Sustainable eating Meals based on legumes such as beans and peas are more satiating than pork and veal-based meals, according to a recent study by the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports. Results suggest that sustainable eating may also help with weight loss.
Numerous modern dietary recommendations encourage high protein consumption to help with weight loss or prevent the age-related loss of muscle mass. Furthermore, consuming more vegetable-based protein from beans and peas and less protein from meats such as pork, veal and beef is recommended because meat production is a far greater burden on our climate than vegetable cultivation. Until now, we haven’t known much about how legumes like beans and peas stack up against meat in satiating hunger. As a result, little has been known about the impact of vegetables and the possibility of them catalyzing or maintaining weight loss.
High-protein vegetables fill more.
The recent study demonstrated that protein-rich meals based on beans and peas increased satiety more in the study participants than protein-rich veal and pork based meals. In the study, 43 young men were served three different meals in which patties – consisting of either beans/peas or veal/pork – were a key element. The study also demonstrated that when participants ate a protein-rich meal based on beans and peas, they consumed 12% fewer calories in their next meal than if they had eaten a meat-based meal.
“The protein-rich meal composed of legumes contained significantly more fiber than the protein-rich meal of pork and veal, which probably contributed to the increased feeling of satiety”, according to the head researcher, Professor Anne Raben of the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports.
Sustainable eating can help weight loss
Most interestingly, the study also demonstrated that a less protein-rich meal based on beans and peas was as satiating and tasty as the protein-rich veal and pork-based meals.
“It is somewhat contrary to the widespread belief that one ought to consume a large amount of protein because it increases satiety more. Now, something suggests that one can eat a fiber-rich meal, with less protein, and achieve the same sensation of fullness. While more studies are needed for a definitive proof, it appears as if vegetable-based meals – particularly those based on beans and peas – both can serve as a long term basis for weight loss and as a sustainable eating habit”, concludes Professor Raben.
Nutritional epigenetics model for autism and ADHD CREDIT Dufault, Renee J developed the nutritional epigenetics model for autism and ADHD.
In a recent publication released by PubMed, American scientists led by Dr. Dufault at the Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute reported the results of a clinical trial in which parents who received nutritional epigenetics education significantly reduced their consumption of ultra-processed foods while increasing their intake of whole and/or organic foods. The education intervention used curriculum focused on the constructs of the nutritional epigenetics model that explains how autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may develop from the excess consumption of ultra-processed
foods.
Consumption of ultra-processed foods leads to heavy metal exposures and dietary deficits, creating mineral imbalances such as loss of zinc and calcium. Inadequate zinc stores can disrupt the function of the metal transporter metallothionein (MT) gene, preventing the elimination of heavy metals found in ultra-processed foods. The bioaccumulation of mercury and/or lead
avy metals are known to suppress the paraoxonase (PON1) gene. Paraoxonase is required by the body to detoxify the neurotoxic organophosphate pesticide residues found routinely in the food supply by the United States Department of Agriculture. Children who have been diagnosed with autism and ADHD are more susceptible to the harmful effects of organophosphate pesticide exposure.
Parents who received nutritional epigenetics education learned how to reduce their children’s dietary exposures to heavy metal and organophosphate pesticide residues. The parents learned how to read food ingredient labels and changed their diet to avoid buying foods with allowable heavy metals and pesticide residues. In learning how specific food ingredients contribute to heavy metal exposures and impact nutrient status and/or gene behaviour, parents learned they needed to feed themselves and their children a healthier diet. By the end of the education intervention, parents had changed their minds about their ability to control their child’s behaviour through diet.
Children behave better when they feel better. Because the severity of symptoms in autism and ADHD correlate directly to the heavy metal levels in the blood, children with less heavy metal exposure show improvements in behaviour and cognition. In addition, because heavy metals, in single or multi-metallic combinations, create conditions for gut dysbiosis, improvements in diet can reduce inflammation and improve gut health. Reducing ultra-processed food consumption can alleviate symptoms associated with gut dysbiosis, which is often a co-morbid condition found in children with autism and ADHD.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health observed rapid and distinct immune system changes in a small study of people who switched to a vegan or a ketogenic (also called keto) diet. Scientists closely monitored various biological responses of people sequentially eating vegan and keto diets for two weeks, in random order. They found that the vegan diet prompted responses linked to innate immunity—the body’s non-specific first line of defence against pathogens—while the keto diet prompted responses associated with adaptive immunity—pathogen-specific immunity built through daily life exposure and vaccination. Metabolic changes and shifts in the participants’ microbiomes—communities of bacteria living in the gut—were also observed. More research is needed to determine if these changes are beneficial or detrimental and how they could affect nutritional interventions for diseases such as cancer or inflammatory conditions.
