Dr. John's Health Matters
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Posts tagged "carbohydrate"
Wednesday, Sep 2nd, 2009 ↓High-Carb, High-Fat Diets Better for Cognitive Performance →
September 1, 2009 (Medscape.com) — Diets high in carbohydrates or fat can lead to significantly better cognitive-performance and inflight-testing scores in pilots than diets high in protein, according to results reported in a poster presentation at the Military Health Research Forum (MHRF) 2009 in Kansas City, Missouri.
In addition, a high-carbohydrate diet helped study pilots sleep better, and a high-fat diet appeared to lead to significantly faster short-term memory.
“We started out thinking that the high-protein diet would lead to being the sharpest afterward,” said colead investigator Glenda Lindseth, RN, PhD, licensed registered dietician and professor of nursing at the University of North Dakota (UND) in Grand Forks. “But we were surprised by our findings that it was actually the high-carb or high-fat diets that were the best. Eating a diet that’s high in protein just isn’t going to help you perform optimally.”
“As a retired air-force pilot and a pilot for over 30 years, I believe this type of study is definitely needed,” said the other colead author, Paul Lindseth, PhD, professor of aviation and associate dean at the UND Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. “This is important for pilots in the military and in combat situations, where they need to be sharp and alert.”
For full medical article, see link above.
Tags: high carb carbohydrate fat protein macronutrient diet nutrition cognitive performance testing score sleep short term memory performance alertness
Low-carb Diets Linked To Atherosclerosis And Impaired Blood Vessel Growth →
Aug 25, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Even as low-carbohydrate/high-protein diets have proven successful at helping individuals rapidly lose weight, little is known about the diets’ long-term effects on vascular health.
Now, a study led by a scientific team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) provides some of the first data on this subject, demonstrating that mice placed on a 12-week low carbohydrate/high-protein diet showed a significant increase in atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque in the heart’s arteries and a leading cause of heart attack and stroke. The findings also showed that the diet led to an impaired ability to form new blood vessels in tissues deprived of blood flow, as might occur during a heart attack.
Described in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study also found that standard markers of cardiovascular risk, including cholesterol, were not changed in the animals fed the low-carb diet, despite the clear evidence of increased vascular disease.
“It’s very difficult to know in clinical studies how diets affect vascular health,” says senior author Anthony Rosenzweig, MD, Director of Cardiovascular Research in BIDMC’s CardioVascular Institute and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “We, therefore, tend to rely on easily measured serum markers [such as cholesterol], which have been surprisingly reassuring in individuals on low-carbohydrate/high-protein diets, who do typically lose weight. But our research suggests that, at least in animals, these diets could be having adverse cardiovascular effects that are not reflected in simple serum markers.”
For full article, see link above.
Tags: cardiovascualr diet long term weight loss carbohydrate high protein atherosclerosis blood vessel cholesterol disease
Unripe Banana Flour Could Give A Healthy Boost To Pasta →
Aug 4, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Supplementing spaghetti with unripe banana flour may be a healthy addition since banana flour contains antioxidants and fiber, according to a study in the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists.
Fiber-rich unripe banana flour contains resistant starch, a type of fiber that may aid in managing weight and type 2 diabetes. “As consumers are unlikely to eat sufficient amounts of vegetables and other fiber-rich foods directly, the supplementation of pasta with unripe banana flour can play an important role in achieving health benefits,” says Edith Agama-Acevedo, lead researcher at the Centro de Desarrollo de Productos Bióticos del IPN in Mexico.
Banana flour was added to pasta in the study because pasta is considered a product with a low glycemic index, a rating that measures the effects of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels. Low glycemic responses are thought to be favorable to health because of possible prevention of heart disease and metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes.
For full article see link above.
Tags: banana flour pasta nutrition diet antioxidant fiber starch weight diabetes vegetable fruit supplement blood sugar gycemic index carbohydrate heart disease cardiovascular
Antioxidants from black tea may aid diabetics →
July 29, 2009 (Nutraingredients.com)—Polysaccharides from black tea may blunt the spike in sugar levels after a meal more than similar compounds from green and oolong tea, and offer potential to manage diabetes, says a new study.
