Latest Health News

The following is a selection of articles from past issues of Beck Health & Nutrition's Latest Health News email updates. Click on a link below or simply use your browser to scroll through each article. If you would like to subscribe to our free quarterly Latest Health & Nutrition News simply click here.

March-April 2005

Craving Chocolate? Don't adjust your TV set

Chocoholics may be better able to conquer their cravings by watching a flickering, un-tuned television for a few seconds. Researchers from Adelaide's Flinders University published their findings on the effect of random, flickering patterns on chocolate cravings in the February 2005 issue of the journal Eating Behaviors.

Cravings are thought to be triggered by vivid mental images of a desired food. However observing randomly flickering images or patterns can interfere with the production of these mental images therefore making the mental images less vivid. This subsequently reduces the intensity of the craving.

Participants (48 female undergraduate students) were asked to visualise images of chocolate cake, chocolate bars, chocolate pudding, chocolate ice cream, chocolate drinks, chocolate mousse or chocolate brownies. At the same time they were asked to look either at a blank screen, or at a computer screen with randomly flickering black and white dots, for eight seconds.

All of the participants reported a decrease in cravings when looking at the flickering images as compared to looking at the blank screen. However the reduction in chocolate cravings was more marked in those who were self-confessed 'chocolate cravers' compared with those who reported that they merely liked chocolate.

The study also found that listening to irrelevant speech in a foreign language reduced chocolate cravings too, but not as effectively as the randomly flickering images.

Source: Lowinger J, 2005, ABC Science Online, Monday 31st January 2005.

Weight loss: how fast is too fast?

Has weight loss become a spectator sport? On last we could think of at least five series currently on TV dedicated to radical makeovers invariably including dramatic weight loss. It seems whenever we tune in we can follow staggering drops in weight all wrapped up into dizzying one hour packages. And while we all understand that it is the magic of TV that is able to deliver these turbo-charged makeovers (combined with a range of surgery, drastic diets, endless sessions with pricey personal trainers, not to mention the new designer wardrobe and hairdo) the underlying message is the same - you can have this now!

So here's the reality of it. More than 90% of all weight loss diets fail in the long term simply because they aim for rapid weight loss strategies that are unable to sustained in the long term. For the majority of the population weight loss should not exceed an average of 0.5-1kg each week. Anything more than this and you are generally losing vital muscle tissue and water. Remember also that for truly effective weight loss and body shaping you should also be increasing your physical activity (and therefore increasing your muscle mass).

Invisible Fibre

Several varieties of commercial white bread have hit our supermarket shelves over the past couple of years claiming to be rich in dietary fibre. The health benefits of diets rich in dietary fibre have been recognised since the 1800s and on first glance these breads provide a solution to those of us who prefer white bread.

The basic concept of dietary fibre is that it is a food component that moves through the digestive system without ever being absorbed. Dietary fibre present naturally in foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes contains chains of sugar molecules connected by chemical bonds unable to be broken down by human digestive system. These fibres remain too large to be absorbed into the blood and thus move through the digestive system without ever being absorbed.

It is now known that a small amount of starch (digestible carbohydrate) we eat is not digested. This escaped starch is called resistant starch, behaving in the body much like dietary fibre. Strains of wheat, branded as Hi-Maize, which have starch granules that contain a greater proportion of amylose (unbranched starch) than normal wheat are now cultivated in Australia. This greater proportion of amylose causes the starch granules to be more densely packed structure, making it more difficult to be digested. This Hi-Maize is the 'active' component used in these high-fibre white breads.

High fibre diets are universally thought to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as colon cancer and cardiovascular disease. The research to support these health benefits however are based on foods naturally rich in dietary fibre (e.g. fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes) which also contain significant quantities of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals - all of which are independently recognised to assist in the reduction of risk of these chronic diseases. Put simply, the benefits of a high-fibre diet is not just about the fibre.

Milk not the only factor for healthy bones

Kids Kids who drink more milk do not necessarily grow healthier bones. A review published in this month's issue of the journal Pediatrics
stress the importance of exercise and regular consumption of a variety of calcium-rich foods like tofu. Other ways to obtain the absorbable calcium found in one cup of cow's milk include a cup of fortified orange juice, a cup of soy milk, two-thirds of a cup of tofu, or one and two-thirds a cup of broccoli, the report says.

The researchers reviewed 37 prior studies into the impact of dietary calcium intake on bone strength in children aged 7 years or older concluding that 27 of the stud did not support drinking more milk to boost calcium. Several studies, which examined such factors as bone density and rate of fractures, concluded that exercise may be more important than increased calcium consumption in developing strong bones (data was scarce on the effect of calcium intake for children younger than seven years).

In an accompanying commentary, Dr Frank Greer, a US paediatrician, says the ideal way to achieve the goal of healthy bones is to make sure children exercise and consume up to 1300 milligrams a day of calcium.
Source: Reuters Tuesday, 8 March 2005

February 2005

Does turning 40 change diet and lifestyle habits?

British researchers set out to investigate how age can change diet and physical activity. The study published in this month's European Journal of Clinical Nutrition investigates whether adults studied in 1991 and 1999 (at ages 33 and 42 years) improved their diet and their physical activity levels in the direction of recommendations issued during the same period. The data collected was part of the ongoing 1958 British Birth Cohort Study tracking all births across England, Scotland and Wales between 3rd and 9th March 1958 with over 11 000 participants.

