Three cups of coffee a day could help keep diabetes away, scientists say

Drinking more coffee may slightly reduce your risk of diabetes, and people who drink three or more cups appear to be at the lowest risk of all, an American study has suggested.

The study
Researchers at Harvard University’s School of Public Health analysed data on more than 120,000 people’s coffee consumption over several years. For the study, the scientists analysed the results of three large US diet and lifestyle surveys involving health professionals. The diets of participants were assessed every four years by questionnaire and those developing Type 2 diabetes identified. In total, 7,269 cases were recorded.

Researchers found that those who increased their intake by more than a cup a day over a four-year period had an 11% lower chance of developing diabetes in the following years. Those who had consistently higher coffee consumption – of three or more cups a day – had a risk which was 37% lower than people who consistently drank one or fewer cups a day.

The findings
The American researchers, led by Professor of Nutrition Frank Hu, said: “Our findings demonstrate that change in coffee consumption is associated with both immediate and long-term diabetes risk. It appears to affect risk in a relatively short amount of time.”

The report said: “We observed that increasing coffee but not tea intake over a four-year period was associated with a lower Type 2 diabetes risk in the next four years. Decreasing coffee intake was associated with a higher Type 2 diabetes risk. These changes in risk were observed for caffeinated but not decaffeinated coffee and were independent of initial coffee consumption and changes in other diet and lifestyle factors.”

There was no evidence that tea consumption had an effect on diabetes risk but the researchers said this may have been because there were fewer people drinking tea or who altered their tea consumption.

Co-author Dr Shilpa Bhupathiraju said: “Our findings confirm those of previous studies that showed that higher coffee consumption was associated with lower Type 2 diabetes risk. Most importantly, they provide new evidence that changes in coffee consumption habit can affect Type 2 diabetes risk in a relatively short period of time.” She said that while exercise and maintaining a healthy diet were by far the best ways to cut the risk of type 2 diabetes, there were also “biologically plausible” theories as to why coffee might also help.
“Coffee has a lot of bio-active compounds, including chlorogenic acid, which we know improves glucose metabolism when tested in animals,” she said. “Coffee is also a rich source of magnesium, which is known to be associated with a  lower risk of type 2 diabetes. The biological plausibility is actually very strong.”

Current health advice suggests that around 400mg – roughly four mugs of instant coffee – is the safe limit for caffeine consumption, although pregnant women are advised to consume half that amount. The cups of coffee referred to in the study had roughly 100mg of caffeine.

Sources: http://www.sciencedaily.com/, http://www.newswise.com/, http://www.express.co.uk/, http://www.independent.co.uk/, http://www.thecrimson.com/

How seaweed could help us lose weight - study

Wouldn't it be great if we could eat what we want without putting on weight? It's seen by many as the Holy Grail of dieting and if it were possible it could transform the lives of those struggling with obesity.
Well, it appears that scientists at Newcastle University are close to achieving just that, and they are doing it using seaweed. It has long been known that seaweed has many healthy properties but this research has the potential to allow us to control weight gain as we eat. Researchers identified specific natural seaweed fibres called alginates that prevent the body absorbing fat.

Alginates – chemicals from seaweed – are already used in foods, such as stabilisers in jam and to maintain the head on a pint of beer.

However, their potential as a food supplement which prevents the absorption of fat is now being investigated. New research has identified the chemical properties of alginates which prevent fat from being digested, allowing experts to produce a league table of the most effective seaweeds.
If added to everyday foods these seaweeds could help curb the growing obesity problem.

The study

Researchers investigated the ability of alginate to reduce fat break-down by a digestive enzyme, pancreatic lipase. Blocking the action of the enzyme results in lower amounts of fat being absorbed by the body.

Lead scientist Professor Jeff Pearson, from the University of Newcastle's Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, said: "We have already added alginate to bread and initial taste tests have been extremely encouraging. Now the next step is to carry out clinical trials to find out how effective they are when eaten as part of a normal diet."

The researchers found that alginates containing more of a sugar molecule called guluronate were best at blocking fat digestion. They compiled a list of the most promising seaweeds, including a brown sea kelp known as "tangle" or "cuvie", bladderwrack, and bull kelp.

