“Nobody is coming to save you.”
—Anon.
Posted in QOTD, Uncategorized
That’s a dumbbell in her right hand. I work-out with those myself.
I don’t have access to the full scientific report, but I’ve posted part of the abstract below.
The biggest problem with the study at hand is that physical activity apparently was surveyed only at the start of this 14-year study. Results would be much more robust if activity was surveyed every year or two. My overall activity level seems to change every two or three years. How about you?
Moving on.
“Compared to women who reported no strength training, women engaging in any strength training experienced a reduced rate of type 2 diabetes of 30% when controlling for time spent in other activities and other confounders. A risk reduction of 17% was observed for cardiovascular disease among women engaging in strength training. Participation in both strength training and aerobic activity was associated with additional risk reductions for both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease compared to participation in aerobic activity only.
CONCLUSIONS: These data support the inclusion of muscle-strengthening exercises in physical activity regimens for reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, independent of aerobic exercise. Further research is needed to determine the optimum dose and intensity of muscle-strengthening exercises.”
PMID 27580152
Source: Strength Training and the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease. – PubMed – NCBI
PS: Cardiovascular disease includes heart attack, cardiac death, stroke, coronary angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass grafting.
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Posted in Diabetes, Exercise, Heart Disease, Stroke
“Newly uncovered documents reveal that 50 years ago the sugar industry gave secret support to prominent Harvard researchers to write an influential series of articles in the New England Journal of Medicine that downplayed the negative effects of sugar.
Instead, the articles shifted the blame from sugar to fat as the “dietary culprit” behind heart disease.In recent years there has been growing awareness that decades of dietary policy demonized fat and ignored or played down the dangers of increased consumption of carbohydrates and sugars. Many believe this policy had a significant adverse effect on public health, contributing to the obesity and diabetes epidemics.”
Source: How Sweet: Sugar Industry Made Fat the Villain | Medpage Today
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Posted in Sugar
Wish I were here
Fraudulent labeling of fish and other seafood is a problem. It matters to me because I advocate frequent consumption of cold-water fatty fish as healthful. It’s the omega-3 fatty acids in those fish that are good for you.
If what you believe to be trout is actually catfish, you’re not getting the omega-3s you paid for.
Click over to the New York Times for details:
“One in five seafood samples tested worldwide turns out to be completely different from what the menu or packaging says, according to a report on seafood fraud released Wednesday by the ocean conservation group Oceana. Of the more than 25,000 seafood samples the group analyzed, 20 percent were incorrectly labeled.“It is likely that the average consumer has eaten mislabeled fish for sure,” said Beth Lowell, the senior campaign director for Oceana and an author of the paper. “You’re getting ripped off, while you enjoyed your meal you’re paying a high price for a low fish.”
Source: Catfished by a Catfish: 1 in 5 Seafood Samples Is Fake, Report Finds – The New York Times
Even these “California Girls” oysters are from China
On a related note…I’ve been eating a lot of canned smoked oysters lately. Nearly all on the supermarket shelves in Arizona USA come from China. Why is that? I worry about pollutants in those oysters, regardless of provenance. If you have any info on this issue, please share.
Steve Parker, M.D.
PS: Search my blog for the list of high omega-3 cold-water fatty fish, or read my books.
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Posted in Uncategorized
She can increase intensity by increasing the weight of those dumbbells
You’ve heard that “sitting is the new smoking,” right?
Regular physical activity prevents disease and prolongs life. But if you nevertheless still spend to much time sitting around either at work or home, the sitting tends to counteract the benefits of your exercise.
A new study says that your fitness level is more important for long-term health than the number of hours you exercise. Fitness level in this context was cardiorespiratory fitness, probably measured by a maximal-effort treadmill or bicycle test.
Some of your fitness level is inherited, but you can also improve your fitness with the proper intensity or duration of exercise. Rather than exercise longer, I prefer more intensity. Just strolling around the mall at 2 mph for two hours isn’t going to improve fitness in most folks.
From MNT:
“The team conducted a cross-sectional study of 495 women and 379 men from Norway aged between 70-77 years. Sedentary time and physical activity were assessed by accelerometers, while cardiorespiratory fitness was determined by peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak) – the measurement of the volume of oxygen that the body can utilize during physical exertion.
Researchers compared different levels of activity with fitness levels and cardiovascular risk factor clusters. A cardiovascular risk factor cluster was defined as the presence of three to five risk factors for heart disease.
These risk factors included: elevated waist circumference, elevated blood triglycerides or reduced “good” cholesterol levels, high blood pressure or treatment for hypertension, and elevated fasting blood sugar levels – combined symptoms commonly referred to as metabolic syndrome.
High cardiorespiratory fitness reduced risk of heart diseaseFindings – published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings – showed that when compared with women and men who were the least sedentary, women and men from the most sedentary group were 83 percent and 63 percent more likely to have cardiovascular risk factors from extended time sitting, respectively.
However, when the team took participants’ level of fitness into consideration – measured by having high age-specific cardiorespiratory fitness – they found that the fittest 40 percent had a decreased likelihood of cardiovascular risk factors from prolonged sitting.This finding held true even though the fittest participants spent between 12-13 hours per day sedentary and did not meet current moderate to vigorous physical activity guidelines.”
Source: Fitness, not physical activity, mitigates negative effects of prolonged sitting – Medical News Today
PS: If you’re new to exercise, I teach you how to get started in my books.