Scientific understanding of how different diets impact the human immune system and microbiome is limited. Therapeutic nutritional interventions—which involve changing the diet to improve health—are poorly understood, and few studies have directly compared the effects of more than one diet. The keto diet is a low-carbohydrate diet that is generally high in fat. The vegan diet eliminates animal products and tends to be high in fibre and low in fat.
The study was conducted by researchers from the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the Metabolic Clinical Research Unit in the NIH Clinical Center. The 20 participants were diverse with respect to ethnicity, race, gender, body mass index (BMI), and age. Each person ate as much as desired of one diet (vegan or keto) for two weeks, followed by as much as desired of the other diet for two weeks. People on the vegan diet, which contained about 10% fat and 75% carbohydrates, chose to consume fewer calories than those on the keto diet, which contained about 76% fat and 10% carbohydrates. Blood, urine, and stool were collected for analysis throughout the study period. The effects of the diets were examined using a “multi-omics” approach that analyzed multiple data sets to assess the body’s biochemical, cellular, metabolic, and immune responses, as well as changes to the microbiome. Participants remained on site for the entire month-long study, allowing for careful control of the dietary interventions.
Switching exclusively to the study diets caused notable changes in all participants. The vegan diet significantly impacted pathways linked to the innate immune system, including antiviral responses. On the other hand, the keto diet led to significant increases in biochemical and cellular processes linked to adaptive immunity, such as pathways associated with T and B cells. The keto diet affected levels of more proteins in the blood plasma than the vegan diet and proteins from a wider range of tissues, such as the blood, brain and bone marrow. The vegan diet promoted more red blood cell-linked pathways, including those involved in heme metabolism, which could be due to the higher iron content of this diet. Additionally, both diets produced changes in the participants’ microbiomes, causing shifts in the abundance of gut bacterial species previously linked to the diets. The keto diet was associated with changes in amino acid metabolism—an increase in human metabolic pathways for the production and degradation of amino acids and a reduction in microbial pathways for these processes—which might reflect the higher amounts of protein consumed by people on this diet.
The distinct metabolic and immune system changes caused by the two diets were observed despite the diversity of the participants, which shows that dietary changes consistently affect widespread and interconnected pathways in the body. More study is needed to examine how these nutritional interventions affect specific immune system components. According to the authors, the results of this study demonstrate that the immune system responds surprisingly rapidly to nutritional interventions. The authors suggest that it may be possible to tailor diets to prevent disease or complement disease treatments, such as by slowing processes associated with cancer or neurodegenerative disorders.
Plant-based low-carbohydrate diet linked with lower risk of premature death for people with type 2 diabetes
A new qualitative study highlights the negative interpersonal and psychological consequences associated with “yo-yo dieting,” also known as weight cycling. The work underscores how toxic yo-yo dieting can be and how difficult it can be for people to break the cycle.
“Yo-yo dieting – unintentionally gaining weight and dieting to lose weight only to gain it back and restart the cycle – is a prevalent part of American culture, with fad diets and lose-weight-quick plans or drugs normalized as people pursue beauty ideals,” says Lynsey Romo, corresponding author of a paper on the study and an associate professor of communication at North Carolina State University.
“Based on what we learned through this study, as well as the existing research, we recommend that most people avoid dieting, unless it is medically necessary. Our study also offers insights into how people can combat insidious aspects of weight cycling and challenge the cycle.”
For the study, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 36 adults – 13 men and 23 women – who had experienced weight cycling where they lost and regained more than 11 pounds. The goal was to learn more about why and how people entered the yo-yo dieting cycle and how, if at all, they were able to get out of it.
All the study participants reported wanting to lose weight due to social stigma related to their weight, and/or because they were comparing their weight to that of celebrities or peers.
“Overwhelmingly, participants did not start dieting for health reasons, but because they felt social pressure to lose weight,” Romo says.
The study participants also reported engaging in a variety of weight-loss strategies, which resulted in initial weight loss, but eventual regain.