Dr Matthew Wilcox, from Newcastle University, said: “The study shows that certain seaweeds can be used in the fight against obesity, in conjunction with a healthy diet and increase in exercise.” The five-year study builds on previous work by the team which found that alginate, a natural fibre found in sea kelp and one of the world’s largest commercially-used seaweeds, could reduce the amount of fat available for absorption by the body by around 75%.

This is better than most anti-obesity treatments currently available over the counter. Dr Wilcox says that the alginates he has discovered can be mixed with fatty foods. This could mean manufactures would be able to add the correct amount of alginates to make them healthier.
This has all the makings of a super food which you can eat and eat without putting on an ounce.
The reality may not be as simplistic as that, but this bio-technology does have huge potential and could prove to be a game changer not only in the personal battle of the bulge but also in the shadow of an increasingly worrying obesity epidemic.

Sources: http://www.mirror.co.uk/, http://www.thejournal.co.uk/, http://www.itv.com/news/

Paleo diet twice as effective for weight loss: study

The best way for a woman to lose weight may be to eat like her Stone Age ancestors.

New research shows a cavewoman diet is potentially one of the most effective ways to slim.

Scientists came up with the findings after tracking female dieters for up to two years and comparing weight loss among those on the cavewoman - or paleolithic - diet with those complying with modern nutritional guidelines.

Women who adopted a so-called Palaeolithic diet lost twice as much weight within six months as those who followed a modern programme based on official health guidelines. Researchers also saw a greater reduction in their waist circumference, although the difference between the two groups became smaller after two years of dieting. 

The Palaeolithic diet involves eating plenty of berries, vegetables and lean meats such as chicken, but some types of food such as bread, rice, pasta and dairy products are banned. Scientists said it could be preferable to other forms of diet, such as those which are low in carbohydrates but high in fat, because it strips out all unhealthy foods meaning there are unlikely to be negative side effects.

It is designed to simulate what our ancestors ate before the advent of farming, meaning followers can eat whatever they like except for certain types of food including grains, refined sugars and salt.
One previous experiment found that men who followed the Palaeolithic diet for just three weeks were less likely to suffer from heart attacks and strokes.

The study in detail
In the latest study, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers divided 70 postmenopausal, heavily overweight women into two groups.
One was told to follow a Palaeolithic diet, and the other a Nordic diet based on whole-grain cereals, low-fat dairy products, fruit, pulses, fish and vegetable oils.
Dr Caroline Mellberg, who led the study along with colleagues at Umeå University and researchers at Cambridge University, said: “Since pasta and rice and such things were excluded, most [participants] ate pretty normal things like a chicken fillet, but they excluded pasta and added vegetables instead.”
Participants were asked to design their diet to get about 30% of their total energy intake from protein but found it difficult to reach that level and compensated by eating extra carbohydrates and five to seven portions of fruit and vegetables each day, she added.
“They lost weight probably due to a low energy intake,” she said. “It is quite hard to eat enough fruit and vegetables to fill your energy needs. None of them complained about being hungry, so I guess the foods are quite filling. They ate a lot.”

After six months those on the Palaeolithic diet had lost an average of 6.2kg of fat and 11cm from their waistline, compared with 2.6kg and 5.8cm in the other group, and levels of harmful blood fat known as triglyceride were also lower.
By the end of the two-year study the difference between the groups had narrowed, but Dr Mellberg suggested there could be a simple explanation – people on the Palaeolithic diet grew tired of it.
“I think the participants weren’t compliant,” she said. “It is quite a hard diet [to follow] in the Western world. We eat a lot of foods like bread, pasta, cereals.”
“They were quite satisfied too, after the first year. They had lost a lot of weight and many of the participants did not want to lose any more, so they started to eat more normal foods.”
Catherine Collins, chief dietitian at St George’s Hospital in London, added that the low protein intake could have slowed the rate at which participants’ bodies burned calories over time.
“As the metabolic rate declines, at some point that will stop you losing weight,” she explained.



Sources: http://sciencenordic.com/, http://food.ninemsn.com.au/, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/, http://www.iol.co.za/

Can Menus With Low-Calorie Sections Make Us Fat?

You know those "light and healthy" sections more and more restaurants are putting on their menus? They could be sabotaging your weight-loss efforts: a new study shows that when restaurants create special low-calorie sections on their menus, people tend to automatically rule out those options.

