Thursday, August 31, 2006

New Cholesterol Guidelines Proposed for Teens

Gender, age taken into account to assess future heart-disease risk

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Aug. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Canadian researchers are reporting what they say is a better way to identify teens whose cholesterol levels put them at high risk for heart disease as adults.

The current guidelines, established in 1992 in the United States, have limited ability to single out younger people who will be at high risk in the future, said the research team led by Ian Janssen, a professor of kinesiology and epidemiology at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

"The essential difference with our method is that it takes into account the age and gender of a teen when determining who is at risk," Janssen said.

The report was expected to be published in the Aug. 29 issue of Circulation.

Janssen and his colleagues used data from the U.S. National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys conducted between 1988 and 2002. Information on more than 6,000 participants aged 12 to 20 was used to develop age- and gender-specific growth curves for total cholesterol, LDL ("bad") cholesterol, HDL ("good") cholesterol and triglyceride fat levels. These curves are similar to the curves used to monitor and estimate height and weight patterns in children and teens.

The cholesterol curves were then linked to adult cholesterol and fat levels that predict cardiovascular risk. The result is a reading that can predict a teen's future risk of heart disease, Janssen said.

The major advantage of the new guidelines is that they take into account the fluctuations in cholesterol and fat levels that occur with age, Janssen said. "We know that your cholesterol levels change significantly from age 2 to 20, changes that go with maturation," he said.

The current guidelines published by the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program don't take those age-related changes into account, Janssen said. They simply say that any teen in the top 5 percent of readings is at risk, an entirely arbitrary level, he said.

"Why not choose the 90th percentile instead of the 95th?" he asked. "There is no real risk attached to either of these percentiles."

Gender must also be taken into account because the curves for the two sexes differ, the Canadian researchers said. For example, male levels of LDL cholesterol decrease early in the teen years, then start rising at about 15 years of age, while female levels increase steadily from 12 to 20.

The current federal guidelines, endorsed by the American Heart Association, recommend cholesterol screening tests for adolescents whose parents have abnormal cholesterol levels or if there is a family history of cardiovascular disease before age 50.

"Hopefully, physicians already are testing those teenagers," Janssen said. "Hopefully, this method provides a better way to identify those at high risk."

More information

For more on cholesterol testing, visit the National Library of Medicine.

SOURCES: Ian Janssen, Ph.D., professor, kinesiology and epidemiology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Aug. 29, 2006, Circulation

Read more!

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Exercise helps after high-fat meal, researchers say

Exercise helps after high-fat meal, researchers say
By Barb Berggoetz

If you need another reason to take a brisk walk or bike ride after a big dinner, Indiana University kinesiology researchers have one for you.

They found that physical activity after eating a high-fat meal not only reverses the damage to arteries but also improves their functioning compared to before the meal.

"What happens four hours after that high-fat meal is that your artery looks just like the arteries of a person who has heart disease," said Janet P. Wallace, professor in IU Bloomington's Department of Kinesiology and co-author of the study.

"What our study showed is that when you exercise after that meal, it doesn't look like a sick artery anymore," she said.

Wallace, along with doctoral student Jaume Padilla and other researchers, studied eight 25-year-olds who were physically active and healthy. They walked on treadmills for 45 minutes two hours after eating a 940-calorie breakfast of eggs, sausage patty and hash browns. The food had 48 grams of fat, including 16.5 grams of saturated fat and 4.5 grams of trans fat.

The same people also ate a breakfast of 945 calories that included no fat. It consisted of a large amount of cereal, skim milk and orange juice. The study tested the brachial artery because it is similar to the coronary arteries.

The research, conducted in the summer of 2005, is reported in the current issue of the European Journal of Applied Physiology.

Previous research has shown that high-fat meals cause the arteries to appear unhealthy during a four- to six-hour period after eating, generally just in time for the next meal, said Wallace.

During that time, known as the postprandial state, arteries lose the ability to expand in response to an increase in blood flow. If the artery stays in that condition for long periods, that's when cholesterol starts to build up.

The oxidation of high-fat meals causes stress markers that harm the arteries and contribute to heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's and cancer.

Healthy arteries can better withstand the trauma of high-fat meals or other causes of heart disease, she said.

Wallace said showing the impact of exercise soon after a high-fat meal has not been studied previously. "This is kind of cutting-edge," she said.

