In other words, the average level of testosterone for a 45, 55 or 65-year-old man is lower than that of a man of the same age in 2010 — which was lower than that of a man of the same age in 2000!

The question is — why are testosterone levels declining so dramatically? And is there anything you can do to support your testosterone levels?

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Why men’s testosterone levels have dropped

While T levels decline with age, maintaining hormonal balance is more complex. Problems in one area of your health can sneak up and lead to problems in the endocrine system (headquarters for hormonal health).

Three health problems, in particular, have risen to almost epidemic proportions in the U.S. in the past several years, and they all have one thing in common — they can tank testosterone levels…

#1 – Type 2 diabetes

Testosterone is required to help all of the tissues in your body take up blood sugar in response to insulin. It’s no wonder then that men with low T levels are far more likely to have insulin resistance, meaning their bodies have to churn out more insulin to to keep their blood sugar in the normal range.

According to the American Diabetes Association, “If you have Type 2 diabetes, you are twice as likely to suffer from low testosterone as a man without diabetes.”

#2 – Liver problems

Studies show that men with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD (a condition where there is an excess buildup of triglycerides in the liver), have reduced total testosterone.

Untreated, NAFLD can progress to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and after that, possibly cirrhosis. 75 percent to 90 percent of men with these conditions experience extremely low T.

#3 – Obesity

Obesity is also a driving force behind the low T epidemic. One study showed that 30 percent of overweight men had low T, versus just six percent of those with weight in the normal range

Estrogen dominance can cause abdominal weight gain. That’s because elevated estrogen levels signal the body to reduce testosterone production and store more fat.

Estrogen dominance is a condition that occurs when fake estrogens disrupt hormonal balance and surprisingly can cause health problems for both men and women. In men, low T can impact stamina, muscle tone and prostate health as well as weight gain.

How to fight testosterone theft

While men’s testosterone levels have been under assault for quite a while now, you’re not powerless to do something about it…

First and foremost is to ensure you don’t fall victim to any of the three health conditions that make you a target for low T and declining health.

Many of the steps you can take to improve your health can also improve your testosterone levels, including:

High-intensity interval training and resistance training seem to be especially effective at boosting testosterone.

Eating a high-quality diet of protein, fruits and vegetables and healthy fats is also important (a keto diet has shown real benefits for Low T).

Stress management reduces the stress hormone cortisol which can cause weight gain and lower testosterone.

But you also need to face up to fake estrogens which are almost inescapable in our environment. Luckily, there’s a way to flush them out of your body…

The secret is a compound called Di-Indole Methane, or DIM for short, which is found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage.

DIM can reduce estrogen levels in the body by stimulating the breakdown of estrogen into beneficial metabolites.

But it takes far more of this little compound than what you can get by sitting down to a dinner packed with veggies.

In fact, it would take a minimum of three pounds of broccoli every day to grab all of DIM’s hormone-supporting benefits. Fortunately, the nutrient is available in supplement form.

Sources:

Why Are Testosterone Levels Decreasing? – Cleveland Clinic

Low Testosterone – American Diabetes Association

8 Major Factors That Cause Low Testosterone Levels – Men’s Health

Low Testosterone (Male Hypogonadism) – Cleveland Clinic

Testosterone in men with advanced liver disease: Abnormalities and implications – Wiley Online Library

Low Testosterone in Males May Warrant Liver Health Assessment and Intervention – NIH

Relevance of low testosterone to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease – NIH

Low Testosterone and Your Health – WebMD

Responses of sex steroid hormones to different intensities of exercise in endurance athletes – The Physiological Society

Endocrinological Roles for Testosterone in Resistance Exercise Responses and Adaptations – NIH

Testosterone-Associated Dietary Pattern Predicts Low Testosterone Levels and Hypogonadism – MDPI

Manipulation of Dietary Intake on Changes in Circulating Testosterone Concentrations – MDPI

Low-fat diets and testosterone in men: Systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies – Science Direct

Stress, cortisol, and other appetite-related hormones: Prospective prediction of 6-month changes in food cravings and weight – Wiley Online Journal

The post 3 health conditions that steal your testosterone appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Most people know that when they’ve been eating poorly, there’s a good chance they’ll put on some weight.

No big deal. To outrun the effects of a bad diet and lose those extra pounds, just ramp up the exercise.

Burn those extra calories, and you can avoid gaining or take off any extra weight that may have come from your “cheat days,” as we used to call them.

But in reality, that turns out to be almost impossible. Here’s the reason for that..

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Lack of exercise is not the cause of obesity

Over the last century, obesity has become as common as the common cold and lots of research has looked in potential causes. For decades it’s centered around taking calories in and the expenditure of energy to burn those calories.

So it makes sense that physicians and fitness experts alike blame weight gain and obesity on our increasingly sedentary lifestyles. But that’s just not the case…

An international team of researchers compared the daily amount of calories burned by people from 34 different countries and cultures worldwide, including hunter-gatherers and farming populations with low obesity rates, as well as people in sedentary jobs in places like Europe and the U.S., where obesity is widespread.

Dr. Herman Pontzer, a professor of evolutionary biology and global health at Duke University, led the research. And he and his team have debunked the idea that living a sedentary lifestyle leads to obesity.

Participants in the worldwide study included more than 4,200 adult men and women who drank a special water containing isotopes. These isotopes, tracked in participants’ urine, allowed the scientists to get an exact read on how much energy the subjects used.

They measured energy expenditures not just from movement and exercise but from vital processes and functions the body performs — including the energy it takes to keep the heart beating or the nervous system functioning — just to stay alive.

Surprisingly, they found that people from populations with high obesity rates burned only slightly less energy than those from populations without an obesity problem.

Dr. Pontzer says that this fits with what we already know about how the body burns calories.

“Surprisingly, what we find is that actually, the total calories burned per day is really similar across these populations, even though the lifestyle and the activity levels are really different,” he says.

In other words, someone foraging for berries all day may burn the same amount of calories as someone at a desk all day. But why?

“So if we burn more of our energy every day on physical activity, on exercise, after a while our bodies will adjust and spend less energy on the other tasks that we sort of don’t notice going on in the background.”

This finding is strong evidence that obesity doesn’t occur from lack of physical activity. It’s because of food… one kind in particular.

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Ultra-processed foods are the culprit

“It’s 100% diet,” says Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. “And I think then the question is, what is it about the diet?”

Dr. Mozaffarian was not involved in the research, but has shared insights pointing out that the modern diet has become dominated by ultra-processed foods (UPF), and that these are the drivers of weight gain.

“For decades, we’ve been telling Americans that you’re lazy, it’s your fault, you’re not moving enough, you’re eating too much,” he says. “And I think what this study shows is that there’s a really complicated biology happening and that our food is driving this.”

The researchers of the study listed several ways, in addition to long shelf lives and increased availability, that UPF contributes to obesity, including:

• The hyperpalatability, energy density, nutrient composition and appearance of UPF might disrupt satiety signaling and encourage overconsumption. (Remember the adage, “you can eat just one”? UPF, from snacks to quick breakfast foods, to frozen pizzas and more, are designed to hook you and make you crave more.)
• Processing has also been shown to increase the percentage of calories consumed that are absorbed into the body rather than excreted. (UPF has low fiber content, is absorbed by the body quickly and has additives that potentially disrupt normal digestive processes.)
• They also found data that supports the obesogenic effects of UPF. (Obesogens are chemicals, often involved in ultra-processing and packaging, that can disrupt the endocrine system and lead to weight gain and obesity.)

Avoiding obesity isn’t the only reason to avoid UPF…

The more UPF in your diet, the higher your risk of dementia, colorectal cancer, and at least 30 other health conditions, ranging from diabetes to Crohn’s disease to asthma.

Make every effort to stick to a healthy, whole foods diet that includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, and you’re well on your way to keeping control of your weight.

Of course, there are other good reasons to get regular exercise — but if losing weight is among your reasons, you’ve got to examine your diet and move away from UPF.

Sources:

You can’t outrun a bad diet. Food — not lack of exercise — fuels obesity, study finds — NPR

Energy expenditure and obesity across the economic spectrum — Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

The post The food that won’t let you ‘outrun’ obesity appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

So what could explain this?

For some people, obesity isn’t just about willpower or lifestyle choices — it’s often tied to genetics. More research is uncovering how our genes can play a significant role in weight gain and loss.

While previous studies have pointed to genes like CRTC1 and MC4R in relation to obesity, a recent study has brought attention to another gene: SMIM1…

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The SMIM1 Gene and Weight Gain

Researchers first discovered the SMIM1 gene about ten years ago while searching for the gene responsible for a specific blood type known as Vel. About 1 in 5,000 people don’t have this gene, making them Vel-negative.

A team from the University of Exeter studied nearly 500,000 participants, finding 104 people with a variant of the SMIM1 gene that doesn’t work properly. By analyzing blood samples from both those who have the gene and those who don’t, they noticed an interesting trend.

Those with the SMIM1 gene variant tended to weigh more — on average, about 4.6 kilograms more for women and 2.4 kilograms for men. One reason for this might be that these individuals burn fewer calories when at rest.

They also exhibited other signs associated with obesity, such as higher fat levels in the blood and lower thyroid hormone levels.

The implications of these findings are pretty significant—this genetic variant might be playing a part in obesity for around 300,000 people worldwide and could lead to new treatment options.

Unlocking the Thyroid Connection

What’s particularly interesting is how this research connects to thyroid health. The researchers are now considering whether a common medication for thyroid issues, called levothyroxine, could aid in weight management for individuals who don’t have both copies of the SMIM1 gene.

As lead researcher Mattia Frontini explains, “Our findings highlight the need to investigate the genetic cause of obesity, to select the most appropriate and effective treatment, but also to reduce the social stigma associated to it.”

However, it may take some time for clinical trials to be completed. In the meantime, if you’re facing challenges with weight gain and suspect thyroid issues, there are steps you can take to support your thyroid.

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Taking Care of Your Thyroid

In a previous study, Penn Medicine professor Dr. Mitchell Lazar noted about the thyroid, “… thyroid hormone doesn’t just turn things on or off, as the canonical model suggests, but instead more subtly shifts the balance between the repression and enhancement of gene activity. Yet, as people with hypothyroidism know, the lack of thyroid hormone can have profound effects on the body.”

The thyroid relies on specific nutrients to function optimally. One of the most crucial elements for thyroid function and healthy metabolism is iodine. You can find iodine in foods like sea vegetables, cranberries, raw milk, eggs, yogurt, and beans. Other nutrients that support the thyroid include:

Copper: This mineral can help stimulate the thyroid and prevent excess thyroid hormone from building up in the body.

L-Tyrosine: This amino acid works alongside iodine to produce the hormones that your thyroid needs to function well.

Selenium: This mineral helps convert inactive thyroid hormone into its active form.

Zinc: This essential mineral supports the transformation of one key thyroid hormone to another and helps release stored vitamin A from the liver, which is beneficial for thyroid health.

Additionally, you might want to consider taking ashwagandha root. It’s a powerful antioxidant that helps protect your thyroid function, allowing it to produce more necessary hormones.

In summary, understanding the link between genetics, thyroid health, and weight gain can pave the way for better treatment options. By focusing on your thyroid health and nutrition, you may find a more balanced and effective approach to managing your weight.

Sources:

New genetic cause of obesity could help guide treatment — ScienceDaily

SMIM1 absence is associated with reduced energy expenditure and excess weight — Med

The post New gene link to obesity and a thyroid connection appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

An analysis of 21 years of data presented late last year at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2024 paints a grim picture…

The analysis found that there was a significant and consistent increase in deaths from obesity-related ischemic heart disease from 1999 to 2020 in the U.S.

Ischemic heart disease is a condition that occurs when the heart’s blood supply is reduced due to narrowed coronary arteries.

Specifically, the analysis revealed an increase of 243% annually in deaths among men and 131% in women.

The highest rates of deaths from ischemic heart disease related to obesity were among middle-aged men ages 55-64, Black adults and people who live in the Midwestern states and non-metropolitan areas in the U.S.

With numbers like that, and on the climb, let’s talk about why obesity drives heart problems, the type of fat that does the most harm and what to do about it…

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How obesity contributes to heart disease

Three factors make obesity a driving force behind heart disease:

Cholesterol levels. Being obese can cause your LDL (“bad” cholesterol) levels to rise. It also elevates triglyceride levels. Not only that, it actually can lower HDL (“good” cholesterol) levels at the same time.

Blood pressure. A person who is obese requires more blood to supply oxygen and nutrients to their body, which can lead to increased blood pressure. And high blood pressure is a common cause of heart attacks.

Diabetes. Obesity puts you at high risk for developing diabetes. And according to the American Heart Association, at least 68 percent of people aged 65 and older with diabetes also have heart disease.

These conditions are also three of the five markers for Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) — and three is all you need for a diagnosis. Another marker is having a large waist circumference — in other words, visceral belly fat.

How visceral fat fuels heart disease

If you are obese and carry a lot of fat around your midsection, you are pretty much a heart attack waiting to happen.

So why is merely carrying fat around the mid-section so dangerous?

According to Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, cardiologist and EHO contributor, visceral fat is like an organ that is “biochemically active.” That means it’s not just “passive fat.”

It can disrupt the healthy function of various hormones, like insulin, impact metabolism, inflammation and organs… leading to an increased risk of heart disease.

Visceral fat also produces chemicals called cytokines that have negative effects on blood pressure and blood clotting. Visceral fat is directly linked with higher LDL (bad) cholesterol and lower HDL (good) cholesterol levels.

All of this increases the risk for ischemic heart disease.

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How to lose the fat that contributes to heart disease

You won’t be surprised to hear that diet and exercise are necessary to lose visceral fat. However, I do have a simple tip to help you start chipping away at it…

According to researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, start by eating an avocado a day.

Their study followed 105 overweight or obese adults for a full 12 weeks.

Half were asked to eat an avocado at one meal a day, while the other half ate meals with the same number of calories and nearly identical ingredients, just without the avocado.

And the results showed:

• Women who consumed an avocado as part of a daily meal had a reduction in deeper visceral abdominal fat.
• They also experienced a reduction in the ratio of visceral fat to subcutaneous fat, indicating a redistribution of fat away from their organs.

The researchers say that together, these two findings demonstrate the power of avocados to not only reduce visceral fat but also to ward off the diseases it can cause.

However, fat distribution in males did not change. That doesn’t mean the guys are out of luck. Consider the Green Mediterranean diet…

It’s similar to the traditional Mediterranean diet, but ramps up the green factor by requiring three daily components: green tea, walnuts, and a shake made with duckweed (an aquatic green plant high in protein, iron, vitamin B12, and polyphenols).

In one study, this green diet version lowered blood pressure, insulin resistance, and inflammation, and improved the ratio of good to bad cholesterol.

Another found it doubles the belly fat loss of people following the traditional form of the diet. In this particular study 88% of the participants were men.

Don’t forget, exercise is an important part of weight loss but can be hard to jump into for someone who’s obese. Consider consulting a doctor or a weight loss trainer for additional support.

In addition to doing the right things to lose weight, be wary of these 12 habits that pack on dangerous belly fat.

Sources:

Obesity-related heart disease deaths increased in the U.S. over the past two decades — Eureka Alert

Three ways obesity contributes to heart disease — Penn Medicine

Significant gaps between the science of obesity and the care patients receive — heart.org

Avocados change belly fat distribution in women, controlled study finds — Science Daily

The post What makes obesity-related heart disease so deadly appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But did you know that with obesity also comes an increased risk for cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease?

That’s right. All those fast-food meals can cause brain inflammation that leads to cognitive impairment and memory loss.

But is obesity the cause, or is it the food itself?

Well, it takes some time to become obese, no matter how bad a person’s diet. So, if obesity were the main factor, it stands to reason that it would take that same amount of time before cognitive deficits start to appear.

However, new research presents evidence that the effects of a high-fat diet on the brain show up in as little as three days.

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High-fat eating creates cognitive changes in just 3 days

A few years ago, researchers at Ohio State University showed that just one meal high in saturated fat (like the kind you’d get in a fast-food drive-thru) is enough to mess with your mental performance and focus.

These researchers didn’t investigate the “why” of this, but a more recent study has.

“We’re really looking for the effects of the diet directly on the brain. And we showed that within three days, long before obesity sets in, tremendous neuroinflammatory shifts are occurring,” says senior study author Dr. Ruth Barrientos.

Dr. Barrientos is an investigator in the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at Ohio State University.

This study investigated the impact of a high-fat diet in rats after three months (to model diet-induced obesity) as well as after just three days (to model the rapid changes that occur when we eat fatty foods).

After just three days, the rats showed negative inflammatory changes in the brain and two types of memory impairment common in older people with dementia:

• Contextual memory is the ability to remember emotional or social circumstances related to an event and is controlled by the hippocampus, the primary memory center of the brain.
• Cued-fear memory (recalling a stimulus that has signaled danger in the past) originates in the amygdala, the fear and danger center of the brain.

“The results dispel the idea that diet-related inflammation in the aging brain is driven by obesity,” says Dr. Barrientos.

“Unhealthy diets and obesity are linked, but they are not inseparable. We’re really looking for the effects of the diet directly on the brain. And we showed that within three days, long before obesity sets in, tremendous neuroinflammatory shifts are occurring.”

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Preserving your brain power

The MIND diet was created by researchers from Rush University Medical Center and is based on decades’ worth of brain health research.

In a 12-year study, people who ate a diet that resembled the MIND diet reduced their risk of being diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (the precursor to dementia) or dementia by 19 percent.