The study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, shows that when menus have a separate section specifically for low-calorie options, people are less likely to pick dishes from that section.
"Because most restaurant menus are quite complex -- offering numerous dishes composed of multiple ingredients -- diners try to simplify their decision. People have come to expect low-calorie food to taste bad or not fill them up," study researchers Jeffrey R. Parker, of Georgia State University, and Donald R. Lehmann, of Columbia University, said in a statement. "We propose that by calorie organizing a menu, restaurants make it easier for people to use the general 'low-calorie' label to dismiss all low-calorie options early in the decision process."

The study
The study included four experiments, all of which involved having study participants view menus and then indicate which dish from the menu they would choose, as well as estimate or recall how many calories were in that dish.
For one of the experiments, researchers had 272 people with an average age of 31 look at a menu for Timmy's Diner (a restaurant none of the participants had ever visited before) and choose a dish and beverage. However, not all the participants' menus were the same.

There were three formats for menus: one of them was a traditional menu that just listed all the items, the second was the same as the first one except there was calorie information labeled by each item, and the third was organized by calorie content and included a separate section specifically for dishes under 700 calories. There were two versions of each of these three menus, with one version having the price positively correlated with calories and the other version having the price negatively correlated with calories. (When price is positively correlated with calories, that means people pay less for low-calorie items, and so in theory would be more likely to pick low-calorie items; the opposite goes for when price is negatively correlated with calories.)

The study participants were randomly assigned to have one of these six menus. Researchers found that people given the menus where the calories were listed next to each item (but where low-calorie dishes were not split up into their own category) tended to choose lower-calorie options, compared with those given the traditional menus.

However, people who were given the menus where the low-calorie dishes were in their own separate category chose dishes that were about 11% higher in calories, compared with the dishes chosen by people whose menus only listed the calories by each item.

Bottom line
"Thus, additionally organizing the calorie-posted menus by caloric content largely (though not completely) erased the positive impact of calorie posting," the researchers wrote in the study.
They also noted that the impact of posting calories by each dish in choosing lower-calorie foods was even greater for the menus where the price was positive correlated with calories, "suggesting that price, unsurprisingly, plays a role in consumers' choices."
However, researchers did not find that the calorie-price correlation seemed to affect food choices at all when the participants were given the menus where the low-calorie foods were spun out into their own category. "This supports our contention that consumers use menu categories as a screening criterion," the researchers wrote in the study. "Since many participants likely screened out the under-700-calories options in the consideration set formation process, they would be unlikely to notice the calorie-price correlation, resulting in this factor playing little to no role in their choices."

What do you think about the findings? Do you usually skim right over the "low-calorie" or "diet" sections of menus, since you don't expect the food to be as good? 
My opinion? Don't get freaked out or intimidated by these special labels or menus. Healthy food can be super filling and tasty—so just pick the most appetizing thing you see and stop overthinking it!  

Sources: http://www.eurekalert.org/, http://www.sciencedaily.com/, http://www.womenshealthmag.com/, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Fat in your diet likely to give you colon cancer!

New genetic evidence could strengthen the link between the role of dietary fats with colon cancer progression. 

Because this cancer occurs in the digestive tract, scientists have often considered important links to diet. Now new evidence verifies a connection to dietary fats, such as those found in processed meats, butter, beef and pork fat, shortening, and margarine. Dr. Raymond DuBois, of Arizona State University, has identified a molecule, called peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta (PPAR delta), which, when deleted in mice with colon cancer, stopped the progression of tumor growth.
The study was published in the April 21 early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The DuBois research team has been in pursuit of uncovering the links between inflammation and colon cancer for the past two decades. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S.

Diet and cancer
Known risks for colorectal cancers — tumors affecting the colon and the rectum are commonly grouped together as they affect the digestive tract — include family history, inflammatory bowel disease, smoking, and type 2 diabetes.
Foods high in saturated fats may also increase risk and so general advice to help you avoid colorectal cancer is to focus on your diet. Recent, large studies, for instance, suggest that fiber, especially from whole grains, may lower colorectal cancer risk. Doctors also recommend you limit your intake of red and processed meats, eat more vegetables and fruits, watch your weight (especially watch for gains around the midsection), avoid excessive alcohol and get recommended levels of calcium and vitamin D, which may work together to prevent these cancers.

