June 28, 2017 Credit: Martha Sexton/public domain

Mildly stressing muscle metabolism boosts levels of a beneficial hormone that prevents obesity and diabetes in mice, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Iowa.

The new findings, published in the EMBO Journal, show that triggering a certain type of metabolic stress in mouse muscle cells causes them to produce and secrete significant amounts of the anti-diabetic hormone called fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF21), which then has widespread beneficial effects on whole-body metabolism. The mice in the experiments were completely protected from obesity and diabetes that normally develop due to aging or eating a high-fat diet. Moreover, triggering the FGF21 production after the mice had become obese and diabetic reversed these conditions and returned the mice to normal weight and blood sugar levels.

"There is a biological phenomenon known as hormesis where a little bit of stress a can be a good thing," says E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD, professor and DEO of internal medicine at the UI Carver College of Medicine and director of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center at the UI. "The general conclusion from our study is there is probably a sweet spot 'hormetically,' where creating a little bit of muscle stress could be of metabolic benefit."

Abel and his colleagues used genetic engineering to reduce levels of a mitochondrial protein called OPA1 in the muscles of mice. Mitochondria are tiny organelles that produce a cell's energy. This OPA1 deficiency disrupted muscle metabolism and caused a small amount of muscle loss in the mice.

Despite the mild muscle atrophy, which did decrease grip strength, the older mice with OPA1 deficiency had greater endurance on the treadmill than older control mice. In addition, activity levels and energy expenditure that normally decline in mice as they age were preserved in OPA1 deficient mice.

Interestingly, the altered mice also were completely protected from the weight gain and glucose intolerance that normally develop in mice as they age or when they eat a high-fat diet. Moreover, the research team showed that reducing OPA1 levels in muscle, after mice had become obese and diabetic, reversed these problems - normalizing body weight and reversing glucose intolerance even though the high fat diet continued.

The team showed that these metabolic improvements correlated with increased levels of circulating FGF21, a hormone that has been shown to increase energy expenditure and insulin sensitivity. Abel and his team were able to prove that muscle was the source of the FGF21 by creating a mouse that had the OPA1 deficiency and also was missing the FGF21 gene in muscle. These mice were no longer able to produce FGF21 in muscle in response to OPA1 deficiency, and, just like control mice, they became obese and developed diabetes.

"These experiments prove that muscle is the source of circulating FGF21 in the OPA1 deficient mice, and that muscle-derived FGF21 prevents diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance in these mice," Abel says. "If there is a way that muscle could be reprogrammed to make this hormone, then that could be of therapeutic benefit."

Further investigation demonstrated that the small degree of mitochondrial stress induced in muscle by the reduction of OPA1 is sufficient to activate another cellular stress response pathway called endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which then dramatically increases FGF21 levels.

"The follow up work on this will be understanding how a little bit of mitochondrial stress can actually increase the ER stress response and if we can mimic that safely," Abel says. "There are agents that have been used to activate ER stress pathways. So, I think the opportunity here would be to find ways to turn on this pathway in a very controlled way to get enough of this subsequent FGF21 response in muscle to be of benefit."

Returning to the idea of a "sweet spot" for this stress-induced production of FGF21, Abel notes that other researchers have shown that complete loss of OPA1 pushed the pathway too far and resulted in fatal muscle atrophy in mice.

"Like everything else, this effect can be a two-edged sword, and too much of a good thing can be bad," he says "For this to be therapeutically useful, we want to be able to create the effect to the point where we get the benefit but not to overdo it."

Explore further: Life-extending hormone bolsters the body's immune function

More information: Renata Oliveira Pereira et al, OPA1 deficiency promotes secretion of FGF21 from muscle that prevents obesity and insulin resistance, The EMBO Journal (2017). DOI: 10.15252/embj.201696179

Journal reference: EMBO Journal

Provided by: University of Iowa

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Tweaking muscle metabolism prevents obesity and diabetes in mice - Medical Xpress

Highs and lows, he had them like a barometer.

One of the more adrenaline-charged experiences for Karl Kruger on his two-week, 750-mile stand-up paddleboard journey from Washington to Alaska, which ended Sunday, came on Johnstone Strait, on the inside of Vancouver Island, when an almost-unheard-of-in-those-parts windstorm from the south propelled him like a northward-spit olive pit.

He didnt want to spend many hours paddling up the long strait against the typical northwest headwinds, so he risked the forecast storm on his 19-foot, custom-built carbon-fiber board, estimating his tailwind at 50 knots at the storms peak. Saltwater spray hurled through the air around him.

