend hours in front of the computer and TV, work the entire day behind a desk, and drive where we need to go.

And to top it off, many of us do not have time or inclination to exercise with consistency.

Perhaps it is time to (literally) get moving for health. A recent study published this month in the The Lancet of 400,000 people followed for an average of eight years shows that small amounts of exercise help people live longer. The study showed that if sedentary people increased their physical activity by just 15 minutes per day, they could reduce their risk of death by 14 percent and increase their life expectancy by three years. The study compared inactive people with active people who engaged in varying levels of physical activity.

Studies have shown that even among those who exercise, having a sedentary lifestyle is bad for health. Case in point - a July 2010 study of more than 120,000 people, published in the Journal of Epidemiology, showed that being sedentary significantly increased the risk of death. What was interesting is that this study looked at time spent in leisure activity (TV, computer, driving) regardless of amount of exercise. The more leisure time spent sitting, the more likely people were to have died, especially from cardiovascular disease, even if they also exercised.

Women who sat six or more hours a day were 37 percent more likely to have died than were women who spent fewer than three hours a day sitting. Men's risk was 18 percent higher. And women who were inactive and did not exercise had a 94 percent increased risk of dying (inactive men had a 48 percent increased risk of dying).

And finally, another study in January 2010 studying 8,800 people showed that each hour spent in front of a TV increased the risk of dying by 11 percent, and those who watched more than four hours a day had a 46 percent higher risk of death from all causes.

Take-home message? We need to find ways to bring more and more activity in our day-to-day living, sitting less and walking more even in our regular activities in our jobs and homes. We need to exercise with consistency - even 15 minutes a day is a good start. We need to walk or bike more and drive less. We need to watch less TV - the less the better. The health rewards are well worth it.

Drs. Kay Judge and Maxine Barish-Wreden are medical directors of Sutter Downtown Integrative Medicine program in Sacramento, Calif. Have a question related to alternative medicine? Email adrenaline@sacbee.com.

Distributed by MCT Information Services

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Early Stress Can Shorten Life

Posted Aug 21, 2011

With bright orange cheeks, speckled feathers and a chirpy song, the zebra finch may seem like it hasn’t a care in the world.But Scottish research shows that, just like humans, they can be affected by stress and suffer the long-term consequences.The study by a team at Glasgow University found that the small birds can reveal a lot about how stress in early life could affect human life expectancy.

According to the research, even if someone was not exposed to stress near the start of life, living with a partner who was could also shorten their lifespan. Lead researcher Pat Monaghan said: “The take home message is that the wrong kind of partner can be very bad for your health.”

For the study, the researchers used zebra finches as a measure of how vertebrate animals respond to stress. Half the birds were fed a dose of stress hormones as chicks for two weeks, while the others were not. All the birds were then kept in the same stress-free environment until they became adults.

The researchers saw that those birds exposed to stress in early life reacted to stress much more than the other more “laid- back” birds who were not fed the stress hormones.While being sensitive to stress can help make animals alert to dangers such as attacks from predators, stress hormones are known to have a negative effect on the body’s other functions and so can be bad for health.

The birds were then paired and allowed to breed, with the rest of their lifespan monitored. The researchers discovered that those birds exposed to stress at the start of life had shorter lives as adults.Even if the bird had not been exposed to stress, being matched to a stressed partner also shortened their lifespan. The worst position by far was for two stressed birds to be paired together.

The researchers said a reason for this may be that “jittery” individuals are not very comforting to be with.Prof Monaghan said: “If the partner was also a bird that did not have stress in early life, after three years only 5 per cent had died. If they were a normal bird but their partner was one of the birds that had had stress in early life, after three years 20 per cent of them had died.

The effect of having a partner who was stressed in early life is to increase your risk of death by four times.”The researcher said that where both birds had been exposed to stress, the risk of dying was eight times higher.The researchers believe the findings would also apply to humans exposed to stress in early life, such as children experiencing poor nutrition or living in a constant fear of danger.

Dr Eva Cyhlarova, head of research at the Mental Health Foundation said: “Given the relationship between poor mental health and lower life expectancy, we would therefore not be surprised if research among humans yielded similar results”.

Bird in bush

The zebra finch is commonly found in Australia, living in grasslands and forests, usually close to water.It grows to a size of about 10cm (3.9in) long and feeds on grass seeds and spray millet.The finches are loud and boisterous singers, making sounds such as “beep”, “meep”, “oi!” and “a-ha!”.Their song is described as a few small beeps leading up to a rhythmic melody of varying complexity in males.The birds are widely kept by genetic researchers, those breeding as a hobby and pet owners.

With bright orange cheeks, speckled feathers and a chirpy song, the zebra finch may seem like it hasn't a care in the world.But Scottish research shows that, just like humans, they can be affected by stress and suffer the long-term consequences.The study by a team at Glasgow University found that the small birds can reveal a lot about how stress in early life could affect human life expectancy.

According to the research, even if someone was not exposed to stress near the start of life, living with a partner who was could also shorten their lifespan. Lead researcher Pat Monaghan said: "The take home message is that the wrong kind of partner can be very bad for your health."

For the study, the researchers used zebra finches as a measure of how vertebrate animals respond to stress. Half the birds were fed a dose of stress hormones as chicks for two weeks, while the others were not. All the birds were then kept in the same stress-free environment until they became adults.

The researchers saw that those birds exposed to stress in early life reacted to stress much more than the other more "laid- back" birds who were not fed the stress hormones.While being sensitive to stress can help make animals alert to dangers such as attacks from predators, stress hormones are known to have a negative effect on the body's other functions and so can be bad for health.

The birds were then paired and allowed to breed, with the rest of their lifespan monitored. The researchers discovered that those birds exposed to stress at the start of life had shorter lives as adults.Even if the bird had not been exposed to stress, being matched to a stressed partner also shortened their lifespan. The worst position by far was for two stressed birds to be paired together.

The researchers said a reason for this may be that "jittery" individuals are not very comforting to be with.Prof Monaghan said: "If the partner was also a bird that did not have stress in early life, after three years only 5 per cent had died. If they were a normal bird but their partner was one of the birds that had had stress in early life, after three years 20 per cent of them had died.

The effect of having a partner who was stressed in early life is to increase your risk of death by four times."The researcher said that where both birds had been exposed to stress, the risk of dying was eight times higher.The researchers believe the findings would also apply to humans exposed to stress in early life, such as children experiencing poor nutrition or living in a constant fear of danger.

Dr Eva Cyhlarova, head of research at the Mental Health Foundation said: "Given the relationship between poor mental health and lower life expectancy, we would therefore not be surprised if research among humans yielded similar results".

Bird in bush

The zebra finch is commonly found in Australia, living in grasslands and forests, usually close to water.It grows to a size of about 10cm (3.9in) long and feeds on grass seeds and spray millet.The finches are loud and boisterous singers, making sounds such as "beep", "meep", "oi!" and "a-ha!".Their song is described as a few small beeps leading up to a rhythmic melody of varying complexity in males.The birds are widely kept by genetic researchers, those breeding as a hobby and pet owners.

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Sleep Helps Boost Athletic Performance

Posted Aug 6, 2011

San Francisco — In a sleep-deprived country, where most Americans struggle just to get eight hours of shut-eye a night, a Stanford researcher asked a rather outlandish question: What would happen if folks aimed for 10 hours of sleep?

The answer for a basketball player: a better free-throw shot.

That’s according to a study, published in this month’s edition of the journal Sleep, of 11 players from Stanford’s varsity basketball team. They tried to get at least 10 hours of sleep every night for five to seven weeks — or two to three hours more than they were used to.

The players didn’t quite make it to 10 hours, but they did add about 90 minutes of sleep time, and the results were noticeable.

Collectively, they took almost a full second off of their times in 282-foot sprints on a basketball court, and they improved the accuracy of both their free-throw and three-point shooting by 9 percent.

“What these findings suggest is that these athletes were operating at a sub-optimal level. They’d accumulated a sleep debt,” said Cheri Mah , a researcher at the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and lead author of the study. “It’s not that they couldn’t function — they were doing fine — but that they might not have been at their full potential.”

The study was very small, and the results will need to be confirmed with a larger group of athletes, Mah said. But the fact that every one of the 11 players saw improvements is pretty strong evidence that extra sleep can elevate athletic performance.

Whether the results would apply to the general population — in better performance at work or more energy at the gym — is hard to say, sleep experts say. But it’s been well documented that sleep deprivation negatively effects people’s short-term memory and moods, so it stands to reason that more sleep could have positive effects.

“The issue of athletic performance probably doesn’t apply to everyone. But everyone probably underestimates the impact of sleep deprivation,” said Dr. David Claman , director of the University of California at San Francisco Sleep Disorders Center.

In the Stanford study, the athletes first recorded their normal sleep schedule for four weeks, and on average they reported close to eight hours of sleep on a typical night. They all said they were already in peak physical condition.

Next, the athletes spent five to seven weeks trying to get much more sleep than usual, and they estimated they got on average about 10 1/2 hours of sleep every night. Their athletic improvements, they told researchers, were startling.

Aside from the improved shooting and running, they performed better on reaction tests, were less fatigued throughout the day, and their overall mood picked up.

It’s worth noting that the players probably didn’t get as much sleep as they thought. All of them wore a device on their wrist that measured their sleep time by monitoring their movements.

According to the devices, the players averaged about 6 hours and 45 minutes of sleep during the first four weeks of the study, and 8 1/2 hours during the next five to seven weeks.

Sleep experts warned that it might not be a good idea for everyone to aim for 10 hours of sleep every night. Aside from the fact that it can be impractical — Americans seem to have a tough enough time getting just eight hours — there’s a “U-shaped curve” for sleep duration.

In other words, too much sleep can be just about as bad for overall health as too little, research has shown. That’s why most people should aim for seven to nine hours, said Dr. Anil Rama , medical director of the Sleep Medicine Laboratory at Kaiser San Jose.

Still, the Stanford study seems to demonstrate that athletes — elite or not — might seriously consider making sleep a part of their training programs, alongside nutrition or weight lifting, sleep experts said.

Scott Dunlap , an elite-level distance runner who is training for this month’s San Francisco Marathon, said he started incorporating sleep into his training a year or two ago.

“If you look at my training plan, sleep is right there along with mileage and pace,” said Dunlap, 42, who typically gets about six or seven hours of sleep during a regular training cycle, but bumps that up to nine or 10 hours in the two weeks before a big race.

“Once I started tracking my sleep, I realized I wasn’t getting nearly enough,” he said. “My performance picked up dramatically when I slept more. It was the difference between finishing barely in the top 10 and finishing on the podium.”

San Francisco -- In a sleep-deprived country, where most Americans struggle just to get eight hours of shut-eye a night, a Stanford researcher asked a rather outlandish question: What would happen if folks aimed for 10 hours of sleep?

The answer for a basketball player: a better free-throw shot.

That's according to a study, published in this month's edition of the journal Sleep, of 11 players from Stanford's varsity basketball team. They tried to get at least 10 hours of sleep every night for five to seven weeks -- or two to three hours more than they were used to.

The players didn't quite make it to 10 hours, but they did add about 90 minutes of sleep time, and the results were noticeable.

Collectively, they took almost a full second off of their times in 282-foot sprints on a basketball court, and they improved the accuracy of both their free-throw and three-point shooting by 9 percent.

"What these findings suggest is that these athletes were operating at a sub-optimal level. They'd accumulated a sleep debt," said Cheri Mah , a researcher at the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and lead author of the study. "It's not that they couldn't function -- they were doing fine -- but that they might not have been at their full potential."

The study was very small, and the results will need to be confirmed with a larger group of athletes, Mah said. But the fact that every one of the 11 players saw improvements is pretty strong evidence that extra sleep can elevate athletic performance.

Whether the results would apply to the general population -- in better performance at work or more energy at the gym -- is hard to say, sleep experts say. But it's been well documented that sleep deprivation negatively effects people's short-term memory and moods, so it stands to reason that more sleep could have positive effects.

"The issue of athletic performance probably doesn't apply to everyone. But everyone probably underestimates the impact of sleep deprivation," said Dr. David Claman , director of the University of California at San Francisco Sleep Disorders Center.

In the Stanford study, the athletes first recorded their normal sleep schedule for four weeks, and on average they reported close to eight hours of sleep on a typical night. They all said they were already in peak physical condition.

