Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Cutting calories could do more than just slim down your waistline.
Researchers from the University of Munster in Germany found reducing what you eat by a third may improve memory, the BBC reported Tuesday.
They analyzed three groups of volunteers on different diets, who had an average age of 60.
Three months later, they were given memory tests.
The first group ate a balanced diet containing the normal number of calories, while the second group consumed a similar diet, but with a higher proportion of unsaturated fatty acids.
The final group was put on a calorie restricted diet.
After the three months, there was no difference in memory scores in the first two groups, but the 50 volunteers in the third group performed better.
The third group also had decreased levels of insulin and fewer signs of inflammation, according to the report.
The researchers said that these changes could explain the better memory scores, by keeping brain cells in better health.
journal.

(Forbes.com)
When Oprah Winfrey confessed last month that she’d failed to stick to her diet and was again tipping the scale at 200-plus pounds, millions of failed dieters could relate. Their futile efforts are not for lack of weight loss programs and products that drive a $58 billion US industry, according to market researcher NPD Group.
The abundance of information, however, often leaves dieters confused about competing claims.
That’s where science can help. Over the past few months, new scientific literature has addressed the usefulness of restrained eating and diet counseling, as well as the notion that eating is an instinct beyond our control.
The research confirms what most don’t want to accept: dieting requires both restraint and discipline.
Dr. Larry Tucker, a professor of exercise science in the College of Health and Human Performance at Brigham Young University, authored a study on restrained eating that appeared in the Jan./Feb. 2009 edition of The American Journal of Health Promotion. Tucker spent three years studying the eating habits of 192 middle-aged women.
Some participants practiced what’s known as restrained eating, or the conscious effort to avoid unhealthy foods and substitute them with healthier ones. Previous short-term studies have demonstrated a link between restrained eating and binging, leading researchers to believe that limiting choices often results in overcompensation later.
(Forbes.com)
Tucker’s study draws the opposite conclusion. The women who did not practice restrained eating were almost two-and-a-half times more likely to gain weight over the three-year time period than those who were more selective. While the phenomenon of restrained eating and binging has puzzled researchers for years, Tucker believes the length of his study demonstrates a strong causality between eating selectively and weight maintenance. This conclusion has been supported by other long-term studies.
The lesson, he says, is simple and one that dieters often fear: “We can’t eat freely.”
While it’s a harsh truth, Tucker says people can adapt to it by making various changes to their habits. Weigh yourself several times per week and keep a food diary, he advises. Added calories, and pounds will show up quickly on the page and scale.
If such changes seem too overwhelming, consider consulting a registered dietitian or counselor.
Another recently released study supports this approach.
The six-month study, published in the Dec. 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, was conducted by University of Michigan research professor Dr. Zora Djuric. She followed 69 women between the ages of 25 and 59 as they tried to switch to the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in vegetables and fruits and low in polyunsaturated fats like margarine and corn oil. The diet has been linked to lower cancer rates.
Despite its benefits, the required seven to nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day and increase in monounsaturated fats like olive oil and hazelnuts can be difficult for Americans accustomed to eating far less from those food groups.
One group received weekly and bi-weekly telephone counseling from registered dietitians. They were also given an “exchange” list that translated the necessary food groups (dark green vegetables or green herbs, for example) into specific items (broccoli and basil). The other group received no additional guidance.
Those who got counseling doubled their intake of fruits and vegetables and increased their intake of monounsaturated fats while the other group saw no significant changes.
“There’s evidence that whenever you supply regular support to people they can make big changes to their diet,” observes Djuric.
The average dieter can find a registered dietitian through the American Dietetic Association, but some companies offer free weight loss counseling through employee assistance programs.
While these studies are encouraging, their conclusions may still leave some dieters feeling helpless.
Dr. Susan Roberts, a professor of nutrition at Tufts University and author of the recently released book
, offers hope with advice based on nearly 20 years of clinical research.
She argues that five basic survival instincts direct our eating patterns. They include hunger, variety and calorie density. It doesn’t help that our bodies are primed with chemicals like the neurotransmitter dopamine that sends out reward signals to the brain when we eat high-calorie foods.
