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The chances are good that sugar is a bigger part of your daily diet then you may realize. Which is why this story is so important. New research coming out of some of America’s most respected institutions is starting to find that sugar the way many people are eating it today is a TOXIN and could be a driving force behind some of this country’s leading killers including a heart disease. As of result of these findings an anti-sugar campaign has sprung up led by Dr. Robert H .Lustig.
Dr Robert H Lustig has been researching the effects of sugars on the endocrine system since 1998 warning about the dangers of fructose and its involvement in the obesity, heart disease and diabetes epidemics in adults and now children.
Since 1999 Lustig has authored or co-authored peer reviewed studies on carbohydrates and the effect they have on hormones and enzyme balance within the human body.
What he says is controversial but incontrovertible. We and particularly our children are eating too much fructose. We must lower our consumption to a reasonable level or suffer the consequences.

Please listen to this 15 min segment from 60 minutes 4/1/2012
http://cirrus.mail-list.com/dce/31071147.html

By Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times/For the Booster Shots blog

Nearly two-thirds of Americans who are obese try to lose weight, and about 40% of them actually succeed. How did they do it? The old-school way: By eating less, exercising more and switching to more healthful foods, according to a new study.

That’s not to say that the appeal of fad diets, pre-made diet foods and over-the-counter pills escaped these dieters. But none of these strategies worked. “Liquid diets, nonprescription diet pills and popular diets showed no association with successful weight loss,” according to a study published online Tuesday by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston looked at data collected as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. Study participants get physical examinations and answer detailed questions about their health and diets.

Between 2001 and 2006, the researchers identified 4,021 adults who had been obese for at least a year before participating in the survey. Among them, 2,523 – or 63% – said they had tried to lose weight in the previous 12 months. And among them, 1,026 – or 41% – were able to shed at least 5% of their body weight, a feat that may sound trivial but has been shown to improve health in previous studies. Even better, 510 people – or 20% – succeeded in losing at least 10% of their body weight, which is what the National Institutes of Health recommends.

 

Here’s what the dieters tried that worked:

* 65% ate less food

* 44% ate less fat

* 41% switched to foods with fewer calories

* 4% took weight-loss medications that were prescribed by a doctor

 

Here’s what the dieters tried that didn’t work:

* 41% drank more water

* 14% ate “diet foods or products”

* 10% used nonprescription diet pills, including herbal remedies

* 7% adopted a “liquid-diet formula.”

Among the dieters who lost at least 10% of their body fat, joining a weight loss program was helpful too. The researchers speculate that “the structure of being in a program” was useful in and of itself, even though many such programs involve eating specially prepared foods (a strategy that, on its own, did not help obese people in this study).

To those dieters out there eager to believe that there’s a shortcut by which they can slim down with less pain and less sacrifice, the study authors essentially said, “Forget it.”

You can read the study online here.

Return to the Booster Shots blog.

Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times

While genetic factors play a significant role in determining bone mass, controllable lifestyle factors such as nutrition and physical activity can make the difference between a frail and strong skeleton.

 Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle:

        • Do weight-bearing and resistance exercises for 30 to 45 minutes at least three time a week.

• Always select calcium supplement brand that also contains at least 400 IU of Vitamin D, depending on your level of risk.

• Calcium Citrate supplement such as Citracal is more readily absorbed than Calcium Carbonate supplement or Tums.

• Our body cannot absorb large doses of calcium (500 mg) at once; so spread your calcium consumption of both food and supplements over the day.

• Take all calcium supplements separate from Thyroid medication and Iron supplements.

• Do not smoke. Some studies have shown that smoking increases the risk of developing osteoporosis by 50%.

• Talk to your healthcare professional about bone health; and Bone density testing and medications when appropriate.