Another study indicated that, when it’s strictly adhered to, it can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 53%.

So, what can you eat on the MIND diet?

• Berries are emphasized over other fruits due to their high antioxidant content.
• Eating fish, a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, is recommended at least once a week.
• Leafy greens are especially emphasized. Compared to other vegetables, they are especially linked to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline.
• A daily 5 oz. serving of red wine.

Are you surprised by the red wine? There’s certainly science there…

Barcelona-based researchers discovered that the antioxidant resveratrol, found in the skin of grapes, protected mice against memory loss induced by a high-fat diet and prevented memory loss in mice altered to have Alzheimer’s. The antioxidant also reduced amyloid plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles, both of which are manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease.

Other foods allowed on the MIND diet include whole grains, poultry, beans, lentils, soybeans and olive oil.

The MIND diet does include a few “unhealthy” foods that you’ll need to limit. You can only eat ½ teaspoon of butter a day and not more than one serving of fried food or pastries per week.

If this sounds like a plan you can stick to and you want to save your brain, then give it a try.

Sources:

Memory is impaired in aged rats after 3 days of high-fat eating — Eureka Alert

Obesity-associated memory impairment and neuroinflammation precede widespread peripheral perturbations in aged rats — Immunity and Ageing

The MIND Diet — Barrow Neurological Institute

The post What a high-fat diet does to the brain in just 3 days appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

If you have type 2 diabetes, your risk for heart disease, kidney disease, and nerve damage is higher.

So is the risk of liver disease, including cirrhosis and liver cancer.

And a recent study demonstrates that obesity skyrockets that risk.

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How obesity makes a vicious cycle even worse

Type 2 diabetes involves insulin resistance, a condition where cells become less responsive to insulin. Insulin resistance can lead to a buildup of fat in the liver.

That’s why people with type 2 diabetes are at an increased risk of developing metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MASLD, formerly called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or NAFLD).

Insulin resistance can worsen fatty liver disease, and fatty liver disease can, in turn, exacerbate insulin resistance, creating a vicious cycle

But a study at Sweden’s Linköping University Hospital has found that being obese will skyrocket the chances of someone with type 2 diabetes moving quickly from MASLD to cirrhosis or liver cancer.

Of the more than 300 people with type 2 diabetes who participated in the study, close to 59 percent had metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease, according to their MRI scans.

The researchers also used an ultrasound to measure liver stiffness, an indication of early-stage cirrhosis. These measurements showed that about 7 per cent of the participants had changes suggesting early-stage cirrhosis of the liver

But among those who had both type 2 diabetes and obesity, that number went up to13 percent as compared with only two percent in people who were not obese.

The finding is important for determining whether patients with type 2 diabetes should be screened for liver disease.

“People with both type 2 diabetes and obesity are a group at particular risk that healthcare should prioritise in future efforts,” says Dr. Wile Balkhed, a resident physician at Linköping University Hospital.

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Prevent insulin resistance and support your liver

Make no mistake: insulin resistance is a sign that your metabolism is seriously out of whack. It means your pancreas, the organ that produces insulin, is exhausted, and the sooner you start an all-out effort to get your metabolism back in line, the better:

Lose a few pounds. Excess weight, especially belly fat, tops the list of causes of insulin resistance.

Exercise more. Many studies have also found that resistance training can increase insulin sensitivity among men and women with or without diabetes.

If you need help finding the energy to exercise, enlist the help of the antioxidant, PQQ, found to go after visceral fat (belly fat) while delivering the energy the body needs for exercise.

Eat healthy foods.  Add more soluble fiber and colorful fruits like berries and vegetables to your diet. The more colorful the better, as these contain antioxidants that have been shown to help with weight loss and curb insulin resistance. Cut back on high glycemic foods like carbs (which stimulate excess insulin production), sugars and processed starches. Also, eat much less red meat.

Keep your vitamin D levels healthy. Several studies have connected low vitamin D levels to insulin sensitivity.

Boost CoQ10 levels. Research has also shown that low CoQ10 levels correlate to insulin resistance.

Get more sleep. Give up night owl habits. Getting more sleep can help reverse the effects of insulin resistance. Melatonin can be helpful in more ways than one.

Sources:

Fatty liver – but not liver damage – common in type 2 diabetes — Eureka Alert

Evaluating the prevalence and severity of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in primary care  — Journal of Internal Medicine

Diabetes and obesity can damage the liver to the point of failure — UMass Chan Medical School

The post Diabetes + obesity = a recipe for serious liver damage appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But what happens if you become hard of hearing?

Your friend must knock harder for you to hear them at the door.

This is kind of what happens to your body as you develop insulin resistance.

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What is insulin resistance?

Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas that is crucial for converting food into energy or storing that energy for later use.

When your blood glucose levels rise after a meal, the pancreas responds by producing insulin. The insulin, in turn, helps sugar enter your cells so that the amount of sugar in your bloodstream falls back to a normal range.

The “knock at the door” is insulin telling your insulin-sensitive muscle, liver and fat cells that glucose needs to get in.

But changes in the body can cause those cells to become hard of hearing. They don’t respond as effectively as they should to take up or store glucose from your bloodstream.

What does the pancreas do? It produces even more insulin.

Your blood sugar level might be normal, but you need way more insulin to get it into a normal range because the cells have lost their sensitivity. At this point, you are insulin-resistant.

Eventually, the pancreas can’t make enough insulin to knock as loudly as it needs to, and blood sugar levels start to rise. At this point, if things are not corrected, prediabetes, then type 2 diabetes could be around the corner.

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Who is at risk for insulin resistance?

Genes and older age can make us more prone to insulin resistance, but two lifestyle factors — excess belly fat and physical inactivity — are considered the two main contributing factors.

Other factors that may increase the risk for insulin resistance include:

• A diet high in processed, high-carbohydrate and high-fat foods requires more insulin. These foods tend to be high glycemic index foods.
• A family history of type 2 diabetes.
• Having high triglycerides, high LDL cholesterol or low HDL cholesterol.

Some hormonal conditions are associated with insulin resistance, including:

Cushing’s syndrome: Cortisol, best known as the stress hormone, is necessary in the conversion of blood sugar to energy. However excess cortisol (which can occur due to chronic stress or Adrenal fatigue) can counteract insulin and cause insulin resistance.

Hypothyroidism (or low thyroid): The thyroid plays a big role in regulating your metabolism. When it doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormone, it slows glucose metabolism which can lead to insulin resistance.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): People with PCOS are more likely to be overweight and have metabolic syndrome. That sets a great many of them up for insulin resistance.

Hypertension, heart disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are also linked to insulin resistance.

Some drugs can set you up for insulin resistance, including glucocorticoids (prednisone is one), some antipsychotics and some HIV medicines.

What are the early signs of insulin resistance?

• A waistline over 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women
• Blood pressure readings of 130/80 or higher
• A fasting glucose level over 100 mg/dL
• A fasting triglyceride level over 150 mg/dL
• A HDL cholesterol level under 40 mg/dL in men and 50 mg/dL in women
• Skin tags
• Patches of dark, velvety skin called acanthosis nigricans
• Eye changes that can lead to diabetes-related retinopathy
• Feeling hungry or tired all the time
• Extreme thirst
• Irregular menstrual periods

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Get your insulin sensitivity back

Make no mistake: insulin resistance is a sign that your metabolism is seriously out of whack.

If your pancreas is showing signs of exhaustion, the sooner you start an all-out effort to get your metabolism back in line, the better. Starting here:

Lose a few pounds. Excess weight, especially belly fat, tops the list of causes of insulin resistance. If you need help finding the energy to exercise, enlist the help of the antioxidant, PQQ, found to go after visceral fat while delivering the energy the body needs to exercise.

Exercise more. Many studies have also found that resistance training can increase insulin sensitivity among men and women with or without diabetes.

Eat healthy foods.  Add more soluble fiber and colorful fruits (like berries) and vegetables to your diet. The more colorful the better, as these contain antioxidants that have been shown to help with weight loss and curb insulin resistance. Cut back on high glycemic foods like carbs (which stimulate excess insulin production), sugars and processed starches. Also, eat much less red meat.

Keep your vitamin D levels healthy. Several studies have connected low vitamin D levels to insulin sensitivity.

Boost CoQ10 levels. Research has also shown that low CoQ10 levels correlate to insulin resistance.

Get more sleep. Give up night owl habits, like staying up late and getting less sleep. Getting more sleep can help reverse its effects.

Reduce stress. Ongoing stress keeps your cortisol level high, which stimulates the breakdown of nutrients and increases blood sugar.

Sources:

What Is Insulin Resistance and How Do You Know if You Have It? — NY Times

Insulin Resistance — Cleveland Clinic

The post Insulin resistance: Early signs and ditching the diabetes danger appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Obesity is linked to an increased risk of more than a dozen types of cancer, and it’s also shown to worsen prognosis and survival rates. The metabolic changes and chronic inflammation associated with obesity help create a more cancer-friendly environment within the body, including one that allows cancer cells to win the battle for fuel against tumor-killing immune cells.

One study found that obesity increases the release of harmful molecules from fat tissue, which is a factor in increased breast cancer risk. Another showed that fat — particularly belly fat — releases a protein that can turn non-cancerous cells cancerous.

So, how can we lower this risk? The answer seems obvious: reverse the obesity. However, losing enough weight to no longer be considered obese can take months or even years. Isn’t there anything people with obesity can do in the meantime?

Yes, it turns out…

The anti-cancer diet that fights what fuels cancer

Researchers examined data from 450,111 participants in the 2017 European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, which enrolled participants ages 35 to 70 from across Europe. The average age of participants was 51 years, and 29% were men. They had an average body mass index (BMI) of 25.3 and a mean waist-to-hip ratio of 0.8.

The study measured everyone’s adherence to the Mediterranean diet on a nine-point scale. About one-quarter (26%) had high adherence of seven to nine points, 39% had medium adherence of four to six points, and 34% had low adherence of zero to three points.

On first glance, the results appeared relatively modest. Adjusted analyses showed that people with the highest adherence to the Mediterranean diet had a 6% lower risk for obesity-related cancers compared with those who had the lowest adherence.

However, when looking at site-specific obesity-related cancers such as colorectal, liver and kidney cancers, high adherence was linked with up to a whopping 48% lower risk.

Medium adherence to the Mediterranean diet was also associated with significantly lower risks for colorectal, kidney and liver cancers, along with a lower risk of esophageal cancer.

No associations were reported for hormone-related cancers in women, including postmenopausal breast cancer, endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer.

Those with the highest Mediterranean diet adherence tended to be younger. They also were more likely to have never smoked, were less physically active and had a higher energy (caloric) intake.

Interestingly, the reduction in risk of obesity-related cancer was greater in current and former smokers. Also, people who drank only a moderate amount of alcohol and had a lower meat intake tended to have a reduced risk of obesity-related cancer.

All the right foods to prevent disease

The researchers suggest that the cancer protection offered by the Mediterranean diet may be spurred by improvements in metabolic and inflammatory markers associated with the diet, such as fasting blood glucose and C-reactive protein. In addition, higher fiber intake may counteract carcinogenic compounds from processed meats and harmful foods.

“The potential benefits of the Mediterranean diet for cancer prevention may be from interactions and synergistic effects among its various components, collectively enhancing health benefits beyond those observed for individual foods alone,” the authors write in the study.

The fact that this is a large-scale study gives weight to the idea that adopting a Mediterranean diet may go a long way toward defending against obesity-related cancers, particularly those site-specific cancers mentioned in the study.

So, if you have obesity, where should you start? The Mediterranean diet emphasizes consumption of fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts and whole grains, as well as judicious intake of lean meats, low-fat dairy and olive oil. Survey your diet and see how closely it matches these parameters. If you’re using olive oil for cooking and consuming lots of fruits and vegetables, you’re already well on your way to a Mediterranean eating style.

If your diet trends more toward ultra-processed foods focus on changing one meal a day to something more in the Mediterranean realm. For instance, you could replace that lunchtime sandwich loaded with processed deli meat with an olive oil-dressed salad containing a healthy portion of tuna or salmon.

Sources:

Top Diet Linked to Lower Risk of Multiple Cancers — MedPage Today

Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet and Obesity-Linked Cancer Risk in EPIC — JAMA Network Open

The post It’s time to rename it ‘the anti-cancer diet’ appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

By 2040, just 16 years from now, health experts predict that percentage will rise to 55%.

People with MASLD suffer damage from inflammation and tissue scarring, caused by abnormal accumulation of fat.

That leads to heightened risks for diabetes, cancer (both liver and elsewhere), chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease.

Oddly enough, there seems to be a strong connection between sleep quality and higher risk for MASLD — yet another reason to pay attention to your sleep habits.

Here’s what you need to know…

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What’s sleep got to do with your liver?

Previous research using data based on sleep questionnaires has linked liver disease with poor sleep quality.

However, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that more objective measures than sleep questionnaires be used to prove the existence of a link between sleep disruption and MASLD.

So, when researchers at the University of Basel and Basel’s University Center for Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases set out to learn more about the poor sleep-MASLD connection, they used 24/7 actigraphy.

Between 2019 and 2021, they tracked 46 adults who had either MASLD, MASH (a more severe form of MASLD) or cirrhosis of the liver. Sixteen healthy people served as the control group.

Each wore a sensor on the wrist to track gross motor activity, including light exposure, physical activity and body temperature. They also underwent clinical investigation, interviews, follow-ups and kept a sleep diary.

While there was no difference in the length of sleep between the groups, the actigraph data showed that the people with MASLD woke 55% more often at night. And, they lay awake 113% longer after first falling asleep than the healthy control group.

“We concluded from our data that sleep fragmentation plays a role in the pathogenesis of human MASLD,” says corresponding author Dr. Sofia Schaeffer.

But a question remained…

“Whether MASLD cause sleep disorders or vice versa remains unknown,” she added.

“The underlying mechanism presumably involves genetics, environmental factors, and the activation of immune responses — ultimately driven by obesity and metabolic syndrome.”

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The metabolic dysfunction in MSLD linked to poor sleep

Even though the researchers are still not sure whether sleep disruption leads to liver disease, or vice versa, I have a theory about the driving force…

Of the 46 participants in the study, 80% of those with MSLD had hallmark symptoms of metabolic syndrome (MetS), including:

• Higher levels of triglycerides
• High fasting glucose
• High blood insulin levels
• And lower levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol.

Additionally, they were all obese. A large waist circumference, often part of obesity, is the 5^th symptom associated with MetS.

And guess what has been linked to increasing the risk of MetS? Irregular or variable sleep patterns.

A larger study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute found that people with greater variations in their bedtimes and hours they slept had a much higher risk of metabolic conditions — specifically, each of the symptoms for MetS.

That makes the sleep link even stronger and makes is clear that if you don’t have MASH or cirrhosis, start now to avoid MASLD by staying clear of the symptoms of MetS and improving sleep quality.

Start with a good diet you can stick to, but add these five easy hacks to keep MetS at bay.

To sleep like a baby, try implementing the bedtime routine of a toddler. And, if you haven’t tried melatonin, consider it. It can help you sleep and support immune function, one of the factors mentioned by Dr. Schaeffer above.

Sources:

Broken sleep a hallmark sign of living with the most common liver disease, scientists find — Eureka Alert

Significant nocturnal wakefulness after sleep onset in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease — Frontiers in Network Physiology

The post Trouble sleeping? It could lead to liver disease appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, research proves that the earlier you develop diabetes, the more likely you are to suffer from dementia and that as your weight and blood pressure go up, so do your chances of cognitive decline.

And while smoking is bad for your heart as well as your lungs, it could be just as deadly to your brain. One study found that male smokers lose their cognitive abilities quicker than nonsmokers. And a second study found that even secondhand smoke significantly increases dementia risk.

However, while we all must be careful of these risk factors to keep our brains healthy and our memories intact, scientists say that men need to start paying attention to their hearts an entire decade earlier than women.

Here’s why…

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Heart risk factors and brain volume loss

The findings come from a long-term study published online in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

The research, which followed 34,425 participants of the UK Biobank, used the Framingham Risk Score to assess heart disease risk and cardiovascular risk factors, including obesity, diabetes and more. They then compared these to changes in brain structure and volume, which signal the development of dementia and cognitive decline.

The results showed a clear link between cardiovascular risk factors and dangerous brain changes…

For example, the researchers found that higher levels of abdominal fat and visceral adipose tissue (deep belly fat that wraps around your organs) were associated with lower brain grey matter volume in both men and women. 

The regions of the brain most vulnerable are the ones involved in aural, visual, and emotional information processing, as well as memory — the same regions that are affected early on in the development of dementia.

According to the researchers, these associations held true whether or not a person carried the Alzheimer’s (APOE4) gene or not.

However, what the researchers didn’t expect to find was that the strongest influence of cardiovascular risk factors, including obesity, on brain neurodegeneration occurred a decade earlier in men than in women…

And that the effect of these risk factors on dementia risk was also stronger in men than women.

The researchers say that while women are most susceptible between the ages of 65 and 74, the danger for men starts at age 55, going all the way to 74 years old.

In other words, men’s vulnerability is greater, begins sooner, and lasts longer.

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Reducing heart risk to reduce dementia risk

With these results, the researchers concluded, “Targeting cardiovascular risk and obesity a decade earlier in males than females may be imperative for potential candidates to achieve a therapeutic benefit in preventing neurodegeneration and cognitive decline.”

In other words, men should focus on managing their weight and reducing other heart disease risk factors at a younger age to start staving off dementia.

