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Posted: May 17, 2017 at 7:41 pm
FOX31 Denver | New weight-loss therapy offered in Colorado FOX31 Denver It does really help people make those behavior changes so that they can have long term weight loss success. Sullivan said this procedure is different from the liquid-filled balloons because there is no surgery or downtime required. There are three ... |
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New weight-loss therapy offered in Colorado - FOX31 Denver
Posted: May 17, 2017 at 7:41 pm
Overweight and obese people who shed a lot of excess pounds may have less damage in their knee joints than their counterparts who dont lose weight, a recent study suggests.
While previous research has linked obesity to an increased risk of joint disease and cartilage damage in the knees, the current study underscores how weight loss may help minimize this risk.
Researchers followed 640 obese and overweight patients for four years. By the end of the study, participants who lost more than 10 percent of their weight were 66 percent less likely than people who didnt lose any weight to show progression in the deterioration of their knee joint cartilage.
People who shed 5 percent to 10 percent of their weight were also less likely to have progression in knee joint damage, but the difference wasnt big enough to rule out the possibility that it was due to chance.
Our study shows that a lifestyle intervention such as weight loss can slow the process of knee joint degeneration in patients at risk for and with osteoarthritis and therefore may slow the worsening of symptoms such as pain and disability, said lead study author Dr. Alexandra Gersing of the University of California, San Francisco.
The more weight loss the patients achieved, the greater the benefits were, even if they remained obese after losing weight, Gersing said by email.
Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease in the United States, affecting more than half of people 75 and older, researchers note in the journal Radiology. Compared with people at normal weight, obese women are nearly four times more likely to develop knee osteoarthritis, while obese men have five times the risk.
At the start of the study, participants were 63 years old, on average, and typically very overweight or obese. Most of them had either minimal or moderate damage to the knee joint, based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams.
Four years later, roughly half of the participants were at about the same weight as when they started. Another 238 people lost between 5 percent and 10 percent of their weight and 82 participants lost more than 10 percent of their weight.
Not only did the researchers find that weight loss slowed cartilage degeneration, they also saw changes in the menisci, crescent-shaped pads that protect and cushion the joint.
The study wasnt a controlled experiment designed to prove that weight loss prevents knee joint damage or osteoarthritis.
Limitations of the study include the lack of data on weight-loss methods participants used, which may have influenced what happened with their knee joints, the authors note.
Even so, the study offers fresh evidence of how weight loss may benefit the knee joints, said Dr. Leena Sharma, director of the Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Center in Rheumatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
This study uniquely gets at the benefits of weight loss on specific tissue abnormalities in knee osteoarthritis and convincingly demonstrates the benefit of weight loss on the course of this common condition, Sharma, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email.
It should also encourage patients to consider the benefits of even a little bit of weight loss, said Dr. Kent Kwoh, director of the University of Arizona Arthritis Center in Tucson.
Losing weight can help overweight and obese patients protect their knees and keep their arthritis from getting worse, Kwoh, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email. At this point in time, joint damage cannot be reversed; we can only keep it from getting worse.
SOURCE: bit.ly/2pH28Bb Radiology, online May 2, 2017.
WASHINGTON U.S. health officials on Wednesday warned that tests made by Meridian Bioscience Inc may underestimate lead levels in blood drawn from veins, sending the manufacturer's stock down 9 percent.
FRANKFURT, Germany German drugmaker Bayer won the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's priority review status for an experimental drug for a difficult to treat type of blood cancer, bolstering its development pipeline.
Pivotal trial results for Merck & Co Inc's immunotherapy drug Keytruda show that it lengthened survival by three months, or nearly 40 percent, for patients with advanced bladder cancer who had stopped responding to chemotherapy.
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Weight loss tied to lower risk of knee joint degeneration - Reuters
Posted: May 17, 2017 at 7:41 pm
The Trump administration took a small step toward restoring freedom to school lunches, and, as usual, the blowback is ferocious.
The Department of Agriculture said schools dont have to cut salt in meals any further, can serve fewer whole grains,and can bring back lowfat chocolate and strawberry milk.