Regaining the weight led people to feel shame and further internalize stigma associated with weight – leaving study participants feeling worse about themselves than they did before they began dieting. This, in turn, often led people to engage in increasingly extreme behaviors to try to lose weight again.
“For instance, many participants engaged in disordered weight management behaviors, such as binge or emotional eating, restricting food and calories, memorizing calorie counts, being stressed about what they were eating and the number on the scale, falling back on quick fixes (such as low-carb diets or diet drugs), overexercising, and avoiding social events with food to drop pounds fast,” says Romo. “Inevitably, these diet behaviors became unsustainable, and participants regained weight, often more than they had initially lost.”
“Almost all of the study participants became obsessed with their weight,” says Katelin Mueller, co-author of the study and graduate student at NC State. “Weight loss became a focal point for their lives, to the point that it distracted them from spending time with friends, family, and colleagues and reducing weight-gain temptations such as drinking and overeating.”
“Participants referred to the experience as an addiction or a vicious cycle,” Romo says. “Individuals who were able to understand and address their toxic dieting behaviors were more successful at breaking the cycle. Strategies people used to combat these toxic behaviors included focusing on their health rather than the number on the scale, as well as exercising for fun, rather than counting the number of calories they burned.
“Participants who were more successful at challenging the cycle were also able to embrace healthy eating behaviors – such as eating a varied diet and eating when they were hungry – rather than treating eating as something that needs to be closely monitored, controlled or punished.”
However, the researchers found the vast majority of study participants stuck in the cycle.
“The combination of ingrained thought patterns, societal expectations, toxic diet culture, and pervasive weight stigma make it difficult for people to completely exit the cycle, even when they really want to,” Romo says.
“Ultimately, this study tells us that weight cycling is a negative practice that can cause people real harm,” Romo says. “Our findings suggest that it can be damaging for people to begin dieting unless it is medically necessary. Dieting to meet some perceived societal standard inadvertently set participants up for years of shame, body dissatisfaction, unhappiness, stress, social comparisons, and weight-related preoccupation. Once a diet has begun, it is very difficult for many people to avoid a lifelong struggle with their weight.”
The paper, “A Qualitative Model of Weight Cycling,” is published in the journal Qualitative Health Research. The paper was co-authored by Sydney Earl, a Ph.D. student at NC State; and by Mary Obiol, an undergraduate at NC State.
A USC and MIT-led research team finds smartphone mobility data to be a good predictor of diet and diet-related disease.
How many fast-food joints do you come across throughout your day and what does that have to do with your health? A lot, says Abigail Horn.
Horn led a multidisciplinary team that set out to ascertain whether smartphone mobility (i.e., location) data could provide a way to measure people’s individually-experienced dynamic food environments, at scale across large and diverse populations and diverse physical environments.
Horn explained, “Can we use mobility data to measure people’s visits to food outlets? Because that’s a good proxy for eating food at that outlet. And then, can we go further to see whether visits to food outlets observed in the mobility data predict people’s dietary disease rates?”
Location, Location, Location
“It’s well established that the physical environment can impact people’s eating decisions and therefore their diet-related health outcomes, but what we don’t know is the extent to which that is true,” said Horn
Physical food environments are the actual spaces where people acquire food. “The food outlets in their neighborhood, or around their workplace, or any location along their daily path. Things like grocery stores, restaurants, or corner markets,” explained Horn.
These environments have been shown to impact people’s diets and therefore health outcomes – including diet-related diseases – in several ways. First, said Horn, “When people have low physical access to healthy foods, that can induce unhealthy choices out of convenience or necessity.” And second, “People can be cued by food environments. So, for example, if throughout your day you’re seeing fast-food outlets over and over again, that can cue or trigger certain behaviors” (i.e., eating more fast food).
There are a number of studies looking at people’s home neighborhood food environments and associating these with food choices and diet-related diseases. But the findings have been mixed, as have the results of public health initiatives that have focused on home neighborhood food environments.
Horn explained, “In the last decade or so, over a billion dollars have been invested in public health interventions in home food environments. This could mean building a grocery store in a food desert [a home neighborhood with limited access to nutritious food] or stocking the corner stores in that neighborhood with fresh fruit and vegetables.” But, she continued, “There’s been no measurable impact in increasing people’s healthy food purchases or health outcomes. So what’s going on here?”
