February 8, 2017 by Nick Caplan, The Conversation Separated at launch. Scott and Mark Kelly. Credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly recently spent one year in space, while his identical twin brother Mark (a former NASA astronaut himself) stayed on Earth. The mission was part of an important health experiment, looking at how being in space affects our bodies. While the data are still being studied carefully, NASA recently released some intriguing preliminary findings.

Kelly launched aboard the Russian Soyuz Rocket on March 27 2015, along with Russian cosmonauts Genaldy Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko (joining Kelly on the one year mission). Before, during and after the 340 days he spent aboard the International Space Station, a large volume of biological samples was collected from both Scott and Mark. By looking at molecular changes between the identical twins that were separated at launch, NASA hope to shed light on how certain proteins and bacteria in the body are influenced by nature or nurture by taking advantage of the extreme environmental differences between living on Earth or in space.

Space agencies around the world have a shared goal of taking people to Mars. Missions to Mars will involve crews spending about three years away from Earth's gravity, taking about six months travelling to Mars in microgravity, followed by more than a year on the Martian surface, living and working in about a third gravity we experience on Earth. This is before the planets realign and it's time for the six-month return journey back home. In order to safely complete this journey, effective countermeasures to the potential influences of the extreme environment of space on the human body must be developed.

Previous missions to the International Space Station have identified many of the effects of microgravity on human physiology. Muscles, especially those that help support the body's posture against gravity, waste away, bones become less dense, increased pressure in the skull leads to visual impairments and the amount of blood in the body reduces. As if that wasn't enough, the heart also gets smaller as it can pump blood to the brain more easily and cosmic radiation can lead to increased cancer risk.

To counteract all this, astronauts on the International Space Station complete a rigorous exercise programme (about two hours daily), accompanied by a strictly planned diet.

Molecular adaptations to spaceflight

The NASA Twins Study uses the relatively new field of omics the study of a large number of systems in the human body at a molecular level. Initial findings involved telomeres often described as the "ticking clock of the cell". Telomeres are DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes protecting them from degrading. As we age, the telomeres get shorter and shorter.

The study found that telomeres in white blood cells get longer in space. This was potentially thought to be due to the increased exercise regime and strict diet that Scott followed, but perhaps Einstein's time dilation effect could be playing a part in astronauts' telomeres seemingly ageing slower. Despite this, markers of inflammation in the blood increased in space and after landing back on Earth, which could have been caused by the physical stress placed on Scott's body during re-entry and landing.

Some changes to DNA were also seen in Scott's gene expression. This finding could help identify specific genes that are sensitive to environmental stress so that we can help protect them. During the second half of Scott's mission, bone formation also reduced, which is more commonly seen in osteoporosis.

Astronauts will need to reach Mars and be able to perform physical and cognitive tasks to survive for months on end in the partial gravity environment of the Martian surface. They will have to construct the habitat in which they will live, perform system maintenance and carry out scientific research. By understanding how microgravity influences astronauts' DNA, drugs and other countermeasures can be developed to prevent these changes and ensure that astronauts stay healthy.

Of course, it is not all about exploring the solar system. Many of the global space agencies aim to study how space affects the human body in order to improve healthcare interventions for patients on Earth. As the use of omics develops, it could lead to personalised healthcare.

By using these techniques to comprehensively analyse blood samples taken in hospitals, or even in doctors surgeries, it might one day be the case that doctors can predict whether a patient might develop a certain disease, and prescribe preventative drugs to reduce the likelihood of the patient becoming ill in the first place. Findings from NASA's Twin Study could, therefore, help us living longer and healthier lives on Earth.

Explore further: Change in astronaut's gut bacteria attributed to spaceflight

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Northwestern University researchers studying the gut bacteria of Scott and Mark Kelly, NASA astronauts and identical twin brothers, as part of a unique human study have found that changes to certain gut "bugs" occur in space.

Preliminary research results for the NASA Twins Study debuted at NASA's Human Research Program's annual Investigators' Workshop in Galveston, Texas the week of January 23. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly returned home last March ...

The human body is incredibly complex. Every part of usfrom our bones to our blood cellsis subject to a host of chemical reactions and molecular interactions that, without our conscious effort, keep us alive.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly shared a series of sunrise photographs with his social media followers on Tuesday, March 1, 2016, as he prepared to depart the International Space Station and return to Earth aboard a Soyuz TMA-18M ...

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will Thursday set a new record for the longest single stretch of time spent in space by an American, with 216 consecutive days at the International Space Station.

