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Fewer Carbs Lower Blood Pressure

A low-carb diet can fight fat. Eating fewer carbohydratess can also lower your blood pressure — and it can be even more effective than weight loss drugs.

This new research from Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Duke University Medical Center demonstrates that it's very possible to get the same results without weight loss drugs, and without risk of potential side effects or extra cost.

The news also comes as a major benefit to those with hypertension that are trying to shed pounds. 146 overweight individuals involved in the study were broken into two groups: one that followed a low-carb diet and another that took orlistat while on a low-fat diet. 47% in the low-carb group had their blood pressure medication decreased or discontinued, while 21% of the low-fat, orlistat group had to reduce their medication.
—ScienceDaily

Learn more about obesity.

New Obesity Health Risk

Researchers recently uncovered a reason why obese people have a higher risk for health complications -- a protein called pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) that is secreted by fat cells.

Research on mice shows that if some of PEDF's action are blocked, it may reverse some complications for obese individuals and also opens up new drug opportunities.

PEDF is produced by fat cells in overweight people with higher levels of protein in the bloodstream. The protein can trigger insulin resistance, which can lead to type 2 diabetes in the bloodstream and liver and also increases risk for heart disease.

However, tests on the obese lab mice found that treatments that blocked PEDF's action resulted in lowering blood fat level and reversed some of their insulin resistance. As the mice lost weight, their PEDF levels fell. --BBC News

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Got Vitamin D?

Vitamin D has always been an important part of our daily diet, and now it's been linked to successful weight loss.

Vitamin D deficiency has commonly been associated with obesity, but the question remains whether it causes obesity, or if obesity causes the deficiency.

In a new study presented at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., researchers shared their findings based on an 11-week study that measured circulating blood levels of vitamin D in 38 overweight men and women before and after they followed a diet plan of 750 calories a day fewer than their estimated total needs. The goal was to find out whether baseline vitamin D levels before going on a calorie-restricted diet would affect weight loss.

The findings included the following:

• Subjects had insufficient vitamin D levels on average.
• Higher baseline vitamin D levels predicted greater loss of abdominal fat.

...baseline, or pre-diet, vitamin D levels predicted weight loss in a linear relationship. For every increase of 1 ng/mL in level of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol—the precursor form of vitamin D and a commonly used indicator of vitamin D status—subjects ended up losing almost a half pound (0.196 kg) more on their calorie-restricted diet. For each 1-ng/mL increase in the active or "hormonal" form of vitamin D (1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol), subjects lost nearly one-quarter pound (0.107 kg) more.

Although further research on vitamin D's active role in weight loss is needed, it is still recommended as a necessary part of a healthy diet. —ScienceDaily

Your Social Circle Can Make or Break Your Dieting Habits

There is strength in numbers when it comes to getting the support you need from those closest to you, like family and friends, and it's especially important to your diet and overall health.

We previously blogged about how children are more likely to eat more when dining with friends who consume more calories, based on a study of teens and tweens published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In the same vein, there is further research that shows obesity can be contagious.

In a 2007 study spanning 32 years of a social network of 12,000 adults conducted by Harvard researcher Nicholas Christakis and fellow colleagues, it was found that a person is 37 percent more likely to be obese if a spouse is, 40 percent more likely if a sibling is and 57 percent more likely if a friend is.

The reasoning behind these facts is that adults eat more in the presence of family and friends than with strangers, and that socializing with overweight individuals can affect their perceptions of what the norm is regarding eating habits.

Finally, there's the idea that we just like to hang with people that are like ourselves. Cornell food sociologist Jeffrey Sobal explains that "especially among two overweight people, there's a sort of permission-giving going on. We're encouraging each other to eat more."

Wanting to be proactive about losing weight doesn't mean dropping overweight friends because making the decision to eat healthier can just as easily influence those around you to do the same.

--TIME

Obesity Raises Endometrial Cancer Risk

Women with extra weight have a higher risk of endometrial cancer, states a new study published by Obstetrics & Gynecology.

The study found this was the case especially if the woman experiences an early menopause, and that women with a body mass index (BMI) higher than 35 who were under the age of 45 before their last menstrual period were 22 times more likely to develop endometrial cancers than other women of the same age with healthy BMIs.

Women who were younger than 45 when they had their last period and had a BMI above 35 had a 21.7 times greater risk of developing endometrial cancer than a woman of normal weight. In women older than 45 at their last menstrual period, those with BMIs above 35 had 3.7 times greater odds of developing endometrial cancer than their normal-weight peers.

Women who had BMIs of at least 25 who were also under 45 at the age of their last menstrual period had about a sixfold increase in risk vs. their normal-weight counterparts.

The researchers suspect that a hormonal imbalance, specifically a lack of progesterone, is likely to blame for the increased risk, Thomas said.

However, weight loss can aid in reducing the risk of endometrial cancer, and is another important reason to get healthier. Any woman who experiences significant changes in her menstrual period is also strongly advised to discuss it with her physician. —HealthDay News

Top 3 Preventable Causes of Death Include Being Overweight

A study recently published in PLoS Medicine led by the Harvard School of Public, in conjunction with the University of Toronto and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, is the most comprehensive to date taking into consideration how diet, lifestyle and metabolic chronic disease contribute to mortality in the U.S.

