Mediterranean-style diet linked to better thinking skills in later life
February 10, 2021
Science Daily/University of Edinburgh
People who eat a Mediterranean-style diet -- particularly one rich in green leafy vegetables and low in meat -- are more likely to stay mentally sharp in later life, a study shows.
Closely adhering to a Mediterranean diet was associated with higher scores on a range of memory and thinking tests among adults in their late 70s, the research found.
The study found no link, however, between the Mediterranean-style diet and better brain health.
Markers of healthy brain ageing -- such as greater grey or white matter volume, or fewer white matter lesions -- did not differ between those regularly eating a Mediterranean diet and those who did not.
These latest findings suggest that this primarily plant-based diet may have benefits for cognitive functioning as we get older, researchers say.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh tested the thinking skills of more than 500 people aged 79 and without dementia.
The participants completed tests of problem solving, thinking speed, memory, and word knowledge, as well as a questionnaire about their eating habits during the previous year.
More than 350 of the group also underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scan to gain insights into their brain structure.
The team used statistical models to look for associations between a person's diet and their thinking skills and brain health in later life.
The findings show that, in general, people who most closely adhered to a Mediterranean diet had the highest cognitive function scores, even when accounting for childhood IQ, smoking, physical activity and health factors. The differences were small but statistically significant.
The individual components of the diet that appeared to be most strongly associated with better thinking skills were green leafy vegetables and a lower red meat intake.
Researchers say the latest findings add to the evidence that a healthier lifestyle, of which diet is one aspect, is associated with better thinking skills in later life.
Dr Janie Corley, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, said: "Eating more green leafy vegetables and cutting down on red meat might be two key food elements that contribute to the benefits of the Mediterranean-style diet. In our sample, the positive relationship between a Mediterranean diet and thinking skills is not accounted for by having a healthier brain structure, as one might expect. Though it's possible there may be other structural or functional brain correlates with this measure of diet, or associations in specific regions of the brain, rather than the whole brain, as measured here."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210210133340.htm
Excess body weight linked with worse heart health even in people who exercise
January 22, 2021
Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology
Physical activity does not undo the negative effects of excess body weight on heart health. That's the finding of a large study published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
"One cannot be 'fat but healthy'," said study author Dr. Alejandro Lucia of the European University, Madrid, Spain. "This was the first nationwide analysis to show that being regularly active is not likely to eliminate the detrimental health effects of excess body fat. Our findings refute the notion that a physically active lifestyle can completely negate the deleterious effects of overweight and obesity."
There is some evidence that fitness might mitigate the negative effects of excess body weight on heart health. It has been suggested that in adults and children, being "fat but fit" might be associated with similar cardiovascular health to being "thin but unfit." Dr. Lucia said: "This has led to controversial proposals for health policies to prioritise physical activity and fitness above weight loss. Our study sought to clarify the links between activity, body weight, and heart health."
The study used data from 527,662 working adults insured by a large occupational risk prevention company in Spain. The average age of participants was 42 years and 32% were women.
Participants were categorised as normal weight (body mass index [BMI] 20.0-24.9 kg/m2), overweight (BMI 25.0-29.9 kg/m2), or obese (BMI 30.0 kg/m2 or above). Additionally, they were grouped by activity level: 1) regularly active, defined as doing the minimum recommended for adults by the World Health Organization (WHO); 2) insufficiently active (some moderate to vigorous physical activity every week but less than the WHO minimum); 3) inactive (no exercise). Cardiovascular health was determined according to three major risk factors for heart attack and stroke, namely diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.
Approximately 42% of participants were normal weight, 41% were overweight, and 18% were obese. The majority were inactive (63.5%), while 12.3% were insufficiently active, and 24.2% were regularly active. Some 30% had high cholesterol, 15% had high blood pressure, and 3% had diabetes.
The researchers investigated the associations between each BMI and activity group and the three risk factors. At all BMI levels, any activity (whether it met the WHO minimum or not) was linked with a lower likelihood of diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol compared to no exercise at all. Dr. Lucia said: "This tells us that everyone, irrespective of their body weight, should be physically active to safeguard their health."
At all weights, the odds of diabetes and hypertension decreased as physical activity rose. "More activity is better, so walking 30 minutes per day is better than walking 15 minutes a day," he said.
However, overweight and obese participants were at greater cardiovascular risk than their peers with normal weight, irrespective of activity levels. As an example, compared to inactive normal weight individuals, active obese people were approximately twice as likely to have high cholesterol, four times more likely to have diabetes, and five times more likely to have high blood pressure. Dr. Lucia said: "Exercise does not seem to compensate for the negative effects of excess weight. This finding was also observed overall in both men and women when they were analysed separately."
He concluded: "Fighting obesity and inactivity is equally important; it should be a joint battle. Weight loss should remain a primary target for health policies together with promoting active lifestyles."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210121210500.htm
Study compares low-fat, plant-based diet to low-carb, animal-based diet
January 21, 2021
Science Daily/NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
People on a low-fat, plant-based diet ate fewer daily calories but had higher insulin and blood glucose levels, compared to when they ate a low-carbohydrate, animal-based diet, according to a small but highly controlled study at the National Institutes of Health. Led by researchers at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the study compared the effects of the two diets on calorie intake, hormone levels, body weight, and more. The findings, published in Nature Medicine, broaden understanding of how restricting dietary carbohydrates or fats may impact health.
"High-fat foods have been thought to result in excess calorie intake because they have many calories per bite. Alternatively, high-carb foods can cause large swings in blood glucose and insulin that may increase hunger and lead to overeating," said NIDDK Senior Investigator Kevin Hall, Ph.D., the study's lead author. "Our study was designed to determine whether high-carb or high-fat diets result in greater calorie intake."
The researchers housed 20 adults without diabetes for four continuous weeks in the NIH Clinical Center's Metabolic Clinical Research Unit. The participants, 11 men and nine women, received either a plant-based, low-fat diet or an animal-based, low-carbohydrate diet for two weeks, immediately followed by two weeks on the alternate diet. The low-fat diet was high in carbohydrates. The low-carbohydrate diet was high in fats. Both diets were minimally processed and had equivalent amounts of non-starchy vegetables. The participants were given three meals a day, plus snacks, and could eat as much as desired.
The main results showed that people on the low-fat diet ate 550 to 700 fewer calories per day than when they ate the low-carb diet. Despite the large differences in calorie intake, participants reported no differences in hunger, enjoyment of meals, or fullness between the two diets. Participants lost weight on both diets, but only the low-fat diet led to a significant loss of body fat.
"Despite eating food with an abundance of high glycemic carbohydrates that resulted in pronounced swings in blood glucose and insulin, people eating the plant-based, low-fat diet showed a significant reduction in calorie intake and loss of body fat, which challenges the idea that high-carb diets per se lead people to overeat. On the other hand, the animal-based, low-carb diet did not result in weight gain despite being high in fat," said Hall.
These findings suggest that the factors that result in overeating and weight gain are more complex than the amount of carbs or fat in one's diet. For example, Hall's laboratory showed last year that a diet high in ultra-processed food led to overeating and weight gain in comparison to a minimally processed diet matched for carbs and fat.