Next, the athletes spent five to seven weeks trying to get much more sleep than usual, and they estimated they got on average about 10 1/2 hours of sleep every night. Their athletic improvements, they told researchers, were startling.

Aside from the improved shooting and running, they performed better on reaction tests, were less fatigued throughout the day, and their overall mood picked up.

It's worth noting that the players probably didn't get as much sleep as they thought. All of them wore a device on their wrist that measured their sleep time by monitoring their movements.

According to the devices, the players averaged about 6 hours and 45 minutes of sleep during the first four weeks of the study, and 8 1/2 hours during the next five to seven weeks.

Sleep experts warned that it might not be a good idea for everyone to aim for 10 hours of sleep every night. Aside from the fact that it can be impractical -- Americans seem to have a tough enough time getting just eight hours -- there's a "U-shaped curve" for sleep duration.

In other words, too much sleep can be just about as bad for overall health as too little, research has shown. That's why most people should aim for seven to nine hours, said Dr. Anil Rama , medical director of the Sleep Medicine Laboratory at Kaiser San Jose.

Still, the Stanford study seems to demonstrate that athletes -- elite or not -- might seriously consider making sleep a part of their training programs, alongside nutrition or weight lifting, sleep experts said.

Scott Dunlap , an elite-level distance runner who is training for this month's San Francisco Marathon, said he started incorporating sleep into his training a year or two ago.

"If you look at my training plan, sleep is right there along with mileage and pace," said Dunlap, 42, who typically gets about six or seven hours of sleep during a regular training cycle, but bumps that up to nine or 10 hours in the two weeks before a big race.

"Once I started tracking my sleep, I realized I wasn't getting nearly enough," he said. "My performance picked up dramatically when I slept more. It was the difference between finishing barely in the top 10 and finishing on the podium."

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Growing Interest in Sprouted Grains

Posted Aug 1, 2011

Is it really possible that sprouts are hip again?

Maybe that’s a bit much to ask of a sprout. But they are hot. And they look – and taste – nothing like what you remember.

In the 30 or so years since they seemed to rule the sandwich and salad bar scenes, sprouts have, er. grown. They aren’t just frilly green tendrils anymore. They are “sprouted” whole-wheat bread, rye crackers, baking flour, even brown rice.

Advocates say these foods – which are made from sprouted, or germinated, grains and other seeds – are tastier and better for you. Nutrition experts paint a more nuanced picture about that latter claim, but sprouted foods nonetheless appear to be a natural food niche that is, yes, sprouting.

Alfalfa sprouts have been a health food staple for years and mung bean sprouts are common in Asian food. But many people don’t realize grains such as rice and wheat also can be sprouted through a process of soaking and draining.

As producers have caught on to this, they have unleashed a torrent of sprouted foods. There are now sprouted versions of breads, quinoa, lentils and granola.

“I think we’re just at the cusp of people starting to understand what that product is and why it’s a better choice,” says Diana Wang, marketing director for Annie Chun’s.

Sprouted food often tastes different. Sprouted brown rice, for instance, can have a softer texture and some people say it has a mild nutty flavor. Sprouted breads – there even are sprouted bagels and English muffins – tend to be denser and chewier.

But taste is just part of the attraction. Erica Kerwien, who lives in the Seattle area and blogs healthy recipes at comfybelly.com, has purchased sprouted breads, bagels and frozen pizza dough for her family. They like much of it. Kerwien also finds it easier to digest sprouted foods.

“I still feel full, but I don’t feel stuffed up,” she said.

That’s a common claim. Proponents say that sprouting breaks down carbohydrates and other compounds, thereby easing digestion.

It’s true that grains do change their makeup when they sprout.

Researchers have found decreases in starch, increases in sugars and an increase in the quality of protein, according to a summary of scientific studies by University of California Davis doctoral student Anna Jones. Some changes could increase digestibility. But Dr. Sheri Zidenberg-Cherr, a nutrition specialist at the university, cautioned that the changes are slight and that there is no research yet showing humans have an easier time metabolizing sprouted grains.

“What actually is measured in the laboratory might show some potential for increased digestibility,” Zidenberg-Cherr said, “but it’s so small that it most likely wouldn’t have an impact, and no study has actually shown that it would.”

There also are people who claim that sprouts are so dense with nutrients that they can help people fight disease.

Dr. Paul Talalay at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the `90s found that broccoli sprouts contain a cancer-fighting chemical called sulforaphane at concentrations much higher than mature broccoli heads. Separately, Japanese researchers reported a decade ago that germinating brown rice increases the levels of fiber and beneficial amino acids.

There also is research showing certain sprouts with higher levels of bioactive compounds that have been linked to health benefits – such as isoflavones in soybean sprouts and reservatol in germinated peanut kernels, says Chang Yong Lee, a professor of food chemistry at Cornell University. But Lee said that does not necessarily mean that all sprouts contain higher levels of beneficial nutrients. He said it needs to be considered on a case by case basis.

Despite some intriguing findings, sprout research remains an “emerging field,” says Alice Bender, registered dietitian with the American Institute for Cancer Research.

“It will be interesting to see where it goes,” Bender said. “But in terms of making any one food sort of a magic bullet or the key, we want to look at the overall pattern of diet.”

Ironically, sprouts tend to make headlines occasionally for a negative health effect. There have been at least 30 reported outbreaks of foodborne illnesses associated with raw or lightly cooked sprouts since 1996, according to the Centers for Disease Control. A good number of these cases involve alfalfa sprouts and salmonella, including an outbreak late last year that sickened more than 100 people in 18 states.

“The problem with all sprouts is that the conditions that are optimal for that seed to make a sprout also happen to be absolutely perfect for growing bacteria,” says Donald Schaffner, professor of food microbiology at Rutgers University.

Schaffner added that the industry has done a better job keeping its food safe recently.

“The number and size of the outbreaks is going down over time” he said.

Is it really possible that sprouts are hip again?

Maybe that's a bit much to ask of a sprout. But they are hot. And they look - and taste - nothing like what you remember.

In the 30 or so years since they seemed to rule the sandwich and salad bar scenes, sprouts have, er. grown. They aren't just frilly green tendrils anymore. They are "sprouted" whole-wheat bread, rye crackers, baking flour, even brown rice.

Advocates say these foods - which are made from sprouted, or germinated, grains and other seeds - are tastier and better for you. Nutrition experts paint a more nuanced picture about that latter claim, but sprouted foods nonetheless appear to be a natural food niche that is, yes, sprouting.

Alfalfa sprouts have been a health food staple for years and mung bean sprouts are common in Asian food. But many people don't realize grains such as rice and wheat also can be sprouted through a process of soaking and draining.

As producers have caught on to this, they have unleashed a torrent of sprouted foods. There are now sprouted versions of breads, quinoa, lentils and granola.

"I think we're just at the cusp of people starting to understand what that product is and why it's a better choice," says Diana Wang, marketing director for Annie Chun's.

Sprouted food often tastes different. Sprouted brown rice, for instance, can have a softer texture and some people say it has a mild nutty flavor. Sprouted breads - there even are sprouted bagels and English muffins - tend to be denser and chewier.

But taste is just part of the attraction. Erica Kerwien, who lives in the Seattle area and blogs healthy recipes at comfybelly.com, has purchased sprouted breads, bagels and frozen pizza dough for her family. They like much of it. Kerwien also finds it easier to digest sprouted foods.

"I still feel full, but I don't feel stuffed up," she said.

That's a common claim. Proponents say that sprouting breaks down carbohydrates and other compounds, thereby easing digestion.

It's true that grains do change their makeup when they sprout.

Researchers have found decreases in starch, increases in sugars and an increase in the quality of protein, according to a summary of scientific studies by University of California Davis doctoral student Anna Jones. Some changes could increase digestibility. But Dr. Sheri Zidenberg-Cherr, a nutrition specialist at the university, cautioned that the changes are slight and that there is no research yet showing humans have an easier time metabolizing sprouted grains.

"What actually is measured in the laboratory might show some potential for increased digestibility," Zidenberg-Cherr said, "but it's so small that it most likely wouldn't have an impact, and no study has actually shown that it would."

There also are people who claim that sprouts are so dense with nutrients that they can help people fight disease.

Dr. Paul Talalay at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the `90s found that broccoli sprouts contain a cancer-fighting chemical called sulforaphane at concentrations much higher than mature broccoli heads. Separately, Japanese researchers reported a decade ago that germinating brown rice increases the levels of fiber and beneficial amino acids.

There also is research showing certain sprouts with higher levels of bioactive compounds that have been linked to health benefits - such as isoflavones in soybean sprouts and reservatol in germinated peanut kernels, says Chang Yong Lee, a professor of food chemistry at Cornell University. But Lee said that does not necessarily mean that all sprouts contain higher levels of beneficial nutrients. He said it needs to be considered on a case by case basis.

Despite some intriguing findings, sprout research remains an "emerging field," says Alice Bender, registered dietitian with the American Institute for Cancer Research.

"It will be interesting to see where it goes," Bender said. "But in terms of making any one food sort of a magic bullet or the key, we want to look at the overall pattern of diet."

Ironically, sprouts tend to make headlines occasionally for a negative health effect. There have been at least 30 reported outbreaks of foodborne illnesses associated with raw or lightly cooked sprouts since 1996, according to the Centers for Disease Control. A good number of these cases involve alfalfa sprouts and salmonella, including an outbreak late last year that sickened more than 100 people in 18 states.

"The problem with all sprouts is that the conditions that are optimal for that seed to make a sprout also happen to be absolutely perfect for growing bacteria," says Donald Schaffner, professor of food microbiology at Rutgers University.

Schaffner added that the industry has done a better job keeping its food safe recently.

"The number and size of the outbreaks is going down over time" he said.

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Eye Test and Early Falls May Signal Alzheimer’s

Posted July 23, 2011

Scientists in Australia are reporting encouraging early results from a simple eye test they hope will give a noninvasive way to detect signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

Although it has been tried on just a small number of people and more research is needed, the experimental test has a solid basis: Alzheimer’s is known to cause changes in the eyes, not just the brain. Other scientists in the United States also are working on an eye test for detecting the disease.

A separate study found that falls might be an early warning sign of Alzheimer’s. People who seemed to have healthy minds but who were discovered to have hidden plaques clogging their brains were five times more likely to fall during the study than those without these brain deposits, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

Both studies were discussed Sunday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in France.

More than 5.4 million Americans and 35 million people worldwide have Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia. It has no cure and drugs only temporarily ease symptoms, so finding it early mostly helps patients and their families prepare and arrange care.

Brain scans can find evidence of Alzheimer’s a decade or more before it causes memory and thinking problems, but they’re too expensive and impractical for routine use. A simple eye test and warning signs like falls could be a big help.

The eye study involved photographing blood vessels in the retina, the nerve layer lining the back of the eyes. Most eye doctors have the cameras used for this, but it takes a special computer program to measure blood vessels for the experimental test doctors are using in the Alzheimer’s research, said the study’s leader, Shaun Frost of Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO.

Researchers compared retinal photos of 110 healthy people, 13 people with Alzheimer’s and 13 others with mild cognitive impairment, or “pre-Alzheimer’s,” who were taking part in a larger study on aging. The widths of certain blood vessels in those with Alzheimer’s were different from vessels in the others and the amount of difference matched the amount of plaque seen on brain scans.

More study is planned on larger groups to see how accurate the test might be, Frost said.

Earlier work by Dr. Lee Goldstein of Boston University showed that amyloid, the protein that makes up Alzheimer’s brain plaque, can be measured in the lens of the eyes of some people with the disease, particularly Down syndrome patients who often are prone to Alzheimer’s.

A company he holds stock in, Neuroptix, is testing a laser eye scanner to measure amyloid in the eyes. Goldstein praised the work by the Australian scientists.

>”It’s a small study” but “suggestive and encouraging,” he said. “My hat’s off to them for looking outside the brain for other areas where we might see other evidence of this disease.”

Eye doctors often are the first to see patients with signs of Alzheimer’s, which can start with vision changes, not just the memory problems the disease is most known for, said Dr. Ronald Petersen, a Mayo Clinic dementia expert with no role in the new studies.

Other signs could be balance and gait problems, which may show up before mental changes do. Susan Stark of Washington University in St. Louis led the first study tying falls to a risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease before mental changes show up.

It involved 125 people, average age 74, who had normal cognition and were taking part in a federally funded study of aging. They kept journals on how often they fell, and had brain scans and spinal taps to look for various substances that can signal Alzheimer’s disease.

