Category Archives: Diet And Food

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Diet - Nutrition Express

Nearly half of all deaths from heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes may be due to diet, a new study finds.

In 2012, 45 percent of deaths from cardiometabolic disease which includes heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes were attributable to the foods people ate, according to the study.

This conclusion came from a model that the researchers developed that incorporated data from several sources: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, which are annual government surveys that provide information on peoples dietary intakes; the National Center for Health Statistics, for data on how many people died of certain diseases in a year; and findings from studies and clinical trials linking diet and disease. [7 Foods Your Heart Will Hate]

The researchers found that, in 2012, just over 700,000 people died from a cardiometabolic disease. Of these deaths, nearly 320,000 or about 45 percent could be linked to peoples diets, according to the study, published today (March 7) in the journal JAMA.

The estimated number of deaths that were linked to not getting enough of certain healthier foods and nutrients was as least as substantial as the number of deaths that were linked to eating too much of certain unhealthy foods, according to the researchers, who were led by Renata Micha, a research assistant professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Tufts University in Boston.

In other words, Americans need to do both: Eat more healthy foods, and less unhealthy food.

The researchers focused their analysis on 10 food groups and nutrients: fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains, unprocessed red meat, processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, polyunsaturated fats, omega-3 fats from seafood, and salt, according to the study.

For each food or nutrient, the researchers identified an optimal intake amount. When people ate more or less than this optimal amount, the intake was considered suboptimal.

Overall, the greatest number of deaths were linked to suboptimal sodium intake; in other words, eating too much salt. The researchers model found that about 66,500 cardiometabolic deaths in 2012 were linked to high sodium intake.

Not eating enough nuts and seeds was the dietary factor linked to the second highest number of deaths (59,000), followed by too much processed meat (58,000 deaths), too little omega-3 fats from seafood (55,000 deaths), too few vegetables (53,000 deaths), too few fruits (52,500 deaths) and too many sugar-sweetened beverages (52,000 deaths), according to the study.

When the researchers looked at specific demographic groups within the study, they found that more deaths in men were linked to dietary factors than in women. In addition, a greater number of deaths in younger people were linked to dietary factors, compared with older people. There was also a greater number of deaths linked to diet among African-Americans and Hispanics when compared with non-Hispanic whites.

The researchers also calculated the percentage of deaths in 2002 that were linked with dietary factors, and found that deaths linked to certain dietary factors such as too many sugar-sweetened beverages, not enough nuts and seeds and not enough polyunsaturated fats decreased between 2002 and 2012. The number of deaths attributed to factors such as sodium and unprocessed red meats, however, increased over the same time.

The findings have the potential to help guide public policy planning to prevent early deaths and reduce health disparities, according to an editorial that was published alongside the study in the same journal. The editorial was written by Noel Mueller, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Dr. Lawrence Appel, a professor of medicine at the same institution. [5 Diets That Fight Disease]

However, there are several limitations to consider, Mueller and Appel wrote. For example, the calculations that the researchers made in the new study assume that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between dietary factors and death, they wrote. However, the studies used in the model were observational studies, which dont prove cause-and-effect, they wrote.

In addition, Mueller and Appel noted that there may be other dietary factors beyond the 10 included that could play a role, such as saturated fat and added sugar. Its also possible that certain dietary factors are linked, such as sodium and processed meats, they wrote.

Despite the limitations, the study is quite relevant to public health nutrition policy, Mueller and Appel wrote. As the study authors suggested, policies that affect diet quality, not just quantity, are needed, they wrote.

Originally published on Live Science.

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A Shocking Number Of Deaths May Be Due To Poor Diet - Huffington Post

Slide: 1 / of 1. Caption: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times/Redux

The nation is in serious danger. The creeping spread of Islam is pushing out Christianity. The countrys borders are swarming with drug-slinging criminals, and its veterans are dying in droves. Heartless, power-hungry liberals snatch guns away from poor, defenseless citizens while openly mocking Gold Star widows. Meanwhile, Democratic operatives are planning a coup from a bunker not far from the White House and wiretapping Trump administration officials, not to mention Trump Tower itselfa looming scandal of Watergate proportions.

The worst part? The propagandistic left-wing media (that subhuman species) wont report a word of it.

At least, thats what I learned spending a few weeks on a self-imposed binge of President Trumps media dieta virtual smorgasbord of Breitbart, Fox News, front-page newspaper headlines, presidential Twitter, and a smattering of Infowars for flavor. I already know what the president thinks of the press, but I wanted to know more about how the world looks to the president through his particular media lens. Yes, even presidents live inside their own filter bubbles. And this past weekend demonstrated just how damaging such media myopia can be when that blinkered vision belongs to the worlds most powerful person.