I went out in a gale warning and cleared 50 miles I surfed Johnstone Strait! says Kruger, of Orcas Island, the first SUPer to complete the Race to Alaska, now in its third year pitting non-motorized craft in a race from Port Townsend to Ketchikan, Alaska.

Some of his best moments came during a peaceful and magical passage the previous night through Seymour Narrows, an often-busy, current-blasted shipping lane.

I went through at night and it was just beautiful. It was the most soulful experience. To get to be there alone was a miracle. I timed it perfectly and went through at slack water. It was very calm, not a breath of wind, I could hear the birds in the trees, and the bioluminescence was just streaming off my paddles it was like riding a comet through the sky, recalls Kruger.

He trained for his journey like an Olympian. He camped at rest stops in modern, ultralight gear; kept to a highly disciplined, scientific diet heavy with gels and protein shakes from one of his sponsors, Hammer Nutrition, a supplier of energy foods for extreme athletes. He plotted his route using navigation maps on an iPad stored safely in a dry bag and a watch with barometer and compass functions, finding his way around landmarks with names such as Cape Caution.

On his longest day Kruger paddled 72 miles. He routinely paddled 10-to-16-hour days, averaging 50 miles per day.

Ive been training like a mad dog for the last couple years prepping for this race, and he followed his personal trainers strict warm-up and cool-down routine so physical exhaustion wasnt a big challenge, he says, though there were several days it was a real boxing match against strong currents.

One day, he recalls, the wind and current around Dundas Island, B.C., required him to paddle on his right side for hours on end. The seascape was stacked up and lumpy and I had knots and cramps around my right shoulder that were just brutal it was a street fight.

Still, This race is more a mental challenge than a physical challenge, Kruger said Wednesday, his first day home, in a phone conversation from his liveaboard sailboat at Deer Harbor, where he and his wife, Jessica, run a sailing charter business.

Its like youre running a marathon every day for two weeks. There were days when every single stroke was a barrier. Everything in my body said no, no, no; stop, stop stop.

By the rules of the race, Kruger had no chase boat and no support crew, nor could food caches be placed along the route. Except for a few brief forays into towns along the way including a couple hamburger stops he was alone most of the trip, and sometimes cold. I never built a fire at my shore camps; everything around this race was built around shortening up the time of my busy work at night. I wanted to maximize my time on the water. I didnt have a lot of time.

He was alone, that is, except for an amazing variety of wildlife.

Once I passed Seymour Narrows, I saw whales every single day. I paddled along with a humpback whale for maybe 10 miles through Johnstone Strait, maybe 30 or 40 feet away at times; we just happened to be going the same way. Other wildlife included sea otters, seals, sea lions, bears, orca whales and tons of eagles.

Before the race, he had predicted his paddling time at two weeks. It ended up two weeks, six hours and 17 minutes before he stepped on to the dock at Ketchikan, rang the finish-line bell and greeted Jessica and their 9-year-old daughter, Dagney.

There was no prize for him. The $10,000 first-place winners, three brothers from Massachusetts on a 27-foot sailing trimaran, had arrived June 15, 10 days ahead of Kruger, out of 57 vessels that started the race. Kruger didnt even get the pretty good set of steak knives that are second prize.

But he says he didnt do it for money. His sponsorships only helped defray his gear costs, and he knew he wouldnt win.

The reason I did it: Ive always been most attracted to outdoors activities, Ive never been into ball sports played by teams, says Kruger, who turned 45 during his paddle. All my life Ive been into skiing and paddling and climbing. Ive always been after the rawest and most unfiltered form of those activities, and doing this by SUP is about the most unfiltered way of traveling this coast I can think of.

Back on his sailboat, he was nursing a problem with his lower legs. The first day out, which was bright and sunny, he got a bad sunburn on his calves, exposed by his 3/4-length compression tights. I was so focused on the race, the first day or two I roasted them in the sun, which caused blistering, later rubbed raw by longer tights he wore as the weather got colder.

I think I got a little infection, Kruger says. I probably need to see the doctor in the next day or two.

Originally posted here:
SUPer-man: Orcas Island's Karl Kruger talks about his amazing stand-up paddle race to Alaska - Seattle Times

The new lighthouse keepers at Five Finger Light keep watch over Frederick Sound. Photo Nora Saks.

For the last twenty years, the non-profit Juneau Lighthouse Association has worked hard to preserve one of Alaskas first lighthouses, Five Finger Light. With a tighter budget and cutbacks this year, the organization needed a special kind of family to look after this remote landmark. And they found them.

KFSK reporter Nora Saks visited the lighthouse in mid-June and got to spend some time exploring with the new lighthouse keepers.

Thats John Gans on the radio checking in from his post at the lighthouse.