In six months, 48 fell at least once. The risk of falling was nearly three times greater for each unit of increase in the sticky plaque that scans revealed in their brains.

“Falls are tricky” because they can be medication-related or due to dizziness from high blood pressure, a blood vessel problem or other diseases like Parkinson’s, said Creighton Phelps, a neuroscientist at the National Institute on Aging.

Falls also can cause head injury or brain trauma that leads to cognitive problems, said Laurie Ryan, who oversees some of the institute’s research grants but had no role in the study. Older people who hit their heads and suffer a small tear or bleeding in the brain might seem fine but develop symptoms a month later, she said.

The bottom line: “If you see somebody who’s having falls for no particular reason,” the person should be evaluated for dementia, said William Thies, the Alzheimer’s Association’s scientific director.

The warning signs of Alzheimer’s:

-Memory loss that disrupts daily life

-Trouble planning or solving problems

-Difficulty completing tasks

-Confusion with time or place

-Trouble understanding images and spatial relationships

-New problems with speaking or writing words

-Misplacing things and inability to retrace steps

-Decreased or poor judgment

-Social withdrawal

-Changes in mood or personality

Online:

National Institute on Aging: http://www.nia.nih.gov/Alzheimers

Alzheimer’s Association: http://www.alz.org

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

Scientists in Australia are reporting encouraging early results from a simple eye test they hope will give a noninvasive way to detect signs of Alzheimer's disease.

Although it has been tried on just a small number of people and more research is needed, the experimental test has a solid basis: Alzheimer's is known to cause changes in the eyes, not just the brain. Other scientists in the United States also are working on an eye test for detecting the disease.

A separate study found that falls might be an early warning sign of Alzheimer's. People who seemed to have healthy minds but who were discovered to have hidden plaques clogging their brains were five times more likely to fall during the study than those without these brain deposits, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer's.

Both studies were discussed Sunday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in France.

More than 5.4 million Americans and 35 million people worldwide have Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia. It has no cure and drugs only temporarily ease symptoms, so finding it early mostly helps patients and their families prepare and arrange care.

Brain scans can find evidence of Alzheimer's a decade or more before it causes memory and thinking problems, but they're too expensive and impractical for routine use. A simple eye test and warning signs like falls could be a big help.

The eye study involved photographing blood vessels in the retina, the nerve layer lining the back of the eyes. Most eye doctors have the cameras used for this, but it takes a special computer program to measure blood vessels for the experimental test doctors are using in the Alzheimer's research, said the study's leader, Shaun Frost of Australia's national science agency, CSIRO.

Researchers compared retinal photos of 110 healthy people, 13 people with Alzheimer's and 13 others with mild cognitive impairment, or "pre-Alzheimer's," who were taking part in a larger study on aging. The widths of certain blood vessels in those with Alzheimer's were different from vessels in the others and the amount of difference matched the amount of plaque seen on brain scans.

More study is planned on larger groups to see how accurate the test might be, Frost said.

Earlier work by Dr. Lee Goldstein of Boston University showed that amyloid, the protein that makes up Alzheimer's brain plaque, can be measured in the lens of the eyes of some people with the disease, particularly Down syndrome patients who often are prone to Alzheimer's.

A company he holds stock in, Neuroptix, is testing a laser eye scanner to measure amyloid in the eyes. Goldstein praised the work by the Australian scientists.

>"It's a small study" but "suggestive and encouraging," he said. "My hat's off to them for looking outside the brain for other areas where we might see other evidence of this disease."

Eye doctors often are the first to see patients with signs of Alzheimer's, which can start with vision changes, not just the memory problems the disease is most known for, said Dr. Ronald Petersen, a Mayo Clinic dementia expert with no role in the new studies.

Other signs could be balance and gait problems, which may show up before mental changes do. Susan Stark of Washington University in St. Louis led the first study tying falls to a risk of developing Alzheimer's disease before mental changes show up.

It involved 125 people, average age 74, who had normal cognition and were taking part in a federally funded study of aging. They kept journals on how often they fell, and had brain scans and spinal taps to look for various substances that can signal Alzheimer's disease.

In six months, 48 fell at least once. The risk of falling was nearly three times greater for each unit of increase in the sticky plaque that scans revealed in their brains.

"Falls are tricky" because they can be medication-related or due to dizziness from high blood pressure, a blood vessel problem or other diseases like Parkinson's, said Creighton Phelps, a neuroscientist at the National Institute on Aging.

Falls also can cause head injury or brain trauma that leads to cognitive problems, said Laurie Ryan, who oversees some of the institute's research grants but had no role in the study. Older people who hit their heads and suffer a small tear or bleeding in the brain might seem fine but develop symptoms a month later, she said.

The bottom line: "If you see somebody who's having falls for no particular reason," the person should be evaluated for dementia, said William Thies, the Alzheimer's Association's scientific director.

The warning signs of Alzheimer's:

-Memory loss that disrupts daily life

-Trouble planning or solving problems

-Difficulty completing tasks

-Confusion with time or place

-Trouble understanding images and spatial relationships

-New problems with speaking or writing words

-Misplacing things and inability to retrace steps

-Decreased or poor judgment

-Social withdrawal

-Changes in mood or personality

Online:

National Institute on Aging: http://www.nia.nih.gov/Alzheimers

Alzheimer's Association: http://www.alz.org

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Dog Detects Dangerous Blood Sugar Changes

Posed July 16, 2011

A new dog will change Bekah Timm’s life and could one day save it.

Bekah was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in March 2010, when she was 6 years old. Heidi Timm, her mother, said every family struggles when a child is diagnosed with diabetes.

“It’s like bringing home a newborn who never grows up,” Timm said.

Recently, Heidi Timm heard about service dogs specifically bred to detect blood-sugar levels. The Vancouver family hopes to receive a diabetic alert service dog for Bekah. The family is raising funds because of the $15,000 cost of the highly trained dog.

These diabetic alert service dogs are bred with scent recognition. When an individual’s blood sugar level changes, it changes the body’s scent — which allows a trained dog to detect a problem.

Bekah, who soon will turn 8, has to check her blood sugar at least 10 times a day. It could escalate when she is older if she develops hypoglycemic unawareness, in which a person can’t feel whether their blood sugar levels are low or high, a typical problem for those with long-standing Type 1 diabetes.

Heidi Timm believes the dog will be a backup during the night if Bekah doesn’t sense her blood sugar levels changing. As she grows up, it may be hard for Bekah to maintain a regimented schedule. As a mother who worries about her kids, Timm feels it’s good to have a dog to be there to “tattle” on Bekah if she forgets.

The Timms will get the dog from Warren Retrievers, which breeds dogs with scent recognition for diabetics of all types. After the puppies are born, the group tests the dogs at 9 days old for the scent recognition.

“You want to know that it’s bred for its job,” Timm said.

If the dog is found to have this trait, it is matched with a family who fits its personality. The dog must not only have training as a service dog but also have scent-recognition training to detect blood-sugar levels.

Guardian Angel Service Dogs is a nonprofit philanthropic arm of Warren Retrievers and helps with public awareness and funding. Families who are trying to raise money for these service dogs can work with Guardian Angel to raise funds in their community.

Sue Kindred, executive director of Guardian Angel, said many people have disabilities that keep them from participating in normal activities, but a service dog changes that.

“People get their lives back,” Kindred said.

Heidi Timm has worked with this group to pay for the dog and its training. She and the family have hosted a community garage sale and raised more than $2,000. They also plan to do car washes, and a mini-golf tournament Aug. 24 at the Steakburger in Hazel Dell.

The Timm family has been matched with its puppy and should receive it by the end of July. Bekah will name it Sarah. The puppy should arrive on her eighth birthday.

.

To see more of The Columbian, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.columbian.com.

Copyright © 2011, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

Posed July 16, 2011

A new dog will change Bekah Timm's life and could one day save it.

Bekah was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in March 2010, when she was 6 years old. Heidi Timm, her mother, said every family struggles when a child is diagnosed with diabetes.

"It's like bringing home a newborn who never grows up," Timm said.

Recently, Heidi Timm heard about service dogs specifically bred to detect blood-sugar levels. The Vancouver family hopes to receive a diabetic alert service dog for Bekah. The family is raising funds because of the $15,000 cost of the highly trained dog.

These diabetic alert service dogs are bred with scent recognition. When an individual's blood sugar level changes, it changes the body's scent -- which allows a trained dog to detect a problem.

Bekah, who soon will turn 8, has to check her blood sugar at least 10 times a day. It could escalate when she is older if she develops hypoglycemic unawareness, in which a person can't feel whether their blood sugar levels are low or high, a typical problem for those with long-standing Type 1 diabetes.

Heidi Timm believes the dog will be a backup during the night if Bekah doesn't sense her blood sugar levels changing. As she grows up, it may be hard for Bekah to maintain a regimented schedule. As a mother who worries about her kids, Timm feels it's good to have a dog to be there to "tattle" on Bekah if she forgets.

The Timms will get the dog from Warren Retrievers, which breeds dogs with scent recognition for diabetics of all types. After the puppies are born, the group tests the dogs at 9 days old for the scent recognition.

"You want to know that it's bred for its job," Timm said.

If the dog is found to have this trait, it is matched with a family who fits its personality. The dog must not only have training as a service dog but also have scent-recognition training to detect blood-sugar levels.

Guardian Angel Service Dogs is a nonprofit philanthropic arm of Warren Retrievers and helps with public awareness and funding. Families who are trying to raise money for these service dogs can work with Guardian Angel to raise funds in their community.

Sue Kindred, executive director of Guardian Angel, said many people have disabilities that keep them from participating in normal activities, but a service dog changes that.

"People get their lives back," Kindred said.

Heidi Timm has worked with this group to pay for the dog and its training. She and the family have hosted a community garage sale and raised more than $2,000. They also plan to do car washes, and a mini-golf tournament Aug. 24 at the Steakburger in Hazel Dell.

The Timm family has been matched with its puppy and should receive it by the end of July. Bekah will name it Sarah. The puppy should arrive on her eighth birthday.

.

To see more of The Columbian, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.columbian.com.

Copyright © 2011, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

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Monk Fruit as a Sweetener

Posted July 10, 2011

Monk fruit, found in the valleys and foothills of southern China, grows on the vine and is about the size of an orange or large lemon. In a field of natural diet sweeteners struggling to earn consumer acceptance, it is arguably the flavor of the month.

Whether it becomes something more will depend on whether it can jump from its limited growing area into the strategic plans of giant food and beverage companies.

London-based Tate & Lyle, one of the world’s largest sweetener companies, is devoting resources to commercializing monk fruit under the brand name Purefruit. Extract of monk fruit, also known as luo han guo, was designated “generally recognized as safe” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year, a step that crystallized Tate & Lyle’s interest.

American consumers increasingly are looking to natural sweeteners as low-calorie options, and more are willing to try exotic ingredients such as luo han guo. Sweetener companies have tested a variety of such sweeteners and blends in recent years.

“We identified a gap in the natural, high-potency space,” said Michael Harrison, senior vice president at Tate & Lyle. “Monk fruit extract fills that gap nicely.”

Legend has it that monk fruit was named after Buddhist monks who first cultivated it nearly 800 years ago. Today, processors extract the natural sweetness of the mogroside-5 molecule from monk fruit by crushing the fruit and infusing it with hot water.

Beverage companies acknowledge there may not be a single solution to the search for a natural, high-potency sweetener to displace high-fructose corn syrup. If a natural sweetener is attracting attention, it is stevia, an herb grown and used as a tea in South America for centuries and approved by the FDA in late 2008.

To see more of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ajc.com.

Copyright © 2011, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Monk fruit, found in the valleys and foothills of southern China, grows on the vine and is about the size of an orange or large lemon. In a field of natural diet sweeteners struggling to earn consumer acceptance, it is arguably the flavor of the month.

Whether it becomes something more will depend on whether it can jump from its limited growing area into the strategic plans of giant food and beverage companies.

London-based Tate & Lyle, one of the world's largest sweetener companies, is devoting resources to commercializing monk fruit under the brand name Purefruit. Extract of monk fruit, also known as luo han guo, was designated "generally recognized as safe" by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year, a step that crystallized Tate & Lyle's interest.

American consumers increasingly are looking to natural sweeteners as low-calorie options, and more are willing to try exotic ingredients such as luo han guo. Sweetener companies have tested a variety of such sweeteners and blends in recent years.