For this, former first lady Michelle Obama, appearing at a healthy-eating conference, seethed that moms across America should think about why someone is OK with your kids eating crap.
But schools across America are throwing away massive quantities of food that kids just wont eat. The Los Angeles Unified School District tosses out 600 tons of organic wasteuneaten foodevery week. So much milk was poured down the drain that it caused problems at the citys water-treatment plant. Now the wasted milk is poured into trash bags and sent to landfills.
The U.S. government has been publishing dietary guidelines to help Americans eat healthier and lose weight since 1980. Guess how well that has worked out.
A report from the Centers for Disease Control says the prevalence of overweight and obesity changed little between the early 1960s and 1980, but by the time the government did its 1988-1994 survey, it found substantial increases in overweight and obesity among adults. The results for children followed the same trend.
The CDC says before 1980, between 10 and 15 percent of American adults were overweight. But the U.S. governments latest dietary guidelines publication admits, for more than 25 years, more than half of the adult population has been overweight or obese.
Maybe we can conclude, at this point, that the government should stop helping us decide what to eat.
The latest news to rock the world of nanny-state guidelines is new research showing that high levels of salt may be related to weight loss.
Dont try this at home, but studies of Russian cosmonauts, designed to simulate long periods of isolation in space, discovered that the men burned more calories when their diets included more salt. Follow-up studies found that when mice were fed more salt, they had to eat 25 percent more food to maintain the same weight.
You can look it up in the Journal of Clinical Investigation under the title, High salt intake reprioritizes osmolyte and energy metabolism for body fluid conservation, or you can read the story in the New York Times, which is considerably easier to follow. People do what camels do, the paper paraphrased, A camel traveling through the desert that has no water to drink gets water instead by breaking down the fat in its hump.
But in the U.S. governments dietary guidelines, both salt and camel-hump fat are very much discouraged.
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The 1980 guidelines advised everyone to eat lean, low-fat foods. Carbohydrates have an advantage over fats, the government said, Carbohydrates contain less than half the number of calories per ounce than fats.
We can ask whether this turned out to be good advice. But the more important question is, why do we need the governments dietary guidelines at all?
For people who think we need government guidance for everything, thats heresy.
But think about it.
Why cant school district officials be responsible for menu decisions for the students? Theyre accountable to parents and voters, and to state officials. Why should anyone in Washington overrule them?
Compare that simple freedom to the current system of mandates and wisdom passed down from the nations capital to the school lunchroom, where kids are now told that they must take food they dont want to eat, because otherwise the district wont get the federal money for the meal.
A lot of healthy food is going into the trash cans, and they will grow up to be big and strong dumpsters.
Its time to retire the governments dietary guidelines for adults, too. Even the booklets are gaining weight. The current guidelines run 144 pages, up from 11 pages back in 1980. Theyll never fit into their old jeans at this rate.
Governments tend to bloat whatever they touch. Then they enforce their mandates by taking your money in taxes and deciding how much of it you may have back for the things you need, based on your level of cooperation with government guidelines.
This is what were teaching children in school when we tell them the government requires them to take food they dont want, or the school wont be paid.
Be proud that theyre throwing it in the trash. Freedom may yet survive.
Susan Shelley is a columnist for the Southern California News Group. Reach her at Susan@SusanShelley.com.
Posted: May 17, 2017 at 7:41 pm
Popular weight-loss surgery puts patients at high risk for alcohol problems Science Daily One in five patients who undergo one of the most popular weight-loss surgical procedures is likely to develop problems with alcohol, with symptoms sometimes not appearing until years after their surgery, according to one of the largest, longest-running ... |
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Popular weight-loss surgery puts patients at high risk for alcohol problems - Science Daily
Posted: May 17, 2017 at 7:41 pm
By Fernando Ramirez, Chron.com / Houston Chronicle
Photos of weight loss
Florida teacher Amber Barham recently lost 100 pounds through diet and exercise after a doctor advised her to have a weight reduction surgery.
Click through to see Instagram photos ofAmber Barham's weight-loss.
Source:Ambers_journey
Photos of weight loss
Florida teacher Amber Barham recently lost 100 pounds through diet and exercise after a doctor advised her to have a weight reduction surgery.