Would you like to spend a year gazing down from the International Space Station? Before you pack your bag, you should think about what actually might happen to you in microgravity, away from the protection of the atmosphere ...

A team of scientists at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland recently completed a technology demonstration that could enable new scientific missions to the surface of Venus. The team demonstrated the first prolonged ...

Many scientists believe the Earth was dry when it first formed, and that the building blocks for life on our planetcarbon, nitrogen and waterappeared only later as a result of collisions with other objects in our solar ...

For astronomers trying to understand which distant planets might have habitable conditions, the role of atmospheric haze has been hazy. To help sort it out, a team of researchers has been looking to Earth specifically ...

About 4.6 billion years ago, an enormous cloud of hydrogen gas and dust collapsed under its own weight, eventually flattening into a disk called the solar nebula. Most of this interstellar material contracted at the disk's ...

On Feb. 9, 2017, NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, known as MMS, began a three-month long journey into a new orbit. MMS flies in a highly elliptical orbit around Earth and the new orbit will take MMS twice as far ...

For years, their existence has been debated: elusive electrical discharges in the upper atmosphere that sport names such as red sprites, blue jets, pixies and elves. Reported by pilots, they are difficult to study as they ...

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NASA sent a twin to space to study nature versus nurture and we're starting to get results - Phys.Org

Buncombe County, like much of the nation, has a diabetes problem. The diseasewas ranked as the 10th-leading cause of death in the countyin the 2015 Community HealthAssessment, an annual gathering of data from residents to determine local wellness in relation to state and national averages. While there are numerous reasons why this has become an epidemic, the assessment found that23.5 percent of Buncombe adults are obese, and that just over 30 percent of students in K-5 public schools are overweight or obese, factors that increase the incidence of diabetes.

The good news: Asheville-area health professionals say there are affordable and accessible ways to address this growing risk for generations young and old. A wealth of information, diet trends and practiceshas emergedto address weight loss and the prevention of diabetes.

Christin Banman, a registered dietitian with Mountain Kidney and Hypertension Associates, is accustomed to dealing with the factors that lead to diabetes, Type 2 in particular. You immediately have to get into the home life situation with these issues, she says.Who does the cooking? Whos in the house? The majority of her patients have fought weight gain, high blood pressure and long-standing medical issuestheir entire lives. Their multiple problems create the onset of Type 2 diabetes, she says, which in turn causes kidney malfunction due to higher levels of blood sugar.

Banmans advice for someone who has contracted the disease and is seeking reversal of the diagnosis is similar to that shed offeranyonewho is prediabetic. She recommends affordable and simple dietary solutions that include buying frozen vegetables for cost and longevity, avoiding most beverages in favor of purchasing foods, buying grains in bulk, and shopping at Aldi and other affordable markets in their area.

Watchingyour weightis key to help preventing Type 2 diabetes, Banman says. I really feel like if someone can jump start or hit the restart button with the sugar busters or Atkins diet just to get an initial amount of weight off, Im a supporter of that. I think the long-term benefits of just getting a little bit of weight off exceed the consequences of that diet.

I think what were dealing with is whats referred to as a toxic food environment, where we have heavily marketed, very inexpensive, unhealthy foods on every corner in hospitals, airports and even in our school systems, she continues. This food environment surrounds us. So its hard for me to argue with someone who says, The croissant sandwiches were two-for-one on the way in. With someone that has limited food money, that speaks. So thats part of the food environment were dealing with.

Diabetes and lifestyle

Type 2 diabetes affects 29.1 million people in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The most common causes for the onset of this illness are obesity, smoking, physical inactivity, age, family history, high blood pressure and a high alcohol intake,according to WebMD.

Diabetes causes blood glucose levels to rise above normal. When people eat, their bodies turn food into glucose, or sugars, for their body to use as energy. The pancreascreates the hormoneinsulin, which allows those sugars to get into the cells of the body. But with Type 2 diabetes, thebody is no longer able to use its own insulin as well as it should, causing sugar to build up in theblood.

In 2014, the North Carolina State Report nameddiabetes as the seventh-leading cause of death in the state, the fourth-leading cause for African-Americans and the third-leading causefor American Indians. In WNC, the rate of white people living with the disease is highest, at 11.6 percent, while the rate of African Americans in the eastern part of the state is 15.3 percent.