Hes helping the captain of The Pelican land safely on the island after a choppy two hour ride over from Petersburg. The boat has precious cargo a months worth of groceries, and a close family friend.

It was calmer when you called, and then it got windier and now its come down some. Its weather, what can I tell you, said Gans.

Luckily for The Pelican, hes a pro. Really. A former ships pilot, he has years of practice guiding huge vessels into crowded ports.

The boat idles up to a jumble of slippery rocks and a skinny ladder and everyone jumps ashore, clutching boxes of Diet Coke, new brooms, suitcases, anything within reach. The supplies and visitors are a welcome delivery for John and his family, who have been there since mid-may.

Were just volunteers, the three of us my wife Pat, Ismael, and myself, Gans said.

While lots of lighthouses are isolated this one is truly remote, even by Alaskan standards. To get a sense of just what that means, Pat Gans leads us up several stories of spiral stairs to the top of the art deco light tower.

Ok, here we are, she said. So this is the heart of the light, and this is the light.

Pat Gans stands next to the automated, solar powered beacon at Five Finger Light. Photo Nora Saks.

The beacon, now solar powered, gently hums and spins inside the cupola as she explains how the spot got its name.

Its called Five Finger Islands because the sailors said that from the water, a hand with five fingers would reach up and grab the ships and pull them under. So it has this history of being a treacherous area, said Gans.

This section of the Inside Passage became a graveyard of maritime disasters for those chasing their fortune in gold and fish in the late 1890s. A navigational aid in Frederick Sound was badly needed.

These are the four fingers, these little islands that we see dotting off to the north, and we are the thumb, said Gans. So we are the only island that is really high enough and accessible enough to put a lighthouse on.

This one was built in 1902 one of the first manned stations in the state, and the last to be unmanned in 1984.

Accessible is a subjective term. This tiny island is 65 miles from Juneau and 40 miles north of Petersburg. And they dont have a boat. Spending five months straight here would be an intimidating gig for a lot of folks.

But Gans and her family seem right at home here on this shaggy outcropping. Its more space than theyre used to.

Its not hard for us because we actually still live part of our year on a sailboat down in the South Pacific, said Gans. So were used to being completely self-sufficient, where theres nobody to come rescue us.

With her husbands background in the maritime industry, and hers as a medical doctor, they know how to stay safe while living on natures edge.

That kind of do-it-yourself attitude is crucial this season. The Juneau Lighthouse Association, the non-profit that owns and preserves the historic landmark, is not running its own resupply vessel due to financial constraints.

They keepers have had challenges getting restocked, but Gans doesnt dwell. She says the generosity of passing tour operators, helpers in town, and the Coast Guard has been heart warming.

Everybody checks in with us on the radio, they come by just to say hi, they ask if we need supplies, people have brought out groceries for us. We really are living in great style out here, Gans said.

And, they know how to stay busy. Keeping up an 82 year old lighthouse ends up being a lot of work if you let it.

The rock foundation under Five Finger Light, with old Coast Guard crew graffiti. Photo Nora Saks.

Inside the cement lighthouse station, rebuilt after the original wood structure burned down in the 1930s, its cozy and clean. John Gans says the fresh walls and refinished bathroom are just routine maintenance but they look suspiciously like improvements.

We do chipping and painting and picking up old and rusty things and organizing them. And trying to make the lighthouse look the best we can make it look with what we have to work with, he said.

Their son, 18 year-old Ismael Castillejos Velasquez, is an important member of their team. Velasquez is deaf, and originally from a rural village in Mexico.

The couple met him on a sailing trip down south, and hes been living with them on and off for the last three years. One of his jobs is to take daily measurements of their rain-fed water tanks to make sure they dont run out, part of his homeschooling on the island.

Velasquez is fluent in sign language now, and plans to go to college. Pat Gans says that after growing up with virtually no language, hes gradually learning to hear.

The thing we hear the most from Ismael is first time! First time! First time to see this. First time to be here. First time to experience this! said Gans. That brings the freshness back to us as well.

And when its time to take a break from their Sisyphean tasks, there is a remarkable amount to wonder at.

The keepers explores the island and its miniature rainforest as a living classroom identifying all the edible berries, checking in on the bald eagle nest, and, hanging out with whales of course.

Hundreds of humpbacks visit here each summer, and for decades, the lighthouse has been a major platform for whale research.

This is my favorite place to be with the whales, said Pat Gans.

Her preferred perch is the ugliest spot on the island an old rusty crane dock made of broken concrete very close to the water.

I can sit right here, said Gans. I can lean back against this and its deep right there. So the whales come like right there. It drops off and they come right there.