Click through to see Instagram photos
If you only exercise sporadically and eat healthy once in awhile, don't kid yourself into thinking that is enough. Unless you are born with great genes, you will need to put in consistent time and effort towards your goals. That means a few resistance workouts per week and of course some extra cardio!
If you only exercise sporadically and eat healthy once in awhile, don't kid yourself into thinking that is enough. Unless you are born with great genes, you will need to put
Remember that weight and fat are two different things. If you are approaching the scale and basing the number on total fat loss, you will be discouraged. As you workout more, and increase your muscle mass, you will also be increasing overall weight, as muscle is heavier than fat. It is so much heavier but only takes up 1/4 of the space. You could therefore weigh the same, but appear much smaller. Also remember, the more muscle you have, the more potential you have to burn fat, leading to accelerated results.
Remember that weight and fat are two different things. If you are approaching the scale and basing the number on total fat loss, you will be discouraged. As you workout more, and
Sometimes our body tricks us into thinking that we are going above and beyond, and then justifies breaking our regime for a few days of rest, or eating something we know we haven't totally earned. It is very important to of course allow for rest, and the occasional indulgence, but only when truly earned. If you always take days off from exercise, and cheat on your meals, you will never see the results you want. Your body remembers even if you don't.
Sometimes our body tricks us into thinking that we are going above and beyond, and then justifies breaking our regime for a few days of rest, or eating
Your body is a machine, and a smart one at that. If you only do the same thing over and over, it learns, and develops muscle memory for the movements. Over time, your body will adapt, and no longer be challenged. It is important to constantly switch things up, to confuse your muscles, and keep them guessing. This means stretching, resistance workouts and cardio. NOT just one or the other.
Your body is a machine, and a smart one at that. If you only do the same thing over and over, it learns, and develops muscle memory for the movements.
Studies have shown that doing a juice cleanse is not the answer to sustained weight loss. While in the beginning you will see pounds melt away, you are losing mostly water and carb weight, that will return, and you are also putting your body into a state of aggressive shock. It is best to avoid "quick fixes" and stick to a method that is consistent eating and exercise.
Studies have shown that doing a juice cleanse is not the answer to sustained weight loss. While in the beginning you will see pounds melt away, you are losing mostly water and
Not eating breakfast almost guarantees that you will make up for the missed calories later on in the day, or that you will not consume the necessary calories you need to power through your day efficiently. This can actually have an adverse affect on your metabolism, slowing it down, and potentially adding to weight gain. Instead of skipping breakfast, try to add something filled with protein first thing, like an egg on avocado, and toast, or a protein filled smoothie.
Not eating breakfast almost guarantees that you will make up for the missed calories later on in the day, or that you will not consume the necessary calories you need to
By only using cardio as your workout, you are not setting your body up for success. You need stronger muscles to help increase your fat burning potential, and amp up the number of calories you burn each day. Start to incorporate weight training in order to get a nice toned, and lean body.
By only using cardio as your workout, you are not setting your body up for success. You need stronger muscles to help increase your fat burning potential, and amp up the
Using heavier weights with fewer reps (10-15) is better than lighter with more reps (20+) when you are trying to build up muscle and tone. It is important to challenge your muscles constantly, yet safely, in order to continue building lean muscle that will burn away fat! Stick with 10-15 reps and make sure its challenging!
Using heavier weights with fewer reps (10-15) is better than lighter with more reps (20+) when you are trying to build up muscle and tone. It is important
Studies have shown having a small snack before a workout that is protein based, can improve performance and burn more calories throughout your session and for the rest of the day! Try incorporating this today!
Studies have shown having a small snack before a workout that is protein based, can improve performance and burn more calories throughout your
People who join fitness groups are proven to be more successful at their fitness goals. Why? Because you are being held accountable by another person. Also, it's more fun! Find a buddy to hit the gym with, or even just for a jog.
People who join fitness groups are proven to be more successful at their fitness goals. Why? Because you are being held accountable by another person. Also, it's more fun!