This means giving up smoking, eating healthy and getting plenty of exercise to lose weight.

The good news is that those last two also reduce your chances of diabetes, another cardiovascular risk factor.

In fact, researchers have found that simply getting enough steps in daily can reduce your risk of diabetes by a whopping 44%!

An easy way to take down three risk factors at once — blood pressure, blood sugar and weight — is to increase your intake of flavonoids such as anthocyanins, fisetin, quercetin and isoflavones.

Sources:

Men at high risk of cardiovascular disease face brain health decline 10 years earlier than women — EurekAlert!

10 scientifically proven ways to lower your dementia risk — Easy Health Options

Tight blood pressure control may be key to closing door on dementia — Easy Health Options

Is your weight putting you at risk for Alzheimer’s? — Easy Health Options

How age, diabetes and dementia intersect — Easy Health Options

The post The warning men get 10 years before their brain shrinks appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

One of the less-talked-about impacts of diabetes is its effect on the health of skeletal muscle, which accounts for more than 50% of the body’s weight.

And when diabetes and obesity coexist, as they often do — experts call that “diabesity” — the damage to skeletal muscle can be profound…

In fact, diabesity is one reason that exercise is more challenging for people with diabetes.

Diabesity induces stress and dysfunction in skeletal muscle at the cellular level, including the mitochondria. This damages muscle mass and structure and impairs metabolism and function.

Investigators are exploring ways to counteract this impact. And they may have found one in a hormone more people may be familiar with as a popular sleep supplement…

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Melatonin protects against muscle damage

There are three types of muscle fibers:

• Slow twitch, also known as red fibers due to the large number of mitochondria they possess;
• Fast twitch, or white fibers;
• and intermediate.

Every muscle has a specific proportion of these fiber types, which vary and change depending on the type of movement being performed. For example, during short periods of intense muscular activity, white fibers with glycolytic (or anaerobic) metabolism are dominant, while during prolonged periods of low-intensity muscular activity, red fibers with oxidative (or aerobic) metabolism predominate. Red (slow) fibers are thought to be more energy-efficient than white (fast) fibers.

In diabesity, the necessary proportion of fiber types goes out the window…

Previous research indicated melatonin could be helpful, so an international team of researchers led by the University of Granada (UGR) administered melatonin to obese and diabetic rodents for 12 weeks to gauge its impact on muscle health.

What they discovered was fascinating…

Melatonin was able to restore the healthy proportion of these fibers, increasing oxidative fibers and reducing glycolytic fibers — ultimately reversing the effects of “diabesity.”

In other words, it improved the muscle’s ability to burn fat (reducing fat accumulation) and produce energy.

What’s even more interesting is that melatonin showed effects similar to those of prolonged aerobic activity, especially improving mitochondrial function and regulating calcium levels in cell compartments. This reduces cellular stress and prevents programmed cell death.

“We discovered that melatonin restores calcium levels in the mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum, which helps to reduce cell damage,” says study lead Dr. Ahmad Agil, a professor of pharmacology at UGR.

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Melatonin as ‘diabesity’ therapy in humans

These findings open up a new frontier for the use of melatonin, not only to improve muscle energy but as an innovative therapy to combat “diabesity.”

“Our results reinforce the idea that melatonin could have therapeutic applications in metabolic diseases, improving the muscle health of patients,” Dr. Agil says.

However, the researchers stress that clinical studies in humans are needed to confirm these results and determine optimal dosing.

“If we can demonstrate its effectiveness in humans, we could have an innovative treatment that would improve the lives of millions of people,” Dr. Agil says. Until then, he adds, maintaining a healthy, active and balanced lifestyle during the day and proper rest at night is key to preserving muscle health and preventing the adverse effects of diabesity.

If you want to try adding a melatonin supplement to your health regimen, the common recommendation is 1 to 2 milligrams about 30 minutes before bedtime. You can work your way up to 5 milligrams, but it’s important that you don’t take more than 10 milligrams at a time, or you could risk side effects that include drowsiness, headaches, dizziness, confusion, nausea, vomiting, irritability and waking up in the night.

If you have kidney or liver problems, it may take you longer to clear melatonin, so your upper limit may be even lower than 10 milligrams. Talk to your doctor before starting a melatonin supplement so you can get advice on the right amount for you.

Sources:

Melatonin protects against muscle damage and restores the proportion of fibers altered by obesity and diabetes — EurekAlert!

Melatonin Ameliorates Organellar Calcium Homeostasis, Improving Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Mediated Apoptosis in the Vastus Lateralis Muscle of Both Sexes of Obese Diabetic Rats — Antioxidants

Melatonin Dosage: How Much Should You Take — Sleep Foundation

Melatonin and your sleep: Is it safe, what are the side effects and how does it work? — UC Davis Health

The post The sleep supplement that combats ‘diabesity’ appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But the truth is, your immune system does a lot more than fight off viruses and bacteria.

In fact, research has proven that the immune system is involved in preventing depression, decreasing pain sensitivity, reducing fibromyalgia and even helping burn body fat.

Having exceptional immunity has even been tied to exceptional aging.

Yet, we are learning this is still just the tip of the iceberg…

According to a study published in the journal Science, our immune system is even tied to blood sugar control — potentially opening up new approaches for managing conditions like diabetes, obesity and cancer.

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The missing piece of the blood sugar puzzle

For decades, blood sugar regulation was tied primarily to the actions of two hormones produced in the pancreas: insulin and glucagon. While insulin lowers blood sugar by boosting the uptake of glucose into cells, glucagon elevates it by triggering the release of glucose from the liver.

Together, these two processes worked at keeping blood sugar at a healthy balance.

However, scientists at the Immunophysiology Lab at the Champalimaud Foundation suspected there was more to the story and that the immune system could hold the missing piece of the puzzle…

“For example,” says researcher Henrique Veiga-Fernandes, “some immune cells regulate how the body absorbs fat from food, and we’ve recently shown that brain-immune interactions help control fat metabolism and obesity. This got us thinking — could the nervous and immune systems collaborate to regulate other key processes, like blood sugar levels?”

The signal that stabilizes blood sugar

So they set out to test their theory in mice, where they discovered something very interesting…

The team found that mice genetically engineered without an immune cell known as ILC2 couldn’t produce enough glucagon — the hormone that raises blood sugar — and their glucose levels dropped too low.

This allowed the researchers to focus on that immune cell and tag it with a glow-in-the-dark marker so they could observe its function in healthy mice.

What they found was that, after fasting, these cells traveled to the pancreas.

Once there, the cells release cytokines — tiny chemical messengers — that send a signal to pancreatic cells to produce the hormone glucagon. The increase in glucagon then signals the liver to release glucose.

“This shows that immune cells aren’t just battle-hardened soldiers fighting off threats — they also act like emergency responders, stepping in to deliver critical energy supplies and maintain stability in times of need,” explains Veiga-Fernandes.

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Better blood sugar for better overall health

According to the researchers, this finding provides new options for preventing and treating diabetes and obesity (since balanced blood sugar is vital for maintaining a healthy body weight).

And they say it could even be key in cancer research.

That’s because certain cancers, including pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and liver cancer, grow by taking over the body’s metabolic processes to elevate glucagon production, raising blood sugar.

So, what should you do if you want to keep your immune system running strong to help support blood sugar balance?

First, be sure to exercise.

One study found that compared to inactive adults, older endurance cyclists (some in their 80s) were producing the same level of immune cells called T-cells as adults in their 20s!

T-cells are produced in your thymus, a gland in your chest, which usually shrinks in size into adulthood.

Additionally, be sure to avoid habits that hijack your immune system. These include:

• Over-exercising (While exercise is vital for immune health, moderation is key.)
• Too much alcohol
• Too much sugar
• Too much salt
• Nicotine consumption
• Overexposure to UV rays, both indoors and outdoors

Sources:

Eavesdropping on organs: Immune system controls blood sugar levels — EurekAlert!

6 habits that hijack your immune system — Easy Health Options

Is your immune system causing your depression? — Easy Health Options

The real reason fibromyalgia increases pain sensitivity — Easy Health Options

The surprising way your immune system helps burn fat — Easy Health Options

The post A strange connection: The immune system’s impact on blood sugar appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It can cause a lot of damage to other areas of health, including increased risks for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and more than a dozen types of cancer.

The worst part is the older you get, the easier it is to gain weight and the harder it is to lose it. A friend of mine tried absolutely everything to lose weight to no avail. But the one thing that finally worked for her was metabolic-bariatric surgery.

This type of surgery makes changes to the digestive system that result in weight loss. And lose weight she did — to the tune of 100 pounds. But that’s not the only benefit she received…

Her blood pressure and cholesterol came down and her prediabetes resolved itself. In fact, studies have shown that weight-loss surgery can lower the risk of death and major heart complications more effectively than weight loss through more conventional means. It also can result in better blood sugar control.

Surgery may not be for everyone. But for those who opt for it, researchers have discovered another big benefit to weight-loss surgery — protection against one of the most lethal cancers…

Weight-loss surgery and pancreatic cancer

Obesity and type 2 diabetes are risk factors for various forms of cancer, including pancreatic cancer. Because pancreatic cancer is so hard to diagnose, it’s often not caught until it has advanced to the point where chances of survival are slim.

A team of international researchers examined 12 studies that explored the effects of metabolic-bariatric surgery on pancreatic cancer rates, with a total of 3,711,243 adults with obesity.

Their findings were astounding…

Surgery was linked with a 44 percent reduction in pancreatic cancer risk among obese individuals without type 2 diabetes. And in those with both obesity and type 2 diabetes, risk was reduced by a whopping 79 percent.

“Metabolic-bariatric surgery not only has beneficial effects on obesity and type 2 diabetes but also may play a crucial role in reducing the risk of pancreatic cancer in these individuals,” says corresponding author Dr. Angeliki M. Angelidi of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

“These findings underscore the need for further research to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and understand the full spectrum of health benefits of metabolic-bariatric surgery beyond weight loss.”

Types of weight-loss surgery and what’s involved

If you think you may want to undergo metabolic-bariatric surgery, you’ll want to talk with your doctor first. You’ll have to be evaluated to see if you qualify as a candidate for surgery.

There are several different types of weight-loss surgery, and the type you get will depend on a number of factors. The main types of surgery performed in the U.S. are:

• Gastric sleeve, in which a majority of the stomach is removed.
• Gastric bypass, in which the stomach is stapled, leaving a small pouch, and that pouch is attached directly to the lower part of the small intestine.
• Adjustable gastric band, in which a surgeon places a ring with an inflatable band around the top of the stomach to create a small pouch. This surgery has become less common because of its complication rate.

The main goal of all three surgeries is to make you feel full after eating only a small amount of food so that you don’t consume as many calories and thus lose weight.

Weight-loss surgery isn’t without risk. Initial side effects can include bleeding, infection, diarrhea, blood clots in the legs and leaking from the site where the sections of the stomach, small intestine or both are stapled or sewn together. Rarely, surgery-related problems can lead to death.

A previous study published in the journal Obesity Science & Practice found that several factors including vitamin D status have a definite impact on bariatric surgery outcomes.

There are other potential complications over the long term. You often have to take prescribed vitamins and minerals to ensure your body is getting enough nutrients, and sometimes these nutrients can be poorly absorbed. This can lead to health problems like anemia and osteoporosis. Also, gallstones can occur after rapid weight loss, so some doctors prescribe medication to prevent this.

Sources:

Can weight-loss surgery help prevent pancreatic cancer in people with obesity? — EurekAlert!

Metabolic–Bariatric Surgery Reduces Pancreatic Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis of Over 3.7 Million Adults, Independent of Type 2 Diabetes Status — Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews

Weight-loss (Metabolic & Bariatric) Surgery — National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Weight-loss Surgery Side Effects — National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Types of Weight-loss Surgery — National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

The post How weight-loss surgery takes down pancreatic cancer risk appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

That’s more than 40 percent of Americans afflicted with a condition that carries numerous health risks, including heart disease, “diabesity,” cognitive decline, chronic inflammation and more.

Of course, diet and exercise are the twin pillars of any anti-obesity strategy…

But when it comes to diet, some foods are more effective than others at “melting the fat off” — including one that is a staple in Korean culture…

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Kimchi could fight obesity

In response to the global epidemic of obesity, the World Institute of Kimchi in South Korea has been publishing a series of articles based on studies into the anti-obesity effects of the traditional fermented food, most often made with cabbage.

And its reputation for taking off weight is getting lots of momentum…

• Previous preclinical studies in animal models of obesity revealed a stunning 31.8 percent reduction in body fat among those fed a kimchi diet.
• An extensive analysis of data collected over 13 years from the Korea Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES) found kimchi intake was associated with a 15 percent reduction in body mass index (BMI) and a 12 percent decrease in obesity among middle-aged males.

In the most recent study to come out of the World Institute of Kimchi, researchers gathered data on 55 overweight adults including blood biomarkers, gut microbiome makeup and body composition.

They had one group of participants consume three freeze-dried kimchi capsules per meal equivalent to 60 g of kimchi per day for three months, while the control group did not take the kimchi capsules.

After analyzing the changes in body fat composition and other markers, the researchers found:

• The group that consumed kimchi showed a 2.6 percent decrease in body fat — and a reduction in triglycerides.
• The control group exhibited a 4.7 percent increase in body fat — and an increase in triglycerides.

But those weren’t the only compelling improvements…

The participants’ gut microbiome analyses showed increased Akkermansia muciniphila, a species of beneficial gut bacterium known to reduce inflammation and improve markers of metabolic syndrome and obesity through the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).

In addition, those taking kimchi showed a reduction in the number of Proteobacteria, which are associated with obesity.

In short, this clinical trial indicates that steady consumption of kimchi can alleviate obesity symptoms by positively modifying the gut microbiota.

“The results of a preclinical study and a clinical trial have systematically verified the anti-obesity effects of kimchi, and present scientific evidence that would help to make the excellent properties of kimchi widely known, thereby laying the foundation for the growth of kimchi as a health food well recognized around the world,” says Dr. Hae-Choon Chang, director of the World Institute of Kimchi. 

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Adding this pickled wonder to your diet

You can make kimchi at home — just be advised that the process can be a little time-consuming. There are dozens of recipes online, but here’s one to get you started.

If you’re short on time or simply don’t have the space to make and store it, you can buy prepackaged kimchi at Asian grocery stores or even in some supermarkets. For maximum health benefits, look for it freshly prepared in the refrigerated section.

You may wonder exactly what it tastes like — it’s sort of a spicy pickled flavor. You can eat it plain or make it a tasty addition to sandwiches (try a kimchi grilled cheese), burgers or burritos. You can even mix it into a salad to give it a tangy, spicy kick.

But if a spicey pickled cabbage dish just isn’t your thing, you can still support your microbiome and help it produce SCFAs by adding prebiotic inulin fiber from other food sources. Previous research has shown it can help suppress appetite and decrease body weight.

Sources:

New clinical study confirms the anti-obesity effects of kimchi — EurekAlert!

Kimchi intake alleviates obesity-induced neuroinflammation by modulating the gut-brain axis — Food Research International

Fermented kimchi may help combat obesity by regulating gut microbiota — News Medical Life Sciences

The post The ‘pickled’ food that took down weight and triglycerides appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Lately, however, we’ve discovered that BMI is not the most accurate way to measure just how much of our weight can be attributed to body fat.

And when body fat is associated with a deadly cancer, this really matters…

What is hormone-positive breast cancer?

Contrary to what you may think, there’s more than one type of breast cancer.

Estrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive) breast cancer, also called hormone-positive breast cancer, means there are specific estrogen receptors on the tumor cells.

When estrogen binds with these receptors, it stimulates the cancer cells to grow and reproduce. Therefore, one of the main goals of therapy or intervention with hormone-positive cancer is to reduce hormonal stimulation as much as possible.

Why weight matters for post-menopausal women

Estrogen is made by the ovaries during the years before menopause, but it’s also made in fat cells where enzymes convert other hormones to estrogens. After menopause, fat is the primary source of estrogen production in the body.

So of course, maintaining a healthy weight is a prime way for post-menopausal women to reduce their risk for this type of breast cancer.

But more than weight, the amount of excess fat a woman is carrying is of primary importance in determining her risk for this cancer.

Traditionally, body mass index (BMI) has been the way body fat has been measured.

But now we’re finding that it’s not the most accurate way.

BMI underestimates ER+ breast cancer

BMI does not account for age, sex, or ethnicity. So a team of Spanish researchers used another validated measure of body fat that does account for these factors, known as CUN-BAE.

Both BMI and CUN-BAE numbers were obtained for 1033 white post-menopausal women with breast cancer, as well as for 1143 who were cancer-free but matched for age and sex.

Using BMI, they found an estimated 19.9 percent of breast cancer cases to be hormone-positive, but using the alternative measurement, about 41.9 percent were determined to be hormone-positive.

“Our findings suggest that the population impact could be underestimated when using traditional BMI estimates, and that more accurate measures of body fat, such as CUN-BAE, should be considered when estimating the cancer burden attributable to obesity in postmenopausal breast cancer.”

The team also noted that, when planning effective strategies to prevent breast cancer, this difference is crucial.

Lose weight to reduce risk for ER+ breast cancer

If you’re a woman who is beyond menopause, the best way to help prevent estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, other than maintaining a healthy weight, is to control cholesterol.

Research has shown that byproducts of cholesterol can bind to estrogen receptors and promote the growth of ER+ tumors.