But Dr. Roberts says instincts can be controlled. Her tested recommendations include eating on a regular schedule, distracting the mind from cravings and controlling your “food environment.”
Routine meals prevent hunger binges and also teach the brain when to expect food. This strategy even works with indulgences: If the brain learns to expect bacon on Sunday morning, it will stop sending out signals to trigger a craving at other times. You can also quell a craving by calling a friend or drinking a full glass of water, which makes a person feel full.
It helps to control your exposure to fattening foods. Instead of leaving ice cream in the freezer, for example, replace it with a healthier snack like frozen berries and indulge in ice cream once a week outside the house.
Roberts acknowledges that dieters battle constant challenges from the outside world.
“We’re in this culture where people are supposed to be good and mindful, but our food brain isn’t sensible,” she explains. “We are machines designed to respond to our environment.”
The secret to success, she says, is reprogramming the responses and changing the setting.

‘Flat Belly Diet’: a review of the hot new diet book–will it be your ticket to weight loss in 2009?
Well, well, well; it’s December 31st and people all across the fruited plain are engaging in a time-honored American tradition –making resolutions to lose weight.
Every year sees its own crop of hip new diet plans (remember Atkins? The South Beach Diet? The Zone?); this year’s frontrunner looks Liz Vaccariello’s
, delightfully subtitled
A Flat Belly is About Food & Attitude. Period. (Not a Single Crunch Required).
Now, if you’re like me, you’ve got food and plenty of attitude and wouldn’t know a crunch if came to your door selling Girl Scout cookies, so this one sounds like a fit. Let’s take a look at what this diet, that scintillatingly promises to get you to lose up to 15 lbs in 32 days, entails.
1. The whole shebang begins with a Four-Day Anti-Bloat Jumpstart that consists of 96 hours of mental preparation (a sort of dipping-your-toe-in-the-Flat-Belly-Diet if you will) designed to get you into the dieting mindset and to spark your enthusiasm with a loss of up to 5 3/4 inches before the end of the four days. 5 3/4 inches?! you snort. According to Vaccariello,
We tested the entire Flat Belly Diet — including the Jumpstart — on women just like you, holding weigh-ins on a biweekly basis. You’re reading their stories throughout this book, and you can find more by visiting flatbellydiet.com. More than half of your test panel lost at least 1 full inch from their bellies during the Jumpstart period.
2. Next, we get down to the nitty gritty — the Four-Week Plan, 28 days of meals and recipes that can be mixed and matched to your heart’s desire. You are allowed four meals of 400 calories per day; a MUFA is included at every meal.
What the hell is a MUFA? A MUFA is a monounsaturated fatty acid; foods containing these fatty acids have long been known to be beneficial to the body in a number of ways, including preventing heart disease, cancer, and decreasing the risk of dementia in old age. The Flat Belly Diet categorizes MUFAs into five categories: oils, olives, nuts and seeds, avocados, and dark chocolate. At least one of these is included in each recipe and meal plan in the diet.
3. The third, and optional, part of the diet is the Exercise Program, which includes instructions for fat-burning walks, and two sets of exercise instructions (complete with helpful pictures and diagrams) called the Metabolism Boost and the Belly Routine. There are weekly schedules for each of the exercise sets, a four-week walking plan, and a seven-day plan for people like me who want to do the whole thing but are too terminally lazy to keep track of what I’m supposed to be doing when.
Overall, the Flat Belly Diet has all the hallmarks of a diet fad getting ready to take off: it is simple to follow and provides enough detailed instructions to allow busy people to follow it without undue effort; it encourages eating healthy, low-fat foods; it includes inspirational true stories of real-looking people (not size 0 supermodels) who have succeeded on the plan; it emphasizes a positive attitude and includes journal sections for dieters to include their progress as well as their feelings about the whole thing.
In another lifetime, I took graduate courses at UC Davis in Nutrition, and, based on thatknowlege, frankly, I’d be surprised if anyone following this diet faithfully didNOTlose weight since it incorporates all three of the Holy Trinity of Weight loss: Eat less, eat better, exercise.