"We identified a gap in the natural, high-potency space," said Michael Harrison, senior vice president at Tate & Lyle. "Monk fruit extract fills that gap nicely."

Legend has it that monk fruit was named after Buddhist monks who first cultivated it nearly 800 years ago. Today, processors extract the natural sweetness of the mogroside-5 molecule from monk fruit by crushing the fruit and infusing it with hot water.

Beverage companies acknowledge there may not be a single solution to the search for a natural, high-potency sweetener to displace high-fructose corn syrup. If a natural sweetener is attracting attention, it is stevia, an herb grown and used as a tea in South America for centuries and approved by the FDA in late 2008.

To see more of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ajc.com.

Copyright © 2011, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Smokers Could Benefit from CT Scans

Posted July 2, 2011

Screenings could be recommended for current and former smokers after an unprecedented study found a 20 percent reduction in lung-cancer deaths after CT scans.

Some say the research puts CT scans for smokers on par with, or even ahead of, mammography as a way to prevent death by finding cancer early.

Others are sounding a more cautious note, saying the study is positive but demands more investigation before widespread screening is offered.

Independent experts who offer recommendations on what screenings the government and others should support are evaluating the issue and are expected to make a decision sometime next year.

How soon, or whether, lung-cancer screening will be made widely available to current and former smokers remains uncertain.

Some hospitals, including the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, already offer the low-dose CT (computerized tomography) scans for patients willing to pay out of pocket. Others, including Ohio State University Medical Center, have plans to follow suit.

The study, which appears this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, is the first of its magnitude to support screening and is serving as a catalyst for much discussion and debate.

An estimated 94 million current and former smokers are at elevated risk for developing lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 221,130 people will discover they have the disease this year and that 156,940 people will die of lung cancer this year. But if the cancer is found early, the chance of survival is much higher.

The researchers who led the effort are working to analyze the cost-effectiveness of screening. CT scan charges vary, but they often cost a few hundred dollars or more.

Aside from cost, the main concern is that false-positive screening results, which are common, will lead to unnecessary problems for patients, from anxiety and missed work days to serious complications from invasive procedures.

But the potential for lives saved outweighs those risks, said Laurie Fenton Ambrose, president and CEO of the Lung Cancer Alliance, based in Washington, D.C.

“Simply put, it’s watershed,” she said. “The question ‘to screen or not to screen?’ has been answered.”

The patient-advocacy group launched the website www.screenforlungcancer.org this week, and estimates that 70,000 lives a year could be saved through screening heavy smokers.

The National Cancer Institute study included 53,454 current and former smokers who smoked at least a pack a day for 30 years, or a similarly risky amount. About half underwent CT scans three times a year; the other half had chest X-rays, which have been repeatedly refuted as a good screening method.

The researchers found that there were significantly fewer deaths in the CT group: 247 per 100,000 person years (a calculation scientists use to assess risk), compared with 309 in the X-ray group.

“This is an incredibly encouraging study, but I think delving into every previous tobacco user in the past would probably need a little more data, a little more confirmation,” said Dr. Joseph Hofmeister, an oncologist with Columbus Oncology Associates, which is affiliated with Riverside Methodist Hospital.

Lung-cancer screening currently isn’t covered by the government or private payers.

At the Seidman Cancer Center, screenings are being offered for $99.

“I think (the study) should really change practice,” said Dr. Stanton Gerson, an oncologist at Seidman.

Gerson cautioned that patients should seek out a well-established program for screening and that only those who fit the study profile ~should be considered for screening.

Dr. Patrick Nana-Sinkam, a pulmonologist at the OSU Medical Center, said after decades of debate on lung-cancer screening, this study is being met with tremendous enthusiasm.

He agreed that the cost analysis is an important piece of the research and said that screening should remain a personal decision and one that is carefully discussed by the patient and doctor.

mcrane@dispatch.com

To see more of The Columbus Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.columbusdispatch.com.

Screenings could be recommended for current and former smokers after an unprecedented study found a 20 percent reduction in lung-cancer deaths after CT scans.

Some say the research puts CT scans for smokers on par with, or even ahead of, mammography as a way to prevent death by finding cancer early.

Others are sounding a more cautious note, saying the study is positive but demands more investigation before widespread screening is offered.

Independent experts who offer recommendations on what screenings the government and others should support are evaluating the issue and are expected to make a decision sometime next year.

How soon, or whether, lung-cancer screening will be made widely available to current and former smokers remains uncertain.

Some hospitals, including the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, already offer the low-dose CT (computerized tomography) scans for patients willing to pay out of pocket. Others, including Ohio State University Medical Center, have plans to follow suit.

The study, which appears this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, is the first of its magnitude to support screening and is serving as a catalyst for much discussion and debate.

An estimated 94 million current and former smokers are at elevated risk for developing lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 221,130 people will discover they have the disease this year and that 156,940 people will die of lung cancer this year. But if the cancer is found early, the chance of survival is much higher.

The researchers who led the effort are working to analyze the cost-effectiveness of screening. CT scan charges vary, but they often cost a few hundred dollars or more.

Aside from cost, the main concern is that false-positive screening results, which are common, will lead to unnecessary problems for patients, from anxiety and missed work days to serious complications from invasive procedures.

But the potential for lives saved outweighs those risks, said Laurie Fenton Ambrose, president and CEO of the Lung Cancer Alliance, based in Washington, D.C.

"Simply put, it's watershed," she said. "The question 'to screen or not to screen?' has been answered."

The patient-advocacy group launched the website www.screenforlungcancer.org this week, and estimates that 70,000 lives a year could be saved through screening heavy smokers.

The National Cancer Institute study included 53,454 current and former smokers who smoked at least a pack a day for 30 years, or a similarly risky amount. About half underwent CT scans three times a year; the other half had chest X-rays, which have been repeatedly refuted as a good screening method.

The researchers found that there were significantly fewer deaths in the CT group: 247 per 100,000 person years (a calculation scientists use to assess risk), compared with 309 in the X-ray group.

"This is an incredibly encouraging study, but I think delving into every previous tobacco user in the past would probably need a little more data, a little more confirmation," said Dr. Joseph Hofmeister, an oncologist with Columbus Oncology Associates, which is affiliated with Riverside Methodist Hospital.

Lung-cancer screening currently isn't covered by the government or private payers.

At the Seidman Cancer Center, screenings are being offered for $99.

"I think (the study) should really change practice," said Dr. Stanton Gerson, an oncologist at Seidman.

Gerson cautioned that patients should seek out a well-established program for screening and that only those who fit the study profile ~should be considered for screening.

Dr. Patrick Nana-Sinkam, a pulmonologist at the OSU Medical Center, said after decades of debate on lung-cancer screening, this study is being met with tremendous enthusiasm.

He agreed that the cost analysis is an important piece of the research and said that screening should remain a personal decision and one that is carefully discussed by the patient and doctor.

mcrane@dispatch.com

To see more of The Columbus Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.columbusdispatch.com.

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Celiac and Sensitivities Lead to Surge in Gluten Free Lifestyles

Posted June 28, 2011

Mary Durham has spent years tweaking recipes to learn to bake without wheat — the key ingredient in nearly every loaf of bread, every batch of biscuits, every flaky pie crust.

“My love has always been making cakes and cookies. I have a horrid sweet tooth,” said the Midtown resident, who has a severe wheat allergy.

Durham, 61, started Mary’s Gluten-Free Goods this summer out of her Cooper-Young kitchen. The home kitchen is certified through the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.

After many botched batches, she has learned to retain the moisture and lightness of her recipes, such as pumpkin raisin cake, by swapping wheat flour for a mixture of rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch.

Her cookies sell for $6 a dozen, and a loaf of bread is $6.50.

Durham’s eating habits took a dramatic turn 27 years ago when her hair began falling out. Her weight dropped dangerously, she had chronic intestinal distress and the muscles in her hands were curling in.

After months of unexplained ailments, Durham was braced for the worst. So when she learned it was her fondness for bagels and cookies that was doing her in, she was shocked.

Diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune condition triggered by foods that contain gluten, Durham had only to avoid wheat, rye and barley to regain her health.

But as she soon learned, Americans are gluttons for gluten.

Along with bread and pasta, it’s found in beer, soy sauce, sausage, salad dressings, soups, instant coffee, toothpaste, lipstick and even Communion wafers.

Affecting one in 133 Americans, the digestive disease damages the villi — tiny hairlike projections that line the small intestine — and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food, according to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.

Durham is amazed at the number of people who are cutting gluten from their diets.

“Everybody eats gluten-free or knows someone who eats gluten-free,” she said.

And it’s more than just those diagnosed with celiac disease who are ditching glutinous grains.

People who claim to have a gluten sensitivity blame it for constipation, bloating, depression, skin rashes, infertility and a host of other ailments.

While celiac disease can be debilitating and even deadly, there isn’t much research about less-threatening gluten sensitivities, says Dr. Claudio Tombazzi.

“It can be very mild for some people,” said Tombazzi, associate professor of gastroenterology at University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Celiac disease can be diagnosed through blood tests and biopsies of the small intestine, but there’s no test for a gluten sensitivity, he said.

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness recommends that those with a sensitivity also follow a gluten-free diet.

Luckily for those who can’t stomach certain grains, the popularity of gluten-free diets has encouraged grocers to stock their shelves with a smorgasbord of glutenless products.

Now you can find everything from Redbridge, a gluten-free beer by Anheuser-Busch, to gluten-free Betty Crocker cake mixes and Bisquick.

Sales in gluten-free food increased 74 percent from 2004 to 2009, according to the Nielsen Co., and are expected to reach $2.6 billion by 2012.

“It was a big change initially,” said Marilyn Jackson, who removed gluten from her family’s diet when her oldest son was 10.

After Jackson’s son, Taylor, was diagnosed with a mild form of autism, the Germantown mom heard cutting gluten, as well as sugar, out of his diet could dramatically improve his social and cognitive behavior.

Now, “He feels better and does better,” she said.

Not wanting her son to miss out on the joys of sweet treats, Jackson, 50, became a prolific gluten-free baker.

Now that Taylor is 17, she has less control over his diet, but through her contacts at the Autism Solution Center in Cordova, where she volunteers, she has had lots of requests for gluten-free desserts. So many that Jackson also recently started a gluten-free bakery from her home, Sunflower Baked Goods.

“It just seems to be a niche that needs to be filled,” she said.

The bulk of the stay-at-home mom’s baking is birthday cakes, jumbo cookies and brownies.

Cupcakes, which run about $15 per dozen, have been her biggest seller.

Jackson says she sticks to the purest ingredients possible, meaning she doesn’t use processed sugars. She swaps the red food coloring in her red velvet cupcakes with beet powder, and her apple muffins are prepared only with homemade apple sauce.

By comparison, “Betty Crocker is going to have all kinds of preservatives in it,” Jackson said.

As awareness of celiac disease increases, Tombazzi says, more patients request testing for it, though what they have often is not severe.

“If you have someone who’s just having bloating, the chances for having celiac disease is low,” he said.

But for those who are diagnosed with the disease, modifying eating habits can offer relief, he said.

“If you follow the recommendations, you can avoid the complications,” he said. “This is something that can be fixed.”

— Lindsay Melvin: 529-2445

Two Memphis gluten-free bakeries:

Mary’s Gluten-Free Goods

276-3947

Sunflower Baked Goods

860-9258

Celiac information

National Foundation for Celiac Awareness

CeliacCentral.org

Gluten-free Peanut Butter Cookies

2 cups peanut butter

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet. Combine peanut butter, eggs and sugar and mix until smooth. Mix in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Spoon dough by tablespoons onto a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for 5 to 10 minutes before removing.

Source: allrecipes.com

Gluten-Free Hot Breakfast Cereal

1 cup brown basmati rice

1/2 cup quinoa

1/2 cup millet

1/2 cup buckwheat groats

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup amaranth

Grind the basmati rice in a coffee grinder until it resembles a coarse powder. Empty the ground rice into a bowl. Repeat the process with the quinoa, millet, buckwheat, sesame seeds, and flax seeds. Stir in the cornmeal and amaranth. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator until ready to cook.

To prepare: Bring 4 cups of water and a pinch of salt to boil in a saucepan. Stir in 1 cup of cereal mix and reduce the heat to medium low. Simmer for 20 minutes stirring frequently. Makes 12 servings.

