Junk Food May Be More Appealing To Tired Brains

A new study that used brain scans of people who had not had enough sleep suggests junk food may be more appealing to tired brains.

Scientists found that when normal weight volunteers looked at unhealthy food during a period of sleep restriction, the reward centers in their brains were more active than when they looked at the pictures after having slept regularly.

The researchers, from St Luke's - Roosevelt Hospital Center and Columbia University in New York, were using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to better understand the link between sleep restriction and obesity.

They compared brain scans of 25 male and female volunteers when they were shown images of healthy and unhealthy foods after five nights of sleep restriction (no more than four hours of sleep a night) and regular sleep (up to 9 hours a night).

The unhealthy foods included nutrient poor foods such as candy and pepperoni pizza, and the healthy foods included nutrient rich foods such as oatmeal, fruits and vegetables.

The study findings were presented last weekend at SLEEP 12, the 26th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) in Boston.

Principal investigator Dr Marie-Pierre St-Onge, a Research Associate with the New York Obesity Research Center, told the press:

"The same brain regions activated when unhealthy foods were presented were not involved when we presented healthy foods."

"The unhealthy food response was a neuronal pattern specific to restricted sleep. This may suggest greater propensity to succumb to unhealthy foods when one is sleep restricted," she added.

St-Onge said the findings support the idea that insufficient sleep affects appetite regulation and obesity.

Previous studies have already shown that restricted sleep makes people tend to eat more, and that people report a greater desire for sweet and salty food when they have been sleep-deprived.

The study also showed that participants ate more overall and ate more fat after restricted sleep than they did after regular sleep.

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

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/246402.php


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Egg Proteins For Breakfast Keeps You Feeling Full For Longer

Individuals who consume egg proteins for breakfast are more likely to feel full during the day than those whose breakfasts contain wheat protein. Results from the study, conducted by Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana, USA, and colleagues were presented at the 19th European Congress on Obesity in Lyon, France.
The researchers enrolled 20 overweight or obese, but otherwise healthy individuals to participate in the study in order to compare the satiating (hunger-satisfying) effect of an egg breakfast (EB) to that of a ready-to-eat cereal breakfast (CB) - matched for macronutrient composition and energy density (ED) - but containing differing protein quality.

Participants were randomly assigned to eat either an EB or CB for one week under supervision. After a two-week gap period, the two groups swapped over. On days 1 and 7 of each test week, the researchers provided a structured buffet lunch in order to examine how hungry participants were after their breakfasts.

The researchers found that participants who ate an EB felt fuller before lunch, and ate less at lunch on days 1 and 7 during the EB week, than during the CB week.

During the three hour period between breakfast and lunch, the team found that participants in the EB group also had lower concentrations of the hunger-stimulating hormone acylated ghrelin, as well as increased PYY3-36 (a hormone that signals satiety secreted by the intestines).

Dhurandhar explained:

"This study shows that diets with higher protein quality may enhance satiety, leading to better compliance and success of a weight loss diet."

Waking up to an egg-breakfast keeps you feeling fuller for longer


Concerns regarding diets high in protein consumption affecting liver and/or kidney function could be addressed by using lower quantities of high quality protein, such as that from eggs.

Dhurandhar continues:

"Long-term weight loss trials to compare the manipulation of protein quality without increasing protein quantity should be explored.

This study raises the question: are some foods with higher protein quality nature's appetite suppressants?"

Written by Grace Rattue

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/245353.php


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Brown Fat Activated By Cold, Not Ephedrine

Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center have shown that while a type of "good" fat found in the body can be activated by cold temperatures, it is not able to be activated by the drug ephedrine.

The finding, published in PNAS USA Early Edition, may lead to drugs or other methods aimed at activating the good fat, known as brown fat. When activated, brown fat burns calories and can help in the battle against obesity.

"We propose that agents that work similarly to cold in activating brown fat specifically can provide promising approaches to fighting obesity while minimizing other side effects," said Aaron Cypess, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant investigator and staff physician at Joslin and lead author of the paper.

"At the same time, we now know that ephedrine is not the way to do it," he added.

Brown fat is found in humans naturally and consumes calories to generate heat. Prior studies had shown that brown fat can be activated by cold exposure in a process called non-shivering thermogenesis.

Researchers have been working for years to find ways to activate brown fat.

Ephedrine, a decongestant and bronchodilator, has been used as a weight loss drug because it increases the number of calories burned. However, there are side effects.

In this study, the Joslin team tested 10 study subjects in three ways. They were each separately given injections of ephedrine, given injections of saline as a control, and made to wear "cooling vests" that had water cooled to 57 degrees pumped into them. After each intervention, the brown fat activity was measured using PET/CT scans.