Learn to understand weight is more than just a number! The more you fixate on a number you want to be at, the more daunting it may become. Especially as you are adding muscle, you may gain some weight as muscle is heavier than fat. It is also important to manage anxiety levels, and use stress management to help promote additional weight loss!
Learn to understand weight is more than just a number! The more you fixate on a number you want to be at, the more daunting it may become. Especially as
Studies have shown that people who drink diet drinks, end up consuming just as many daily calories as people who incorporate sugar in their diet. Many of the chemicals found in diet drinks can also be responsible for bloating, and even weight gain. It is best to avoid them altogether, and stick to things like seltzer water or home made sweet drinks such as herbal iced tea or fruit infused water.
Studies have shown that people who drink diet drinks, end up consuming just as many daily calories as people who incorporate sugar in their diet. Many of the chemicals found
This can actually lead to fat gain over time, plus you will have much less energy for your workouts! Your body needs carbohydrates in order to fuel it throughout the day. It is important though, to eat carbs that your body can easily use! Things like whole grain bread, brown rice, and quinoa are great options. Eat in moderation of course!
This can actually lead to fat gain over time, plus you will have much less energy for your workouts! Your body needs carbohydrates in order to fuel it throughout
Teacher documents amazing weight-loss journey through Instagram
Florida mom Amber Barham was advised by her doctor to have gastric bypass surgery to help with her weight problem.
Instead, the 25-year-old teacher chose diet and exercise and lost 100 pounds over 18 months.
Barham documented her progress on Instagramwith updates on how she was exercising and what she was eating.
RELATIONSHIP GOALS:Couple to wed after losing nearly 600 pounds together
At the start of her journey, Barham weighed 275 pounds and was struggling with a thyroid condition that made it difficult to lose weight.
"I think my thyroid condition was used as a crutch in some ways, and it made me believe I was just always going to be overweight," Barham told the Daily Mail.
When a doctor put Barham on blood pressure medicine and suggested she have a gastric bypass a surgery that makes a patient's stomach smaller she decided enough was enough.
TURNED DOWN: Houston woman says Tilted Kilt didn't hire her as bartender due to her weight
"This made me believe that he thought I wasn't capable of losing the weight, so I proved him wrong," Barham said.
Now,Barham is pushing past the 100-pound marker and plans to drop below 175 pounds this week.
Click through above to see photos ofBarham's weight-loss.
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Teacher documents amazing weight-loss journey through Instagram - Chron.com
Posted: May 17, 2017 at 7:41 pm
PEOPLE.com | How Single Mom Tanisha Washington Lost More than 100 Lbs. with a Low Carb Diet PEOPLE.com At that point I realized that the weight wasn't going to come off on its own, and I really needed to educate myself on how to lose the weight properly, she says. Learn more about Tanisha and the five other women who lost 100 lbs. in the latest issue ... |
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How Single Mom Tanisha Washington Lost More than 100 Lbs. with a Low Carb Diet - PEOPLE.com
Posted: May 17, 2017 at 7:41 pm
Heavy seniors who want to lose pounds safely shouldn't skip the weight machines or the treadmill, new research suggests.
Experts have worried about recommending weight loss to older, obese people because it speeds up bone and muscle loss, increasing the danger of falls and broken bones. Losing weight plus aerobic activity and strength training improved their health more than dieting plus either type of exercise alone.
The results suggest a combination of exercises is the safest approach, and may have big implications for helping people continue to live independently as they age. Medicare, the U.S. health insurance program for people 65 and older, now covers behavioral therapy for weight loss and some plans offer gym memberships.
"It is the worst of both worlds, being fat and frail," said Dr. Dennis T. Villareal of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who led the study under a grant from the National Institute on Aging.
More than a third of Americans ages 65 and older are obese. Obesity can make the elderly vulnerable to medical problems, but losing weight can worsen frailty by hastening muscle and bone loss.
The study, published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine, involved 141 older obese people who were randomly assigned to a diet-and-exercise program. They scored in the frail range on a standard test used with seniors.
One group did aerobics such as treadmill walking. Another did strength training with weight machines. A third group did aerobics and strength training. All exercised three times a week.
A control group didn't diet or exercise and only attended monthly nutrition classes.
