What Causes Weight Gain?
There was a fascinating report on weight gain in weight loss in Westerners in the recent New England Journal of Medicine which is considered one of the best medical journals in the world to read. More than 100,000 adults taken from three prospective cohort studies were analysed over 20 years.
The article attempted to answer the question of what factor is most responsible for gradual weight gain around the abdomen for Westerners i.e. what foods make us fat? As many of you realise, weight gain around the tummy is directly linked to diabetes and inflammation in your arteries. When all of the different lifestyle habits and food groups were analysed, the results indicated that for those who gain 1kg every 2 years within Westerners, the 2 MAJOR CULPRITS were potatoes and other grains and meat. Interestingly dairy ( either full fat or reduced) did not influence weight gain and those that ate nuts, fruit and vegetables experienced weight loss.
Many of you know that I have been an advocate, as have many other health professionals, of the importance of reducing your carbohydrate intake in your diet. It was encouraging to see this well respected journal publish a great study that supports and confirms this. The message we should all take is that we really need to reduce our carbohydrate intake - in particular potatoes, bread ,white rice and pastas.
Prostate cancer Should we always intervene?
I recently wrote an article for an insurance magazine on differing approaches when diagnosed with prostate cancer. There is a trend these days, for biopsy proven low grade prostate cancer that is not too aggressive, to have an active surveillance protocol. This means that once the prostate cancer is diagnosed,again, if it is not aggressive, to simply monitor the cancer by blood testing and repeat prostate biopsy after several months.
This avoids the complications of treatment which can include potency issues, urinary incontinence and the side effects of surgery or brachytherapy etc. Should there be a rising PSA or an increase in cancer on surveillance with, then rapid intervention is carried out with intention to cure the cancer. Whilst this mode of observing the tumour is not for the fainthearted (in my experience most people would prefer just to have it dealt with quickly) it does recognise the fact that we are picking up a lot of low grade prostate cancers that may not shorten ones life or cause significant illness in one's life. Again, it really boils down to the individual circumstances and the individual personality and hence the importance of great working relationship between the client and the doctor who understands his client's personality temperament and needs.
Cardiac Risk
I have just reviewed a recently published paper which documented a clear relationship between exercises and reduced cardiac risk.
The paper looked at the relationship between time spent exercising and future risk of a heart attack and stroke or other coronary event.
If one exercised 30 minutes a day or 150 minutes a week on average, this reduced your risk of heart attack or stroke by 15%.
If your exercise was 300 minutes a week, the risk was reduced by 20%. This is quite a significant reduction in that 30 to 40% of us are at risk of heart attack or stroke throughout our life.
And don't forget the other significant benefits of exercise
improved mental cognition
reduced risk of memory loss,
improved bone strength, and avoidance of depression.
I've consistently said that for those of you who are mid-60s and beyond, an increase in physical activity is really important to stave off the effects of ageing.
Link to VSCAN:
There was a fascinating report on weight gain in weight loss in Westerners in the recent New England Journal of Medicine which is considered one of the best medical journals in the world to read. More than 100,000 adults taken from three prospective cohort studies were analysed over 20 years.
The article attempted to answer the question of what factor is most responsible for gradual weight gain around the abdomen for Westerners i.e. what foods make us fat? As many of you realise, weight gain around the tummy is directly linked to diabetes and inflammation in your arteries. When all of the different lifestyle habits and food groups were analysed, the results indicated that for those who gain 1kg every 2 years within Westerners, the 2 MAJOR CULPRITS were potatoes and other grains and meat. Interestingly dairy ( either full fat or reduced) did not influence weight gain and those that ate nuts, fruit and vegetables experienced weight loss.
Many of you know that I have been an advocate, as have many other health professionals, of the importance of reducing your carbohydrate intake in your diet. It was encouraging to see this well respected journal publish a great study that supports and confirms this. The message we should all take is that we really need to reduce our carbohydrate intake - in particular potatoes, bread ,white rice and pastas