Looks European-American to me, but who knows?
European-American? I guess that’s American women who are of European descent rather than Asian, Eskimo, African, etc.
“Low-carb, high-fat” in my headline is often referred to as LCHF.
GERD is gastro-esophageal reflux disease, i.e., frequent or severe heartburn. GERD is the most common reason to use a proton pump inhibitor drug like Prilosec. It’s expensive. I often run across patients who have taken it every day for years.
Dr. Michael Eades has a great post about GERD and the potential drawbacks of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs):
The scientific literature has shown long-term PPI therapy to be related to the following conditions:
Anemia
Pneumonia
Vitamin B12 deficiency
Impaired calcium absorption
Impaired magnesium absorption
Increased rate fractures, especially hip, wrist and spine
Osteopenia [thin brittle bones]
Rebound effect of extra-heavy gastric acid secretion
Heart attacks
Moving on to the study at hand:
“GERD symptoms and medication usage was more prevalent in European-American women, for whom the relationships between dietary carbohydrate intake, insulin resistance and GERD were most significant. Nevertheless, high-fat/low-carbohydrate diet benefited all women with regard to reducing GERD symptoms and frequency of medication use.”
Pay attention and follow all the links and you may be able to see the entire journal report. You just can’t wait, right?!!
Another study showed improvement in heartburn with a low-carb diet a few years ago.
All of my diet books offer low-carb high-fat options except for the original first edition of Advanced Mediterranean Diet from 2007. In 2009, I learned that low-carb high-fat eating wasn’t dangerous.
Steve Parker, M.D.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged gastrointestinal reflux disease, GERD, LCHF diet
That’s a guacamole deviled egg
They’ve always been good recipes—including the all-important nutrient analysis—but they’re even better now.
From DietDoctor:
“Our low-carb recipe site is probably already the most popular one in the world, with over 100,000 daily pageviews, several hundred recipes and gorgeous images. Now we’re adding even more great functions.You can now change the number of servings for recipes – the ingredient amount will correspond to the number of servings – and you can now also choose between the US or the metric measurement systems for ingredients. All to make it simpler to use our recipes.
We’ve also added a function for members so that it is now possible to save your personal favorite recipes. To activate the latter feature you need to be logged in, so that your selections can be saved for later.”
Source: The World’s Best Low-Carb Recipes Just Got Better – Diet Doctor
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Posted in Recipes
Cubicle-based desk jockey could still be passionate
We’re doing people an incredible disservice by telling them they should seek, and pursue, what they love. People usually can’t differentiate what they really love and what they love the idea of.
But more importantly, you are not meant to do what you love. You are meant to do what you’re skilled at. Imagine an aspiring doctor with a low IQ but a lot of “passion.” They wouldn’t make it through medical school, and you wouldn’t want them to.
—Brianna Wiest
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Posted in QOTD
MPT has the story:
“Illness associated with exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) reportedly cost the U.S. economy over $340 billion annually, according to an analysis of data collected in the both the U.S. and the European Union.
Led by Leonardo Trasande, MD, of the NYU School of Medicine, the researchers identified the cost of fifteen diseases and dysfunctions linked with environmental EDC exposure, accounting for over 2% of the U.S.’s GDP, published The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
“Based on our analyses, stronger regulatory oversight of endocrine disrupting chemicals is needed, not just in Europe, but in the U.S.,” said Trasande in a press release. “This oversight should include not only safety tests on the chemicals’ use in the manufacture of commercial products before the chemicals receive government approval, but also studies of their health impact over time once they are used in consumer products.
“The U.S., according to this analysis, is also paying a much higher cost for these exposures: $340 billion versus $217 billion in the EU, a difference that the authors attribute to a laissez faire approach to regulating EDCs in the U.S.
In a 2015 study also led by Trasande, toxicological and epidemiological data was used to evaluate the strength of the relationships between exposure to various EDCs and a list of disorders. This assessment included various disorders such as loss of IQ points and consequent intellectual disability, ADHD, autism, adult and childhood obesity, adult diabetes, cryptorchidism, testicular cancer, male factor infertility, early cardiovascular mortality due to reduce testosterone, leiomyomas, endometriosis, fibroids, and birth defects.”
Source: Chemical Exposures Prove Costly for U.S. | Medpage Today
Click the link to find ways to reduce your exposure to EDCs.
I doubt my books are a significant source of EDC poisoning.
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Posted in Pollution
Calcium supplements are problematic. They may increase the risk of heart attacks. They may raise the odds of premature cardiac death in men. High calcium consumption increased the risk of death in Swedish women.
MedicalNewsToday has a brief report on dementia in women with cerebrovascular disease and calcium supplements:
“Calcium supplements may increase the risk of developing dementia in senior women with cerebrovascular disease, finds a study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Women who took calcium supplements were twice as likely to develop dementia.Cerebrovascular diseases are conditions caused by problems that affect the blood supply to the brain. The four most common types of cerebrovascular disease are stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA), subarachnoid hemorrhage, and vascular dementia.”
Source: Dementia risk increased with calcium supplements in certain women – Medical News Today
Reduce your risk of dementia with the Mediterranean diet.
Two diet books in one
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Posted in Dementia
Click the pic to purchase at Amazon.com. E-book versions also available at Smashwords.com.
Advanced Mediterranean Diet 