Harvard UniversitysPATHS (Providing Access to Healthy Solutions) report for North Carolina in 2014outlined how legislation could mitigatethe disease, including a mandate for insurers to cover diabetes-related services as well as the creation of a unified public health system to providewhole-person care. The PATHS report is funded through Together on Diabetes,a philanthropic program of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation,and was launched in 2010 to improve the health outcomes of people living with Type 2 diabetes bystrengthening patient self-management education, community-based supportive services and broad-based community mobilization.

Short of legislative measures, how can the millions of Americans seeking to control their weight and improve their health avoid Type 2 diabetes?

Dr. Daniel Stickler of the Apeiron Center for Human Potential in Asheville relates the illness tolifestyle. Type 2 diabetes is not truly a disease, he says.Type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle aspect. You can progress to the point where you actually poison your beta cells in the pancreas after years of being Type 2 diabetic, but it really is a lifestyle. Weve seen plenty of reversals on people that were diabetic or prediabetic that changed their lifestyle and completely reversed the disease without medication.

Stickler saysthat a whole-person approach is needed. Apeiron uses that approach, looking closely at a persons genetics and at about 75 different genomic variations that help predict appetite, hunger and nutrient selection from fats to carbs and proteins.Apeiron tailors diets specifically around a persons genomics, goals and experiences to create a program that is individualized, rather than using a diet from a book.

The problem that you run into is that when you diagnose someone with a disease, they become the disease, Stickler says. The title becomes them, and until they can get to the point where they understand they are not Type 2 diabetes, youre not going to make any progress with them. Were treating it with these medications that arent treating the core cause, which is lifestyle. Its OK to bridge that to get things under control, but the whole focus needs to be on treating the core cause, which is a lifestyle component that has created an insulin resistance in the body. And it is easily reversible.

We have epigenetic coaches that work with clients and read their genetic data, looking at 500 genetic variations and working with sleep, stress, nutrition, exercise and human movement environment, thoughts, etc. So were venturing into all realms in how we address health.

Ways to approach diet, exercise

Banman notes thatMedicare initially covers only three hours a year of dietary intervention and just two hours annually thereafter. This is where support becomes very limited, she says, adding that a majority of her patients arediagnosed in their mid-60s, which makes it difficult for them to get up and get moving. In addition, stress from finances, work and family are debilitating factors, pushing diet and exercise to the bottom of their priorities. Im struck with the layers in their lives that are making things so complicated, and Im very sympathetic to it and help however I can, she says.

Stickler and Banman both recommend the Mediterranean diet, which is in concert with the diabetic diet, according to Banman, and which research has consistently shown to bean effective way to also reduce the risk of heart disease, lower low-density lipoproteins (or bad cholesterol) and lower risks associated with cancer, Parkinsons and Alzheimers diseases.

The American Diabetes Association outlinesa Mediterranean meal plan on itswebsite. Key components of the diet, according to the Mayo Clinic, are limiting red meat;eating fish at least twice a weekand otherwise primarily plant-based food, whole grains and nuts; replacing butter with olive oil; and using herbs and spices instead of salt.

In Buncombe County, residents can address stress, exercise and dietthrough the Diabetes Wellness and Prevention Program offered by the YWCA, a program designed specifically for adults with or at risk for Type 2 diabetes. Preventive health coordinatorLeah Berger-Singer saysthatparticipants are given a gym membership, bimonthly personal training, aweekly support group (which discusses health-related topics such as living healthy on a budget) and tips onstress management. Were aiming to provide access to people that may not otherwise have access to a gym, cooking classes, swim lessons and other options, she says.We also provide monthly dinner lectures or lunch and learns, hands-on cooking demos, field trips and other extracurricular activities.

Chiropractor and yoga instructor J. Anya Harris of Crystalign Chiropractic in Asheville saysthat stress-reduction techniques coupled with group exercise can be keys to combating many diseases, including diabetes.Getting out of your routine and your house and away from your cellphone is really important, she advises. Her approach with patients is to address both spinal health and overall physical health, as well as stress and energy levels. Chiropractic care helps to create arange of motion and mobility, freeing up the body to get patientsto the point where they feel good enough to exercise again or continue exercising, she explains. It also opens up the neural pathways that keep the organs, muscles and spine balanced, she adds. With the energy work, Im shifting relationships and trauma to give them the spark to get them moving. Its all about setting up the mind, body and soul to help them feel at ease in their own skin and really define their why. If you dont know your why, then none of it matters, because you wont stay consistent. The why will give them reframing in their consciousness that will keep them moving toward their goal.