Source: allrecipes.com

Red Lobster-style Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Gluten-Free

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup potato starch

3/4 cup cornstarch

13/4 tsp. xanthan gum

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tbsp. sugar

3/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup butter, softened

Topping:

1/4 butter, melted

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375. In medium bowl, blend all ingredients except for topping. Mix very well to remove any lumps. Dough will be quite soft and a bit sticky. Roll or pat out dough on a lightly floured (cornstarch) surface. Dough should be about 1/2 -inch thick. Cut out biscuits with 21/2 -inch cookie cutter or inverted glass. Place biscuits on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned. As soon as they come out of the oven, brush with melted butter/garlic combination (mixed). Makes 6 to 8 large biscuits.

Source: celiac.com

Simple and Crunchy Nut Crackers

2 cups mixed nuts of your choice: (cashew, almonds, pumpkin seeds and flax seeds work well)

1 egg

2 tbsp. filtered water

1 1/8 tsp. sea salt

Optional toppings:

Sea salt, anise seeds, nigella seeds or some other seeds of your choice

Preheat the oven to 360.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Grind nuts into a flour consistency in a blender or food processor (food processor usually works best).

Add egg, water and sea salt and stir around with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together in a stiff dough.

Divide the dough in two pieces and place them directly on the parchment paper.

Roll each into a rectangle, very thinly (about 1/10 of an inch thick, or as thin as you can get it). If the dough sticks to the rolling pin, roll it with parchment paper covering the dough. When done, use a knife to cut in slices or squares.

Spray a little water on top and add seeds, if using.

Bake for about 10 minutes. Stay close and keep an eye on the oven, as these crackers burn easily. Store them in jars or out in the open and eat within a few days. Makes 30 or 40, depending on how many you cut.

Source: celiac.com

To see more of The Commercial Appeal or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.commercialappeal.com.

Copyright © 2011, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.

Mary Durham has spent years tweaking recipes to learn to bake without wheat -- the key ingredient in nearly every loaf of bread, every batch of biscuits, every flaky pie crust.

"My love has always been making cakes and cookies. I have a horrid sweet tooth," said the Midtown resident, who has a severe wheat allergy.

Durham, 61, started Mary's Gluten-Free Goods this summer out of her Cooper-Young kitchen. The home kitchen is certified through the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.

After many botched batches, she has learned to retain the moisture and lightness of her recipes, such as pumpkin raisin cake, by swapping wheat flour for a mixture of rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch.

Her cookies sell for $6 a dozen, and a loaf of bread is $6.50.

Durham's eating habits took a dramatic turn 27 years ago when her hair began falling out. Her weight dropped dangerously, she had chronic intestinal distress and the muscles in her hands were curling in.

After months of unexplained ailments, Durham was braced for the worst. So when she learned it was her fondness for bagels and cookies that was doing her in, she was shocked.

Diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune condition triggered by foods that contain gluten, Durham had only to avoid wheat, rye and barley to regain her health.

But as she soon learned, Americans are gluttons for gluten.

Along with bread and pasta, it's found in beer, soy sauce, sausage, salad dressings, soups, instant coffee, toothpaste, lipstick and even Communion wafers.

Affecting one in 133 Americans, the digestive disease damages the villi -- tiny hairlike projections that line the small intestine -- and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food, according to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.

Durham is amazed at the number of people who are cutting gluten from their diets.

"Everybody eats gluten-free or knows someone who eats gluten-free," she said.

And it's more than just those diagnosed with celiac disease who are ditching glutinous grains.

People who claim to have a gluten sensitivity blame it for constipation, bloating, depression, skin rashes, infertility and a host of other ailments.

While celiac disease can be debilitating and even deadly, there isn't much research about less-threatening gluten sensitivities, says Dr. Claudio Tombazzi.

"It can be very mild for some people," said Tombazzi, associate professor of gastroenterology at University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Celiac disease can be diagnosed through blood tests and biopsies of the small intestine, but there's no test for a gluten sensitivity, he said.

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness recommends that those with a sensitivity also follow a gluten-free diet.

Luckily for those who can't stomach certain grains, the popularity of gluten-free diets has encouraged grocers to stock their shelves with a smorgasbord of glutenless products.

Now you can find everything from Redbridge, a gluten-free beer by Anheuser-Busch, to gluten-free Betty Crocker cake mixes and Bisquick.

Sales in gluten-free food increased 74 percent from 2004 to 2009, according to the Nielsen Co., and are expected to reach $2.6 billion by 2012.

"It was a big change initially," said Marilyn Jackson, who removed gluten from her family's diet when her oldest son was 10.

After Jackson's son, Taylor, was diagnosed with a mild form of autism, the Germantown mom heard cutting gluten, as well as sugar, out of his diet could dramatically improve his social and cognitive behavior.

Now, "He feels better and does better," she said.

Not wanting her son to miss out on the joys of sweet treats, Jackson, 50, became a prolific gluten-free baker.

Now that Taylor is 17, she has less control over his diet, but through her contacts at the Autism Solution Center in Cordova, where she volunteers, she has had lots of requests for gluten-free desserts. So many that Jackson also recently started a gluten-free bakery from her home, Sunflower Baked Goods.

"It just seems to be a niche that needs to be filled," she said.

The bulk of the stay-at-home mom's baking is birthday cakes, jumbo cookies and brownies.

Cupcakes, which run about $15 per dozen, have been her biggest seller.

Jackson says she sticks to the purest ingredients possible, meaning she doesn't use processed sugars. She swaps the red food coloring in her red velvet cupcakes with beet powder, and her apple muffins are prepared only with homemade apple sauce.

By comparison, "Betty Crocker is going to have all kinds of preservatives in it," Jackson said.

As awareness of celiac disease increases, Tombazzi says, more patients request testing for it, though what they have often is not severe.

"If you have someone who's just having bloating, the chances for having celiac disease is low," he said.

But for those who are diagnosed with the disease, modifying eating habits can offer relief, he said.

"If you follow the recommendations, you can avoid the complications," he said. "This is something that can be fixed."

-- Lindsay Melvin: 529-2445

Two Memphis gluten-free bakeries:

Mary's Gluten-Free Goods

276-3947

Sunflower Baked Goods

860-9258

Celiac information

National Foundation for Celiac Awareness

CeliacCentral.org

Gluten-free Peanut Butter Cookies

2 cups peanut butter

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet. Combine peanut butter, eggs and sugar and mix until smooth. Mix in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Spoon dough by tablespoons onto a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for 5 to 10 minutes before removing.

Source: allrecipes.com

Gluten-Free Hot Breakfast Cereal

1 cup brown basmati rice

1/2 cup quinoa

1/2 cup millet

1/2 cup buckwheat groats

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup amaranth

Grind the basmati rice in a coffee grinder until it resembles a coarse powder. Empty the ground rice into a bowl. Repeat the process with the quinoa, millet, buckwheat, sesame seeds, and flax seeds. Stir in the cornmeal and amaranth. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator until ready to cook.

To prepare: Bring 4 cups of water and a pinch of salt to boil in a saucepan. Stir in 1 cup of cereal mix and reduce the heat to medium low. Simmer for 20 minutes stirring frequently. Makes 12 servings.

Source: allrecipes.com

Red Lobster-style Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Gluten-Free

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup potato starch

3/4 cup cornstarch

13/4 tsp. xanthan gum

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tbsp. sugar

3/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup butter, softened

Topping:

1/4 butter, melted

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375. In medium bowl, blend all ingredients except for topping. Mix very well to remove any lumps. Dough will be quite soft and a bit sticky. Roll or pat out dough on a lightly floured (cornstarch) surface. Dough should be about 1/2 -inch thick. Cut out biscuits with 21/2 -inch cookie cutter or inverted glass. Place biscuits on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned. As soon as they come out of the oven, brush with melted butter/garlic combination (mixed). Makes 6 to 8 large biscuits.

Source: celiac.com

Simple and Crunchy Nut Crackers

2 cups mixed nuts of your choice: (cashew, almonds, pumpkin seeds and flax seeds work well)

1 egg

2 tbsp. filtered water

1 1/8 tsp. sea salt

Optional toppings:

Sea salt, anise seeds, nigella seeds or some other seeds of your choice

Preheat the oven to 360.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Grind nuts into a flour consistency in a blender or food processor (food processor usually works best).

Add egg, water and sea salt and stir around with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together in a stiff dough.

Divide the dough in two pieces and place them directly on the parchment paper.

Roll each into a rectangle, very thinly (about 1/10 of an inch thick, or as thin as you can get it). If the dough sticks to the rolling pin, roll it with parchment paper covering the dough. When done, use a knife to cut in slices or squares.

Spray a little water on top and add seeds, if using.

Bake for about 10 minutes. Stay close and keep an eye on the oven, as these crackers burn easily. Store them in jars or out in the open and eat within a few days. Makes 30 or 40, depending on how many you cut.

Source: celiac.com

To see more of The Commercial Appeal or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.commercialappeal.com.

Copyright © 2011, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.

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Radiation – Different Types, Different Risks

Posted June 26, 2011

It is entirely possible that life on Earth exists thanks to radiation.

One of the theories on the origins of life on our planet says that ultraviolet radiation, along with lightning and volcanoes on ancient Earth, provided the zap of energy needed for non-organic molecules like methane and ammonia, to combine into more complex organic molecules that include the basic building blocks of life, like nucleotides and amino acids.

Of course, as life slowly kickstarted from the combinations of these simple organic molecules into single-cell organisms, and then multicellular ones, the very radiation that helped trigger the process became poisonous to the evolving and rapidly more complex life-forms.

Where radiation once provided energy to simple molecules, it now disrupted the more complicated bonds within more complex organisms.

Strangely enough, the problem was also the solution. UV radiation itself came to the rescue by causing oxygen in the atmosphere to combine and become ozone.

The ozone layer now protects us from being bombarded by UV radiation that can cause unsustainable levels of mutation in all living creatures on Earth.

However, that does not mean that Earth is a radiation-free zone.

The fact is, radiation is present everywhere in our environment.

It comes from the soil, the stones, the sun, and from many of the essential technological items we use in our daily lives.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, we are all exposed to an average of about 2.4 milliSievert (mSv) of natural background radiation a year.

However, this amount can vary by several hundred per cent depending on where you live.

The World Nuclear Association (WNA) reports that the highest level of known background radiation exposure is at the city of Ramsar in northern Iran.

The people who live there receive an annual radiation dose of up to 260 mSv.

The area with the largest populations affected by high natural background radiation are the states of Kerala and Madras in India, where some 140,000 people are exposed to over 30 mSv of background radiation a year.

Other areas with unusually high background radiation doses can be found in China, Brazil and Australia, among others.

However, there has been no evidence to date that the people living in these areas have a higher incidence of cancer or genetic mutations than any other community.

Harmful or not?

Most people will be familiar with man-made radiation sources like nuclear power plants and medical imaging equipment, like X-ray machines and CT scanners.

But are you aware that your mobile phone, microwave oven, television and laptop are also among the many sources of man-made radiation?

Radiation in this context is basically the emission of energy in the form of electromagnetic waves or subatomic particles.

Mobile phones, cordless phones, television sets, and radios all emit radiofrequency waves that help transmit information to and from those devices.

Laptops that are WiFi-enabled, also emit these waves that enable us to surf the Internet, while microwave ovens make use of microwaves to heat up and cook our food.

In this modern, technology-dependent era, we are literally surrounded by all these electromagnetic waves that are essential to our lives.

So, the question is: are they harmful to us?

According to a statement released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) last month, there is “limited” scientific evidence to show that there is an association between the usage of mobile phones and two types of rare cancer — gliomas and acoustic neuromas, but “inadequate” evidence to link mobile phone usage with other types of cancer.

This followed the gathering of a group of independent scientists at the IARC to analyse the available scientific literature on the possible cancer-causing effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic waves.

The scientists concluded that while studies have shown that there is a possibility that the radiofrequency electromagnetic waves from mobile phones can cause gliomas and acoustic neuromas, those same studies were not able to rule out the possibility that these findings were due to chance or some other bias in their research methods or analysis.

Based on this, the IARC, which is part of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has classified radiofrequency electromagnetic waves as “possibly carcinogenic to humans”.

Although gliomas (a type of brain cancer) and acoustic neuromas (a tumour that grows on the nerve running from the ear to the brain) are quite rare, the worry is that so much of the world’s population, including young children and teenagers, use mobile phones, and would risk exposing themselves to these two cancers.