However, Wallace added, more research needs to be done to find out how sedentary people and those with diabetes and other health problems react to exercising after a high-fat meal. She also wants to vary the time of the exercise after a high-fat meal, although she believes exercise could take place more than two hours after a meal with the same impact.

The research results, though, shouldn't be interpreted as giving people the green light to eat high-fat meals, she said.

"You still shouldn't eat high-fat meals," Wallace said. "But if you do, make sure you exercise afterward."

Read more!

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Waistlines continue to grow in US

Waistlines continue to grow in US
By Kevin Freking, Associated Press | August 29, 2006

WASHINGTON --The gravy train -- make that the sausage, biscuits and gravy train -- just kept on rolling in most of America last year, with 31 states showing an increase in obesity.

Mississippi continued to lead the way. An estimated 29.5 percent of adults there are considered obese. That's an increase of 1.1 percentage points when compared with last year's report, which is compiled by Trust for America's Health, an advocacy group that promotes increased funding for public health programs.

Meanwhile, Colorado remains the leanest state. About 16.9 percent of its adults are considered obese. That mark was also up slightly from last year's report, but not enough to be considered statistically significant.

The only state that experienced a decrease in the percentage of obese adults last year was Nevada.

"Quick fixes and limited government programs have failed to stem the tide," said Dr. Jeff Levi, executive director of the trust, in explaining the rise. NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Calculate your body mass index

Health officials warn that the incidence of obesity in a particular state doesn't mean it treats the issue less seriously than others. States have different challenges to contend with when it comes to obesity, said Dr. Janet Collins of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Populations are not equal in terms of experiencing these health problems," Collins said. "Low-income populations tend to experience all the health problems we worry about at greater rates."

Indeed, the five states with the highest obesity rates -- Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana and Kentucky -- exhibit much higher rates of poverty than the national norm.

Meanwhile, the five states with the lowest obesity have less poverty. They are Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The group's estimate of obesity rates is based on a three-year average, 2003-2005. The data comes from an annual random sampling of adults via the telephone. The information is designed to help the government measure behavioral risks among adults.

The government equates obesity with a body mass index, or BMI, of at least 30. Someone who is 5-feet-4 would have to weigh 175 pounds to reach that threshold.

The index is calculated by dividing a person's weight in pounds by his height in inches, squared, and multiplying that total by 703. For some people, particularly athletes who exercise a great deal, the BMI index could show them as being obese when in fact they are in excellent physical condition.

Trust for America's Health made scores of recommendations for reducing obesity. For example:

--Employers should offer their workers benefits that help them stay healthy, such as nutrition counseling and subsidized health club memberships.

--The government should mandate routine screenings that measure the fitness of Medicaid beneficiaries, plus subsidize or reimburse them for participating in exercise and fitness programs.

--At the local level, governments should approve zoning and land use laws that give people more chances to walk or bike to the store or to work. Local governments also should set aside more funding for sidewalks.

The group also makes recommendations for individuals. But the recommendations that people eat well and exercise are known to Americans. And clearly, many just don't care to follow.

Collins said tobacco use is another area that could be labeled a personal choice, but government agencies have taken many steps to provide people with the environment and information they need to help them make their choices. The same should be done with obesity.

"I don't want to discount the personal choice aspect of this, but there are health issues and there are health costs involved," Collins said.

The report says those health costs are in the billions of dollars annually. Citing a 2004 report, the advocacy group said $5.6 billion could be saved when it comes to treating heart disease if just one-tenth of Americans began a regular walking program.

Read more!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

There May Be A Biological Basis In The Brain For Being Obese And A Couch Potato

A recent study shows, some brains may be wired to encourage fidgeting and other restless behaviors that consume calories and help control weight, according to new research published by The American Physiological Society.

This line of research suggests that frequent minor unconscious movements such as fidgeting and other behaviors associated with restlessness burn calories and help control weight, Kotz said. Further, it suggests a strategy to reduce weight gain and could lead to the development of a drug to stimulate minor activity.

"Many people focus on diet, but it may be more feasible for some people to stand or move more throughout the day" as a way to control their weight, Kotz said. Contrary to common belief, metabolism rates don't vary greatly from person to person and weight gain usually results from eating too much, burning too few calories, or both, she said.