It was a whale researcher who was here two years ago that mentioned this opportunity to the Gans family. She thought they might need Five Finger, and that it definitely needed them.

They plan on staying into October. Long enough to really see the light change, and long enough to welcome more visitors to this far-off place.

Pat and John Gans (l and r), with their son Ismael Velasquez (c), send off The Pelican. Photo Nora Saks.

Original post:
Family relies on volunteers and survival skills at remote lighthouse watch - KFSK

By Natalia Mehlman Petrzela By Natalia Mehlman Petrzela June 28 at 6:00 AM

It was thefat joke heard round the world. Pope Francis, speaking with Donald and Melania Trump during their recent visit, asked the first lady whether shed been feeding her husband potica, a rich Slovenian dessert.

His Holiness wasnt the only one eyeballing the presidents diet. Recently, the public learned that the White House kitchen staff knows to deliver their boss extra Thousand Island dressing and a double serving of ice cream while his guests get vinaigrette and a single scoop of vanilla, triggering sniggers about presidential gluttony.

And since Trump so shamelessly slings stingingly personal insults tied to fitness and body type from Miss Piggy to fat pig to Little Marco why resist the urge to poke his proverbial soft underbelly?

We should resist, because Trumps attitudes toward healthy eating and exercise arent a joke they have serious consequences for the nations health. First, they mark a dramatic pivot from his presidential predecessors on both sides of the aisle. Previous presidents saw projecting a personal embrace of healthy living as politically attractive, while Trump perceives just the opposite.

And second, in a nation already defined by highly unequal access to healthy food and exercise, Trumps own inclinations threaten to make wellness an even lower public and private priority. Today, if your work schedule, child care and next meal are unpredictable, wellness is at best aspirational and at worst a cruel reminder of yet another dividing line between haves and have-nots. Trumps attitudes and actions will only exacerbate this inequality even as they thrill his fans.

American presidents have celebrated wellness as a personal and political virtue for so long it verges on clich. Teddy Roosevelt famously advocated an outdoorsy strenuous life, which showcased his own swagger and resonated in a moment when urbanization and the expansion of white-collar work provoked anxiety that white men were becoming sedentary sissies.

Sixty years later, President-elect John F. Kennedy decried in Sports Illustrated that affluence had created a physically and morally Soft American unfit for Cold War citizenship. This essay painted JFK as a champion of vigor (even as he privately suffered from serious ailments) and boosted support for federally funded physical education and recreation programs.

Democrats Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were often photographed jogging, while a 1983 Parade spread featured Republican Ronald Reagan exercising on Nautilus machines and chopping wood. Fellow Republican George W. Bush installed a treadmill on Air Force One, required staffers to exerciseand told Runners World in 2002 that at long last, statistic after statistic is beginning to sink into the consciousness of the American people that exercise is one of the keys to a healthy lifestyle.

President Trump, however, missed that memo. The presidents conspicuous contempt for self-care unlike Obamas occasional furtive cigarette benefits him politically in part because it taps into the anti-Obama hatred that propelled him to power. The Obamas took the presidential embrace of healthy living as a vehicle to improve society and self to new levels.

Mens Health dubbed Obama the fittest president ever and stealth video of his workout in a Warsaw hotel gym went viral. If Michelle Obama first drew notice for her sculpted biceps, her legacy became Lets Move and lunchroom reform. So powerful is this association that a Tennessee school cafeteria worker recently told me that a Trump supporter crowed that serving her child chocolate milk and tater tots at school was a personal F-U to Michelle Obama.

Here are three ways President-elect Donald Trump could undo former first lady Michelle Obama's healthy food and exercise efforts. (Gillian Brockell,Daron Taylor,Caitlin Dewey/The Washington Post)

Not only does Trump benefit from being the anti-Obama, but he also gives voice to a sense among his supporters that healthy eating and exercise have become increasingly elitist. Back in 2007, Obama caught blowback at an Iowa campaign stop for making casual reference to buying arugula at Whole Foods. Soon after, white working class reality TV star Mama June proudly told In Touch that despite her wealth, she served her family sketti enriched spaghetti doused in butter and ketchup rather than snobbishly preparing quinoa.

Trumps self-fashioning as champion of the common man capitalizes on the contemporary association between wellness and unsavory cosmopolitan pretension. Yet his love of rich foods and leisure paradoxically trades on century-old tropes that also cast him as a kind of Everymans Billionaire. Until about 1920, the wealthy conspicuously consumed caloric foods and avoided exertion because few felt they could afford to do so.

Dominant scientific theory at the time argued that humans were born with a finite energy supply and that the better classes should conserve theirs for loftier ends than physical labor. When industrialization and the white-collar sector made food abundant and sedentary work more accessible however, resisting these temptations through diet and exercise became a display of upper-class restraint as it remains today.