The facts about fat

There are numerous types of fat. Your body makes its own fat from taking in excess calories. Some fats are found in foods from plants and animals and are known as dietary fat. Dietary fat is a macronutrients, along with protein and carbohydrates, that provide energy for your body. Fat is essential to your health because it supports a number of your body's functions. Some vitamins, for instance, must have fat to dissolve and nourish your body.
But there is a dark side to fat. Fat is high in calories and small amounts can add up quickly. If you eat more calories than you need, you will gain weight. Excess weight is inked to poor health.
Research about the possible harms and benefits of dietary fat is always evolving. And a growing body of research suggests that when it comes to dietary fat, you should focus on eating healthy fats and avoiding unhealthy fats. Simply stated, fat is made up of varying amounts of fatty acids. It's the type and amount of fatty acid found in food that determines the effect of the fat on your health.

Harmful dietary fat

There are two main types of potentially harmful dietary fat — fat that is mostly saturated and fat that contains trans fat:

• Saturated fat. This is a type of fat that comes mainly from animal sources of food, such as red meat, poultry and full-fat dairy products. Saturated fat raises total blood cholesterol levels and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. Saturated fat may also increase your risk of type 2 diabetes and cancer.
• Trans fat. This is a type of fat that occurs naturally in some foods in small amounts. But most trans fats are made from oils through a food processing method called partial hydrogenation. By partially hydrogenating oils, they become easier to cook with and less likely to spoil than do naturally occurring oils. Research studies show that these partially hydrogenated trans fats can increase unhealthy LDL cholesterol and lower healthy high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. This can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Most fats that have a high percentage of saturated fat or that contain trans fat are solid at room temperature. Because of this, they're typically referred to as solid fats. They include beef fat, pork fat, butter, shortening and stick margarine.

Healthier dietary fat

The types of potentially helpful dietary fat are mostly unsaturated:

• Monounsaturated fat. This is a type of fat found in a variety of foods and oils. Studies show that eating foods rich in monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) improves blood cholesterol levels, which can decrease your risk of heart disease. Research also shows that MUFAs may benefit insulin levels and blood sugar control, which can be especially helpful if you have type 2 diabetes.
• Polyunsaturated fat. This is a type of fat found mostly in plant-based foods and oils. Evidence shows that eating foods rich in polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) improves blood cholesterol levels, which can decrease your risk of heart disease. PUFAs may also help decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes.
• Omega-3 fatty acids. One type of polyunsaturated fat is made up of mainly omega-3 fatty acids and may be especially beneficial to your heart. Omega-3, found in some types of fatty fish, appears to decrease the risk of coronary artery disease. It may also protect against irregular heartbeats and help lower blood pressure levels. There are plant sources of omega-3 fatty acids. However, the body doesn't convert it and use it as well as omega-3 from fish.

Foods made up mostly of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, such as olive oil, safflower oil, peanut oil and corn oil. Fish high in omega-3 fatty acids include salmon, tuna, trout, mackerel, sardines and herring. Plant sources of omega-3 fatty acids include flaxseed (ground), oils (canola, flaxseed, soybean), and nuts and other seeds (walnuts, butternuts and sunflower).

Tips for choosing foods with the best types of dietary fat

So now that you know which types of dietary fat are healthy or unhealthy, and how much to include, how do you adjust your diet to meet dietary guidelines?
First, focus on reducing foods high in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol. Then emphasize food choices that include plenty of monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) and polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). But a word of caution — don't go overboard even on healthy fats. All fats, including the healthy ones, are high in calories. So consume MUFA-rich and PUFA-rich foods instead of other fatty foods, not in addition to them.
Here are some tips to help you make over the fat in your diet:

• Use the Nutrition Facts label when selecting foods. Read food labels and look for the amount of trans fat listed. By law a serving of food containing less than 0.5 grams of trans fat can be labeled as 0 grams. Therefore, it is important to also check ingredient lists for the term "partially hydrogenated." It's best to avoid foods that contain trans fat and those that have been partially hydrogenated.
• Prepare fish, such as salmon and mackerel, instead of meat at least twice a week to get a source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Limit sizes to 4 ounces of cooked seafood a serving, and bake or broil seafood instead of frying.
• Use liquid vegetable oil instead of solid fats. For example, saute with olive oil instead of butter, and use canola oil when baking.
• Use olive oil in salad dressings and marinades.
• Use egg substitutes instead of whole eggs when possible.
• Select milk and dairy products that are low in fat.

