Elevated Glucose Associated With Undetected Heart Damage

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) injures the heart, even in patients without a history of heart disease or diabetes. Researchers found that elevated levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), a marker for chronic hyperglycemia and diabetes, were associated with minute levels of the protein troponin T (cTnT), a blood marker for heart damage. The high-sensitivity test they used detected levels of cTnT tenfold lower than those found in patients diagnosed with a heart attack. The findings, which are published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, suggest that hyperglycemia may be related to cardiac damage independent of atherosclerosis.

"Hyperglycemia and diabetes are known to be associated with an increased risk for heart attack and coronary disease and our study sheds some light on what may be happening," said Elizabeth Selvin, PhD, MPH, senior author of the study and associate professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Epidemiology. "Our results suggest that chronically elevated glucose levels may contribute to heart damage."

For the study, the researchers followed 9,662 participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. None of the participants had coronary heart disease or history of heart failure. Higher levels of HbA1c were associated in a graded fashion with elevated levels of high-sensitivity cTnT. This relationship was present at HbA1c levels even below the threshold used to diagnose diabetes. Using conventional tests, troponin T can be detected in 0.7 percent of the population and is associated with heart attacks and death. With the high-sensitivity cTnT test, low levels of troponin were found in 66 percent of the study population.

"Our study hints at other potential pathways by which diabetes and elevated glucose are associated with heart disease. Mainly, glucose might not only be related to increased atherosclerosis, but potentially elevated glucose levels may directly damage cardiac muscle," said Jonathan Rubin, MD, general internal medicine fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He was lead author of the study while studying at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241149.php



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Regular use of vitamin and mineral supplements could reduce the risk of colon cancer

Ottawa, Ontario –Could the use of vitamin and mineral supplements in a regular diet help to reduce the risk of colon cancer and protect against carcinogens? A study published in the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology (CJPP) found that rats given regular multivitamin and mineral supplements showed a significantly lower risk of developing colon cancer when they were exposed to carcinogens.

“It has been unclear whether multivitamin supplementation to cancer patients is helpful, has no effect, or is even detrimental during therapy,” commented Dr. Grant Pierce, Editor of CJPP. “This study is important because it gives some direction to cancer patients in desperate need of guidance on the value of multivitamins and minerals administered during cancer.”

The authors studied rats that were fed a high-fat diet (20% fat) over a 32 week period. The rats were divided into 6 groups, which were exposed to different combinations of supplements and carcinogens; the colon carcinogenisis induced in the study rats has characteristics that mimic human colon cancer. Rats fed a high-fat plus low-fibre diet and exposed to carcinogens developed pre-cancerous lesions; whereas, rats undergoing similar treatment, but provided with daily multivitamin and mineral supplements, showed a significant (84%) reduction in the formation of pre-cancerous lesions and did not develop tumours.

The authors conclude that “multivitamin and mineral supplements synergistically contribute to the cancer chemopreventative potential, and hence, regular supplements of multivitamins and minerals could reduce the risk of colon cancer.”

The study “Multivitamin and mineral supplementation in 1,2-dimethylhydrazine induced experimental colon carcinogenesis and evaluation of free radical status, antioxidant potential, and incidence of ACF” appears in the January issue of CJPP.

www.nrcresearchpress.com/cjpp

For more information contact:

 Corresponding author: Ignacimuthu Savarimuthu (email: bhaskar_sci@yahoo.com)
Full Reference:

 Arul, A.B., Savarimuthu, I., Alsaif, M.A., Al Numair, K.S. 2012. Multivitamin and mineral supplementation in 1,2-dimethylhydrazine induced experimental colon carcinogenesis and evaluation of free radical status, antioxidant potential, and indicence of ACF. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 90: 45–54. [Available Open Access on the www.nrcresearchpress.com website.]



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Appetite Sensation In The Brain Affected By Lack Of Sleep

New research from Uppsala University, Sweden, shows that a specific brain region that contributes to a person's appetite sensation is more activated in response to food images after one night of sleep loss than after one night of normal sleep. Poor sleep habits can therefore affect people's risk of becoming overweight in the long run. The findings are published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Researchers Christian Benedict and Helgi Schiöth, of the Department of Neuroscience at Uppsala University, showed in an earlier article, published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, that a single night of total sleep loss in young normal weight men curbed the energy expenditure the next morning. This research also showed that subjects had increased levels of hunger, which indicates that an acute lack of sleep may affect human's food perception.