For more information:

Mountain Kidney & Hypertension, 10 McDowell St., Asheville, offers a variety of services, including diet and meal planning for diabetics and services for those suffering from hypertension and kidney disease. 258-8545

The Apeiron Center for Human Potential, 190 Broadway, focuses on preventive wellness, including genomic assessments, epigenetic coaching and human potential assessments and coaching. (888) 547-1444

Crystalign Chiropractic,36 Clayton St., off Charlotte Streetin Asheville, offers head-to-toe chiropractic adjustments, trigger-point muscle therapy, energy work, nutrition analysis and wellness coaching. 335-2208

The YWCAs Diabetes Wellness and Prevention Program operates atthe YWCA in downtown Asheville, offering a comprehensive diabetes program to prevent or reverse the illness.Preventive health coordinator Leah Berger-Singer can be reached at 254-7206, ext.212, or Leah.bs@ywcaofasheville.org.

Originally posted here:
Exercise and a healthy diet help prevent Type 2 diabetes - Mountain Xpress

By Blake Dowson

blake-dowson@uiowa.edu

The Iowa basketball team went on the road on Jan. 31 and put a beating on lowly Rutgers at the RAC, 83-63.

It was one of the Hawkeyes better performances of the season to date, even playing without Peter Jok.

It was also, and still is, Iowas only road win of the season.

It squandered a chance to get No. 2 Wednesday night in Minneapolis, giving away a 2-point lead with 20 seconds left and ultimately losing by 12 in double overtime, 101-89.

The cruel Big Ten schedule (or opportunistic, depending on how you look at it) gives Iowa another shot to get its second road win, when it travels to East Lansing to take on Michigan State at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Breslin Center.

Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery is not one for moral victories, and the loss at Minnesota was in no way one, but he did say he saw some encouraging signs from his team.

Theres a lot thats teachable, because there were a lot of really good things, he said. Yeah, its disappointing in a lot of ways, but I thought we showed tremendous fight. We were much better in the second half defensively. We had great activity level. We ran. We moved the ball, I thought, extremely well. Made good decisions, whether [it was] our dribble penetration, and so forth.

Jok was back to his old self against Minnesota, which is a tremendous boost to the Hawkeyes.

He was part of a lineup that has seldom been used by McCaffery this season in the second half but one that will likely see quite a bit of time together against the Spartans.

Jordan Bohannon, Brady Ellingson, Nicholas Baer, and Tyler Cook joined Jok on the court down the stretch in the second half and to start both overtime periods.

Its one of those things, sometimes, you have a lineup that clicks, McCaffery said. They clicked defensively, they clicked offensively.

And then they got tired, and that was unfortunate. Thats what happens.

Both McCaffery and Gopher head coach Richard Pitino noted the fatigue their players experienced in the double-overtime contest, and for good reason. McCaffery chose to shorten his bench considerably down the stretch, and the Gophers only go eight or nine deep on a regular basis.

Nate Mason and the Gophers made plays down the stretch, however, and the Hawkeyes wound up staring at Jordan Murphy as he dunked all over the Hawkeyes in the two overtimes.

Its those types of plays that Pitino said he stresses to his players, and its those plays that the Hawkeyes have failed to make all season long on the road.

We talk about making winning plays, Pitino said. We just talked about in order to win league games, rivalry games, border battle games, those are the types of plays you need to make. Youre going to be exhausted. Youre going to be tired. You just got to fight through it.

The Hawkeyes have more opportunities to pick up wins away from Carver-Hawkeye, but it doesnt get any easier to do so after dropping the Minnesota game. Trips to Wisconsin and Maryland loom after Michigan State.

Sitting at 6-6 in the conference, its not out of the question that the Hawkeyes could play postseason basketball. But that postseason will end up very short if the Hawkeyes dont learn how to make winning plays on courts that dont have an oversized Tigerhawk at center court.

That can change tonight, but the Izzone awaits.

Originally posted here:
Hawkeyes face Spartan diet - The Daily Iowan

I know Democrats and progressives are going nuts over President Trump's first few weeks in office - I know the Middle East is a mess and that we have no small number of incredible challenges at home - but I have my own worries.

Like millions of other Americans, I'm on my annual February diet.

You see, it's not easy to be trim and fit in America. Our culture is saturated with an abundance of high-calorie, processed foods that turn into instant fat.

We work long and hard in sedentary office jobs, then eat our stress away, two or three fast-food treats at a time.