Changes were determined via measurements of frequency of leisure time activity and consumption of (i) fried food, (ii) chips, (iii) wholemeal bread and (iv) fruit and salad/raw vegetables, at 33 and 42 years. Most people changed their physical activity and dietary habits over the 8 year period. About a third of men and women increased, and a third decreased their activity frequency. Findings for fried food consumption were similar. Many more participants reported decreasing their consumption of chips (32%) as opposed to ate more chips (17%). 30% of participants increased their fruit and salad consumption while 25% decreased it. In all, 26% of men and 33% of women consistently ate, or switched to eating mostly wholemeal bread, while 56% of men and 48% of women consistently ate less or switched to eating less.

Source: Parsons TJ, Manor O, Power C, 2005, Changes in diet and physical activity in the 1990s in a large British sample (1958 birth cohort), Eur J Clin Nutr, vol.59, no.1, pp.49-56.

Increased metabolism after exercise - does afterburn really exist?

Anyone who has embarked on a weight loss or get-fit program has undoubtedly heard about the benefits of 'afterburn' - the period of time directly after intense exercise where the body continues to burn calories at a higher than normal rate. Afterburn, or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), is caused during intense exercise. While exercising at higher intensities your muscles require more oxygen than is normally available so the body redirects oxygen from other areas. When you finish exercising areas of the body that are low in oxygen work to recover oxygen that they forfeited to the muscles. The body also needs to cool down and restore hormone balance, all of which requires oxygen.

However the impact of this 'afterburn', or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), is often exaggerated. Depending on the intensity of the workout EPOC can last from two to 15 hours and amounts to roughly 10 to 15 calories for every 100 calories burned during the actual exercise. Dr Cedric Byant, chief exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise describes it this way "If you go to the gym and burn 300 calories, your afterburn will be about 45 calories. That's one bite of a Snickers bar... People should not look at this as a licence to eat and drink all day thinking that their earlier workout is melting calories away". The important thing to remember is that the major contribution to weight loss is via the energy expended during the actual exercise - not the afterburn.

Source: Briley J, 2005, Afterburn dismissed, The Washington Post, reprinted in The Sydney Morning Herald; Health & Science Supplement, January 13 2005, p.3.

Taste for meat made humans early weaners

In non-industrialised societies, women breastfeed their children for an average of two and a half years, while chimpanzees feed theirs for five. Anthropologist Gail Kennedy of the University of California has proposed that a taste for meat prompted early humans to wean their children at a younger age than other great apes.

Kennedy suggests that humans made the transition to early weaning 2.6 million years ago at a time when a branch of hominids began to eat animal carcasses - a dangerous quest that would have brought them into contact with other predators and significantly increased chance of death for the hunters. This would have created a pressure to wean infants earlier and earlier, since those no longer dependent on breast milk would have been more likely to survive their mother's death.

Nutritionally the benefit of eating meat at a younger age would have enhanced the rate at which children's brains grow and develop. Human brains grow three times quicker than those of chimpanzees.

But Barry Bogin of the University of Michigan provides another rationale for early weaning. He believes it allowed hominid mothers to have more offspring. "By weaning at 30 months, we have a great reproductive jump over our closest cousins; we can crank out two babies in the time it takes a chimpanzee to have one," he says.

Journal reference: Journal of Human Evolution (DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.09.005), reported in Gosline A, 2005, Taste for meat made humans early weaners, New Scientist Magazine, 26 January 2005.

I didn't mean to say you're fat

While all of us can censor our thoughts, some of us are better at it than others, and it's easy to slip up. Stress, tiredness and being distracted increase the likeliness of "putting your foot in it", telling people what you really think of them, or making other social blunders. Researchers from the University of New South Wales investigated what happens when things go wrong. "The dinner party guest who puts his foot in his mouth could lack a crucial mental ability that stops the rest of us from blurting out our true feelings," says Associate Professor Bill von Hippel.

The UNSW researchers tested 71 people to monitor socially accepted behaviour under a range of tests and pressures. They first tested the participants' ability to hold their tongues and suppress irrelevant or inappropriate thoughts by sitting the Stroop test. The Stroop test requires participants to say the colour of the word, but not read the word itself. So, red should be read as "blue" not "red". The test monitors how effectively people can block out the irrelevance of the actual word and a widely used to judge inhibitory ability.

Participants were then divided into groups and asked to eat a chicken's foot under different levels of social pressure. The "high-pressure" group were served a chicken foot by a Chinese woman. The woman also described as the national dish of China and her personal favourite. The expectation being that most people attempted to be polite about the meal, despite personal misgiving. The "low-pressure" group were served a chicken foot by a woman who wasn't Chinese and said only that it was Chinese food.

Those who performed poorly on the earlier inhibitory Stroop test also performed poorly in this situation, acting in a way thought socially inappropriate, like pulling a face or saying "that's disgusting".

The experiment also manipulated attention by including distractions. The people in the study had to remember an eight-digit number while they were served the chicken foot. Their attention was now divided between remembering the number and conforming to social etiquette.

