Tag: Adipose tissue

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When ‘Baby Fat’ is Good for Health

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Want to shed your baby fat? Wait, don’t do it just yet, for a new study has revealed that such a fat is good – as long as it is calorie-burning -”Brown Fat”.

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Brown fat burns off calories and generates heat in babies and small mammals.

Most of the body fat is white fat, which also provides insulation but stores calories. It becomes “bad” fat when an individual have too much. The “good” fat-brown fat-was considered essentially nonexistent in human adults.

The new study has found that adults have much more of this type of fat than previously believed.

“We now know that it is present and functional in adults,” said the study’s lead author, Dr Aaron Cypess, MMSc, of the Joslin Diabetes Centre in Boston.

“Three ounces of brown fat can burn several hundred calories a day,” he added.

In the new study involving 1,970 study participants, researchers measured the patches of brown adipose tissue-brown fat-in people with the help of high-tech imaging method that combines positron emission tomography and computed tomography, called PET/CT.

By evaluating biopsy tissue of what appeared to be brown fat, the authors confirmed that they were, indeed, looking at stores of brown fat.

The researchers found that brown fat was located in an area extending from the front of the neck to the chest.

Of the subjects who had detectable brown fat, about 6 percent had 3 ounces or more of the fat.

“We believe that this percentage greatly underestimates the number of adults in the population who have a large amount of brown fat,” said Cypess.

They also discovered that brown fat is most abundant in young women and least frequent in older, overweight men. In fact, women were more than twice as likely as men to have substantial amounts of brown fat.

“One theory for this is that women may have less muscle mass overall, so they need more brown fat to generate heat and keep warm,” Cypess said.

Source: The study appears in New England Journal of Medicine.

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Being Active at 5 Helps Kids Stay Lean

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Kids who are active at age 5 are likely to remain lean as they age even if they don’t remain as active later in childhood, say  researchers.
active kids
The researchers call it a ‘banking‘ effect as kids benefit from it later in life.

“We call this effect ‘banking’ because the kids benefit later on, similar to having a savings account at a bank. The protective effect is independent of what happens in between,” said lead author Kathleen Janz, professor of health and sport studies in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

“The implication is that even 5-year-olds should be encouraged to be as active as possible because it pays off as they grow older,” she added.

During the study, the University of Iowa researchers tested the body fat and activity level of 333 kids at ages 5, 8 and 11.

The kids wore accelerometers to record their activity level for up to five days, providing much more reliable data than relying on kids or parents to track minutes of exercise.

It showed that kids who are active at age 5 end up with less fat at age 8 and 11, even when controlling for their accumulated level of activity.

The average 5-year-old in the study got 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per day. For every 10 minutes on top of that, kids had one-third of a pound less fat tissue at ages 8 and 11.

However, Janz insists that further investigation is needed to learn what happens to the active kids’ bodies that keeps them in better shape down the road.

One possible explanation may be that the active 5-year-olds didn’t develop as many fat cells, improved their insulin response, or that something happened metabolically that provided some protection even as they became less active.

In addition, boys were more likely to experience the sustained benefit from being active as preschoolers, possibly because they are more active at age 5 than girls, highlighting a need to especially encourage young girls to exercise.

Source: The study is published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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Two Dietary Oils Gives 2-Sets of Benefit

A study comparing how two common dietary oil supplements — safflower oil and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) — affect body composition suggests that both oils can lower body fat in obese postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes.
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In the study, 16 weeks of supplementation with safflower oil reduced fat in the trunk area, lowered blood sugar and increased muscle tissue in the participants.

Conjugated linoleic acid supplementation for the same length of time, on the other hand, reduced total body fat and lowered the women’s body mass index (BMI), a common health measure of weight relative to height.

All of the women in the study took one oil for 16 weeks, followed by the other oil for an equal amount of time.

Reources:

Eurekalert July 7, 2009
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition June 17, 2009

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Fruits & Vegetables

Jicama (Pachyrrhizus erosus)

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Botanical Name:Pachyrrhizus erosus
Familia: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Pinduan: Magnoliopsida
Orden: Fabales
Genus: Pachyrhizus
Species: P. erosus

Also known as:
Mexican turnip, Mexican yam bean, potato bean , yam bean
Other names for this Asian vegetable…
China:  dou shu, dou su, sha ge, di gwa, fan ko, lian shu, sa got, sha kot
India:  sankalu (In Bengali :Sankalu)
Indonesia:  bangkoe wang, beng kooway, bengko wang, benkuan, besusu, huwihiris, seng kooang
Japan:  kuzu imo
Laos:  man pau
Malaysia:  beng kuwong, kacang sengkuang, sengkwang, singkong, ubi sengkuang
Philippines:  bunga, frijolnme, kamas, singkamas, sinkamas
Sri Lanka:  yam bean
Thailand:  hua pae kkua, man kaeo, man laao, manngaw
Vietnam:  cu dau, cu san.

Common Names: Jicama, Mexican Potato, Yam Bean Jicama (pronounced “hecama”) is also known as yam bean and Mexican turnip. It is not related to the true yam. The name “jicama” is almost always used in Spanish for any edible root. It is a climbing legume with very long and large tuberous roots, which in 5 months of growth may reach 6-8 feet long and weigh 50 pounds or more. More often, roots are round and beet-shaped with a distinctive taproot.

It is known as Sankalu  in Bengal

Habitat:Native in Maxico. but now grows in most of Asiatic countries and many  other places of the world.

Description:
It is a crepary annual plant. mainly grown in tropical countries.The plant grown from square brownish seedsIt takes 5 to 9 months to for it’s root (tubers) to be readfy to harvest. If left un harvested  the tubes can grow 6 feet long and may weigh 50 pounds even.