However, generally speaking, radiofrequency electromagnetic waves are classified under non-ionising radiation, along with visible light, infrared and microwaves. (See The Energy Spectrum)

This means that the energy emitted by these low-frequency waves is not strong enough to ionise, or cause electrons to break their bonds within atoms or molecules. These waves are only able to provide more energy to the atoms or molecules they encounter, and cause them to vibrate or move around within their bonds.

Therefore, non-ionising radiation is mostly considered not harmful to living beings, except in certain cases of excessive exposure.

International guidelines for industries manufacturing devices which emit non-ionising radiation are available from the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

This non-profit commission is officially recognised by WHO and the International Labour Organisation as the international independent advisory body for non-ionising radiation protection.

Ionising radiation

The other, more dangerous type of radiation is ionising radiation.

This high-frequency radiation gives out enough energy to break the bonds of electrons in atoms or molecules to create charged particles and free radicals.

There are three main kinds of ionising radiation: alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays.

Alpha particles consist of two protons and two neutrons, and are positively charged.

Beta particles are essentially electrons, which are negatively charged.

Gamma rays are pure electromagnetic waves or photons.

Because they are charged, alpha and beta particles can interact directly with atoms and molecules, and disrupt them.

However, they are also easily blocked, as paper is sufficient to halt the progression of alpha particles, while beta particles can be stopped by aluminium.

Gamma rays have a more indirect effect on atoms and molecules as they are not charged, but they can penetrate through anything less thick than heavy concrete.

With high enough dosages, ionising radiation can cause the breaking up and mutation of our DNA, and disruption of our cellular function.

However, the dosage required to cause these conditions is far more than what any average human being is likely to be exposed to, except in highly unusual circumstances, like a nuclear meltdown.

In cases like nuclear bombings and large nuclear power plant explosions, the amount of radiation released is usually sufficient to cause instant radiation poisoning.

Longer-term exposure with smaller doses can result in cancer or genetic diseases in the next generation.

As catastrophes like nuclear bombings and nuclear power plant accidents are thankfully, rare, this leaves the main area of concern as long-term exposure.

Common exposure

In our day-to-day lives, exposure to ionising radiation usually comes in the form of medical imaging — X-rays and CT scans.

At the very least, many of us would have undergone at least a chest X-ray, whether for a general medical check-up for employment or insurance purposes, or as an investigative procedure for a suspected disease.

Chest X-rays are so common and give the lowest radiation dose that they are often used as a standard comparison for the amount of radiation exposure a patient gets.

One chest X-ray is equivalent to 0.02 mSv of radiation dose, which is about the same as three months’ worth of natural radiation exposure.

Imaging different parts of the body results in larger radiation doses, which can go up to the equivalent of 1,000 chest X-rays for a whole body CT scan.

However, despite resulting in increasing radiation exposure, it is generally argued that the benefits obtained from being able to see inside the body for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes far outweigh the small risk of developing cancer from the procedure.

Of course, imaging procedures should only be carried out for a justifiable medical reason, and must be approved by a qualified radiologist, who will judge the necessity of the procedure.

In addition, for cancer cases, fire is used to fight fire, as the very instrument that can cause cancer is also used to destroy cancer cells.

This forms the basis of radiotherapy, which uses radiation to kill off cancer cells.

The reason for this is that, as the patient will die without treatment, it is better to try to save their lives through controlled use of radiation, rather than just letting them die.

An increasingly common use of imaging outside the hospital is the soft X-ray airport scanner.

According to the United Kingdom Health Protection Agency, a full body scan by one of these machines will give a radiation dose of 0.02 to 0.03 microSievert.

Allowing for two to three scans per examination, this means a person would receive a dose equivalent to about one hour’s worth of natural background radiation (about 0.1 microSievert) for one round through the machine.

The agency compares this to flying at 35,000 feet in an aeroplane, where passengers on the plane would receive the same amount of radiation from cosmic rays in the space of one minute.

To see more of the Asia News Network, go to http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/

Copyright © 2011, The Star, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia / Asia News Network

It is entirely possible that life on Earth exists thanks to radiation.

One of the theories on the origins of life on our planet says that ultraviolet radiation, along with lightning and volcanoes on ancient Earth, provided the zap of energy needed for non-organic molecules like methane and ammonia, to combine into more complex organic molecules that include the basic building blocks of life, like nucleotides and amino acids.

Of course, as life slowly kickstarted from the combinations of these simple organic molecules into single-cell organisms, and then multicellular ones, the very radiation that helped trigger the process became poisonous to the evolving and rapidly more complex life-forms.

Where radiation once provided energy to simple molecules, it now disrupted the more complicated bonds within more complex organisms.

Strangely enough, the problem was also the solution. UV radiation itself came to the rescue by causing oxygen in the atmosphere to combine and become ozone.

The ozone layer now protects us from being bombarded by UV radiation that can cause unsustainable levels of mutation in all living creatures on Earth.

However, that does not mean that Earth is a radiation-free zone.

The fact is, radiation is present everywhere in our environment.

It comes from the soil, the stones, the sun, and from many of the essential technological items we use in our daily lives.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, we are all exposed to an average of about 2.4 milliSievert (mSv) of natural background radiation a year.

However, this amount can vary by several hundred per cent depending on where you live.

The World Nuclear Association (WNA) reports that the highest level of known background radiation exposure is at the city of Ramsar in northern Iran.

The people who live there receive an annual radiation dose of up to 260 mSv.

The area with the largest populations affected by high natural background radiation are the states of Kerala and Madras in India, where some 140,000 people are exposed to over 30 mSv of background radiation a year.

Other areas with unusually high background radiation doses can be found in China, Brazil and Australia, among others.

However, there has been no evidence to date that the people living in these areas have a higher incidence of cancer or genetic mutations than any other community.

Harmful or not?

Most people will be familiar with man-made radiation sources like nuclear power plants and medical imaging equipment, like X-ray machines and CT scanners.

But are you aware that your mobile phone, microwave oven, television and laptop are also among the many sources of man-made radiation?

Radiation in this context is basically the emission of energy in the form of electromagnetic waves or subatomic particles.

Mobile phones, cordless phones, television sets, and radios all emit radiofrequency waves that help transmit information to and from those devices.

Laptops that are WiFi-enabled, also emit these waves that enable us to surf the Internet, while microwave ovens make use of microwaves to heat up and cook our food.

In this modern, technology-dependent era, we are literally surrounded by all these electromagnetic waves that are essential to our lives.

So, the question is: are they harmful to us?

According to a statement released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) last month, there is "limited" scientific evidence to show that there is an association between the usage of mobile phones and two types of rare cancer -- gliomas and acoustic neuromas, but "inadequate" evidence to link mobile phone usage with other types of cancer.

This followed the gathering of a group of independent scientists at the IARC to analyse the available scientific literature on the possible cancer-causing effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic waves.

The scientists concluded that while studies have shown that there is a possibility that the radiofrequency electromagnetic waves from mobile phones can cause gliomas and acoustic neuromas, those same studies were not able to rule out the possibility that these findings were due to chance or some other bias in their research methods or analysis.

Based on this, the IARC, which is part of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has classified radiofrequency electromagnetic waves as "possibly carcinogenic to humans".

Although gliomas (a type of brain cancer) and acoustic neuromas (a tumour that grows on the nerve running from the ear to the brain) are quite rare, the worry is that so much of the world's population, including young children and teenagers, use mobile phones, and would risk exposing themselves to these two cancers.

However, generally speaking, radiofrequency electromagnetic waves are classified under non-ionising radiation, along with visible light, infrared and microwaves. (See The Energy Spectrum)

This means that the energy emitted by these low-frequency waves is not strong enough to ionise, or cause electrons to break their bonds within atoms or molecules. These waves are only able to provide more energy to the atoms or molecules they encounter, and cause them to vibrate or move around within their bonds.

Therefore, non-ionising radiation is mostly considered not harmful to living beings, except in certain cases of excessive exposure.

International guidelines for industries manufacturing devices which emit non-ionising radiation are available from the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

This non-profit commission is officially recognised by WHO and the International Labour Organisation as the international independent advisory body for non-ionising radiation protection.

Ionising radiation

The other, more dangerous type of radiation is ionising radiation.

This high-frequency radiation gives out enough energy to break the bonds of electrons in atoms or molecules to create charged particles and free radicals.

There are three main kinds of ionising radiation: alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays.

Alpha particles consist of two protons and two neutrons, and are positively charged.

Beta particles are essentially electrons, which are negatively charged.

Gamma rays are pure electromagnetic waves or photons.

Because they are charged, alpha and beta particles can interact directly with atoms and molecules, and disrupt them.

However, they are also easily blocked, as paper is sufficient to halt the progression of alpha particles, while beta particles can be stopped by aluminium.

Gamma rays have a more indirect effect on atoms and molecules as they are not charged, but they can penetrate through anything less thick than heavy concrete.

With high enough dosages, ionising radiation can cause the breaking up and mutation of our DNA, and disruption of our cellular function.

However, the dosage required to cause these conditions is far more than what any average human being is likely to be exposed to, except in highly unusual circumstances, like a nuclear meltdown.

In cases like nuclear bombings and large nuclear power plant explosions, the amount of radiation released is usually sufficient to cause instant radiation poisoning.

Longer-term exposure with smaller doses can result in cancer or genetic diseases in the next generation.

As catastrophes like nuclear bombings and nuclear power plant accidents are thankfully, rare, this leaves the main area of concern as long-term exposure.

Common exposure

In our day-to-day lives, exposure to ionising radiation usually comes in the form of medical imaging -- X-rays and CT scans.

At the very least, many of us would have undergone at least a chest X-ray, whether for a general medical check-up for employment or insurance purposes, or as an investigative procedure for a suspected disease.

Chest X-rays are so common and give the lowest radiation dose that they are often used as a standard comparison for the amount of radiation exposure a patient gets.

One chest X-ray is equivalent to 0.02 mSv of radiation dose, which is about the same as three months' worth of natural radiation exposure.

Imaging different parts of the body results in larger radiation doses, which can go up to the equivalent of 1,000 chest X-rays for a whole body CT scan.

However, despite resulting in increasing radiation exposure, it is generally argued that the benefits obtained from being able to see inside the body for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes far outweigh the small risk of developing cancer from the procedure.

Of course, imaging procedures should only be carried out for a justifiable medical reason, and must be approved by a qualified radiologist, who will judge the necessity of the procedure.

In addition, for cancer cases, fire is used to fight fire, as the very instrument that can cause cancer is also used to destroy cancer cells.

This forms the basis of radiotherapy, which uses radiation to kill off cancer cells.

The reason for this is that, as the patient will die without treatment, it is better to try to save their lives through controlled use of radiation, rather than just letting them die.

An increasingly common use of imaging outside the hospital is the soft X-ray airport scanner.

According to the United Kingdom Health Protection Agency, a full body scan by one of these machines will give a radiation dose of 0.02 to 0.03 microSievert.

Allowing for two to three scans per examination, this means a person would receive a dose equivalent to about one hour's worth of natural background radiation (about 0.1 microSievert) for one round through the machine.

The agency compares this to flying at 35,000 feet in an aeroplane, where passengers on the plane would receive the same amount of radiation from cosmic rays in the space of one minute.

To see more of the Asia News Network, go to http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/

Copyright © 2011, The Star, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia / Asia News Network

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hCG Diet Debate

Posted June 19, 2011

When Lynn Patterson resolved to lose weight early this year, she took a hormone normally associated with pregnancy, not dieting.

The 53-year-old Catonsville nurse went on the hCG diet, named for human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone that is produced naturally in pregnant women and often used in fertility treatments to trigger ovulation.

Promoters of the diet say hCG suppresses the appetite, making it easy to stick to a diet of just 500 calories a day. They also say it helps the body burn fat while retaining muscle. Patterson said the plan helped her lose 58 pounds in just four months.

“I’m probably the smallest I ever remember being,” said Patterson, who dropped from a size 20 to a 12. “You want to go shopping again for clothes. That part’s just really great. You just have to keep thinking about that when you want that big old dessert.”

While Patterson is entirely sold on the benefits of hCG, many medical experts doubt that the hormone is helpful. And they worry that 500 calories a day amounts to a starvation diet, which can cause heart damage and other health problems. The potential health risks could be higher in Maryland and other states, where telemedicine laws allow doctors to prescribe the drug, derived from the urine of pregnant women, with just a telephone consultation, experts warn.