Sources: http://www.eurekalert.org/, http://www.medicaldaily.com/, http://www.mayoclinic.org/

Strawberry extract protects skin against UV rays

Strawberries and cream have long been a winning combination. But according to new scientific research, these two fabled constituents of summer could also come together in a more useful way - by protecting us from harmful UV rays.
The fruit has been discovered to work well against sunburn - and could be used to create more effective suntan lotions.

 "We have verified the protecting effect of strawberry extract against damage to skins cells caused by UVA rays," said Maurizio Battino, researcher at the Universita Politecnica delle Marche in Italy, who led the joint Spanish and Italian study. UVA and UVB are two types of ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun, which penetrate the earth's atmosphere. They cause premature aging or wrinkling of the skin. Other damaging effects are cataracts, weakening of the immune system, and skin cancer, the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry reported.

The study
The research involved preparing human skin cell cultures and added strawberry extract in different concentrations. Using ultraviolet light, the samples were then exposed to a dose "equivalent to 90 minutes of midday summer sun in the French Riviera."
Data confirm that the strawberry extract, especially at a concentration of 0.5 mg/ml, had photoprotective properties in those skin cell cultures exposed to UVA radiation. It also increased cell survival and viability and decreased damage in the DNA.

"These aspects are of great importance as they provide protection for cell lines subject to conditions that can provoke cancer and other skin-related inflammatory and degenerative illnesses," said Battino. He said the results recognised that this was the "first step in determining the beneficial effects of strawberries in our diet or as a possible compound source for 'food integrators' or cosmetics for instance."

But what molecules give strawberries their photoprotective properties? Scientists suspect that it could be the anthocyanins, which are pigments that give leaves, flowers and fruits their red colour. Analyses have confirmed that extracts are rich in such substances.
"These compounds have important anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-tumour properties and are capable of modulating enzymatic processes," explained another of the authors, Sara Tulipani from the University of Barcelona. She said: "At the moment the results act as the basis for future studies evaluating the ‘bioavailability’ and ‘bioactivity’ of anthocyanins in the dermis and epidermis layers of the human skin, whether by adding them to formulations for external use or by ingesting the fruit itself."

How Food Texture Affects Your Calorie Intake

Creamy butter or ice cream versus a crunchy granola bar: a new study suggests that the texture of foods influences people’s dieting choices.

“We studied the link between how a food feels in your mouth and the amount we eat, the types of food we choose, and how many calories we think we are consuming,” wrote study authors Dipayan Biswas and Courtney Szocs, both from the University of South Florida, and others.

The study

In one experiment, participants were asked to sample foods that had soft, smooth, hard or rough textures and then estimate their calorie amounts.

In another test, volunteers were asked to watch and rate a number of television ads, thinking that was the test. But they were also given cups with bite-sized brownies as a “thank you” for their time. Half of the participants were also asked about the amount of calories in the brownies.

Some of the participants received softer-textured brownies while the other half got crunchier brownies. People who had been asked about the calories in the brownies which forced them to focus on caloric intake — ate more of the crunchy brownies than soft. On the other hand, those whose minds weren’t focused on calories tended to eat more of the soft brownies, the investigators found.

The researchers believe this is due to "oral haptics–calorie estimation," which is the relationship between how much you chew a food and how you perceive the calories. The more you chew, the fewer calories you believe a food has.

Bottom line

As a general rule most people would agree that raw veggies, i.e. a hard food, are low in calories. But maybe the reason you find it difficult to put down your fork (or spoon) down when eating mashed potatoes or ice cream isn’t only the taste that does it, but also the texture.

Interesting, but not all soft foods are high in calories. For example, oatmeal and yogurt are excellent meal choices. Similarly, not all hard foods are low in calories—pretzels, rock candy, and licorice all come to mind for me. As a general rule, though, people eat slower when consuming hard foods, which could lead to less consumption and fewer calories by default.

Really, this area of research needs to be further explored. As the study authors conclude, "Understanding how the texture of food can influence calorie perceptions, food choice, and consumption amount can help nudge consumers towards making healthier choices."