Low fat diet helps drop pounds, study suggests

Dec. 6, 2012 — Exchanging fatty foods for lower fat alternatives will help people shift around three-and-a-half pounds -- without any other form of dieting. People taking part in trials also saw their waist-lines become slimmer, and levels of bad cholesterol decrease. The results demonstrate that weight loss can happen without actively trying to lose weight beyond simply choosing foods lower in fat.

The report was commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group (NUGAG) Subgroup on Diet and Health following a request to update their guidelines on total fat intake. The results will be crucial in making global recommendations.

The research is particularly important because being overweight or obese increases the risk of many cancers, coronary heart disease and stroke. Reductions in total fat were also associated with small but statistically significant reductions in cholesterols and blood pressure, suggesting a beneficial effect on other major cardiovascular risk factors.

The systematic review included results from 33 randomised controlled trials, in North America, Europe and New Zealand, involving 73,589 men, women and children.

Those taking part had varying states of health. Comparisons were made between those eating less fat than usual (intervention group) and those eating their usual amount of fat (control group). The effect on weight and waist line was measured after at least six months.

The results show that eating less fat reduces body weight by 1.6kg, BMI by 0.56kg/m² and waist circumference by 0.5cm. All these effects were in trials in which weight loss was not the intended outcome, suggesting that they occur in people with normal diets. The weight loss happened quickly and was maintained over at least seven years.

The research was led by Dr Lee Hooper from UEA's Norwich Medical School. She said: "The weight reduction that we found when people ate less fat was remarkably consistent -- we saw it in almost every trial. Those who cut down more on fat, lost more weight.

"The effect isn't dramatic, like going on a diet. The research specifically looked at people who were cutting down on fat, but didn't aim to lose weight -- so they were continuing to consume a normal amount of food. What surprised us was that they did lose weight, their BMI decreased and their waists became slimmer. On top of this, they kept their weight down over at least seven years. There isn't a specific goal, the more fat you cut down, the more your weight falls.

"We didn't consider different types of fat in this study," said Dr Hooper. "But cutting down on saturated fat reduces our risk of heart disease and strokes, so the healthiest way to cut down on fat is to cut down on saturated fats.

"This means having low fat milk and yogurt, cutting down on butter and cheese, and cutting the fat off meat. Most importantly have fruit instead of fatty snacks like biscuits, cake and crisps. And remember, this isn't a diet, so don't take it to extremes, but work out a way of eating that you can stick to permanently.

"Keeping healthy is not just about fat and weight -- but cutting down on fat, especially saturated fat, is a great start. Being physically active, not smoking, drinking alcohol in moderation, eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, and drinking plenty of fluid also help to keep us healthy. We just need to get in the habit of doing these things," she added.

Co-author Prof Carolyn Summerbell, from Durham University, said: "A healthy diet is a way of eating that people can sustain over time. That's the trick, to find a comfortable way to eat that you can stick to for life which helps you maintain your weight. Cutting down on fat will help.

"Doing exercise and being physically active is good for maintaining weight and also has other health benefits, but it's not a replacement for a healthy diet."

The small amount of data available for children in the same analysis confirmed a relationship between total fat intake and subsequent weight change. Further trials are needed to examine the effect of reducing fat intake on body weight in developing countries as well as in children.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of East Anglia, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

L. Hooper, A. Abdelhamid, H. J. Moore, W. Douthwaite, C. M. Skeaff, C. D. Summerbell. Effect of reducing total fat intake on body weight: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and cohort studies. BMJ, 2012; 345 (dec06 1): e7666 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.e7666

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here

Hospital-based exercise programs benefit people with osteoarthritis, study finds

Nov. 10, 2012 — A low-cost exercise program run by Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City has significantly improved pain, function and quality of life in participants with osteoarthritis, according to new research.

The study adds to the growing evidence that exercise is beneficial for osteoarthritis and shows that a hospital-based program can work. The study will be reported at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ACR/ARHP), to be held Nov. 9-14, in Washington D.C.

The new study showed that the weekly exercise programs significantly improved enjoyment of life and balance, and decreased pain and the severity and frequency of falls. "When participants were asked to report their level of pain severity, there were statistically significant reductions in pain from pre- to post-test. Pain is a huge factor in quality of life," said Sandra Goldsmith, director of the Public and Patient Education Department at Hospital for Special Surgery. "If we can offer classes that help to reduce pain, that is a good thing."