Regards,

Joe Moore
IHRSA

There May Be A Biological Basis In The Brain For Being Obese And A Couch Potato

Some brains may be wired to encourage fidgeting and other restless behaviors that consume calories and help control weight, according to new research published by The American Physiological Society.

The study found that the brains of rats bred to be lean are more sensitive to a chemical produced in the brain, orexin A, which stimulates appetite and spontaneous physical activity such as fidgeting and other unconscious movements. Compared to rats bred to be obese, the lean rats had a far greater expression of orexin receptors in the hypothalamus.

"The greater expression of orexin receptors suggests the lean rats' brains were more sensitive to the orexin the brain produces," said Catherine M. Kotz, the study's senior researcher. "The results point to a biological basis for being a couch potato." This line of research suggests that frequent minor unconscious movements such as fidgeting and other behaviors associated with restlessness burn calories and help control weight, Kotz said. Further, it suggests a strategy to reduce weight gain and could lead to the development of a drug to stimulate minor activity.

The study "Elevated hypothalamic orexin signaling, sensitivity to orexin A and spontaneous physical activity in obesity resistant rats," appears in the online edition of the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology published by The American Physiological Society. The study was done by Jennifer A. Teske and Allen S. Levine of the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Obesity Center, St. Paul; Michael Kuskowski, VA Medical Center, Minneapolis; James A. Levine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota; and Catherine M. Kotz, the VA Medical Center, University of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Obesity Center.

Study looks at obese versus lean rats

"Many people focus on diet, but it may be more feasible for some people to stand or move more throughout the day" as a way to control their weight, Kotz said. Contrary to common belief, metabolism rates don't vary greatly from person to person and weight gain usually results from eating too much, burning too few calories, or both, she said.

The researchers drew their conclusions after performing a series of experiments with obesity-prone and obesity-resistant rats. The obesity-prone strain was developed for obesity research by breeding obese rats with other obese rats. The obesity-resistant rats were developed by breeding lean rats with lean rats, Kotz noted. The study also employed a control group of normal laboratory rats.

Each rat consumed the same number of calories each day. The researchers took baseline measurements of each rat's activity using sensors to measure even minor movements, such as grooming and standing.

They found that the lean group moved significantly more during this baseline period than the obese group, Kotz said. This was true even though the rats were young and both groups weighed the same -- eliminating the obesity itself as the cause of the decreased movement. After the baseline data gathering, the researchers moved to the experimental part of the study.

Lean rats have elevated expression of orexin receptors

"We knew from previous studies that orexin stimulated physical activity, and so we wanted to find out whether it enhances activity more in lean rats than in obese rats, Kotz explained. The researchers injected orexin into the lateral hypothalamus area of the brains of both groups and found that the lean rats became even more active, while the obese rats didn't respond much at all. "Not only do the lean rats have a higher base activity rate but they respond more to orexin," she said.

Orexin must bind to receptors in the brain to produce increased activity, so the researchers reasoned that the lean rats must have more orexin receptors. When they did a blind analysis of the brains of obese and lean rats of various ages, they found that the lean rats had double the gene expression level of orexin receptors compared to the obese rats, Kotz explained.

The greater gene expression of orexin receptors does not conclusively prove that there are more orexin receptors, but it is highly suggestive of that finding. Kotz and her fellow researchers are now looking to see if the lean rats have a greater number of orexin receptors in their brains.

Activity level important to weight control

Because the rats in this study ate the same amount of food, the researchers concluded that the weight gain of the obese rats comes more from expending too few calories than from consuming too many. Other studies have shown that disabling the orexin system of lean rats causes them to eat less and move less, which leads them to become obese, Kotz said. When the orexin system is working optimally, the increase in eating which orexin causes is believed to be offset by increased physical activity, she said.

It would be impossible to do a similar study of the brain in humans. But one of the researchers, James Levine, found in a previous study with humans that lean individuals move about two hours per day more than obese individuals. What does this mean for those who are overweight?

"If we can get obese individuals to a slightly higher level of activity, that would be very beneficial," Kotz concluded.

###

Future studies will focus on:
  • Counting the number of orexin receptors in the brains of lean versus obese rats
  • Enhancing orexin in obese rats to see if they moderate their weight gain

Funding

Funding was provided by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.