The diet was developed in the mid-1950s by Dr. A.T.W. Simeons, a British physician. It has come in and out of vogue since then, with its current comeback fueled by the availability of hCG online.

While the number of people on the hCG diet is not known, the American Society of Bariatric Physicians reported a surge in its popularity last year, when the society also took a formal position against it on the grounds that it was not effective and did not provide sufficient protein.

“I think it is something that is not well-founded in science,” said Dr. Larry Cheskin, medical director and founder of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Anyone who goes on a 500-calorie diet will, of course, lose a lot of weight quickly, although probably not safely.”

Even with a patient under medical supervision, Cheskin said, he would rarely recommend a diet of less than 800 calories a day. About 1,200 calories would be more typical, he said.

Cheskin also doubts that the hormone, which some dieters inject themselves with and others take orally, has any effect on appetite.

“Is the injection working, or is it a placebo effect?” he said. “I’ve seen people who have tried it, [but] maybe this is a biased sample. If they’re coming to me, it didn’t work.”

Patterson decided to give the diet a try after a friend had success with it. She had put on about 40 pounds over a four- to five-year period when she was busy working and caring for her ailing mother, who died about a year ago.

“I was caring for Mom. I would eat fast food a lot and didn’t care,” said Patterson, the mother of three grown daughters.

In early January, she started taking the hormone orally twice a day, adhering to a 500-calorie diet.

“The first week or so I was [hungry],” she said. “It was hard to adjust.” But eventually, she said, she wasn’t battling hunger so much as ennui.

“It’s a very boring diet,” she said.

In the morning, she had only water and coffee. Lunch and dinner were always the same: 31/2 ounces of lean protein (steak, chicken or white fish), one cup of a vegetable, a single piece of Melba toast and a serving of fruit, which could be a whole apple or orange, a cup of strawberries or half of a grapefruit.

Dull as it was, she said, the diet allowed her to drop pounds. Patterson used to consume “probably 3,000 calories a day, maybe 3,500,” mostly in the form of fast food. She doubts she could have slashed that to 500 calories without the hormone.

“I’ve probably been on every diet known to mankind, and this one just works for me,” she said.

But Patterson also said that her husband, Rex, lost weight without taking the hormone or consciously going on a diet simply because she rid the house of junk food and started preparing more healthful meals for the two of them.

“My husband, because I didn’t have stuff in the house, he lost 30 pounds,” Patterson said. “I took away his soda, switched from lemonade to Crystal Light, tuna sandwiches instead of burgers. And he was not on the diet. We’re eating at home.”

To Cheskin, that suggests it’s good eating habits, not hCG, that can work magic.

“So is it the hCG, or is it the fact that when you’re committed and you want to lose weight, you make changes?” Cheskin said. “Any treatment you give, you always want to have a controlled comparison, and we don’t have that for hCG. There are no studies that give some people hCG and some people a placebo.”

The doctor who put Patterson on the diet is Dr. Fred Bloem, a holistic physician in Olney. He has been prescribing hCG to dieters for about four years and has had “hundreds of patients following the diet,” he said.

“The key is to use a small amount of hCG in combination with a specific low-calorie diet, and when you do it, the hCG somehow targets the abnormal fat deposits,” he said. “As it happens, patients lose weight very quickly, on the order of half to 1 pound a day.”

Bloem said the protocol is not a starvation diet.

“Starvation diet, when you do that, you won’t be a happy camper,” he said. “You’ll be hungry and … start to look gaunt, lose structural fat in the face, lose muscle mass. … The hCG somehow targets and mobilizes the abnormal fat deposits and makes it available to the rest of the body as a source of energy.”

In a study titled “There they go again: hCG and weight loss,” West Virginia University researchers found no “physiologic basis for the use of hCG or any proof of immediate or long term benefit. … Despite these facts, this form of therapy has achieved a resurgence in popularity. The difference today is that patients no longer have to rely on health care providers to prescribe their medications since internet sites allow them to obtain medications ‘on line.’ ”

Diet Doc, an hCG weight-loss program based in Seattle, has a doctor prescribing the drug to about a dozen Marylanders after telephone or Skype consultations, said Julie Wright, president of the company. The company cannot do that in states such as New York, which requires prescribing doctors to see patients face-to-face.

The cost of the diet through Diet Doc is $399 for the first month, and $240 a month after that.

Cheskin, already a skeptic of the hCG diet, takes an even dimmer view of following it under long-distance medical supervision. Telemedicine has its place, he said, such as allowing a patient with a rare condition to consult with a distant specialist.

“That’s a specific expertise,” he said. “If you’re talking about the kind of relationship that is important to people seeking to change their lifestyle, basically, then you probably would do better with someone that you can communicate directly to.”

laura.vozzella@baltsun.com

To see more of The Baltimore Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.baltimoresun.com.

Copyright © 2011, The Baltimore Sun

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

When Lynn Patterson resolved to lose weight early this year, she took a hormone normally associated with pregnancy, not dieting.

The 53-year-old Catonsville nurse went on the hCG diet, named for human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone that is produced naturally in pregnant women and often used in fertility treatments to trigger ovulation.

Promoters of the diet say hCG suppresses the appetite, making it easy to stick to a diet of just 500 calories a day. They also say it helps the body burn fat while retaining muscle. Patterson said the plan helped her lose 58 pounds in just four months.

"I'm probably the smallest I ever remember being," said Patterson, who dropped from a size 20 to a 12. "You want to go shopping again for clothes. That part's just really great. You just have to keep thinking about that when you want that big old dessert."

While Patterson is entirely sold on the benefits of hCG, many medical experts doubt that the hormone is helpful. And they worry that 500 calories a day amounts to a starvation diet, which can cause heart damage and other health problems. The potential health risks could be higher in Maryland and other states, where telemedicine laws allow doctors to prescribe the drug, derived from the urine of pregnant women, with just a telephone consultation, experts warn.

The diet was developed in the mid-1950s by Dr. A.T.W. Simeons, a British physician. It has come in and out of vogue since then, with its current comeback fueled by the availability of hCG online.

While the number of people on the hCG diet is not known, the American Society of Bariatric Physicians reported a surge in its popularity last year, when the society also took a formal position against it on the grounds that it was not effective and did not provide sufficient protein.

"I think it is something that is not well-founded in science," said Dr. Larry Cheskin, medical director and founder of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. "Anyone who goes on a 500-calorie diet will, of course, lose a lot of weight quickly, although probably not safely."

Even with a patient under medical supervision, Cheskin said, he would rarely recommend a diet of less than 800 calories a day. About 1,200 calories would be more typical, he said.

Cheskin also doubts that the hormone, which some dieters inject themselves with and others take orally, has any effect on appetite.

"Is the injection working, or is it a placebo effect?" he said. "I've seen people who have tried it, [but] maybe this is a biased sample. If they're coming to me, it didn't work."

Patterson decided to give the diet a try after a friend had success with it. She had put on about 40 pounds over a four- to five-year period when she was busy working and caring for her ailing mother, who died about a year ago.

"I was caring for Mom. I would eat fast food a lot and didn't care," said Patterson, the mother of three grown daughters.

In early January, she started taking the hormone orally twice a day, adhering to a 500-calorie diet.

"The first week or so I was [hungry]," she said. "It was hard to adjust." But eventually, she said, she wasn't battling hunger so much as ennui.

"It's a very boring diet," she said.

In the morning, she had only water and coffee. Lunch and dinner were always the same: 31/2 ounces of lean protein (steak, chicken or white fish), one cup of a vegetable, a single piece of Melba toast and a serving of fruit, which could be a whole apple or orange, a cup of strawberries or half of a grapefruit.

Dull as it was, she said, the diet allowed her to drop pounds. Patterson used to consume "probably 3,000 calories a day, maybe 3,500," mostly in the form of fast food. She doubts she could have slashed that to 500 calories without the hormone.

"I've probably been on every diet known to mankind, and this one just works for me," she said.

But Patterson also said that her husband, Rex, lost weight without taking the hormone or consciously going on a diet simply because she rid the house of junk food and started preparing more healthful meals for the two of them.

"My husband, because I didn't have stuff in the house, he lost 30 pounds," Patterson said. "I took away his soda, switched from lemonade to Crystal Light, tuna sandwiches instead of burgers. And he was not on the diet. We're eating at home."

To Cheskin, that suggests it's good eating habits, not hCG, that can work magic.

"So is it the hCG, or is it the fact that when you're committed and you want to lose weight, you make changes?" Cheskin said. "Any treatment you give, you always want to have a controlled comparison, and we don't have that for hCG. There are no studies that give some people hCG and some people a placebo."

The doctor who put Patterson on the diet is Dr. Fred Bloem, a holistic physician in Olney. He has been prescribing hCG to dieters for about four years and has had "hundreds of patients following the diet," he said.

"The key is to use a small amount of hCG in combination with a specific low-calorie diet, and when you do it, the hCG somehow targets the abnormal fat deposits," he said. "As it happens, patients lose weight very quickly, on the order of half to 1 pound a day."

Bloem said the protocol is not a starvation diet.

"Starvation diet, when you do that, you won't be a happy camper," he said. "You'll be hungry and ... start to look gaunt, lose structural fat in the face, lose muscle mass. ... The hCG somehow targets and mobilizes the abnormal fat deposits and makes it available to the rest of the body as a source of energy."

In a study titled "There they go again: hCG and weight loss," West Virginia University researchers found no "physiologic basis for the use of hCG or any proof of immediate or long term benefit. ... Despite these facts, this form of therapy has achieved a resurgence in popularity. The difference today is that patients no longer have to rely on health care providers to prescribe their medications since internet sites allow them to obtain medications 'on line.' "

Diet Doc, an hCG weight-loss program based in Seattle, has a doctor prescribing the drug to about a dozen Marylanders after telephone or Skype consultations, said Julie Wright, president of the company. The company cannot do that in states such as New York, which requires prescribing doctors to see patients face-to-face.

The cost of the diet through Diet Doc is $399 for the first month, and $240 a month after that.

Cheskin, already a skeptic of the hCG diet, takes an even dimmer view of following it under long-distance medical supervision. Telemedicine has its place, he said, such as allowing a patient with a rare condition to consult with a distant specialist.

"That's a specific expertise," he said. "If you're talking about the kind of relationship that is important to people seeking to change their lifestyle, basically, then you probably would do better with someone that you can communicate directly to."

laura.vozzella@baltsun.com

To see more of The Baltimore Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.baltimoresun.com.

Copyright © 2011, The Baltimore Sun

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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Prescription Stimulants Widely Abused on Campus

Posted June 13,2011

College students might be tempted to buy or bum Adderall or other prescription stimulants to “get in the zone” as finals come to a close this week.

But it’s unsafe, illegal and downright wrong, campus officials warn.

“National policymakers call prescription-drug abuse an epidemic, and I’m particularly concerned about students using prescription stimulants designed to treat attention-deficit (disorders) as a study aid,” said Kenneth M. Hale, an assistant dean at Ohio State University’s College of Pharmacy.

Drinking among college students has been relatively steady in recent years, but the abuse of prescription drugs — most notably stimulants, sedatives and painkillers — has soared, Hale said.

The misuse of Adderall and other stimulants can lead to increases in blood pressure or heart rate, addiction and even death, he said. In recent years, prescription-drug abuse has become the leading cause of accidental death in Ohio and many other states.

Ohio State, Ohio University and Otterbein University have expanded their public-awareness campaigns.

Among those 18 to 22 years old, full-time college students are twice as likely as their peers to misuse a stimulant, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

By the time students reach their sophomore year in college, about half will have been offered these medications by friends or fellow students, the agency found.

“I have frequently overheard conversations about taking Adderall and have even witnessed students popping 10- to 20-milligram pills into their mouths and getting back to work at 1 a.m. in the libraries,” said Kristyn M. Sturms, a 21-year-old pharmaceutical-sciences major at Ohio State who has been working to educate students about the dangers.

She said that Adderall is fast replacing Red Bull, 5-hour Energy and other caffeinated drinks for a quick pick-me-up because it is so easily accessible.

Too many students mistakenly believe that these stimulants are safe for uses other than those they were designed for because they are FDA-approved and prescribed by a doctor, said JD Bickel, a 22-year-old pharmaceutical-sciences major at Ohio State.

“But every medication has its risks,” said Bickel, who helps lead OSU’s Generation Rx initiative to teach kindergartners through college students about the dangers of abusing medications.