Roughly ten years ago, HSS launched its Osteoarthritis Wellness Initiative, which has grown to encompass both an educational component, including lectures and workshops, as well as exercise classes. In the study to be presented at the recent ACR/ARHP meeting, Special Surgery researchers evaluated the effectiveness of the exercise programs on 200 participants.

The classes, which met weekly throughout the year, included Tai Chi, yoga, mat and chair pilates, yoga-lates and dance fitness. Instructors who could tailor exercises for those with osteoarthritis and other musculoskeletal issues supervised the exercise programs. The researchers analyzed results from surveys that were administered before and after the exercise programs. The surveys included measures of self-reported pain, balance, falls and level of physical activity. An 11-point numeric pain intensity scale was used to quantify intensity of muscle or joint pain. The 10-point Brief Pain Inventory was used to measure pain interference on aspects of quality of life, including general activity, mood, walking ability, sleep, normal work (both outside the home and housework), and enjoyment of life.

In the sample of 200 participants, roughly 53% indicated that they experienced pain relief as a result of participating in the exercise programs. In fact, when researchers analyzed the subset of 66 participants who completed both pre and post surveys, a larger proportion, 62%, indicated they experienced pain relief after participating in the exercise programs. The level of pain intensity that participants experienced also significantly dropped from 4.5 to 2.7 in this group, where 0 was no pain and 10 was the worst pain imaginable. When researchers compared participants' estimation of how much pain interfered with various aspects of an individual's life, they identified a 54% improvement in general activity, mood, walking ability, sleep, normal work, and enjoyment of life.

"We asked participants to rate their balance, and we found a statistically significant increase in those who rated their balance as excellent, very good or good, from pre- to post-intervention, " said Dana Friedman, MPH, outcomes manager in the HSS Public and Patient Education Department. Fewer respondents reported falling from pre- to post-test (14.5% vs. 13.1%), as well as sustaining injuries that required hospitalization (12.1% vs. 10.6%).

Linda Russell, M.D., a rheumatologist at HSS who is chair of the Public and Patient Education Advisory Committee, points out that the classes are low cost for patients and the fees cover the majority of costs associated with offering these types of programs, including salaries for the instructors. "We like to get all of our patients involved in exercise, and if we can help with a low-cost alternative to exercising in New York City, because gyms are expensive, then it is wonderful," said Dr. Russell. "Patients benefit from supervised exercise programs with regard to their overall sense of well-being and pain due to their arthritis. We encourage other institutions to launch these types of program."

"We'd like to be a role model for other hospitals, showing them that offering this type of program can help their patients reduce pain and improve quality of life," said Ms. Goldsmith. "We are willing to discuss the details about how to start these programs."

All exercise programs were run through the HSS Public and Patient Education Department, which includes the Greenberg Academy for Successful Aging, a collaborative program between the HSS Public and Patient Education Department and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital's Irving Sherwood Wright Center for the Aging.

Osteoarthritis is the leading cause of disability in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 50 million U.S. adults, 22% of the population, suffered from osteoarthritis in 2009, compared with 46 million in 2003-2005. Arthritis affected the daily activities of 21 million adults in 2009. Body mass index influences the prevalence of arthritis; 29.6% of obese adults have arthritis.

Other Hospital for Special Surgery authors involved in the study include Linda Roberts, LCSW, Dana Sperber and Laura Robbins, DSW.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Hospital for Special Surgery, via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here

Muscle-loss study sheds new light on ways to prevent muscle loss, obesity and diabetes

Dec. 19, 2012 — A research study from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has yielded important breakthroughs on how the body loses muscle, paving the way for new treatments for aging, obesity and diabetes.

The study found that by inhibiting a particular molecule produced naturally in the body, muscle loss due to aging or illnesses can be prevented. Blocking the same molecule will also trigger the body to go into a 'fat-burning mode' which will fight obesity and also treat the common form of diabetes.

The exciting discoveries have led NTU scientists to embark on joint clinical research with local hospitals to further validate their findings which were previously carried out on animals.

Their research on how humans lose muscle during extreme conditions such as chronic diseases or starvation was published last month in Cell Metabolism.

Associate Professor Ravi Kambadur and his team from the NTU School of Biological Sciences found that a protein called Myostatin, which controls muscle cell growth, is responsible for initiating muscle loss.

When excess levels of Myostatin is bound to a muscle cell, it induces heavy loss of mitochondria (the part of the cell responsible for energy production that keeps a cell alive), which in turn causes the muscle cell to waste or lose muscle tissue (atrophy) due to the 'lack of energy'.