Kayla de la Haye is one of the members of the research team who could help answer that question. De la Haye is the Director of the Institute for Food System Equity at USC Dornsife Center for Economic Research, and has a background in public health, nutrition, and psychology. “One of my roles in this research was to bring expertise in how people make decisions about what to eat, and the consequences of food environments that inundate people with unhealthy options and put them at risk for many diet-related diseases like obesity and diabetes.”
Looking Beyond the Neighborhood Market
De la Haye has worked with families across LA – from Lancaster to LA’s eastside – helping them with strategies to avoid unhealthy foods and adopt healthier eating habits. She said, “So I brought this real-world knowledge of the challenges Angelenos face in eating a healthy diet to our research project.”
The team knew from their own experiences, and from the experiences of families they’ve worked with in healthy eating programs, that people don’t just eat in their home neighborhood. But they needed the data to prove this at the population scale. Horn said, “We thought that the lack of data showing all of the places where people actually go to eat and where they’re spending the most time might explain why we’re not seeing associations between the home neighborhood food environment and people’s diet and health outcomes.”
So they turned to smartphones for the data.
For most of us, our smartphone is always tracking our location, and we probably share that data with several apps. Location data companies aggregate this data – called “mobility data” – and sell it for advertising. But increasingly, it is being made available for research, such as by Spectus.ai through their Social Impact Program, through which the data for this study was obtained.
Esteban Moro led the team at MIT that would help access and analyze this data. Moro, a Research Scientist at MIT Connection Science said, “Our group has a great deal of experience analyzing and using mobility data in problems like segregation, transportation, urban planning, and commercial activity. We are experts in analyzing large datasets of human behavior and transforming them into insightful tools for urban problems. So, our main role in this research was to provide and analyze population-wide mobility data about food consumption.”
Bringing Together All the Data
Using census block data for Los Angeles County to indicate home neighborhoods, and big mobility data to track daily trajectories, the researchers could see all of the proximity – the “exposures” – people would have to food outlets throughout their days.
The team looked specifically at fast-food outlets because fast food is commonly consumed and strongly linked with disease risk. Using “point of interest” data they identified fast-food outlets within LA County. To bring in the health piece of the puzzle, they accessed survey data from the LA County Health Department.
“The Los Angeles County Health Department does a health survey of the LA population every three years. We formed a collaboration with them, and they were able to share anonymized individual level data with us on socio-demographics, obesity rates, diabetes rates, and very importantly, fast-food intake frequency for a representative sample of the LA population,” said Horn.
By analyzing the data, the researchers confirmed that your home neighborhood matters when it comes to your risk of diet-related disease, but so does your commute, the path you take to run your daily errands, how you get from point A to point B and all the way to point Z in your day, and what those points are.
The Results?
“We know there is a relationship between fast-food outlet visits and fast-food intake, as well as between fast-food intake and diet-related diseases, but wow, this data source does a really good job of capturing that!” said Horn.
Moro elaborated, “The most surprising result is that mobility data works like a “honest signal,” i.e., visits to fast-food outlets were a better predictor of individuals’ obesity and diabetes than their self-reported fast-food intake, controlling for other known risks.”
De la Haye emphasized, “This work demonstrates that large-scale mobility data is in fact a valuable indicator of where and what people eat, and their risk for diet-related disease.”
Why is this so significant?
De la Haye explained, “Measuring what people eat is really difficult. In fact, many large public health surveys and surveillance tools have stopped asking people about their food intake because the data is often unreliable (in part because people often forget the details of what they ate, and also because they don’t always want to tell researchers about their less healthy food choices). So, this gives us a new tool to track dietary patterns, like eating fast food, for large populations such as residents of cities, counties, or the entire country.”
What’s Next?
“What I’m excited about as a researcher,” said Horn, “is that this opens up mobility data for all kinds of investigations into the food environment. Things like: where are people getting food at different times of day? Who are these people? When are they most influenced by the options available (or unavailable) to them? We can really investigate this with big mobility data, because it allows us to look at eating behaviors in large and new dimensions: at scale across the population, across diverse population groups, diverse environmental surroundings, and over long periods of time.”
De la Haye underscores the importance of this, “data on population dietary patterns is a powerful tool needed to make public health programs and policies, and ultimately reduce health risks from one of the leading causes of illness and death in the U.S.: unhealthy diets.”
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