"Even people with good inhibitory ability were likely to behave inappropriately when distracted. This suggests that our ability to suppress our true feelings is disrupted under demanding conditions," von Hippel says. "It's well established that older people, very young people, and some brain-damaged people have less inhibitory control over thought and action. However this new research suggests that important variations occur in the general population in this inhibitory ability; some of us are naturally better at holding our tongue than others.

"Many people may be unable to inhibit the tendency to blurt things out even when they know the rules of social behaviour and want to behave appropriately...It's likely that people who can inhibit their true feelings in a challenging social situation are more likely to succeed in jobs requiring a high degree of social etiquette, such as international diplomacy".

"But even experienced career diplomats may find it increasingly difficult to act appropriately if they are distracted or fatigued, or as they grow older." The findings are soon to be published in Psychological Science.

Reference, Marshall J, 2005, 'Whoops, I didn't mean to say you're fat', ABS Science Online, 24th January 2005, http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1287638.htm

Bigger women need more pre-pregnancy folate

Women with a body mass index greater (BMI) than 30 may need additional folate over and above current recommendation levels for women of childbearing age. Higher pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) is associated with increased risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) a condition linked with low maternal folate levels. Using data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, it was estimated that women with a BMI greater than 30 would need to take an additional 350 microg/day of folate to achieve the same serum folate level as women with a BMI less than 20. To calculate BMI use the following equation:

Body Mass Index = weight (kg) / (height (m) x height (m)

Example 60kg, 154 cm woman = 60/(1.54 x 1.54) = 25.3 BMI

Source: Mojtabai R, 2004, Body mass index and serum folate in childbearing age women, Eur J Epidemiol, vol. 19, no.11, pp.1029-36.

December 2004

Chocolate best recipe for persistent cough

Theobromine, a naturally occurring substance in cocoa (and thus in chocolate) stops persistent coughing more effectively than codeine. Codeine, a narcotic analgesic (a relaxant and pain killer) is considered the most effective clinical cough treatment. The double-blind placebo-controlled study of 10 healthy volunteers also found theobromine had none of the drawbacks associated with codeine - drowsiness, constipation, reduced respiration and addiction - and it might be able to be used in higher concentrations than codeine for even greater effectiveness. Source: Imperial College, London.

After fruit, biscuits are the most commonly packed snack in school lunch boxes (present in 59% of school lunches). Researchers from Deakin University collected data from 1001 school children (aged 4-12 years) to see what was in their lunchbox. Muesli/fruit bars were the next most common (present in 39% of lunchboxes) followed by chips (36%). Twenty-six percent of children had chocolate and/or lollies in their lunchbox.

Bell AC, Kremer PJ, Swinburn BA, 2004, “Everything in my lunchbox is healthy – except for the spoon … and the chocolate”; Asia Pacific Journal Clinical Nutrition, vol. 13 (Suppl), pp. S38.

Those of us who find ourselves staggering about after strenuous exercise tend to blame weary muscles for the problem but it appears it's our brain that's responsible. Strenuous exercise can lead to clumsiness and difficulty performing skilled movements such as threading a needle. It seems that the brain works out where our limbs are in space partly by using information it collects on how much effort against gravity it takes to move an arm or a leg into a particular position. If your limb muscles are tired, that limb is harder to move - and this confuses the brain. This post exercise clumsiness vanishes as your muscle fibres are repaired.

Young E, 2004, 'Take the fall out of exercise', Sydney Morning Herald, Aug. 19

Women who report regularly dieting or restricting food intake are more likely to snack following a stressful incident or when required to complete intellectually challenging tasks than women who do not regularly diet. The British research to be published in this month's Journal of Eating Behaviour also concluded that regular dieters eat significantly more food under post-stress conditions than their non-dieting counterparts.

Lattimore P, Maxwell L, 2004, 'Cognitive load, stress, and disinhibited eating', Eat Behav, Nov; 5(4):315-24.

Those who led sedentary lives as children appear to be at greater risk of developing chronic fatigue syndrome (myalgic encephalomyelitits), says a study published in October's British Medical Journal. This is contrary to earlier suggestions that high levels of exercise might increase the risk. The study - of the 1970 British cohort: 16 567 babies who were regularly monitored until age 30 - found no link between the disease and early psychological distress, academic ability, birth order or parental illness.

Several studies have concluded that breastfeeding may protect infants against future overweight problems however exactly why this is remains unclear. One possible theory is that breastfeeding promotes a style of feeding that mothers are responsive to their baby's cues of hunger and satiety (fullness), thereby allowing the baby greater scope to self-regulate their energy intake. A US study to be published in Journal of Pediatrics concluded mothers who breastfed in infancy reported less restrictive behaviour regarding child feeding at 1 year.

Tavera EM et al, 2004, 'Association of breastfeeding with maternal control of infant feeding at age 1 year', Pediatrics, Oct 18 (published online (Epub) ahead of print.

For most young people being fat is not cool. Yet the number of overweight and obese children and teenagers in Australia continues to rise at an alarming rate. Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are just some of the health risks that overweight and obese children are vulnerable to. Other problems include low self-esteem, joint complaints, and sleep disruption due to snoring that can lead to tiredness and create behaviour and learning problems.