After six months, all the groups except the do-nothing group had lost weight, about 19 pounds on average.
The combination and aerobics-only groups built their ability to use oxygen most efficiently, which can increase endurance. The combination and strength-only groups preserved the most lean mass and bone.
The health differences showed up in follow-up testing where participants did a series of nine tasks including picking up a penny, standing up from a chair and climbing stairs.
Most improved was the combination group with a 21 percent average increase in scores compared to 14 percent improvement in the aerobics-only and strength-only groups.
"It's never too late to change lifelong unhealthy habits," Villareal said.
Minor injuries such as knee pain and shoulder pain among the exercisers were not enough to outweigh the benefits, he said.
The study excluded people with severe heart disease and other serious health problems, so the results apply only to people well enough to start an exercise program.
"You get more bang for your buck with doing both types of training, especially when it comes to improving frailty scores," said Dr. Lawrence Appel of Johns Hopkins University, who was not involved in the study.
Follow AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson on Twitter: @CarlaKJohnson
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'Fat and frail' seniors benefit from right exercise combo - ABC News
Posted: May 17, 2017 at 7:41 pm
Physical Fitness means being well rounded and competent in all areas of fitness. That's why SPARC bases overall physical fitness on 4 Pillars. Last week, we told you about Pillar 1,Strength. Pillar 2,Body Composition,means having an appropriate amount of fat tissue, bone density, and muscle mass. Body composition affects all other aspects of physical fitness. While the affects may be subtle, they can make a huge difference in your longevity and quality of life.
There are 3 elements of body compostition to consider.
There are few resources for obtaining a total snapshot of your body composition. Conventional means such as skin calipers do not provide necessary information, such as bone density metrics and measurements of the potentially dangerous fat tissue around organs. The gold standard of body composition testing is through a DEXA Scan which uses low level xrays to give regional and overall measurements of fat tissue, bone density, and lean mass.If you are interested in receiving a DEXA Scan, please contact SPARC to schedule an appointment in our Performance Lab.
We are constantly told to lose weight and exercise, but we are rarely advised how to improve our body composition as a whole. Pursuing healthy levels of fat tissue, bone density, and muscle mass simultaneously will improve your overall health without the tradeoff of seeking one aspect of health at the cost of the others. SPARC's 4 Pillars of Health will guide your comprehensive approach, so be sure to continue visiting our posts weekly as we outline each Pillar.
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Why Body Composition is Important for Your Health - Online Athens (blog)
Posted: May 16, 2017 at 12:42 pm
May 16, 2017 by Megan Ritchie Credit: CC0 Public Domain
A study in mice finds that development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) could be arrested by switching from a high-glycemic diet (starches as are found in white bread) to a low-glycemic (starches found in whole grains). For the same amount of total carbohydrate, high-glycemic diets release sugar into the blood stream more rapidly than low-glycemic diets.
Researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University also believe that the study, published in PNAS, points to potential biomarkers of AMD. These can be used to predict when a person is at risk for this disease, which is the leading cause of vision loss in adults over the age of 50.
In early stages, AMD results in blurred vision. In advanced stages, AMD can make life very challenging. The National Eye Institute estimates that the number of people with AMD will double by 2050, from 2.07 million to 5.44 million. In the United States, white Americans are most likely to develop AMD and, in 2010, 2.5 percent of white adults aged 50 and older had AMD. The disease is typically diagnosed only when vision loss has already begun. Unfortunately, there is no cure.
Using an aged mouse model, the researchers randomized 59 mice into two groups: 19 low-glycemic fed mice and 40 high-glycemic fed mice. The diets differed only in carbohydrate source. Carbohydrates comprised 45 percent of the diet in both cases. The carbohydrate source varied in the ratio of amylose and amylopectin, the two starches used for this work. The high-glycemic starch was 100 percent amylopectin while low-glycemic starch was 70 percent amylose and 30 percent amylopectin.
After six months, the high-glycemic group of mice either remained on the high-glycemic diet or were switched to the low-glycemic diet.