Following a healthy low-fat diet can help you do both…

Whole grain fiber foods, like barley, oats, and brown rice are great at lowering cholesterol. A high-fiber diet promotes the binding of both cholesterol and estrogen in the colon, which reduces reabsorption.

In fact, a Swedish study found that fiber intake from fruit and cereal may play a role in reducing breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women, particularly.

But cutting down on dairy fat and saturated fats is also a must.

Other foods can help tame estrogen and guard against cancer as well, including:

Manuka honey. Researchsuggests that this medicinal honey could be developed into a natural supplement or even a standalone treatment for ER-positive breast cancer, especially for patients who experience resistance to the commonly used therapies.

Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and kale contain diindolylmethane (DIM), a compound that promotes the healthy metabolism of estrogen.

Green tea. Green tea contains powerful polyphenols that have proven to play a role in resisting a variety of cancers — liver, breast, prostate, lung and skin cancers, among others.

Don’t forget to exercise. Combining aerobics and strength training gets you the most cancer protection from both cancer incidence and mortality.

Sources:

Around 40% of postmenopausal hormone positive breast cancers linked to excess body fat — Eureka Alert

Burden of postmenopausal breast cancer attributable to excess body weight: comparative study of body mass index and CUN-BAE in MCC-Spain study — Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

The post The underestimated factor for ER+ breast cancer appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It can also be a setup for a higher risk of dementia.

But for one stubborn health problem, the vitamin D connection has been tricky to nail down…

Previous studies have linked it to positive changes in blood pressure, but overall, the results have been inconclusive, at least in the general population.

But new research finds that it may be a matter of when and who vitamin D can help the most…

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Vitamin D impacts blood pressure in older people with obesity

Scientists at the American University of Beirut Medical Center hoped to find a direct connection between vitamin D supplements and improvements in blood pressure.

So they conducted a randomized controlled trial that included 221 older people with obesity who took vitamin D3 supplements during the study.

Historically, people with obesity often have a harder time managing blood pressure. That’s due to complex factors connected to obesity that impact blood pressure including hormonal imbalances, increased blood flow for kidneys that have to work harder, and visceral fat that increases pressure on the cardiovascular system and promotes inflammation.

They divided the study participants into two groups: one supplementing 600 IU/day of D3 (the recommended dietary allowance); and the other taking 3,750 IU/day, more than six times the RDA.

They followed the participants for a year and found that supplementation decreased blood pressure in both groups.

“Our study found vitamin D supplementation may decrease blood pressure in specific subgroups such as older people, people with obesity and possibly those with low vitamin D levels,” says Dr. Ghada El-Hajj Fuleihan of the American University of Beirut Medical Center.

“High vitamin D doses compared to the IOM’s recommended daily dose did not provide additional health benefits.”

The researchers also did not report any adverse effects among the group taking the higher dose.

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Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency

Winter is coming, and that means a lot of sunless days spent indoors.

That’s why we’re at a higher risk for vitamin D deficiency this time of year. After all, it’s not called the “sunshine vitamin” for nothing.

A whopping 42 percent of us are vitamin D deficient. But unless you get regular bloodwork done to monitor your levels, you won’t know you’re one of them until symptoms start to show up.

It’s all too easy to chalk up these issues to other health concerns, but if you’re experiencing any of these, especially if they’re new symptoms, it’s best to have your D levels checked.

Symptoms of D deficiency include:

• joint pain
• hair loss
• fatigue
• dizziness
• depression
• trouble sleeping

Among post-menopausal women in particular, dry eyes can be a symptom of a vitamin D deficiency too.

Signs of dry eye include:

• dryness
• grittiness
• soreness
• burning
• redness
• temporarily blurred vision that improves when you blink
• feeling like there’s something in your eye
• sensitivity to light
• watery eyes

If you need some direction on supplementing, the National Endocrine Society issued new Clinical Practice Guidelines about who should be taking amounts of vitamin D higher than the current RDA, and have even suggested that testing levels first isn’t necessary.

Sources:

Vitamin D supplements may lower blood pressure in older people with obesity — Eureka Alert

Blood Pressure Decreases in Overweight Elderly Individuals on Vitamin D: A Randomized Trial — Journal of the Endocrine Society

Obesity-Induced Hypertension:Interaction of Neurohumoral and Renal Mechanisms — Circulation Research

25-Hydroxyvitamin D deficiency is independently associated with cardiovascular disease in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey — Atherosclerosis

Latest Knowledge on the Role of Vitamin D in Hypertension — International Journal of Molecular Sciences

The post When vitamin D helps lower blood pressure the most appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But the condition it’s most closely linked to is diabetes.

In fact, the two are so likely to go hand-in-hand that doctors have coined a term for it – ‘diabesity.’

According to Cleveland Clinic endocrinologist, Jay Waddadar, MD,” “Diabesity is a disease with enormous potential to cause ill effects on the body in the long run. Diabesity is a silent disease that damages your body if it’s not controlled, even while you feel fine.”

However, not everyone with obesity develops diabetes, and a team of scientists at Rutgers University believes they’ve uncovered why and how it could help others…

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Stress and obesity-induced insulin resistance

Scientists have long thought obesity causes diabetes by impairing the way insulin signals within the liver and fat cells.

However, while looking at hormone levels in mice, the Rutgers team discovered that overeating in normal mice increases the stress hormone norepinephrine within days, resulting in stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system.

This insight quickly led the researchers in a new direction: determining what effect excess production of this hormone has in spurring diabetes development.

To do so, they fed genetically engineered mice (unable to produce stress hormones) the same obesity-inducing high-fat and high-sugar diet. But even though these mice ate as many calories and got just as obese as normal mice, they didn’t develop metabolic disease.

Their conclusion?

Overeating and obesity increase the body’s sympathetic nervous system (the fight-or-flight response), raises the level of the stress hormones norepinephrine and epinephrine and causes insulin resistance.

The new findings may help explain why some obese individuals develop diabetes while others don’t and why stress can worsen diabetes even with little weight gain.

“Many types of stress – financial stress, marital stress, the stress associated with living in dangerous areas or suffering discrimination or even the physical stress that comes from excessive alcohol consumption — all increase diabetes and synergize with the metabolic stress of obesity,” said Christoph Buettner, chief of endocrinology, metabolism and nutrition at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

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Reduce the effects of stress

“We hope this paper provides a different take on insulin resistance,” Dr. Buettner added. “It may also explain why none of the drugs currently used to treat insulin resistance, except insulin itself, directly increases cellular insulin signaling.”

That makes addressing how stress impacts the body, specifically diabetes, something that can’t be ignored. And while overeating and stress can partner up to increase the risk for diabetes, developing healthy eating habits should still be at the top of any list to lower those risks.

Stress, however, can be harder to tame. There are a few lifestyle factors that can help manage stress, including exercise, medication or prayer and learning to say “no.”

However, we can’t talk about stress and the body’s natural fight-or-flight response without discussing the adrenal glands.

The adrenals secrete several hormones including epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline) and cortisol, which have similar functions — including increasing the heart rate and force of heart contractions, increasing blood flow to the muscles and brain, relaxing airway smooth muscles, and assisting in glucose (sugar) metabolism.

All of these functions are necessary for the fight or flight response needed during times of short-term stress. But when stress becomes chronic (long-term), the adrenals become fatigued. Cortisol output can contribute to a recurrent stress loop that can’t be resolved appropriately, potentially resulting in elevated norepinephrine.

It becomes difficult to rein the fight or flight response back in with hormones that normally would, like DHEA, and we can experience problems with blood sugar, weight gain, low energy levels and more.

Adaptogens are active ingredients in certain plants that help your body adapt to stress. Some adaptogen herbs, including ashwagandha and holy basil, have been shown to improve the body’s response to physical and emotional stress:

• Ashwagandha has a positive effect on the endocrine and nervous systems by regulating metabolism and how the brain responds to stress.
• Holy basil also helps to balance blood sugar and cholesterol and also provides a rich source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds.

Sources:

Researchers suggest stress hormones explain how obesity causes diabetes – EurekAlert!

Diabesity: How Obesity Is Related to Diabetes – Cleveland Clinic

Adrenal Glands — Johns Hopkins Medicine

Adaptogens — Cleveland Clinic

The one thing that reverses the amazing benefits of healthy fats – Easy Health Options

The post Obesity’s fight-or-flight response driving diabetes appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

However, the truth is that heart disease kills more women each year than breast cancer by far.

In fact, according to the American Heart Association, one in 39 women in the U.S. will die from breast cancer each year, while 1 in 3 dies from cardiovascular disease.

That works out to roughly one death every minute, with menopause playing a significant role in women’s cardiovascular risks.

This makes menopause a dangerous time in life for a woman due to changes in her heart health. And according to studies presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific meeting recently, there are five particular dangers women should be aware of…

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#1 – Irregular heartbeat

Research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA), found that 1 in 4 women are likely to develop irregular heart rhythms post-menopause. Known as atrial fibrillation, if not treated, it’s the most common cardiac cause of stroke. Fortunately, it’s possible to reduce the risk of AFib by 60 percent with regular exercise.

#2 – Elevated risk of heart failure

Scientists also found that women who went through menopause late – at age 55 or older – and who lived with obesity were at a significantly higher risk of heart failure.

#3 – Higher chance of heart disease

On the other end of the spectrum, research presented at the Association’s 2022 Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference (EPI), showed that women who naturally experienced early menopause (by the age of 40) had a 40% higher chance of coronary heart disease over their lifetime, compared to women who did not go through early menopause.

Coronary heart disease (also known as coronary artery disease) occurs when blockages or damage to the vessels prevent the arteries from delivering enough oxygen-rich blood to the heart. This can lead to a heart attack.

#4 – Dementia dangers

Results of another 2021 study found that women who experience very early menopause were 35% more likely to develop some type of dementia later in life, compared with women who enter menopause around age 50.

#5 – Effects of loneliness on the heart

Additional research in 2021 showed that menopausal heart danger can be compounded by social isolation. The study showed that women who experience loneliness post-menopause were at a 29% risk of cardiovascular disease.

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Support your heart health starting now

As the researchers noted, “More women in the U.S. are living longer, and a significant portion of them will spend up to 40% of their lives postmenopausal, so it’s important to monitor a woman’s health and lifestyle and develop intervention strategies to protect heart health.”

So what can you do to promote better heart health before, leading up to and during your menopause years?

Exercise, follow a Mediterranean-style diet and consider adding the veggie that gives back the heart protection menopause steals to your daily diet…

When women stop producing estrogen, they’re losing more than a sex hormone. Estrogen helps maintain nitric oxide (NO) levels in the body. NO is a signaling molecule found in the endothelial cells that line artery walls — where its chief function is to act as a powerful vasodilator and an important regulator of the cardiovascular system.

In one study, researchers at Penn State determined that beetroot juice, a naturally occurring dietary source of NO, improved blood-vessel function in menopausal and postmenopausal women so much that if it could be maintained over the postmenopausal years, the risk of heart disease could be significantly reduced.

NO may also help with the weight gain linked to heart failure. In a study using mice, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, found that mice on NO therapy gained 17 percent less body weight than the control mice.

That same study saw the mice on NO therapy had improved cerebral blood flow and improved spatial learning abilities. That’s a win since better brain blood flow is associated with a lower risk of cognitive impairment.

As a doctor, I think adding beets to our healthcare arsenal is one of the simplest things women can do for the threats we face when menopause comes knocking.

Beets can be enjoyed in salads, pickled, juiced with other veggies and added to smoothies.

Sources:

Hot news flash: Menopause can impact a woman’s heart health — EurekAlert!

3 amazing benefits of summer’s best heart-healthy vegetable — Easy Health Options

The post 5 serious health threats tied to menopause appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It’s long been acknowledged that being overweight or obese dramatically increases your risk of heart disease.

A few years ago, I wrote about metabolically healthy obesity as a way of explaining why some obese people have better cardiovascular health than people of healthy weight.

But is it pounds that count, or something else entirely?

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The history of body mass index

Since the 1990s, body mass index, or BMI, has been the standard way to estimate a person’s percentage of body fat. It’s a number that is calculated from a person’s weight and height.

BMI was originally meant to describe the risk of a population as a whole. But because it’s so easy to calculate, it became a clinical tool. A doctor can calculate your BMI with nothing more than a scale and a tape measure.

But BMI doesn’t distinguish among different types of weight.

“Weight can be composed of so many parts of us: our water weight, bone weight, fat, and muscle,” says Dr. Beverly Tchang, an endocrinologist and assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medicine.

“You can have someone come in with a normal BMI, and they already have prediabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol,” she says. “That’s probably because that normal BMI is missing the fat distribution detail.”

There’s an alternative to the BMI, and it’s turning out to be the prediction tool we need.

BRI: A better predictor of your heart’s risks

Body roundness index (BRI) combines waist circumference and height, reflecting the proportion of abdominal and visceral fat a person carries. Actual weight in pounds is not a factor in this formula.

A study recently showed why BR, is a far more accurate way to assess an individual’s risk of cardiovascular disease.

Researchers in China analyzed BRI measurements in a group of almost 10,000 adults between 2011 and 2016.

They assigned people to three groups based not only on their BRI, but on how it changed over time: a low-stable group, a moderate-stable group, and a high-stable group.

Compared to participants in the low-stable BRI level group, the risk of cardiovascular disease in the moderate-stable BRI level group increased by 61 percent, and the risk in the high-stable BRI level group increased by 163 percent.

“Our findings indicate that six years of moderate-to-high stable BRI appeared to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, suggesting that BRI measurements may potentially be used as a predictive factor for cardiovascular disease incidence,” says senior study author Dr. senior study author Yun Qian.

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How to avoid being “round”

To be honest this information isn’t news to us. It’s just more confirmation that fat carried in the midsection — belly fat, visceral fat, call it what you will — is almost a sure ticket to cardiovascular disease.

Back in 2019, I reported that the Endocrine Society listed waist circumference, an indication of excess fat in the midsection, along with four other factors to identify metabolic syndrome as a cardiovascular risk factor.

As with most things, diet and exercise are your two best weapons.

If you’re carrying belly fat, don’t be discouraged if you start exercising and don’t see visible changes. Even when it doesn’t show, it’s altering the composition of that deadly fat by reducing the number of inflammation-causing cells it contains. Inflammation is a significant contributor to heart trouble.

The role of hormones can’t be ignored when discussing belly fat either. Several, including the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone, insulin, cortisol (stress hormone), leptin and ghrelin (hunger hormones), not to mention thyroid and adrenal hormones, affect abdominal weight gain.

Discuss having your thyroid levels checked and rule out adrenal fatigue, leptin resistance and insulin resistance, and explore balancing estrogen and testosterone with a trusted healthcare practitioner.

According to cardiologist, Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, “As more studies validate the effectiveness of BRI, we could see a shift in how doctors assess and manage weight-related health risks. While BMI isn’t likely to disappear overnight, it’s clear that it can’t stand alone as the definitive measure of health.”

Sources:

Measure of body roundness may help to predict risk of cardiovascular disease — Eureka Alert

Body Roundness Index Trajectories and the Incidence of Cardiovascular Disease: Evidence From the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study — Journal of the American Heart Association

More belly weight increases danger of heart disease even if BMI does not indicate obesity — Science Daily

Could the Body Roundness Index One Day Replace the BMI? — JAMA Network

Time to Say Goodbye to the B.M.I.? NY Times

Body Roundness Index and All-Cause Mortality Among US Adults — JAMA Network

The post What to know about the new heart disease risk measurement appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Protein!

Yup, at this point after all of the news reports, articles, social media posts, celebrity endorsements and more, a person would have to be living under a rock not to have heard the advice that if you want to look and feel better you have to cut your carbs and up your protein intake.

But, is that good advice for everyone?

Or, could that blanket approach to better health be causing even more problems than it prevents for some of us?

A new paper by kidney experts based on two separate scientific studies has the frightening answer…

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Saving calories while risking kidney health

A study performed in the Netherlands found that there is a direct, linear association between daily protein intake and a decline in kidney function. In other words, the higher the protein intake, the faster the decline in kidney function.

And, guess what…

A second study conducted by a team of researchers in South Korea confirmed those results!

They found that people with the highest protein intake had 1.3 times higher risk of faster glomerular filtration rate (GFR) loss. If you haven’t heard the term before, GFR refers to how fast your kidneys can filter out the toxins in your body and is used both to measure kidney function and determine what stage of kidney disease you might be in.

Unfortunately, these findings aren’t all that surprising either…

Many past studies have shown that a high-protein diet may harm kidney function, which is why patients who have early-stage chronic kidney disease are generally put on a low-protein diet by kidney specialists.

But, an entire group of people who are at risk for poor kidney health have not only been ignored when it comes to these low-protein recommendation regimens but are actually more likely to be told to go high protein — a recommendation that could land them in dialysis…

Obesity and diabetes

According to the kidney experts who authored the new paper based on the Dutch and South Korean studies, people who suffer from either diabetes or obesity are often put on a high-protein diet as a way to save calories, slim down, and lower their blood sugar.

However, this risks the health of their kidneys since both obesity and diabetes come with an increased chance of pre-existing low-grade chronic kidney disease.

In fact, they say that at least 30 percent of people with type-2 diabetes suffer from an underlying kidney disease. That’s 30 percent of people who could end up with rapidly deteriorating kidney health, taking the fast lane to kidney failure, if they go on a high-protein diet recommended by their doctor.

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“To put it in a nutshell: To recommend a high-protein diet to an overweight diabetes patient may indeed result in loss of weight, but also in a severe loss of kidney function. We want one, but we also get the other,” says Professor Denis Fouque, past chair of the European Renal Nutrition Working Group.