Biologically, overweight and obesity is simply caused by an eating more dietary energy than you expend. If we consume more energy than we use the excess energy will be stored in the body, primarily as body fat. Therefore, the only way to lose weight is to increase energy expenditure (physical activity) or reduce the amount of dietary energy being consumed.

As the research into the childhood obesity crisis increases, so too do the number of proposed causes and contributing factors. The following is a compilation of just some of the interrelating factors that have been put forward by researchers and medical experts as to why the number of children and teenagers now considered to be overweight or obese is constantly increasing.

On average TVs, DVDs, the internet and computer games keep children sedentary for up to 85% of the hours between 3:30 and 6:30pm on weekdays⁷, a time in the day that was traditionally used by children to play outdoors. More and more studies (as well as plain old common-sense) tell us that if children don’t burn up enough energy by doing regular physical activity they will increase their chances of becoming overweight²¹. Watching too much television, being driven instead of walking, not partaking in sport or regular exercise (either in the form of organized sport e.g. tennis coaching, netball, swimming training, or as incidental exercise, playing, walking etc) can all leave children vulnerable.

When we think of malnutrition, we tend to think of starving children, however new thinking is pointing towards childhood obesity in fact being a form of malnutrition. The term malnutrition can be defined as ‘lack of proper nutrition resulting from deficiencies in the diet’. A recent study of Australian school children found that many obese children were, on average, 2cm shorter than their leaner classmates. The findings suggest that while these children are obviously consuming more than enough food, the types of food that they are commonly consuming do not contain the vital nutrients required for growth and development.

Studies show that children from Mediterranean and Middle Eastern backgrounds had a higher relative weight than children from other backgrounds, while those of Asian ethnic origin were lighter in weight. In addition, children from families of lower socioeconomic status were found to be more overweight. More recent studies of NSW school children support these general findings.

Several studies show that obesity rates are higher in rural areas – at least among adults. Distance from medical facilities, and from education or information sources, may be part of the reason. But there are also fewer options for eating out. Restaurants in remote or rural areas tend to have richer, heavier foods. Country areas are also less multicultural and are therefore less likely to have a wide variety of international cuisines which can lead to healthier eating.

Children whose biological parents are overweight are more at risk of becoming overweight than those whose biological parents are of a normal weight. Studies of identical twins adopted at birth to different families confirm this, as more often than not, twins’ individual weight status are more indicative of their biological parents weight than that of their adoptive families. Nevertheless in circumstances, where the biological parents raise their own children eating styles and physical activity patterns are significant contributing factors to the risk of overweight and obesity.

It goes without saying that a child or teenager’s family or home environment can significantly impact upon their weight status. Families who generally follow healthy eating guidelines and regular physical activity will impart many important life skills onto their children.

Interestingly, a mother’s own dieting behaviour has been shown to be associated with how well she will feed her children. A study of mothers of primary school age children in Britain revealed that mothers in general tend to feed their children in a less healthy way than they feed themselves. Specifically, they feed their children more sweet products, and more unhealthy breads and dairy products. However, whereas they reported being motivated more by practicality (e.g. availability, cost) and calories when choosing foods for themselves, they stated that health (nutritional value, long-term health) was more important when choosing food for their children. In relation to dieting mothers, it appeared that dieters were more self-prioritising than non-dieters in their differentiation between themselves and their children.

Babies who grow slowly in the womb and are born small have a much higher risk of developing heart disease, late onset diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke later in life. The theory is that these conditions are the result of the organs and metabolic systems of fetuses having to adapt to being undernourished at a time when they are still developing their functions. This ability to adapt to hardship in the womb may have evolved so that unborn babies could survive even when their mothers faced lean times. Once born, such infants may have been well adapted to survive in a deprived environment. But in developed countries, with plenty of food and an inactive lifestyle, the results can be fatal.

Exclusive breastfeeding for six months, after which solid foods are gradually introduced while breastfeeding is continued (ideally for the first 12 months of life) is thought to lessen the risk of infants experiencing weight problems later in life.

Dieting and exams don't mix

Australian research now shows that dieters are more forgetful when it comes to carrying out some complex cognitive tasks as it seems that some of their memory space is taken up thoughts of food, weight and body image. Researchers from Adelaide's Flinders University divided 92 female university students into three groups: those currently on a diet, those who had dieted in the past and those who had never dieted. The students then performed a series of cognitive tasks, such as tests recalling sequences of short and long words. The researchers found that those currently dieting struggled with complex verbal tasks. "You would think that dieting doesn't have much to do with verbal type things. But our study showed that when people were doing a task and then had to say something like numbers at the same time it affected their performance,".

Interestingly, only those who were currently dieting were affected; those who had once dieted performed on par with those who had never dieted. The researchers said this indicated it was the dieting behaviour itself that contributed to the poorer performance. The researchers reported that the study findings were consistent with the idea that it was dieters' preoccupying thoughts that led to poorer memory performance. Source: http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/health/HealthRepublish_1105852.htm

Men may 'inherit' sperm damage We have known for decades that smoking can affect male fertility however the concept that male smokers could actually pass this reduced sperm count down to their sons and even grandsons is an alarming new concept. Over the past 50 years rates of fertility measured as sperm counts have fallen by 50 per cent however smoking may not be the only culprit for this massive reduction in male fertility.