In less than a day, a Breitbart story accusing the Obama administration of wiretapping Trump Tower became, via tweet, a presidentially asserted fact. As with most Americans, the television Trump watches, the news he consumes, and the people he follows on social media warp and distort his view of the world.

Millions of people share Trumps media habits. His favored outlets have huge, devoted followings. But unlike everyone else, Trump has the authority to turn these often lopsided and misleading narratives into policyor at least 140-character proclamations that, by virtue of his office, the rest of the world must take seriously. Now the Trump administration is calling for a congressional investigation into the wiretapping claims, even though Trump aides have repeatedly failed to point to any hard evidence to back up the presidents allegations.

And I should have seen it all coming. During my weeks on the Trump media diet, I surfed an endless feedback loop circulating between Trump and his preferred media outlets, where speculation leads to justification, ad infinitum. Through this fish-eye, Trumps wiretapping tweets dont look surprising at all. They would instead represent the logical conclusion of what happens when the President of the United States seems to believe everything he hearsand when he limits what he hears to what he wants to hear.

Trumps media diet is tough to stick to. Its like the Paleo of media consumption. It requires extra preparation to fit everything in and a spartan commitment to elimination. (Trump reportedly swore off Morning Joe after years as a devoted viewer).

Trump follows this regimen rigorously. Aloneperhaps in his bathrobein the pre-dawn hours, he flicks on the television to tune into Fox & Friends, which he recently called the most honest morning show. He scours the New York Times and the New York Postin print, not digitaland scans the Wall Street Journal. At night hes been known to tweet reactions to The OReilly Factor and Hannity, and hate-tweet his response to Saturday Night Live. And dont forget the Sunday shows.

Its a lot to take in. So, as with any diet Ive ever tried, I cheated a little here and there. Instead of waking up at 6am to catch the morning shows and staying up late to watch Hannity, I caught the highlights online. And I added outlets that have a known influence on Trump. Every day I checked in on Breitbart, whose former chairman Steve Bannon is now Trumps chief strategist, and watched as Alex Jones face grew ever-redder throughout his four-hour Infowars broadcast. (Please know, dear reader, I did this for you.) Trump may not listen to Infowars, but several of his most controversial claimsincluding the idea that millions of people voted illegallyfirst gained traction on Jones show.

I also created a Twitter account to follow everyone Trump follows on Twitter, a list that notably does not include any government agencies, press secretary Sean Spicer, @WhiteHouse, or even @POTUS, but which does include Apprentice producer Mark Burnett and his wife, Touched By an Angel star Roma Downey. In the dark dystopia that is Trumps media bubble, Downeys random musings exuded a welcome ray of light.

Otherwise, the world inside the bubble looked bleak. On Infowars, Jones touted what he called a bombshell story about Hillary Clinton planting moles throughout the White House. On Fox, Sean Hannity asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whether Iran was readying a modern day holocaust. Its up to us to prevent it, Netanyahu replied in a sober baritone. Fox & Friends hosts told the story of an undocumented immigrant accused of murder in Colorado and claimed a DREAMer detained under Trumps executive order was a gang member. Breitbart published videos of Palestinian children dancing joyfully to a song called Pull the Trigger, while Ann Coulter filled my Twitter feed with headlines about crimes committed by Latinos.

For the most part, these stories werent fabricated. But they were cherry-picked, selected to convey an overarching message about what Trump might call American carnage. In this world, immigration and Islam serve as the default enemies, along with the mainstream media and the left. Whenever the president comes under attack by either one, his preferred outlets offer him the ammunition he needs to fight back. When the press seized on reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions didnt say during his confirmation hearing that he had met with a Russian ambassador, Trumps media mirrors scrambled to dismiss the story as hysterical.

This whole smear campaign is really just part of the Democrats larger fake news conspiracy theory that Russian hacking, hacking, is the reason why Hillary Clinton lost the election, Hannity quipped during his opening monologue.

The wiretapping story wasnt the only one Trump ran with and repeated to millions of people across the country. After a Tucker Carlson segment on Fox about Swedens issues with refugees, the president held a rally in Florida, where he compared Sweden to Brussels, Paris, and Niceall places that have experienced deadly terror attacks. More recently, the president tweeted that 122 prisoners released from Guantanamo have returned to the battlefield, a phony line he repeated verbatim from Fox & Friends.

I surfed an endless feedback loop where speculation leads to justification, ad infinitum.