We've become so fat, to quote Rodney Dangerfield, that our bathtubs have stretch marks.

We know our increasing tubbiness isn't healthy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity-associated diseases such as diabetes have soared in recent years. Gallbladder diseases, sleep apnea, high blood pressure and heart disease are all caused by carrying too much weight.

And so we are on a continuous mission to lose weight. Our challenge is that the fad diets that promise to get us there go in and out of fashion faster than the white patent leather shoes and belts my father used to wear to church.

According to the website The Daily Meal ( thedailymeal.com ), the Mediterranean Diet - it features natural, plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts - is in.

So, too, is the Paleo Diet, which apparently is similar to the Mediterranean Diet, except legumes are forbidden.

Which is a shame, too, because I just learned that legumes include alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupin beans, mesquite, carob, soybeans, peanuts and tamarind - which go well with the bourbon I am driven to drink as I try to figure out which diet to go on.

Volumetrics is another "in" diet. It encourages the consumption of low-energy-density foods, which make you feel full with fewer calories than high-energy-density foods. It also sounds like too much math is involved.

The Gluten Diet is on the outs, though, according to The Daily Meal. Apparently, it puts people at risk for "different deficiencies such as B vitamin deficiencies, calcium, fiber, vitamin D, and iron."

The Daily Meal no longer favors the Atkins Diet, either, which makes me sore.

Dr. Atkins said we could eat delicious steaks, pork, chicken and fish. He said we could eat as much eggs and cheese and other tasty no-sugar treats as we could stuff into our bellies. His diet was all the rage for years.

But now The Daily Meal says his diet is a "no go"? That it is not heart-healthy and that most users are not compliant over the long term?

Not so fast! Several prominent studies have concluded that old Doc Atkins was onto something. Low-carbohydrate diets may actually take off more weight than low-fat diets and may be surprisingly better for cholesterol, too.

One of my greatest dieting disappointments of the last 20 years, though, was the failure of the "exercise pill," which had shown promise at Duke University around 2002.

Researchers had located the chemical pathways that muscle cells use to build strength and endurance. With that knowledge in hand, there was hope that a pill could be created that would pump up muscle cells WITHOUT the need for actual exercise.

Dieting Americans could have sat on the couch, chomping potato chips and dip, while their biceps got as round as cantaloupes and their abs got as hard as stone - but this uniquely American dieting innovation wasn't to be.

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Seeking diet panacea - Ledger Independent

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DENVER -- February is National Heart Month, and as part of our 2 Your Health initiative, we are looking for ways to keep the community heart healthy.

Registered dietitian Suzanne Farrell, from Cherry Creek Nutrition, says most people know to watch the fat in their diet, but some dont know added sugar can affect heart health as well.

The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that found people who consumed 21 percent of their calories from added sugar had double the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. The American Heart Association recommends that women consume no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day, and men consume no more than 9 teaspoons.

So Farrell gives her clients six easy tips to decrease your added sugar consumption:

Farrell says its important to understand the food label. You look at the total sugar on something, but look at the ingredient list, and theres lots of names for sugar, of course high fructose corn syrup, but even honey, agave, cane sugar, fruit juice concentrate, she said.

She wants her clients to know, if they make these small changes, they can have a big impact on their overall health.

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Six tips to reduce added sugar in your diet - FOX31 Denver

A new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that substituting whole grains for refined grains increases calorie loss by reducing calories retained during digestion and speeding up metabolism.

J Philip Karl et al quantify benefits of a whole-grain diet. Image credit: Tofs.

Grains are a major food group that includes wheat, rice, oats and barley products.

Whole grains include the outer nutritious layer of grains and are found in products including whole-wheat flour, oatmeal and brown rice.

Refined grains are starches that have been processed and broken down into a finer texture, primarily to increase shelf life. This process, known as milling, drains the starch of dietary fiber, iron and many forms of the vitamin B.

Through an enrichment process, iron and B-vitamins can be added back to the refined grains, but the fiber generally is not. White flour, white bread and white rice are examples of refined grains.

Several studies have suggested health benefits of whole grains and high dietary fiber intake, including for glycemic control and insulin sensitivity.

There has been controversy, however, about whether whole grains and fiber are beneficial for weight regulation, partially because there hasnt been data from controlled metabolic studies.

The new study, led by Dr. Phil Karl of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine and Tufts University, provided food to participants for eight weeks and may help explain how whole grain consumption is beneficial for weight management.

