By Sarah A LoBisco, ND
Can you believe it!
The end of 2012 is here!
The final Top Reads of 2012 for you to curl up with over organic hot cocoa.
As my niece would say….get cozy!
Highlights to Ponder
As many of my clients know, I believe diet is one of the key foundations to health. This is why most of my blogs are focused on healthy food choices. However, what about people who swing the other side of the extreme? People who become afraid to eat?
Health Obsession?
…When being Healthy inflicts psychological loss? What are your thoughts?
The Problem with Perfection in Food
The significance of sharing food slowly disappears from the militant, proselytizing orthorexic’s inventory of experiences. Time is spent alone campaigning, bulking up arguments that disparage meat, cheese, cooking food…not cooking food. These processes of slowly withdrawing from the full experience and commensality of sourcing, preparing, combining and sharing food threaten the orthorexic’s continued participation in the seeking of pleasure in community.
Ji, S & Melkonian, T. ORTHOREXIA: The Wrong Way To Eat Right. GreenMed Info. 11/5/12. http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/orthorexia-wrong-way-eat-right?utm_source=GreenMedInfo+Weekly&utm_campaign=2c7e04adb2-Greenmedinfo&utm_medium=email
Nature & Nuture
The link between tiny variations in parent’s genetic sequences, SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism), and maternal body mass index (BMI) was shown to be correlated with risk of high blood pressure in pregnancy.
The study was reported in Medscape’s Genomics:
AGTR2 C4599A in mothers, fathers and babies was associated with preeclampsia and this association was only apparent in pregnancies in which the women had a BMI ? 25 kg/m2, suggesting a gene–environment interaction.
Lewis, R. Preeclampsia Risk Raised by Variant of AGT2R Gene. Medscape Medical News. November 19, 2012. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/774808?src=ptalk
And Now, the Top Picks….
Health
More than one third of severely obese adults who achieved complete remission of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) within 5 years after bariatric surgery relapsed within 5 years of that initial remission, according to the largest community-based study to date of long-term outcomes after bariatric surgery, published online November 18 in Obesity Surgery.
Hand, L. Diabetes Remission After Gastric Bypass: One Third Relapse Medscape Medical News. 11/28/12.
Hospital Safety Ratings
You expect that at a hospital, you’d be healing, not getting a new infection, right?
This may not be the case.
According to Consumer Reports:
We focus on six categories in our safety Ratings: infections, readmissions, communication, CT scanning, complications, and mortality. (Read more about how we rate hospitals.)
…Even the highest-scoring hospital in our safety Ratings got just a 72 on our 100-point scale.
Here are some of the most important findings from our analysis:
- Bad things happen in all hospitals, but they happen a lot in some. The lowest-scoring hospital, Sacred Heart Hospital in Chicago, earned just a 16 on our 100-point safety scale and reported a rate of bloodstream infections that was more than twice the national benchmark. The hospital declined to comment.
- Even high-scoring hospitals can do better. Billings Clinic in Montana was at the top of our list—but it got a safety score of just 72. “The work is hard,” says Mark Rumans, M.D., the hospital’s physician-in-chief. “We are far from perfect.”
- Some well-known hospitals have less-than-outstanding safety scores. That includes Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, with a safety score of 45; Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, 43; Cleveland Clinic, 39; New York-Presbyterian, New York, 32; and Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, 30.
- Our Ratings are an important measure, but they’re not the only source you should consult. They don’t, for example, assess how successful hospitals are at treating medical conditions. So before a planned hospital stay, consult multiple sources, such as Hospital Compare, run by the federal government, and the Leapfrog Group, an independent organization that tracks hospital safety and quality. Some of the data we use come from those sources.
Consumer Reports. How safe is your hospital? Our new Ratings find that some are riskier than others. Consumer Reports magazine: August 2012. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/08/how-safe-is-your-hospital/index.htm
Counting Calories to Lose Weight?
…Nope..won’t work according to top fitness docs!
You need to measure HEC (Hunger, Energy, Cravings)
So, to recap counting your hormones rather than your calories means taking a hormones-first approach, not a calories-first approach. Rather than indiscriminately cutting calories and dealing with the constant hunger, unrelenting cravings and low energy that come with it, use food to balance these sensations so you are operating from a place of strength. And in doing this, it will enable you to stick with the program. Here is how to do it:
Change your approach to eating more foods that suppress hunger, control cravings and elevate energy. We call these “fat-loss foods,” not because they have magic fat-burning properties, but because they make it more likely you can achieve the two requirements for fat loss — balanced hormones and a caloric deficit.
Measure your HEC score daily, and adjust your diet so that you achieve hunger and cravings consistently below 5 and energy consistently above 6.
Measure fat loss. This is most easily accomplished by assessing inches lost, not pounds shed. If you are not losing fat, adjust your food approach while maintaining your HEC score in the balanced zone. Be the detective, not the dieter.
When you have achieved a balanced HEC score and fat loss, you have found what I call your “metabolic effect.” The best part? This process helps you reliably navigate the inevitable metabolic changes of pregnancy, menopause, stress and aging.
Teda, J. Want to Lose Fat? Count Your Hormones, Not Your Calories (Part 3). Huffington Post. 11/08/2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jade-teta/weight-loss_b_2060838.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living
Nutrigenomics
Bone Boosting Nutrients
Potassium & Bone Strength
Eating a diet heavy in proteins from meat and grains can increase the acid load in the body, leaching calcium from the bone and resulting in other bone-weakening effects, Dr. Krapf and his team noted in a paper online November 15th in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. The researchers note that a study in osteopenic women found those who took potassium citrate for a year to neutralize diet-induced acidosis showed an increase in areal BMD.