This alternate universe to which I traveled taught me as much about my bubble as it did the presidents. Im a 30-year-old, college-educated writer living in Brooklyn, and my media diet is pretty much what youd expect given those credentials: the New York Times, Politico, the Washington Post, CNN, WIRED (duh), and a whole lot of Refinery29 in my Facebook feed. In Trumps filter bubble, senator John McCain is a politically motivated warmonger. In mine, he and Lindsey Graham represent the lone Republican voices standing up to a rogue president. In my bubble, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wins over hearts and minds with his good butt and welcoming approach to refugees. In Trumps, the Trudeau effect is steadily decimating trust in government among the Canadian people.

My Trump media diet reminded to me that I could also benefit from breaking out of the bubbleexcept, Im not the president. Theres no subset of the media who makes it their job to convince me Im right. For Trump, there is.

Time and again, Trumps pet outlets find a way to rationalize the presidents claims, even claims as apparently baseless as the wiretapping conspiracy. By Monday morning, while other outlets pressed the administration on the origins of the presidents theories, Utah representative Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, sat stiffly beside the hosts on the Fox & Friends couch, vowing to get to the bottom of this.

The real danger in all of this is not that Trump lacks media literacy. Indeed, he may understand the machinations of the media better than anyone. The danger is that an increasingly large number of media outlets today have built their business models around telling the presidents supportersand the president himselfonly what they want to hear. As long as that cycle exists, the wiretapping claim wont be the last online conspiracy theory to become state-sanctioned.

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I Tried Trump's Media Diet. Now Nothing Surprises Me Anymore ... - WIRED

Want to live a long, healthy life? Move to South Korea.

In a study from Imperial College London,published in the journal the Lancet in late February, researchers projected the life expectancy for men and women born in 35 industrialized countries in the year 2030. The study authors used 21 different forecasting models to analyze death rates across various age groups over the past 50-plus years, resulting in predictions that they believe are the most accurate statistics available.

The good news: The study predicts life expectancy will increase in all 35 countries. South Korea is expected to take the top spot for both women and men, with projected life expectancies of 90.8 and 84, respectively.

The bad news: The USA came in dead last in its cohort, with the lowest predicted life expectancy out of all high-income industrialized countries an average of 83.3 years for women, and 79.5 years for men.

Although the study doesnt dig deep into why citizens of certain countries can expect longer life spans than others, co-author James Bennett tells The Post that high-ranking countries do have some commonalities, such as access to health care, low smoking rates and healthy diets.

Below, the life-extending staples that keep these top countries ticking.

Bennett cites Koreas traditional diet as one reason why its citizens are expected to live so long.

Thats thanks in part to kimchee, a popular Korean condiment thats served with most meals. The fermented vegetable mix is packed with gut-healthy probiotics which can help your body fight off disease as well as filling fiber and antioxidants.

Other South Korean staples include bibimbap, a popular dish of rice, vegetables, red pepper paste, egg and a small amount of meat.

It goes down so easily, and its full of healthy foods, says nutritionist Joshua Rosenthal, founder of NYCsInstitute for Integrative Nutrition.

Plus, says Bennett, South Koreas recent economic growth has made health care more accessible across the whole population, leading to huge gains in its life expectancy standing.

France isnt exactly known as a health-food mecca the country is synonymous with baguettes, croissants and healthy pats of butter. Still, its citizens tend to live long lives, with a projected life expectancy of 88.6 years for women and 81.7 for men for those born in 2030.

Whats fascinating is that many of the foods that Americans avoid, like foods that are high in carbs or saturated fat, are things you see in a French diet, says Danielle Rehfeld, a personal chef who specializes in global cuisine.

But the French generally consume foods differently than Americans, opting for smaller portion sizes eaten at mealtimes, rather than snacks or binges.

It also helps that they tend to see meals as social events.

Its not just what youre eating, its how youre eating, says nutritionist Rosenthal. If youre eating while youre watching TV, you dont realize how much food you ate youre unconscious.

And staying connected with friends and family has been shown to aid in healthy aging as does the easy access to health care and social services that the French enjoy.

Click for more from the New York Post.

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Diet secrets from the world's healthiest countries - Fox News

Enlarge / The jaw of the El Sidron individual found to be consuming poplar and Penicillium-containing vegetation.

Paleoanthropology Group MNCN-CSIC

Around 50,000 years ago in Spain, a Neanderthal had a toothache and popped the botanical version of an aspirin. Maybe. Although it's far from clear-cut, theres evidence from old teeth that hints at the possibility.

It's part of a study of Neanderthal diet, courtesy of their poor dental hygiene. Published in Nature, an analysis of preserved dental plaque from three different Neanderthals provides an intriguing glimpse into what theyput in their mouths. According to the authors, the analysis points to regionally varied diets and suggests possible medicinal plant use.