Under normal healthy conditions, small loss of Mitochondria is needed for the regeneration of new cells, but when a patient is suffering from chronic diseases or is bedridden (and muscles are not used often), this process is disrupted due to high levels of myostatin which results in increased mitochondrial loss and muscle atrophy.

Prof Kambadur said recent studies have shown that extreme muscle wasting can lead to death.

"For example, about 30 per cent of cancer patients die not because of cancer, but because of muscle loss also known as cachexia," said Prof Kambadur.

"When someone is suffering from a chronic disease and doesn't eat enough, the body starts to generate energy by breaking down muscle proteins and that is the reason we see a lot of muscle wasting under chronic disease conditions."

"Over the years, our research has revealed that this type of muscle wasting is initiated by excess levels of myostatin in the body. If we block myostatin from binding to cells, then muscles won't waste away and we can then mitigate the effects of aging and chronic diseases."

Apart from regulating the growth and loss of muscle, myostatin also regulates whether the body will burn fat or carbohydrates during fasting and meal times.

Blocking myostatin keeps the body in "fat-burning mode" and promotes muscle growth at the same time -- which could potentially make obesity a thing of the past.

Because obesity is one of the main causes of the most common form of diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, blocking myostatin could also treat diabetes. In the US, 90 to 95 per cent of diabetes cases are Type 2, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to Singapore's Health Promotion Board, diabetes is among the top ten causes of death locally. In 2010, it was reported by Ministry of Health that 11.3 per cent of the Singaporean adults aged 18 to 69 years are affected by diabetes while 10.8 percent were obese.

"In near future, myostatin blockers could increase fat utilisation in the body and give you the benefits of exercise, without actually doing intense physical activity," Prof Kambadur explained.

"This would be a good alternative treatment for people who are unable to exercise, such as those who are bed-ridden or are in cancer treatment, who are most at risk of massive muscle loss."

Prof Kambadur added that while blocking myostatin sounds like a good idea, there is a need to study the long term effects, as the molecule is needed to regulate cell growth for normal body operation.

Other studies on myostatin conducted by Prof Kambadur's group have also yielded interesting results.

For instance, people who exercise regularly have been found to have lower levels of myostatin as compared to those who do not. Studies have also found that older people have more myostatin and this can explain why when one ages, muscles become weaker.

Prof Kambadur's research projects on myostatin are funded by Ministry of Education, Biomedical Research Council and the National Research Foundation's (NRF) Competitive Research Programme (CRP). The research on myostatin is conducted in collaboration with Associate Professor Mridula Sharma from the National University of Singapore. The husband-and-wife team have collaborated on various research projects in the area of skeletal muscle for many years.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Nanyang Technological University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Sudarsanareddy Lokireddy, Isuru W. Wijesoma, Serena Teng, Sabeera Bonala, Peter D. Gluckman, Craig McFarlane, Mridula Sharma, Ravi Kambadur. The Ubiquitin Ligase Mul1 Induces Mitophagy in Skeletal Muscle in Response to Muscle-Wasting Stimuli. Cell Metabolism, 2012; 16 (5): 613 DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2012.10.005

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here

Medical schools fall short on teaching students about obesity, study finds

Oct. 31, 2012 — It’s no secret that obesity is a major problem in America. More than one-third of adults and one-sixth of children are obese and it is one of the leading causes of preventable death. The costs associated with obesity are estimated at $99 million annually, comparable to the economic toll of cigarette smoking.

Despite all this, few U.S. medical schools are providing adequate, effective training on how to address weight issues in obese patients, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

“Medical students are surrounded by the same environment that everyone is in this country, a culture of idealized images of physical attractiveness in which thin is good and fat is bad,” said Mara Vitolins, Dr.P.H., R.D., professor of public health sciences at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author of the study that was published in the July issue of the journal Teaching and Learning in Medicine. “We just aren’t doing a good enough job of teaching our students evidence-based methods of intervention and care for our obese patients.”

The purpose of the study was to provide a systematic review of the literature examining obesity-related educational programs. In an effort to gauge the amount and effectiveness of medical school training related to obesity, the researchers reviewed literature from the National Institutes of Health’s PubMed database from 1966 through 2010.

Of the 208 articles found, only five addressed ways to increase medical students’ knowledge, attitudes and skills regarding overweight and obesity treatment. Only two of those five addressed medical student bias toward obese patients, and just one dealt with attempting to change this bias.

The lack of published studies in this area is consistent with physicians’ reports of inadequate training in managing their patients’ weight, the researchers reported.
“Our study shows clear gaps in medical education regarding obesity,” Vitolins said. “Providing medical students with skills to address obesity is necessary to impact the national epidemic of obesity to decrease mortality and morbidity from chronic diseases related to excess weight.

