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Artificial Sweeteners Don’t Fool Your Brain

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While artificial sweeteners may be able to confuse your taste buds, the suspicion is growing that your brain is not so easily fooled.

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Several studies suggest your brain has a way of detecting calories while food is still in your mouth. For example, researchers made eight cyclists perform 60-minute workouts on a stationary bike while measuring their work rate.

During workouts on separate days they were told to rinse their mouth with a solution of either glucose or saccharin, without swallowing either one. The glucose mouth rinse improved the cyclists’ performance by a small but consistent amount compared to saccharin.

Later, they were asked to rinse their mouths with either saccharin alone or saccharin plus a caloric (but non-sweet) sugar called maltodextrin. The cyclists did slightly better when they rinsed their mouths with maltodextrin, even though both solutions carried identical saccharin taste.

When scientists performed fMRI scans on the athletes, they found that the combination of saccharin and maltodextrin activated two reward-associated brain areas — the striatum and anterior cingulate — which saccharin alone failed to touch.

Source: New Scientist December 27, 2009

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The Milk Myth: What Your Body Really Needs

A recent study claims that young adults are not drinking enough milk — at least according to press reports on the matter. But according to the study’s lead author Nicole Larson, the focus on the study was on calcium.
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The words “milk” and “calcium” are often used interchangeably in the popular press. But while milk is a calcium source, no standard other than that of the National Dairy Council considers it the best calcium source.

The suggestion that you need to drink three glasses of the secretion of a cow’s mammary glands in order to be healthy is a bit outrageous and doesn’t fit the human evolutionary profile. In fact, most humans around the world cannot easily digest cow milk.

Yogurt has more calcium than milk and is easier to digest. Collards and other greens also have about as much or more calcium than milk by the cup. Greens, unlike milk, have the added benefit of vitamin K, also necessary for strong bones. Sesame is also very high in calcium.

When you measure calcium by cup of food product, milk is high on the list. When you view it by calorie, though, milk is at the bottom. A hundred calories of turnip greens have over three times as much calcium as 100 calories of whole milk.


Resources:
Live Science June 24, 2009
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior July/August 2009; 41(4):254-60

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Do the Math & Lose the Weight

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Using simple formulas, a calculator and helpful websites, you can determine how much to eat and exercise.

To lose weight, calculate the calories you need to consume based on your age and gender — then factor in how many you actually burn.

It isn’t difficult, requiring little more than a calculator. The equations produce numbers that fit the population average, so consider them only a starting point.

The simplest way to calculate calorie needs is to multiply current weight by 11 through 15, which gives a range of calories needed to maintain that weight.

So a 150-pound woman who wants to stay at that weight would need to eat 1,650 to 2,250 calories. Why the difference? If her activity level is high (exercising vigorously every day), she can eat more because she’s burning more. If she wants to lose weight, she’s going to have to cut calories.

Because a pound of fat equals about 3,500 calories, cutting 500 calories a day will mean one pound lost in a week, a reasonable amount. But eating less isn’t the only way to slim down. To cut 500 calories a day, you can also cut calories by 250 and do a workout that burns 250 calories.

A more accurate calorie assessment can be done using the Harris Benedict Equation, developed in 1919, which starts with basal metabolic rate to calculate calories needed to maintain weight.

What the equation doesn’t take into consideration is lean muscle mass. Someone with a lot of muscle and little body fat will need more calories, and those with higher body fat will need less. As fitness levels increase, so does BMR.

Kara Mohr, co-owner of a Louisville, Ky.-based nutrition and fitness facility, says that since these numbers are based on averages, some calorie tweaking may be necessary to find the right formula. If weight doesn’t drop after a few weeks, cut the calories, increase the exercise, or both. Always hungry? Add calories or back off on the workouts.

Calorie counts for various foods can be found online at sites such as CalorieKing.com and TheCalorieCounter.com, and calories burned via various activities can be found at CaloriesPerHour.com and NutriStrategy.com

Click to see:->Counting calories is a tough math problem

Sources Los Angrles Times

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Tea and Coffee are Key to Long Life

Want to live a long and healthy life? Make sure you eat chocolate, and drink tea and coffee in moderation daily, says a leading nutritional scientist.

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Yes, according to Prof Gary Williamson of University of Leeds, chocolate, tea and coffee are among some key foods and beverages needed to live a long and healthy life, British newspaper ‘The Daily Telegraph‘ reported.

In fact, Prof Williamson has prepared a list of 20 “lifespan essential” foodstuffs — all are rich in naturally occurring chemicals, known as polyphenols, which have been linked to a variety of health benefits, including protection against heart disease.

And, these foods and drinks could also help to slow down the ageing process by helping to protect cells from the natural damage that occurs over time, he has suggested.

Prof Williamson said: “Epidemiology studies support the protective effects of polyphenol-rich foods. Lack of these components in the diet because of low intake of fruit and vegetables, increases the risk of chronic disease.

“This means that they are essential to fulfil the maximum individual lifespan, and so I propose that they are ‘lifespan essential’.

“Although they might not be essential for growth and development or the maintenance of major body functions, there is increasing knowledge concerning their potential for health maintenance or disease risk reduction throughout adulthood and during ageing.”

Even a recent study carried out by scientists in the US, Britain and Australia concluded that polyphenols can help protect against heart disease.

Sources: The Times Of India

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Paracetamol Ups Asthma Risk in Kids

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Infants who have been given the common pain reliever paracetamol may have a higher risk of developing asthma and eczema by the time they are 6 or 7, a large study covering children in 31 countries has found.

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The findings were published in the journal Lancet together with two other studies, which found that runny noses and wheezing early on in life may be strong predictors of asthma.

In one study, researchers pored through data provided by parents of more than 205,000 children and found paracetamol use in the first year of life was associated with a 46% higher risk of asthma by the time the children were 6 or 7 compared to those never exposed to the drug. It is used to relieve fever, minor aches and pain, and is used in a liquid suspension for children.

Medium use of paracetamol in the past 12 months increased asthma risk by 61%, while high dosages of once a month or more in the past year raised the risk by over three times. Medium use was defined as once per year or more, but less than once a month.

Suspicions of a possible link between paracetamol and asthma emerged when experts observed an increased use of the drug to a simultaneous rise in asthma prevalence worldwide.

Some experts think antioxidants, which stop unstable molecules known as free radicals from doing too much damage, can lower the risk of cancer, heart disease and other ailments. “Paracetamol can reduce antioxidant levels and… can give oxidative stress in the lungs and cause asthma,” one of the researchers, Richard Beasley at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, said.

Sources: The Times Of India

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