The plant-based, low-fat diet contained 10.3% fat and 75.2% carbohydrate, while the animal-based, low-carb diet was 10% carbohydrate and 75.8% fat. Both diets contained about 14% protein and were matched for total calories presented to the subjects, although the low-carb diet had twice as many calories per gram of food than the low-fat diet. On the low-fat menu, dinner might consist of a baked sweet potato, chickpeas, broccoli and oranges, while a low-carb dinner might be beef stir fry with cauliflower rice. Subjects could eat what and however much they chose of the meals they were given.
"Interestingly, our findings suggest benefits to both diets, at least in the short-term. While the low-fat, plant-based diet helps curb appetite, the animal-based, low-carb diet resulted in lower and more steady insulin and glucose levels," Hall said. "We don't yet know if these differences would be sustained over the long term."
The researchers note that the study was not designed to make diet recommendations for weight loss, and results may have been different if participants were actively trying to lose weight. Further, all meals were prepared and provided for participants in an inpatient setting, which may make results difficult to repeat outside the lab, where factors such as food costs, food availability, and meal preparation constraints can make adherence to diets challenging. The tightly controlled clinical environment, however, ensured objective measurement of food intake and accuracy of data.
"To help us achieve good nutrition, rigorous science is critical ? and of particular importance now, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, as we aim to identify strategies to help us stay healthy," said NIDDK Director Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D. "This study brings us closer to answering long-sought questions about how what we eat affects our health."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210121131851.htm
Diet modifications -- including more wine and cheese -- may help reduce cognitive decline
December 10, 2020
Science Daily/Iowa State University
The foods we eat may have a direct impact on our cognitive acuity in our later years. This is the key finding of an Iowa State University research study spotlighted in an article published in the November 2020 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
The study was spearheaded by principal investigator, Auriel Willette, an assistant professor in Food Science and Human Nutrition, and Brandon Klinedinst, a Neuroscience PhD candidate working in the Food Science and Human Nutrition department at Iowa State. The study is a first-of-its-kind large scale analysis that connects specific foods to later-in-life cognitive acuity.
Willette, Klinedinst and their team analyzed data collected from 1,787 aging adults (from 46 to 77 years of age, at the completion of the study) in the United Kingdom through the UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database and research resource containing in-depth genetic and health information from half-a-million UK participants. The database is globally accessible to approved researchers undertaking vital research into the world's most common and life-threatening diseases.
Participants completed a Fluid Intelligence Test (FIT) as part of touchscreen questionnaire at baseline (compiled between 2006 and 2010) and then in two follow-up assessments (conducted from 2012 through 2013 and again between 2015 and 2016). The FIT analysis provides an in-time snapshot of an individual's ability to "think on the fly."
Participants also answered questions about their food and alcohol consumption at baseline and through two follow-up assessments. The Food Frequency Questionnaire asked participants about their intake of fresh fruit, dried fruit, raw vegetables and salad, cooked vegetables, oily fish, lean fish, processed meat, poultry, beef, lamb, pork, cheese, bread, cereal, tea and coffee, beer and cider, red wine, white wine and champaign and liquor.
Here are four of the most significant findings from the study:
Cheese, by far, was shown to be the most protective food against age-related cognitive problems, even late into life;
The daily consumption of alchohol, particularly red wine, was related to improvements in cognitive function;
Weekly consumption of lamb, but not other red meats, was shown to improve long-term cognitive prowess; and
Excessive consumption of salt is bad, but only individuals already at risk for Alzheimer's Disease may need to watch their intake to avoid cognitive problems over time.
"I was pleasantly surprised that our results suggest that responsibly eating cheese and drinking red wine daily are not just good for helping us cope with our current COVID-19 pandemic, but perhaps also dealing with an increasingly complex world that never seems to slow down," Willette said. "While we took into account whether this was just due to what well-off people eat and drink, randomized clinical trials are needed to determine if making easy changes in our diet could help our brains in significant ways."
Klinedinst added, "Depending on the genetic factors you carry, some individuals seem to be more protected from the effects of Alzheimers, while other seem to be at greater risk. That said, I believe the right food choices can prevent the disease and cognitive decline altogether. Perhaps the silver bullet we're looking for is upgrading how we eat. Knowing what that entails contributes to a better understanding of Alzheimer's and putting this disease in a reverse trajectory."
Willette and Klinedinst acknowledge the valuable contributions of the other members of the research team: Scott Le, Colleen Pappas, Nathan Hoth, Amy Pollpeter and Qian Wang in the Iowa State department of Food Science and Human Nutrition; Brittany Larsen, Neuroscience graduate program at Iowa State; Yueying Wang and Li Wang, department of Statistics at Iowa State; Shan Yu, department of Statistics, University of Virginia; Karin Allenspach, department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences at Iowa State; Jonathan Mochel, department of Biomedical Sciences at Iowa State; and David Bennett, Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush Medical Center, Rush University.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201210145850.htm
Cocoa flavanols boost brain oxygenation, cognition in healthy adults
November 24, 2020
Science Daily/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau
The brains of healthy adults recovered faster from a mild vascular challenge and performed better on complex tests if the participants consumed cocoa flavanols beforehand, researchers report in the journal Scientific Reports. In the study, 14 of 18 participants saw these improvements after ingesting the flavanols.
Previous studies have shown that eating foods rich in flavanols can benefit vascular function, but this is the first to find a positive effect on brain vascular function and cognitive performance in young healthy adults, said Catarina Rendeiro, a researcher and lecturer in nutritional sciences at the University of Birmingham who led the research with University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign psychology professors Monica Fabiani and Gabriele Gratton.
"Flavanols are small molecules found in many fruits and vegetables, and cocoa, too," Rendeiro said. "They give fruits and vegetables their bright colors, and they are known to benefit vascular function. We wanted to know whether flavanols also benefit the brain vasculature, and whether that could have a positive impact on cognitive function."
The team recruited adult nonsmokers with no known brain, heart, vascular or respiratory disease, reasoning that any effects seen in this population would provide robust evidence that dietary flavanols can improve brain function in healthy people.
The team tested the 18 participants before their intake of cocoa flavanols and in two separate trials, one in which the subjects received flavanol-rich cocoa and another during which they consumed processed cocoa with very low levels of flavanols. Neither the participants nor researchers knew which type of cocoa was consumed in each of the trials. This double-blind study design prevents researchers' or participants' expectations from affecting the results.
About two hours after consuming the cocoa, participants breathed air with 5% carbon dioxide -- about 100 times the normal concentration in air. This is a standard method for challenging brain vasculature to determine how well it responds, Gratton said.
The body typically reacts by increasing blood flow to the brain, he said.
"This brings in more oxygen and also allows the brain to eliminate more carbon dioxide," he said.
With functional near-infrared spectroscopy, a technique that uses light to capture changes in blood flow to the brain, the team measured oxygenation in the frontal cortex, a brain region that plays a key role in planning, regulating behavior and decision-making.
"This allows you to measure how well the brain defends itself from the excess carbon dioxide," Fabiani said.
Researchers also challenged participants with complex tasks that required them to manage sometimes contradictory or competing demands.
Most of the participants had a stronger and faster brain oxygenation response after exposure to cocoa flavanols than they did at baseline or after consuming cocoa lacking flavanols, the researchers found.