But some of the DNA evidence is a little strange, suggesting evidence of species where they really shouldnt have been 50,000 years ago. There are some good explanations for why this could happen, but, like most exciting results, drawing conclusions from the evidence demands a little caution.

The stereotypical picture of Neanderthals paints them as hunting the woolly mammoth. Theres evidence to back up a Neanderthal diet as carnivorous as polar bears or wolves, write the researchers: archaeological and chemical data suggest mealsheavy in large herbivores like reindeer, woolly mammoth, and woolly rhinoceros.

But Neanderthal teeth tell a more nuanced story. Previous research has found that the wear patterns on their teeth suggest a varied diet with regional differences. And dental plaque has been used before to analyze the starches and proteins that were preserved in the plaque. These analyses suggest that Neanderthals were eating many plants, possibly including medicinal ones.

Butdental plaque canpreserve more than simple chemicals; genetic material from the food can be encased init. This allowed a team of researchers, led by Laura Weyrich at the University of Adelaide, to get an incredibly detailed look at what plant and animal species three individual Neanderthals had been eating. Two were from El Sidrn Cave in Spain, including thepotential aspirin-popper, while one was from Spy Cave in Belgium.

The results add to previous evidence suggesting that the Neanderthal diet was actually many different things, depending on where the Neanderthals in question lived. The Belgian followed the meat-heavy pattern, with genetic material from woolly rhinoceros, mushrooms, and wild sheep showing up in the dental plaque. Mammoth, reindeer, rhinoceros and horse bones in the cave tell the same story as the dental plaque: these were hunters.

The Spanish Neanderthals, on the other hand, seemed to eat largely mushrooms, pine nuts, and mossthe kinds of food youd get from foraging in a forest. One of them had a dental abscess, and this individuals teeth came up with the genome of a poplar tree that has high levels of salicylic acid, aspirins active ingredient.

Heres where it gets a little slippery. The species identified, Populus trichocarpa, is actually native to North America. It wouldnt have been present in Europe 50,000 years ago, says Quentin Cronk, a botanist with an interest in the poplar genome, who wasnt an author on this paper. But it does have a pretty close relative in Europe, Populus nigra.

Whats going on here, says ancient DNA researcherHannes Schroeder, could be one of two things. The first possibility is contamination. The authors were watching out for this, though, and eliminated the data from two other Neanderthals because there was evidence of contamination. The DNA they ended up analyzing showed all the signs of being properly ancient. The other possibility is that, because ancient DNA is degraded and its possible to analyze only short strands of it, the strands left in the dental plaque matched more than one poplar species.

As it happens, Populus trichocarpa has the best genome data available amongthe poplars. All the other species of tree and mushroom identifiedincluding another oddity, the Korean pinehave good genome-sequencing data available, too. This suggests that the little bits of DNA matched up with the genomes available in genetic databases and just locked onto the species that happened to be in the databases because they didnt have enough data in them to differentiate between different species.

The most likely explanation of this issue is that the reads come from a European species of Populus that is not adequately represented in current sequence databases, says Daniel Huson, one of the authors of the paper. Cronk agrees that this is likely, as does Schroeder.

Its a bit strange for the authors to have pinpointed a single, impossible species, rather than identifyingthe genetic remains as belonging to the Populusgenus. It doesnt cause too much of a problem for the evidence of what Neanderthals were eating, thoughmushrooms are mushrooms. A difference in species doesnt really change the evidence that these people were eating like vegans rather than Texans.

As for the medicinal claim, theres also some evidence of Populus nigra having medicinal properties. Whether or not the Neanderthal knew what these properties were while chowing down on poplar is a different, and possibly unanswerable, question. Some other primate species seem to do this, so it might not be as far-fetched as it seems.

For Schroeder, the evidencedoesn't seem likeespecially solid ground for a big claim like medicinal use. But Keith Dobney, one of the authors on the paper, thinks it all lines up so well that it invites the interpretation of medicinal use. The abscessed individual also had bacteria associated with diarrhea, as well as evidence of the antibiotic Penicillium mould, and it just seems a bit of a strange coincidence that we have one individual with all these things, he says.

With different diets come different oral bacterial cultures. You eat a lot of meat, you get a lot of meat-digesting bacteria in your mouth. Weyrich and her team compared the Neanderthal oral bacteria to a modern human and a group of ancient humans from different cultures.

They found that there were different groupings of oral microbiomes: the SpanishNeanderthals grouped with chimpanzees and ancient African gatherers, in what the researchers called a forager-gatherer group with a largely vegetarian diet. The Belgian Neanderthal grouped more closely with the typical meat-heavy hunter-gatherer diet. Amodern human and early agriculturalist human also had different profiles.