Sperm counts have been falling dramatically since the Second World War and the birth of the chemicals industry, so that really points the finger at industrial chemicals, solvents, cleaning products, etc. In the past we have concerned ourselves with not exposing pregnant mothers to cigarette smoke and other chemicals but we really need to re-focus now on protecting men against these agents, not only for their own health, but for the benefit of future generations.

A lot of evidence suggests that these environmental impacts on fathers that can cause genetic disease in their offspring and while researchers say that the likelihood of these environmental factors giving rise to sudden birth defects simply because the DNA damaged induced in a father's sperm is unlikely the greater concern comes from the compound effects of ancestors of both the mother and father. Only one or two per cent of the genome is coding for anything, and the likelihood that you hit a key gene is remote. But if your genome has been damaged by your great-grandfather's pipe smoking habit, and your wife's genome has been damaged because her great-grandad worked in the wood processing industry, then it's the coming together of these damaged genomes which may start to reveal dramatic genetic problems.

The effect of starvation during adolescence the ultimate health impact starvation can cause during childhood and adolescence has been a constant unknown for people dealing with conditions such as anorexia nervosa however results from a study of childhood survivors from Leningrad in WWII may shed new light on the risks. For almost 3 years from 1941, Leningrad was under siege by Hitler’s armies. Hundreds of thousands of people died, many from starvation.

About 1500 men who lived in Leningrad during the siege were followed over 25 years from the mid 70s. As children and adolescents during the war, they would have been living on about 300 calories (1200 kilojoules) per day. People have suspected that starvation can cause heart and blood vessel problems later in life - but the results of research have been mixed.

Men who had been in the siege, especially around puberty, had higher blood pressure and more body fat. And during follow up they were significantly more likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than men who hadn’t experienced such starvation. These findings allowed for the men’s smoking, alcohol intake and other factors which might have clouded the results.

The reason may be that puberty is a vulnerable period where the stress of starvation can permanently re-set hormones and damage the heart. The question is whether the same thing occurs in people with severe anorexia nervosa - and there is some evidence that it does.

Iron for babies Teenagers who were iron deficient as babies are likely to lag behind their peers in both motor and cognitive skills, even if the deficiency was treated during infancy. University of Michigan researchers examined 191 children at five years, 11-14 and at 15-17. The iron deficient group fared worse on the cognitive measures and that difference increased over time. They scored six points lower on mental tests as 1-2 years and were 11 points lower at 15-18 years.

Juice claims lack substance it seems that juice bars are popping up in shopping malls and CBDs of every major city and town and the range of fruit and vegetable juices available in supermarkets continues to grow but how healthy are these juices and can they replace fruit and vegetables in the diet? Juices are a great source of nutrients however in general Australians are already not consuming enough dietary fibre so relying on juices to provide much of our fruit and vegetable requirements is reducing our dietary fibre intake further. Juice gives you all the dietary energy of a few pieces of fruit but not the fibre that fills you up. And what about the claims by many juice bars that particular juices will provide an energy boost, improve immunity or reduce stress? Such claims are normally reliant on herbal supplements such as ginseng, guarana or echinacea being added to the juices. In this instance you are relying on the quality and dosage of the herbal supplement being used. Source: Goodyer P. Juice claims lack substance. Sydney Morning Herald Thursday April 15 2004.

Are overweight kids malnourished? We tend to assume that the obese child is overfed however new thinking is pointing towards childhood obesity in fact being a form of malnutrition. The term malnutrition can be defined as ‘lack of proper nutrition resulting from deficiencies in the diet’ and a recent study of Australian school children found that many obese children were shorter than the other children by about 2 centimetres. The findings suggest that while these children are obviously consuming more than dietary energy, the types of food that they are commonly consuming do not provide enough of the vital nutrients required for growth and development. It seems as though excess calories are replacing the core food groups of meat, milk, fruit and vegetables in the diet so despite all the food the obese child is eating they may actually be missing out on vital vitamins and minerals. Source: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1073786.htm

How does the Atkins diet work? The Atkins diet prescribes unlimited intake of fat and protein rich foods while virtually eliminating all carbohydrate foods. Even the amount of fruit is restricted. The world's most beautiful and famous people have taken Dr Atkins' advice and the book Atkins new diet revolution knocked Harry Potter off the best seller's list in the UK but how can a diet that encourages unrestricted intake of fat and protein rich foods without any regard for caloric intake actually work?

The truth is that until recently no one had yet systematically looked at how the Atkins diet actually worked. Not even Dr Atkins knew. During his lifetime Dr Atkins put forward a number of untested but possible theories to how you could eat more but still lose weight. He had speculated that turning fats and proteins into energy is a much more complicated chemical process than that of creating energy from carbohydrates and therefore the body would burn more energy breaking down a high protein, high fat diet. Dr Atkins also theorised that by eliminating carbohydrates your body would use up its glucose stores and then turn to fat for fuel. As your body burns fats it creates as a by-product molecules called ketones. Ketones are actually quite toxic so the body eliminates them in the urine and because ketones are in fact calories you could literally flush them down the toilet.