The results found that many of these factors include dietary and lifestyle risk factors that are preventable. The number of deaths that occur in the U.S. annually are attributed to the following risk factors listed below -- all of which were considered premature or preventable.

Smoking: 467,000

High blood pressure: 395,000

Overweight-obesity: 216,000

Inadequate physical activity and inactivity: 191,000

High blood sugar: 190,000

High LDL cholesterol: 113,000

High dietary salt: 102,000

Low dietary omega-3 fatty acids (seafood): 84,000

High dietary trans fatty acids: 82,000

Alcohol use: 64,000 (alcohol use averted a balance of 26,000 deaths from heart disease, stroke and diabetes, because moderate drinking reduces risk of these diseases. But these deaths were outweighed by 90,000 alcohol-related deaths from traffic and other injuries, violence, cancers and a range of other diseases).

Low intake of fruits and vegetables: 58,000

Low dietary poly-unsaturated fatty acids: 15,000

The study was the first of its kind to look at a wide range of contributing risk factors, including diet, lifestyle, smoking, alcohol and metabolic factors of the U.S. population, and to figure how many deaths were a result of each risk factor.

Source: PhysOrg.com; April 28, 2009

Weight Loss Linked to Reduced Incontinence

The New England Journal of Medicine earlier this year published a new study showing the connection between losing weight and incontinence relief.

The clinical trial, which was cited in a New York Times article by Roni Caryn Rabin, of 338 overweight and obese women with incontinence problems who took in a six-month weight loss program discovered that they experienced half the amount of leakage incidents compared to before the program.

The women, who lost an average of 17 pounds, experienced a 47 percent reduction in the number of weekly incontinence episodes, compared to women in the control group, whose weekly episodes dropped by 28 percent, the study found. The women in the comparison group didn't participate in a weight loss program but attended four educational sessions that included information about weight loss, physical activity and healthy eating.

“The really lovely thing about this is not only can women treat their incontinence, but there are a myriad of other healthy benefits like improved blood pressure control, lipids, sleep, libido," said Dr. Leslee L. Subak, first author of the paper and an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California, San Francisco.

“Weight loss should be a first-line recommendation for urinary incontinence," she added.

The study supported the hypothesis that excess weight puts extra pressure on the bladder and pelvic floor, and that a loss in weight will put less pressure on the bladder, Dr. Subak told the New York Times.

Source: The New York Times; Feb 3, 2009

You regained 5 pounds?

The common response most people have is not to worry too much,make a few simple changes and the weight will come off. Another theory is "It's only 5 pounds, and I can get it off on my own. I am embarrassed to go back to the weight loss center where I lost the weight, because they will think I'm a failure..."

So what is 5 pounds after all? 5 POUNDS IS 17,000 CALORIES. You would have to drink water and take vitamins and eat nothing else for 11 days to lose 5 pounds of fat! It just can't be done on your own, and I would never suggest starvation as an option.

You lost the weight through the help of a weight loss support system. You will need the help of the same place to get the weight back off. They are waiting for you with open arms to help you get back on track. They understand that overweight and obesity are chronic conditions that need ongoing care and attention. You will gain their respect because you accepted you need help to be successful.

Becoming a black belt in weight loss takes one to two years to master. It takes a plan and persistence. Most importantly, it takes a back up strategy when you relapse. Respect 5 pounds.

If your clothes still fit, you may be gaining weight!

We often judge our weight by the size clothes we wear. Unfortunately, the clothing industry has responded to the worsening obesity epidemic by gradually increasing the size of clothing. They do this to make us all feel better about the clothes we buy.

In one study, size 8 clothing increased by 2 1/2"(6.5 cm) between 1984 and 2004. The drift in clothing sizes is also occurring in the UK.

We advocate using your clothing size as a means to feedback weight gain. This works as long as you are using your current clothes.

Beverage Consumption and Weight Change

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health recently conducted a study examining the relationship between beverage consumption and changes in weight with results confirming what doctors and dieticians have been telling patients all along: sugary drinks are not good for the waistline.

The study finds that not only are both liquid and solid calories associated with weight changes, but reduction of liquid calories can significantly affect weight loss after a 6-month follow-up, Benjamin Caballero, MD, PhD, told the ScienceDaily.

“A reduction in liquid calorie intake was associated with a weight loss of 0.25 kg at 6 months and 0.24 kg at 18 months. Among sugar-sweetened beverages, a reduction of 1 serving was associated with a weight loss of 0.5 kg at 6 months and 0.7 kg at 18 months. Of the seven types of beverages examined, sugar-sweetened beverages were the only beverages significantly associated with weight change.”

Other study findings include that sugar-sweetened beverages were the only type of beverage associated with significant weight change over periods of 6 and 18 months, supporting recommendations to reduce liquid calories, particularly sugar-sweetened beverages, to aid weight loss.

Source: ScienceDaily.com; April 2, 2009