The researchers found that brown fat activity was the same following both the ephedrine and saline injections. However, after the subjects wore the cooling vests for two hours, their brown fat activity was stimulated significantly.

Both interventions - ephedrine injections and the wearing of the cooling vests - did result in the same number of calories being burned, Dr. Cypess noted.

"But we found that ephedrine was not using brown fat to do it," he said. "This is the first time it has been found that ephedrine does not turn on brown fat."

Both interventions had other effects on the sympathetic nervous system - which activates the fight or flight response - such as increased blood pressure, but those associated with brown fat activation were fewer, the study showed.

"Mild cold exposure stimulates (brown fat) energy expenditure with fewer other systemic effects, suggesting that cold activates specific sympathetic pathways," the paper concludes. "Agents that mimic cold activation of (brown fat) could provide a promising approach to treating obesity while minimizing systemic effects."

As a result of the findings, drug companies may find it easier to come up with agents that stimulate brown fat to help people lose weight, Dr. Cypess said.

One method may be simply to design cooling vests that people can wear to help them lose weight. A future study will have subjects wear the vests for several weeks to see what happens, Dr. Cypess said.

"Will they get the same health benefits they would have seen with several weeks of exercise? That's the billion dollar question."

The findings should also be of interest to heart researchers interested in the mechanisms of activation of the sympathetic nervous system, he added.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/246251.php



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New Insights Into The Health Implications Of Different Types Of Trans Fat

The latest research builds on ground-breaking new knowledge on a special 'family' of natural trans fats that are produced by ruminant animals such as dairy and beef cattle, goats and sheep, and found in the milk and meat from these animals. The findings strengthen the evidence that, unlike industrial trans fats, these natural ruminant trans fats are not harmful and may in fact have health-enhancing potential.

The key findings were presented at the 10th Congress for the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids & Lipids (ISSFAL).

"We are learning there is a very important public health message to convey about ruminant natural trans fats and how these are different from the industrial trans fats that have been targeted as harmful to health," says Dr. Spencer Proctor, Director of the Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases Laboratory at the University of Alberta in Canada. "The research indicates that consuming these natural trans fats as part of a balanced diet is not a health concern. On the contrary, there is increasing evidence these are 'good fats' and could be fundamentally health-enhancing. They should not be an unintended target of the bid to rid the diet of trans fats."

ISSFAL is an International Scientific Society established in 1991, with members from more than 40 countries including scientists, medical professionals, educators, administrators, communicators and others with an interest in the health effects of dietary fats, oils and lipids. Among a number of key functions, ISSFAL has taken on an important role in interpreting the new facts in each of these areas into sound nutritional advice for the public.

Proctor chaired a Symposium at the ISSFAL Congress that focused on the health implications of natural ruminant trans fatty acids. Also presenting supporting findings were Dr. Jean-Michel Chardigny, National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), France; and Dr. Marianne Uhre Jakobsen, Associate Professor, Public Health, Aarhus University, Denmark.

The research to date is based on a strong foundation of animal model studies as well as a growing number of human studies, say these scientists. "Our knowledge of natural trans fats is relatively recent and we will continue to learn more about the human health implications," says Chardigny. "But clearly we know they are different from industrial trans fats and should not be painted with the same brush."

As a leading example, Chardigny presented findings of his meta-analysis of 13 human intervention studies that have examined the impact of natural trans fats on cardiovascular health risk factors. While there is a large body of research confirming detrimental effects of industrial trans fats, the research to date on natural trans fats has revealed no such effects.

"There is no association between natural trans fats intake and cholesterol-dependent cardiovascular risk factors," says Chardigny.

This conclusion was further supported by Jakobsen's review of observational epidemiologic studies. "The findings indicate that intake of natural trans fats is not associated with coronary heart disease within the range of intake in the general population."

The scientific knowledge points to the need to clearly differentiate between natural and industrial trans fats on food labels and in health recommendations, say these scientists. At meetings in and around ISSFAL they and colleagues are exploring approaches for further international collaboration among researchers as well as health and food regulatory authorities to make progress on this front.

"We want to help the public better understand the very different health implications of the two different categories of trans fats, including through the nutrition information they get on food labels," says Proctor. "We're confident we can achieve that by continuing to work together."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/246154.php


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Fatty Acid Found in Fish Prevents Age-Related Vision Loss, Study Suggests

An omega-3 fatty acid found in fish, known as DHA, prevented age-related vision loss in lab tests, according to recent medical research from the University of Alberta.

Yves Sauvé, a researcher in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, and his team discovered that lab models fed DHA did not accumulate a toxic molecule at the back of the eyes. The toxin normally builds up in the retina with age and causes vision loss.