Researchers at Kansas University put Dr Atkins' theories to the test by comparing the heat, energy, ketone output of two identical twins. For two weeks one of the twins was put on the high fat, high protein Atkins diet. The other was put on a conventional low-fat diet. They were then locked in to a sealed chamber for a whole day and night where their levels of oxygen intake were measured in order to calculate how quickly their bodies were burning fuel. The twins' urine was also tested for ketone output. Results from oxygen measurements found that the twin on the Atkins diet did lose a few more calories (22), but barely enough to warrant the theory that you lose more calories when breaking down the high fat high protein Atkins diet. The results of urine tests were even more damning with the twin on Atkins losing less than a single calorie more than his twin on low-fat. So while these tests essentially disproved Dr Atkins' theories they did little to answer how in fact the diet did in fact work. Instead the answer may have come via a popular UK television series.

The TV series Diet Trials tracked the progress of four groups of dieters following four different diets. Three of the groups followed different variants of conventional low-fat low-calorie diets while the fourth group followed the Atkins diet. All dieters were required to keep a detailed diary of what they ate. All four diets performed similarly when it came to weight loss however it wasn't until researchers started to analyse the diet diaries from the Atkins dieters that something interesting emerged.

The diaries revealed that although those on the Atkins diet could eat as much as they liked they were actually eating as few calories as the low calorie dieters. So for all of the talk of limitless calories the Atkins dieters were eating less than they normally would (and therefore losing weight). At last it seems the mystery of the Atkins diet works may have been solved and it appears to have nothing to do with ketosis, burning more calories or limitless fat intake. Instead it seems that the Atkins diet works because protein makes you feel full and therefore curbs your appetite.

So what does this mean for Atkins dieters and the rest of us? Essentially it means that by increasing our protein intake we can curb our appetite (ever noticed for example how if you eat a salad sandwich it is not often that you would feel full, however if eating a similar sandwich with a protein source such as chicken, egg, cheese or tuna you feel full much earlier). Protein makes you feel full and actually tells your body to stop eating.

These findings also suggest that by increasing protein in the diet but ignoring Dr Atkins most dangerous recommendations (that is to reduce and eliminate fruits and vegetables and to eat more saturated fats) and still enjoy the appetite control and weight loss benefits without jeopardising your health. Source: www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1084112.htm.

Angry teenagers should eat more fish A new US study reports that a diet rich in fish may reduce hostility in young adults. The study examined the relationship between fish intake, levels of DHA (a fatty acid found in fish) and levels of hostility among 3581 young adults. The researchers found that even after adjustment for factors such as age, sex, race, education, physical activity, body mass index, smoking and alcohol consumption dietary intake of the fatty acid DHA was significantly associated with reduced likelihood of hostility in young adults. Source: Iribarren C et al. Dietary intake on n-3, n-6 fatty acids and fish: relationship with hostility in young adults - the CARDIA study. EJCN 2004;58:24-31 cited in www.blackmores.com.au.

Heart Disease can begin early, parents warned Doctors at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital have found that obese children as young as nine already show signs of thickening of the arteries. The study used ultrasound to examine the arteries of 36 obese and 36 normal weight kids finding that by the age of 10, obese children already had damaged arteries comparable to those of heavy smokers or adults with high blood cholesterol. The good news is that the damage is reversible if children stick to a diet and exercise program. Researchers commented that the effects were evident even in children described as 'chubby' and not just in those who were significantly overweight. Source: Sophie Scott, ABC news 27/4/05. Transcript available at http://www.abc.net.au/news/health/sophie_scott/newsitems/s1095952.htm

Help for square eyes. A new study from the Bassett Health Care Research Institute in New York has developed an education program to help children who watch too much television to help break the habit. Researchers from the institute have devised lessons for preschoolers to encourage them and their families to watch less TV. The lessons promoted reading and other activities or alternatives to TV. After five months of classes the children had reduced their viewing by three hours per week, while a group of similar preschoolers who didn't receive lessons increased their small screen viewing time by more than an hour each week. For more details go to www.bassett.org//pediatricsresearch.cfm

Fish, what's all the Fuss? In March of this year Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) updated their advice to on mercury in fish. The revised advice has been extended to provide not just advice for pregnant women, and women considering pregnancy, but also for young children and the general population. There are only a few types of fish that FSANZ recommends limiting in the diet – these are billfish (swordfish/broadbill and marlin), shark/flake, orange roughy (also known as sea perch) and catfish. Pregnant women, women planning pregnancy, and young children should limit their intake of shark (flake), broadbill, marlin and swordfish to no more than one serve per fortnight with no other fish to be consumed during that fortnight. For orange roughy and catfish, the advice is to consume no more than one serve per week, with no other fish being consumed during that week.

Fish is an excellent source of protein for all people, it is low in saturated fats and high in unsaturated fats and omega 3 oils and is an excellent source of iodine. Because of this it is important that women in particular continue to eat fish throughout pregnancy. However some types of fish, usually those large species that are at the top of the food chain or that live a long time may accumulate higher levels of mercury. FSANZ therefore advises against eating too much of these types of fish. This advice is particularly important to pregnant women because the unborn baby is more vulnerable to the harmful effects of mercury.