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Fruit on the root

Above the ground the plant grows as a broad -leafed vine of about 20 to 30 ft. long. depending on variety.It blossoms with light purple or white flowers which will produce fuzzy beans. The flowers are often removed to make larger tuber.

Also known as yam bean, this crunchy white fleshed tuber is a popular substitute for water chestnuts or bamboo shoots in any dish that calls for a mild flavor and crisp texture. The heart-shaped tuber grows to about 6″x6″ and has light brown skin. Jicama needs a lot of heat and a long growing season. Tubers develop after flowering. Ripe pods and leaves are poisonous. Jicama, which stores very well, is delicious in a marinated salad or stir-fry

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Growing Info:
Jicama is a tropical plant and thus requires at least 9 months of warm growing season for good sized roots to mature. However, if soil is rich, light and there is at least 4 months of warm weather available, the resulting roots will be smaller, but still quite delicious.
– Presoak seeds in water for about 24 hours before planting. Can be started indoors about 8 to 10 weeks before the last spring frost.
– Transplant into your garden as soon is weather is warm, but be careful where you plant it as the ripe pods, leaves and seeds are toxic and narcotic. Care should be taken so that no humans or animals will mistakenly eat these parts.
– The immature seed pods are edible as well as of course the turnip like roots for which it is grown. Can be grown near a trellis for support or like pole beans. Can also be grown on the ground but then requires a lot of space.
– When they grow to about 3 feet tall, pinch the tips to promote horizontal branches. Tubers form as the days grow shorter and should be harvested before the first frost.
– If you allow the plants to go to seed, the root lobes will be small. Blossoms appear in late summer, but can be pinched out for maximum root growth.

Uses:
This is an unusual vegetable that is becoming increasingly popular with American cooks, but has been grown in its native Mexico for centuries. More and more U.S. supermarkets are now carrying this turnip shaped, usually four lobed root. Its skin is a brownish gray, but its flesh is white and crisp. It’s flavor resembles that of water chestnuts but is sweeter. Makes a great appetizer and is a very good addition in both taste and texture when added to salads.

Jicamas are actually perennials and produce their large roots after several years of growth. They are commonly found in frost free regions. In Texas, seed can be planted in the early spring and small tubers harvested before the first killing frost of the winter.

Culinary Uses
Jicama is most commonly eaten in the fresh form. After peeling to remove the brown fibrous outer tissue, the crisp white fleshy portion can be sliced, diced, or cut into strips for use as a garnish, in salads, or with dips. It is frequently served as a snack sprinkled with lime or lemon juice and a dash of chili powder. Jicama remains crisp after boiling and serves as a textural substitute for water chestnuts. Jicama is similar to white potatoes in food value, but with slightly lower total food energy (calories). In the tropical production areas, the immature pods are sometimes cooked and eaten, but mature pods are said to be toxic. Mature seeds contain a fairly high content of rotenone, and at one time, commercial culture of jicama was considered as a source of this insecticide.

Health benefits of Jicama:

*Jicama is one of the very low calorie root vegetables; carrying only 35 calories per 100 g. However, its high quality phyto-nutrition profile comprises of dietary fiber, and anti-oxidants, in addition to small proportions of minerals, and vitamins.

*It is one of the finest sources of dietary fiber; particularly excellent source of oligofructose inulin, a soluble dietary fiber. The root pulp provides 4.9 mg or 13% of fiber. Inulin is a zero calorie sweet inert carbohydrate. It does not metabolize inside the human body, which make the root an ideal sweet snack for diabetics and dieters.

*As in turnips, fresh yam bean tubers are also rich in vitamin C; provide about 20.2 mg or 34% of DRA of vitamin C per 100 g. Vitamin-C is a powerful water-soluble anti-oxidant that helps body scavenge harmful free radicals, thereby offers protection from cancers, inflammation and viral cough and cold.

*It also contains small levels of some of valuable B-complex group of vitamins such as folates, riboflavin, pyridoxine, pantothenic acid and thiamin.

*Further, the root provides healthy amounts of some important minerals like magnesium, copper, iron and manganese.

Click & see :What Is Jicama (Yambean) Good For?

Click to see nutritional value of Jicama :

Availability: Jicamas are offered in Texas supermarkets but are more popular in deep South Texas. Most of those on the market are imported from Mexico and South America

Resources:
http://electrocomm.tripod.com/jicama.html
http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/jicama
http://pam.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singkamas
http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_222-43.html

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New Hope for Natural Weight Loss

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Researchers have discovered that mice given curcumin experience a reduction in the formation of fat tissue and the blood vessels that feed it. Curcumin is the major polyphenol in the spice turmeric..

The growth and expansion of fat tissues requires new blood vessels, a process known as angiogenesis. In fat tissue, this process is mediated by the secretion of adipokines, such as leptin, adiponectin, resistin, interleukin-6 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The researchers first investigated the effect of curcumin in cultured human cells to which adipokines had been added to stimulate angiogenesis. They found the ability of curcumin to inhibit angiogenesis was partly due to the reduced expression of VEGF.

They then fed mice a high-fat diet supplemented with 500 milligrams curcumin per kilogram diet for 12 weeks. Weight gain was reduced in mice that received curcumin. The researchers attributed this reduction to a decrease in total body fat in the curcumin-fed animals. Mice that received curcumin also had lower liver weights, and experienced a reduction in VEGF, indicating reduced angiogenesis.

Furthermore, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and free fatty acids were lower in mice that received curcumin compared with groups of unsupplemented animals.

Resources:

Life Extension Magazine April 21, 2009
Journal of Nutrition May 2009;139(5):919-25

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