The researchers observed that a high-glycemic diet resulted in the development of many AMD features, including loss of function of cells at the back of the eye called retinal pigmented epithelial atrophy (RPE) and of the cells that capture light, called photoreceptors precursors to dry AMD whereas a low-glycemic diet did not. Importantly, switching from a high-glycemic diet to a low-glycemic diet arrested damage to the retina.
"We were genuinely surprised that the retinas from mice whose diets were switched from high- to low-glycemic index diets midway through the study were indistinguishable from those fed low-glycemic index diet throughout the study. We hadn't anticipated that dietary change might repair the accumulated damage in the RPE so effectively. Our experimental results suggest that switching from a high-glycemic diet to a low-glycemic one is beneficial to eye health in people that are heading towards developing AMD," said lead author Sheldon Rowan, Ph.D., scientist in the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.
Potential Biomarkers
The researchers also identified potential biomarkers of AMD features. Such biomarkers can be used to predict who will get the disease. The biomarkers included advanced glycation end products (AGEs) that are formed when sugar metabolites react with proteins. They also included oxidized fats, C3-carnitine and serotonin levels. The low-glycemic diet limited the accumulation of AGEs and the oxidation of long-chain polyunsaturated fats. AGEs can be a factor in aging and the development of many degenerative diseases, in addition to AMD. Fat oxidation results in the degradation of fats in cell membranes, which can lead to cell damage.
The researchers also found that higher levels of C3-carnitine and serotonin in the blood were related to consuming the low-glycemic index diet and less AMD features. C3-carnitine, also known as propionylcarnitine, plays a role in fatty acid metabolism in cells and is found in many low-glycemic foods, such as whole wheat and legumes. Serotonin is made in the intestine, in response to signals that are produced by microbes in the gut. The researchers showed that the composition of gut microbes, collectively called the gut microbiome, changes in response to the diet. Higher serotonin levels are associated with retinal health and reduced frequency of AMD features. The researchers identified several other metabolites that were associated with protection from AMD and with the composition of the gut microbiome, which together led the authors to speculate on a potential gut-retina axis that may communicate diet to eye health.
Altogether, the findings suggest that changes in metabolism associated with the different glycemia diets, AGEs accumulation, production and oxidation of fats, and C3-carnitine and serotonin levels are related to development of AMD features.
These findings add to a growing body of research on the relation between dietary carbohydrate control and the development of AMD, led by senior author Allen Taylor, Ph.D., senior scientist and director of the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. Taylor holds secondary positions as professor of ophthalmology at Tufts University School of Medicine and also serves as faculty in the Biochemistry and Cell, Molecular & Developmental Biology programs at the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts.
"Currently, there are no early biomarkers to anticipate the disease. Our findings show an interaction between dietary carbohydrates, the gut microbiome, specific biochemical molecules, and AMD features. This work should lead to new approaches to understand, diagnose and treat early AMD perhaps before it affects vision. Already anticipated by our human epidemiologic studies, the findings imply that we can develop dietary interventions aimed at preventing the progression of AMD, a disease which impacts millions and costs billions worldwide," said Taylor.
"Clinical tests are already available to test for some of these potential biomarkers. A screening of C3-carnitine levels is a standard part of the newborn screening profile, so it would not be challenging to adapt the existing screening to evaluate levels in AMD. There are also efficient clinical measures for serotonin. AGEs, however, are still emerging biomarkers, and have not been used on large-scale human studies yet. Even so, AGEs are among the most exciting potential AMD biomarkers, since we understand their damaging molecular effects very clearly," added Rowan.
Explore further: Low glycemic index diet linked to drop in uric acid levels
More information: Sheldon Rowan et al. Involvement of a gutretina axis in protection against dietary glycemia-induced age-related macular degeneration, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2017). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1702302114
(HealthDay)Reducing the dietary glycemic index is associated with a reduction in uric acid levels among overweight and obese adults, according to a study published in the May issue of Arthritis & Rheumatology.
(HealthDay)Patients with acne vulgaris have significantly higher glycemic index and glycemic load levels and significantly lower serum adiponectin levels, according to a study published in the July issue of the Journal ...
The glycemic index of a given food, a value that aims to quantify how fast blood sugar rises after eating it, can vary by an average of 20 percent within an individual and 25 percent among individuals, report scientists from ...