Trump, whose appeal to many stems from nostalgia, conjures an outdated but aspirational ideal of what wealth might feel, or taste, like. Its why dropping $36 on an haute burger just after overwhelmingly capturing the working class white vote didnt tarnish Trumps legitimacy. Its why the cheap version of rich marketed in every truffle-oil-soaked steak slung at his eponymous Grille still sells. Same goes for his peculiar but precedented explanation that he prefers relaxing at his various luxury properties to exercise that would deplete his non-rechargeable battery. In the throwback image of American abundance that Trump hawks, his supporters envision themselves as deserving fat cats consuming cake rather than kale.

And yet. While expending energy on exercise and dietary restraint may be undesirable for Trumps everyman, its a requirement for the women in his orbit. Of the little we know about Melania Trump, her penchant for Pilates is widely reported and a former roommate remembered her consuming only vegetables and diligently wearing ankle weights around the house. First daughter Ivanka Trumps diet and exercise routines have long been the stuff of lifestyle pubs, and she recently craved a sweat badly enough to cause controversy by enrolling at a D.C. studio under an alias.

In 1996, Trump himself set up a media scrum in a gym to film a tearful Alicia Machado exercising after she gained what he determined was an unacceptable amount of weight for Miss Universe. A viral meme in the wake of the January Womens March announced, In one day, Trump got more fat women out walking than Michelle Obama did in 8 years.

Clearly, Trumps world is a sexist one in which wellness is a womens issue. Weight control is appropriately top priority for the half of the population whose worth corresponds to their waistlines.

Unlike exercise and diet, sports especially football have long earned the approval of conservatives, including Trump, for building masculinity and competitiveness. The presidents apparently contradictory celebration of sport and scorn for healthy living actually corresponds to a longstanding cultural divide between the two. In the 1950s and 60s, straight American males were assumed to be so uninterested in diet and exercise that womens magazines counseled wives to trim the fat from their husbands roasts out of eyesight in order to safeguard the health of their hearts and egos.

By 1979, historian Christopher Lasch bemoaned the degradation of sport due to the new sports for the noncompetitive taking place in gyms and studios, which promoted bland amateurism in the name of inclusiveness and health promotion. (Some might consider this a forerunner to conservative complaints about participation trophies.) Thus, in the Trump playbook, sports are commendable for building manly character, while expanding opportunities to exercise and eat mindfully for health or beauty is feminine and inferior.

Making America Great Again will affect our collective wellbeing in subtle ways beyond the AHCA, cuts to Planned Parenthood and the deregulation of school nutrition that Trump embraces. Contemporary wellness culture is flawed, but has dramatically improved Americans lives and saved taxpayers millions. Diverse policies and programs ranging from Title IX, to yoga for the incarcerated, to corporate wellness initiatives, to body-positive activism have helped make the connection between healthy living and human flourishing widely accepted. Trump threatens to destroy those gains.

We owe our president the privacy to eat and exercise as he wishes, free from the fat-shaming cruelty for which his critics rightly fault him. But when he brandishes his unhealthy lifestyle to romanticize an era in which junk science upheld twisted ideas about gender, class and health, we owe it to each other to resist the deepening wellness divide, body, heart and mind.

See more here:
Why Donald Trump's diet is bad for America's health - Washington Post

By Michael W. Fox By Michael W. Fox June 27

Dear Dr. Fox:

I have a 13-year-old female Chorkiepoo (a Chihuahua-Yorkie-poodle mix). She is spayed and has a heart murmur. She takes furosemide, theophylline and enalapril daily. She mostly eats baked chicken thighs, and sometimes canned Purina Beyond dog food.

My dog likes to eat dirt. I have to be careful with commercial potting soil, because she will eat that, too. I asked the veterinary technician if she had ever heard of this, but she hadnt and had no idea why my dog would do this. I heard that people with a condition called pica eat things such as laundry starch because of a vitamin deficiency.

Any ideas as to what causes this? Is there anything I should do about it?

P.R., Ste. Genevieve, Mo.

DF: I am surprised that the vet tech with whom you spoke seemed clueless about this common condition in animals dogs in particular.

Geophagia (eating dirt) is a normal behavior. Animals, including humans, will develop this form of pica when they are anemic or have a digestive problem or other internal issue that might be relieved by consuming dirt. Some animals will carefully select the kind of dirt, possibly to get an infusion of soil bacteria that can help with digestion, or of various minerals that might correct a deficiency or imbalance.

