Recently in Diet and Nutrition Category

A new study shows that high blood pressure may have even more to do with diet and how your body processes food than with genetics.  The study, led by researchers at the Imperial College London, analyzed the chemicals found in the urine of 4,630 middle-aged adults in Great Britain, the US, China and Japan.  They discovered significant differences between the metabolic profiles of the Eastern and Western participants even when the genetic profiles were similar. Notably, Japanese participants living in the West showed metabolic profiles closer to those of Westerners.  The researchers concluded that these results indicate that lifestyle and diet determine blood pressure levels to an even greater extent than genetics. Furthermore, they found a strong link between hypertension and specific chemicals in the urine of the sample population, which gave strong indications as to what exactly triggers a rise in blood pressure.

If you think you're being a model of dental virtue because you brush your teeth vigorously after every meal, here's something to chew on.  Dental erosion -- the loss of the protective enamel coating on the teeth -- has increased in the US, according to a new study. When the enamel diminishes, nerves become exposed, causing victims pain and increased sensitivity.  Plus, the teeth yellow and become brittle, more likely to decay, and they develop ugly V-shaped notches.

Until now, there's been lots of anecdotal evidence that men and women have distinctly different food preferences. You wouldn't expect salad for lunch at an Elks Club meeting, nor ham and fries at the Women's Club. Now, a new study of 14,000 Americans confirms that it's true -- men really do prefer meat, and women prefer veggies.  According to the research, conducted by Foodborne Disease Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), veal, ham, and duck, and shellfish such as shrimp and oysters rank high on the list for men. Women, on the other hand, tend to opt for carrots, tomatoes, and fruits--especially strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and apples.

A new survey by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology reveals that childhood allergies are nothing to sneeze at.  The survey, the largest of its kind to date, culls data from interviews with parents of 1000 children -- 500 with allergies and 500 without.  The results confirm that pediatric allergies can significantly impair a child's daily functioning, academic achievement, and ability to sleep.

Two reports examining the relationship between heart health and alcohol consumption came out this week, and the results couldn't be more different. One study says a drink a day keeps the cardiologist away, while the other warns against alcohol consumption lest you boost your blood pressure.

The first study followed 7500 people over a four-year period and found that those who drank in moderation -- a maximum of one drink a day for women and two drinks for men -- were 38 percent less likely to develop heart disease than those who didn't drink at all.  The results, published in the American Journal of Medicine, noted marked improvement in HDL cholesterol levels among the drinkers, as well as reduced incidence of heart attacks and other "cardiovascular events." Those who drank only wine fared even better than those who consumed other alcoholic beverages.  Interestingly, in spite of the help to the heart afforded by alcohol, the study showed that drinking did not decrease the death rate, perhaps, the researchers suggested, because drinking has associated negative effects that counterbalance the positive.

And here's a study supporting what I've been telling people for years -- that not only are artificial sweeteners unhealthy, they make you fat. Yes, that's what I said. They make you fat!

If you think you're on your way to a new, svelte look because you drink diet soda, you might want to reconsider. A study out of the Ingestive Behavior Research Center at Purdue University, published in the February 2008 issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, proves what many of us in the alternative health community have been saying for years, that artificial sweeteners may throw off your body's natural calorie-counting response, leaving you more likely to overindulge in other foods. In experiments on rats, the researchers found that those fed yogurt sweetened with sugar substitutes, "consumed more calories, put on more weight, gained more body fat, and did not cut back on their calorie consumption in the longer term," when compared to rats eating yogurt sweetened with regular sugar.

Here's yet another disturbing story about meat, right on the heels of last week's post on a related topic. According to the Los Angeles Times, several members of Congress last week called for an independent investigation into the safety of beef supplied to public schools, responding to concerns raised by a horrifying video showing sick cows being tortured enroute to the slaughterhouse. The video, filmed at one of the nation's largest meat suppliers, shows weak and sick cows unable to stand and being subjected to torture in order to force them to walk. Regulations require that cows walk from one pen to the next to prove that they are healthy enough to slaughter. According to ABC News, Hallmark/Westland Meat Company, where the footage was shot, "is the No. 2 supplier of beef to a USDA program that distributes the beef to needy families, the elderly, and also to schools, through the National School Lunch Program."

Researchers in Australia are jumping up and down like kangaroos in excitement over new data that suggests that obesity surgery can eliminate diabetes far more effectively than other treatments. Dr. John Dixon of Monash University Medical School in Melbourne led a study that found that those Type 2 diabetes patients who had stomach-reducing operations were five times more likely to be diabetes free within two years than those who merely maintained a regimen of standard diabetes care.  Of the 55 patients in the study, 29 underwent obesity surgery, and of those, 22 tested negative for diabetes two years later. Of the 26 patients who didn't have the surgery, only four achieved similar remission.

Here's yet another reason to forgive and forget: A recent study out of the University of Minnesota concluded that hostility depletes certain antioxidants linked to heart health. The study followed 3579 ornery people between the ages of 18 and 30, and found that seven years later, they had significantly lower levels of antioxidant carotenoids than they did at the outset. Research director Dr. Tetsuya Ohira and his team point out that angry people tend to smoke, drink, and eat badly, and that these lifestyle factors might account for the results.

A survey of over 2000 parents by the research firm Knowledge Networks recently confirmed the axiom, " Love is blind."   The parents in the survey almost universally denied that their kids had serious weight issues, even when the children were outright obese -- in the 95th percentile of body mass index (BMI) or higher.

The study found that the parents of 6- to 11-year-olds were particularly deluded. Forty-three percent of those with grossly overweight offspring claimed that their children were " about the right weight," and seven percent went as far as to indicate that their kids were " slightly underweight." Only thirty-seven percent acknowledged that their progeny carried any heft at all, and in those cases, the parents mostly indicated that their children were just " slightly overweight."