Harding, A. K-Citrate Helps Maintain Bones in Older Adults. Medscape News. 11/27/12. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/775195?src=mpnews
An Apple a Day, Keeps Bone Loss Away?
Well… a polyphenol compound in apples called phloridzin (Phlo), at least shows promise in animal trials!
In conclusion, Phlo consumption may provide protection against ovariectomy-induced osteopenia under inflammation
conditions by improving inflammation markers and bone resorption
Puel, C., A. Quintin, J. Mathey, C. Obled, M. J. Davicco, P. Lebecque, S. Kati-Coulibaly, M. N. Horcajada, and V. Coxam. 2005. Prevention of bone loss by phloridzin, an apple polyphenol, in ovariectomized rats under inflammation conditions. Calcified Tissue International 77(5):311–318. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16307390. Full txt: http://rd.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs00223-005-0060-5
Eye and Brain Support
Eat your krill and carrots. A study found that a correlation to amounts of the zeaxanthin (found in Krill) and lutein (found in carrots and orange veggies) significantly correlated to cognitive function in centenarians.
Memory scores and rate of learning improved significantly in the combined-treatment group, who also showed a trend toward more efficient learning. When all of these observations are taken into consideration, the idea that lutein and zeaxanthin can influence cognitive function in older adults warrants further study.
Johnson, E. A possible role for lutein and zeaxanthin in cognitive function in the elderly. Am J Clin Nutr November 2012 ajcn.034611. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2012/10/09/ajcn.112.034611.short?rss=1
Kale as a Super Food
High in vitamins, high in magnesium, ratio of 3:1:1 protein, carbs, fat, 25% more absorpable calcium and more bioavailable amino acids than other foods
Kale, like most vegetables, on the other hand, are alkalinizing and therefore actually reduce the body’s requirements for acid-neutralizing minerals (e.g. calcium, magnesium, sodium, silica, potassium) and therefore reducing the total amount of calcium we need to stay in pH and mineral balance. Kale, therefore, not only contains more of the right form of calcium, but may actually reduce your daily bodily requirements for it. Move over moo juice, there’s a new “vegetable cow” on the block!
Kale is also an excellent source of magnesium, which is why it is green. That deep, dark chlorophyll within its leaves contains one atom of magnesium per molecule. And considering how many of us are dying from excess elemental calcium, adding additional sources of magnesium (which acts to balance out calcium) can have live-saving health benefits.
Finally, kale is more than just a nutritional “superfood.” It comes from a long line of plant healers, and could very well be considered and (given future FDA drug approval) used as a medicine. Newly emergent biomedical literature now shows it may be of value in the treatment of cancer, elevated blood lipids, glaucoma, and various forms of chemical poisoning
Ji, S. Crouching Garnish, Hidden SuperFood: The Secret Life of Kale. Green Med Info. 11/28/12. http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/crouching-garnish-hidden-superfood-secret-life-kale
Drugs
The Risk of ibuprofen
This New York Times article reports that prophylactic ibuprofen use in athletes may not be a good idea.
But a valuable new study joins growing evidence that ibuprofen and similar anti-inflammatory painkillers taken before a workout don’t offer any benefit and may be causing disagreeable physical damage instead, particularly to the intestines.
Reynolds, G. For Athletes, Risks From Ibuprofen Use. New York Times. 12/5/12. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/for-athletes-risks-from-ibuprofen-use/?partner=rss&emc=rss
Aspirin and Eye Un-Health
The association between Aspirin use and age-related macular degeneration:
Among an adult cohort, aspirin use 5 years prior to observed incidence was not associated with incident early or late AMD. However, regular aspirin use 10 years prior was associated with a small but statistically significant increase in the risk of incident late and neovascular AMD.
Klein, B.Long-term Use of Aspirin and Age-Related Macular Degeneration (abstract). JAMA. 2012;308(23):2469-2478. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.65406.
Varenicline Can Increase Risk of Heart Events
BETHESDA, Maryland — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new information this week warning physicians that the smoking-cessation aid varenicline (Chantix, Pfizer) may increase the risk of cardiovascular events in adults with cardiovascular disease [1]. In a new meta-analysis, a higher number of major adverse cardiovascular events, a combined end point that included cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal MI, and nonfatal stroke, were observed among those treated with varenicline.
O’Riordan, M. Updated CVD Risks With Varenicline: FDA. Medscape Topic Alert. 12/12/12. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/776106?src=mpnews&spon=34
Steroid Use Associated with Heart Attacks in those with RA
Current use of oral glucocorticoids (GC) was associated with a 68% increased risk for myocardial infarction (MI) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and MI risk appears to be mediated through both current dosage and cumulative exposure, according to a new, population-based study.…
There appear to be 2 independent components to the GC effects: the current exposure and dose and the cumulative effect of past GC exposure.…
Dr. Avila told Medscape Medical News that the researchers believe that the immediate effects of GC involve interaction with the vascular wall and with endothelial and vascular smooth muscle, as well as enhancement of vascular contractility.
Kelly, J. Oral Steroids Increase MI Risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis. Medscape Medical News. 12/18/12. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/776351?src=nl_topic
J. Antonio Aviña-Zubieta, et al. Immediate and past cumulative effects of oral glucocorticoids on the risk of acute myocardial infarction in rheumatoid arthritis: a population-based study (abstract). Rheumatology (2013) 52 (1): 68-75. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kes353.