It is essential that people not interpret this as advice to stop or reduce their consumption of fish. Health benefits from eating oily fish generally outweigh potential problems about pollutants and toxins. Aim for one to two portions of salmon, mackerel or tuna each week. Eat a variety of fish but limit consumption of those species of fish with high mercury levels.

mmm.....................chocolate The cchocolate lovers among us can finally take heart that their ongoing love affair with the confectionery can have unexpected health benefits. Chocolate has been found to contain a substance that protects our arteries. In a study, published recently in Nature, says that only dark chocolate has the potential advantages. Researchers from the University of Glasgow and the Institute of Food and Nutrition in Rome analysed levels of epicatechin in dark and milk chocolate made from the same batch of cocoa beans. They found that the milk chocolate contained half as much anti-oxidant as the dark chocolate. The team speculated that milk might block the absorption of epicatechin and its activity in the bloodstream. (Reference: Sydney Morning Herald 11th September 2003)

However 50% of boys and 75% of girls aged between 4 and 7 years get less than the Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) for calcium, more than 70% of girls between 8-11 years are not reaching the enough calcium or zinc and the majority of girls aged 12-15 get less than the RDI for zinc and iron. While there is no simple test for nutritional deficiencies in kids and teenagers, things to look out for include: irritability, sleep problems, slow wound healing and frequent colds and flus. Ensure that children consume a diet that contains a wide variety of foods. Constantly introduce your kids to new foods, let the kids come shopping with you and let them choose different fruits, vegetables and foods to be included in family meals.

Eat breakfast, lose weight - but don't order the bacon and eggs just yet. Breakfast eaters tend to have lower body mass index (BMI) than individuals who skip breakfast and obese individuals are more likely to skip breakfast. The number of overweight and obese American adults almost doubled between 1960 and 1994 from 12.8% to 22.5% while between 1965 and 1991, the proportion of American adults skipping breakfast increased from 14% to 25%. It has also been found that moderately obese women lose more weight when they consume 70% of their daily energy intake before noon instead of in the afternoon or evening. However American researchers investigating the relationship between breakfast type and BMI found that individuals reporting meat and/or egg as a common breakfast also had high BMIs. The best breakfasts for weight management, according to the study was cereal or toast. (References: Cho S et al. The effect of breakfast on total daily energy intake and body mass index: results from the Third National Nutrition Examination Survey. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 2003; 22(4):296-302: Reproduced in Blackmores Online September 10, 2003).

Say 'cheese' for calcium Cheddar, edam, brie, Swiss …… whatever you like. In a trial of 10- to 12-year-old girls by Finnish researchers has found that cheese as a source of calcium may be superior to calcium supplements. The findings are based on the girls’ levels of bone accrual over a two year period. Not only is cheese a superior source of calcium, researchers reckon, it is also easier to get children to eat it than to swallow pills. The research was in part triggered by concerns that girls are not drinking as much milk as they used to. The girls in the cheese-eating group consumed 100g of cheddar or edam a day. Girls in the supplements group took 1000mg of calcium carbonate a day. A third group received a placebo. Swiss cheese is in-fact the best cheese source of dietary calcium (equivalent to that of milk).

Teenagers who skip breakfast are more likely to smoke, not exercise, have lower education levels, drink more alcohol, have a higher body mass index (BMI) and have more behavioural problems than their breakfast-eating counterparts. The Finnish Study of more than 10000 teenagers also found that the most statistically significant factor in teenage breakfast eating was whether the teenager's parents ate breakfast regularly. Reference: A Keski-Rahkonen et al. Breakfast Skipping and Health-compromising Behaviors in Adolescents and Adults. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2003) 57, 842-853

Children not getting enough sleep: US Study. A new poll by the National Sleep Foundation in the U.S. has found that two-thirds of preschool aged children there are not getting enough sleep. Sleep experts over here agree saying that many Australian children's lives are so packed with activity that they're not resting enough. Dr Margot Davey, from the Melbourne Children's Sleep Unit comments that "the demands on the modern child are such that sleep is not always a priority and that has a significant impact on young lives" and Dr Arthur Teng from the Sleep Medicine Unit at Sydney Children's Hospital says that parents need to know why sleep is so important to their children "I don't think that there is enough emphasis yet because when you're looking at young children who might present with behavioural or learning problems, a lot of doctors are not even asking about sleep, and it has been shown in research studies that it is very rate that parents actually bring up the issue of sleep, even with their GPs" and its not just the children who suffer, the same U.S. poll also noted that parents are losing up to 200 hours sleep a year as a result of their children's lack of sleep (Reference: ABC Online, PM Program available at http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1078259.htm)

Revised Infant Feeding Guidelines Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council has revised it's guidelines for the introduction of solid foods for infants. The new recommendations encourage exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. For more information go to www.health.gov.au/nhmrc.

With a confirmed death toll of almost 150 000¹, the boxing day earthquakethat devastated countries bordering the Indian Ocean is one of the worst natural disasters in living memory.

Although by 3 January the World Health Organization (WHO) had received no reports of major epidemics,the organisation warned: "Millions of people are now under seriousthreat of disease outbreaks as a result of damaged water andsanitation systems, sea water contamination, and the congestedand crowded conditions of the displaced".