The American Physiological Society was founded in 1887 to foster basic and applied bioscience. The Bethesda, Maryland-based society has 10,500 members and publishes 14 peer-reviewed journals containing almost 4,000 articles annually.

APS provides a wide range of research, educational and career support and programming to further the contributions of physiology to understanding the mechanisms of diseased and healthy states. In 2004, APS received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

Read more!

Arkansas gets aggressive with childhood obesity

As reported by the AP, the percentage of Arkansas schoolchildren overweight or at risk of becoming overweight was 37.5 percent this year, down from 38.1 percent three years ago. The most recent canvass covered 371,082 of Arkansas' 450,000 public school children.

"The runaway train has been stopped in Arkansas," said Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has lost 110 pounds since doctors diagnosed diabetes in 2003. "This train was moving with extraordinary momentum downhill, and it appeared (there) would be little we could do to slow it."

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say Arkansas' schoolchildren are still heavier than most nationwide but praised the state for taking steps to address the problem.

Regards,

Joe Moore
IHRSA

Arkansas gets aggressive with childhood obesity

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- Rhonda Sanders received an eye-opening letter from her daughter's school three years ago: At age 10, her 5-foot, 137-pound child was heavier than 98 percent of her peers.

After a regimen that included the family jumping rope in the back yard, swapping bottled water for soda and eating more fruit, Sanders' daughter last year was 5-6 and weighed 120 pounds.

"There was something about getting that letter that changed us," Sanders said Wednesday as Arkansas unveiled new body-mass index numbers used to assess childhood obesity.

The percentage of Arkansas schoolchildren overweight or at risk of becoming overweight was 37.5 percent this year, down from 38.1 percent three years ago. The most recent canvass covered 371,082 of Arkansas' 450,000 public school children.

"The runaway train has been stopped in Arkansas," said Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has lost 110 pounds since doctors diagnosed diabetes in 2003. "This train was moving with extraordinary momentum downhill, and it appeared (there) would be little we could do to slow it."

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say Arkansas' schoolchildren are still heavier than most nationwide but praised the state for taking steps to address the problem.

"We're a long way from being able to state nationally that we're turning the corner," said Howell Wechsler, director of the CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health.

Arkansas began weighing students in 2004 to determine their body-mass index, an indicator of whether people carry an appropriate amount of weight for their height. Several states, including California, Florida and Pennsylvania, have adopted similar programs.

Rather than classifying children as obese -- as an adult BMI calculator does -- Arkansas categorizes kids as overweight or at risk of becoming overweight.

Nationally, 17 percent of children are overweight, the CDC says. Arkansas' rate is 20.4 percent; students on the edge, considered to be "at risk," total 17.1 percent.

"Arkansas is the only state now that shows an actual arrest of that progression," Huckabee said. "I think it's going to help to move other states toward taking a more aggressive role in confronting the issue of childhood obesity."

Arkansas' obesity rates were highest among Hispanic boys and black girls, with more than half the Hispanic boys in grades 3-7 and nearly half the black girls in grades 5-9 identified.

Nearly 80,000 Arkansas students were not tested. Some were pregnant, some parents or students declined, and some were absent the day of the test.

Read more!

Friday, August 18, 2006

Children with type 1 diabetes: physical activity linked to improved glucose control

A study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, found that children with type 1 diabetes who exercise regularly may have improved blood glucose levels compared with those who do not, and regular physical activity does not appear to increase the risk of severe hypoglycemia.

Controlling blood glucose in diabetics can help prevent complications associated with the disease. Although exercise has been shown to benefit diabetics in other ways, previous studies assessing the connection between physical activity and blood glucose control have been controversial.

Regards,

Joe Moore
IHRSA

Children with type 1 diabetes: physical activity linked to improved glucose control

A study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, found that children with type 1 diabetes who exercise regularly may have improved blood glucose levels compared with those who do not, and regular physical activity does not appear to increase the risk of severe hypoglycemia.

Controlling blood glucose in diabetics can help prevent complications associated with the disease. Although exercise has been shown to benefit diabetics in other ways, previous studies assessing the connection between physical activity and blood glucose control have been controversial.

Some have shown that glycosolated hemoglobin ( HbA1c ) levels, which reflect the individual's control of blood glucose levels over the previous two to three months, are reduced in diabetics who exercise regularly. However, other research has failed to make this link.

