Skip Navigation.

February 2004 Vol. 9 no. 2

Some People Live An Entire Lifetime And Wonder If they have made a difference in the world.
Marines don’t have that problem”.
Ronald Reagan, President United States of America

 

Table of Contents: 

New Findings About Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Depression
Atkins Diet: No Miracle, According to New Studies
Vitamin D Treats & Prevents MS
How To Virtually Eliminate Your Risk Of Rheumatoid Arthritis or MS
Obesity Cuts Life Short
U.S. Government Backs Junk Food Industry
Moderate-Fat Diet Superior to Low-Fat Diet for Heart Disease
Farmed Salmon is a Bust for Your Health, Pocketbook and the Environment

 

 

New Findings About Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Depression

Research continues to confirm the importance of omega-3 fats for treating depression. If you or someone you know is facing depression, you cannot afford to miss this article.
http://www.mercola.com/2004/feb/14/omega_3_depression.htm

 

 

Atkins Diet: No Miracle, According to New Studies 

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that, although the Atkins regimen caused early weight loss in dieters, they soon regained the pounds they shed.

 

The year-long study involved 63 obese men and women who were randomly assigned to either a low-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat (Atkins) diet or to a conventional, low-calorie diet. The Atkins diet group lost more weight during the first six months, but, at the end of one year, differences among the groups were not significant. Adherence was poor in both groups. The study provides further evidence that the Atkins regimen, which is severely low in carbs, is simply a low-calorie diet out of sync with healthy eating patterns and does not sustain long-term weight regulation.
Foster GD, Wyatt HR, Hill JO, et al. A randomized trial of a low-carbohydrate diet for obesity. N Engl J Med 2003;348:2082-90.

Vitamin D Treats & Prevents MS 

According to a study, women who take vitamin D supplements through multivitamins are 40 percent less likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) than women who do not take supplements. The study, which involved 187,563 women, is the first examination to question if MS is caused by lack of sunlight, which prevent the body from making its own vitamin D.

 

Researchers examined data collected from two large studies involving the women, one was a 20-year-old study and the other was a 10-year-old study. The participants diets and use of multivitamin supplements were measured in the beginning of the study and then again every four years. Out of the 187,563 women participating in the study, 173 developed MS during the course of it.

Researchers divided the large group of women into groups based on vitamin D use. The study found that the risk of developing MS was lower both for those with high intakes of vitamin D supplements (400 IU or more per day) and for those with high intakes from the supplements and food. However, the study also suggested that the participants whose intake of vitamin D was only from food did not have any lesser risk of developing MS.
Neurology January 13, 2004;62(1):60-5

Note: The best source of Vitamin is Cod Liver Oil and direct exposure to 20 minutes of sunlight daily-not dairy products.

ow To Virtually Eliminate Your Risk Of Rheumatoid Arthritis or MS 

Researchers have found women who eat a diet rich in vitamin D may reduce their chances of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and multiple sclerosis (MS). Two studies involving women have shown proof of the vitamin’s benefits.

 

The RA study followed 29,368 women aged 55 to 69 years, and the MS study looked at more than 185,000 women.
The participants were given questionnaires to fill out about their dietary habits and vitamin D intake at the beginning of each study, and researchers followed up with the women every four years for up to 20 years. They discovered that women were 30 percent less likely to develop RA, and 40 percent less likely to develop MS, when taking the recommended daily amount or more of vitamin D.

Out of 100 people world-wide, one or two will develop RA and around 0.04 percent have MS. Both of these conditions are thought to occur when the body’s immune system turns against itself. Researchers suggest that vitamin D may work by calming over-active immune cells.

Responding to this study, vitamin D experts advise future researchers studying vitamin D levels to administer a blood test to read the levels more accurately, and cautioned that this study did not use the best way to determine vitamin D levels in the participants.
Neurology January, 2004 13;62(1):60-5
Arthritis & Rheumatism January, 2004;50(1):72-7
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Obesity Cuts Life Short 

It’s no secret that obesity fuels a great many illnesses, but now researchers have estimated how many years of life may be lost when weight problems are left untreated. Data from previous studies on individuals aged 18 to 85 were analyzed, and body mass index (a measure of body weight adjusted for height) was calculated.