Taking prescription medications inappropriately also has been linked to other high-risk behaviors, said Julie Saker, director of student conduct and wellness at Otterbein, a private university in Westerville.

Full-time college students who misused Adderall were almost three times more likely than fellow students to have used marijuana in the past year, eight times more likely to have used cocaine or prescription tranquilizers, and five times more likely to have misused prescription pain relievers, she said. Also, nearly 90 percent were binge drinkers, and more than half were heavy alcohol abusers, according to SAMHSA.

Illegally selling or possessing Adderall is a fifth-degree felony that could result in a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

“Using Adderall out of context is just not the best way to study,” said Holly Leupp, a 23-year-old social-work student at Ohio State.

Users are just setting themselves up for failure, she said.

Dispatch reporter Erin Perkins contributed to this story.

epyle@dispatch.com

To see more of The Columbus Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.columbusdispatch.com.

Copyright © 2011, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

Posted June 13,2011

College students might be tempted to buy or bum Adderall or other prescription stimulants to "get in the zone" as finals come to a close this week.

But it's unsafe, illegal and downright wrong, campus officials warn.

"National policymakers call prescription-drug abuse an epidemic, and I'm particularly concerned about students using prescription stimulants designed to treat attention-deficit (disorders) as a study aid," said Kenneth M. Hale, an assistant dean at Ohio State University's College of Pharmacy.

Drinking among college students has been relatively steady in recent years, but the abuse of prescription drugs -- most notably stimulants, sedatives and painkillers -- has soared, Hale said.

The misuse of Adderall and other stimulants can lead to increases in blood pressure or heart rate, addiction and even death, he said. In recent years, prescription-drug abuse has become the leading cause of accidental death in Ohio and many other states.

Ohio State, Ohio University and Otterbein University have expanded their public-awareness campaigns.

Among those 18 to 22 years old, full-time college students are twice as likely as their peers to misuse a stimulant, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

By the time students reach their sophomore year in college, about half will have been offered these medications by friends or fellow students, the agency found.

"I have frequently overheard conversations about taking Adderall and have even witnessed students popping 10- to 20-milligram pills into their mouths and getting back to work at 1 a.m. in the libraries," said Kristyn M. Sturms, a 21-year-old pharmaceutical-sciences major at Ohio State who has been working to educate students about the dangers.

She said that Adderall is fast replacing Red Bull, 5-hour Energy and other caffeinated drinks for a quick pick-me-up because it is so easily accessible.

Too many students mistakenly believe that these stimulants are safe for uses other than those they were designed for because they are FDA-approved and prescribed by a doctor, said JD Bickel, a 22-year-old pharmaceutical-sciences major at Ohio State.

"But every medication has its risks," said Bickel, who helps lead OSU's Generation Rx initiative to teach kindergartners through college students about the dangers of abusing medications.

Taking prescription medications inappropriately also has been linked to other high-risk behaviors, said Julie Saker, director of student conduct and wellness at Otterbein, a private university in Westerville.

Full-time college students who misused Adderall were almost three times more likely than fellow students to have used marijuana in the past year, eight times more likely to have used cocaine or prescription tranquilizers, and five times more likely to have misused prescription pain relievers, she said. Also, nearly 90 percent were binge drinkers, and more than half were heavy alcohol abusers, according to SAMHSA.

Illegally selling or possessing Adderall is a fifth-degree felony that could result in a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

"Using Adderall out of context is just not the best way to study," said Holly Leupp, a 23-year-old social-work student at Ohio State.

Users are just setting themselves up for failure, she said.

Dispatch reporter Erin Perkins contributed to this story.

epyle@dispatch.com

To see more of The Columbus Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.columbusdispatch.com.

Copyright © 2011, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

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Leukemia Linked Molecule Has Role in Alzheimer’s

Posted June 4, 2011

After decades of studying the pathological process that wipes out large volumes of memory, scientists at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research discovered a molecule called c-Abl that has a known role in leukemia also has a hand in Alzheimer’s disease. The finding, reported in the June 14th issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, offers a new target for drug development that could stave off the pathological disease process (see also Alzheimer Disease).

Peter Davies, PhD, head of the Feinstein Institute’s Litwin-Zucker Center for Research in Alzheimer’s Disease, became interested in c-Abl when he found that the protein was part of the plaques and tangles that crowd the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The protein c-Abl is a tyrosine kinase involved in cell differentiation, cell division and cell adhesion. In patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), c-Abl is turned up in B cells. Inhibiting c-Abl with the cancer drug Gleevec prevents cell division. There was quite a lot known about c-Abl when Dr. Davies began thinking about its possible role in Alzheimer’s. He was looking at kinases that phosphorylate tau, the protein that accumulates inside of the neurons during the disease process.

Dr. Davies questioned whether activated c-Abl turned on the cell cycle and could kill adult cells. He designed the study to test this idea and found that turning on the cell cycle in adult brain damages the cells. In their current study, the investigators devised a clever way to activate c-Abl in neurons of normal adult mice. They turned on human c-Abl genes in two different regions – the hippocampus and the neocortex – in adult mice and discovered abundant cell death, especially in the hippocampus. “You don’t even need to count, you can just look and see holes in the cell layers of the hippocampus,” said Dr. Davies. “It is stunning. Even before the neurons die, there is florid inflammation.”

He said that the animal model is ideal for testing the benefit of drugs that turn off c-Abl. While Gleevec works in CML, it does not cross the blood-brain barrier so it would not be useful. Dr. Davies and his colleagues are looking for other drugs that inhibit c-Abl and can get into the brain. “We have a great model to test compounds for Alzheimer’s disease. Will regulating c-Abl make a difference for patients? We won’t know unless we try it in double blind clinical trials.”

The researchers are now working to understand the mechanism of cell death. They are also investigating why males die considerably sooner than females – 12 to 15 weeks compared to 24 to 26 weeks. “It is an incredibly interesting model,” said Dr. Davies. “If c-Abl is important we can learn how it works.”

This article was prepared by Clinical Trials Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2011, Clinical Trials Week via NewsRx.com.

After decades of studying the pathological process that wipes out large volumes of memory, scientists at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research discovered a molecule called c-Abl that has a known role in leukemia also has a hand in Alzheimer's disease. The finding, reported in the June 14th issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, offers a new target for drug development that could stave off the pathological disease process (see also Alzheimer Disease).

Peter Davies, PhD, head of the Feinstein Institute's Litwin-Zucker Center for Research in Alzheimer's Disease, became interested in c-Abl when he found that the protein was part of the plaques and tangles that crowd the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The protein c-Abl is a tyrosine kinase involved in cell differentiation, cell division and cell adhesion. In patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), c-Abl is turned up in B cells. Inhibiting c-Abl with the cancer drug Gleevec prevents cell division. There was quite a lot known about c-Abl when Dr. Davies began thinking about its possible role in Alzheimer's. He was looking at kinases that phosphorylate tau, the protein that accumulates inside of the neurons during the disease process.

Dr. Davies questioned whether activated c-Abl turned on the cell cycle and could kill adult cells. He designed the study to test this idea and found that turning on the cell cycle in adult brain damages the cells. In their current study, the investigators devised a clever way to activate c-Abl in neurons of normal adult mice. They turned on human c-Abl genes in two different regions - the hippocampus and the neocortex - in adult mice and discovered abundant cell death, especially in the hippocampus. "You don't even need to count, you can just look and see holes in the cell layers of the hippocampus," said Dr. Davies. "It is stunning. Even before the neurons die, there is florid inflammation."

He said that the animal model is ideal for testing the benefit of drugs that turn off c-Abl. While Gleevec works in CML, it does not cross the blood-brain barrier so it would not be useful. Dr. Davies and his colleagues are looking for other drugs that inhibit c-Abl and can get into the brain. "We have a great model to test compounds for Alzheimer's disease. Will regulating c-Abl make a difference for patients? We won't know unless we try it in double blind clinical trials."

The researchers are now working to understand the mechanism of cell death. They are also investigating why males die considerably sooner than females - 12 to 15 weeks compared to 24 to 26 weeks. "It is an incredibly interesting model," said Dr. Davies. "If c-Abl is important we can learn how it works."

This article was prepared by Clinical Trials Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2011, Clinical Trials Week via NewsRx.com.

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Home Birthing On the Rise

Posted May 21, 2011

ATLANTA – Home births rose 20 percent over four years, government figures show, reflecting what experts say is a small subculture among white women toward natural birth.

Fewer than 1 percent of U.S. births occur at home. But the proportion is clearly going up, study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. The new figures are for 2004 to 2008. Home births had been declining from 1990 to 2004.

The increase was driven by white women – 1 in 98 had their babies at home in 2008, the most recent year for which the statistics were available.

Only about 1 in 357 black women give birth at home, and just 1 in 500 Hispanic women do.

“I think there’s more of a natural birth subculture going on with white women – an interest in a low-intervention birth in a familiar setting,” said the lead author, Marian MacDorman of the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

For all races combined, about 1 in 143 births were at home in 2008, up from 1 in 179 in 2004.

Geographically, 27 states had significant increases during those four years. Montana, Vermont and Oregon had the most home births – about 1 in 50 births were at home in those states.

Alaska’s rate was nearly as high, and it’s clear that some home births occur because women are in remote locations and are not able to get to hospitals in time for delivery.

The increase is notable because doctors groups have been increasingly vocal about opposing home births, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has for years warned against home births, arguing they can be unsafe, especially if the mother has high-risk medical conditions, if the attendant is inadequately trained or if there’s no quick way to get mother and child to a hospital if something goes awry.

Doctor participation in home births declined by 38 percent from 2004 to 2008. The percentage of home births attended by certified midwives and nurse-midwives grew, meanwhile.

Home births increasing? “From our perspective, that’s not the best thing for the overall health of babies and women,” said Dr. George Macones, an obstetrician at Washington University in St. Louis who chairs ACOG’s Committee on Obstetric Practice.

Exactly how unsafe home births are is a matter of medical controversy, with studies offering conflicting conclusions. And some argue that hospitals present their own dangers of infection and sometimes unnecessary medical interventions.

The CDC researchers did find that home births involving medical risks became less common from 2004 to 2008. Home births of infants born prematurely fell by 16 percent, so that by 2008 only 6 percent of all home births involved preterm births. That’s less than half the percentage in hospitals.

The study was done by two CDC researchers and a Boston university professor. It was electronically published Friday by a medical journal called Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care.

ATLANTA - Home births rose 20 percent over four years, government figures show, reflecting what experts say is a small subculture among white women toward natural birth.

Fewer than 1 percent of U.S. births occur at home. But the proportion is clearly going up, study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. The new figures are for 2004 to 2008. Home births had been declining from 1990 to 2004.

The increase was driven by white women - 1 in 98 had their babies at home in 2008, the most recent year for which the statistics were available.

Only about 1 in 357 black women give birth at home, and just 1 in 500 Hispanic women do.

"I think there's more of a natural birth subculture going on with white women - an interest in a low-intervention birth in a familiar setting," said the lead author, Marian MacDorman of the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

For all races combined, about 1 in 143 births were at home in 2008, up from 1 in 179 in 2004.

Geographically, 27 states had significant increases during those four years. Montana, Vermont and Oregon had the most home births - about 1 in 50 births were at home in those states.

Alaska's rate was nearly as high, and it's clear that some home births occur because women are in remote locations and are not able to get to hospitals in time for delivery.

The increase is notable because doctors groups have been increasingly vocal about opposing home births, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has for years warned against home births, arguing they can be unsafe, especially if the mother has high-risk medical conditions, if the attendant is inadequately trained or if there's no quick way to get mother and child to a hospital if something goes awry.

Doctor participation in home births declined by 38 percent from 2004 to 2008. The percentage of home births attended by certified midwives and nurse-midwives grew, meanwhile.

Home births increasing? "From our perspective, that's not the best thing for the overall health of babies and women," said Dr. George Macones, an obstetrician at Washington University in St. Louis who chairs ACOG's Committee on Obstetric Practice.

Exactly how unsafe home births are is a matter of medical controversy, with studies offering conflicting conclusions. And some argue that hospitals present their own dangers of infection and sometimes unnecessary medical interventions.

The CDC researchers did find that home births involving medical risks became less common from 2004 to 2008. Home births of infants born prematurely fell by 16 percent, so that by 2008 only 6 percent of all home births involved preterm births. That's less than half the percentage in hospitals.

The study was done by two CDC researchers and a Boston university professor. It was electronically published Friday by a medical journal called Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care.

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