“By advising people — especially those with a high risk for chronic kidney disease, namely patients with diabetes, obese people, people with a solitary kidney and probably even elderly people — to eat a protein-rich diet, we are ringing the death bell for their kidney health and bringing them a big step closer to needing renal replacement therapy”, he concludes.

So, before you try a high-protein diet in a bid to get healthy and lose weight, you need to think again, especially if you have diabetes.

Talk to your doctor about your risks and have your kidney function checked out. Only when you know that your kidneys can handle the rigors of a high-protein diet should you consider making the change.

And, don’t forget…

Despite the wave of media attention, a high-protein diet is definitely not the only way to lose weight and feel better. Other good options include going keto, embracing the Mediterranean diet, or simply decreasing your calorie intake while upping your physical activity.

Sources:

1. High-protein diets may harm your kidneys — EurekAlert!
2. Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) — National Kidney Foundation

The post The popular diet recommendation that could land you on dialysis appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Yet, while these GLP-1 drugs, better known by brand names like Ozempic and Wegovy, are having their moment in the sun, more and more reports of serious side effects are stacking up.

Luckily, recent research has proved that you don’t have to risk the dangers of these drugs to lose weight. In fact, the researchers say that embracing one specific dietary strategy can not only help you shed excess pounds — but also dramatically improve your health.

That’s a far cry from what we’re hearing about GLP-1 agonists…

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The dangers of weight loss drugs

But before we take a look at the diet trick that research shows really works, just how bad can those oh-so-popular weight loss drugs be?

It turns out pretty horrible.

Just ask Juanita Gantt, who was prescribed Ozempic and Wegovy and is now suing their manufacturer.

Gantt, who had always struggled with her weight, found herself at 62 weighing 242 pounds. After talking to her doctor about her weight and diabetes risk, she started the drugs.

According to CBS News, a few months later, her husband found her unconscious on the floor.

The problem?

Large portions of her large intestine had died inside of her and required surgery to be removed.

And her troubles weren’t over…

While still in the hospital, Gantt suffered a cardiac arrest. And though thankful, that she lived, Gantt now lives with a daily reminder of her ordeal in the form of an ileostomy bag to collect waste that’s attached to her abdomen.

A safer weight loss option

 Scary stuff, right?

That’s why it’s so important to consider natural options, like diet, for weight loss whenever possible.

And that’s where research from Qilu Hospital of Shandong University comes in.

Researchers there found that “A plant-based diet is a viable option for people who want to control their body weight and improve the quality of their diet to prevent and treat metabolic diseases.”

In fact, they didn’t just conduct a single study.

They reviewed 24 studies, combining data on more than 2,200 people on the effects of a plant-based diet on weight loss.

And they found that not only does going plant-based work, the positive impacts of plant-based diets increase over time.

The researchers found that while a strictly vegan diet leads to the most weight loss, it was not significantly more than diets that included dairy and eggs.

And they say that to grab the most benefits, what matters is eating more raw vegetables — a factor that had the strongest links to a lower risk of obesity and heart problems.

“Raw vegetables contain phytosterols and unsaturated fats that lower blood cholesterol concentrations,” explained the researchers. “They also contain various substances (e.g., tocopherols, ascorbate, carotenoids, saponins, and flavonoids) that can reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, thereby reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.”

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An evidence-based strategy that works

The news about regaining weight after stopping GLP-1 agonists is surely disappointing. But reports are mounting that, other than staying on the drug, it offers no evidence-based strategy to maintain weight loss.

Nate Wood, MD, MHS, of Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, told MedPage Today “We generally do expect that when folks discontinue this medication, they’ll gain at least some weight back, if not all of it. And the reason for that is that we really think about obesity as a chronic disease. And chronic diseases require chronic treatment.”

That puts these drugs in the same basket as those people take for high blood pressure or high cholesterol, for example. As soon as the medication stops, the health threat returns. However, the dangers of GLP-1 agonists cast doubt on the safety of taking the drugs for life.

So if you want to lose weight, without facing the possibility of serious adverse effects due to weight loss drugs, adding more vegetables (especially raw veggies) to your diet seems to be the way to go.

Just remember that you can take a raw vegetable diet too far since going 100% vegetarian or vegan can lead to nutrient deficiencies.

Additionally, while eating a plant-based diet is a powerful and healthy weight loss strategy, eating certain foods can give you an even bigger advantage thanks to specific nutrients.

So be sure to check out this shortlist of foods that have been shown to help promote a fat-burning metabolism.

Sources:

Weight loss drugs allegedly landed this woman in the hospital, prompting lawsuit about drug label warnings — CBS News

New Study Backs Simple Weight Loss Strategy That Doesn’t Require Drugs — Sciencealert

The post The safe simple drug-free weight loss strategy that works appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Turns out exact sleeping times vary from person to person. But for the majority, the best sleep is achieved by going to sleep between 10 p.m. and midnight and waking around 7 a.m. That’s great news for me!

Some people (like my husband) need to go to sleep earlier, while a few are natural “night owls” that can go to sleep past midnight as long as they can sleep a little later in the morning. But these folks are in the minority.

Most of us have a circadian rhythm (our internal body clock) that fits the 10 p.m.-to-midnight scenario. And research shows when we ignore that pull to go to sleep, we pay the price — even more so if we’re overweight….

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Circadian rhythm and your cardiometabolic health

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) researchers recruited 30 people to study the consequences of disrupting the body’s internal biological clock in overweight people.

Participants were split evenly between men and women, and all had a body mass index (BMI) above 25, which put them in an overweight or obese category, though they were generally healthy.

Saliva samples were collected every 30 minutes until late into the night at a sleep lab to determine what time their bodies started naturally producing the sleep hormone melatonin.

After that, they went home and logged their sleep habits over the next seven days.

The investigators assessed the time difference between melatonin onset and average sleep timing. The participants were then divided into two groups based on that data: those who had a narrow window, with a short duration between melatonin onset and sleep — and those with a wide window, with a longer duration between melatonin onset and sleep.

A narrow window suggests that a person is staying awake too late for their internal body clock and is linked with poorer health outcomes.

In fact, a range of potentially harmful health measures in the group with the narrow window, including key differences between men and women. were confirmed:

• Men in the narrow window group had higher levels of belly fat and fatty triglycerides in the blood, as well as higher overall metabolic syndrome risk scores, than the men who slept better.
• Women in the narrow window group had higher overall body fat percentage, glucose and resting heart rates.

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The importance of good sleep habits

Senior author Dr. Andrew McHill, a professor at OHSU, says it was “somewhat surprising” to see these differences. “It’s not one size fits all, as we sometimes think in academic medicine,” McHill adds.

“This study builds support for the importance of good sleep habits,” says lead author Dr. Brooke Shafer, a postdoctoral researcher at OHSU. “Sleep practices, like going to bed when you’re tired or setting aside your screen at night, can help to promote good overall health.”

Shafer notes the growing public health threat of obesity and cardiometabolic disease. “Our research shows that disruptions in the body’s internal biological clock could contribute to negative health consequences for people who may already be vulnerable due to weight,” she says.

Here’s the bottom line: for healthy sleep, you should stick as closely to your body clock as possible (especially if you’re overweight). And that means not varying your sleep schedule: no staying up late and sleeping in on weekends. If you have to, set an alarm so you wake at the same time every day. You can even set a reminder to go to bed at a set time.

If you need help falling asleep, try the bedtime routine of a toddler and these other sleep-inducing tips.

Sources:

Good sleep habits important for overweight adults, OHSU study suggests — EurekAlert!

Circadian alignment, cardiometabolic disease, and sex specific differences in adults with overweight/obesity — The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

The Best Time to Sleep According to Science — SnoreMD

The post Ignore your body clock at peril, especially if overweight appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

There’s been a lot of conflicting information on weight and health status. But most experts agree that maintaining a healthy weight can improve many areas of health.

But a history of obesity can still carry a serious risk that women, especially, need to keep an eye on…

Research has found that women who were once overweight carry a much higher risk of stroke than women who never experience weight problems.

But armed with this information, you can take steps to avoid stroke…

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Ischemic stroke: when a clot keeps blood from the brain

A Finnish study looked at 10,000 adults (both male and female) and found that women now in their 50s who were overweight or obese as a teen or younger adult have a markedly higher risk of suffering an ischemic stroke.

Of the two major types of stroke (ischemic and hemorrhagic), ischemic strokes are far more common, accounting for about 87% of all strokes.

In an ischemic stroke, blood flow to the brain is blocked by a blood clot. The clot usually originates in an artery leading to the brain. It can also break loose from an artery elsewhere in the body and travel to the brain.

The study: what exactly are the risks?

After following their 10,000 study subjects from 1980 to 2020, the Finnish researchers concluded that:

• Women who were obese at age 14 were 87% more likely to have an early clot-caused or mini-stroke before age 55.
• Women who were obese at age 31 are 167% more likely to have a stroke compared to those who were not obese or overweight.

Here’s one interesting finding: men do not seem to be subject to these same risks.

Why women and not men?

The study drew no conclusions as to why women run this risk while men seem to get a pass.

However, things we know about perimenopause and menopause offer a partial explanation…

Most women enter perimenopause, the “pre-menopause” phase of life, in their early 40s and some as early as their late 30s.

During this time, estrogen levels plummet, and women lose the heart-protective effects of this hormone. For this reason, entering menopause before age 45 is just one of several factors unique to women that increase stroke risk.

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How women can protect themselves

In addition to heart disease, diabetes and atrial fibrillation can impact stroke risk. Management of these health conditions is vital to reducing stroke risk.

Healthy lifestyle factors should be part of that:

• Diet. Women whose diets are high in triglycerides are four times more likely to have a stroke than women with lower levels. A Mediterranean-inspired diet that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy products, poultry, fish and nuts contains phytosterols, fiber and omega-3s that decrease triglycerides.
• Protective foods. Penn State research found that eating beets may give heart protection back to menopausal women.
• Exercising for at least 150 minutes each week is proven to prevent heart disease. Weight or resistance training less than a hour a week reduced risk for heart attack and stroke by 40 to 70 percent.
• Blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Research shows that high blood pressure and cholesterol levels raise the risk of heart disease. So, keep those numbers down during middle age for the sake of your heart. Yoga can help take your stroke number down 10 more points!
• Stress levels. Stress contributes to high blood pressure, which means it’s hard on the heart. Find ways to keep your stress levels down, like meditation, yoga, bodywork or even relaxing hobbies like gardening, sewing or woodworking.
• Smoking status. Not only does smoking increase the risk of early menopause, it also increases the risk of blood clots, decreases the flexibility of your arteries and lowers HDL (healthy) cholesterol levels — all of which are bad news for your heart health.

Just a couple of years ago, A study published in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association, found that drinking two or more diet drinks per day doubled stroke risk in some post-menopausal women. So, if you’re fan of diet drinks, think about ditching them, pronto.

Sources:

Women with excess weight as a teen or young adult may have higher stroke risk by age 55 — Eureka Alert

Overweight in Adolescence and Young Adulthood in Association With Adult Cerebrovascular Disease: The NFBC1966 Study — Stroke

Women and stroke: What you need to know — Mayo Clinic

Heart health after menopause — American Heart Association

The post A complex relationship: women, weight and high stroke risk appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Not only do they seem to strike without warning, but they can leave patients and their families in limbo as doctors assess the degree of damage, how much recovery may be possible, the long-term outlook and possibility of disability — and of course, the risk for another.

Unfortunately, it’s a truth I know first-hand, as my mom suffered a stroke when she was in her early 50s, which at the time was considered young for a stroke.

However, the truth is that not only can a stroke happen at any age, but more people under 65 are having strokes than ever before.

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Approximately a 15% jump in strokes

While recent government data has shown that the overall rate of stroke for all adults has gone up by 7.8% in the years between 2011 and 2022, the rate of stroke for those under the age of 65 has risen far more steeply.

In fact, research by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention team showed that while the number of strokes in seniors stayed the same, in adults under 65, stroke rates went up by a frightening 15% in the same decade.

Here’s how it broke, down by age:

• Among people ages 45 to 64, strokes rose by 15.7% (with 3.3% reporting a stroke in 2011 and 3.8% reporting one in 2022)
• For adults 18 to 44, the rate of stroke increased by 14.6% (0.8% of this age group reporting a stroke in 2011 and 0.9% suffering a stroke in 2022)

According to the researchers, race also factored into the increase. They found that while the incidence of stroke for Black Americans rose by 7.8% over the study period, Hispanic Americans suffered 16.1% more strokes and the chances of stroke for White Americans rose by 7.1%.

Factors driving the increase

The researchers say that there are several reasons the rates of stroke have gone up so significantly in the past decade.

The most important of these driving factors is the higher levels of obesity across younger and middle-aged adults.

As the researchers noted, “From 1999–2000 to 2017–2018, obesity prevalence among males increased from 27.5% to 43% and among females from 33.4% to 41.9%; [obesity] prevalence during 2017–2018 was highest among those aged 40–59 years [44.8%].”

Additionally, stroke risk goes hand-in-hand with hypertension, rates of which have also been steadily on the rise in middle-aged adults.

According to the researchers, the incidence of high blood pressure went from “40.3% during 1999–2000 to 46.8% during 2017–2018.”

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How to lower stroke risk

The good news is that both obesity and high blood pressure are modifiable health risks and by taking steps to fight them, you also decrease your risk of stroke.

And there are other steps you can take to prevent stroke.

These include:

• Following a heart-healthy lifestyle, which research shows can help lower risk for stroke by 30 to 45%.
• Reducing the number of “pro-inflammatory” foods in your diet, since these foods can raise your risk of heart disease by a massive 46% and your risk of stroke by 28%!
• Adding in raw foods and stroke-preventing nutrients.

Finally, be sure to boost your immune system. The second a blood clot wedges itself in a blood vessel, your brain sends out an SOS signal calling for help from your immune system to clear out cellular debris, limit damage to your brain and kick-start repair.

Sources:

CDC: Stroke rates went up 15% in younger adults — Becker’s Clinical Leadership

Stroke Rates Are Rising, Especially Among the Young — US News & World Report

The post The new stroke risk? Being 65 or younger appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And that’s true…

After all, studies have shown that fat cells actually release hormones that fuel the growth of breast cancer. 

And they’ve determined that losing weight helps take the aggression out of breast cancer cells.

However, after doctors took a deep dive into data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) randomized trial, it’s become clear that obesity alone does not drive breast cancer risk or the risk of death from the cancer.

In fact, the researchers say that there are actually four factors that work together to determine whether or not a breast cancer prognosis is poor, as well as mortality risk — and weight is only one of them.

The cancer dangers of metabolic syndrome

In addition to obesity, those factors include:

• High blood pressure
• Abnormal cholesterol
• Elevated blood sugar

And together, they make up a condition known as metabolic syndrome.

It’s a cluster of symptoms that have already been shown to boost your risk of heart-related problems and raise your kidney cancer risk by five times.

And now, it appears that the syndrome might just be behind a dangerous rise in breast cancer statistics.

A score of three or more signals danger

The study that discovered this link appeared in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

The analysis included 63,330 postmenopausal who were part of the WHI. All the women began the study with normal mammograms and zero history of breast cancer before being followed for an average of approximately 23 years.

At the beginning of the research, doctors assigned each woman a metabolic syndrome (MetS) score of 0-4 based on how many of the metabolic issues, such as high blood pressure or blood sugar issues they experienced.

And sure enough, more was definitely not better when it came to metabolic scoring, whether obesity was part of the picture or not.

The research showed that a higher MetS score (3–4), regardless of obesity, was associated with more poor-prognosis, estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, progesterone receptor (PR)-negative breast cancers. And those higher scores also came with a 44 percent higher risk of breast cancer mortality.

On the other hand, obesity, regardless of MetS score, was associated with more good-prognosis, ER-positive, and PR-positive cancers — except if the obesity was considered severe.

If a postmenopausal woman was about 5 feet, 6 inches tall, and weighing greater than 218 pounds, the risk of breast cancer mortality was higher.

In other words, MetS beats weight when it comes to increasing breast cancer and breast cancer mortality risks.

Screening for metabolic syndrome

The good news is that understanding your risk of breast cancer due to MetS is easy.

In fact , as study lead author Rowan T. Chlebowski, MD, PhD points out, “Determination of MetS scores in the clinic requires only three questions regarding cholesterol, diabetes, and hypertension history as well as waist circumference and blood pressure measurements, which are commonly determined during routine visits.”

There are even three simple diagnostics you can do at home to help determine whether you have the syndrome.

And there’s even more to feel good about since negative metabolic factors are completely treatable and even reversible with lifestyle factors…

A few easy tips for fighting MetS include:

• Boosting vitamin D – The sunshine vitamin helps your body make defensins, an internal antibiotic that keeps bad bacteria in your gut in check. And when your gut is healthy, metabolic syndrome has a hard time getting a foothold in your body.
• Sipping away metabolic problems – Green tea is full of an antioxidant called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) that has anti-inflammatory effects, protecting the heart and brain, promoting weight loss, and controlling blood pressure.
• Doing a diet DASH – The DASH diet has been shown to dramatically lower diabetes risk, reduce cholesterol and blood pressure and help with weight loss — the four factors that makeup MetS.
• Exercise – Previous research has shown that if fat cells are releasing cancer-causing hormones into your body, your first priority should be to get rid of some of those fat cells, and exercise works when it comes to fighting breast cancer. Here are 5 scientifically backed ways it offers protection. And more research has shown that exercise is the single best habit for a breast cancer-free future.

