Weight Loss

Posted on Diet, Weight Loss

Believe it or ‘nut’, almonds can help you cut calories

Almonds


A handful of almonds could keep extra kilos at bay. CREDIT HealthAliciousNess

Weight loss is never an easy nut to crack, but a handful of almonds could keep extra kilos at bay according to new research from the University of South Australia.

Examining how almonds can affect appetite, researchers found that a snack of 30-50 grams of almonds could help people cut back on the number of kilojoules they consume each day.

Published in the European Journal of Nutrition, the study found that people who consumed almonds – as opposed to an energy-equivalent carbohydrate snack – lowered their energy intake by 300 kilojoules (most of which came from junk food) at the subsequent meal.

Dr Sharayah Carter from UniSA’s Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA) says the research provides valuable insights for weight management.

“Rates of overweight and obesity are a major public health concern and modulating appetite through better hormonal response may be key to promoting weight management,” Dr Carter says.

“Our research examined the hormones that regulate appetite, and how nuts – specifically almonds – might contribute to appetite control.”

“We found that people who ate almonds experienced changes in their appetite-regulating hormones, and that these may have contributed to reduced food intake (by 300kJ).”

In Australia, two in three (12.5 million) adults are overweight or obese. Globally, nine billion adults are overweight with 650 million of these being obese.

The study found that people who ate almonds had 47 per cent lower C-peptide responses (which can improve insulin sensitivity and reduce the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease); and higher levels of glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (18 per cent higher), glucagon (39 per cent higher), and pancreatic polypeptide responses (44 per cent higher). Glucagon sends satiety signals to the brain, while pancreatic polypeptide slows digestion which may reduce food intake, both encouraging weight loss.

“Almonds are high in protein, fibre, and unsaturated fatty acids, which may contribute to their satiating properties and help explain why fewer kilojoules were consumed.”

The findings of this study show that eating almonds produce small changes to people’s energy intake, Dr Carter says this may have clinical effects in the long term.

“Even small, positive lifestyle changes can have an impact over a longer period. When we’re making small, sustainable changes, we’re more likely to be improving our overall health in the long run,” Dr Carter says.

“Almonds are a fantastic healthy snack to incorporate into the daily diet. We are now excited to look at how almonds might affect appetite during a weight loss diet and how they might assist with weight management in the long term.”

Posted on A to Z of Medical Conditions, Alzheimer's, Cancer, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, Weight Loss

All physicians should know the benefits of plant-based diets for these six health conditions

Plant based food
Plant based food


A new commentary in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine says that all physicians should be aware of the benefits of a plant-based diet for six health conditions: weight loss and maintenance, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and COVID-19.

“The field of medicine, despite its prominent influence in society, has invested little to promote healthy lifestyle choices,” says the commentary co-authored by Saray Stancic, MD, FACLM, director of medical education for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. “The consequence of this is reflected in our ever-rising chronic disease statistics, most notably obesity and diabetes rates.”

Part of the problem, say the authors, is that “medical schools offer an anemic number of hours of nutrition education over 4 years,” which does not improve in postgraduate training. They note than in a recent survey of more than 600 cardiologists, 90% reported they had not received needed nutrition education during training.

The commentary acknowledges that not all physicians must be experts in nutrition, but says that they should at least have rudimentary knowledge of the benefits of a plant-based diet for these six conditions, for which they provide detailed evidence, including the following:

  1. Weight loss and maintenance. A study of 70,000 people that found those who consumed a vegan diet weighed about 9 pounds less than those who did not. They also had a reduced risk of death.
  2. Cardiovascular disease. Animal products are high in saturated fat and cholesterol, which are key drivers of cardiovascular disease. But a recent metanalysis found that those consuming a vegetarian diet decreased LDL “bad” cholesterol by 13 mg/dl. Another analysis found a 24% lower rate of heart disease deaths among vegetarians compared to omnivores.
  3. Cancer. Adopting healthy behaviors, which includeremaining physically active and consuming diets rich in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, has the potential to reduce breast cancer risk by as much as 50-70%. Research also shows that diets that include soy and are high in fiber reduce breast cancer risk. Diets high in dairy products increase prostate cancer risk. High-fiber diets reduce colorectal cancer risk, while daily consumption of red and processed meat increases its risk.
  4. Diabetes. A Harvard study, which included participants from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, Nurses’ Health Study, and the Nurses’ Health Study II, concluded that those who consumed a plant-based diet could expect a 34% reduction in type 2 diabetes risk.
  5. Alzheimer’s disease. A study found that those who adhered to the primarily plant-based Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet, which is focused on brain-healthy foods such as green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, beans, berries, nuts, and whole grains, had a 60% lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
  6. COVID-19. Harvard’s smartphone-based COVID-19 study found that in those who consumed a primarily plant-based diet there was a 41% reduction in risk of severe COVID-19 as well as a 9% reduction in infection of any severity.