"The levels of maximal oxygenation were more than three times higher in the high-flavanol cocoa versus the low-flavanol cocoa, and the oxygenation response was about one minute faster," Rendeiro said.
After ingesting the cocoa flavanols, participants also performed better on the most challenging cognitive tests, correctly solving problems 11% faster than they did at baseline or when they consumed cocoa with reduced flavanols. There was no measurable difference in performance on the easier tasks, however.
"This suggests that flavanols might only be beneficial during cognitive tasks that are more challenging," Rendeiro said.
Participants varied in their responses to cocoa flavanols, the researchers found.
"Although most people benefited from flavanol intake, there was a small group that did not," Rendeiro said. Four of the 18 study subjects had no meaningful differences in brain oxygenation response after consuming flavanols, nor did their performance on the tests improve.
"Because these four participants already had the highest oxygenation responses at baseline, this may indicate that those who are already quite fit have little room for improvement," Rendeiro said. "Overall, the findings suggest that the improvements in vascular activity after exposure to flavanols are connected to the improvement in cognitive function."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201124092154.htm
Age is no barrier to successful weight loss
November 20, 2020
Science Daily/University of Warwick
Obese patients over the age of 60 can lose an equivalent amount of weight as younger people using only lifestyle changes, according to a new study from the University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust that demonstrates that age is no barrier to losing weight.
The researchers hope that their findings will help to correct prevailing societal misconceptions about the effectiveness of weight loss programmes in older people, as well dispel myths about the potential benefits of older people trying to reduce their weight.
The findings are based on analysis of patient records from a hospital-based obesity service and are reported in the journal Clinical Endocrinology.
This retrospective study was conducted at the Warwickshire Institute for the Study of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (WISDEM) at UHCW. The researchers randomly selected 242 patients who attended the WISDEM-based obesity service between 2005 and 2016, and compared two groups (those aged under 60 years and those aged between 60 and 78 years) for the weight loss that they achieved during their time within the service.
All patients had their body weight measured both before and after lifestyle interventions administered and coordinated within the WISDEM-based obesity service, and the percentage reduction in body weight calculated across both groups. When compared, the two groups were equivalent statistically, with those aged 60 years and over on average reducing their body weight by 7.3% compared with a body weight reduction of 6.9% in those aged under 60 years. Both groups spent a similar amount of time within the obesity service, on average 33.6 months for those 60 years and over, and 41.5 months for those younger than 60 years.
The hospital-based programme used only lifestyle-based changes tailored to each individual patient, focusing on dietary changes, psychological support and encouragement of physical activity. Most of the patients referred to the obesity service were morbidly obese with BMIs typically over 40Kgm-2.
There are more than fifty co-morbidities of obesity that can be lessened as we lose weight, including diabetes, psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety, osteoarthritis and other mechanical problems. Obesity is also linked to increased mortality and poor wellbeing.
Lead author Dr Thomas Barber of Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick said: "Weight loss is important at any age, but as we get older we're more likely to develop the weight-related co-morbidities of obesity. Many of these are similar to the effects of aging, so you could argue that the relevance of weight loss becomes heightened as we get older, and this is something that we should embrace.
"There are a number of reasons why people may discount weight loss in older people. These include an 'ageist' perspective that weight-loss is not relevant to older people and misconceptions of reduced ability of older people to lose weight through dietary modification and increased exercise. Older people may feel that hospital-based obesity services are not for them. Service providers and policymakers should appreciate the importance of weight loss in older people with obesity, for the maintenance of health and wellbeing, and the facilitation of healthy ageing. Furthermore, age per se should not contribute towards clinical decisions regarding the implementation of lifestyle management of older people.
"Age should be no barrier to lifestyle management of obesity. Rather than putting up barriers to older people accessing weight loss programmes, we should be proactively facilitating that process. To do otherwise would risk further and unnecessary neglect of older people through societal ageist misconceptions."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201120113857.htm
Mediterranean diet helps reduce effects of stress in animal model
November 16, 2020
Science Daily/Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Even before the pandemic and the presidential election, Americans reported some of the highest perceived levels of stress in the world, according to the American Psychological Association. Not only does stress have negative effects on work and personal relationships, it also increases the risk of many chronic conditions, such as heart disease and Alzheimer's disease, and is associated with higher mortality rates.
But eating a Mediterranean diet may provide a relatively easy way to help lessen the physiological effects of stress and promote healthy aging, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist Health.
Findings from the study, the first preclinical trial to measure the effects of long-term consumption of a Western versus Mediterranean diet on stress under controlled experimental conditions, are published in the current online edition of the journal Neurobiology of Stress.
"It is very difficult to control or reduce stressors in our lives," said Carol A. Shively, Ph.D., professor of pathology and comparative medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine and principal investigator of the study. "But we do know that we can control our diet, and previous observational studies have suggested that lower perceived stress is associated with high fruit and vegetable consumption.
"Unfortunately, Americans consume a diet rich in animal protein and saturated fat, salt and sugar, so we wanted to find out if that diet worsened the body's response to stress compared to a Mediterranean diet, in which much of the protein and fat come from plant sources."
The researchers studied the effects of the chronic stress of low social status and the acute stress of being socially isolated for 30 minutes in 38 middle-age animals that were fed either a Mediterranean or Western diet. The diets were formulated to closely reflect human diets, with protein and fat derived largely from animal sources in the Western group and primarily from plant sources in the Mediterranean group.
To determine the diets' effect on stress responses, the scientists measured changes in the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and in the adrenal gland hormone cortisol, in response to acute and chronic stress.
The sympathetic nervous system is involved in the "fight or flight" response and regulates bodily functions such as heart rate and blood pressure. The parasympathetic nervous system has opposite effects that help the body return to a calmer state. High sympathetic nervous system activity can be harmful to health, so maintaining a healthy balance between the two systems is important, Shively said.
Cortisol, the body's main stress hormone, helps the body access resources needed to fight or flee. However, if stress is continuous, cortisol levels stay high and damage tissues.
Compared to animals fed a Western diet, those fed the Mediterranean diet exhibited enhanced stress resilience as indicated by lower sympathetic nervous system and cortisol responses to stress, and more rapid recovery after the stress ended, Shively said.
"Our study showed that the Mediterranean diet shifted the balance toward the parasympathetic nervous system, which is good for health," Shively said. "By contrast, the Western diet increased the sympathetic response to stress, which is like having the panic button on all the time -- and that isn't healthy."
As the animals aged over the 31-month study, which is equivalent to about 9 years in humans, the research group noted that sympathetic nervous system activity increased. However, the Mediterranean diet slowed the aging of the sympathetic nervous system.
The study's findings suggest that population-wide adoption of a Mediterranean-like diet may provide a relatively simple and cost-effective intervention to reduce the negative impact of psychological stress on health and delay nervous system aging, Shively said.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201116125603.htm
Sweet taste reduces appetite?
The sweet taste of sugar, energy intake and the regulatory process of hunger and satiety
November 10, 2020
Science Daily/University of Vienna
The sweet taste of sugar is very popular worldwide. In Austria and Germany, the yearly intake per person adds up to about 33 and 34 kilograms, respectively. Thus, sugar plays an increasingly role in the nutrition and health of the population, especially with regard to body weight. However, little is known about the molecular (taste) mechanisms of sugar that influence dietary intake, independently of its caloric load.
