Birmingham Researchers Granted Almost £140,000 To Investigate Obesity In Children, UK

Researchers in Birmingham have just been awarded a grant of almost £140,000 by Action Medical Research - the leading UK-wide medical research charity dedicated to helping babies and children.

The charity has been supporting significant medical breakthroughs for nearly 60 years, and today announced its latest round of funding to top research institutes at universities and hospitals investigating conditions affecting babies and children.

In this latest round of funding, the charity has given £138,762 to the Diabetes Centre, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital and Birmingham University, for a project looking at links between obesity in children and sleep patterns.

Obesity has become a major public health problem. The condition is now affecting children and we know that this will have serious consequences for their health and wellbeing.

An estimated 17 per cent of boys and 15 per cent of girls in the UK aged between two and 15 are classified as being obese. Around 30 per cent of children are either overweight or obese in the UK and many of these cases will continue into adulthood.

Obesity is associated with other conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, breathing disorders, some cancers, infertility, arthritis, depression and can seriously affect an individual's physical and mental wellbeing. There is a major need to understand factors that contribute to obesity so that this serious condition can be prevented and treated effectively.

Action Medical Research funds a total of approximately £3 million worth of research grants every year, with grant rounds in July and November, as well as awarding Research Training Fellowships in February.

None of our work would be possible without the generosity of people who make donations, raise funds and take part in events, as well as our trust and corporate partners. Action Medical Research receives no income from the government or any other statutory source.

Alexandra Dedman, Senior Research Evaluation Manager: said: "At Action Medical Research we are determined to stop the suffering of babies and children caused by disease and disability. We know that medical research can save and change children's lives. The charity finds and funds some of the best medical research in the world for the benefit of babies, children and young people.

 

 

How much protein do you need?

--You Need A Lot Of Protein to Build Muscle.

The fitness industry will have you believe that if you want to build muscle you need a lot of protein. While it is true that you should take in more protein if you are exercising to build muscle, you will not need to take in gross amounts of protein to put on muscle. This is a big industry whopper that has been created to entice you to buy a lot of protein shakes and supplements!

On the other hand, the medical industry and RDA would have you believe that only need .08 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (.36 grams per lb. of body weight) to build muscle but this doesn't add up at all.

Without making you go crazy with formulas, let's just take a look at some basic requirements.

Example: Let's say the *Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) for a 200 lb, 38 year old male, is approximately 1941 calories.

Some Facts:

1 Carbohydrate Gram = 4 calories

1 Protein Gram = 4 calories

1 Fat Gram = 9 calories.

If the RDA claims you should have 35% of your calories coming from Protein, how much protein would that be?...

BIG INDUSTRY WHOPPER!

--You Need A Lot Of Protein to Build Muscle.

The fitness industry will have you believe that if you want to build muscle you need a lot of protein. While it is true that you should take in more protein if you are exercising to build muscle, you will not need to take in gross amounts of protein to put on muscle. This is a big industry whopper that has been created to entice you to buy a lot of protein shakes and supplements!

On the other hand, the medical industry and RDA would have you believe that only need .08 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (.36 grams per lb. of body weight) to build muscle but this doesn't add up at all.

Without making you go crazy with formulas, let's just take a look at some basic requirements.

Example: Let's say the *Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) for a 200 lb, 38 year old male, is approximately 1941 calories.

Some Facts:

1 Carbohydrate Gram = 4 calories

1 Protein Gram = 4 calories

1 Fat Gram = 9 calories.

If the RDA claims you should have 35% of your calories coming from Protein, how much protein would that be? (should be around 40-50% according to most research studies)

1941 BMR x .35 = 679 Calories from protein

679 calories divided by 4 protein calories = 169.75 grams

169.75 divided by 200lbs = 0.85 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.

This is how much protein your body needs just to sustain life in a resting body ( Your BMR). As you increase your activity level, your caloric needs increase too so you will need to increase your protein. It is important to note, however, you will also need to increase your carbs and fats too.

According to most research, once you pass 1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight or 1.4 grams per kilogram of body weight, there is no credible research to support any higher protein synthesis within the muscles.

Finally, muscle growth is not dictated by the level of protein you ingest; rather it is the balance of intense training, cardio and nutrition that ultimately determines how much protein you should consume

Definition* Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): The minimal Caloric Requirement to sustain life in a resting individual. This would be the amount of calories your body would be required to burn if you slept all day for 24 hours.

Using H.I.T Cardio To Drop Stubborn Body Fat

The Proper Way To Use H.I.T. Training (HIGH-INTENSITY TRAINING) - Guidelines For Beginners
By: Randall Gartman

If you are trying to burn stubborn body fat and you have been exercising for awhile, H.I.T Training may be the ticket. Though H.I.T. Training is not always suited for beginners, H.I.T is not just for the strong willed athlete either. In fact, many people that only have a couple of months of exercise under their belts appear to like H.I.T Training and cardio much better.

Here is a basic rule of thumb that you should adhere to before beginning any H.I.T. Style Cardio.

1. Determine your overall health condition. Being overweight...

The Proper Way To Use H.I.T. Training (HIGH-INTENSITY TRAINING) - Guidelines For Beginners
By: Randall Gartman

If you are trying to burn stubborn body fat and you have been exercising for awhile, H.I.T Training may be the ticket. Though H.I.T. Training is not always suited for beginners, H.I.T is not just for the strong willed athlete either. In fact, many people that only have a couple of months of exercise under their belts appear to like H.I.T Training and cardio much better.

Here is a basic rule of thumb that you should adhere to before beginning any H.I.T. Style Cardio.

1. Determine your overall health condition. Being overweight doesn't necessarily mean you are in bad health so you will need to use some good judgment and of course consult with your physician if you have any concerns. If you are overweight and you don't have any health complications such as uncontrolled High Blood Pressure, uncontrolled blood sugar, metabolic syndrome or heart condition, you are still a candidate for H.I.T. in most cases.