The result helps us understand modern human oral microbiomes in context, says Dobney. Our current food-related health problems, like obesity, didnt happen in a vacuum: it hasnt happened overnight; its part of the journey that weve been on for thousands of years. Major cultural changes like the beginnings of agriculture are still impacting our health today.

As for Neanderthals, he hopes evidence of theirimportant place in our own historyin terms of behavior, genome, and microbiomecan help end the common perception of them asthese knuckle-dragging cavemen able to do not much more than bring down the odd bison here and there. The evidence is pointing toward varied behavior across the Neanderthals, and were starting to be able to get closer to inferences about the sophistication of their behavior and culture.

Nature, 2016. DOI: doi:10.1038/nature21674 (About DOIs).

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Neanderthal teeth tell tales of diet and medicine - Ars Technica

When Rachael Gensons friend first told her about the Whole30 program in January, she quickly shrugged it off. After all, the Austin-based PR manager had been against fad diets her entire life. But barely six months later, she was scrolling through her Instagram feed when she decided to give it a go.

My biggest impetus was their highly engaged Instagram community, she said. I realized that it was less a typical diet and more an educational program on how to have a better relationship with food.

She is hardly alone. The Whole30 program has emerged as one of the foremost health crazes in recent years, consisting of a strict 30-day dietary reset, in which followers swear off dairy, grains, legumes, soy, alcohol, sugar, and any processed foods. It is not for the faint of heart or weak of impulse. If you havent heard about it at your gym, youve definitely seen it on Instagram with various versions of the hashtag #whole30 the program is as much about broadcasting your journey on social media as it is about following the diet.

Whole30 was started by Salt Lake City nutritionists Melissa Hartwig and Dallas Hartwig in 2009, but started gaining steam when its first book The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom was released in 2012. Since then, it has steadily elbowed into the crowded diet and fitness program market with an unconventional approach to digital marketing.

Instead of traditional channels, Whole30 has squarely focused on building its brand through user-generated content, a grassroots influencer approach and social media specifically Instagram.

We have never done any traditional advertising or had a marketing strategy. We didnt even do any A/B testing or paid posts until six months ago, said Melissa Hartwig, co-founder of Whole30. Its all been organic, social media, and especially Instagram has really helped propel the brand forward.

Instagram is undoubtedly its most important platform. The program has 1.3 million followers on its accounts @whole30, @whole30recipes and @whole30approved combined, with over 2.4 million photos tagged with the hashtag #whole30 itself (up from 1 million in August 2015). These different accounts under the brands umbrella is deliberate, said Hartwig, as it allows them to easily direct people where they want to go. Plus, cross-tagging the different accounts in posts also helps drive engagement on other profiles too.

Theyve done an exceptional job of understanding their audience and catering to their needs in terms of their content, said Melody Lowe, copywriter at agency Drumroll, who has done the program three times herself. It is very relatable, and getting support and comments from people on your posts is very encouraging.

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Another tactic is to engage its community on a grassroots level, providing followers with not only a forum to share Whole30-friendly meals and their meal-preparation processes but also actively responding to them. The brands @whole30recipes handle, for example, is a mosaic of user-generated content, through weekly takeovers from members of its community who share their own recipes and recipe hacks. In fact, the channel was created when the brand realized thats what the users were asking for, and Hartwig personally comments and engages with the followers regularly on it as well.

Our posts dont feature rich 20-somethings in their underwear. They are real people sharing their non-scale victories, she said. They like to engage with not just each other, but also us there are real people behind our channels, not nameless, faceless brands.

Its a strategy that has worked, according to Holly Thomas, editorial director at HZDG, because it has made the brand accessible to everyone, not just the big fish in terms of influencers. While many brands fear diluting their brand messages and hold their narratives very close to themselves when theyre starting out, Whole30 started highlighting their followers stories almost right off the bat.

They even regrammed one of my posts from when I did my first Whole30, she said. They made an effort to highlight anyone who was sharing something interesting, and I think that really endeared the brand and made it feel like it was for everyone.

Whole30 plans and recipes are available for free on its website, and the website is monetized through affiliate links with a few products and services, partner relationships with meal planning services and a paid newsletter subscription. While it does not carry outside branded ads on its website, Whole30 does have a partnership program which has also helped boost the brand, according to Hartwig.

The brand lets other brands use its trademark to market its products for a license fee. Its like a stamp of approval for products that fit within the diet, like, for instance, sparkling water brand Lacroix or non-dairy paleo coffee creamer Nutpods. Hartwig views herself as a budding entrepreneur and has personally invested in several of these health startups, including Nutpods and Kettle & Fire Bone Broth, a bone broth startup by two high schoolers. Moving forward, thats how she sees the Whole30 brand continue to grow.