Feeding older mice a lower glycemic index (GI) diet consisting of slowly-digested carbohydrates delays the onset of age-related, sight-threatening retinal lesions, according to a new study from the Laboratory for Nutrition ...
(HealthDay)A one-week high glycemic index (HGI) diet increases hepatic fat and glycogen stores in healthy adults compared with a low glycemic index (LGI) diet, according to a study published online Sept. 4 in Diabetes, ...
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A study in mice finds that development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) could be arrested by switching from a high-glycemic diet (starches as are found in white bread) to a low-glycemic (starches found in whole grains). ...
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Switching to a low-glycemic diet may stop age-related eye disease, study suggests - Medical Xpress
Posted: May 16, 2017 at 12:42 pm
You Cannot Use Guess Work When Preparing Food for Your Pet
A recent issue of a pet food industry journal listed popular trends in what is called the Natural pet food market. For those who might not be aware, the term Natural has become a meaningless marketing buzzword in both the human and pet food industries.
It appears all over processed food packages and labels, ignoring the fact that processed food cannot be natural food.
Definition of Natural: Existing in or derived from nature; not made or caused by humankind.
Obviously, with rare exceptions, food that comes in a can, bag or box has been made or caused by humankind. Having said all that, lets get back to the subject of growing trends in the falsely named natural pet food market.
These are as follows:
Let us take a closer look at the 1st 3, as follows:
Human-Grade: The term Human-Grade in pet food means the finished product is legally suitable and approved as nourishment for humans. It is edible.
Feed Grade: The opposite of human-grade, is finished product unsuitable for human consumption (inedible). It can only be legally fed to animals (other than humans). Feed-Grade ingredients are essentially waste products of the human food industry.
The bulk of these ingredients are rendered by-products derived from:
Human foods are much more rigorously regulated than foods made for animals. Unlike the loosely controlled pet food industry, the FDA and USDA regulate human foods and conduct frequent, detailed inspections of the manufacturing facilities that produce food for people.
Only pet foods made in Human-Grade facilities, subject to the inspections and approval necessary to have Human-Grade status, can be legally considered 100% Human-Grade.
Few pet food companies can meet these criteria.
As, per the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO):
A claim that something is human-grade or human-quality implies that the article being referred to is edible for people in legally defined terms. The terms human grade or human quality have no legal definition.
When one or more human edible ingredients are mixed with one or more non-human edible ingredients, the edible ingredients become non-human edible.
To claim that a product composed of USDA inspected and passed chicken, plus poultry meal, which is not human edible, plus other ingredients is made with human-grade chicken is misleading without additional qualification and disclaimers in the claim because the chicken is no longer edible.
Thus, for all practical purposes, the term human grade represents the product to be human edible.
For a product to be human edible, all ingredients in the product must be human edible and the product must be manufactured, packed and held in accordance with federal regulations in 21 CFR 110, Current Good Manufacturing Practice in Manufacturing, Packing, or Holding Human Food.
If these conditions exist, then human-grade claims may be made. If these conditions do not exist, then making an unqualified claim about ingredients being human grade misbrands the product.
AAFCOs official reason for not allowing use of the terms Human-Grade and Human Quality on pet food packaging is because people might mistakenly or deliberately eat the food themselves.
But, I and some small pet food manufacturers who use only human-grade ingredients wonder if it does not have more to do with pressure from pet food industry giants who do not want smaller operations to have a competitive advantage.
After all, the top pet food manufacturers in the world do not have a single pet food made with human edible ingredients. Whatever the reason for AAFCO labeling restrictions, relatively small pet food manufacturers are where youll find formulas containing human grade ingredients.
Grass Fed: There is a lot of confusion around the term grass fed, along with misuse and abuse of the term by beef producers. Its important to understand that most calves are fed grass for a certain amount of time, which allows less scrupulous producers to get away with calling their beef grass fed.
The Key to a truly grass fed product is the finishing. Optimal beef is both grass fed and grass-finished. Some of the benefits of grass fed and grass-finished beef include higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and other healthy fats. It also has a more balanced ratio of omega-3 to omega-6.