2. Make sure you have a month or two of exercise under your belt before you just jump into H.I.T. Cardio. You don't have to been in great shape to do H.I.T. Style training but your body needs to be acclimated to exercise. Your age and health condition will dictate when you can start in most cases.

3. Properly warm up and stretch for at least 5-7 minutes before beginning H.I.T.

4. Choose Your Style of H.I.T. and mix it up from time to time.

Here are some choices::

Sprinting (outside or treadmill), Bicycling, Elliptical, Stair Step, Heavy Bag, Jump Rope - or any exercise that you can go ''"ALL-OUT"" for 15-30 seconds.

My personal favorites are - Heavy Bag - Elliptical and Jump Rope but you can choose whatever you like. If you have some joint problems, the ELIPTICAL is perfect for most people because there is virtually no impact on your knees, hips or feet.

Okay, here are the keys to H.I.T. -- Go as hard as you can for 15-30 seconds and rest for 1-3 minutes and don't exercise like this for longer than 20 minutes.

If you remember from a previous newsletter, "Chasing The Zone", I showed you how to target your "Target Heart Rate Range (THR)" (USE THIS LINK if you forgot). I told you to find out what your "Maximum Heart Range (MHR)" was and exercise for 30 minutes at 60-80% of that rate.

With H.I.T. cardio, you just go "all-out" for 15-30 seconds and you don't perform the exercise again until you have almost recovered. Let your heart rate slow down to at least 45-50% of your Maximum Heart Rate.

Example: 185 MHR x .45-.50 = 53-93 Beats Per Minute (BPM) - If you have an elevated pulse rate, you may need to let your heart slow down to slightly above your resting pulse rate.

I hope you enjoyed this TipTow For Health eZine.

Remember; you are measured by the foot; with each step you take you are one foot closer to success.

Randall Gartman
Certified Fitness Specialist and
Lifestyle and Wellness Coach
randall@randallgartman.com

P.S. By the way, all the calculations above are automatically figured for you when you use the eMpowering Physical Mastery System. NO GUESSWORK OR COMPLICATED FORMULAS TO FIGURE OUT.

Please visit these other sites:
www.randallgartman.com
www.stopbeingoverweight.com
www.telcoachu.com

Are Our Kids Oversnacked?

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
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Kids aren't the only ones who smile when the words "snack time" are heard. We are obsessed with snacking. Aisle after aisle in the grocery store is filled with sweet, salty, savory and, yes, even healthy snacks. Do we live in an oversnacked society? Is this fixation adding to the dangerous level of childhood obesity and playing a role in the growing number of poorly nourished kids in our country?

"Despite the increase in weight of our children, there are still critical nutrient gaps," said Gina Bucciferro, registered dietician and pediatric nutrition expert at Loyola University Medical Center. "Snacks can either make or break the nutritional quality of a kid's daily intake."

Research has shown that 88 percent of U.S. children do not meet the recommended daily intake for fruit and 92 percent do not meet the same for vegetables. Though obesity is a major concern for kids with poor nutrition, there are other health risks as well. These include heart disease, depression, high blood pressure, tooth decay, anemia, osteoporosis and diabetes.

According to Bucciferro, snacks are a great way to bridge the nutritional gap. Parents need to be aware of what is being served and when it takes place to help keep snack time a good time.

When to snack:

1. After physical activity. In addition to needing high-quality energy for growth and development, children involved in sports and other physical activities need to replace the extra energy they are burning. Whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy can provide the carbohydrates needed to replenish little athletes without added sugar and fat. Fluids also are important in making sure active kids stay hydrated. According to the American Dietetic Association, school-age children need to drink six 8 ounce cups of water per day and another 8 ounces for every half-hour of strenuous activity. A sports drink is only necessary for activities lasting longer than 60 minutes.

2. Scheduled between meal times. Children do have increased nutrition needs, so providing snacks between meals can help them stay focused and healthy. The goal should be to offer as much nutrition as possible without providing excessive sugar, fat and calories. Fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy are an easy way to meet this goal. These types of foods, eaten two to three hours before a meal will not spoil an appetite, whereas high-fat foods might.

When not to snack:

1. As a reward. Our relationship with food is formed at a very young age. When food is provided as a reward an unhealthy relationship with food can be formed. Rewarding children with playtime or fun, educational activities can form much better habits than indulging in high-fat, high-sugar fare. Also, providing these types of foods after an accomplishment can lead the child to place a higher value on low-nutrition food items. Also, don't treat these foods as forbidden. Encourage everything in moderation.

2. To cure boredom. Starting a habit of eating when bored can become a slippery slope. If you notice your child requesting snacks at off-times, make sure to assess the situation. If your child's normal meal times have been thrown off due to a hectic schedule or if they've had increased activity, provide them with a small, low-calorie snack such as fruit and low-fat yogurt or veggies and light ranch dip. However, if it's been a typical day and you notice your child is just antsy, provide a fun activity instead. Depending on your child's age coloring and other activity books can be a good option for minimal supervision while not encouraging increased television time.

"Snack time can be beneficial for kids. Just make sure kids are snacking at the right time and that snack items are closing the nutrient gaps, not worsening a child's nutrient deficit which be detrimental to a child's health," said Bucciferro.

Source:
Loyola University Health System

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Women With PCOS Benefit From Acupuncture And Exercise

PCOS is a common disorder that affects up to 10% of all women of child-bearing age. Women with PCOS frequently have irregular ovulation and menstruation, with many small immature egg follicles in the ovaries. This causes the ovaries to produce more testosterone which, in turn, leads to troublesome hair growth and acne. Obesity, insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease are also widespread among these patients.

In the current study, published in the American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, a group of women with PCOS were given acupuncture where the needles were stimulated both manually and with a weak electric current at a DELETE"VERY" low frequency that was, to some extent, similar to muscular work. A second group was instructed to exercise at least three times a week, while a third group acted as controls. All were given information on the importance of regular exercise and a healthy diet.