Taste receptor and satiety regulation
"We therefore investigated the role of sweet taste receptor activation in the regulation of satiety," says Veronika Somoza, deputy head of the Department of Physiological Chemistry at the University of Vienna and director of the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich.
For this purpose, the scientists conducted a blinded, cross-over intervention study with glucose and sucrose. A total of 27 healthy, male persons, between 18 and 45 years of age, received either a 10 percent glucose or sucrose solution (weight percent) or one of the sugar solutions supplemented with 60 ppm lactisole. Lactisole is a substance that binds to a subunit of the sweet receptor and reduces the perception of sweet taste. Despite different types of sugar, all solutions with or without lactisole had the same energy content.
Two hours after drinking each of the test solutions, the participants were allowed to have as much as breakfast they wanted. Shortly before and during the 120-min waiting period, the researchers took blood samples in regular intervals and measured their body temperature.
Additional 100 kilocalories on average
After the consumption of the lactisole-containing sucrose solution, the test persons had an increased energy intake from breakfast of about 13 percent, about 100 kilocalories more, than after drinking the sucrose solution without lactisole. In addition, the subjects of this group showed lower body temperature and reduced plasma serotonin concentrations. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter and tissue hormone which, among other things, has an appetite-suppressing effect. In contrast, the researchers observed no differences after administration of the lactisole-containing glucose solution and the pure glucose solution.
"This result suggests that sucrose, regardless of its energy content, modulates the regulation of satiety and energy intake via the sweet taste receptor," says Barbara Lieder, head of Christian Doppler Laboratory for Taste Research and also deputy head of the Department of Physiological Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemistry at University of Vienna.
The first study author of the study, Kerstin Schweiger, University of Vienna adds: "We do not know yet why we could not observe the lactisole effect with glucose. However, we suspect it is because glucose and sucrose activate the sweet receptor in different ways. We also assume that mechanisms independent of the sweet receptor play a role."
"So there is still a lot of research needed to clarify the complex relationships between sugar consumption, taste receptors and satiety regulation on the molecular level," says Veronika Somoza. In particular, as sweet receptors are also found in the digestive tract and little is known about their function there. The first steps have nevertheless been taken.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201110112545.htm
Why consumers think pretty food is healthier
November 7, 2020
Science Daily/American Marketing Association
A researcher from University of Southern California published a new paper in the Journal of Marketingthat explores whether attractive food might seem healthier to consumers. The study forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing is titled "Pretty Healthy Food: How and When Aesthetics Enhance Perceived Healthiness" and is authored by Linda Hagen.
Consumers see almost 7,000 food and restaurant advertisements per year, with the vast majority touting fast food. In marketing materials, food is extensively styled to look especially pretty. Imagine the beautiful pizza you might see on a billboard -- a perfect circle of crust with flawlessly allocated pepperoni and melted cheese. Advertisers clearly aim to make the food more appetizing. But do pretty aesthetics have other, potentially problematic, effects on your impressions of food?
On one hand, beautiful aesthetics are closely associated with pleasure and indulgence. Looking at beautiful art and people activates the brain's reward center and observing beauty is inherently gratifying. This link with pleasure might make pretty food seem unhealthy, because people tend to view pleasure and usefulness as mutually exclusive. For instance, many people have the general intuition that food is either tasty or healthy, but not both.
On the other hand, a specific type of aesthetics called "classical" aesthetics is characterized by the ideal patterns found in nature. For instance, a key classical aesthetic feature is symmetry, which is also extremely common in nature. Another prominent classical aesthetic feature involves order and systematic patterns, which, again, are ubiquitous in nature. It seems possible that sporting more of these nature-like visual features might make food depictions feel more natural. Seeming more natural, in turn, may make the food seem healthier because people tend to consider natural things (e.g., organic food or natural remedies) to be healthier than unnatural things (e.g., highly processed food or synthetic chemicals). So, by virtue of reflecting nature, the same food may seem healthier when it is pretty (compared to when it is ugly).
In a series of experiments, the researcher tested if the same food is perceived as healthier when it looks pretty by following classical aesthetics principles (i.e., symmetry, order, and systematic patterns) compared to when it does not. For example, in one experiment, participants evaluated avocado toast. Everyone read identical ingredient and price information, but people were randomly assigned to see either a pretty avocado toast or an ugly avocado toast (the pictures had previously been, on average, rated as differentially pretty). Despite identical information about the food, respondents rated the avocado toast as overall healthier (e.g., healthier, more nutritious, fewer calories) and more natural (e.g., purer, less processed) if they saw the pretty version compared to the ugly version. As suspected, the difference in naturalness judgments drove the difference in healthiness judgments. Judgments of other aspects, like freshness or size, were unaffected. Experiments with different foods and prettiness manipulations returned the same pattern of results, suggesting that the effect is unlikely idiosyncratic to certain pictures.
Importantly, these healthiness judgments affect consumer behavior. In a field experiment, people were willing to pay significantly more money for a pretty bell pepper than an ugly one, and a substantial portion of this boost in reservation prices was attributable to an analogous boost in healthiness judgments. In another study, even when people had financial incentives to correctly identify which of two foods contained fewer calories, they were more likely to declare a target food to be the lower calorie option when it was pretty than when it was ugly -- even though this choice lost them money.
There are some key qualifications. First, the pretty=healthy effect is limited to classical aesthetics. "Expressive" aesthetics do not involve nature-like patterns, but instead please through imaginative execution of creative ideas, such as food cut into fun shapes or arranged to depict a scene. Second, the pretty=healthy bias can be muted by displaying a disclaimer next to the food reminding people that the food was artificially modified.
This effect of classical aesthetic principles has implications for marketers and public health advocates, albeit different ones. Hagen explains that "Classical aesthetics may be a costless and subtle new way to convey naturalness and healthfulness -- attributes that consumers increasingly demand in food products. At the same time, pretty food presentation may optimistically distort nutrition estimates and negatively impact dietary decisions. Given these findings, policy-makers may want to consider modification disclaimers as an intervention or strengthen regulations around providing objective nutrition information with food images."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201107133908.htm
High flavanol diet may lead to lower blood pressure
First study to use objective measure to look at 25,000 people's diet
October 21, 2020
Science Daily/University of Reading
People who consume a diet including flavanol-rich foods and drinks, including tea, apples and berries, could lead to lower blood pressure, according to the first study using objective measures of thousands of UK residents' diet.
The findings, published in Scientific Reports, studied the diet of more than 25,000 people in Norfolk, UK and compared what they ate with their blood pressure. In contrast to most other studies investigating links between nutrition and health, the researchers did not rely on study participants reporting their diet, but instead measured flavanol intake objectively using nutritional biomarkers -- indicators of dietary intake, metabolism or nutritional status that are present in our blood.
The difference in blood pressure between those with the lowest 10% of flavanol intake and those with the highest 10% of intake was between 2 and 4 mmHg. This is comparable to meaningful changes in blood pressure observed in those following a Mediterranean diet or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. Notably, the effect was more pronounced in participants with hypertension.
Professor Gunter Kuhnle, a nutritionist at the University of Reading who led the study said:
"Previous studies of large populations have always relied on self-reported data to draw conclusions, but this is the first epidemiological study of this scale to objectively investigate the association between a specific bioactive compound and health. We are delighted to see that in our study, there was also a meaningful and significant association between flavanol consumption and lower blood pressure.