I doubt your dog is being properly nourished, so I would give her digestive enzymes, which a teaspoon of shredded unsweetened pineapple in her food would provide. Also, try a couple of good-quality probiotic capsules; a tablespoon of live, plain organic yogurt or kefir; and a crushed pediatric multivitamin and multimineral tablet. I would also urge you put your dog on my home-prepared diet, as posted on my website, drfoxvet.net, reducing the grain amount by 50 percent.

Most important with the kind of dog you have is good dental care. Chronic oral disease can lead to a variety of health complications if its not addressed.

Dear Dr. Fox:

I have visited your website, and with your academic background, you are surely qualified to speak about environmental and conservation issues. But is this right for your Animal Doctor column, which I thought was an advice column for pet owners?

R.E., Silver Spring

DF: From my perspective, how we treat the natural environment ultimately affects the health and well-being of companion animals, as well as our species.

Considering environmental issues and conservation of healthy ecosystems and their restoration and protection long ignored by organized medicine are now essential aspects of the One Health movement, which is now being embraced by health professionals and long advocated by the veterinary profession.

Dear Dr. Fox:

Three years ago, I adopted Sadie from an animal rescue organization. They told me she had just turned 1, but based on her weight gain, I would guess she was closer to 6 months when I adopted her.

She weighs about 30 pounds now. I specifically looked for a smaller dog because my previous dog weighed almost 60 pounds, and I couldnt lift him in his last days with me.

I found out after I agreed to adopt her in early October that Sadie had spent the summer at a no-kill shelter. After I brought her home, she was shy and afraid of most things in the first few days.

As soon as she realized she was staying with me forever, Sadie found her voice. Now she barks whenever my neighbors dogs are outside. More troubling is her behavior when she gets outside and her doggy pals or my neighbor are outside, too. Sadie gets in a zone and runs circles around my yard. She has worn out a path along about 20 feet of the fence line, another 10 feet along my bromeliad patch, and about 10 feet in front of my carambola tree.

When I try to call her to stop running, she ignores me and continues to run. I tried to prevent her from this obsessive behavior by putting down lava rocks and some pavers along the fence, but she continues to run in circles.

I think she gets enough exercise. We walk every morning for about 1.5 miles, and I play ball with her at least once a day. How can I break her of this obsessive habit of running in circles?

J.S., Lake Worth, Fla.

DF: This kind of obsessive-compulsive behavior can result from a dog being confined and frustrated or anxious for an extended period. It has elements of an addictive behavior, because running produces feel-good neurochemicals such as brain cannabinoids.

What your dog may want and enjoy is some regular, daily off-leash playtime in a safe area with other dogs. Check for doggy play groups in your area or ask about a friendly neighbors dog coming over.

Possible pharmacological treatment with fluoexetine might help, or you can try St. Johns wort, which a veterinarian familiar with psychoactive herbs might prefer to prescribe. A calming herbal supplement called @Ease elevates brain serotonin and is available from petzlife.com.

Keep me posted on your dogs progress.

Dear Dr. Fox:

I have just returned from the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in the southwest corner of Uganda, where many of the worlds remaining mountain gorillas live.

Having heard that germs can jump from humans to gorillas, often with devastating consequences, our small group all brought surgical masks to wear not because we didnt think the guides would supply masks, but more for our personal hygiene, in case theirs were being reused.

We were surprised to find that not only were we the only people in the group wearing masks, but the guides, guards and other tourists had no idea of the risk. We were allowed to get within touching distance of the animals.

Have I been misinformed? Is there no threat from germs to these incredible creatures?

F.C., Golden Valley, Minn.

DF: I greatly appreciate your vigilance and sensibilities. This is a problem wherever tourists come into close contact with wildlife that could be infected by potentially lethal strains of illness influenza virus, in particular be they the penguins of Antarctica or the gorillas of East Africa.

The genetic relatedness of mountain gorillas and humans has led to concerns about interspecies transmission of infectious agents. Human-to-gorilla transmission may explain human metapneumovirus in two wild mountain gorillas that died during a respiratory disease outbreak in Rwanda in 2009. Surveillance is needed to ensure survival of these critically endangered animals, of whom fewer than 900 exist in the wild.

It is enlightened self-interest for the tourism industry to wake up to this serious issue and take immediate steps to provide footwear coverings, face masks and gloves for their wildlife-visiting clients. Local guides may think that the gorillas and other wildlife are not at risk because they often enter and raid villages for food, and make indirect contact with indigenous peoples hunting and tending their livestock in their dwindling habitats. All such tourism companies should dedicate a significant percentage of their profits to conservation and support of organizations such as Conservation Through Public Health, founded by veterinarian Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka (ctph.org) and gorillaconservationcoffee.org. All who are concerned with gorilla protection and conservation can donate to them with the endorsed assurance of the International Primate Protection League.