"The study shows that both acupuncture and exercise reduce high levels of testosterone and lead to more regular menstruation," says docent associate professor Elisabet Stener-Victorin, who is responsible for the study. "Of the two treatments, the acupuncture proved more effective."

Although PCOS is a common disorder, researchers do not know exactly what causes it. "However, we've recently demonstrated that women with PCOS have a highly active sympathetic nervous system, the part that isn't controlled by our will, and that both acupuncture and regular exercise reduced levels of activity in this system compared with the control group, which could be an explanation for the results."

Source:
Elisabet Stener-Victorin
University of Gothenburg

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'Yo-yo' Effect Of Slimming Diets Explained

If you want to lose the kilos you've put on over Christmas, you may be interested in knowing that the hormones related to appetite play an important role in your likelihood of regaining weight after dieting. A new study confirms that people with the highest levels of leptin and lowest levels of ghrelin are more likely to put the centimetres they lost back on again.

Doctors often have to deal with patients who, after sticking to a slimming diet, have regained the kilos lost in just a short time or weigh even more than they did before they started the diet. This is called the 'yo-yo' effect, and it is noted in some people who follow such weight-loss programmes.

"There are patients who are susceptible to and others who are resistant to the benefits of a diet", Ana Belén Crujeiras, lead author of the study and a doctor at the University Hospital Complex of Santiago (CHUS), tells SINC. "It seems that the way each patient responds to treatment is predetermined by their own characteristics".

The researchers analysed the role of the plasma levels of hormones such as ghrelin, leptin and insulin on weight recovery in 104 overweight people following a hypocaloric diet. After eight weeks, the group that had regained more than 10% of the weight lost was found to have higher levels of leptin and lower levels of ghrelin. No differences were observed in their insulin levels.

The results, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, also show that ghrelin has a specific impact on men and leptin on women.

"Some obese or overweight patients who gain more weight following a diet could even be identified before they embark on their weight-loss therapy, just by looking at their plasma levels of these hormones", Crujeiras stresses.

A very useful dietary weapon

According to the authors, this study opens the door to more exhaustive studies on appetite-related hormones as tools for developing individually-tailored weight-loss programmes that would guarantee success for obese and overweight patients in keeping the weight lost off.

"Endocrinologists and nutritionists should design a special programme for patients with the highest plasma levels of leptin and the lowest ghrelin levels before they start on a hypocaloric diet, knowing that these patients are the most likely to regain the weight they have lost over the short term", concludes the expert.

Sources: Plataforma SINC, AlphaGalileo Foundation.

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Give Your Child A Good Start In Life By Losing Body Fat Before Pregnancy

Obesity among women of childbearing age is increasing worldwide. Because babies of obese mothers are themselves predisposed to obesity, society can reasonably expect the epidemic of obese and overweight people to continue through future generations.

In the midst of this trend, UT Health Science Center San Antonio obstetrics researchers are studying the question: If mothers lose body fat before pregnancy, does it improve the lifelong health of their children? This could be one way to break the transgenerational cycle. A collaborative study between researchers with the Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Research at the Health Science Center and the National Institute of Nutrition in Mexico City showed that if obese mothers lose weight before pregnancy, it confers health benefits on their offspring.

Research in rat mothers

In the study, researchers induced maternal obesity by feeding a group of female rats a high-fat diet prior to mating. This group of females ate the fatty chow from weaning through adolescent life to breeding and remained on it through pregnancy and lactation. Meanwhile, females in a second group were switched to normal chow one month before mating.

Reversible metabolic effects

Only male offspring were studied. At weaning, triglycerides, leptin, insulin and insulin resistance were elevated in offspring of obese mothers and all returned to normal if their mothers had received prepregnancy dietary intervention. Fat mass and fat cell size were increased in offspring of fat mothers and these changes were significantly reversed, though not completely abolished, by the dietary intervention. The authors said this is the first study showing reversibility of adverse metabolic effects of maternal obesity on offspring by a pre-pregnancy intervention. Outcomes and reversibility varied by tissue affected.

Good start in life

"Developmental programming sets the scene that influences one's health for the rest of life," Dr. Nathanielsz said. Some differences, such as heart disease and obesity, may not appear until much later in life.

"It is of interest that offspring of the obese mothers also showed high levels of leptin, a hormone that signals the brain to decrease appetite," he said. "This may mean they've developed a brain that is resistant to the signals that tell them they're getting fat, and they just go on eating and thus get fat as their mothers were. That is what we mean when we say that the effects are transgenerational. Leptin levels were normal in the offspring of the intervention group, showing that we can break this cycle."

Further directions

The experiment was novel in developmental programming - the first time a research team intervened to recuperate some animals from high-fat diets.

"We were able to see at least a 50 percent to 60 percent return," Dr. Nathanielsz said. "This is a first step. Perhaps we have to recuperate these rodents with a no-fat diet or add micronutrients to the diet. Or, there may be negative aspects to trying to recuperate too quickly. We believe this sort of information is necessary to provide guidelines as to the type of dietary intervention for women during pregnancy. Much remains to be done."

Source:
Will Sansom
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

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Obesity Linked To Income, Education; Not Sprawl

Obesity is more prevalent in areas with lower educational attainment and certain ethnic profiles than in areas of suburban sprawl, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Researchers at UIC's Urban Transportation Center revisited their 2005 analysis of data from about 7 million northern Illinois drivers licenses, which found that body-mass index scores in most city neighborhoods differ little from those in the farthest outlying areas.

The 2005 findings contradicted the conventional wisdom that city dwellers are thinner because their dense, centralized environment encourages walking, while suburbanites and rural residents tend to drive to widely scattered destinations.

The new analysis expanded the data set by comparing personal and environmental attributes at the zip-code level throughout the 2005 study area: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties in the Chicago metropolitan area, and the more rural DeKalb, Kendall, Grundy and Kankakee counties.

The data confirmed that sprawl is not significantly associated with obesity, the researchers said, although drivers living in most neighborhoods closer to downtown Chicago have slightly lower body-mass indexes than those living very far from the city.