Antje Herbst, University of Bonn, Germany, and colleagues analyzed data from 19,143 patients ( 9,140 girls and 10,003 boys ) age 3 to 20 years with type 1 diabetes.

Physicians at 179 pediatric diabetes clinics in Germany and Austria entered data about each patient, including HbA1c levels, frequency of physical activity, age, weight and height, at every office visit between 1997 and 2004.

The children were then placed into three groups based on how often they engaged in physical activity per week: zero times, one to two times, and three or more times. They were also placed in three age groups: 3 to 8.9 years, 9 to 14.9 years and 15 years or older.

Body mass index ( BMI ) was calculated by dividing the weight in kilograms by the square of the height in meters, and then converted into a BMI z score based on the patients' gender, age and change in BMI over time.

Children in groups with less physical activity per week had higher HbA1c levels than those who engaged in more physical activity.

When the researchers considered age, BMI z score, sex, physical activity, dosage of insulin taken by the patient to control blood glucose and how long the patient had type 1 diabetes, level of physical activity remained one of the most important factors associated with HbA1c level. In girls but not in boys, children who exercised more frequently had lower BMI z score, and in boys but not in girls less physical activity was associated with a higher insulin dosage.

Physical activity had no influence on the number of patients who experienced severe hypoglycemia or hypoglycemia with loss of consciousness.

"Regular physical activity should be recommended in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus," the authors conclude. " Regular physical activity results in better control of glycemia, including a lower HbA1c level and, in female patients, lower BMI. The risk for severe hypoglycemia or hypoglycemia with loss of consciousness or seizure is not elevated in pediatric patients with a high frequency of regular physical activity."

Read more!

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Overweight 'top world's hungry'

The BBC reports, Professor Barry Popkin said all countries - both rich and poor - had failed to address the obesity boom.

He told the International Association of Agricultural Economists the number of overweight people had topped 1bn, compared with 800m undernourished.


Professor Popkin, from the University of North Carolina, said that the change had happened quickly as obesity was rapidly spreading, while hunger was slowly declining among the world's 6.5bn population.


Regards,


Joe Moore

IHRSA


Overweight 'top world's hungry'
There are now more overweight people across the world than hungry ones, according to experts.


US professor Barry Popkin said all countries - both rich and poor - had failed to address the obesity boom.


He told the International Association of Agricultural Economists the number of overweight people had topped 1bn, compared with 800m undernourished.


Speaking at an Australian conference, he said changing diets and people doing less physical exercise was the cause.


Professor Popkin, from the University of North Carolina, said that the change had happened quickly as obesity was rapidly spreading, while hunger was slowly declining among the world's 6.5bn population.


He told the conference at the Gold Coast convention centre near Brisbane: "Obesity is the norm globally and under nutrition, while still important in a few countries and in targeted populations in many others, is no longer the dominant disease."


He said the "burden of obesity", with its related illnesses, was also shifting from the rich to the poor, not only in urban but in rural areas around the world.


China typified the changes, with a major shift in diet from cereals to animal products and vegetable oils accompanied by a decline in physical work, more motorised transport and more television viewing, he added.


And he urged governments to begin to develop better strategies to combat the problem.


He said food prices could be used to manipulate people's diets and tilt them towards healthier options.


"For instance, if we charge money for every calorie of soft drink and fruit drink that was consumed, people would consume less of it. "If we subsidise fruit and vegetable production, people would consume more of it and we would have a healthier diet."


And University of Minnesota's Professor Benjamin Senauer, who has compared lifestyles in the US, which has high obesity rates with Japan, which has low rates, agreed.


"The average Japanese household spends almost a quarter of its income on food compared to under 14% in the US."


'Cheap food'


While a direct tax on food in the US to reduce obesity would not be politically acceptable, agricultural subsidies which resulted in cheap food could be reduced, he added.


But he said other factors, such as exercise, also played an important role.


"Japanese cities are based on efficient public transport and walking. The average American commutes to work, drives to the supermarket and does as little walking as possible."


Professor Tony Barnett, head of the diabetes and obesity group at Birmingham University, said: "It is becoming increasingly clear that the number of overweight outnumbers the malnourished.


"What is also clear is that this is not just happening in developed countries, the developing world also has serious problems.