This study helps to quantify how whole grains and fiber work to benefit weight management, and lend credibility to previously reported associations between increased whole grains and fiber consumption, lower body weight and better health, Dr. Karl explained.

People who ate a diet with whole grains lost close to an extra 100 calories per day due to a combination of increased resting metabolic rate and greater fecal losses. This is compared to people who ate refined grains without much fiber.

We provided all food to ensure that the composition of the diets differed only in grain source, said Dr. Susan Roberts, director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and the senior author on the study.

The extra calories lost by those who ate whole grains was equivalent of a brisk 30 min walk or enjoying an extra small cookie every day in terms of its impact.

The researchers conducted an eight-week randomized single-blind comparative study with 81 men and women between the ages of 40 and 65.

In the first two weeks, all participants ate the same type of food, and individual calorie needs were determined.

After two weeks, the participants were randomly assigned to eat a diet that included either whole grains or refined grains.

The whole-grain diet and the refined-grain diet differed mostly in grain and fiber content the energy, macronutrient composition, type of food, and meal structure were similar.

The participants were asked to consume all the food provided and nothing else, return the food they had not eaten, and continue with their usual physical activity.

The purpose of this dietary control was to study the effect of whole grains compared to refined grains on resting metabolic rate and fecal energy losses, as well as feelings of hunger and fullness.

Throughout the eight weeks, the authors measured weight, metabolic rate, blood glucose, fecal calories, hunger and fullness.

At the end of the study, those who ate whole grains had an increase in resting metabolic rate and fecal energy losses compared to those who ate refined grains.

The extra fecal energy losses were not due to the extra fiber itself but from the effect the fiber had on the digestibility of other food calories.

The scientists caution that the effects of a whole-grain diet on resting metabolic rate were sensitive to dietary adherence, so cautious interpretation is warranted.

Based on previous research and current study measurements, however, they believe that the calorie loss was not due exclusively to the digestion of extra fiber intake.

They also note that commercially-available products using whole grain flour were used in the study and hypothesize that using foods with whole grain kernels might elicit a more pronounced benefit. Hunger, fullness and diet satisfaction were not statistically different between diets.

The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans from the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the USDA recommends that Americans replace refined grains with whole grains.

The recommended daily allowance of whole grains is a minimum of 3 ounces of whole grains for women and 4 ounces for men. This is the equivalent to consuming 1.5-2 cups of brown rice or oatmeal each day.

_____

J Philip Karl et al. Substituting whole grains for refined grains in a 6-wk randomized trial favorably affects energy-balance metrics in healthy men and postmenopausal women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, published online February 8, 2017; doi: 10.3945/ajcn.116.139683

This article is based on a press-release from Tufts University.

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Study Reveals Health Benefits of Whole-Grain Diet - Sci-News.com

Madhu Chetri

By Virginia MorellFeb. 8, 2017 , 2:00 PM

Endangered snow leopards and rare Himalayan wolves may be giving conservationists in Nepal a new kind of headache. Although both species prefer dining on wild prey, a new study shows they consume far more livestock than realized, a burden on the migrating herders who let their goats, yaks, cows, and horses wanderoften unaccompaniedin the regions mountain pastures. To find out whetherthe wild predators were helping themselves to the occasional domesticated animal meal, scientists collected 573 scats from 182 leopards (Panthera uncial, shown above) and 236 scats from 57 wolves (Canis lupo chanco) at 26 sites spread across 5000 square kilometers of mountain terrain in the Annapurna and Manaslu conservation areas. Their genetic analysis showed that wild blue sheep called bharal comprised 57% of the leopards diet, whereas small mammals such as marmots and hares made up the bulk of the wolves meals, at 41%. The canids also ate Tibetan gazelles and other ungulates, which made up 31% of their diet. Next on the list was livestock, making up 24% of the wolves diets and 27% of the leopards, the scientists report today in PLOS ONE. The spotted cats seem to prefer horses and goats, whereas the wolves favor goats, horses, cows, and yaksan animal the leopards avoid, perhaps because of its size. Males are the primary livestock killers, possibly because females are more wary, the scientists say. The findings come as no surprise to the scientists, who predicted that the predators would eat more livestock when wild prey was scarcea behavior common to big wild cats like tigers, lions, and cougars. But they also worry that the predators taste for domesticated animals will make it harder to protect them from humans seeking revenge. One solution? Building up the populations of the leopards and wolves wild prey.

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Rare snow leopard's diet is one-quarter livestock - Science Magazine