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Latest in Clinical Nutrition (2010) by Michael Greger

Helge Bjorland — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 07:00:35 +0000

In information packed and research backed dose of fun interesting …A quick, easy, and especially interesting way

weeding through thousands of researches published in the last year and selecting out the most interesting, practical, and groundbreaking findings from what the latest nutritional science has to offer.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYLRKa9p0Rs

Ted Prize winner 2011: JR

Helge Bjorland — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 07:00:58 +0000

Congratulation to the guerrilla photographer JR who is the winner of the TED Prize award 2011. This award grants him $100,000 and a wish to change the world with the support of the TED community. While a seemingly unconventional recipient, his work matches the creativity and innovative spirit of TED’s community, and his art inspires people to view the world differently –- and want to change it for the better. His latest exhibition called “Women Are Heroes,” is a project underlining the dignity of women who are the target of conflict.

TRAILER ” WOMEN ARE HEROES” from SOCIAL ANIMALS on Vimeo.

JR creates “pervasive art” where he mounts enormous black-and-white photos on buildings in areas such as the urban slums of Paris, the Middle East, Africa, and the favelas of Brazil. These images become part of the local landscape and capture people’s attention and imagination around the world.

People in the exhibit communities, those who often live with the bare minimum, discover something absolutely unnecessary but utterly wonderful. And they don’t just see it, they make it. Elderly women become models for a day; kids turn into artists for a week. In this art scene, there is no stage to separate the actors from the spectators.

As he is anonymous and doesn’t explain his huge full-frame portraits of people making faces, JR leaves the space empty for an encounter between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/ interpreter.

This is what JR is working on. Raising questions…

An interview with JR can be found at the TED site.

[TED]

Cheese and Other Foods that Make Diabetes Worse

Hans Rippel — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:30:04 +0000

On this week’s episode of Food for Life TV, Dr. Barnard explains that fatty foods, such as burgers, fried chicken, cheese, and even vegetable fats—like olive oil and peanut butter—can stop insulin from helping glucose enter muscle cells and cause type 2 diabetes. But building your meal with fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans will keep your diet low in fat and actually clean the fat from your body, allowing insulin to help glucose enter your muscle cells and reverse or prevent diabetes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFdY7nKWbjU

TEDMED – Anthony Atala on Growing New Organs

Hans Rippel — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:11:57 +0000

Mind-blowing advances in bio-engineering and medicine presented by Anthony Atala at TEDMED. Repairing, reconstructing, and growing functioning organs with your own cell. The future of solving organ damage and organ donor shortages is arriving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQP3HrU8fdM

It’s great how much headway science has made in this area. The technological side of science is advancing just like electronic gadgets have. This is what we need to help people once they have acute problems beyond what the body is able to repair given a healthy lifestyle. On the other hand, for prevention we need to implement healthy eating habits and an overall healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately these cheaper and more cost effective methods of lifestyle changes find much more resistance. Cultural norms of what we eat, the difficulty of changing habits, and powerful interest groups have made simple changes to combat obesity, smoking, and unhealthy eating habits less successful.

Presentation Highlights – keep in mind that some of these technologies took over 700 researchers over 20 years to develop.

The first organ transplant was conducted in 1954. Unfortunately, in the last decade patients waiting for transplants has doubled while donors have stayed about the same.

“Every 30 seconds, a patient dies from diseases that could be treated with tissue replacement” or tissue regeneration.

“First use of natural biomaterial in humans for tissue regeneration, 1996.”

Our bodies can regenerate but only for limited distances. The maximum distance for regeneration is about 1 cm, unlike salamanders who can grow back entire limbs. Ideally smart balm materials that regenerate your tissue are the goal and right now the challenge is to increase the distances they can regenerate beyond the 1 cm. For injuries on larger scales and larger organs you need to get a small sample of cells from the injured or diseased organ. Let those cells multiply in a conducive lab environment. Once enough cells are available it is possible to use scaffolds that are coated with those cells to recreate the original organs or parts of it. The scaffolds with the cells on them are then placed under optimal conditions of 37 degrees Celsius and 95% oxygen. Once the cells have grown onto the scaffold it can be implanted. The scaffolds are designed so that they will attract new tissue cells that will replace the scaffold, which will disintegrate after a while. This method has been successfully used with muscles, carotid arteries, and heart valves. And interestingly they had to exercise them while growing them in the lab.

The first engineered organ was the bladder. And it took only 6-8 weeks to grow until it was ready to be implanted in a patient. Among the solid organs that have been created are ears and fingers. The most complex organs to engineer are those that are highly vascularized such as the heart, the liver, and the kidneys.

One strategy used is to print organs. This has been done with a heart chamber that was printed with a regular printer that instead of ink prints cells one layer at a time. Another strategy is to use de-cellularized organs. Take donor organs, take out all the cells, which takes about two weeks and what is left is the structure of the organ that is made up of collagen. This method even keeps the vascular tree intact. And then this skeleton structure will be infused with the organ recipients own cells. This way organs will not be rejected. At the moment this is only experimental but liver functions have already been reproduced in experiments. At the moment these kidneys are small and the work ahead is to increase them to regular size. Kidneys with livers, and hearts are by far the most complex organs inpart because they are highly vascularized.

Reference:

Atala, A. (Speaker). (2009, October). Anthony Atala on Growing New Organs [Video]. TEDMED Conferences. Retrieved January 21, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQP3HrU8fdM

10 Ways to Cultivate Gratitude & Become Happier

Hans Rippel — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:03:01 +0000

Gratitude is one of the most powerful ways to improve your well-being and among other things, increasing your happiness. Within positive psychology inquiries, gratitude interventions have proven to be among the most effective, as world expert on gratitude Robert A. Emmons and other researchers have found. Among the wide ranging benefits, researchers have found that “gratitude is positively related to such critical outcomes as life satisfaction, vitality, happiness, self-esteem, optimism, hope, empathy, and the willingness to provide emotional and tangible support for other people, whereas being ungrateful is related to anxiety, depression, envy, materialism and loneliness.” (p. 186)

“A person with the disposition to feel grateful has established a worldview that says, in effect, that all of life is a gift, gratuitously given. Although we cannot in any direct way be grateful, we can cultivate gratefulness by structuring our lives, our minds, and our words in such a way as to facilitate awareness of gratitude-inducing experiences and labeling them as such.” (p. 187) In other words “gratitude is a way of life.” (p. 186)

(Gratitude is one of the 24 Character Strengths included in the VIA Survey of Character Strengths which is a scientifically validated measurement designed to identify what your top signature strengths are.)

The top 10 evidence-based prescriptions for becoming more grateful:

1. Keep a Gratitude Journal (p. 189)

write down, be specific, avoid repetition

Write down the blessings you are grateful for.
Create a habit of becoming aware and paying attention to gratitude-inspiring events.
Be as specific as possible. Try not to just list people and events but rather list what exactly a person did what aspects of an event you are grateful for.
Watch out not to keep repeating the same list day after day, make a conscious effort to think of new things you are grateful for.
“Take the time to be especially aware of the depth of your gratitude.” (p. 191)

2. Remember the Bad (p. 191)

“When we remember how difficult life used to be and how far we have come, we set up an explicit contrast in our mind, and this contrast is fertile ground for gratefulness.” (p. 191)

3. Ask Yourself Three Questions (p. 192)

recognize: gifts, connectedness, pain you cause

Reflect on the following three questions daily for about 20min in the evening:

“What have I received from _____?” – recognizing the gifts we have received
“What have I given to ______?” – how connected we are to others
“What troubles and difficulties have I caused _____?” – acknowledging the pain we cause

4. Learn Prayers of Gratitude (p. 194)

Pick a prayer of gratitude that suits you, your faith, your religion, or the absence thereof.
One suggested by Robert A. Emmons is by Thich Nhat Hanh that will suit any faith as well as the faithless:

“Waking up this morning, I see the blue sky.
I join my hands in thanks
for the many wonders of life;
for having twenty-four brand-new hours before me.” (p. 196)

(Robert found in his studies that prayer helps with achieving goals)

5. Come to Your Senses (p. 197)

Being grateful for our senses of touch, see, smell, taste, and hear, just like we are grateful for our health.

6. Use Visual Reminders (p. 198)

mindfulness, reminders, share with others

Forgetfulness and the absence of mindful awareness are two primary obstacles to being grateful. (p. 199)
Work desk, fridge, bathroom door, computer, cell phones, car, wallet …
Having an accountability partner with whom you share or swap gratitude lists is a good way not to forget. (p. 200)

7. Make a Vow to Practice Gratitude (p. 201)

You increase the likelihood of practicing gratitude and sticking with it when you let your friends and family know, make it a public pronouncement, and post reminders of it.

8. Watch Your Language (p. 203)

express gratitude when talking to others & to yourself

Words we use when we talk to others and to ourselves create much of our perception of reality.
Express your gratitude to others.
Change your mood by changing what you say to yourself. Engaging in “gratitude self-talk that draws our attention to the positive contributions that others have made to our lives will simultaneously favorably impact our environmental well-being while strengthening our social bonds.” (p. 205)

9. Go Through the Motions (p. 205)

express gratitude, remember it, spend time with those who do likewise

Do things that will help you be grateful.
Spend more time with grateful people.
Say, “Thank You.”
Write gratitude letters.
Express your gratitude to others.
Count your blessings.
Doing these things even when you don’t feel grateful is better than not doing them at all. Research shows feelings will follow your behavior. You behave grateful and you will start feeling grateful.

10. Think Outside the Box (p. 206)

Express gratitude to those who harm you.
Be grateful to those whom you benefit.

Which of these have had the biggest impact in your life? Please share your experiences what has works well for you as well as those you had less success applying in your life. For everyone benefit, keep the conversation going and leave a comment :)

Emmons, R. A. (2007). Thanks!: How the new science of gratitude can make you happier (illustrated, annotated ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Fitness Supplements Are Unnecessary

Helge Bjorland — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:54:39 +0000

If you are an avid sportsman who believes the bulk of fitness supplements you are taking is helping you excel, then it might be interesting to know that it’s most probably just a placebo effect. Supplements are in most cases unnecessary, and many athletes end up exceeding recommended levels of nutrients.

If you work out regularly, especially if you lift weights i believe, it’s easy to get fooled by the promises of supplement providers. I have been there myself, and knowing how much I was willing to spend on supplements to achieve a more rapid progress, I have no difficulty understanding why it’s a $25 billion market (2008 figures). Although I’m sure most of the young men this industry targets will dispute it, the supplements seldom make any difference in progress compared to staying on a healthy diet, such as a whole-plant-based-diet. Most athletes supplement their diets with additional protein, and considering the a normal diet, there is more than enough protein to go around.

“Doctors and nutritionists say that people who eat a normal diet generally don’t need nutritional supplements, even if they exercise vigorously.”

When teenagers use supplements it can even be harmful, especially since the recommended dosage on the bottles often are higher than those recommended by doctors. Dr. Teri M. McCambridge, chairwoman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness, states that:

“the teenage diet already has more than enough protein. They don’t need the extra amount”

In a recent study on protein suppby Martin Fréchette, a researcher and graduate of the Université de Montréal Department of Nutrition, the conclusion was that most athletes have a poor understanding of the role of protein and are taking supplements they don’t need. More specifically 81% of the athletes in the test group was getting the protein they needed from their regular diet. Not only is there a risk of unknowingly consuming prohibited drugs as a result of poor labeling, but athletes also run the risk of exceeding acceptable levels of regular nutrients. Fréchette found that those who used supplements had higher than normal levels of sodium, magnesium, niacin, folate, vitamin A and iron. This can lead to nausea, vision trouble, fatigue and liver anomalies, according to Fréchette, which claims that supplements are unnecessary:

“They are often poorly used or unnecessary by both high-level athletes and amateurs”

When asked about supplements Gunnar Peterson, a celebrity trainer whose clients include Jennifer Lopez and Tom Brady, states that: “Real food is the way to go”

I sincerely hope some of my friends who are still caught up in the supplement scam reads and acknowledges this. As a concluding remark I would like to state that supplements can be a positive addition to a healthy diet in some cases, but the fact of the matter is that most athletes overdo it. A varied whole-plant-based-diet alone will include all the nutrients (except maybe B₁₂) needed to exercise and keep fit for the majority. As stated in the NY Times article: “… among the subset of people who already eat healthfully and want to bulk up in the gym, some supplements, when taken in sensible doses, can provide a lift.”

If you’re still convinced of the positive effects of supplements and would like to keep sponsoring this billion dollar industry, be my guest, although the biggest effect you are experiencing of taking fitness supplements are probably a placebo effect, where Peterson states that:

“It allows people to hold onto the magic pill dream, it’s like putting jumper cables on motivation.”

[ScienceDaily] [NYtimes]

Simplistic Diets Work Better For Loosing Weight

Simplistic Diets Work Better For Loosing Weight

Helge Bjorland — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:55:16 +0000

Is a complex diet better or worse for meeting your weight-loss goal? A new study suggests that simpler is indeed better, thereby a whole-plant-based-diet is a natural candidate when considering simplistic diets.

Most people have personal experience with dieting, including myself, and it’s common knowledge that key success factors to losing weight is willpower and dedication. A recent study has pinpointed another factor which plays an important part and might not be as obvious; the complexity of the diet. The study found that with a more complex diet, subjects were less likely to loose weight. In other words, simpler is better, as holds true for many things in life. The researchers noted:

“For people on a more complex diet that involves keeping track of quantities and items eaten, their subjective impression of the difficulty of the diet can lead them to give up on it,”w

In recent time more evidence has been appearing to support many of the supposed health benefits of adhering to a varied whole-plant-based-diet. Without going deeper into that issue, the diet is at least very simple; just eat mostly whole plant based food. It’s not really what I consider to be a “weight loss diet”, since it can be more of a permanent dietary change which you can live with happily ever after. It’s not inherent that you will loose weight from a whole plant based diet at all, but this holds true for any diet since body weight is only dependent on energy input relative to energy output. It’s probably easier loosing weight with a whole plant based diet though, since the energy density of plant foods are generally less than that of meat. Hence, most end up on the healthy side of the scale after a while. In addition there could be many added benefits of such a diet related to longevity and preventing common lifestyle diseases.

You might be asking yourself how much such a terrific diet will put you back, well, that’s the best thing, it’s completely 100% free! (You still have to pay for the actual food you eat though)

Is this a diet which would work for you? Have you tried it? Is it indeed simple? Is there even simpler diets? Hit me up with a comment and share your thoughts and experiences on this issue!

[ScienceDaily]

Running barefoot better than using running shoes

Helge Bjorland — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:46:57 +0000

A new study suggests that running shoes might actually exert tension which can damage your knees, hips and ankles, more so than walking with high heels!

A new study by D. Casey Kerrigan aiming to “determine the effect of modern-day running shoes on lower extremity joint torques during running” appeared in the December issue of PM&R Journal. The conclusion of the study was that running shoes exerted more stress on knee, hips and ankle joints compared to running barefoot or even walking with high heels.

“Remarkably, the effect of running shoes on knee joint torques during running (36%-38% increase) that the authors observed here is even greater than the effect that was reported earlier of high-heeled shoes during walking (20%-26% increase). Considering that lower extremity joint loading is of a significantly greater magnitude during running than is experienced during walking, the current findings indeed represent substantial biomechanical changes.”

To me these findings are quite shocking since I was under, what seems to be false, impression that running shoes gave me better support and exerted less tension to the joints than running barefoot. Running barefoot is not really a suitable alternative to me though, since it would probably hurt and leave me with quite the rough skin under my feet. But it seems running shoe designers have a job to do!

Please start making running shoes which simulates the natural act of running barefoot, because I really enjoy running.

Update:

I was just informed me about a web page called Barefootrunningshoes which serves as “an information hub on many of the popular barefoot running shoes that are currently available as well as related products and accessories”. Could be helpful if you’d like to get shoes which resembles that of running barefoot. Thanks Kate!

[PM&R Journal via Sciencedaily]

Kerrigan, D. C., Franz, J. R., Keenan, G. S., Dicharry, J., Della Croce, U., & Wilder, R. P. (2009). The effect of running shoes on lower extremity joint torques. PM & R : The Journal of Injury, Function, and Rehabilitation, 1(12), 1058-63. Retrieved January 19, 2010, from http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/1934-1482/PIIS1934148209013677.pdf

Tie your shoes optimally!

Health benefits of breast feeding possibly overstated

Helge Bjorland — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:19:05 +0000

The many benefits of breastfeeding is something all mothers are familiar with, but are there really that many benefits? A Norwegian study is challenging this well established truth.

A recent study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have spurred several heated debates in Norway between researchers and breast feeding supporters. The study claims that breast feeding is not the reason behind the added health benefit observed in kids which have been nursed. The researchers is pointing towards hormones produced during the pregnancy as an explanatory factor for the benefits previously accredited to breast milk. Groups with factors such as overweight, smoking or hormonal disorders breastfeed less than their peers, which again can be traced back to hormonal production. The explanation offered is that the conversion of testosterone to oestrogen in the placenta is corrupted, leading to higher than normal amounts of testosterone in the body during pregnancy.

“It’s thus not the woman’s will to breastfeed. Women who had more testosterone in their bodies during pregnancy feel the effects of a hormone that limits breastfeeding. That is clearly why it is not as easy to breastfeed.”

The researchers reassures women unable to nurse that baby formula is as good as breast milk, and that should not feel guilty for not being able to nurse.

Personally I have a split opinion of this; I appreciate the deed which the researchers seem to be doing by removing the guilt of anxious mothers struggling to breast feed, but it almost gives me the impression that the researchers think breast feeding is unnecessary. This could again lead to cosmetic reasons to skip breastfeeding although one is perfectly capable, which would be a scary trend. The two reasons the researchers mention to continue encouraging breast feeding is that formula is less environmental (heating milk and sterilizing bottles) and less economical in developing countries. Maybe the Iiamo bottle leaves parents with a more environmental way of heating milk, at least it seems to be much more efficient.

It seems unbelievable to me that breast feeding has no positive physiological effects, although they might be overstated by previous studies. I think natural breast feeding should be encouraged, but maybe there should be more focus on not leaving those who can’t with a guilty conscience.

[Medical news today]

Effects of Calorie Restriction Registered in Protein

Helge Bjorland — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:47:40 +0000

Calorie-restriction diets include very little food

Progress has been made in understanding the physiological effects of calorie-restriction diets, known to increase longevity. Scientists have discovered proteins in fat cells which change according to weight loss in subjects. This could be useful for monitoring the effects of calorie-restriction diets and possibly also increase the effectiveness.

The increasing prevalence of obesity is raising health concerns all over the world, as obesity also increase the risk of other common diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disorders. It has been known for quite some time that calorie restriction extends lifespan and prevents common lifestyle diseases, although the actual physiological effects are not clear, especially the effects on cells that store fat.

Edwin Mariman and colleagues have recently conducted a study where they identified a protein in the fat cells which changed as subjects were undergoing a calorie-restricted diet. The study followed 8 overweight/obese subjects for 5 weeks as they were on a very low calorie diet, where the average weight loss was 9.5 kg body weight. The study focused on proteins in abdominal subcutaneous fat cells where 6 proteins were identified.

The findings could be useful in establishing markers in order to monitor the effect of calorie-restriction diets, and possibly also to increase the effectiveness of such diets. Since fruits and vegetables are important factors in calorie-restricted diets, the effects of increased longevity are probably somewhat connected to the same effects from vegetarian diets.

“Altogether, our findings underscore the potential value of in vivo proteomics for human intervention studies“.

References:

Bouwman, F. G., Claessens, M., van Baak, M. A., Noben, J. -P., Wang, P., Saris, W. H. M., et al. (2009). The Physiologic Effects of Caloric Restriction Are Reflected in the in Vivo Adipocyte-Enriched Proteome of Overweight/Obese Subjects. Journal of Proteome Research, 8(12), 5532-5540.