"The biggest increases are being seen in parts of Asia with certain populations more susceptible than others. If we do not get to grips with this, problems associated with obesity, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are going to increase rapidly."

Read more!

Friday, August 11, 2006

Exercise is important in reducing size of abdominal fat cells

Reducing the size of abdominal fat cells...takes more than cutting calories, according to new research from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

"The message is very clear," said Tongjian You, Ph.D., instructor in geriatric medicine at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author. "Exercise is important to reducing the size of these cells, and may one day be part of a prescription for treating the health complications associated with abdominal fat."


It is well known that overall obesity is a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease. Not all obese people develop these diseases, of course. Obese people who have more abdominal fat (an apple shape) are at a higher risk than people who store excess fat in their hips and thighs (a pear shape).


Regards,


Joe Moore

IHRSA


Exercise is important in reducing size of abdominal fat cells

Aug. 9: Reducing the size of abdominal fat cells - which are a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease - takes more than cutting calories, according to new research from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.


Early results from a five-year study show that exercise should be added to the equation.


"The message is very clear," said Tongjian You, Ph.D., instructor in geriatric medicine at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author. "Exercise is important to reducing the size of these cells, and may one day be part of a prescription for treating the health complications associated with abdominal fat."


A press release by EurekAlert says that the study is reported in the August issue of the International Journal of Obesity. The results - from 45 obese, middle-age women with excess abdominal fat - are part of an ongoing study of up to 125 women. The goal is to determine what lifestyle changes are needed to reduce the size of abdominal fat cells.


It is well known that overall obesity is a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease. Not all obese people develop these diseases, of course. Obese people who have more abdominal fat (an apple shape) are at a higher risk than people who store excess fat in their hips and thighs (a pear shape).


Abdominal fat is associated with metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms that increases the risk for heart disease and diabetes. The syndrome is diagnosed when someone has at least three of the following: abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low levels of high-density liprorotein ("good") cholesterol, high blood pressure and increased levels of sugar in the blood.


The current research studied a lesser-known risk factor for the syndrome - the size of fat cells just under the surface of the skin, known as subcutaneous fat.


"The size of these fat cells predicts type 2 diabetes, independent of whether the patient is obese," said You.


Earlier studies had shown that exercise can reduce fat cell size, but it is not known if the intensity of exercise matters during dietary weight loss. For the current study, all women had a deficit of 2,800 calories a week, either through dieting or a combination of dieting and exercise.


One group cut their calorie levels through diet, but did not exercise. A second group walked at about 1 to 2 miles per hour on a treadmill for 50 minutes three times a week. A third group also walked three times a week, but at 3.5 to 4 miles per hour for 30 minutes. Both exercise groups burned 400 calories each week through walking.


The women were provided food for their lunch and supper, which was selected by a registered dietician. Body size and weight, as well as total fat and abdominal fat cell size were measured both before and after the 20-week study period. The results showed that all groups lowered their fat mass, body weight (by 19 to 23 pounds), percent fat, and waist and hip girths (by 3 to 4 inches in hips and 4 inches in waists) to a similar degree.


The diet-alone group had no changes in abdominal fat cell size. However, both exercise groups had decreases of about 18 percent in the size of their abdominal fat cells.


"It is important to complete our larger study to see if these results hold true," said You. "But, these early findings do point to the importance of exercise in treating the complications of abdominal fat."


You said it's possible that because of the small size of the study, women in the diet-alone group did have small reductions in fat cell size that weren't detected. "However, considering the important role of abdominal fat cell size in predicting diabetes and heart disease, our study does indicate that addition of exercise to dietary weight loss is more beneficial than weight loss alone," he said.

Read more!

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Exercise in youth has lasting bone benefits

As reported in Reuters Health, men who participate in athletics in their late teens experience bone-building benefits that last for years, even if they are no longer training intensively, a new study shows...

Physical activity is known to help build bone mineral density (BMD), which reduces the likelihood of fractures in later life. While people achieve peak BMD after reaching puberty, they add, there is evidence that exercise has the greatest bone-building effect during childhood and early puberty.


Regards,


Joe Moore

IHRSA


Exercise in youth has lasting bone benefits

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who participate in athletics in their late teens experience bone-building benefits that last for years, even if they are no longer training intensively, a new study shows.