The black tea polysaccharides also exhibited the greatest activity for scavenging free radicals, which are linked to development of diseases such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, according to new findings published in the Journal of Food Science.
Interest in tea and its constituents has bloomed in recent years, with the greatest focus on the leaf’s polyphenol content. Green tea contains between 30 and 40 per cent of water-extractable polyphenols, while black tea (green tea that has been oxidized by fermentation) contains between 3 and 10 per cent. Oolong tea is semi-fermented tea and is somewhere between green and black tea.
The new research looked at the polysaccharide content of green, black and oolong tea, and measured their ability to inhibit the effects of alpha-glucosidase activity. By inhibiting this carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzyme, it is possible to reduce the spike in glucose levels in the blood following a meal (postprandial hyperglycemia).
For full article see link above.
Tags: antioxidant black tea polysaccharide disease cancer prevetion arthritis polyphenol glucose blood sugar meal carbohydrate diabetic diabetes supplement
Diets Bad For The Teeth Are Also Bad For The Body →
July 12, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Dental disease may be a wake-up call that your diet is harming your body.
“The five-alarm fire bell of a tooth ache is difficult to ignore,” says Dr. Philippe P. Hujoel, professor of dental public health sciences at the University of Washington (UW) School of Dentistry in Seattle. Beyond the immediate distress, dental pain may portend future medical problems. It may be a warning that the high-glycemic diet that led to dental problems in the short term may, in the long term, lead to potentially serious chronic diseases.
For full article see link above.
Tags: toothache diet decay pain gylcemic sugar disease high dental problem carbohydrate fermentable
Meatless Foods Not Always Full of Veggies - Healthy Recipes, Nutrition and Cooking Tips to Improve Health or Lose Weight on MedicineNet.com →
July 8, 2009 (HealthDay News) — Not all vegetarian burgers and hot dogs are alike. It seems that some, in fact, may not offer much at all in the way of vegetables.
“Arguably, if food doesn’t taste good, people are less likely to eat it even if it does wear an impressive nutrition label,” registered dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, said in a news release from the organization. “While some veggie burgers are meant to look and taste ‘like meat,’ many popular brands have visible chunks of vegetables, such as mushrooms, carrots and peppers, suggesting that satisfying meatless fare may not depend entirely on a successful imitation.”
So before tossing some on the grill this summer, the association advises, read the labels and know the facts:
- Veggie burgers with 10 grams of protein or less tend to contain more vegetables and whole grains than those with more protein, which often are made of mostly soy protein and wheat gluten.
- Nutritionally speaking, veggie hot dogs tend to have many advantages over traditional frankfurters, such as fewer calories, less fat, less sodium and more protein.
- Though veggie burgers contain far less fat and more fiber than beef or turkey burgers, they tend to contain much more sodium — an average of 350 milligrams, or 15% of the recommended daily amount.
- Just because a brand is vegan-friendly (meaning it’s made without such animal products as eggs and cheese), it doesn’t necessarily contain more vegetables.
- Meatless burgers and hot dogs can be bad for people with certain food allergies. Most contain soy and wheat, and many others contain eggs, dairy and nuts.
- Some meatless burgers or hot dogs tend to fall apart on the grill so use cooking spray on them and cook over low-medium heat but not over a direct flame, which could dry them out. Baking or broiling in an oven or toaster oven, microwaving or heating in a skillet might prove better cooking options with some brands of meatless burgers and hot dogs.
— Kevin McKeever
Tags: vegetable vegetarian vegan nutrition diet soy gluten sodium calories burger fat protein carbohydrate fiber
Carbohydrate Acts As Tumor Suppressor →
July 6, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have discovered that specialized complex sugar molecules (glycans) that anchor cells into place act as tumor suppressors in breast and prostate cancers. These glycans play a critical role in cell adhesion in normal cells, and their decrease or loss leads to increased cell migration by invasive cancer cells and metastasis. An increase in expression of the enzyme that produces these glycans, β3GnT1, resulted in a significant reduction in tumor activity.
The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The specialized glycans are capable of binding to laminin and are attached to the α-DG cell surface protein. This binding facilitates adhesion between epithelial and basement membrane cells and prevents cells from migrating. The team of scientists, led by Professor Minoru Fukuda, Ph.D., demonstrated that β3GnT1 controls the synthesis of laminin-binding glycans in concert with the genes LARGE/LARGE2. Down-regulation of β3GnT1 reduces the number of glycans, leading to greater movement by invasive cancer cells. However, when the researchers forced aggressive cancer cells to express β3GnT1, the laminin-binding glycans were restored and tumor formation decreased.
“These results indicate that certain carbohydrates on normal cells and enzymes that synthesize those glycans, such as β3GnT1, function as tumor suppressors,” said Dr. Fukuda.” Upregulation of β3GnT1 may become a novel way to treat cancer.”
For full article see link above.
How High Carbohydrate Foods Can Raise Risk For Heart Problems →
June 27, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Doctors have known for decades that too much carbohydrate-laden foods like white bread and corn flakes can be detrimental to cardiac health. In a landmark study, new research from Tel Aviv University now shows exactly how these high carb foods increase the risk for heart problems.
“Looking inside” the arteries of students eating a variety of foods, Dr. Michael Shechter of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine and the Heart Institute of Sheba Medical Center — with collaboration of the Endocrinology Institute — visualized exactly what happens inside the body when the wrong foods for a healthy heart are eaten. He found that foods with a high glycemic index distended brachial arteries for several hours.
Elasticity of arteries anywhere in the body can be a measure of heart health. But when aggravated over time, a sudden expansion of the artery wall can cause a number of negative health effects, including reduced elasticity, which can cause heart disease or sudden death.
For full article see link above.
Tags: heart blood carbohydrate artery circulatory risk prevention diet nutrition nutrient glycemic disease
Children with Epilepsy Helped with Natural Ketogenic Diet →
June 18, 2009(NaturalNews.com)— Epilepsy is a general term used for a group of disorders of the central nervous system that cause a disturbance in electrical signals to the brain. It’s a temporary malfunction of the brain that affects more than two million Americans. Seizures on the other hand are a symptom of epilepsy. Someone who experiences seizures may not necessarily have epilepsy. One third of people with seizure disorder are children.
Fortunately many of them will outgrow seizures as their brains mature. In the meantime, there is a specialized dietary program that benefits the majority of these children and helps them control their seizures. It’s called the ketogenic diet. According to the Mayo Clinic, children with epilepsy have been able to reduce their seizures while maintaining this food protocol. Furthermore, many have been able to stop taking, or reduce, the dosage of their medication. Some children have eventually gone off the diet after a few years and never suffered another seizure.
For full article see link above.
Tags: epilepsy nerve brain seizures ketogenic diet nutrition prevention carbohydrate fat energy
Cornflakes linked to heart disease →
June 13, 2009 (Presstv.com) —Adopting a diet rich in carbohydrates interferes with the function of blood vessels, placing the individual at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Previous studies had considered high blood sugar levels after meals as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, not only in patients with diabetes but also in the general population.
High-glycemic meals, such as white bread, cornflakes and instant potatoes, are reported to increase blood sugar levels more than foods with low-glycemic index — oatmeal, most fruits and vegetables, legumes and nuts.
According to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, a diet rich in high-glycemic food is linked to higher risk of heart disease.
High-glycemic foods not only increase postprandial blood sugar levels but also interfere with the function of blood vessels, a key variable in the development of hardening of the arteries and heart disease increasing the cardiac events.
“The main take-home message is that high-glycemic index carbs are dangerous since they reduce or inhibit endothelial function, which is the ‘risk of the risk factors,’ leading to atherosclerosis and potentially leading to heart disease,” said Michael Shechter, the leader of the research team.
For full article see link above.
Tags: cardiovascular, heart blood glucose vessel sugar High-glycemic carbohydrate atherosclerosis risk diet nutrition prevention
Plant-based, Low-carb Diet May Promote Weight Loss And Improve Cholesterol Levels →
June 9, 2008 (Sicnecedaily.com) — Overweight individuals who ate a low-calorie, low-carbohydrate diet high in plant-based proteins for four weeks lost weight and experienced improvements in blood cholesterol levels and other heart disease risk factors, according to a report in the June 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. A high-carbohydrate, low-fat vegetarian diet also resulted in weight loss but without the additional cardiovascular benefits.