“It is time for all physicians across the globe to speak to the importance of diet and lifestyle in health,” concludes the commentary, which recommends that physicians do this by counseling patients, assuring hospitals provide healthy menus, lecturing in the community, writing articles, using social media, and providing commentary to media.

Posted on Diabetes, Weight Loss

Gastric bypass is best weight loss option for diabetes patients, study finds

Easy-To-Follow Weight-Loss Guidelines for Men


Bariatric surgery—either gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy—is recommended for people with type 2 diabetes and a body mass index of 40 or above. But the optimal treatment remains unclear and may depend on the severity of the patient’s diabetes.

Using data from previous studies and databases, researchers at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, led by Chin Hur, MD, MPH, created a model to investigate the effectiveness, quality of life gains, costs, and complications of gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and medical therapy among patients over a five-year period.

The study is the first to consider diabetes severity in a comparison of gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy, which are the two most popular forms of bariatric surgery in the United States.

Gastric bypass is a more complex procedure than sleeve gastrectomy, and previous studies show it is associated with more complications. Gastric bypass creates a small pouch in the stomach that is attached to the small intestine, so that food bypasses much of the stomach and some of the small intestine. After the surgery, less food can be ingested and absorbed. In sleeve gastrectomy, the stomach is permanently reduced to about one quarter of its original size, but no bypass is created.

The new analysis projected that gastric bypass leads to greater weight loss and a greater rate of remission of diabetes than sleeve gastrectomy or medical therapy, which involves lifestyle counseling and medication.

Gastric bypass surgery also was projected to produce the best results regardless of diabetes severity.

“Determining which groups may benefit from a specific strategy is an important step toward personalized medicine,” says Hur.

“Our study suggests that in most cases, gastric bypass is the preferred strategy when looking at a five-year time frame, despite higher upfront surgical costs and complicati

Posted on Weight Loss

Weight-loss drugs, revisited

Drugs that promise to help people lose weight have had a checkered past, such as the infamous fen-phen that was pulled from the market in 1997 after reports of heart valve damage. But now, drug company pipelines are filling up with new molecules that aim to help people safely shed extra pounds, according to a cover story in Chemical & Engineering News, an independent news outlet of the American Chemical Society.

About 42% of U.S. adults are considered clinically obese because they have a body mass index of 30 or higher, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Being at a heavier weight is associated with an increased risk of other health conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Because of these risks, and the tendency of people to cycle between weight loss and regain throughout their lives, many doctors now consider being fat a chronic disease called obesity, rather than a behavioral issue, as it was seen in the past, writes C&EN reporter Megha Satyanarayana. However, recent findings indicate that 29% of people who are fat are otherwise metabolically healthy, causing some to question whether calling many people’s normal state a disease is stigmatizing.

The legions of people who want to lose weight for health or aesthetic reasons promise large financial gains for pharmaceutical companies who can bring safe, effective weight-loss drugs to market. But the troubling history of the field has raised the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory bar. Now, a new drug must not only show that it allows someone to maintain a loss of 5–10% of their starting weight for a year, but it also must have longer-term studies proving it is safe. Novo-Nordisk’s popular new weight-loss drug Wegovy (semaglutide), which mimics a hormone that helps regulate glucose, caused an average 15% weight loss when combined with lifestyle counseling, compared with a 2.5% loss for a placebo and counseling. Moreover, a different formulation of Wegovy’s active compound has been safely used to treat diabetes since 2017. Pharmaceutical companies are exploring other molecules that regulate hormone receptors involved in appetite and energy expenditure. If these drugs are being prescribed to treat a chronic condition, many people will need to keep taking the drugs for the rest of their lives to sustain their weight loss, and in the case of Wegovy and similar drugs, deal with long-lasting side effects of nausea, vomiting and constipation. Meanwhile, some people say that is too high a price to pay for society’s thin-at-all-costs obsession. 


The article, “New Weight-Loss Drugs Could Shift the Scales,” is freely available here.

Posted on Diet, Weight Loss

10 AMAZING Benefits Of PUMPKINS | Pumpkins for weight loss + inflammation and more

10 AMAZING Benefits Of PUMPKINS | Pumpkins for weight loss + inflammation and more - YouTube


There’s definitely a lot more to pumpkins beyond the marketing and hype around them in the fall season. They are actually a superfood! Not convinced? Watch the video and then share in comments if you’re now a pumpkin fan.