Osteoporosis or brittle bone disease is most common among women, but also occurs in men, with the incidence expected to triple over the next fifty years, Dr. Anna Nordstrom and colleagues from Umea University in Sweden note in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.


Physical activity is known to help build bone mineral density (BMD), which reduces the likelihood of fractures in later life. While people achieve peak BMD after reaching puberty, they add, there is evidence that exercise has the greatest bone-building effect during childhood and early puberty.


Questions also remain about whether the benefits of early-life exercise for bone strength persist if a person stops training.


To investigate, the researchers followed 63 athletes and 27 non-athlete 'controls', whose average age was 17 at the study's outset, for nearly 8 years.


At the beginning of the study, all the athletes -- who were either ice hockey or badminton players -- were actively training for an average of about 9 hours a week, with workouts including soccer, long distance running, weight training and other activities. They had been training for an average of 10 years previously, and had a greater average BMD than the controls.


Twenty-seven months into the study, the athletes showed increases in BMD compared to the control group. At the second follow up, at 68 months after the study's outset, 27 of the athletes had stopped active training, and showed greater BMD loss than their counterparts who remained active. By the third follow up, at 94 months, an additional 13 athletes had stopped training. This group lost more BMD than either the controls or the athletes who were still active.


However, at the last follow-up, the men who began the study as active athletes still had higher BMD measurements than the control group, even if they were no longer training.


Most importantly, these gains were retained in the hip area, where fractures in later life can be particularly crippling, the researchers write.


The gains seen among even the athletes who stopped training would be enough to reduce future fracture risk by 50%, Nordstrom and her team estimate. "These results may suggest that a high peak BMD resulting from previous training may reduce the risk of osteoporotic fractures in men," they conclude.

Read more!

Monday, August 07, 2006

Extreme Exercise Can Slow the Heart

This is very interesting research that was reported in HealthDay News. Doctors studying what is probably the most intensive physical effort on earth have found that if the body is pushed hard enough, the heart will slow down.

"Your heart is going to beat two or three billion times in your lifetime," Ashley said. "It was believed that in the absence of disease, it would not slow down. What we showed was that if you exercise for 19 or 20 hours at a time, your heart will tire a bit, about 10 percent."

And the slowdown is greater in people who carry what's been called the "fitness gene," Ashley's team reported in the August issue of the Journal of the American Cardiology. The gene is called "ACE" because it is linked to the angiotensin-converting enzyme, the target of ACE inhibitor heart medications.

Regards,

Joe Moore

IHRSA


Extreme Exercise Can Slow the Heart
Finding may have implications for cardiac research, experts say
By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors studying what is probably the most intensive physical effort on earth have found that if the body is pushed hard enough, the heart will slow down.

The finding came as a bit of a surprise, because until recently, the conventional wisdom was that the heart never slowed down, according to lead investigator Dr. Euan A. Ashley, an assistant professor of cardiology at Stanford University.

"Your heart is going to beat two or three billion times in your lifetime," Ashley said. "It was believed that in the absence of disease, it would not slow down. What we showed was that if you exercise for 19 or 20 hours at a time, your heart will tire a bit, about 10 percent."

And the slowdown is greater in people who carry what's been called the "fitness gene," Ashley's team reported in the August issue of the Journal of the American Cardiology. The gene is called "ACE" because it is linked to the angiotensin-converting enzyme, the target of ACE inhibitor heart medications.

For the study, Ashley and his colleagues set up shop at the finishing line of an ultra-endurance race called the "Adrenalin Rush," held in the Scottish Highlands. The annual event is grueling even by "iron man" standards, with one or two competitors usually requiring hospitalization after every race.

As athletes crossed the line after 90 hours of biking, climbing, swimming, paddling and rope work, the researchers tested their hearts.

The athletes' average heartbeat had slowed from what was measured before the race, by about 8 percent for athletes who did not carry the ACE fitness gene and 13 percent for those who did carry it.

The ACE gene has been associated with improved athletic performance, and Ashley said the association could explain the difference. "It could be that people with the fitness gene pushed themselves harder," he said. "They were the ones pulling the others along."

Other studies have suggested the heart might tire with intense effort, said study senior author Dr. Pamela Douglas, chief of cardiovascular medicine at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

But it's the relationship of the fitness gene with heart performance that interested Douglas the most. Ashley's explanation of the relationship is reasonable but remains unproven, she said.