Its not about the money or the reach; its about serving the Whole30 community, she said.

While its too early to say, it might be an effective strategy moving forward. Searches for Whole 30 were up 292 percent in 2016, and popular paleo staples like chicken bone broth and grass-fed ground beef were up 268 percent and 381 percent respectively, according to search data released by the online order and home delivery service Instacart. Instacart predicts that a growing number of brands will seek to qualify for the Whole 30 Approved label in 2017, following in the footsteps of brands like Fatworks Oils and Naked Bacon.

When we were starting out, our target audience was the relatively young, already fit and health-conscious community, said Hartwig. We are now looking to take things take to the next level. Our fastest growing demographic is those between the ages of 40 and 60 years.

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How Instagram fueled the Whole30 diet craze - Digiday

TUESDAY, March 7, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Sticking to a diet is tough enough, but eating out with friends or family may up the odds of cheating by about 60 percent, a new study suggests.

"When you're in a restaurant, you're probably more vulnerable than you think you are," said study author Lora Burke, a professor of nursing at University of Pittsburgh.

"Whenever you're in a high-risk situation, you could easily eat beyond what you'd planned to," she added.

More than 70 percent of American adults over age 20 are overweight or obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And an estimated 45 million Americans diet each year, according to Boston Medical Center's Nutrition and Weight Management Center.

In the study, Burke and her colleagues estimated both the rate of diet temptations and the probability a lapse would follow based on dieters' location -- such as home, a restaurant or workplace -- as well as whether they were alone or with others.

The researchers had 150 adults use a smartphone app to report when they felt temptation, and whether or not they succumbed to that temptation. Ninety percent of the volunteers were women. Eighty percent were white.

The study participants' average body mass index (BMI) was 34, putting them in the obese category. BMI is a rough measure of a person's body fat calculated with weight and height measurements. A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal. From 25 to 29.9 is overweight, and a BMI of 30 or over is considered obese.

As an example, a 5-foot-4 woman weighing about 200 pounds, or a 5-foot-9 man weighing 230, both have a BMI of 34 (the study average), the researchers said.

Diet temptations were defined as eating a food or an amount of food inconsistent with a weight loss plan. Diet temptations occurred most often in a restaurant while eating with others or in sight of others who were eating, the study showed.

Temptations didn't occur as frequently in another person's home as in a restaurant. But there was still nearly a 65 percent likelihood of a diet lapse in someone else's house.

"They're probably paying more attention to the social situation and the conversation and not as much to what they're eating, so they eat more," said Penny Kris-Etherton. She's a registered dietician and professor of nutrition at Penn State University. She wasn't involved in the new research.

"I would never tell anybody not to go out and eat with friends," she added. "That's not the message -- friends are so important. But be mindful of what you're eating."

The odds of a diet lapse were lower in other locations, such as work (about 40 percent) and in a car (about 30 percent). But, the study participants cheated on their diets nearly half the time when alone as well.

Burke and Kris-Etherton both urged people to frame their healthier eating plans as a lifestyle rather than a diet. Changing that mindset, they agreed, can help ease the pressure to perfectly adhere to dietary goals.

"If you know you want to go out on Friday night, have less to eat on Thursday and Saturday," Burke suggested. "Bank your calories. You can take a break. It's about balance."

Mary Williams is a registered dietitian in the department of family and community medicine at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Del. She noted that restaurant dining is more challenging for those aiming to cut calories when they don't arrive with a plan in mind.

"Many times people go into a restaurant and have never looked at the menu, so they don't have a game plan in mind," said Williams, who wasn't part of the new research. "I often tell our clients to review the menu beforehand so they have some idea of what to pick so they're not unduly influenced by everyone [else]."

Kris-Etherton said those trying to lose weight can still enjoy eating out with friends by making a few small tweaks that can save them from consuming too many calories.

"If everyone is ordering alcoholic beverages, don't order a Long Island iced tea, which can have 800 calories," she suggested. "Order a glass of wine or something with far fewer calories."

"Also, you don't need dessert, especially if you have an appetizer," Kris-Etherton added. "If everyone's ordering dessert, maybe split one and take a couple of bites."

The study was to be presented on Tuesday at an American Heart Association meeting in Portland, Ore. Research presented at scientific conferences typically hasn't been published or peer-reviewed, and results are considered preliminary.

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Dining Out Can Doom a Diet - Lincoln Journal Star

Some people become vegetarians because they love animals. Some, as comedian A. Whitney Brown put it, because they hate plants.

But vegans are committed. Not only do they not eat food that harms or kills animals, some dont even want food that inconveniences animals.