In a new study, Christian Benedict, together with Samantha Brooks, Helgi Schiöth and Elna-Marie Larsson from Uppsala University and researchers from other European universities, have now systematically examined which regions in the brain, involved in appetite sensation, are influenced by acute sleep loss. By means of magnetic imaging (fMRI) the researchers studied the brains of 12 normal-weight males while they viewed images of foods. The researchers compared the results after a night with normal sleep with those obtained after one night without sleep.

Christian Benedict explains:

"After a night of total sleep loss, these males showed a high level of activation in an area of the brain that is involved in a desire to eat. Bearing in mind that insufficient sleep is a growing problem in modern society, our results may explain why poor sleep habits can affect people's risk to gain weight in the long run. It may therefore be important to sleep about eight hours every night to maintain a stable and healthy body weight."
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240499.php


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Sugar - Attacking Health Globally

recent study published in Nature by Robert Lustig, MD, Laura Schmidt, PhD, MSW, MPH, and Claire Brindis, DPH, and colleges at the University of California, San Francisco, reveals that sugar is as dangerous when over-consumed as tobacco or alcohol, and should be used in moderation.

The authors say that sugar is contributing to the global obesity rates, which account for 35 million deaths a year world-wide from health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Currently, 75% of health care money is spent on diseases related to obesity and the problems that result from these diseases. Obesity problems and diseases that come from obesity are now more prevalent in the world than infectious diseases.

The team of scientists of endocrinology, sociology, and public health from UCSF began to look at the vast amount of evidence linking sugar to health problems.

The researchers say sugar is not just "empty calories", rather, it has the ability to raise blood pressure, change metabolism, increase weight, and mix the signals of hormones, as well as causing damage to the liver, and is rapidly increasing health problems in the world. It can be noted that these problems are very similar to those caused by too much alcohol consumption.

The intake of sugar in the last 50 years has tripled, and is now thought to be the number 1 cause of the obesity problem spreading all over the world. However, Lustig, Schmidt, and Brindis said that 40 percent of the people with diabetes, heart disease, and cancer are not obese. Therefore, it is proven that sugar does much more than make people gain weight.

Written By Christine Kearney

References:
Public health: The toxic truth about sugar
Robert H. Lustig, Laura A. Schmidt, and Claire D. Brindis
Nature Feb 2012. doi: doi:10.1038/482027a


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Sugar Should Be Regulated Like Alcohol And Tobacco Say Scientists

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), argue that added sweeteners pose dangers to public health, and the government should regulate sugar in the same way as it regulates alcohol and tobacco. They set out their reasons for viewing sugar as "toxic" in a comment article published in Nature this week.

First author Robert H. Lustig, a a professor of pediatrics, in the division of endocrinology at the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, told the press:

"There are good calories and bad calories, just as there are good fats and bad fats, good amino acids and bad amino acids, good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates. But sugar is toxic beyond its calories."

Lustig, who is also director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Program at UCSF, and his co-authors Laura Schmidt and Claire Brindis, say in their report that sugar is fuelling a global obesity pandemic and lies behind 35 million deaths worldwide because it contributes to non-communicable diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes, which now pose a greater threat worldwide than infectious diseases.

In the US, about 75% of healthcare costs are spent treating these diseases and the disabilities associated with them.

The three authors, who between them represent the fields of endocrinology, sociology and public health, argue that sugar is more than just empty calories that affect health indirectly by making people fat. Worldwide consumption of sugar has tripled in the last 50 years, and is thought to be a main contributor of the global obesity epidemic.

But obesity is just a marker of the toxic effect of too much sugar on publich health, argue the authors, who say the substance has an effect all of its own, particularly at the levels consumed by most Americans, such as changing metabolism, raising blood pressure, altering the signalling of hormones and damaging the liver, something that is not well-known.

These are the same types of damage that alcohol inflicts on the human body, they say, pointing out that alcohol is distilled from sugar.