 

Bone Builders : 

Eat a diet rich in foods that contain adequate amounts of following nutrients that support bone health:

CALCIUM (Ca)                                                                  

RECOMMENDED INTAKE                                                                      

ADULTS 1000-1200 MG/DAY

FOODS                   Serving                    Calcium

Soy Milk                    1 cup            200-400mg       

Sardines bones          3.5 oz               300mg

Sesame seeds,
ground, whole             3 Tbs                 300mg

Almonds                   1 cup                   300mg

Milk; skim                 1 cup                   300mg

Cheese                     1.5oz                   300mg

Yogurt, nonfat           1 cup                   294mg

Sea Vegetables        1/2 cup                152-283mg

Bok choy                  1 cup                    200mg

Kale                          1 cup                    179mg

Broccoli                    1 cup                    150mg  

Chick peas(cooked)   1 cup                    150mg

Tofu                          4oz                       80 – 150mg

Molasses                  1 tbs                     137mg

Parsley (raw)            1 cup                    122mg

Corn tortillas             2                           120mg  

Sardines                   3oz                        424mg

 

 Bone Reducers :

• Avoid excessive amounts of the retinol form of Vitamin A, since it may increase the breakdown of our bones and interfere with Vitamin D, which we need to help us absorb calcium. Retinol sources include animal-source foods such as liver, egg yolks, cheese, and milk. Dietary supplements and some acne preparations also contain retionol. RDAs for Vitamin A are 3,000 IU for Men and 2330IU for Women where daily intakes over 10,000 IU of the retinol form of Vitamin A are not recommended.
• Limit your salt intake to <2000 mg/day by avoiding table salt, and processed foods.
• Limit caffeine intake to about 4 cups a day. This includes tea, colas, and certain other sodas.
• Limit your intake of alcohol to 1 glass/day for women and 2 glasses/day for men.
• Avoid high protein low carbohydrate diet such as “Atkins Diet”.
• Avoid supplements made from calcium phosphate.
• Avoid antacids containing aluminum.

 

Terms associated with bone health :

• Bone Remodeling: Bone resorption and bone formation, a dynamic, normal process.
• Mineralization: ability of bone to absorb and hold on to minerals, calcium, magnesium, sodium and phosphate
• Osteomalacia: Adult rickets caused by vitamin D deficiency and low absorption of calcium
• Ostepenia: reduced bone mass at any stage of life but the remaining bone has normal mineralization
• Osteoporosis: general loss of bone mass with insufficient protein and collagen, reduced flexibility and reduced strength. Risk of fracture increases.
• Resorption: 2 weeks, osteoclasts clear calcium from bone stores and (bone to blood)
• Rebuilding: Rebuilding of the osteoblast (blood to bone) is much slower, 3-6 months.

 

 
(Credit: istockphoto)

(CBS/AP) “Pink slime,” the gross-sounding name for ammonia-treated ground beef, is on America’s mind in light of a recent report that up to 15 percent of beef found in children’s government-subsidized school lunches contain the colorful-sounding stuff.

Food advocates are now rallying around the headlines trying to get the meat off supermarket shelves and school lunch trays.

Though the term “pink slime” has been used pejoratively for at least several years, it wasn’t until last week that social media suddenly exploded with worry and an online petition seeking its ouster from school lunches that quickly garnered hundreds of thousands of supporters.

Dr. Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University thinks the nickname makes it easier for food advocates to flex their case.

“It sounds disgusting,” said Nestle. “A lot of people have been writing about it. Therefore, more people know about it, therefore more people are queasy about it, particularly when you start thinking about how this stuff turns up in school lunches,” she said.

Just what exactly is pink slime?

It’s actually “lean finely textured beef,” a low-cost ingredient in ground beef made from fatty left over meat trimmings from other cuts. The bits are heated to about 100 F and spun to remove most of the fat, then compressed into blocks for use in ground meat. The product, made by South Dakota-based Beef Products Inc. (BPI), is then exposed to “a puff of ammonium hydroxide gas” to kill bacteria, such as E. coli and salmonella.
There are no precise numbers on how prevalent the product is and it does not have to be labeled as an ingredient. Past estimates have ranged as high as 70 percent; one industry official estimates it is in at least half of U.S. ground meat and burgers.
The product has also been on the market for years and federal regulators say it meets standards for food safety. But advocates for wholesome food have denounced the process as a potentially unsafe and unappetizing example of industrialized food production.
The epithet “pink slime,” coined by a federal microbiologist, has appeared in the media at least since a critical 2009 New York Times report. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has railed against it and it made headlines after McDonald’s and other major chains last year discontinued their use of ammonia-treated beef, HealthPop reported.

But “pink slime” outrage seemed to reach new heights last week amid reports by The Daily. The Daily piece dealt with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s purchase of meat that included “pink slime” for school lunches.
The story touched a nerve with Houston resident Bettina Siegel, whose blog “The Lunch Tray” focuses on kids’ food. On March 6, she started an online petition on Change.org asking Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to “put an immediate end to the use of `pink slime’ in our children’s school food.”