"What this study gives us is an objective finding about the association between flavanols -- found in tea and some fruits -- and blood pressure. This research confirms the results from previous dietary intervention studies and shows that the same results can be achieved with a habitual diet rich in flavanols. In the British diet, the main sources are tea, cocoa, apples and berries.
"The methodology of the study is of equal importance. This is one of the largest ever studies to use nutritional biomarkers to investigate bioactive compounds. Using nutritional biomarkers to estimate intake of bioactive food compounds has long been seen as the gold standard for research, as it allows intake to be measured objectively. The development, validation and application of the biomarker was only possible because of the long-term commitment of all collaborators. In contrast to self-reported dietary data, nutritional biomarkers can address the huge variability in food composition. We can therefore confidently attribute the associations we observed to flavanol intake."
An international team from the University of Reading, Cambridge University, the University of California Davis, and Mars, Incorporated studied 25,618 participants from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) Norfolk study and found that the biggest difference was observed in participants with the highest blood pressure. This suggests if the general public increased its flavanol intake, there could be an overall reduction in cardiovascular disease incidence.
Hagen Schroeter, Chief Science Officer at Mars Edge, said:
"This study adds key insights to a growing body of evidence supporting the benefits of dietary flavanols in health and nutrition. But, perhaps even more exciting was the opportunity to apply objective biomarkers of flavanol intake at a large scale. This enabled the team to avoid the significant limitations that come with past approaches which rely on estimating intake based on self-reported food consumption data and the shortcomings of current food composition databases."
The study was supported with an unrestricted grant from Mars, Incorporated, and two co-authors are employees of Mars. The study worked with the EPIC Norfolk population cohort, which acknowledges funding from the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201021085109.htm
Could excessive sugar intake contribute to aggressive behaviors, ADHD, bipolar disorder?
New peer-review paper looks at evolution and current Western diet to help explain manic behaviors
October 16, 2020
Science Daily/University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
New research suggests that conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome (ADHD), bipolar disorder, and even aggressive behaviors may be linked with sugar intake, and that it may have an evolutionary basis.
The research, out today from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and published in Evolution and Human Behavior, presents a hypothesis supporting a role for fructose, a component of sugar and high fructose corn syrup, and uric acid (a fructose metabolite), in increasing the risk for these behavioral disorders.
"We present evidence that fructose, by lowering energy in cells, triggers a foraging response similar to what occurs in starvation," said lead author Richard Johnson, MD, professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
Johnson outlines research that shows a foraging response stimulates risk taking, impulsivity, novelty seeking, rapid decision making, and aggressiveness to aid the securing of food as a survival response. Overactivation of this process from excess sugar intake may cause impulsive behavior that could range from ADHD, to bipolar disorder or even aggression.
"While the fructose pathway was meant to aid survival, fructose intake has skyrocketed during the last century and may be in overdrive due to the high amounts of sugar that are in the current Western diet," Johnson adds.
The paper looks at how excessive intake of fructose present in refined sugars and high fructose corn syrup may have a contributory role in the pathogenesis of behavioral disorders that are associated with obesity and Western diet.
Johnson notes, "We do not blame aggressive behavior on sugar, but rather note that it may be one contributor."
Johnson recommends further studies to investigate the role of sugar and uric acid, especially with new inhibitors of fructose metabolism on the horizon.
"The identification of fructose as a risk factor does not negate the importance of genetic, familial, physical, emotional and environmental factors that shape mental health," he adds.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201016112903.htm
The Secret To Weight Loss And Curbing Cravings
Photo by Bill Oxford on Unsplash
Guest post by Liz D. liz@cbd-news.co
One of the most challenging aspects of weight loss is controlling the craving for food. A whole industry has been built around weight loss and the problem of obesity. However, many experts believe one of the keys to losing those extra pounds is simply to take in fewer calories than you burn each day.
But like most issues in life, it’s not that easy. Also, craving for a specific delicacy is quite different from hunger. Usually, you know you’re hungry when your stomach begins to growl, your head feels light, and you can’t stop thinking about eating. Maybe you make a trip to the medical mushroom dispensary a few times but still can’t seem to get your craving under control.
But how do you know you’re just craving and not hungry?
The Broccoli Test
Photo by Sara Bakhshi on Unsplash
A simple test, known as the broccoli test, can help tell you if you’re just craving food or feeling hungry. Here it is: If a bowl of broccoli isn’t appealing to satisfy you for your feelings, then it’s very likely that you have a craving. However, it’s important to note that there may be valid reasons behind your body’s craving for a specific food.
However, intense craving can upset your diet plans and your resolutions to eat well. Thus, overriding rational thinking with thoughts such as “You only live once!” or “Just this once!” or “You deserve this!”
The first step to weight loss and curbing cravings is knowing that everyone gets these feelings. Therefore, they are absolutely normal. What you need is a key to help you remain on track and overcome those thoughts of “Just one doughnut.”
This secret is broken down into three formats as follows:
Good - Try Fighting The Craving
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Most people try this option and undoubtedly fail in the long-term. This approach to weight loss isn’t long-term and is draining. Usually, you use every ounce of your will to avoid thinking about the foods you usually crave. This strategy only has one problem; it feels like torture.
Here is an example. If someone asked you not to think about brown bears; you could think about all things except brown bears. You’ll quickly realize that trying to avoid the thought of something will always bring that thing to mind. In other words, the attempt to suppress the thought becomes a fixation. Thus, the reason why a restrictive diet usually fails.
In the long run, most people give in to the internal dialogue, which is usually a debate “I shouldn’t eat this; I should eat that.” This goes on, and all you need to do to get rid of this is to eat whatever you can’t stop thinking about. That’s why there’s the need for another approach, the kind of strategy that addresses weight loss and craving at the same time.
Better - Distractions From Craving
Some people adopt the strategy of distractions. It’s often common to forget your meals when you’re very busy. Other activities, such as bathing and drinking water, can also be overlooked when you’re immersed in something. But there’s a reason why this happens. Usually, high levels of concentration keep the thoughts of craving away.
Thus, distractions are more effective than restrictive eating. Also, you have a wide range of activities such as problem-solving games, hobbies, and work. According to studies reported in the Appetite journal, individuals who partook in the studies experienced less temptation to eat food when distracted.
The research discovered that indulging playing only for three minutes was enough to overcome craving. Thus, playing some Candy Crush or Playstation 4 games gives your fingers and mind some interesting things to do. Irrespective of what you choose to distract yourself, it’s vital to decide before the thoughts of craving creep in.
It’s undeniable that this strategy works. However, there’s a secret solution that deals with the root cause and serves as the best option for curbing craving.
Best - Address the Root Cause
Photo by Егор Камелев on Unsplash
A much smarter and more effective option is to tackle your craving with a substance known to affect the human body at the physiological level. In this case, the secret to fighting food craving is a strong psychedelic called psilocybin. Psilocybin mushrooms, which you can get at any medical mushroom dispensary, are also useful for testing several conditions such as depression, chronic pain, anxiety, PTSD, and even obsessive-compulsive disorder.
But how does this work?