Remember, to reduce breast cancer risk, it takes more than weight loss. Focus on all four of the MetS factors — including blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and obesity — for better overall health, breast health and cancer prevention.

Sources:

How do obesity and metabolic syndrome affect women’s risks of breast cancer and cancer-related death? — EurekAlert!

The post 4 factors that weigh heavy on breast cancer risk and death appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Not only can it compromise your liver function, it can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

And if that goes untreated, you’re looking at a progression that can include liver inflammation due to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and even liver cirrhosis.

Luckily, scientists at the German Cancer Research Institute have taken a deep dive into the link between metabolic disorder and fatty liver, discovering a dietary trick that not only defeats liver fat, but conquers inflammation and reduces serious risk.

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Lowering liver inflammation is a must

The researchers had seen that different types of intermittent fasting lowered liver inflammation. So they decided to focus efforts on the 5:2 FAST specifically to gain an understanding of the mechanisms at work.

They pitted mice who had unlimited access to high-fat/high-sugar foods against mice who were given full access to those same foods but for only five days a week — and received nothing the other two days of the week.

And frankly, it wasn’t even a contest…

Despite the high-calorie diet, mice on the intermittent fasting plan showed fewer signs of liver disease and had lower levels of biomarkers that indicate liver damage.

This resistance to the development of a fatty liver occurred even though the fasting mice ate just as many calories weekly as those who didn’t fast since they immediately ate more at the end of their fasting periods.

According to the researchers, this benefit was due to the fact that fasting increased two molecular players —  the transcription factor PPARα and the enzyme PCK1 0 which work together to increase the breakdown of fatty acids and gluconeogenesis and block the build-up of fats.

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Major improvements across the board

And if that weren’t enough, there’s even more good news…

The scientists then decided to test the diet in mice that were already living with chronic liver inflammation due to a poor diet.

Again, eating the 5:2 way was a recipe for success. After four months of 5:2 intermittent fasting, the mice had:

• Better blood values
• Less fatty liver
• Reduced liver inflammation
• Developed less liver cancer and had fewer cancer foci (microscopic cells) in the liver

“This shows us that 5:2 intermittent fasting has great potential — both in the prevention of MASH and liver cancer, as well as in the treatment of established chronic liver inflammation,” said principal investigator, Mathias Heikenwälder.

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Give your liver some love

So if you want to reduce your chances of fatty liver disease, liver inflammation and possibly even liver cancer, embracing the benefits of intermittent fasting could be the answer.

There are different versions, but the 5:2 diet typically involves eating a normal, healthy diet for five days and ‘fasting’ on the remaining two days. If not eating for two days is a little too challenging, some experts recommend simply restricting intake on those two fasting days to 500-600 calories.

This can make the diet easier to stick to over the long run.

Additional tips for supporting your liver include:

• More protein – Studies have shown that adding more protein to your diet can help reduce liver fat.
• Resistant starch –Participants who took a resistant starch supplement saw a 40 percent reduction in their liver triglyceride levels compared to those in the control group. They also experienced lower liver enzymes and inflammatory factors associated with NAFLD.
• Enjoy some cocoa or coffee – In one study, mice treated with cocoa had 28 percent less fat in their livers at the end of the study than the control mice. In another study, people who drank at least three cups of coffee per day, including those who drank only decaf, had lower levels of liver enzymes—an indication of better overall liver health. Coffee also lowered liver cancer risk.
• Eat broccoli – It contains a compound that boosts levels of a protein important for keeping NAFLD from advancing.

Liver trouble can sneak up on you. Keep an eye out for these strange signs.

Sources:

Intermittent fasting protects against liver inflammation and liver cancer – EurekAlert!

The post What works to keep fatty liver inflammation from progressing appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

After all, obesity has been linked to everything from a poor immune response and serious gum disease to cancer and dangerous reactions to medications.

So it’s no wonder that with the New Year, so many people are once again resolving to lose weight.

However, it might not be so easy…

Especially since according to a research team at Oregon Health & Science University, simply being obese actually changes the way your body burns the calories you eat.

It’s a change that helps explain just why it can be so hard to lose weight, but also gives insight on how to beat it…

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Energy burn, insulin and body weight

So what did those researchers discover that led to this conclusion?

Well, surprisingly enough, they weren’t actually trying to nail down how obesity alters calorie burn. Instead, they had set out to determine how circadian rhythm (our body’s natural internal clock) and sleep affect the body in people of differing weights.

That’s because schedules, including when people sleep, eat and exercise can either improve or worsen health, by either complementing or going against the body’s natural, daily rhythms.

For the study, the team recruited 30 volunteers, who stayed at a specially designed circadian research lab for six days. Each participant had to be awake and sleep at different times throughout each day.

To test what this was doing to their bodies, researchers not only took blood samples to check glucose levels, but they even had participants exercise while wearing a mask that was connected to a machine called an indirect calorimeter, to estimate energy usage — or calorie burn.

And here’s where it gets really interesting…

The researchers found that people who have a healthy weight use more energy during the day — when most people are active and eat.

On the other hand, people with obesity spend more energy during the night, when most people sleep.

“It was surprising to learn how dramatically the timing of when our bodies burn energy differed in those with obesity,” said the study’s first author, Andrew McHill, Ph.D.

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To top it off, the results showed that during the day, those with obesity have higher levels of the hormone insulin. According to the researchers, this is a sign that the body is working harder to use glucose — a key factor in insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes that’s common with obesity.

This means that obesity could cause a one-two whammy that keeps you from losing weight by lowering energy burn and raising insulin levels.

At the same time, obesity could even be a side effect of these changes, creating a weight gain feedback loop.

Ramping up your energy burn

So is there anything you can do to break the cycle, boost your calorie burn and actually take off the extra weight?

Luckily, the answer is yes!

Here’s what past research has shown us can work:

• Brown your body fat – Brown fat is a type of fat that burns more energy than the white fat so common around the hips, thighs and belly. A combination of vitamin A and cold exposure can help convert white fat to that energy-burning brown.
• Take that brown fat up a notch – Even better, researchers have found a supplement combo that blocks inflammation, while at the same time browning fat. This one-two punch of thymoquinone and omega-3s can help level up the calorie burn.
• Avoid late eating – Finally, be sure to put a limit on how late at night you eat your dinner or final snack. That’s because late eating has been shown to not only increase your appetite but also slow your energy burn.

The good news is that now that you know the havoc that extra weight can cause for your ability to burn calories, you’re also armed with ways to fight back.

Sources:

People with obesity burn less energy during day – ScienceDaily

The post Obesity’s weird effect on when the body burns energy appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

I don’t mean changing your chronological age — time marches on, no matter what we do.

Instead, I’m talking about slowing down how old your body feels and acts — and, in more scientific terms, that equates to your biological age.

One way to slow the toll of aging is to keep your heart healthy, because, as researchers found, when heart health goes up, biological aging goes down — as much as 6 years!

But your brain runs the show, right? And now there’s new evidence that healthy eating to achieve a very small amount of weight loss can result in a younger, more well-connected brain.

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Even a little weight loss makes your brain younger

In contrast to the many ways obesity accelerates the mechanisms of aging, including changes that mimic Alzheimer’s — a recent study from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel suggests that even a small amount of weight loss appears to put the brakes on brain aging.

The researchers took brain scans of 102 participants at the beginning of the trial and then again after 18 months. During the 18-month period, participants ate one of three diets:

• a Mediterranean diet with lots of nuts, fish, and chicken instead of red meat;
• a Mediterranean diet with a few added extras such as green tea (for its polyphenol content);
• or a diet based on healthy dietary guidelines.

Participants’ activity levels were taken into account. They received a free gym membership as part of the trial, so exercise factored in.

Brain age was estimated using a model used in other studies that accurately predicted age from measures based on brain connectivity.

On average, participants lost around 2.3kg (around 5 lbs.).

More importantly, for every one percent of body weight lost, all participants’ brains appeared almost nine months younger than their chronological age.

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More food for thought — and a bigger brain

A previous 2015 study from Columbia University backs the findings of the Israeli study — and reinforces that it’s never too late to turn back the age of your brain…

A group of 674 people aged 80 or older was divided into two groups. One group reported that they followed a Mediterranean diet. The other did not follow any of the principles of a Mediterranean style of eating.

When researchers compared brain scans from the two groups, they found that the people who followed a Mediterranean-style diet had a total brain volume that was 13.11ml. larger than those in the other group.

It’s a well-known fact that brain shrinkage is linked to brain aging and deterioration.

Eat for a younger brain and less weight

At this point, the evidence is undeniable: eating Mediterranean-style is a “no-brainer” if you want a younger brain.

But you don’t have to do it overnight…

In fact, according to Dr. David Katz, a nutrition expert at the Yale School of Medicine, the key is to make small changes.

Don’t try and overhaul your diet overnight. It’s easier to adopt one new food habit at a time, like eating fish once a week if you’re not in the habit already, switching to whole grains the next week, cooking with olive oil instead of butter and enjoying more nuts, seeds and fresh fruits and vegetables. That way, you’ll be able to sustain those changes.

And remember, this isn’t a deprivation “diet.” The Mediterranean “diet” is really a term to describe an overall eating pattern, rather than a strict diet. When you eat the right stuff, you don’t feel like you’re giving anything up — except what’s aging you!

Oh, don’t forget the exercise part, and here’s a tip: Researchers found that a faster walking pace was associated with longer telomeres — regardless of the amount of physical activity — and could translate to the equivalent of turning your biological age back 16 years!

Sources:

Weight Loss Slows Aging in The Brain by Up to 9 Months, Study Finds — Science Alert

The effect of weight loss following 18 months of lifestyle intervention on brain age assessed with resting-state functional connectivity — eLife

Adipose tissue distribution from body MRI is associated with cross-sectional and longitudinal brain age in adults — NeuroImage: Clinical

Mediterranean diet and brain structure in a multiethnic elderly cohort — Neurology

The post Rewind the clock on your brain’s age appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

After a meal, your blood glucose — or blood sugar — levels rise, and your pancreas responds by producing insulin.

Insulin helps glucose gain entry into your cells where it’s used as the body’s main source of energy. This also helps the blood sugar levels in your bloodstream normalize. Some is also stored in the liver to be released into the bloodstream between meals.

But when your diet is too heavy on carbs, sugars and processed foods, your pancreas begins overproducing insulin trying to play catchup. The cells become resistant to the onslaught of insulin and don’t respond properly.

That’s how type 2 diabetes develops.

But your pancreas also takes a beating in this process.

And a recent study has found how that beating, along with the development of type 2 diabetes, can lead to something deadly…

A recipe for pancreatic cancer: Obesity + diabetes

The University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine has revealed a direct link between high insulin levels and pancreatic cancer.

To understand the deadly seriousness of this link, you first need to understand how quickly the number of people with obesity and diabetes is growing…

• The World Obesity Foundation predicts an increase in adult obesity from 38 percent of the world’s population in 2020 to over 50 percent by 2035.
• A 2021 report from the International Diabetes Federation projected that by 2045, one in 8 adults, or about 783 million people, will be living with diabetes — an increase of 46 percent.
• And by 2030, PDAC (pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, with a five-year survival rate of less than ten percent) is expected to become the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths.

And it’s no accident that all three are rising together…

How high insulin levels lead to pancreatic cancer

Research from the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine reveals a direct link between high insulin levels — common among people with obesity and type 2 diabetes — and pancreatic cancer.

The research demonstrates that cells known as pancreatic acinar cells, which produce digestive enzymes that break down fat-rich foods, can be overstimulated by too much insulin, leading to inflammation and the conversion of acinar cells into pre-cancerous cells.

“We found that hyperinsulinemia directly contributes to pancreatic cancer initiation through insulin receptors in acinar cells,” says Dr. Anni Zhang, the study’s first author.

“The mechanism involves increased production of digestive enzymes, leading to heightened pancreatic inflammation.”

The bottom line: excessive insulin levels, resulting from obesity and type 2 diabetes overstimulates pancreatic acinar cells, making them ripe for cancer.

Throw a kink in the cancer equation

For anyone living with obesity and diabetes, taking steps to avoid a pancreatic cancer diagnosis could seem insurmountable. But break down a few knowns, and the steps can be quite simple.

For off, you know we have to talk about diet…

“The Western diet was developed and promoted by companies who want us to eat their food, so they make it hyper-palatable, meaning it hits all our buttons so we overconsume,” says Dr. Carol A. Shively, professor of pathology at Wake Forest School of Medicine.

But a Mediterranean-style diet that emphasizes whole grains, fruits and green vegetables, olive oil and oily fish has been proven to make it easier to eat fewer calories and maintain less body weight and body fat — without feeling deprived. It also scores points for lowering blood sugar and being considered easy to stick to.

The next steps involve must-have nutrients…

Let’s start with vitamin D. This common vitamin, once thought to only be an immune system-booster has not only been shown to help the body respond better to insulin but also helped obese patients achieve lower insulin levels and better glucose control. But be sure to get enough. Research has found vitamin D is not a “one-size-fits-all vitamin.”

Don’t forget magnesium. Using information from the VITamins and Lifestyle study, researchers analyzed an enormous trove of data on over 66,000 men and women. They found that every 100-milligrams-per-day decrease in magnesium intake was associated with a 24 percent increase in the occurrence of pancreatic cancer.

Consider a good multivitamin. Another study found people whose intake of vitamins C and E and selenium was in the top 25 percent of consumption were 67 percent less likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those who were in the bottom 25 percent.

Sources:

High insulin levels directly linked to pancreatic cancer — Science Daily

Hyperinsulinemia acts via acinar insulin receptors to initiate pancreatic cancer by increasing digestive enzyme production and inflammation — Cell Metabolism

More Than Half of the World Will Be Obese By 2035, Report Says — Time

Diabetes facts and figures show the growing global burden for individuals, families, and countries. — International Diabetes Federation

Study: Mediterranean diet deters overeating —Eureka Alert

The post Two common conditions increasing pancreatic cancer appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

On the scary end of the spectrum, obesity increases the risk for certain cancers — and while cancer rates in general have been decreasing, obesity-related cancers are on the rise.

Obesity also causes chronic inflammation which can lead to poor immune system response.

And obese people who undergo surgery often have a harder time recovering.

Now, research has found that for obese women, going through menopause can be a particularly difficult period of life, compared to how it goes for women who weigh less.

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Menopause + obesity = worse symptoms

At the 2023 Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society, the results of a pilot study were presented showing that being obese may worsen a woman’s menopause symptoms and limit the amount of relief she gets from hormone therapy (HT).

The findings were based on a five-year study involving 119 patients with obesity, defined in this study as having a BMI greater than or equal to 30.

When compared with women without obesity, those with a BMI of 30 or greater were significantly more likely to report menopause-related vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats (74% vs 45%).

In addition, women with obesity were more likely to report vaginal and urinary symptoms of menopause, including vaginal dryness, urinary tract infections and inflammation of the vagina (60% vs 21%).

Mood disturbances like anxiety and depression (11% vs 0%) and decreased libido (29% vs 11%) were also more common.

Are women with obesity being underdosed with HT?

Dr. Anita Pershad of Eastern Virginia Medical School, who led the study, reports that women with obesity were less likely to feel symptom relief after using menopausal hormone therapy (HT) compared with women without obesity.

However, Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director for The Menopause Society, speculates on the possible reason behind this.

Dr. Faubion’s theory is that doctors aren’t putting women with obesity on adequate doses of hormone therapy, possibly because of concerns about cardiovascular risk factors.

“This is important for healthcare professionals to consider when counseling their patients on the various options for managing their menopause symptoms,” she says. “Considering that more than 40% of women over the age of 40 are classified as obese according to the CDC, these results could be meaningful to a large percentage of patients transitioning through menopause.”

Earlier this year, we learned that being obese can modify the effects of drugs used to treat common conditions. In some cases, it can render the drugs ineffective and in others, downright unsafe for people with obesity.

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Menopause relief without HRT

There are things women can do to help reduce their menopausal symptoms that have nothing to do with hormone therapy.

A diet heavy in fruits and vegetables and low in meat, dairy, processed foods, caffeine, and salty foods can help control symptoms like hot flashes. Just stay away from citrus fruits if you’re having bladder control issues.

And get this…

A 2022 study proved that a low-fat, vegan diet that included half a cup of soybeans daily was virtually as effective as HRT (88% vs 90%) at controlling hot flashes!

Making these diet changes to relieve menopause symptoms may also have the bonus side effect of weight loss.

But embarking on a strict weight loss diet while trying to handle menopause at the same time could be daunting, to say the least.

If that’s the case, this is one time where, if you and your doctor agree, weight loss surgery may be the better choice.

A study from just a couple of years ago found that the metabolic benefits from weight loss surgery may outweigh natural weight loss — including a 40 percent reduction in risk of death and heart complications in patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Of course, many are quick to jump on the Ozempic bandwagon. Just do your research first, and be aware of the risks, of which rebound weight gain may be the least, and the Ozempic plateau we’re just starting to hear about.

Sources:

Menopausal Women With Obesity Endure Worse Symptoms, Less HT Relief — Medpage Today

Obese women have worse menopause symptoms nd get less relief from hormone therapy — Eureka Alert

Obesity is a killer in nonsmoking women — Science Daily

Study shows certain foods reduce hot flashes associated with menopause by 88% — Eureka Alert

The post Menopause: Why some women have it worse appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

From 1999-2000 through 2017-March 2020, obesity rates in the U.S. soared from 30.5 percent to 41.9 percent. During that same period, the prevalence of severe obesity nearly doubled from 4.7 percent to 9.2 percent.