“When I put it up, I had this moment of embarrassment,” she said, “What if only 10 people sign this?”
By Wednesday afternoon, the electronic petition had more than 220,000 signatures. Change.org organizers said that explosive growth is rare among the 10,000 petitions started there every month.
Meanwhile, Google searches for “pink slime” spiked dramatically. But why is “pink slime” striking a nerve all of a sudden?
Issues with broad interest – such as food safety – can explode when they’re picked up and disseminated by widely connected people, said Marc A. Smith, director of the Social Media Research Foundation.

“What’s happening is that the channels whereby this flood can go down this hill have expanded,” Smith said “The more there are things like Twitter, the easier it is for these powder kegs to explode.”
Siegel thinks the added element of kids’ school lunches set off this round.
“That’s what upset me. This idea that children are passively sitting in a lunch room eating what the government sees fit to feed them and McDonald’s has chosen not to use it, but the government is still feeding it to them,” she said. “That really got my ire.”

The USDA – which did not directly address Siegel’s petition – buys about a fifth of the food served in schools nationwide. The agency this year is contracted to buy 111.5 million pounds of ground beef for the National School Lunch Program. About 7 million pounds of that is from Beef Products Inc., though the pink product in question never accounts for more than 15 percent of a single serving of ground beef.

“All USDA ground beef purchases must meet the highest standards for food safety,” agency spokesman Aaron Lavallee said in an email. “USDA has strengthened ground beef food safety standards in recent years and only allows products into commerce that we have confidence are safe.” Beef Product Inc. stresses that its product is 100 percent lean beef and is approved by a series of industry experts. The company’s new website, pinkslimeisamyth.com, refutes some common criticisms of the product. For example it says some of the widely circulating photos of the slime are in fact chicken parts.
The National Meat Association also has joined the fight, refuting that the product comes from “scraps destined for pet food.” The association also said that ammonium hydroxide is used in baked goods, puddings and other processed foods.
“It’s one of those things. It’s the aesthetics of it that just gets people’s attention,” Association CEO Barry Carpenter said. “And in this case, it’s not even legitimate aesthetics of it. It’s a perception of what it is.”

Proponents of the process stress that it is both federally regulated and safe. Though Nestle said the focus on safety misses the larger point.
“I’m not arguing that that stuff is unsafe,” she said, “I’m arguing that it’s the lowest common denominator.”

What do you think about the pink slime controversy?

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) refers to the activities of daily living that burn calories without stepping foot inside of a gym. In fact, it appears that NEAT has more of an impact on body weight than “working out” does. NEAT varies widely among people. Yours could contribute as little as 15% or as much as 50% of your total energy expenditure.

People with highly active jobs can burn up to 1000 calories more each day than their sedentary counterparts. According to the American Heart Association, “To reverse obesity, we need to develop individual strategies to promote standing and ambulating time by 2.5 hours per day and also re-engineer our work, school, and home environments to render active living the option of choice.”

 Add some more activity into your daily routine, and keep at it for 3 weeks. It will become a habit, and you may just become thinner and healthier! Dr James Levine of the Mayo Clinic, the founder of the NEAT principle, has studied calorie burning for more than 20 years. For more information about NEAT, read Levine’s book, Move a Little, Lose A Lot, written with Selene Yeager.

 
Endocrinologist James Levine gets a little exercise while working at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., Jan. 19. Levine says many people are victims of electronic living to get himself moving, he built his desk around a treadmill and conducts all his meetings while going for a walk.

Simple ways to increase NEAT

Try these suggestions:

• Pace while talking on the telephone
• Do jumping jacks, push-ups, or another exercise of your choice during commercial breaks
• Park as far away as possible from the store when shopping
• Do not use drive-through banking or fast food—get out of the car and walk inside
• Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator
• Mow the grass with a push mower
• Become a gardener instead of hiring a landscaper
• Do not send interoffice e-mail; instead, walk to the other person’s office and talk face to face
• Get up every 20 minutes and walk around, or do some stretches when working at your computer or doing other work at your desk
• Just stand up; stand instead of sitting whenever possible—you will increase your level of NEAT
• Wash your car by hand instead of taking it to a drive-through car wash
• Prepare your own meals instead of purchasing them ready to go; yes, even slicing your own tomatoes or mashing your own potatoes increases NEAT
• Put your alarm clock across the room instead of right beside the bed—up and at ‘em
• Do a little housework every day
• Schedule your work meetings with coworkers or have your after-dinner conversations with friends and family outside—take a walk around the block or yard 

References and recommended readings

Hellmich N. Q&A: how to drop pounds with all-day activities, not exercise. Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009-01-21-fidget-activity_N.htm. Accessed May 17, 2010.