Psilocybin helps repress craving by activating your serotonin receptors. You can call these receptors “nature’s own appetite suppressants,” which is how Psychology Today refers to them. They help shut off your normal appetite and suppress the craving for food. Thus, giving you the feeling of satisfaction even though your stomach may not be full. As a result, you will end up eating less and losing more.
In addition to this, you want to ask yourself why you’re craving food. Often, you’ll know the right thing to do, so the right question is, “Why can’t you do it?” You want to find out if you’re frustrated, bored, stressed, or anxious about anything.
Sometimes, the strong urge to indulge is due to certain overwhelming circumstances in your life. Hence, craving can become a signal or symptom of an underlying problem, to which you might be having an emotional response.
You can also adopt the following two tips to reduce the number of calories you take and slowly reduce your cravings.
#1
Eat food with high amounts of fiber. These will help fill your stomach faster. Thus, you’ll not over-indulge and they keep you chewing longer. Also, you feel satisfied for longer. Some of these foods include apples, pineapple, and carrot. Because most of these foods are chewy, they trick your brain into signaling that you’re full quickly.
#2
Add regular drinking of water to your daily routine. Aside from the fact that water will help keep you full, it is also very beneficial in several ways. According to the Mayoclinic, an adult male needs about 15.3 cups of water each day, the equivalent of 3.7 liters.
Conclusion
Irrespective of where you find yourself in your weight loss journey, every day offers a new challenge and the opportunity to take one step forward. Depending on which of these three options you’re using, you may reach your goals sooner or later. However, you can walk away from the entire process, a better person if you use the best strategies and tips.
Teen brain differences linked to increased waist circumference
October 13, 2020
Science Daily/NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse
Differences in the microstructure of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), a region in the brain that plays an important role in processing food and other reward stimuli, predict increases in indicators of obesity in children, according to a study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and nine other institutes, all part of the National Institutes of Health. The paper, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is based on data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. The ABCD Study will follow nearly 12,000 children through early adulthood to assess factors that influence individual brain development and other health outcomes.
Findings from this study provide the first evidence of microstructural brain differences that are linked to waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) in children. These microstructural differences in cell density could be indicative of inflammatory processes triggered by a diet rich in high fat foods.
"We know that childhood obesity is a key predictor of adult obesity and other poor health outcomes later in life," said Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of NIDA. "These results extend previous animal studies to reveal what may prove to be a vicious cycle in which diet-related inflammation in brain striatal regions promotes further unhealthy eating behaviors and weight gain."
Evidence from past human imaging studies has demonstrated the relationship between the NAcc and unhealthy eating behavior in adults. In this study, the researchers leveraged new diffusion MRI imaging techniques to examine the cellular structure of areas that comprise the striatal reward pathway in the brain to investigate disproportionate weight gain in youth.
This study included data from 5,366 ABCD Study participants, ages 9- to 10-years-old at baseline, of whom 2,133 returned for a one-year follow-up visit. The mean waist circumference of the participants, used here as a measure of body fat, increased an average of 2.76 centimeters per participant from the baseline through the one-year follow-up. The researchers used a noninvasive MRI technique to show that an alleged marker of cellular density in the NAcc reflected differences in waist circumference at baseline and predicted increased waist circumference at one-year follow-up.
Because the ABCD Study is longitudinal, it will allow to assess if this association holds or changes over the course of adolescent development, and what factors may influence this trajectory.
Obesity in the United States affects approximately 35% of children and adolescents and is associated with negative health consequences, mentally and physically, as well as higher mortality rates. Children who are obese have more than a fivefold likelihood of becoming obese as adults. Predictive models of weight gain in youth, coupled with knowledge about factors that could impact this trajectory, would benefit public health and individual wellbeing.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201013150815.htm
Television advertising limits can reduce childhood obesity
October 13, 2020
Science Daily/PLOS
Limiting the hours of television advertising for foods and beverages high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) could make a meaningful contribution to reducing childhood obesity, according to a new study published this week in PLOS Medicine by Oliver Mytton of the University of Cambridge, UK, and colleagues.
Childhood obesity is a global problem with few signs of progress. As part of the UK government's plan to halve childhood obesity by 2030, it is considering limitations on television advertising for HFSS products between the hours of 5:30am and 9pm. In the new study, researchers used data on children's exposure to HFSS advertising during these hours, as well as previously published information on the association between exposure to HFSS advertising and children's caloric intake.
The study concluded that if all HFSS advertising in the UK was withdrawn during the hours in question, the 3.7 million children in the UK would see on average 1.5 fewer HFSS advertisements per day and decrease their caloric intake by an average of 9.1 kcal (95%CI 0.5-17.7). This would reduce the number of children aged 5 through 17 with obesity by 4.6% (95%CI 1.4-9.5) and the number of children considered overweight by 3.6% (95%CI 1.1-7.4). This is equivalent to 40,000 fewer UK children with obesity and 120,000 fewer classified as overweight and would result in a monetary benefit to the UK of £7.4 billion (95%CI 2.0 billion-16 billion). The study only considered the direct impact of HFSS advertising on children's caloric intake and did not consider the impact of HFSS advertising on changing both children's and adults' dietary preferences and habits.
"Measures which have the potential to reduce exposure to less-healthy food advertising on television could make a meaningful contribution to reducing childhood obesity," the authors say. However, they also point out that "this is a modeling study and we cannot fully account for all factors that would affect the impact of this policy if it was implemented."
"Our analysis shows that introducing a 9 PM watershed on unhealthy TV food advertising can make a valuable contribution to protecting the future health of all children in the UK, and help level up the health of children from less affluent backgrounds," said Dr Mytton. "However, children now consume media from a range of sources, and increasingly from online and on-demand services, so in order to give all children the opportunity to grow up healthy it is important l to ensure that this advertising doesn't just move to the 9-10pm slot and to online services."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201013141752.htm
World first study links obesity with reduced brain plasticity
September 24, 2020
Science Daily/University of South Australia
A world-first study has found that severely overweight people are less likely to be able to re-wire their brains and find new neural pathways, a discovery that has significant implications for people recovering from a stroke or brain injury.
In a new paper published in Brain Sciences, researchers from UniSA and Deakin University show that brain plasticity is impaired in obese people, making it less likely that they can learn new tasks or remember things.
Using a series of experiments involving transcranial magnetic stimulation, the researchers tested 15 obese people aged between 18 and 60, comparing them with 15 people in a healthy-weight control group.
Repeated pulses of electrical stimulation were applied to the brain to see how strongly it responded. The healthy-weight control group recorded significant neural activity in response to the stimulation, suggesting a normal brain plasticity response. In contrast, the response in the obese group was minimal, suggesting its capacity to change was impaired.
UniSA researcher Dr Brenton Hordacre says the findings provide the first physiological evidence of a link between obesity and reduced brain plasticity.
Obesity is based on body mass index (BMI) which calculates the ratio between height and weight to determine body fat. An adult who has a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight. Anything above that is obese.
"Obesity is already associated with a raft of adverse health effects, including a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders and dementia," Dr Hordacre says.
"For the first time, we found that obesity was associated with impaired brain function, adding further support for the need to address the obesity epidemic.
"A growing number of people are obese -- 650 million according to the World Health Organization -- which not only has health consequences but is a serious financial burden for global health systems," he says.