And it may explain why 40% of people with metabolic syndrome (a stage before diabetes), heart disease, and cancer, are not clinically obese.

Lustig said:

"As long as the public thinks that sugar is just 'empty calories', we have no chance in solving this."

Brindis, who is director of UCSF's Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies (IHPS), said changing people's patterns is not a straightforward problem, it is very complicated.

You can't just rely on individuals changing, you have to have environmental and community-wide change, just like what has happened with alcohol and tobacco, to increase the chance of success.

Lustig, Brindis and Schmidt argue that for people to change and start eating less sugar, they need to know what scientists are discovering about sugar.

Schmidt, is co-chair of UCSF's Clinical and Translational Science Institute's (CTSI) Community Engagement and Health Policy Program, which aims to bring together academic research, health policy, and community practice to improve public health. She said:

"There is an enormous gap between what we know from science and what we practice in reality."

"In order to move the health needle, this issue needs to be recognized as a fundamental concern at the global level," said Schmidt, who is also professor of health policy at UCSF's IHPS.

The authors argue that many of the changes that governments worldwide have made to reduce alcohol and tobacco consumption can be models for reducing sugar consumption. These include special sales taxes, controlling access, and tightening licensing on vending machines and snack bars that market high sugar products in schools, workplaces and other public arenas.

The authors want the balance to change, so that foods that are not heavily laden with sugar are as easy and cheap to obtain as those that are.

Schmidt said:

"We're not talking prohibition."

"We're talking about gentle ways to make sugar consumption slightly less convenient, thereby moving people away from the concentrated dose."

Funds from the National Institutes of Health helped pay for the study.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241133.php



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Probable Mechanism Underlying Resveratrol Activity Revealed By NIH Study

National Institutes of Health researchers and their colleagues have identified how resveratrol, a naturally occurring chemical found in red wine and other plant products, may confer its health benefits. The authors present evidence that resveratrol does not directly activate sirtuin 1, a protein associated with aging. Rather, the authors found that resveratrol inhibits certain types of proteins known as phosphodiesterases (PDEs), enzymes that help regulate cell energy.

These findings may help settle the debate regarding resveratrol's biochemistry and pave the way for resveratrol-based medicines. The chemical has received significant interest from pharmaceutical companies for its potential to combat diabetes, inflammation, and cancer. The study appears in Cell.

"Resveratrol has potential as a therapy for diverse diseases such as type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and heart disease," said lead study author Jay H. Chung, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the Laboratory of Obesity and Aging Research at the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. "However, before researchers can transform resveratrol into a safe and effective medicine, they need to know exactly what it targets in cells."

Several previous studies suggested that resveratrol's primary target is sirtuin 1. Chung and colleagues suspected otherwise when they found that resveratrol activity required another protein called AMPK. This would not be the case if resveratrol directly interacted with sirtuin 1.

In this study, the researchers methodically traced out the metabolic activity in cells treated with resveratrol and identified PDE4 in the skeletal muscle as the principal target for the health benefits of resveratrol. By inhibiting PDE4, resveratrol triggers a series of events in a cell, one of which indirectly activates sirtuin 1.

To confirm that resveratrol attaches to and inhibits PDE proteins, Chung's group gave mice rolipram, a drug known to inhibit PDE4. Rolipram reproduced all of the biochemical effects and health benefits of resveratrol, such as preventing diet-induced obesity, improving glucose tolerance, and increasing physical endurance.

Chung noted that because resveratrol in its natural form interacts with many proteins, not just PDEs, it may cause not-yet-known toxicities as a medicine, particularly with long-term use. He added that the levels of resveratrol found in wine or foods are likely not high enough to produce significant health benefits or problems. Convincing clinical studies in humans have used about 1 gm of resveratrol per day, roughly equal to the amount found in 667 bottles of red wine.