The study results might have some application to the ordinary world of cardiology, Douglas said. For one thing, "people with heart disease or borderline heart disease should not be running marathons," she said. "There are data to suggest much more subtle changes occur in marathon running."

The information gathered in the study might help shed more light on heart failure, in which the heart cannot pump enough blood, Ashley said. "There may be a similar mechanism involved," he said.

Read more!

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Exercise boosts patients undergoing radiation

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, a new study has found that women and men undergoing radiation for breast and prostate cancer felt less fatigued, had improved quality of life and missed fewer treatment sessions when they engaged in a six-week routine of moderate exercise.

The study included 39 sedentary men and women who were undergoing radiation therapy for cancer. Half were encouraged to engage in a daily program that included moderate walking and conditioning workouts using elastic bands. The other half were assigned to a control group that did no exercise. At the start and end of the study, as well as three months later, participants filled out surveys rating their levels of energy and strength.


Regards,


Joe Moore

IHRSA


Exercise boosts patients undergoing radiation

By JEANNINE STEIN

LOS ANGELES TIMES


Among the growing list of people who can benefit from exercise, add another group: cancer patients in the midst of radiation treatment.


A new study has found that women and men undergoing radiation for breast and prostate cancer felt less fatigued, had improved quality of life and missed fewer treatment sessions when they engaged in a six-week routine of moderate exercise.


"To have their fatigue dissipate was really great," says Karen Mustian, assistant professor of radiation oncology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, who presented the 2005 study last month at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Fatigue is not only a common side effect of radiation treatment but can get worse as treatment continues, she says.


The study included 39 sedentary men and women who were undergoing radiation therapy for cancer. Half were encouraged to engage in a daily program that included moderate walking and conditioning workouts using elastic bands. The other half were assigned to a control group that did no exercise. At the start and end of the study, as well as three months later, participants filled out surveys rating their levels of energy and strength.


The control group reported higher levels of fatigue as the study progressed and showed a decline in muscle strength. The exercise group showed significant improvement. They were able to walk farther and faster as time went by and do routine daily activities without problems.

Read more!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Obesity weighs more heavily on women's health

As reported by Reuters, being overweight puts a greater burden on women's health than men's, a new study shows.

Most of the years of health that women lost to overweight and obesity were due to poor health-related quality of life and later-life mortality, the researchers note in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health.


Death rates among overweight and obese women were lower than for men up until age 45; after age 45, women's mortality was far higher than men's.


Regards,


Joe Moore

IHRSA


Obesity weighs more heavily on women's health
Study raises questions about female weight stigma not faced by men


NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Being overweight puts a greater burden on women's health than men's, a new study shows.


Dr. Peter Muennig of Columbia University in New York and colleagues calculated the amount of illness due to overweight and obesity in the United States. They found that overweight cost U.S. women 1.8 million years of perfect health, compared with just 270,000 years lost for men. Obesity cost women 3.40 million years of perfect health, compared to 1.94 million years for men.


Muennig suggested in an interview that this gender difference could be due to the social stigma that excess weight carries for women but not for men.


While many studies have looked at the effect of overweight and obesity on mortality, Muennig and his team note, there is little information on how excess weight might affect a person's well-being while he or she is still alive. To investigate, the researchers used a measurement called the quality-adjusted life year (QALY), which represents a year of being perfectly healthy, to determine the burden of disease associated with obesity in a nationally representative sample of adults.


Most of the years of health that women lost to overweight and obesity were due to poor health-related quality of life and later-life mortality, the researchers note in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health.


Death rates among overweight and obese women were lower than for men up until age 45; after age 45, women's mortality was far higher than men's.


Previous studies, which did not look at men and women separately, have suggested that being overweight may actually protect against mortality, Muennig told Reuters Health. "What we were shocked to find is that men were really the primary beneficiaries of any differences in the overweight category, and that women actually had much higher morbidity and mortality," he added.


In their report, the researchers suggest several explanations for the gender differences.


"To me what makes more sense is that there's just a lot more social stigma associated with being overweight amongst females, and that that causes a lot more stress and distress," Muennig said. "There's evidence showing that high levels of stress can increase your risk of morbidity and mortality."


The findings provide evidence, he added, that "the message that women are getting in the mass media about their weight is actually more harmful than we previously thought."

Read more!