"These new findings suggest that losing weight is particularly important for healthy brain ageing or for recovery in people who suffer strokes or brain injuries, where learning is fundamental for recovery."
Stroke is the third most common cause of death in Australia and the leading cause of disability, affecting speech, cognition and memory.
The ability of the brain to find new pathways is crucial to recovery, Dr Hordacre says. Worldwide, 15 million people suffer strokes each year, a third of whom die.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200924101936.htm
Probiotics may help manage childhood obesity
September 7, 2020
Science Daily/European Society of Endocrinology
Probiotics may help children and adolescents with obesity lose weight when taken alongside a calorie-controlled diet, according to a study being presented at e-ECE 2020. The study found that obese children who were put on a calorie-restricted diet and given probiotics Bifidobacterium breve BR03 and Bifidobacterium breve B632, lost more weight and had improved insulin sensitivity compared with children on a diet only. These findings suggest that probiotic supplements and a calorie-controlled diet may help manage obesity in the younger population and reduce future health risks, such as heart disease and diabetes.
Obesity is a global health concern and can lead to a number of life-threatening conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease. Treatment and prevention is a serious public health challenge, especially in children and adolescents. Bifidobacteria are a group of probiotic bacteria that are part of the natural gut microbiome and help with preventing infection from other bacteria, such as E.coli, and digestion of carbohydrates and dietary fibre. During digestion, they release chemicals called short-chain fatty acids, which play an important role in gut health and controlling hunger. Low numbers of Bifodobacteria may impair digestion, affect food intake and energy expenditure, leading to body weight gain and obesity.
Previous studies suggested that probiotic supplementation with Bifidobacteria could help restore the composition of the gut microbiome, which may aid weight loss and could be a potential approach for obesity management. However, current research uses mixtures of different strains of probiotics and does not examine the effects of administering Bifidobacteria alone.
Dr Flavia Prodam and her team at the University of Piemonte Orientale, aimed to assess the impact of Bifidobacteria probiotic treatment in children and adolescents with obesity on a controlled diet, on weight loss and gut microbiota composition. 100 obese children and adolescents (6-18 years) were put on a calorie-controlled diet and randomly given either probiotics Bifidobacterium breve BR03 and Bifidobacterium breve B632, or a placebo for 8 weeks. Clinical, biochemical and stool sample analyses were carried out to determine the effect of probiotic supplementation on weight gain, gut microbiota and metabolism.
The results suggested that children who had taken probiotics had a reduction in waist circumference, BMI, insulin resistance and E.coli in their gut. These beneficial effects demonstrate the potential of probiotics in helping to treat obesity in children and adolescents, when undergoing dietary restrictions.
"Probiotic supplements are frequently given to people without proper evidence data. These findings start to give evidence of the efficacy and safety of two probiotic strains in treating obesity in a younger population," Dr Prodam comments.
The study suggests that supplementation with probiotics could modify the gut microbiome environment and beneficially affect metabolism, helping obese children or adolescents who are also undergoing a restricted diet to lose weight. However, larger studies over a longer period of time are needed to investigate this.
Dr Prodam explains, "The next step for our research is to identify patients that could benefit from this probiotic treatment, with a view to creating a more personalised weight-loss strategy. We also want to decipher more clearly the role of diet and probiotics on microbiome composition. This could help us to understand how the microbiota is different in young people with obesity."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200907080342.htm
Spouses shed more pounds together than alone
August 27, 2020
Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology
Weight loss is most successful in heart attack survivors when partners join in the effort to diet, according to research presented today at ESC Congress 2020.
"Lifestyle improvement after a heart attack is a crucial part of preventing repeat events," said study author Ms. Lotte Verweij, a registered nurse and PhD student, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands. "Our study shows that when spouses join the effort to change habits, patients have a better chance of becoming healthier -- particularly when it comes to losing weight."
The RESPONSE-2 trial previously found that heart attack survivors referred to programmes for weight reduction, physical activity, and smoking cessation were more likely to modify behaviours compared to those receiving usual care. In both groups, living with a partner was linked with greater success in shifting bad habits. The most notable improvements were in patients who took part in lifestyle programmes and lived with a partner.
This follow-up study investigated whether partner involvement in lifestyle programmes had an impact on behaviour change. "If partners contribute to adopting healthy habits, it could become an important recommendation to avoid recurrent heart attacks," explained Ms. Verweij.
A total of 824 patients were randomly assigned to the intervention group (lifestyle programmes on top of usual care) or control group (usual care alone).
This analysis focused on the 411 patients in the intervention group, who were referred to up to three lifestyle programmes for weight reduction, physical activity, and smoking cessation depending on their needs and preferences. Partners could attend for free and nurses encouraged them to participate. Partner participation was defined as attending at least once.
Nearly half (48%) of partners participated in the lifestyle interventions. Compared to those without a partner, patients with a participating partner were more than twice as likely (odds ratio 2.45) to improve in at least one of the three areas (weight loss, exercise, smoking cessation) within a year.
When the influence of partners was analysed on the three areas separately, patients with a participating partner were most successful in reducing weight compared to patients without a partner (odds ratio 2.71).
"Patients with partners who joined the weight loss programme lost more weight compared to patients with a partner who did not join the programme," said Ms. Verweij.
She continued: "Couples often have comparable lifestyles and changing habits is difficult when only one person is making the effort. Practical issues come into play, such as grocery shopping, but also psychological challenges, where a supportive partner may help maintain motivation."
Ms. Verweij noted that the study did not find more improvement in smoking cessation or physical activity when partners actively participated. "These lifestyle issues might be more subject to individual motivation and persistence, but this hypothesis needs more investigation," she said.
Note: Three lifestyle programmeswere used in their existing format:
1) Weight loss: weekly group sessions with a Weight Watchers coach for one year.
2) Physical activity: accelerometer to measure activity and an online coach for personalised feedback for one year (Philips Direct Life).
3) Smoking cessation: motivational interviewing by telephone by trained professionals from Luchtsignaal for three months plus prescription of nicotine replacement or varenicline therapy as appropriate.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200827101837.htm
REM sleep tunes eating behavior
August 6, 2020
Science Daily/University of Bern
Despite our broad understanding of the different brain regions activated during rapid-eye-movement sleep, little is known about what this activity serves for. Researchers at the University of Bern and the Inselspital have now discovered that the activation of neurons in the hypothalamus during REM sleep regulates eating behaviour: suppressing this activity in mice decreases appetite.
While we are asleep, we transition between different phases of sleep each of which may contribute differently to us feeling rested. During (rapid eye movement) REM sleep, a peculiar sleep stage also called paradoxical sleep during which most dreaming occurs, specific brain circuits show very high electrical activity, yet the function of this sleep-specific activity remains unclear.
Among the brain regions that show strong activation during REM sleep are areas that regulate memory functions or emotion, for instance. The lateral hypothalamus, a tiny, evolutionarily well conserved brain structure in all mammals also shows high activity during REM sleep. In the awake animals, neurons from this brain region orchestrate appetite and the consumption of food and they are involved in the regulation of motivated behaviours and addiction.