Within zip codes, body-mass indexes increased with age and male gender, and also with the percentage of zip-code residents who commute by car, are African American or Latino, or own their homes.

The prevalence of obesity decreases in zip codes with higher median income and more residents who have attended college.

Paul Metaxatos, UIC research assistant professor, said the results of the study can inform urban planning initiatives.

"Ambitious land use policies to address obesity may have little success with the low-income ethnic minorities who are most in need of assistance," Metaxatos said. "Those in marginal, transportation-disadvantaged communities would benefit from better access to medical help, better food markets, and information about lifestyle modifications."

UIC ranks among the nation's leading research universities and is Chicago's largest university with 27,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.

Source:
University of Illinois at Chicago

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Starting Solids Too Early May Increase Obesity Risk

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends waiting to introduce solid foods until infants are between 4 and 6 months old. A new study in the March issue of Pediatrics found that among formula-fed infants, introduction of solid foods before age 4 months was related to a higher risk of obesity. The study, "Timing of Solid Food Introduction and Risk of Obesity in Preschool-Aged Children," published online February 7, compared obesity rates among 847 children at age 3.

Among children who were breastfed for at least four months, the timing of solid-food introduction did not affect the odds of becoming obese at age 3. Among children who were never breastfed or who stopped breastfeeding before the age of 4 months, the introduction of solid foods before the age of 4 months was linked to a six-fold increase in the odds of obesity at age 3 years. Researchers found this increased risk was not explained by rapid early growth. Researchers suggest greater adherence to guidelines regarding the timing of solid food introduction may reduce the risk of childhood obesity.

Source:
American Academy of Pediatrics

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Secretary Sebelius Highlights 2010 Accomplishments Of The U.S. Department Of Health And Human Services

New video covers implementation of the Affordable Care Act; efforts to reduce fraud and waste; public health initiatives to address obesity, tobacco use and food safety.

In a new video released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius highlighted the work of HHS over the course of 2010. Sebelius outlined some of the important programs and services that the department provides and discussed some of the new laws that went into effect this year and what they mean for consumers. Sebelius also praised the work of the employees of the department.

"This year, thanks to new laws passed by Congress and signed by the President, HHS was able to take a number of steps that have directly improved the lives, health and security of Americans," said Sebelius. "Through the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, more Americans have access to health coverage as well as new rights and benefits in their health insurance. Efforts to improve public health and reverse the twin epidemics of obesity and tobacco use in the U.S. made significant progress. HHS emergency response teams and public servants at almost every HHS operating division helped to ease the impact of the earthquake in Haiti and the oil spill off the Gulf Coast. And we end the year with newly enacted legislation that will allow us to improve food safety with important new authorities and changes that are decades overdue. I'm proud of these accomplishments and the men and women in our department who made them possible and remain firmly committed to our mission to provide critical health and human services to the people of this nation."

Watch the Secretary's video message here

Some of HHS' 2010 accomplishments include:

- Implementation of the Affordable Care Act: The Patient's Bill of Rights and other new tools and resources are helping hold health insurers accountable and giving consumers more value for their health care dollars. A new website, helps consumers take control of their health care and make the choices that are right for them by putting the power of information at their fingertips.

- Supporting Let's Move: With the leadership of First Lady Michelle Obama, new prevention activities are helping address the rising problems of obesity and chronic diseases in America, including Communities Putting Prevention to Work, which is funding some of the most promising local strategies for promoting wellness.

- Reducing Fraud and Waste in our Health Care System and Strengthening the Medicare Trust Funds: Anti-fraud efforts are continuing to protect Medicare beneficiaries and the program's trust fund. HHS and the Justice Department held four fraud summits around the U.S. and our joint efforts have resulted in over 500 defendants being charged with defrauding Medicare out of more than $1 billion. Billions have been returned to the Medicare Trust Funds thanks to stepped up efforts by HHS and DOJ. Efforts are continuing to meet the President's challenge to reduce Medicare fee-for-service improper payments by 50 percent by 2012. And the Senior Medicare Patrol is helping form seniors about what they can do to help protect themselves and Medicare from fraud. Read more about the efforts to stop fraud here.

- Responding to H1N1 and Seasonal Flu: Working together with the public and private sector on a targeted and fast response helped us avoid the worst predictions for last flu season and the H1N1 epidemic. Also, unprecedented efforts were made to modernize the medical countermeasures pipeline so we can respond faster to flu and other health emergencies in the future. Read more about steps everyone can take to reduce the spread and impact of flu here.

- Lowering Tobacco Use: Thanks to legislation signed by President Obama in 2009, we're cracking down on marketing flavored cigarettes to kids and have restricted terms like "light" or "mild." Also, the FDA proposed new graphic warning labels for cigarettes - the most significant update to cigarette warning labels in 25 years. Read more about what the FDA is doing here.

- Making Care Safer: HHS is working with hospitals across the nation (all 50 states and the District of Columbia) to eliminate serious infections in intensive care unit patients, and is also supporting a grant to Washington State to promote safe surgical care. In addition, we provided consumer friendly safety information to help patients taking blood thinners, including a new video for patients and their families, which is available here.

- Assisting Children and Families During the Recession: Employees at HHS worked with states to fund subsidized employment programs for more than 200,000 jobless parents and disadvantaged youth. These jobs helped families afford the basics while providing the dignity that comes with a job.

- Raising the Bar in Early Childhood Education: We expanded support for early education through increased support for child care and Head Start programs - programs that saw increased demands during the recession. HHS also introduced new regulations that will hold Head Start programs accountable for classroom quality and high standards of program integrity, helping the programs fulfill their mission to help vulnerable children achieve their full potential.

- Addressing Mental and Behavioral Health Needs: In partnership with the Department of Defense, HHS created the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention to accelerate our efforts to prevent suicide. Bringing together public and private partners, the Alliance has established programs to improve detection of suicide risk and access to care, a national Suicide Prevention Resource Center, the Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK); and systems to track and understand suicides. We have also made strides to support and promote better primary care and behavioral health services for individuals with mental illnesses or substance use disorders.

- Food Safety: We are continuing to monitor the safety of America's food supply, and are working to protect the public health through clear communications about recalls and providing consumers with detailed, up-to-date information on here.

- Expanding Use of Health Information Technology (HIT): We're eliminating barriers to the meaningful use of HIT with Regional Extension Centers, training for Health IT workforce, Beacon Communities they can use as models, and Health Information Exchanges that allow information sharing with full protections for privacy.And most importantly, the new incentives for doctors and hospitals to use HIT to improve care are beginning to pay off as the number of providers using HIT is on the rise.

Investing in Research: The first step for many medicines on their way to our pharmacy shelves is a discovery in an NIH-funded laboratory. The last step for all of them is a careful analysis at the FDA. A new partnership between the FDA and NIH will help researchers navigate the regulatory process and give regulators the scientific tools they need to quickly assess a treatment's risks and benefits. For Americans, this is going to mean that new treatments are available, safer and sooner.

- Indian Health Service: The Indian Health Care Improvement Act was permanently authorized as a part of the Affordable Care Act, and updates and modernizes the Indian Health Service (IHS) to address the health needs of eligible American Indians and Alaska Natives. IHS is also working with the Veteran's Administration to better coordinate and collaborate on services to veterans. The IHS Special Diabetes Program for Indians was reauthorized and will continue supporting programs proven to help reduce diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

- Gulf Oil Spill Clean-up: After this year's oil spill on the Gulf Coast, HHS deployed senior health officials to ensure health issues were addressed at all levels of the response, including monitoring the health and safety of clean-up workers, providing mental health support to the region, and ensuring the safety of seafood prior to the reopening of the waters for fishing. Read more about the response and recovery efforts here.

- Assisting Haiti: Following last year's devastating earthquake, HHS helped send hundreds of medical personnel to Haiti and helped assess the country's long-term health needs. Since the recent outbreak of cholera, HHS has helped improve access to treatments and clean drinking water, as well as helping Haiti track and understand the epidemic. HHS also played a critical role in the U.S. government's mission to bring some 1,150 children from Haiti who were previously matched with adoptive families in the United States prior to the earthquake so they could join their new families.

Source:
HHS

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Losing Body Fat Before Pregnancy Could Help Break Obesity Cycle

Losing body fat before pregnancy could help break the obesity cycle and improve the lifelong health of babies born to obese mothers, according to US researchers who are studying what happens across generations that could be contributing to the obesity crisis.

Obesity is a growing problem worldwide, and more and more women are obese when they fall pregnant.

Babies born to obese mothers are themselves more likely to become obese children and adults, another factor that drives the obesity and overweight epidemic.

However, a collaborative study between the Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC) at San Antonio and the National Institute of Nutrition in Mexico City, suggests that if obese mothers lose body fat before they fall pregnant, they can pass on health benefits to their children.

Dr Peter Nathanielsz, a professor in UTHSC's Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Research, and colleagues studied female rats raised on high-fat diets, comparing one obese group that continued eating the same diet through mating, pregnancy and lactation with another group that was switched to a healthier lower fat diet one month before mating.

They then studied the male offspring of both groups and found those born to mothers who remained obese and stayed on the high-fat diets through pregnancy to lactation, had higher levels of triglycerides, leptin, insulin and insulin resistance at the weaning stage, whereas in babies born to mothers who were put on low fat diets before pregnancy so they lost body fat, these levels were normal.

They also found the babies born to obese mothers had increased fat mass and fat cell size, whereas these changes were significantly reversed, although not totally, in babies born to mothers in the group that switched to a low fat diet before pregnancy.

The researchers told the press that, although the extent of reversibility depended on the tissue affected, this was the first time research had shown it was possible to reverse metabolic effects in offspring born to obese mothers by changing the mothers' diets before pregnancy.

Nathanielsz said it was interesting that the offspring born to obese mothers had high levels of leptin, a hormone that tells the brain to reduce appetite.

Perhaps this means the offspring developed a brain that was resistant to the signal that tells them they are getting fat and they just go on eating and getting fat, like their mothers.

"That is what we mean when we say that the effects are transgenerational," said Nathanielsz.

"Leptin levels were normal in the offspring of the intervention group, showing that we can break this cycle," he added.

Nathanielsz explained they were able to achieve at least 50 to 60 per cent return to normal levels, which he regards as a first step.

Perhaps the next stage is to try a no-fat diet or add micronutrients to the diet, but this has to be done carefully because there could be unwanted consequences in trying to restore levels to normal too quickly.

"We believe this sort of information is necessary to provide guidelines as to the type of dietary intervention for women during pregnancy. Much remains to be done," he cautioned.

The role of leptin is not straightforward. It is natural for it to peak after birth in newborn rodents, and it seems this peak is an important feature in the development of the brain's hypothalamic appetite control centers.

But from this and other experiments with rodents, Nathanielsz and colleagues showed that newborn offspring of obese mothers have larger and longer-lasting leptin peaks.

In another recent study published online on 24 January in the Journal of Physiology, Nathanielsz and colleagues from the University of Wyoming, describe a similar experiment with sheep, which suggests that the presence of higher levels of cortisol in lambs born to obese ewes could be disrupting the normal peaking of leptin in the lambs' first few days of life, thereby "predisposing them to increased appetite and weight gain in later life".

"Maternal obesity eliminates the neonatal lamb plasma leptin peak."
Nathan M. Long, Stephen P Ford, and Peter W Nathanielsz.
The Journal of Physiology, published online before print, 24 January 2011.
DOI: 10.1113/jphysiol.2010.201681

Additional source: University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (2 Feb 2011 press release), Wikipedia.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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Drinking Vegetable Juice May Help Increase Vegetable Intake And Support Weight Management

Studies show drinking V8® 100% vegetable juice may be a simple way for people to increase their vegetable intake and may help them manage their weight - two areas of concern outlined in the newly released 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.1

A study conducted by researchers at the University of California-Davis found that adults who drank one, 8-ounce glass of vegetable juice each day, as part of a calorie-appropriate Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, got nearly twice as many vegetable servings a day than those who did not drink any vegetable juice. Additionally, nine out of 10 participants who drank V8 100% vegetable juice said they felt they were doing something good for themselves.2

Researchers attribute the results to the ease, convenience and enjoyment of vegetable juice as a way to get more vegetables.

"This study suggests that it's not enough to just educate people on the importance of vegetables, you need to show them ways to easily incorporate them into their daily routine," said study co-author Carl Keen, PhD, Professor of Nutrition and Internal Medicine at the University of California-Davis. "What we found was that something as simple as drinking your vegetables can be an effective tool in achieving behavior change."

The new U.S. Dietary Guidelines report also reinforces the need for Americans to achieve and sustain a healthy weight. Current data shows that 64 percent of women and 72 percent of men are overweight or obese.3 Eating more vegetables can be a helpful strategy to manage weight because they are "low-energy-dense," meaning they have more nutrition for fewer calories.

Again, vegetable juice can play a key role. A study from Baylor College of Medicine shows that overweight individuals with metabolic syndrome who drank one to two servings of V8 100% vegetable juice as part of a calorie-appropriate DASH diet lost more weight compared to non-juice drinkers. Over the 12-week study period, the juice drinkers lost an average of four pounds compared to the non-juice drinkers who lost one pound.4 In addition to weight loss, the vegetable juice drinkers had significant increases of vegetable intake, vitamin C and potassium over the course of the study compared to the non-juice drinkers.

"Making vegetable consumption easy is critical because it has so many benefits, from disease prevention to weight management," said John Foreyt, PhD, Director of the Behavioral Medicine Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine. "We have a lot more work to do in finding ways for people to improve their health, but providing them with something simple like vegetable juice is a step in the right direction."

About the Studies

Both studies were randomized controlled trials, each lasting 12 weeks. The University of California-Davis study involved 90 healthy adults, ages 40-65 years. The Baylor College of Medicine study enrolled 81 adults (83.5% of whom were minority) aged 35-65 with metabolic syndrome risk factors. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes that includes excess body fat in the midsection, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and elevated blood cholesterol.

The studies were supported in part by Campbell Soup Company and by resources provided from University of California-Davis and Baylor College of Medicine.

1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), USDA. 2010. Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 7th edition, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. January 31, 2011.

2. Shenoy A, Kazaks A, Holt R, et al. Easy accessibility to a vegetable beverage can result in marked increase in vegetable intake: an approach to improving vascular health. Poster presented at Experimental Biology, New Orleans, LA, 2009.

3. Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Ogden CL, Curtin LR. Prevalence and trends in obesity among U.S. adults, 1999-2008. JAMA. 2010;303:235-241.

4. Shenoy S, Poston W, Reeves R, et al. Weight loss in individuals with metabolic syndrome given DASH diet counseling when provided a low sodium vegetable juice: a randomized controlled study. Nutr J. 2010;9:8.

Source:
Emily Jane Meyer
Weber Shandwick Worldwide

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Teen's Best Friend: Young Dog Owners More Physically Active

They're furry, fun loving and could be the key to getting your sedentary teen off the couch, finds a new study on dog ownership and adolescent physical activity.

"You can think of your dog not only as your best friend, but also a social support tool for being active," said John Sirard, Ph.D., the study's lead author and an assistant professor at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

In the study, which appears in the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Sirard and his colleagues surveyed 618 pairs of Minneapolis adolescents and their parents about the number of dogs in their home and how much time they spent in physical activity. For a week, 318 of those teens also wore accelerometers - devices used to collect data on time spent moving.

It turns out that teens from dog-owning families recorded greater amounts of movement on the accelerometer devices, even after researchers took into account demographic variables, like gender, race and socioeconomic status.

That might mean that teens with dogs could log about 15 additional minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, according to the authors.

The association with adolescent physical activity took the researchers by surprise. They expected that if anyone in the family were to walk the dog, it would be the parents. "If dog ownership has an effect, we hypothesized it would have an effect on adults, but we didn't see that. We saw it in the kids," Sirard said.

Finding ways to encourage teens' physical activity levels is critical, since time spent exercising drops precipitously after the elementary school years, said Cheryl B. Anderson, Ph.D., a visiting assistant professor of pediatrics at the Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine.

Despite the link that researchers established between dog ownership and teenagers' physical activity, they said they could not be certain that getting a dog means people will be more active. "It might be that more active people choose to get dogs because it fits their lifestyle already," Sirard said.

"You may walk it, you may not, but the fact that you have this animal in the house makes you get up off the chair more. Every bit of activity is important," Anderson said.

Sirard JR, et al. Dog ownership and adolescent physical activity. Am J Prev Med 40(3), 2011.

Source:
Health Behavior News Service

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Global Obesity Exceeds 1 In 10

More than one in ten of us around the world is now obese, nearly double the figure of thirty years ago, according to a major analysis of global risk factors that also reports high-income nations have achieved impressive reductions in blood pressure and cholesterol, with some doing much better than others.

The analysis, published as three papers in The Lancet today, shows country by country trends from 1980 to 2008 in three important heart disease risk factors: obesity, cholesterol, and blood pressure; and comes from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization (WHO).

An international team of researchers, led by Professor Majid Ezzati from Imperial College London in the UK and Dr Goodarz Danaei from the Harvard School of Public Health in the US, reviewed the available global data to assess how body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and cholesterol changed between 1980 and 2008.

The World Health Organization and a number of other institutions also collaborated on the work.

Ezzati told the press:

"It's heartening that many countries have successfully reduced blood pressure and cholesterol despite rising BMI."

"Improved screening and treatment probably helped to lower these risk factors in high-income countries, as did using less salt and healthier, unsaturated fats," he suggested.

The BMI analysis shows that in 2008, more than one in ten of the adults in the world was obese, with women more likely to be so than men. The researchers estimate 205 million men and 297 million women, that is more than half a billion adults worldwide, were obese in 2008.

The analysis on blood pressure shows that between 1980 and 2008, there was a modest fall in the proportion of the world's population with uncontrolled hypertension or high blood pressure, but because the world's population is aging and growing, the number of people with this condition went up from 600 to nearly 1 billion over the three decades.

High-income countries achieved large drops in population proportions with high blood pressure, the steepest being in Australasian women and North American men, said the researchers, who defined hypertension as having a systolic pressure higher than 140 mmHg or a diastolic pressure higher than 90 mmHg.

The cholesterol analysis shows that over the same period, the average levels of total blood cholesterol fell in high-income nations in North America, Australasia and Europe but went up in East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific region.

Ezzati said these figures show that overweight and obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are no longer just Western problems or problems of wealthy nations.

"Their presence has shifted towards low and middle income countries, making them global problems," he said.

He and his colleagues also looked within these global patterns at how countries compare in terms of each of the three risk factors: BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol. The highlights include:

Body Mass Index (the ratio of a person's weight to their height squared, measured in kg per meter squared, kg/m2) is a measure of obesity, which is defined as having a BMI over 30 kg/m2). The proportion of adult women in the world classed as obese rose from 7.9% to 13.8% between 1980 and 2008.
For men this figure went from 4.8% to 9.8%.
Over the period, BMI went up by 0.4 kg/m2 per decade for men and 0.5 kg/m2 for women, the fastest rise being in the US (more than 1 kg/m2 per decade), followed by New Zealand and Australia for women and followed by UK and Australia for men.
In some Western European countries there was hardly any rise in BMI for women.
The region with the highest average BMI in the world is the Pacific Island nations with 70 per cent more people with BMI in the range 34-35 kg/m2 than some Southeast Asian and sub-Saharan African countries.
Average BMI was lowest in Bangladesh (20·5 kg/m2) for women and lowest in Democratic Republic of the Congo (19·9 kg/m2) for men.
Among high-income nations, the US has the highest average BMI (over 28 kg/m2 for men and women), followed by New Zealand, with Japan having the lowest (about 22 kg/m2 for women and 24 for men), followed by Singapore.
The UK has the sixth highest BMI in Europe for women and ninth highest for men (both about 27 kg/m2).
In Europe, the countries with the highest BMI are Turkey for women and the Czech Republic for men (both about 28 kg/m2).
Swiss women appear to have the lowest BMI in Europe (about 24 kg/m2).In most regions of the world, men have higher blood pressure than women.
Average systolic blood pressure is highest in Baltic and East and West African nations, up to 135 mmHg for women and 138 for men.
These levels are on a par with those of Western European nations in the 1980s, before they started to come down rapidly.
Nations with some of the lowest average blood pressure in both the female and male adult population include South Korea, Cambodia, Australia, Canada and the US (below 120 mmHg for women and 125 for men).
Portugal, Finland and Norway have the highest average blood pressure among high income nations.Although total cholesterol fell in the high-income region consisting of Australasia, North America, and western Europe, and in central and eastern Europe, Western European countries like Greenland, Iceland, Andorra, and Germany have the highest cholesterol levels in the world, with mean serum total cholesterols of around 5.5 mmol/L.
The lowest average cholesterol levels are in sub-Saharan Africa at 4·08 mmol/L for men and 4·27 mmol/L for women.
Greece has the lowest cholesterol for both men and women in the high income countries (under 5 mmol/L), and the US,
Ezzati said that:

"The findings are an opportunity to implement policies that lead to healthier diets, especially lower salt intake, at all levels of economic development, as well as looking at how we improve detection and control through the primary healthcare system."

He said the High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Non-Communicable Diseases in September 2011 should pay special attention to ways to address cardiovascular risk with improved policies and targets.

Danaei said this was the first time that anyone has tried to estimate the trends in these risk factors at the global and country by country level:

"The amount of data we collected is unprecedented and vast, and allows us to draw robust conclusions," he stressed.

Dr. Gretchen Stevens, from the World Health Organization, who was also involved in the research said:

"We know that changes in diet and in physical activity have contributed to the worldwide rise in obesity, but it remains unclear which policies would effectively reduce obesity."

"We need to identify, implement, and rigorously evaluate policy interventions aimed at reversing the trends, or limiting their harmful effects," she urged.

"National, regional, and global trends in body-mass index since 1980: systematic analysis of health examination surveys and epidemiological studies with 960 country-years and 9.1 million participants."
Mariel M Finucane, Gretchen A Stevens, Melanie J Cowan, Goodarz Danaei, John K Lin, Christopher J Paciorek, Gitanjali M Singh, Hialy R Gutierrez, Yuan Lu, Adil N Bahalim, Farshad Farzadfar, Leanne M Riley, Majid Ezzati,on behalf of the Global Burden of Metabolic Risk Factors of Chronic Diseases Collaborating Group (Body Mass Index).
The Lancet, Early Online Publication 4 February 2011.
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62037-5

"National, regional, and global trends in serum total cholesterol since 1980: systematic analysis of health examination surveys and epidemiological studies with 321 country-years and 3.0 million participants."
Farshad Farzadfar, Mariel M Finucane, Goodarz Danaei, Pamela M Pelizzari , Melanie J Cowan, Christopher J Paciorek, Gitanjali M Singh, John K Lin, Gretchen A Stevens, Leanne M Riley, Majid Ezzati, on behalf of the Global Burden of Metabolic Risk Factors of Chronic Diseases Collaborating Group (Cholesterol).
The Lancet, Early Online Publication 4 February 2011.
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62038-7

"National, regional, and global trends in systolic blood pressure since 1980: systematic analysis of health examination surveys and epidemiological studies with 786 country-years and 5.4 million participants."
Goodarz Danaei, Mariel M Finucane, John K Lin, Gitanjali M Singh, Christopher J Paciorek, Melanie J Cowan, Farshad Farzadfar, Gretchen A Stevens, Stephen S Lim, Leanne M Riley, Majid Ezzati, on behalf of the Global Burden of Metabolic Risk Factors of Chronic Diseases Collaborating Group (Blood Pressure).
The Lancet, Early Online Publication 4 February 2011.
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62036-3

Additional source: Imperial College London (3 Feb 2011 press release).

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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posted by TJ on 4 Feb 2011 at 6:28 am

No one ever sets the goal of becoming obese (unless perhaps they're an actor preparing for a role), nor does obesity happen suddenly, rather it happens gradually over time. Taking these two obvious facts together, we realize that in about 95% of cases, obesity is a behavioral aberration: people don't respect and pay sufficient attention to their own bodies. I'm thin, I'm fit, I'm over 40, I'm not an athlete, yet I eat things like Baconators and Twinkies on a daily basis without any health problems. How do I manage this? I pay attention to my body, not in the sense of personal vanity, but in the spiritual sense of respecting physiology as the foundation for mental and emotional activity in the material world. If there's an obesity epidemic (and I'm not so sure there is), it probably derives from a general sense of alienation from one's own body. So learn to pay attention to your own bodies, people, and you can eat anything you want!

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Evolution Led To Genetic Variation That May Affect Diabetes, Stanford Scientist Says

The root causes of complex diseases such as type-2 diabetes and obesity have been difficult to identify because the diseases are, well, complex. They occur at the dicey biological intersection of genes and environment, and, because they arose in our relatively recent past, it's not easy to simply compare DNA sequences from "then" and "now" to pinpoint likely genetic culprits.

Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified genetic variations in a hormone involved in the secretion of insulin - a molecule that regulates blood sugar levels - that occur more frequently in some human populations than others. People with the "new" variants, which are thought to have first occurred 2,000 to 12,000 years ago, have higher fasting levels of blood glucose than those with the more traditional, or ancestral, form of the gene. High blood glucose levels are associated with the development of diabetes, which occurs when the body is unable to produce or respond properly to insulin.

The finding may help scientists better understand the subtle changes in human metabolism, or "energy balance regulation," that occurred as our species shifted from being primarily hunter-gatherers to a more agriculturally based society. It may also help clinicians identify individuals likely to develop diabetes, and direct the development of new therapies for diabetes and obesity.

"These studies are fascinating because it shows how much the selection process has affected human energy-balance regulation in just a few thousand years and how complex it could be for the future practice of personalized medicine," said Sheau Yu "Teddy" Hsu, PhD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and senior author of the study.

The research was published online Feb. 7 in Diabetes. It follows a similar paper in the January issue of Genome Research that also explored the recent evolution of energy balance regulation, or how humans choose whether and how to store excess calories, among populations.

In the new paper, Hsu and his colleagues at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan and Texas A&M University first identified 207 genetic regions that have been associated with diabetes or obesity. They then looked to see which of these had increased in prevalence in the time since humans began to move out of Africa about 60,000 years ago. They identified 59 genetic regions of particular interest, and homed in on those that occurred in at least 30 percent of people in the HapMap project - a worldwide survey of genetic differences among populations. (Restricting their search to relatively common variants ensured that their findings would be widely applicable and would provide a more powerful tool to identify any associated phenotype differences.)

The researchers identified five genes with genetic differences that occurred frequently in Asians and/or Europeans, but infrequently in Africans. (These groups were pre-identified as part of the HapMap project, which sampled people of Nigerian, Chinese, Japanese and European ancestry.) Hsu's team selected GIP, one of the five genes, for further study because the GIP protein was known to be involved in stimulating insulin secretion in humans after a meal.

"We thought GIP was the most interesting because the newly selected form occurs in about 50 percent of people from Europe or Asia, but in only about 5 percent of Africans. That indicates this gene is highly adaptable to new environments," said Hsu.

He and his colleagues identified three individual changes in the regulatory region of GIP - that is, the DNA adjacent to the GIP gene that affects when and how it is translated into protein - that reduced the levels of the hormone. What's more, these three also tended to occur with another mutation in the coding region that results in a slightly different form of the protein. This alternate form is degraded more slowly in human blood.

"So now we know there are two different forms of the protein, which allowed one form to be selected in one population, and the other in a different population," said Hsu. "But we still needed to show that these variants led to phenotypic differences in modern humans."

Because previous studies of GIP variants hadn't showed any conclusive differences among their human carriers, Hsu and his colleagues focused their study more narrowly on a population that is not only metabolically challenged, but also critical to evolutionary success: pregnant women. They found that, out of 123 East Asian pregnant women, those who carried two copies of the newly evolved variant had significantly lower levels of GIP circulating in their blood. These women were also at a significantly increased risk to have fasting blood glucose levels that exceeded the recommended threshold of 140 mg/dL (48.3 percent vs. 20.9 percent of those who carry the ancestral variant).

The finding is particularly interesting because it may help clinicians identify pregnant women likely to develop gestational diabetes, according to Hsu. But it also gives a glimpse into our not-so-distant past and the ways our ancestors grappled with environmental change.

"Like other humans at the time, the Eurasian population really had to fight for survival," said Hsu. "Now we're starting to pinpoint how they did that on a molecular level. These gene variants, and the resulting higher blood sugar levels it fostered, may have helped women maintain successful pregnancies in the face of the inevitable famines that occur in an agriculturally based society. Now, in a more food-secure environment, variations in GIP could contribute to the development of diabetes or obesity."

Notes:

In addition to Hsu, James Cai, PhD, a former Stanford postdoctoral scholar in biology, was also involved in the study. He is now an assistant professor at Texas A&M University.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Avon Foundation and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. Stanford's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology supported the work.

Source:
Krista Conger
Stanford University Medical Center

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