Like honey. Hardcore vegans will not eat honey because, as Noah Lewis of vegetus.org puts it, the simple fact is that the bees are enslaved. Similarly, some vegans will not eat sugar because, while it comes entirely from a plant, some sugar is whitened by using bone char, which comes from animals.

Although the vegan diet lacks in meat, dairy and egg products or because of it the diet can be better for you than that which the standard American eats. In 2009, the American Dietetic Association took the position that vegetarian and vegan diets reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes, and lead to lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

It can be healthy, but there are some things to watch out for when on a vegan diet: You have to make sure to get enough protein and vitamin B-12 and calcium, iodine, vitamin D, iron, zinc and n-3 fatty acids.

Fortunately, a well-balanced vegan diet provides all of these essential nutrients, though you may want to take vitamin B-12 supplements, just in case.

Still, cooking a well-balanced vegan diet can be difficult, at least if you want to stick to what most Americans think of as normal ingredients. Many vegan recipes attempt to re-create meatless versions of familiar meat-based dishes, and to do so they rely on such potentially off-putting ingredients as vegan chicken, egg replacers and nondairy cheese.

Other recipes use soy products such as tofu and tempeh for their protein, and it is one of these that I tried first in cooking a vegan diet for a day.

Mee Goreng, which is a type of stir-fried noodles, is popular street fare in the Philippines. When I have had it before, it always had meat in it, usually chicken or shrimp or both. But then I came upon a vegan recipe for it using tofu, and tofu fans are sure to be instantly hooked.

If they like spicy food, that is. As with a lot of street food, Mee Goreng usually packs a kick. If you want it milder, simply trim down or eliminate the amount you use of sambal oelek, the all-purpose Indonesian and Malaysian ground chili paste.

Also as is the case with much street food, Mee Goreng tends to be a little oily. The recipe calls for 5 tablespoons of oil for four to six servings; I got by with four tablespoons, but that is still a quarter cup of oil.

Do you need it? Yes. The oil brings the dish together, from the spicy sambal to the faintly bitter bok choy to the sweet sauce made from equal parts of soy sauce, brown sugar and molasses.

The tofu, which has the amazing ability to soak up all the flavors in which it is cooked, serves as a protein-rich punctuation to the meal.

For my next dish, I dispensed with the tofu and received my protein in the form of garbanzo beans, which are also known as chickpeas.

Indian-Style Vegetable Curry With Potatoes and Cauliflower (that name seems a little over-descriptive to me) is another spicy dish. I like spices; sue me. If less fiery food is more your style, you can use a mild curry powder (but I wouldnt use much less) and leave out the serrano chile.

This dish benefits greatly from the mutually complementary flavors of potato, cauliflower, garbanzo beans and curry. A bit of tomato paste and a cup of coconut milk make it deeply satisfying, yet it is so healthful that youll practically pat yourself on the back for eating it.

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It is the kind of dish that calls out for basmati rice; if you have it, use it.

Finally, I made a vegan version of one of the least vegan dishes I could think of, pancakes.

Pancakes pretty much need eggs, milk and butter. If you try to make them from just flour, water, sugar, salt, baking powder and a little oil, youll wind up with paste.

Yield: About 8 to 10 (6-inch) pancakes

Or so I thought. But then a colleague passed me a recipe for Vegan Pancakes that she swore was excellent. And she was right.

I dont know how this works. I dont understand how they hold together without becoming slightly sweetened hardtack. Im guessing the oil has something to do with it, but we are only talking about a single tablespoon for 10 smallish pancakes.

These vegan pancakes are fine the way they are, but I incorporated a couple of additions suggested by my colleague: I added two tablespoons of soy milk (almond milk would also do) and a teaspoon of vanilla, just to make the pancakes even better.

They are a perfect foil for maple syrup. And maple syrup doesnt inconvenience any animal.

Read the original post:
The vegan diet meatless masterpieces - STLtoday.com

Dental plaque preserved in fossilized teeth confirms that Neandertals were flexible eaters and may have self-medicated with an ancient equivalent of aspirin.

DNA recovered from calcified plaque on teeth from four Neandertal individuals suggest that those from the grasslands around Beligums Spy cave ate woolly rhinoceros and wild sheep, while their counterparts from the forested El Sidron cave in Spain consumed a menu of moss, mushrooms and pine nuts.

The evidence bolsters an argument that Neandertals diets spanned the spectrum of carnivory and herbivory based on the resources available to them, Laura Weyrich, a microbiologist at the University of Adelaide in Australia, and her colleagues report March 8 in Nature.

The best-preserved Neandertal remains were from a young male from El Sidron whose teeth showed signs of an abscess. DNA from a diarrhea-inducing stomach bug and several gum disease pathogens turned up in his plaque. Genetic material from poplar trees, which contain the pain-killing aspirin ingredient salicylic acid, and a plant mold that makes the antibiotic penicillin hint that he may have used natural medication to ease his ailments.