"There is an immediate increased risk of waterborne diseases—thatis, cholera, typhoid fever, shigellosis, and hepatitis A andE—related to unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation.Outbreaks of these diseases could occur at any moment."

WHO emphasised that ensuring uninterrupted provision of safedrinking water was the most important preventive measure tobe implemented after flooding, but it listed other importantsteps that had to be taken.

"The use of standard treatment protocols in health facilitieswith agreed upon first line drugs is also crucial to ensureeffective diagnosis and treatment for acute respiratory infections,malaria, sexually transmitted infections and for the main epidemic-pronediseases (including cholera, dysentery, typhoid, hepatitis,dengue, leptospirosis, measles, meningitis)," it said.

^{Source: Moszynski P, 2005, Disease
threatens millions in wake of tsunami, British Medical Journal,
Vol. 330, No. 59 (8 January).}

Tsunami's salt water may leave islands uninhabitable

In addition to the looming disease risks posed by the Tsunami some Indian Ocean islands could have been made permanently uninhabitable by the salt water that flooded them during the Boxing Day Tsunami.

Experts now warn that, in the long run, the salt invasion may prove almost as destructive to the land as the tsunami itself. It could leave some communities dependent on outside aid for food and water for months or years to come.

There are widespread reports from across the stricken region that seawater has filled wells, invaded the porous rocks on which communities depend for water, and poisoned soils. Even as far away as Somalia in east Africa, hundreds of wells used by coastal villages are now poisoned with salt or have been buried by sand washed inland by the giant waves.

On at least 17 islands in the Maldives there is literally no drinkable water at all as dozens of coral atolls were completely overwhelmed by the waves, which poisoned all of their underground water reserves with salt. Water is now having to shipped in.

Communities will have to wait for rains to flush out aquifers, the permeable rocks that hold groundwater. But the WHO says that for some, especially on small atolls, it could be a very long wait. The British Geological Survey says that, in the worst cases, the aquifers may be "unusable for many years".

While they are waiting, people will have to rely on imported water, expensive desalination plants or simply catching the monsoon rains.

Ironically, in many places, the dependence on wells results from past aid efforts. Since the 1980s, aid agencies have persuaded millions of communities across the region to abandon traditional surface-water sources in favour of new wells to tap safer underground water2.

Salt has also poisoned thousands of coastal Sri Lankan rice farms and plantations of bananas and mangoes, with a salt crust forming on the fields as they begin to dry out. "The fields that these people rely on are beyond use for at least another year or two because they have received so much salt water," said Gordon Weiss of UNICEF, the UN children's agency.

But Chellaiya Dayananda, an agricultural official in east Sri Lanka, is more pessimistic: "It will probably take a decade to turn any of these lands along the shore into farms again."

Source: Pearce F, 2005, Tsunami's salt water may leave islands uninhabitable, New Scientist.com news service, 17:48 05 January 2005

Reference: Fudge et al, 2006, Evidence of negative energy balance using doubly labelled water in elite Kenyan endurance runners prior to competition, Br J Nutr. 2006 Jan;95(1):59-66.

Low-carb diets may increase cardiovascular risk

Reference: Nordmann AJ, 2006, Effects of Low-Carbohydrate vs Low-Fat Diets on Weight Loss and Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials, Arch Intern Med. 2006 Feb 13;166(3):285-93.

US Scientists dub soft drinks as “cigarettes of obesity”

French women are getting chubbier

"Everybody wants to know what I am on. What am I on? I'm on my bike... six hours a day. What are you on?"

Lance Armstrong, six-times winner, Tour de France

Life expectancy to drop for first time in 1000 years

Taste for meat made humans early weaners

I didn't mean to say you're fat

Dieting and exams don't mix

Tsunami's salt water may leave islands uninhabitable

Reference: Fudge et al, 2006, Evidence of negative energy balance using doubly labelled water in elite Kenyan endurance runners prior to competition, Br J Nutr. 2006 Jan;95(1):59-66. Low-carb diets may increase cardiovascular risk

Reference: Nordmann AJ, 2006, Effects of Low-Carbohydrate vs Low-Fat Diets on Weight Loss and Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials, Arch Intern Med. 2006 Feb 13;166(3):285-93. US Scientists dub soft drinks as “cigarettes of obesity”

French women are getting chubbier

"Everybody wants to know what I am on. What am I on? I'm on my bike... six hours a day. What are you on?"

Lance Armstrong, six-times winner, Tour de France

Life expectancy to drop for first time in 1000 years

Taste for meat made humans early weaners

I didn't mean to say you're fat

Dieting and exams don't mix

Tsunami's salt water may leave islands uninhabitable

Reference: Fudge et al, 2006, Evidence of negative energy balance using doubly labelled water in elite Kenyan endurance runners prior to competition, Br J Nutr. 2006 Jan;95(1):59-66.

Low-carb diets may increase cardiovascular risk

Reference: Nordmann AJ, 2006, Effects of Low-Carbohydrate vs Low-Fat Diets on Weight Loss and Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials, Arch Intern Med. 2006 Feb 13;166(3):285-93.

US Scientists dub soft drinks as “cigarettes of obesity”