An essential aspect of wildlife conservation is to limit contact between wild species and people, indigenous and tourist, and domestic animals dogs, cats, livestock and poultry to prevent the transmission of a number of communicable diseases.

The ultimate protection of gorillas and other endangered species and their habitats calls for a united environmental nations armed paramilitary police force to prevent poaching and all forms of human encroachment, coupled with more effective family planning, since our species has become an infestation on planet Earth. (See Population Connection, popconnect.org, for information.)

Michael W. Fox, author of a newsletter and books on animal care, welfare and rights, is a veterinarian with doctoral degrees in medicine and animal behavior. Send letters to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, Mo. 64106.

2017 United Feature Syndicate

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Dirt-eating often indicates a diet deficiency - Washington Post

If you're diabetic, controlling your disease through a combination of diet and exercise is of the utmost importance.

Jeremy Baker, KENS 6:33 PM. CDT June 28, 2017

Selection of food that is good for the heart (Photo: a_namenko)

If you're diabetic, controlling your disease through a combination of diet and exercise is of the utmost importance.

Keeping your blood sugar within healthy levels is imperative to keeping you healthy and having a long life.

"Diet definitely does help control blood sugars, because what we eat, depending on what they are, what elements it has, affects your sugars," Jonathan Diaz, a registered dietician and patient health educator with University Health System said.

Diaz says everyone needs fiber in their diet, but for diabetics, he says it has to be the right kind.

"Good examples of fiber...whole wheat bread is the common one. You also have beans, lentils. For the fruit category, it's going to be your pears and apples." Diaz said.

Diaz recommends eight to ten grams of fiber per meal, the equivalent of two fist-sized pears.

"A pear has five. That's not including your vegetables."

What food should be avoided? Processed foods. Especially fast food. "They tend to put a lot of fat, salt, sugar, because that is what brings people back," Diaz said.

Another no-no are sodas.

Diaz said, "For people with diabetes diet soda is a baby step from regular soda, because diet does not affect sugars at all. There's nothing in there, but the goal is eventually to get to water."

The reason diet soda is bad is because it's very acidic. It has nothing to do with sugar.

"Your body doesn't like it so to make your body neutral again it's going to withdraw calcium from your bones, so it puts people at risk for osteoporosis," Diaz said.

Lastly, Diaz told us that diabetics must avoid alcohol.

"The liver prioritizes to get rid of toxins, so it sees alcohol and the liver stops making sugar, so a person with diabetes is at risk of having low blood sugar with alcohol," Diaz added.

It's a delicate balance that those with diabetes or those at risk need to take very seriously.

For more men's health information call 210-358-3045. You can also find the rest of our Real Men Wear Gowns stories, just go to wearthegown.com.

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Real Men Wear Gowns: Managing diabetes through diet - KENS 5 TV

As more and more individuals in developed countries grapple with being overweight or obese, new so-called miracle diets pop up almost daily. Clearly, consumers have begun to examine what makes our waistlines shrink or expand, but have we taken pause to consider how specific foods play into our feelings? Most people who finally lose the weight remark how much better they feel and how much more energy they have. However, our physical appearance is only the tip of the psychological iceberg; science shows that what we eat and how we feel are connected far beyond our size.

Interestingly, our food preferences seem to be dictated from a young age, based initially in biological needs. Most newborns show a preference for sweet tastes, versus sour or bitter tastes, as measured by facial expressions. This is actually the result of a biological adaptationin which sweetness indicates the presence of valuable calories, whereas bitterness or sourness may signal the presence of toxins. So while we may not always be able to resist a sweet tooth, and while we may be able to ignore the physical effects of poor nutrition for decades, like cancer or heart disease, knowing how what we eat affects how we feel gives us more immediate agency over what goes into our bodies.

Research shows that lower intakes of nutrient-dense foods and higher intakes of unhealthy foods are each independently associated with smaller left hippocampal volume (near the center of the brain), which appears to be related to the development of major depression. In other words, feeling better emotionally isnt just about cutting out certain foods; its equally about adding in more of the good.

There is strong evidence that a healthy diet can improve mental health issues, including anxiety and depression. In another study, Increased fruit and vegetable consumption was predictive of increased happiness, life satisfaction and well-being. The study showed that, after increasing intake of fruits (two servings a day) and vegetables (five servings a day) within 24 months, participants exhibited psychological gains equivalent to moving from unemployment to employment. If youve ever experienced the transition from jobless to happily employed, you know the difference in happiness, security and general peace of mind that comes with that transition is night and day.