"This discovery could result in a very broad therapeutic use," says Sauvé, whose work was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.

"In normal aging, this toxin increases twofold as we age. But in lab tests, there was no increase in this toxin whatsoever. This has never been demonstrated before -- that supplementing the diet with DHA could make this kind of difference."

The team recently started another study, looking at people who have age-related macular degeneration, a condition that results in loss of central vision and is the main cause of blindness in people over the age of 50. The researchers will look for DNA markers in the blood of study participants. The team wants to determine whether participants with certain genetic markers will respond better to increasing amounts of DHA in their diet, and if so, why.

Sauvé is a researcher in the departments of ophthalmology and physiology at the U of A.
Various organizations funded the research; the primary funder was the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120530152159.htm


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PCB Exposure Linked to Increased Abdominal Fat

There is a correlation between high levels of the environmental toxin PCB and the distribution of body fat to the abdomen. This is shown in a new study published May 29 in the scientific journal Obesity. Abdominal fat is already known to increase the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure, among other conditions.

Fat inside the abdomen (visceral fat) is considerably more dangerous that fat near the surface of the body (subcutaneous fat). For instance, fat in the abdomen has previously been linked to the development of diabetes. Monica Lind, associate professor in environmental medicine at the Section for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, together with Lars Lind, professor of medicine, has analysed data from the so-called PIVUS study, which comprises more than 1,000 70-year-olds in Uppsala.

From the same material they have previously shown that PCB can predict the development of diabetes. In the present study, these researchers measured levels in the blood of 23 persistent organic environmental toxins in the more than 1,000 70-year-old women and men. In nearly 300 of them, with the aid of magnetic imaging, they also investigated the amount of fat in various parts of the abdomen. Previous studies have used only BMI as a measure of fatness. They found that having high levels of the highly chlorinated and very persistent compound PCB189 was related to a high proportion of fat in the abdomen.

"These findings may indicate that PCB189, which was also related to developing diabetes, may be of significance in how fat is stored in the body," says Monica Lind.

To understand the underlying mechanism, more research is needed in the form of controlled laboratory studies. According to Monica Lind, there are several possible causes. For example, it would be interesting to study whether there is a hormonal impact on fat metabolism, an inhibition of the breakdown of cortisol, or an inhibition of the creation of oestrogen.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120529102423.htm


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New research shows runners can improve health and performance with less training

The new 10-20-30 training concept can improve both a person's running performance and health, despite a significant reduction in the total amount of training. This is the conclusion of a study from University of Copenhagen researchers just published in the renowned scientific Journal of Applied of Physiology.
Over the course of seven weeks, runners were able to improve performance on a 1500-metre run by 23 seconds and almost by a minute on a 5-km run – and this despite a 50 per cent reduction in their total amount of training. These are just some of the results from a research project involving 18 moderately trained runners following the 10-20-30 training concept developed by researchers from the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.
In addition to enhancing running performance, the runners from the project also had a significant decrease in blood pressure and a reduction in cholesterol in the blood.
"We were very surprised to see such an improvement in the health profile considering that the participants have been running for several years," says Professor Jens Bangsbo, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, who heads the project.
"The results show that the very intense training has a great potential for improving health status of already trained individuals," says Professor Bangsbo.
PhD student Thomas Gunnarsson adds that the emotional well-being of the participants also improved over the span of the project.
"We found a reduction in emotional stress when compared to control subjects continuing their normal training based on a recovery-stress questionnaire administered before and after the 7-week training period," explains Gunnarsson.
The 10-20-30 training conceptThe 10-20-30 training concept consists of a 1-km warm-up at a low intensity followed by 3-4 blocks of 5 minutes running interspersed by 2 minutes of rest. Each block consists of 5 consecutive 1-minute intervals divided into 30, 20 and 10 seconds of running at a low, moderate and near maximal intensity, respectively.
30 minutes is all you needAccording to Professor Bangsbo, the 10-20-30 training concept is easily adapted in a busy daily schedule as the time needed for training is low. A total of 20-30 minutes including warm-up is all that is needed. Since the 10-20-30 concept deals with relative speeds and includes low speed running and 2-minute rest periods, individuals with different fitness levels and training backgrounds can perform the 10-20-30 training together.
"The training was very inspiring. I could not wait to get out and run together with the others. Today, I am running much faster than I ever thought possible," says Katrine Dahl, one of the participants in the study.

###

The study was supported by the Nordea-fonden, Copenhagen, Denmark, and the results are published in the Journal of Applied of Physiology.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-05/uoc-nrs053012.php


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