Levine JA, Vander Weg MW, Hill JO, Klesges RC. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis: the crouching tiger hidden dragon of societal weight gain. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol [serial online]. 2006;26:729-736. Available at: http://atvb.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/26/4/729. Accessed May 17, 2010.

 Review Date 6/10

G-1345

 

Pass the popcorn. A new study confirms that the hull of popcorn has some good nutritional qualities — assuming it’s not smothered in butter, oil and salt.

Researchers at the University of Scranton (Pa.) ran a lab analysis on the content in several types and brands of popcorn and found that the crunchy hull is rich in polyphenols — antioxidants that prevent damage to cells. Polyphenols also may have disease-fighting properties.
“The hull is where the most nutritional goodies (polyphenols) are — not the white fluffy part,” says chemistry professor Joe Vinson, senior author of the study, which was partially funded by a popcorn company. Vinson also has studied chocolate, coffee, spices and cereals. The popcorn findings were presented Sunday at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego.
Vinson says polyphenols are concentrated in hulls because popcorn doesn’t have a lot of water and because it’s 100% whole grain. Some other foods that have polyphenols, such as fruits and vegetables, contain a lot more water.
Popcorn is usually minimally processed, he says. “We know whole grains are good for us in fighting a number of chronic diseases, but we don’t know why yet. People thought it was just the fiber that made popcorn a healthful choice, but in my opinion, it’s the combination of fiber and polyphenols.”
Fruits and vegetables also contain polyphenols, along with vitamins and minerals not found in popcorn, he says. “I don’t want people to think they can just eat popcorn to get all the polyphenols they need. I don’t want them to think of popcorn as an alternative to fruits and vegetables.”
Researchers are still investigating the effect of polyphenols on the body, Vinson says. “Just measuring something in the food is easy to do. It creates some information, but the proof in the pudding is what happens in the body.”

Kantha Shelke, a spokeswoman for the Institute of Food Technologists and a food chemist in Chicago who has studied popcorn, says the latest findings confirm other research on the subject. “Popcorn has an antioxidant called ferulic acid that’s also found in beans, corn, rice, wheat, barley and many other grains,” she says. “Ferulic acid exhibits a wide range of therapeutic effects against cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neuro-degenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s) largely because of its strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.”
Still, there’s no guarantee that the polyphenols are in the body long enough to have an effect, she says. “It’s possible that popcorn goes through the body really fast. If the polyphenols reside largely in the hull, which is principally insoluble fiber and not digested, they are not sitting in our digestive system for an extended period of time, and we may not absorb all the antioxidants,” Shelke says. “The hull may be loaded with nutrients that go right through us. The hull acts like a Roto-Rooter.”

Benefits oversold?

Some nutritionists are skeptical about overselling the health benefits of popcorn, especially given that it’s often drenched in salt and high-fat butter and oil.
Bonnie Liebman, director of nutrition for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group that has analyzed the calories in movie-theater popcorn, says a small unbuttered popcorn at the movies typically has more than 650 calories; a large has 1,200.
“What’s more, the evidence that polyphenols might lower the risk of disease is still preliminary,” Liebman says. “Considering that two out of three American adults and one out of three children are overweight or obese, the best advice is to snack on fresh fruit or vegetables and to ignore the snack counter at the movies.”

Shelke says movie popcorn gets a bad name because of the stuff people put on it.
“There’s nothing wrong with eating popcorn with a little oil or a little butter within a balanced diet,” she says. “Popcorn drenched in butter or oil is bad. Sprinkled or sprayed and consumed in moderation is good for both the body and the soul.
“I go to the movies for the movie and the popcorn. I comfort myself that my popcorn also provided me with a whopping dose of fiber.”

By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY