A lot of research has been published on the importance of omega-3 fatty acid.
It’s not only important that you eat omega 3 fat, but it is important that you eat enough of omega 3 fat so that the ratio of  omega 6 to omega 3 is good.
The research reviewed here is interesting because it looks at the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fats and its association to dementia and cognitive decline (Loef M., Walachia H.,2013). The research included both animal and human studies.

The results documented a  positive association between the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fat and cognitive decline, dementia  and an increased risk for Alzheimer’s decease. This was found in studies for both animals and humans.

Most people today have a higher ratio than what is desirable of omega six to Omega 3  fat because they are using vegetable oil when cooking, and they are not eating enough omega-3 fats. An easy way to correct that is to use a high quality fish oil. Two capsules daily of an oil that contains high amounts of EPA, DHA the active ingredients of Omega 3 fat will make a big difference.

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

 

 

Reference:

 

Loef M, Walach H. The omega-6/omega-3 ratio and dementia or cognitive decline: a systematic review on human studies and biological evidence. J Nutr Gerontol Geriatr. 2013 Jan;32(1):1-23. doi: 10.1080/21551197.2012.752335.

 

It’s a common belief that artificially sweetened soft drinks are a good alternative to sugar sweetened ones. They are usually promoted as diet soft drinks, and people with Diabetes may also think it’s okay to drink this, because they don’t contain regular sugar.

The reviewed research is interesting because it compared regular sugar sweetened beverages with artificially sweetened ones, investigating the risk of type 2 diabetes (Fagherazzi G. et.al., 2013). A total of 66.118 women were followed from 1993.

The women who were in the highest quartiles of consumption of both beverages were at increased risk of type II diabetes. The artificially sweetened beverages were not any better at all.

Other studies have shown that people who drink artificially sweetened soft drinks don’t lose any more weight either. If you want something sparkly, try sparkling water instead.

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

 

 

Reference:

 

Fagherazzi G, Vilier A, Saes Sartorelli D, Lajous M, Balkau B, Clavel-Chapelon F. Consumption of artificially and sugar-sweetened beverages and incident type 2 diabetes in the Etude Epidemiologique aupres des femmes de la Mutuelle Generale de l’Education Nationale-European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Mar;97(3):517-23. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.112.050997. Epub 2013 Jan 30.

 

No one can dispute that regular exercise is beneficial, but sometimes we tend to think that more is better.
The reviewed research investigated the effects of training for, and the participation in endurance competitions like marathon ultra-marathon, Iron-man distance triathlons and very long-distance bicycle racing (Patil HR, et.al.,2012).

In veteran extreme endurance athletes the recurrent injury and repair to the heart muscle that occur in these athletes may essentially create arrhythmias.

Chronic excessive and sustained endurance exercise may be associated with diastolic dysfunction, large-artery wall stiffening and coronary artery calcification.

Don’t draw the conclusion that exercise is dangerous, and that it is better not to exercise, because that is not true. Most endurance athletes don’t even develop these conditions, but if you’re thinking about starting to run marathons for health reasons, you may want to rethink that and instead start to do high-intensity interval training. High-intensity interval training takes a lot less time, and has shown to provide numerous health benefits.

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

 

 

Reference:

 

Patil HR, O’Keefe JH, Lavie CJ, Magalski A, Vogel RA, McCullough PA. Cardiovascular damage resulting from chronic excessive endurance exercise. Mo Med. 2012 Jul-Aug;109(4):312-21.

 

The study referred here investigated if deep-fried food may increase the risk of prostate cancer (Stott-Miller M,et.al.,2013).

Other research suggests that high-heat cooking may increase the risk of prostate cancer possibly because of the formation of carcinogens.

The researchers found a positive association with prostate cancer risk for people that ate french fries, fried chicken, fried fish, and donuts one or more times per week. The association was even slightly stronger for more aggressive cancers.

Since it wasn’t clear if it was the high heat cooking or the frying that increased the risk, it’s better to just avoid both.

 

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

 

 

Reference:

 

Stott-Miller M, Neuhouser ML, Stanford JL. Consumption of deep-fried foods and risk of prostate cancer. Prostate. 2013 Jan 17. doi: 10.1002/pros.22643.

Research has documented that walnuts improve cardiovascular risk factors.

The reviewed research investigated if walnuts may affect the risk of diabetes (Pan A.,et.al.,2013). 58.063 women aged 52 -77 years and also 79.893 women aged 35-52 years were followed over ten years. None of the women had Diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer at the start of the study. The consumption of walnuts and other nuts were assessed every 4 years.

The results showed that women that ate the most walnuts, 2 or more servings per week (1 serving was 28 g) had the lowest risk for Diabetes, but the ones who only ate 1-3 servings per month also showed a reduced risk compared to the women who never or rarely ate walnuts.

The women who ate other nuts also had a lower risk for Diabetes.

Nuts are both a convenient and good snack as long as you don’t have too many at one time. They have a very low glycemic index. Nuts can also be sprinkled on berries or a little bit of fruit as a healthy desert.

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

 

 

Reference:

 

Pan A, Sun Q, Manson JE, Willett WC, Hu FB. Walnut Consumption Is Associated with Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Women. J Nutr. 2013 Feb 20.

 

The conservative view on saturated fat has been that it is harmful. Lately fat has, however, gotten a better reputation. There are now people promoting even saturated fat as being healthy. So what should you believe?

There is plenty of research showing that fat is a necessity if you’re going to stay healthy, but is all fat healthy? That is exactly what the reviewed research  investigated (Livingstone KM, et. al.,2013). The participants were 2398 men, aged 40 to 59 years. Researchers followed up with the participants at five year intervals for an average of 17.8 years.