The researchers were even able to extract an almost-complete genetic blueprint, or genome, for one ancient microbe, Methanobrevibacter oralis. At roughly 48,000 years old, its the oldest microbial genome sequenced, the researchers report.

See more here:
Ancient dental plaque tells tales of Neandertal diet and disease - Science News (blog)

(for more about Power Words, clickhere)

aggressive(n. aggressiveness) Quick to fight or argue, or forceful in making efforts to succeed or win.

behaviorThe way a person or other organism acts towards others, or conducts itself.

biodiversity(short for biological diversity) The number and variety of species found within a localized geographic region.

colleagueSomeone who works with another; a co-worker or team member.

conservationThe act of preserving or protecting something. The focus of this work can range from art objects to endangered species and other aspects of the natural environment.

conservation biologistA scientist who investigates ways to help preserve ecosystems and especially species that are in danger of extinction.

dementiaA type of mental disorder caused by disease or injury that causes people to gradually lose all or part of their memory. It may start out temporary and build to a permanent condition where the ability to reason also is impaired.

dietThe foods and liquids ingested by an animal to provide the nutrition it needs to grow and maintain health.

diversity(in biology) A range of different life forms.

domestication (v. domesticate)The process of turning a wild plant or animal species into a tame version, which can take many generations. A domesticated animal is one that has been bred in captivity for food or as a pet. A domesticated plant is one usually farmed or used for landscaping.

earthwormA type of worm that lives in the soil. As it moves through soil, an earthworm creates burrows. These allow air and water to move more readily through the soil. The worms feed on decaying organic matter, which helps improve soil fertility.

ecosystemA group of interacting living organisms including microorganisms, plants and animals and their physical environment within a particular climate. Examples include tropical reefs, rainforests, alpine meadows and polar tundra.

endangeredAn adjective used to describe species at risk of going extinct.

extinction The permanent loss of a species, family or larger group of organisms.

habitatThe area or natural environment in which an animal or plant normally lives, such as a desert, coral reef or freshwater lake. A habitat can be home to thousands of different species.

Meso-America A region that spans from central Mexico through Belize and Guatemala into El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. The term is usually applied to the Native cultures that emerged in this region prior to its colonization by the Spanish.

niacin A micronutrient also known as vitamin B3. In humans, a niacin deficiency can cause a potentially fatal disease known as pellagra.

nixtamalization A process for treating corn or other grains with an alkaline solution often containing ash or lye. The process makes the grain easier to grind. It also can free up nutrients and improve flavor.

nutrientA vitamin, mineral, fat, carbohydrate or protein that a plant, animal or other organism requires as part of its food in order to survive.

nutrition(adj. nutritional) The healthful components (nutrients) in the diet such as proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals that the body uses to grow and to fuel its processes.

omnivorous An adjective for animals whose diets includefoods from both plants and animals.

pellagra A disease caused by a lack of niacin (vitamin B3) or its precursor (tryptophan) in the diet. People with this disease may experience diarrhea, mental problems, skin problems or even death.

population(in biology) A group of individuals from the same species that lives in the same area.

pupA term given to the young of many animals, from dogs and mice to seals.

rangeThe full extent or distribution of something. For instance, a plant or animals range is the area over which it naturally exists.

rodentA mammal of the order Rodentia, a group that includes mice, rats, squirrels, guinea pigs, hamsters and porcupines.

siblingAn offspringthat sharesthe same parents (with its brother or sister).

solutionA liquid in which one chemical has been dissolved into another.

speciesA group of similar organisms capable of producing offspring that can survive and reproduce.

staple (in nutrition) A food that serves as a dominant source of calories for a community or species. In people, for instance, just three plants rice, corn (maize) and wheat account for roughly 60 percent of calories eaten (according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization). That makes these staples.

symptomA physical or mental indicator generally regarded to be characteristic of a disease. Sometimes a single symptom especially a general one, such as fever or pain can be a sign of any of many different types of injury or disease.

umbrella species A species used for making decisions about conservation. If one of these species is to be protected, its habitat will need protection. Such protection will have benefits for many other species within its community, or ecosystem.

vitaminAny of a group of chemicals that are essential for normal growth and nutrition and are required in small quantities in the diet because they either cannot be made by the bodyor cannot easily be made by the body in sufficient quantities.

wean (adj. and v. weaning) The process in young mammals of transitioning from a diet of mothers milk to other foods.

Originally posted here:
Wild hamsters raised on corn eat their young alive - Science News for Students (blog)