Producers of grass fed meats are allowed to define their own standards. Meaning they can theoretically confine their animals, give them antibiotics and hormones, and still put a grass fed label on the meat as long as the animals were also fed grass.
When shopping for grass fed beef, experts recommends looking for the green American Grassfed (AGA) label. No other grass fed certification offers the same comprehensive assurances as the AGAs label, and no other grass fed program ensures compliance using third-party audits.
The AGA label guarantees the meat comes from animals that:
Free-Range: Like the term grass fed, the free-range claim is also open to interpretation, misuse and abuse. The mass-produced chicken you find in grocery stores comes from birds that have typically been raised inhumanely. The animals are stressed by their environment, which leads to susceptibility to disease and the need for antibiotics.
But when it comes to labels such as free-range, its a case of buyer beware, because there are loopholes that allow the commercial egg industry to call eggs from their industrial egg laying facilities free-range.
For example, a hen that is let outside into a barren lot for a few minutes each day, and is fed a diet of corn, soy, cottonseed meals and synthetic additives, can be called free-range because shes allowed outside.
True free-range chickens, on the other hand, roam freely outdoors on a pasture, have access to fresh air and sunshine and eat their natural diet of seeds, green plants, insects and worms. They are raised without antibiotics, synthetic hormones or synthetic pesticides.
The farms where these chickens are raised typically also practice sustainable agriculture that is good for the environment. They create a smaller carbon footprint and help replenish and preserve the land for future generations.
Limited Ingredient Diets
My guess is that limited ingredient diets are becoming popular because people are trying to avoid specific ingredients in pet food they believe their animal companion is sensitive or allergic to.
What is important to know about this category is theres no existing definition of limited ingredient dog or cat food. So, for example, a limited ingredient formula may have just one protein instead of several, or just one carbohydrate, or just one fat source. It might also mean the formula simply has fewer total ingredients than similar products.
There are several problems with limited ingredient pet foods, the first being they may not be nutritionally balanced, in which case the label should state the food is intended for supplemental or intermittent feeding only. This is not a diet you want to feed your pet on a regular basis.
However, if a limited ingredient diet is labeled complete and balanced, it means the food contains the proper amounts of protein, fat, carbs and essential vitamins and minerals as determined by AAFCO, which makes it suitable for daily feeding.
Before you go the limited ingredient route to help a pet you suspect has a problem with something in his diet, I recommend Dr. Jean Dodds NutriScan food intolerance test, which tests for 24 of the most common foods dogs and cats eat. The NutriScan is a salivary test that removes the guesswork involved in food elimination trials, and is great place to start in healing a pet with food sensitivities.
Independent research also shows many limited ingredient diets actually contain several other protein sources not listed on the label, so even if you think youre feeding a hypoallergenic or novel protein to your pet you may not be, which of course defeats the purpose of feeding the diet.
The biggest issue I see with limited ingredient diets is that they are usually recommended for pets with medical issues who may be responsive to novel proteins, which means the pets are sick.
Feeding a highly processed diet to a sick pet is not a good recipe for recovery, nutritionally speaking.
These ill pets would do much better on a nutritionally balanced, species-appropriate, novel protein homemade diet as a means of providing optimal nutrients to facilitate a healing response.
Making your dogs or cats food yourself means you can select ingredients that are human-grade, organic, grass fed and/or free-range, and you can choose exactly which ingredients goes into each meal.
The only caveat is that you absolutely cannot use guesswork when preparing your pets meals. It is crucially important that you follow recipes that are species-appropriate and nutritionally balanced.
By Dr. Karen Becker
Paul Ebeling, Editor
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Paul A. Ebeling, polymath, excels in diverse fields of knowledge. Pattern Recognition Analyst in Equities, Commodities and Foreign Exchange and author of The Red Roadmasters Technical Report on the US Major Market Indices, a highly regarded, weekly financial market letter, he is also a philosopher, issuing insights on a wide range of subjects to a following of over 250,000 cohorts. An international audience of opinion makers, business leaders, and global organizations recognizes Ebeling as an expert.
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You Cannot Use Guess Work When Preparing Food for Your Pet - Live Trading News