At the start of the study, higher saturated fat consumption was associated with higher systolic blood pressure and also higher diastolic blood pressure. After a 17.8 year follow-up, the participants with higher saturated fat consumption also had a 0.51 m/s higher aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV), which is a measurement of arterial stiffness. This meant that they had stiffer arteries.

The participants with higher polyunsaturated fatty acid consumption had, at the start of the study both lower systolic blood pressure and lower diastolic blood pressure. After a 17.8 year follow-up, they had a 0.63 m/s lower aPWV, which means they had lower arterial stiffness.

The conclusion is that saturated fat and polyunsaturated fat have the opposite effect. The polyunsaturated fats, which you find in nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil and fish, are healthy. The saturated fats you find in meat and dairy products are unhealthy.

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

 

 

Reference:

 

Livingstone KM, Givens DI, Cockcroft JR, Pickering JE, Lovegrove JA. Is fatty acid intake a predictor of arterial stiffness and blood pressure in men? Evidence from the Caerphilly Prospective Study. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2013 Feb 13. pii: S0939-4753(12)00282-7. doi: 10.1016/j.numecd.2012.12.002.

 

There has been a lot of research in the last few years on the benefits of interval training. The reviewed study compared interval walking with regular walking (Karstoft K, et. al.,2013).

The participants were people with Type II Diabetes. One group completed 60 minutes of continuous walking. The other group completed interval walking, alternating between three minutes repetitions at low and high intensity. The training energy expenditure and the average intensity were comparable.

The results were very interesting. The VO(2)max, a measure of physical fitness, increased 16.1 percent in the interval group with no changes in the continuous walking group. The body mass, fat mass, and visceral fat decreased only in the interval-walking group. Glycemic control worsened in the continuous walking group with elevated continuous glucose monitoring and increased fasting insulin. The average and maximum continuous glucose levels decreased in the interval-walking group.

The researchers concluded that interval walking is superior to energy expenditure during continuous walking for improved physical fitness, body composition, and glycemic control. This confirms what other research has documented earlier. You get more benefits from exercise if it includes bursts of high-intensity intervals.

 

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

 

 

Reference:

 

Karstoft K, Winding K, Knudsen SH, Nielsen JS, Thomsen C, Pedersen BK, Solomon TP. The Effects of Free-Living Interval-Walking Training on Glycemic Control, Body Composition, and Physical Fitness in Type 2 Diabetic Patients: A randomized, controlled trial. Diabetes Care. 2013 Feb;36(2):228-36. doi: 10.2337/dc12-0658. Epub 2012 Sep 21.

 

Eggs have had a bad reputation. Many people have been afraid of eating eggs due to high cholesterol. This has been going on for years, but is there really any evidence that eggs can cause heart disease?

This is what the researchers of the reviewed article wanted to find out (Rong Y,et al.,2013). They reviewed eight articles which included 4.148.095 person-years.

They found that higher consumption of eggs, of up to one egg per day, is not associated with increased risk for coronary heart disease or stroke.

There are many ways you can enjoy eggs. If you have an omelet with some vegetables and beans, you will actually have a very healthy meal especially if you buy organic free range eggs.

 

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

 

 

Reference:

 

Rong Y, Chen L, Zhu T, Song Y, Yu M, Shan Z, Sands A, Hu FB, Liu L. Egg consumption and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke: dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. BMJ. 2013 Jan 7;346:e8539. doi: 10.1136/bmj.e8539.

 

Most people believe that drinking green tea is a healthy habit. Still the results from the reviewed research may be surprising (Rhodes LE.,et al.,2013).

The participants were women, ranging between the ages of 29 to 59 years old. Their buttock skin were exposed to UV radiations. For 12 weeks, the inflammatory response was measured before and after supplementation with 540 mg of green tea catechins and 50 mg of vitamin C.

The green tea catechins resulted in the incorporation of catechin metabolites into the skin and reduced 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, one of the markers of inflammation.

The researchers stated that this may contribute to protection against sunburn inflammation and potentially longer-term damage.

If you don’t enjoy drinking green tea, there is an easier way to get the benefits of green tea. You can also take it in a capsule form. If you use the formula Better Green Tea, you only need to take one capsule per day which is equivalent to approximately 5 cups of green tea.

 

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

 

 

Reference:

 

Rhodes LE, Darby G, Massey KA, Clarke KA, Dew TP, Farrar MD, Bennett S, Watson RE, Williamson G, Nicolaou A. Oral green tea catechin metabolites are incorporated into human skin and protect against UV radiation-induced cutaneous inflammation in association with reduced production of pro-inflammatory eicosanoid 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid. Br J Nutr. 2013 Jan 28:1-10.

 

Quite a few studies have been published on the consumption of red meat and the increased risk for heart disease and stroke. The reviewed research is interesting because it investigated the risk of diabetes and meat consumption (Feskens E J, et al,2013).

We are used to thinking that red meat may not be the healthiest food when it comes to the cardiovascular system, but most people would probably not think of it as a risk factor for diabetes.

This study however showed an increased risk of type 2 diabetes for meat consumers. The strongest association was found for processed red meat, but the risk was also, increased for unprocessed red meat.

The researchers suggested the reason may be because of compounds present in meat like saturated and trans fatty acids, cholesterol, protein and amino acids, iron, sodium, nitrites and nitrosamines and advanced glycation end products.

For these reasons it would be better to eat red meat in moderation if eating it at all, and if you’re going to  eat it use unprocessed and lean meat, prepared at moderate temperatures. Organic free range would also be a better choice.

 

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

 

 

Reference:

 

Feskens EJ, Sluik D, van Woudenbergh GJ. Meat Consumption, Diabetes, and Its Complications. Curr Diab Rep. 2013 Jan 25.