Obesity carries with it some dangerous health risks, including obesity-related cancers — and those cancers are rising while others are decreasing.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 40 percent of cancers diagnosed in the United States are associated with being overweight or obese.

Previous research found that one thing can ratchet those cancer odds up even more — being both obese and metabolically unhealthy.

That’s a cancer combo no one wants, but there’s a way to go after both problems — both the weight issue and the metabolic issue, like a higher body mass index (BMI) — and take that cancer risk down…

A common thread among the cancer-free

Researchers followed 14,274 women over nearly three decades. The women were between the ages of 34 and 65 and recruited at a mammography screening center in New York City between 1985 and 1991.

By the end of 2016, about 18 percent of the total number of women studied had contracted a first obesity-related cancer. Out of those participants, 53 percent had postmenopausal breast cancer, 14 percent had colorectal cancer and 12 percent had endometrial cancer.

But during follow-up, the researchers discovered something that women who were less likely to get these cancers had in common…

The researchers measured neighborhood walkability in each participant’s residential Census tract. Then, they analyzed the link between walkability and risk of overall and site-specific obesity-related cancers.

The study found women who lived in neighborhoods with higher walkability levels had lower risk of obesity-related cancers, particularly postmenopausal breast cancer. Walkability also provided moderate protection against endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer and multiple myeloma.

In fact, those women living in areas in the top 25 percent of walkability had a 26 percent lower risk of obesity-related cancers compared with those living in neighborhoods in the bottom 25 percent of walkability.

“These results contribute to the growing evidence of how urban design affects the health and wellbeing in aging populations,” said Andrew Rundle, DrPH, professor of epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School.

Individual-level interventions to increase physical activity and reduce obesity are costly and often have only short-term effects, according to the researchers.

“However, urban design can create a context that promotes walking, increases overall physical activity, and reduce car dependency, which could lead to subsequent improvements in preventing diseases attributed to unhealthy weight,” Rundle observed.

Walking can take down obesity-related cancer risk

The stats are sobering about why we must break the link between obesity and cancer:

• From 2005 to 2014, most cancers associated with overweight and obesity increased in the United States, while cancers associated with other factors decreased.
• During this time, the rate of new cancers associated with overweight and obesity (except colorectal cancer) increased by 7 percent, while the rate of new cancers not associated with overweight and obesity dropped by 13 percent.
• Breast cancer after menopause is the most common obesity-associated cancer among women. Colorectal cancer is the most common obesity-associated cancer among men.

Per the CDC, overweight and obesity can cause changes in the body including long-lasting inflammation and higher than normal levels of insulin, insulin-like growth factor, and sex hormones. These changes may lead to cancer.

But whether you live in a walkable neighborhood, there are a couple of things you can do to mimic walkability…

• Park far away from entrances when you shop, run errands or go to work.
• Take the stairs instead of an elevator.
• Dedicate a specific block of time for walking in your daily schedule, either on a treadmill, a mall, a school track or your neighborhood if it’s walkable. Aim for 20 minutes to start, then gradually increase it from there.

Dieting and walking can have a bigger impact than walking alone, but walking is undoubtedly a great start.

Sources:

Women living in more walkable neighborhoods have lower rates of obesity-related cancers — EurekAlert!

Long-Term Exposure to Walkable Residential Neighborhoods and Risk of Obesity-Related Cancer in the New York University Women’s Health Study (NYUWHS) — Environmental Health Perspectives

Adult Obesity Facts — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The post Neighborhoods that decrease cancer risk have a common thread appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

We’ve been warned that obesity:

• fuels cancer growth;
• suppresses the immune system;
• leads to Alzheimer’s-like changes in the brain;
• makes recovery from surgery harder and riskier.

Now, there’s another obesity-related danger to add to the list — this time from the drug industry.

That’s because according to a paper published in Health Affairs Forefront, being obese can modify the effects of drugs used to treat common conditions. In some cases, it can render the drugs ineffective and in others, downright unsafe for people with obesity.

And shockingly, obese people are intentionally left out of drug trials.

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Drug testing leaves obese people out in the cold

The authors, who are part of the STOP Obesity Alliance at The George Washington University, a group dedicated to reversing the obesity epidemic in the United States, are calling on drug manufacturers to make some big changes to make taking medications safer and more effective for people living with obesity.

“People with obesity deserve to know that the prescription drugs they take are safe and effective for them,” according to William Dietz, Director of the STOP Obesity Alliance. “Today, neither patients nor their providers know how some drugs may act differently in people with obesity.”

How is this even a thing?

For starters, the FDA admits that people with obesity — that’s 41.9 percent of the U.S. population — are often intentionally excluded from clinical trials to reduce the observed variability of early-phase tests.

And, while for some drugs, this makes little or no clinical difference, for others it can create a real and present danger.

This is especially true for lipophilic drugs. Lipophilic means that a drug is highly fat soluble.

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One size does not fit all

One such drug is brexpiprazole (brand name Rexult). It’s a drug that treats schizophrenia and depression, two very serious conditions with life-threatening implications.

In 2015, the FDA approved brexpiprazole without it being tested fully on people with obesity, even though approximately 60 percent of people with schizophrenia also live with obesity.

It wasn’t until 2021 that researchers were able to uncover how Rexulti works in obese patients. The study, conducted by a team from Tufts and Emerald Lake Safety, showed that the drug took significantly longer to reach effective levels in people with obesity.

Even worse, for some patients it never reached an effective level, leaving them to suffer from potentially life-threatening mental and emotional issues. Still, no warning exists on the drug label and no specific guidance is available to providers.

And it’s not the only drug that’s a problem.

Posaconazole (brand name Noxafil) is used to treat fungal infections like candidiasis, which can occur more often in people with obesity. Yet, the researchers were able to show that the half-life of the drug is substantially longer for people who are obese.

This means that it takes longer to clear out of the body, even when you stop taking it, which could result in serious drug interaction even weeks later.

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Big changes are needed

There’s no telling how many more drugs could adversely affect obese people taking them. That’s why the authors have suggested creating a reporting system for adverse events relating to drug metabolism in people with obesity. This would enable the FDA and drug manufacturers to identify and track issues so changes could be made and patients warned.

But that’s not all they are calling for…

They want to see the FDA revise its Clinical Trials Guidance Documents and Regulations Relating to Good Clinical Practice to require testing on people with obesity. And, whenever appropriate, demand that drug manufacturers include information on the effects of obesity on specific drugs in the drug package insert.

If you’re living with obesity, be sure to talk to your doctor about the drugs you’re taking. It’s also important to note that weight can impact the effectiveness of some supplements, as was recently discovered about vitamin D.

However, always follow dosage guidelines and do not deviate from them, unless advised by a doctor.

Sources:

Obesity experts spotlight safety gap in clinical trials and drug labeling for people with obesity — EurekAlert!

The post The little-known drug danger people with obesity face appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

If so, you probably already know that while the syndrome is a cluster of risk factors, it’s not really a disease.

Not so scary then, right?

Wrong!

In fact, according to Swedish researchers, metabolic syndrome could have you on the fast track to a heart attack.

And the only way to know the danger you’re headed is to count your warning signs…

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Feeling fine is no protection

 “Many people in their 40s and 50s have a bit of fat around the middle and marginally elevated blood pressure, cholesterol or glucose but feel generally well, are unaware of the risks and do not seek medical advice,” said study author Dr. Lena Lönnberg .

“This scenario, called metabolic syndrome, is a growing problem in Western populations where people are unknowingly storing up problems for later in life. This is a huge missed opportunity to intervene before heart attacks and strokes that could have been avoided occur.”

So the researchers set out to quantify the link between completely asymptomatic metabolic syndrome in midlife and heart disease and death up to three decades later.

All in all, the team followed over 34,000 people in their 40s and 50s at the time the study began. Every person went through the usual suspects of weighing, measuring, blood pressure and blood work, as well as questionnaires regarding lifestyle factors and disease history.

The researchers then classified who had metabolic syndrome based on whether or not they had three or more of the following signs:

1. Waist circumference of 40.2 inches or above for men and 34.6 inches or above for women
2. Total cholesterol 6.1 mmol/l or above
3.  130 mmHg or higher systolic blood pressure and/or 85 mm Hg or higher diastolic blood pressure
4. Fasting plasma glucose 5.6 mmol/l or higher

Then they matched each person living with metabolic syndrome with a healthy control subject to see who fared better over the next few decades.

And the results were clear…

Living with metabolic syndrome presents a real and present danger to your life, even if you feel perfectly healthy.

Heart attack, stroke and earlier death

The results showed that compared to the control group, people with asymptomatic metabolic syndrome:

• Had a 30 percent higher risk of death during the average 27-year follow-up period;
• Had a 35 percent increased chance of heart attack and stroke;
• And suffered heart attacks an average of 2.3 years earlier.

According to the researchers, blood pressure was the riskiest component, especially for women in their 40s.

When asked what advice she would give based on this research, Dr. Lönnberg concluded: “The results underline the importance of early detection of risk factors through health screening programs so that preventive actions can be taken to prevent heart attack, stroke and premature death. As a general rule of thumb, even if you feel well, check your blood pressure every year, avoid smoking, keep an eye on your waist circumference and last, but definitely not least, be physically active every day.” 

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Beating back metabolic syndrome

In addition to Dr. Lönnberg’s recommendations, studies have given us a few more promising ways to defeat metabolic syndrome.

These include:

• Switching up your sweetener – Stevia not only helps you avoid the dangers of sugar, but it has pharmacological and therapeutic activity that makes it an excellent natural alternative for treating disorders associated with metabolic syndrome.
• Time-restricted eating – Intermittent fasting, such as eating only in a 10-hour window, has been shown to reverse metabolic syndrome in mice.
• Eating blueberries –Research at the University of East Anglia shows that eating a cup of blueberries per day can help you master your metabolic syndrome and significantly reduce your heart disease risk.
• Taming with tea – Hibiscus tea is known to improve several biomarkers of metabolic syndrome and can be a tasty way to improve your health daily.
• Avoid a vitamin D deficiency – Researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Sichuan University in China found that vitamin D deficiency sets off a chain reaction that leads to metabolic syndrome in mice. And they think it probably occurs in people too. Here’s what happens…

Sources:

Cluster of slightly unhealthy traits linked with earlier heart attack and stroke – EurekAlert!

The post 3+ signs you’re headed for an early heart attack appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

For that reason, I can’t say I’ve ever been more excited for fall to come and cool things down. In fact, I’m even looking forward to the colder temperatures winter will bring.

But I’m not looking forward to the “comfort food” struggle — that desire to seek out high-energy foods to make the long winter ahead bearable. For our ancestors, it may have been a necessity to help keep warm, but for us, it’s an invitation to trouble…

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From sugar high to hibernation

Fructose is the natural substance that makes fruit sweet. But in today’s Western society, most fructose is consumed as table sugar and high fructose corn syrup. These two ingredients are very different from the nutrients ingested by our ancestors as they prepared for the lean winter months.

Researchers believe that fructose works differently than other nutrients by lowering the body’s active energy, damaging mitochondria. Studies show fructose stimulates food intake and lowers resting energy metabolism in much the same way it does in an animal preparing for hibernation.

That means it leads to weight gain and obesity. But that’s not all. Insulin resistance, high blood pressure, fatty liver and other metabolic-related issues are more likely when we consume too much fructose.

While fructose’s contribution to obesity is well-known, a team of researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus decided to use a large amount of research to explore in depth the exact role fructose plays in developing obesity by looking to nature. And what they discovered was fascinating…

The impact of fructose on our “survival switch”

The researchers found the effect of fructose mediates this “survival switch.” Unlike glucose, which primarily serves to provide immediate fuel to the body, fructose’s primary function is to aid in the storage of fuel.

“We determine a recently discovered function of fructose in survival that stores fuel in case resources become scarce,” says Dr. Richard Johnson, professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and study lead author. “This is known as the ‘survival switch.’”

The study also suggests that two events occur that convert fructose’s fuel-protective pathway into one that causes disease. The first is the inhibition of “thrifty genes” that may significantly amplify the ability of fructose to induce metabolic syndrome. And the second is the marked increase in foods that either contain or produce fructose.

The researchers propose that these two events have led the “survival switch” to become overactivated, which is driving both obesity and many of the metabolic diseases affecting people today.

“This work puts together in one place the full argument for how a particular carbohydrate, fructose, might have a central role in driving obesity and diabetes,” Johnson says.

“This is a very exciting, new hypothesis that unites other hypotheses to point to the specific role fructose plays in the onset of obesity,” he adds. “And we can trace it back to our ancestors, as well as learn from hibernating animals, exactly how fructose causes this ‘switch’ within us.”

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Fruit isn’t the problem

Often when we talk about fructose and avoiding sugars, we get questions about fruit.

So let me clarify here that fruit is not the problem. In addition to naturally occurring fructose, fruit comes with antioxidants and fiber that make them essential to a well-rounded diet.

Plus, the phytonutrients in fruit help inhibit the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream, so you don’t get the sugar spike you do from industrial forms of fructose like sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

But fructose in the absence of those special nutrients found in fruit, supersizes the way your gut absorbs fat and calories.

So, the change that needs to be made is in the number of sugar-sweetened beverages and processed foods and snacks we consume. These are sources of added sugars.

By cutting out all sodas and other beverages sweetened with added sugars or high-fructose corn syrup, you’ll go a long way toward bringing down your fructose consumption. Also, try to skip candy, ice cream, sweetened yogurt and processed baked goods — or else keep them only to very special occasions.

But it isn’t just the obvious sources we need to watch for. I’ve become an avid reader of labels so that I can avoid the hidden sources of sugar on grocery shelves.

For instance, did you know that ketchup can have as much as a teaspoon of sugar in a single serving? And even many supposedly healthy “organic” ketchup brands contain sugar.

Other unexpected sources of sugar include salad dressings, pasta sauce, premade soups, frozen meals and pizzas, bread, barbecue sauce and baked beans.

Next time you’re shopping, keep an eye out for the words “added sugar,” “high fructose corn syrup,” and “fructose” so you can dodge this health destroyer.

Sources:

Fructose Intake Can Lead to Obesity in Humans, Just Like in Hibernating Animals, CU Researchers Say — University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

The fructose survival hypothesis for obesity — Philosophical Transactions

If Fructose Is Bad, What About Fruit? — NutritionFacts.org

The post The ‘survival switch’ fructose flips to make us fat appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

If I had to sum them all up, I’d point to the fact that it shortens a person’s healthspan. In other words, it shortens the length of time you get to live without a serious or debilitating illness affecting your quality of life.

When the CDC and the National Institutes of Health characterize the public health threat that obesity poses, it’s mainly in terms of diseases.

Type 2 diabetes, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, heart disease and stroke, asthma, and cancer are all cited as outcomes of being obese.

But there’s another public health crisis involving obesity that no one’s really talking about.

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Obesity makes surgical recovery harder and riskier

What happens when an obese person becomes one of the 15 million Americans each year who undergo some sort of surgery?

According to one researcher, obesity and surgery are a bad combination, and should also be considered a public health issue.

Using data drawn from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, Dr. Robert Meguid, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Colorado and his co-researchers studied data from more than 5.5 million patients, 44.6 percent of whom had obesity.

They focused on nine surgical specialties, including general, thoracic and vascular, and compared pre-operative characteristics and postoperative outcomes with various degrees of body mass index (BMI).

Compared to patients of normal weight, patients who were overweight or obese had a higher risk of developing infection, kidney failure, and blood clots in the veins following surgery.

Patients with the highest BMI also had a higher risk of being readmitted to the hospital for complications following surgery.

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Another good reason to aim for a healthy weight

“We need to continue to recognize that overweight and obesity can have medical impacts that aren’t limited to heart disease and diabetes and liver failure,” Dr. Meguid says.

“They can also make recovery from surgery harder, and these data can inform the conversation happening at a broader public health level addressing obesity.”

Why are we presenting this research here?

Simply to provide you with yet another good reason to keep your weight at a healthy level.

No one thinks they’ll need surgery, but it could happen to anyone.

You could find yourself under the knife if your appendix bursts, you have a car accident or need to correct a problem causing back pain.

No one plans on these things happening, but they do, and keeping your weight healthy is one way to increase the chances that you’ll come through surgery safely and in good health.

Sources:

Obesity associated with increased risk of complications after surgery — Eureka Alert

The association between obesity and postoperative outcomes in a broad surgical population: A 7-year American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement analysis — Surgery

Public Health Considerations Regarding Obesity — National Library of Medicine

National Surgical Quality Improvement Program — American College of Surgeons

The post The dangerous connection between surgery and obesity appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

To detect cervical cancer early, women routinely get a Pap smear (Pap test) at their annual physical exam.

But there’s another gynecological cancer that many women mistakenly think is detected by a Pap smear.

It’s not. There is no screening for this type of cancer — even though it is the most common cancer of the female reproductive system.

And it’s on the rise.

The American Cancer Society predicts that uterine cancer will strike about 66,200 women in the U.S. this year, and around 13,000 will die from it.

That makes knowing these symptoms and risk factors especially important…

Uterine cancer: Trending up

“We’re anticipating that the number of deaths in the United States due to uterine cancer is soon going to outnumber the deaths due to ovarian cancer,” says Dr.Brian Slomovitz.