“Our findings also highlight the need for medical school curricula to mitigate negative attitudes toward these patients, attitudes that may affect the care delivered.”

In addition, the researchers did not find any study that included obesity education over all four years of medical school, including the basic science and clinical years. Although some medical schools require their students to teach prevention, including nutrition and weight management in community clinics, this approach still doesn’t cover the full range of obesity counseling knowledge available.

“Utilizing multiple types of intervention approaches – lectures, standardized patient encounters and hands-on training – during multiple time points in the medical school curriculum is needed,” Vitolins added. “Such training should be based on tried and true educational approaches and include education in bias and stereotyping, as well as specifically addressing obesity bias.”

To help address the lack of obesity-related education in medical schools, the Wake Forest Baptist team has recently published a downloadable teaching and learning program for nutrition, exercise and weight management in MedEdPortal. According to Vitolins, the research team was committed to sharing their educational modules with others to improve nationwide efforts to reduce obesity.

Co-authors of the study are Sonia Crandall, Ph.D., David Miller, M.D., Eddie Ip, Ph.D., Gail Marion, Ph.D., and John Spangler, M.D., of Wake Forest Baptist.
The study was supported by the National Cancer Institute grant R25CA117887-01.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Mara Z. Vitolins, Sonia Crandall, David Miller, Eddie Ip, Gail Marion, John G. Spangler. Obesity Educational Interventions in U.S. Medical Schools: A Systematic Review and Identified Gaps. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 2012; 24 (3): 267 DOI: 10.1080/10401334.2012.692286

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here

Antioxidants may ease peripheral arterial disease (PAD) blood pressure increase, study suggests

Nov. 8, 2012 — Low antioxidant levels contribute to increased blood pressure during exercise for people with peripheral arterial disease, according to researchers at Penn State Hershey Heart and Vascular Institute.

Peripheral arterial disease, or PAD, affects an estimated 10 million Americans and increases the chance of death from a cardiovascular event. Reduced blood flow causes pain in the legs and increases blood pressure in people who have PAD. However, the causes of the disease are unknown.

"Past studies have shown that having low antioxidant levels and increased reactive oxygen species -- chemical products that bind to body cells and cause damage -- is related to more severe PAD," said Matthew Muller, postdoctoral fellow in Larry Sinoway's lab at Penn State College of Medicine, and lead author of the study.

Antioxidants prevent the reactive oxygen species from damaging cells.

"This study shows that blood pressure increases more with exercise in more severe PAD cases. By infusing the antioxidant vitamin C into the blood, we were able to lessen the increase in blood pressure during exercise," said Muller.

Vitamin C does not lessen the increase in blood pressure of PAD patients to that of healthy people. As the intensity of exercise increases, the effects of vitamin C decrease but are still seen. The researchers report their findings in the Journal of Physiology.

Penn State Hershey researchers looked at three groups of PAD patients to study the blood pressure increase. A group of 13 PAD patients was compared to people without PAD to see the effects of doing low-intensity exercise on blood pressure. From that group, a second group of nine patients was used to measure the effects of vitamin C. A third group of five PAD patients and five without PAD had their leg muscles electrically stimulated to remove the brain's role in raising blood pressure during muscle contraction in this disease.

Increased blood pressure during exercise occurs in both legs, before pain begins, and relates to the severity of the disease. By using electrical stimulation, the scientists show that the blood pressure increase comes from the muscle itself, since the brain is not telling the leg to contract and the pressure still increases.

"This indicates that during normal, everyday activities such as walking, an impaired antioxidant system -- as well as other factors -- plays a role in the increased blood pressure response to exercise," Muller said. "Therefore, supplementing the diet with antioxidants may help these patients, but more studies are needed to confirm this concept."

Other researchers are Rachel C. Drew, postdoctoral fellow; Cheryl A. Blaha, research coordinator; Jessica L. Mast, research coordinator; Jian Cui, associate professor of medicine; and Amy B. Reed, associate professor of surgery, all of Penn State College of Medicine.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Penn State.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

M. D. Muller, R. C. Drew, C. A. Blaha, J. L. Mast, J. Cui, A. B. Reed, L. I. Sinoway. Oxidative Stress Contributes to the Augmented Exercise Pressor Reflex in Peripheral Arterial Disease Patients. The Journal of Physiology, 2012; DOI: 10.1113/jphysiol.2012.241281

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here