In a new study, researchers headed by Prof. Dr. Antoine Adamantidis at the University of Bern set out to investigate the function of the activity of hypothalamic neurons in mice during REM sleep. They aimed at better understanding how neural activation during REM sleep influences our day-to-day behaviour. They discovered that suppressing the activity of these neurons decreases the amount of food the mice consume. "This suggests that REM sleep is necessary to stabilize food intake," says Adamantidis. The results of this study have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Long-lasting effect on neuronal activity and feeding behavior
The researcher discovered that specific activity patterns of neurons in the lateral hypothalamus that usually signal eating in the awake mouse are also present when the animals were in the stage of REM sleep. To assess the importance of these activity patterns during REM sleep the research group used a technique called optogenetics, with which they used light pulses to precisely shut down the activity of hypothalamic neurons during REM sleep. As a result, the researchers found that the activity patterns for eating were modified and that the animals consumed less food.
"We were surprised how strongly and persistently our intervention affected the neural activity in the lateral hypothalamus and the behaviour of the mice," says Lukas Oesch, the first author of the study. He adds: "The modification in the activity patterns was still measurable after four days of regular sleep." These findings suggest that electrical activity in hypothalamic circuits during REM sleep are highly plastic and essential to maintain a stable feeding behaviour in mammals.
It is a question of quality
These findings point out that sleep quantity alone is not solely required for our well-being, but that sleep quality plays a major role in particular to maintain appropriate eating behaviour. "This is of particular relevance in our society where not only sleep quantity decreases but where sleep quality is dramatically affected by shift work, late night screen exposure or social jet-lag in adolescents," explains Adamantidis.
The discovered link between the activity of the neurons during REM sleep and eating behaviour may help developing new therapeutical approaches to treat eating disorders. It might also be relevant for motivation and addiction. "However, this relationship might depend on the precise circuitry, the sleep stage and other factors yet to be uncovered," adds Adamantidis.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200806111820.htm
Does eating fish protect our brains from air pollution?
July 15, 2020
Science Daily/American Academy of Neurology
Older women who eat more than one to two servings a week of baked or broiled fish or shellfish may consume enough omega-3 fatty acids to counteract the effects of air pollution on the brain, according to a new study published in the July 15, 2020, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Researchers found that among older women who lived in areas with high levels of air pollution, those who had the lowest levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood had more brain shrinkage than women who had the highest levels.
"Fish are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids and easy to add to the diet," said study author Ka He, M.D., Sc.D., of Columbia University in New York. "Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to fight inflammation and maintain brain structure in aging brains. They have also been found to reduce brain damage caused by neurotoxins like lead and mercury. So we explored if omega-3 fatty acids have a protective effect against another neurotoxin, the fine particulate matter found in air pollution."
The study involved 1,315 women with an average age of 70 who did not have dementia at the start of the study. The women completed questionnaires about diet, physical activity, and medical history.
Researchers used the diet questionnaire to calculate the average amount of fish each woman consumed each week, including broiled or baked fish, canned tuna, tuna salad, tuna casserole and non-fried shellfish. Fried fish was not included because research has shown deep frying damages omega-3 fatty acids.
Participants were given blood tests. Researchers measured the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in their red blood cells and then divided the women into four groups based on the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood.
Researchers used the women's home addresses to determine their three-year average exposure to air pollution. Participants then had brain scans with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure various areas of the brain including white matter, which is composed of nerve fibers that send signals throughout the brain, and the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with memory.
After adjusting for age, education, smoking and other factors that could affect brain shrinkage, researchers found that women who had the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood had greater volumes of white matter than those with the lowest levels. Those in the highest group had 410 cubic centimeters (cm3) white matter, compared to 403 cm3 for those in the lowest group. The researchers found that for each quartile increase in air pollution levels, the average white matter volume was 11.52 cm3 smaller among people with lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids and 0.12 cm3 smaller among those with higher levels.
Women with the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood also had greater volumes of the hippocampus.
"Our findings suggest that higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood from fish consumption may preserve brain volume as women age and possibly protect against the potential toxic effects of air pollution," said He. "It's important to note that our study only found an association between brain volume and eating fish. It does not prove that eating fish preserves brain volume. And since separate studies have found some species of fish may contain environmental toxins, it's important to talk to a doctor about what types of fish to eat before adding more fish to your diet."
A limitation of the study was that most participants were older white women, so the results cannot be generalized to others. Also, researchers were only able to examine exposures to later-life air pollution, not early or mid-life exposures, so future studies should look at exposures to air pollution across a person's lifespan.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200715163555.htm
High-fat diet with antibiotic use linked to gut inflammation
Combining Western diet and antibiotic use is a pre- IBD risk factor
July 15, 2020
Science Daily/University of California - Davis Health
UC Davis researchers have found that combining a Western-style high-fat diet with antibiotic use significantly increases the risk of developing pre-inflammatory bowel disease (pre-IBD). The study, published July 14 in Cell Host and Microbe, suggests that this combination shuts down the energy factories (mitochondria) in cells of the colon lining, leading to gut inflammation.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects approximately 11% of people worldwide. It is characterized by recurring episodes of abdominal pain, bloating and changes in bowel habits. IBS patients with mucosal inflammation and changes in the gut's microbial composition are considered pre-IBD.
Antibiotic usage with high-fat diet is a risk factor
The study included 43 healthy adults and 49 adult patients diagnosed with IBS. The researchers measured fecal calprotectin, a biomarker for intestinal inflammation, of participants. Elevated levels of fecal calprotectin indicated a pre-IBD condition. The study identified 19 patients with IBS as pre-IBD.
The researchers found that all participants who consumed high-fat diet and used antibiotics were at 8.6 times higher risk for having pre-IBD than those on low-fat diet and no recent history of antibiotic use. Participants with the highest fat consumption were about 2.8 times more likely to have pre-IBD than those with the lowest fat intake. A history of recent antibiotic usage alone was associated with 3.9 times higher likelihood of having pre-IBD.
"Our study found that a history of antibiotics in individuals consuming a high-fat diet was associated with the greatest risk for pre-IBD," said Andreas Bäumler, professor of medical microbiology and immunology and lead author on the study. "Until now, we didn't appreciate how different environmental risk factors can synergize to drive the disease."
Shutting the cell's powerhouse promotes gut microbial growth
Using mouse models, the study also tested the effect of high-fat diet and antibiotics use on the cells in the intestinal lining. It found that high-fat diet and antibiotics cooperate to disrupt the work of the cell's mitochondria, shutting its ability to burn oxygen. This disruption causes reduction in cell's oxygen consumption and leads to oxygen leakage into the gut.
The body's beneficial bacteria thrive in environments lacking oxygen such as the large intestine. Higher oxygen levels in the gut promote bacterial imbalances and inflammation. With the disruption in the gut environment, a vicious cycle of replacing the good bacteria with potentially harmful proinflammatory microbes that are more oxygen tolerant begins. This in turn leads to mucosal inflammation linked to pre-IBD conditions.
The study also identified 5-aminosalicylate (mesalazine), a drug that restarts the energy factories in the intestinal lining, as a potential treatment for pre-IBD.
"The best approach to a healthy gut is to get rid of the preferred sustenance of harmful microbes," Lee said. "Our study emphasized the importance of avoiding high fat food and abuse of antibiotics to avoid gut inflammation."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200715142400.htm