The only part of the Flat Belly Diet that gives me pause is its assertion that eating monounsaturated fatty acids specifically targets belly fat; unfortunately, many peoplemay purchase this book under the false impression that the exercises and meals in it are designed
for decreasing their tummy girth. A good deal of research has gone into stomach-shrinking methods, and they universally find that, while eating less and exercising decreases the fat in your body OVERALL, you can’t just target one area alone. You’ll lose weight and inches from your stomach, in other words, but you’ll lose it from everywhere else too, and possibly not quite in the proportions you had wished. And no amount of stomach crunches will burn fat only in your stomach. You’ll develop some kicking stomach muscles and burn fat all over your body, but not just in your stomach.
That said, however, the Flat Belly Diet is definitely one to give a fling if you are so inclined. If you do, best of luck!

MASON CITY — Kits are readily available for parents to test their children at home for illegal drug use — but should they be used? Under what conditions is it worth raising serious issues about trust?
“I think they have their place,” said Tim Leibrand, pharmacy manager at Hy-Vee Drugstore in Mason City. “But like everything, they can probably be abused.”
Hy-Vee Drugstore has carried the kits for at least five years, Leibrand said. “We have an array of them on the shelf.”
The TestMedica 5-Drug Multi Screen kits check for cocaine, marijuana, heroin/opiates, methamphetamine and ecstasy in urine. Each kit tests for a specific drug. Results can be analyzed by the user.
The kits are being offered at Hy-Vee Drugstore for $4.99. Two tests are included in each kit.
TestMedica claims the test results are fast and easy to read. The user places a test strip in a sample of urine. Directions indicate how to read the results according to allowable levels as specified by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Readings are available in 5 minutes, according to the company.
“We see parents and individuals buying them,” Leibrand said. “People ask if we have them.”
The kits are also available at stores such as Shopko, Kmart, Houck Pharmacy and Wal-Mart.
Dave Jacobson, a counselor at Mason City High School, said he would question how reliable the results are.
And assuming they are reliable, “What do you do if the result comes out positive?” he asked.
In-home testing could be helpful if it helps to alleviate a parent’s worry that a child is using drugs, Jacobson said. “I’m sure the home kit would be cheaper” than having a test done by a lab.
“Parents do have to trust their kids,” he said. “But parents may sometimes have to resort to testing. Denial is big among people who are addicted to drugs.”
Jacobson said he would recommend parents concerned about their son or daughter’s possible use of illegal drugs go to a treatment facility, such as Prairie Ridge Addiction Treatment Services, to be tested.
Professionals there know how to administer the tests, and if a positive result is obtained, can make recommendations for treatment.
Jay Hansen, executive director of Prairie Ridge, said he believes the home drug test kits can be effective for monitoring drug use and that he has no problem with people using them.
“It means a parent is interested enough in their child to make it a concern,” he said. “It’s better than for a parent to say, ‘I don’t want to know.’ ”
Drug urine tests are also used at Prairie Ridge to obtain a baseline number that may be used to determine a client’s progress and reinforce success, Hansen said. “More often than not, it’s a way for us to reinforce people’s abstinence.”
Parents should make it clear they are administering the tests out of care and concern, Hansen said. Before getting to the point of using a drug-testing kit, parents should have made clear to their children their expectations about substance abuse.
Hansen said the kits are generally pretty accurate. “Most are by federally approved labs. They go through a considerable amount of testing.”
If the result is positive, Hansen suggested parents see a professional at Prairie Ridge or someone else they trust, such as a minister, for help.
Sharon Somers, of Clear Lake, mother of a teenage son, said she, for one, has no objection to parents using drug-testing kits, assuming the results are reliable.
The kits are not appropriate for schools to administer, Somers said.
“Just as I think it’s a parent’s right to be able to look in their teenager’s bedrooms at any time, they should be able to use the drug tests,” she said.
Parents should think through what they’ll tell their children if the result is positive, Somers said.
“You need to be willing to follow through with more than just a ‘don’t do drugs anymore’ speech. Just as adults can get addicted and need professional help, sometimes so do teenagers. They may not be able to stop just because they’re told to.”