The study results also suggest that inhibitors of PDE4 may offer the benefits of resveratrol without the potential toxicities arising from resveratrol's interactions with other proteins. One PDE4 inhibitor called roflumilast has already been approved by the FDA for the treatment of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

"This result underscores the need for careful, well-controlled studies to illuminate how these natural products operate," said Robert Balaban, Ph.D., director of the NHLBI Division of Intramural Research. "As Dr. Chung's work suggests, the effects of resveratrol seem to be more complicated than originally thought. However, this new insight into the phosphodiesterases might prove an interesting avenue to pursue."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241134.php


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Resistance training in overweight women on a ketogenic diet conserved lean body mass while reducing body fat

The general prescriptions for fat loss is exercise more, and eat less. It’s a simple formula, unfortunately the success rate with this prescription is very low long term, and in order to achieve your fat loss goals you will require more details than simply ‘exercise more, and eat less”. My main focus is to teach you the most effective ways to lose fat, which is why I’m delighted to share with you the following study, which details some of the more effective strategies that can, and should be used to achieve your fat loss goals.

In a recent study from Norway, 16 overweight woman between the age of 20 and 40 took part in a 10 week resistance training program in combination with either a regular diet (Ex) or a low carbohydrate, ketogenic diet (Lc + Ex) to compare the effects on body weight and body composition. The percentage of energy from carbohydrates, fat and protein was 6, 66, and 22 respectively in the (Lc + Ex) group and 41, 33, 17 in the Ex group. No restrictions were made regarding energy content, fat, and protein or fatty acid composition. The only restriction was on carbohydrate intake until ketone bodies were detectable in the urine, to ensure the subjects were in a ketogenic state. Participants were told they can consume unlimited amounts of meats, fish, eggs, cheeses, margarines, butter, and oils. Participants were told to limit their carbohydrate intake to less than 20 grams per day until ketosis is achieved, and then they could add low carbohydrate food at their convenience as long as they maintained ketones in the urine.

All participants have not participated in regular resistance exercise during the previous 6 months. Eight resistance exercise machines were used that trained all the major muscles groups in the body. For the first 5 weeks of the study, all exercises were performed with a weight that was equal to 12 repetition maximum with 3 sets performed for each lower body exercise and one set for upper body exercises. After the initial 5 weeks, the resistance load was increased to 8 repetitions maximum and one additional set added to the upper body exercises. Rest periods between sets throughout the study were approximately 90 seconds.

The results: all subjects in the low-carbohydrate exercise group (Lc + Ex) lost weight (5.6 ± 2.6 kg of fat mass) with no significant change in lean body mass, while the regular diet group (Ex) gained 1.6 ± 1.8 kg of LBM (p = 0.045) with no significant change in fat mass (average loss of 0.6 kg of fat mass). This study proves that resistance exercise can be a valuable tool for fat loss, and in my opinion, due to the fact that resistance training can protect your muscles during a catabolic phase of dieting, it should be a part of everyone’s exercise program. In the future, I will explain why some loss of LBM is to be expected, and some of the negatives associated with that, but with proper planning, LBM loss can be minimized, and even prevented. There was no loss of LBM in this study in either group. Some scare tactics used by some scientists and organizations such as the American Heart Association (AHA) tells us that high protein / low carbohydrate ketogenic diets cause a loss of LBM, and have negative cardiovascular consequences. Obviously these organizations are not worried about our health, or simply choose to ignore the scientific literature that has proven decades ago that ketone bodies are indeed anti-catabolic, and that ketogenic diets is a safe, and effective way of losing weight, promoting non-atherogenic lipid profiles, lowering blood pressure and improving fasting blood glucose levels. Don’t let people sway you from the truth. Science has shown repeatedly that resistance training can protect our vital muscle tissue during time of stressful situation. Science has also shown that calorie restricted diets high in carbohydrates cause a massive loss of lean muscle tissue, and that ketogenic diets have a sparing effect on LBM. The more you restrict your carbohydrate intake, and increase your consumption of healthy fats and essential proteins, the more successful your fat loss efforts will be.

In future blogs I will expand on this study, show you where some of the protocols were suboptimal, and how we can maximize the training and diet strategy to achieve the fastest rate of fat loss, and adding healthy lean muscle at the same time. If you have any questions please contact me at workoutsolutionscoach@gmail.com

Jabekk PT, et al. Resistance training in overweight women on a ketogenic diet conserved lean body mass while reducing body fat. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2010 Mar 2; 7:17.

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