“There is a dilemma relating to the proportion and source of fat, protein and carbohydrate that constitutes the optimal weight loss and cholesterol-lowering diet,” the authors write as background information in the article. Newer dietary approaches for the prevention and treatment of chronic disease emphasize increased fruit and vegetable intake and reduced meat consumption.
For full article see link above.
Tags: diet nutrition obesity weight overweight calorie carbohydrate protein cholesterol heart cardiovascular blood fat vegetarian benefit prevention meat fruit vegetable
Why High-Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Insulin Resistance - articles - →
Mar 26 09 (Mercola.com) — A new study in mice sheds light on at least part of the reason for the insulin resistance that can come from diets high in high-fructose corn syrup, a sweetener found in most sodas and many other processed foods.
Fructose is much more readily metabolized to fat in the liver than glucose, and in the process can lead to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. NAFLD in turn leads to hepatic insulin resistance and type II diabetes.
Researchers showed that mice fed a high-fructose diet could be protected from insulin resistance if a gene known as transcriptional coactivator PPARg coactivator-1b (PGC-1b) was “knocked down” in the animals’ liver and fat tissue. PGC-1b controls the activity of several other genes, including one responsible for building fat in the liver. This suggests an important role for PGC-1b in the pathogenesis of fructose-induced insulin resistance.
Sources:
Science Daily March 3, 2009Low-Carb Diet Touted as Possible Acne Aid →
SAN FRANCISCO, March 1309 (Medical News) — More than 80% of adherents to the South Beach Diet noticed improvement in their complexion within three months of starting the dietary regimen, data from a large survey suggest.
And among survey respondents taking acne medication, 91% said they decreased the dose of medication or the amount of acne treatment after starting the diet, Panta Rouhani, Ph.D., of the University of Miami, and colleagues reported here at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting.
For full medical article, see link above.
Fewer Calories Equals Less Weight →
February 26, 2009 (Boston, Massachusetts) Medical News — It may be one of the most commonsense observations ever to be validated in a diet study: people lose weight if they eat fewer calories, regardless of where those calories come from [1]. That’s the upshot of a two-year study by Dr Frank Sacks (Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA) and colleagues, published in the February 26, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
For full medical article, see link above.
LOW-CARB HIGH PROTEIN-DIET NOT RAISING RISK OF HEART DISEASE IN WOMEN
Background: Low-carbohydrate diets have been advocated for weight loss and to prevent obesity, but the long-term safety of these diets has not been determined.
Methods: We evaluated data on 82,802 women in the Nurses’ Health Study who had completed a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Data from the questionnaire were used to calculate a low-carbohydrate-diet score, which was based on the percentage of energy as carbohydrate, fat, and protein (a higher score reflects a higher intake of fat and protein and a lower intake of carbohydrate). The association between the low-carbohydrate-diet score and the risk of coronary heart disease was examined.
Results: During 20 years of follow-up, we documented 1994 new cases of coronary heart disease. After multivariate adjustment, the relative risk of coronary heart disease comparing highest and lowest deciles of the low-carbohydrate-diet score was 0.94 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.76 to 1.18; P for trend=0.19). The relative risk comparing highest and lowest deciles of a low-carbohydrate-diet score on the basis of the percentage of energy from carbohydrate, animal protein, and animal fat was 0.94 (95% CI, 0.74 to 1.19; P for trend=0.52), whereas the relative risk on the basis of the percentage of energy from intake of carbohydrates, vegetable protein, and vegetable fat was 0.70 (95% CI, 0.56 to 0.88; P for trend=0.002). A higher glycemic load was strongly associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (relative risk comparing highest and lowest deciles, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.15 to 3.15; P for trend=0.003).
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that diets lower in carbohydrate and higher in protein and fat are not associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease in women. When vegetable sources of fat and protein are chosen, these diets may moderately reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.
Halton TL, et al. New England Journal of Medicine. November 9, 2006; Vol. 355, No. 19, pp. 1991-2002.