So before resorting to prescription pills for mood disorders, reducing sources of dietary inflammation might be worth trying. Many would be surprised to learn that evidence shows that same inflammation plays a role in psychiatric disorders, including bipolar disorder, mania, schizophrenia, autism and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Those seeking to reduce sources of dietary inflammation would be advised to reduce or eliminate personal food allergies (more on this below), intake of refined sugar, artificial sweeteners and additives (like dyes), processed carbohydrates, trans fats (like hydrogenated oils, which have been chemically altered to extend shelf life; enough said), excess sodium, alcohol (a known depressant) and caffeine. While that list may seem daunting initially, spending a few seconds reading nutrition labels may, in fact, give you hours of feeling better emotionally and mentally.

As far as adding in healthy options to the diet, its interesting to note that our mood is also negatively impacted when it is missing key vitamins and antioxidants. Bipolar depression, for example, is characterized by lowered antioxidant defenses, including: lower levels of zinc, coenzyme Q10, vitamin E and glutathione [an antioxidant]. Other nutritional deficiencies common amongst those battling mood disorders often include omega-3 fatty acids, folate, vitamin D, vitamin B, magnesium, iron, amino acids, iodine and selenium.

While the list of possible deficiencies can seem overwhelming, advances in science have made tailored deficiency testing much more accessible. By simply doing a blood or hair sample test, for example, you can determine what your body needs more of. The answers are often surprising but can help you pinpoint which supplements could boost your body to start feeling better, emotionally and mentally. Both skin prick tests and blood tests are not 100 percent effective, as far as determining personal food intolerances or allergies. As such, if you do want to take the time to establish what your personal trigger foods may be, doing an elimination diet, under the guidance of a doctor, can help pinpoint trouble foods.

The vicious cycle of eating too much of the wrong things, then feeling guilty, then binging to remove the guilt is all too familiar to many Westerners. We may gravitate toward comfort foods because of their short-term production of dopamine within the brain (hello, cookies!), but considering the long-term energy benefits derived from healthier options may help us make better choices. Swapping out your snacks for more mood-friendly options, paired with regular exercise, may be just what you need to get out of that unexplained funk. So heres to your health, as well as your happiness!

Chelsea Vincent has been teaching fitness for almost ten years. Prior to teaching, she had 15 years of formal dance training. Chelsea has a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and is a certified power yoga instructor, spinning instructor, barre instructor and weightlifting Instructor, as well as an ACE-certified personal trainer and wellness specialist.

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Changing Your Diet Can Have the Same Emotional Impact as Getting a New Job - Observer

Garlic is heavily associated with Italian food, grows all over the world and has a very strong and distinct smell. It makes things taste amazing, while making your breath afterward questionable at best. Cest la vie, that is what breath mints are for.

Garlic is a plant in the onion family. It grows in bulb form and then the bulbs can be separated into cloves. Cloves can be chopped, minced, or crushed to be used in your recipes. Garlic is fantastic, but today I want to tell you about the garlic scape. The scape is the flowering tendril that grows out of the ground above the bulb and these are also completely edible. Theyre green, slim and very pretty because they bend and loop sort of like a pigs tail. Theyre a more delicate garlic flavor than the bulb, without the hot bite. Even with all of these attributes, theyre not well-known, so you can buy some, add them to your pasta dish and astound your friends with your worldliness.

Other than adding depth and delicious taste to your pizza, garlic is also something you should seek out for health purposes. People have actually been using garlic for its health benefits for millennia. Garlic is so good for you that some people now take it in supplement form. Im a firm believer that if you can get the same benefits from adding something tasty to your diet, then that is the way to go, and garlic is pretty darn tasty. Anyway, you can acquire the same benefits from both the bulb and the scape part of the plant. Garlic is low in calories while also being highly nutritious. It contains manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C, selenium and fiber, as well as decent amounts of iron, potassium, copper and calcium. Many benefits are also derived from the chemical compound called allicin, which is an antioxidant, antibacterial and antiviral. There have been many studies linking garlic and allicin to the reduction of high blood pressure, the lowering of bad cholesterol, support of the immune system and increased bone strength.

So if youve been won over and want to try and add more garlicky goodness to your diet, try the following recipe, adapted from Healthy Gourmet. Impress your friends, improve your health and keep the Altoids handy.

Summer e-scape skinny dip

Ingredients:

3 cups green peas, fresh or thawed

1 tbsp. yellow mustard

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 cup garlic scapes, chopped

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup water

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Process until smooth. Serve with fresh veggies.

Makes three cups.

Miranda Beverly-Gill is the front-end manager and marketing coordinator at Maple City Market in downtown Goshen.

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Add more garlicky goodness to your diet - Greensburg Daily News