Dr. Slomovitz is director of gynecologic oncology and co-chair of the Cancer Research Committee at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Florida.

“The increase in cases may be due to obesity, but we’re also seeing longer life expectancy,” he noted. “The older people get, the more likely that they are to get endometrial cancer, obviously.”

The terms “uterine cancer” and “endometrial cancer” are often used interchangeably, but there is a difference.

The inner and outer layers of the uterus are known as the endometrium, and a large majority of uterine cancers occur here. Thus the term “endometrial cancer.”

But about five percent of uterine cancers occur in the muscle of the uterus. These are known as uterine sarcomas.

Both of these are “aggressive diseases with a tremendously high death rate,” explains Dr. Slomovitz. “But all of them fall in the category of uterine cancers.”

Risk factors for uterine cancer

Though younger women can get uterine cancer, most have been found to occur after the age of 50 and in women who have gone through menopause.

By far, the biggest and most modifiable risk factor for uterine cancer is obesity:

• Overweight women with a body mass index (BMI) from 25 to 29.9 have twice the risk of developing uterine cancer as women who are of a healthy weight.
• Once a woman’s BMI reaches 30 or higher, her risk triples!

Fat tissue increases the amount of estrogen in a woman’s body. Estrogen stimulates the buildup of the endometrium.

Under normal circumstances, this is what prepares a woman’s body for pregnancy. But an overabundance of estrogen “stimulates the lining of the uterus to the point of uncontrolled proliferation into cancer,” Dr. Slomovitz explains.

Another health condition that causes elevated estrogen levels and is closely linked to obesity is polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Women with PCOS are 2.5 times more likely to develop uterine cancer.  

After menopause, a woman’s estrogen levels fall off, but these factors come together to create estrogen dominance.

Diabetes, which is also often tied to obesity, doubles a woman’s risk for uterine cancer.

Your family history may also include additional risk factors…

Be vigilant if colon cancer runs in your family. People in families with Lynch syndrome, also called hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), have a higher risk for uterine cancer. 

Women must know these symptoms

Because there is no pre-symptomatic screening test for this most common of women’s cancers, women are left on their own to look for symptoms.

The most common symptom of cervical cancer is abnormal bleeding, although it is not always present.

That means for menstruating women, bleeding in between periods. For menopausal women, any bleeding at all should raise a red flag.

Other symptoms include:

• Lower abdominal pain or cramping in your pelvis, just below the belly.
• Thin white or clear vaginal discharge in postmenopausal women.

Lowering your risks

• Because of the strong link between obesity and uterine cancer, working to maintain a healthy weight is paramount. The most successful diet is the one that’s easiest to stick to. Seek professional help if needed.
• Avoid a high-fat diet, not only for weight reasons but because it can increase the risks of several cancers, including uterine.
• Exercise. A combination of aerobic exercise and muscle strengthening has been found to help lower the risk for several kinds of cancer, including endometrial or uterine cancer. In addition, intense exercise may help stop the spread of cancer.
• Manage diabetes well, if you have been diagnosed. If you are not diabetic, watch for these signs of prediabetes to help avoid it.
• Stay away from chemicals linked to uterine cancer
• Visit your gynecologist regularly. Even though no test will detect uterine cancer, having a good relationship with your doctor will develop trust and familiarity. And your doctor can discuss hormone therapy with you. Estrogen-Progestin therapy (EPT) or combined hormone therapy lowers the risk of endometrial/uterine cancer back to normal for menopausal women. Estrogen-only hormone therapy increases the risks.

Sources:

Uterine cancer deaths could soon outnumber deaths from ovarian cancer, oncologist says: ‘We need to do better’ — Fox News

Uterine cancer risk factors and prevention — Cancer.net

Menopausal Hormone Therapy and Cancer Risk — Cancer.org

The post Symptoms and risks for the ‘over-50’ cancer all women should know appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Evidence is mounting that sleeping in anything but a pitch-black bedroom is harming your health in some serious ways.

There’s already been plenty of research showing that even a little bit of light, whether from your window or a candle, can cause depression, as well as elevate your risk of thyroid cancer.

The latest: If you’re not turning off the lights, you’re keeping on processes that normally shut down after dark.

And when they’re running overtime, they impair glucose and cardiovascular regulation — risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

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Light at night is a metabolic nightmare

A 2018 study had already proven that even one night of light exposure when you’re sleeping can set you up for insulin resistance and eventual type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Phyllis Zee, chief of sleep medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine, also cites an earlier study where a large population of healthy adults was exposed to light during sleep and were more likely to be overweight or obese.

The newest study, conducted by researchers from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, sheds light on why that happens…

“Now we are showing a mechanism that might be fundamental to explain why this happens,” Dr. Zee says. “We show it’s affecting your ability to regulate glucose.”

Essentially, when you sleep in a lighted room, you wake up more insulin-resistant than when you went to sleep. Insulin resistance is when your cells don’t respond as they should to insulin, so your body is unable to use blood glucose for energy. This causes the pancreas to overproduce — resulting in high blood sugar.

But that’s not all…

“We showed your heart rate increases when you sleep in a moderately lit room,” says Dr. Daniela Grimaldi, a co-first author and research assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern.

In moderate light, compared to dim light, the heart rate increases as well as the force with which the heart contracts and the rate of how fast the blood is conducted to your blood vessels for oxygenated blood flow.

“Even though you are asleep, your autonomic nervous system is activated. That’s bad. Usually, your heart rate together with other cardiovascular parameters are lower at night and higher during the day.”

All of these effects from light at night — insulin resistance, harm to normal cardiovascular functions and weight gain — equate to a perfect recipe for metabolic syndrome.

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How to keep light from making you sick

According to Dr. Zee, “These findings are important, particularly for those living in modern societies where exposure to indoor and outdoor nighttime light is increasingly widespread.”

What does she recommend?

1. Don’t turn the lights on (in the bedroom). If you need to have a light on (which older adults may want for safety), make it a dim light that is closer to the floor.
2. Color is important. Amber or a red/orange light is less stimulating for the brain. Don’t use white or blue light and keep it far away from the sleeping person.
3. Blackout shades or eye masks are good if you can’t control the outdoor light. Move your bed so the outdoor light isn’t shining on your face.

How can you tell if your room is too lit? Dr. Zee says if you are able to see things really well, it’s probably too light.

Dr. Michael J. Breus, clinical psychologist and board-certified sleep specialist, also recommends:

1. Get plenty of light exposure during the day. Daytime light exposure improves your mood, strengthens your circadian rhythms and allows you to sleep better at night.
2. Avoid unnecessary and excessive exposure to evening light. Look for ways to reduce the amount of artificial light you’re exposed to once evening falls. Close your curtains to block bright street light or use dimmer switches to lower the level of light in your home after dinner.
3. Block bright and blue light on screens. Use the blue light-blocking filter on your phone and laptop (most are now equipped with this filter). Or you can attach blue light-blocking filters directly to the screens themselves, or use blue light-blocking glasses.

Sources:

Close the blinds during sleep to protect your health — Science Daily

Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function —Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

Light exposure during sleep may increase insulin resistance —Science Daily

Unraveling the link between obesity and sleep — Eureka Alert

5 Serious Medical Conditions Linked To Nighttime Light Exposure — huffpost.com

The post The bad bedroom habit that leads to metabolic syndrome appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

I’m a strict two-cup-a-day gal myself.

But considering the results of two major studies, I’m seriously considering upping my caffeine game somewhat…

Taken together, these two studies (and previous research) suggest caffeine may be a helpful strategy for lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity.

And in a world where diabetes and obesity rates are skyrocketing, it sounds like something we need to know more about…

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Higher blood caffeine linked to less risk of obesity and diabetes

By approaching things from a new angle, three Swedish researchers have shown that higher levels of caffeine in the blood are associated with less body fat and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

The scientists already knew that previous studies had suggested that drinking 3-5 daily cups of coffee is associated with a lower risk of the condition.

But they were also aware of two problematic issues with this research…

First, it consisted mainly of observational studies, where a causal relationship could not be established. Second, it was difficult to separate the specific effects of caffeine from those of other compounds contained in coffee.

To resolve this issue, they turned to a research technique known as Mendelian randomization, which uses the presence of certain genetic variants as evidence of a particular outcome — in this case, body fat and type 2 diabetes risk.

Using nearly 10,000 subjects from six long-term studies, their analysis determined that people with a genetic variant that is a predictor of high caffeine levels also had less body fat and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

Per the researchers, caffeine is known to boost metabolism, increase fat burning and reduce appetite. A daily intake of 100 mg (one cup of coffee) has been estimated to increase energy expenditure by around 100 calories a day, which could certainly help lower the risk of developing obesity.

“Our Mendelian randomization finding suggests that caffeine might, at least in part, explain the inverse association between coffee consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes.”

Coffee reduces inflammation, another diabetes factor

Researchers from the University Center Rotterdam in the Netherlands analyzed a large set of data from two large, ongoing studies: the UK Biobank, and the Rotterdam Study in the Netherlands.

UK Biobank subjects included 502,536 people from the United Kingdom who were between 37 and 73 years old. Rotterdam Study subjects numbered 14,929.

The analysis indicated that drinking coffee boosts levels of the anti-inflammatory hormone adiponectin and the cytokine known as interleukin-13, which also controls inflammation.

At the same time, coffee consumption decreases levels of C-reactive protein and leptin, both of which promote inflammation.

Since type 2 diabetes is an inflammatory disease, this goes a long way to explaining why coffee lowers diabetes risk.

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A few words of caution

The researchers say their next step would be randomized controlled trials to assess the effectiveness of non-caloric caffeinated beverages on obesity and type 2 diabetes.

But a few words of caution.

First, if you decide to increase your caffeine consumption, ease into it and don’t go over that 3 to 5-cup range. Also, bear in mind that when these studies refer to a cup of coffee they mean 6 to 8 ounces. Your favorite oversized mug probably holds 16 ounces — so that’s technically 2 cups right there.

Secondly, these studies included calorie-free caffeinated drinks — so that means no milk or sugar in your coffee. I have a friend who enjoys caffeinated sparkling water. She drinks a brand called AHA that is only lightly flavored and contains no sugar or artificial sweeteners (not even stevia or monk fruit). But it contains half the caffeine as a cup of coffee.

Thirdly, caffeine is a stimulant. As a rule of thumb, it’s best to avoid it after 2 or 3 pm, so that it doesn’t prevent you from falling asleep.

Research shows that lack of sleep encourages food cravings that ultimately can lead to excess body weight, obesity and diabetes.

Don’t forget that caffeine can be an irritant, so if you have irritable bowel syndrome or an overactive bladder, you should probably check with your doctor before increasing your coffee consumption.

Most importantly, some people are overly sensitive to caffeine. If you’re one of them, you may experience some or all of the following:

• Jitteriness or shakiness
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Diarrhea
• Heart palpitations
• Anxiety
• Irritability
• Urinary urgency (needing to rush to the bathroom to pee)

If these symptoms can’t be explained otherwise, and you’ve recently increased your coffee intake, you may need to back off.

Sources:

High blood caffeine level might curb amount of body fat and type 2 diabetes risk — Eureka Alert

Appraisal of the causal effect of plasma caffeine on adiposity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease: two sample mendelian randomisation study — BMJ Medicine

How coffee helps lower type 2 diabetes risk: New clues on mechanism — Medical News Today

C-reactive protein partially mediates the inverse association between coffee consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: The UK Biobank and the Rotterdam study cohorts — Clinical Nutrition

An Overview of Caffeine Sensitivity — Verywell Health

The post Caffeine’s potential role in reducing obesity and diabetes appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It stands to reason that too much weight could put undue stress on your joints.

The Arthritis Foundation reports that being overweight causes nearly one-fourth of all diagnosed cases of arthritis.

And if you’re obese, you’re 60 percent more likely to end up with arthritis compared to someone with a lower body weight.

But that’s not the whole story.

What happens inside the joints of obese people to cause arthritis reads something like a spy novel…

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Obesity turns normal synovial cells rogue to degrade joints

Previous research has shown that fat tissue that has been metabolically altered by obesity releases proteins called cytokines which are known to promote inflammation around the body, including in the joints.

But a new study has found that, in someone who is obese, there’s a “stealth operation” going on that doesn’t just destroy joints, but actually “recodes” normal cells crucial to joint health and turns them into “enemy” inflammation-producing machines.

According to Dr Susanne Wijesinghe from the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham, “Obesity is creating an environment in the body, which is negatively affecting cells called synovial fibroblasts, which are stem cells involved in regulating the lubricating fluid [synovial fluid] of the joints. The effect is that these cells get recoded into those that promote inflammation within the fluid around the joints.

“Then, like bad apples in a barrel, they begin to affect the whole joint, increasing secretion of chemicals such as CHI3L1 which degrade the joint and increase the progression of osteoarthritis.”

She and a team of researchers used biopsy information from both weight-bearing joints, like the hips, and non-weight-bearing joints, in the hands, from sixteen patients who had a BMI over 30 (which made them clinically obese), to confirm that weight alone did not account for the molecular changes seen in the joints.

Zoe Chivers, the Director of Services at Versus Arthritis, the UK charity that funded this study, summed it up this way, “The research reveals that obesity can lead to a change in the cells in the joint lining to make them more inflammatory and that these changes occur not only in load bearing joints such as the knee and hips but also in non-load bearing joints such as the hand.”

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Overweight and in pain — what to do

Hopefully more will come from this research to help improve treatments for arthritis. And even better, the researchers wonder if they treat osteoarthritis patients with obesity as a clinical sub-group, could they also see whether specific therapies that address the metabolic element driving osteoarthritis can halt their underlying risk.

But until they know more about how managing weight might impact the progression of arthritis, there are many good health-related reasons to give it a try. And the pain of arthritis is certainly an incentive. Still, that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

There are so many diets to choose from, that alone can be confusing. But a couple of years ago, a study determined that the Mediterranean diet may be the easiest for people to stick to — and that’s a recipe for weight loss success.

The Mediterranean diet also promotes healthy oils, especially omega-3s from fatty fish, and there are two very relevant ways they can help…

• The University of Surrey looked at previous research on the connection between diet and osteoarthritis. Based on 68 studies, they confirmed that fish oil reduced inflammation and decreased pain in people with osteoarthritis. Just one gram of fish oil per day can do the trick.
• Research published in the Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition, found that six weeks of supplementing fish oil significantly increased lean mass and decreased fat mass in a group of 44 men and women.

Sources:

Obesity turning arthritic joint cells into pro-inflammation ‘bad apples’ — Science Daily

Obesity defined molecular endotypes in the synovium of patients with osteoarthritis provides a rationale for therapeutic targeting of fibroblast subsets — Clinical and Translational Medicine

The post Obesity and arthritis: The real reason behind the pain and progression appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Add it up, and we’re consuming a staggering 60 pounds of sugar a year. That’s the equivalent of lining 12 five-pound bags of sugar up on your counter and digging in.

Clearly, given the rising rates of diabetes and obesity, we’re eating way too much sugar. And unless you’re a stickler for avoiding processed foods, cutting down on added sugars can seem almost impossible.

But to help you understand just how imperative it is to try — and how much is too much — researchers reviewed existing data and came to a daunting conclusion…

Excess sugar intake has been linked to no less than 45 serious health conditions, including stroke, heart disease and cancer…

Six is the magic number

In what’s called an umbrella review — involving 73 meta-analyses and 8,500 articles — researchers found significant harmful associations between the consumption of added sugars and the following health outcomes:

• 18 endocrine or metabolic outcomes including diabetes, obesity and gout
• 10 cardiovascular outcomes including high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke
• 7 cancer outcomes including breast, prostate and pancreatic cancer
• 10 other outcomes including tooth decay, asthma, depression and death.

Though the strength of the evidence varied, with some of the analyses considered stronger than others, the review authors suggested that people try to limit the amount of added sugar they consume daily to six teaspoons —  and only consume one or fewer sugar-sweetened beverages a week.

To come to these conclusions, the researchers combined these findings with guidance from the World Health Organization, World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research.

Check those food labels

When it comes to avoiding added sugar, label reading is your friend. But first, it’s helpful to know how many grams of sugar are in the recommended six teaspoons. The answer: between 24 and 25 grams.

One thing I’ve noticed about labeling is they now break out the amount of added sugars in the products you buy. For instance, the frozen pad Thai dinner I have in my freezer right now has 18 grams of sugar total, with 13 grams of that being added sugar. But the frozen cheese enchilada dinner only has 6 grams of sugar, zero of which is added sugar.

That’s because some ingredients contain natural sugars. But the amount of sugar identified on the label as “added” is additional sugar added during food processing — and this is the number we need to cut down on.

As always, your diet should include as many whole, unprocessed foods as possible. But if you’re busy and need to fall back on some prepackaged meals, make sure to check that label and go for the meals that have little to no added sugars.

As far as “natural” sweeteners go, remember that the body responds to honey, coconut sugar, agave, maple syrup or turbinado sugar the same way it would regular sugar. And I’d stay away from stevia as well. Unless it is 100% pure stevia extract, it contains erythritol, which is tied to increased blood clotting. Erythritol is used in many low-fat or no-fat processed foods.

Sources:

Limit added sugar to six teaspoons a day to improve health, urge experts — EurekAlert!

Consuming over 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day linked to stroke, depression, asthma — Medical News Today

Dietary sugar consumption and health: umbrella review — The BMJ

How much sugar is too much? — American Heart Association

The post Stroke, cancer and 43 other conditions linked to sugar appeared first on Easy Health Options®.