 

Young black men with a BMI above 45 fared worst, reducing their lifespan by 20 years. Young black women with similar obesity levels reduce their lifespan by 5 years. Young white men and young white women with a BMI greater than 45 lost 13 and 8 years of life, respectively. Optimal BMI is 23 to 25 for white people and 23 to 30 for black people.
Fontaine KR, Redden DT, Wang C, Westfall AO, Allison DB. Years of life lost due to obesity. JAMA 2003;289:187-93.

 

 

U.S. Government Backs Junk Food Industry

The U.S. government has rejected the April 2003 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which argued for a reduction in the national recommendation of sugar consumption from 25 percent to 10 percent. The report also recommends that governments should take steps to limit children’s exposure to the advertisement of junk food.

 

The WHO and FAO’s report angered the U.S. sugar lobby and food manufacturers and they decided to fight back. They began lobbying to prevent the U.S. government from accepting the proposals. The Sugar Association wrote a letter to WHO threatening them by asking they show proof that sugar is linked to obesity, while a congressmen recruited by the food industry insisted that the secretary of health cut off the $406 million yearly contribution to WHO.

Also, the National Soft Drink Association argued that 25 percent added sugar in the diet is not harmful and there is no clear evidence that shows what they are stating is wrong. However, there have been numerous studies conducted that show sugar is linked to obesity.

A study conducted in 1990 found males and females who drank artificially-sweetened soda for a three-week period significantly reduced their calorie intake, while there was a decrease in body weight in the males. However, both sexes who drank soda sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup for the same period of time increased both their calorie intake and body weight.

We as Americans can take simple steps to stop this obesity epidemic. Simple refusal to purchase the sugar-laden drinks and food is the first step. And if we all did this, then the issue between the U.S. government, food industry and the WHO/FAO would become a non-issue.
The Omnivore January 28, 2004
http://www.theomnivore.com/US-versus-WHO-diet.html

 

 

Moderate-Fat Diet Superior to Low-Fat Diet for Heart Disease

Low-fat diets are recommended for heart health, but according to a study a moderate-fat weight loss diet reduced dieters cardiovascular risk better than the low-fat diet.

 

The study found that the moderate-fat diet produced a 14 percent reduction in cardiovascular disease risk, while the low-fat group experienced a nine percent improvement. Both groups of the study lost 2.4 to 2.7 pounds a week on average because the researchers controlled the diets.

The study consisted of 53 overweight or obese people with cholesterol levels elevated above 200 at the start of the diet. The participants ate either a low-fat or moderate-fat diet for a six-week period to determine weight loss in each group. After the six weeks, they ate similar diets designed for maintenance for four weeks. The participants food, which was provided by the research team, consisted of 18 percent of calories from fat in the low-fat diet and 33 percent of calories from fat in the moderate-fat diet.

During the study, researchers found the low-fat diet group experienced a 12 percent decrease in HDL (good) cholesterol, whereas the moderate-fat diet group had no change in their cholesterol. Researchers say that this indicates that a moderate-fat diet blunts the decrease in HDL cholesterol during the weight loss.

Researchers also found, after the decrease in HDL cholesterol, triglycerides rose greatly during the four-week maintenance phase for those participants on the low-fat diet, but not for those on the moderate-fat diet. When triglycerides elevate they become a cardiovascular risk factor, which means even though the low-fat diet successfully reduced the risk factors during the six-week weight loss phase of the study, those factors rebounded during the last four-week maintenance phase of the study.

Researchers believe the outcome of this study is significant because it demonstrated clearly that lowering total fat intakes could have adverse consequences on reductions in the risk of cardiovascular disease.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, February, 2004;79(2):204-212

 

 

Farmed Salmon is a Bust for Your Health, Pocketbook and the Environment

It has been said numerous times that farm-raised salmon contains loads of cancer-causing pollutants. Consumers have either been uninformed or have opted to turn a blind eye to this fact. This must-read article goes straight to the point on why you should not even consider eating farm-raised salmon.
http://www.mercola.com/2004/feb/14/farmed_salmon.htm