Archive for the 'Blogroll' Category

Television Viewing and Diabetes: The LINK

November 17, 2014

We just celebrated the World Diabetes Day this November 14 and what a better way to celebrate this day than to help share awareness of this disease to the general public. I was invited to share about Diabetes on radio last sunday and was happy to share to the public general information and knowledge about what diabetes is, how it is diagnosed and what the treatment options are.

I recently read an article which I believe will be worth contemplating about.

in the clinics I now advised my patients that for every hour of sitting in office, make sure to take time to stand and walk for at least 10 minutes. This practice not only can curb obesity but also can increase your metabolic rate and help curb chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

It is therefore not surprising that in a recent article published in JAMA , a study showed further a strong link between TV viewing and the risk for Diabetes and Heart disease risk:

__________________________________________________

Abstract

CONTEXT:

Prolonged television (TV) viewing is the most prevalent and pervasive sedentary behavior in industrialized countries and has been associated with morbidity and mortality. However, a systematic and quantitative assessment of published studies is not available.

OBJECTIVE:

To perform a meta-analysis of all prospective cohort studies to determine the association between TV viewing and risk of type 2 diabetes, fatal or nonfatal cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality.

DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION:

Relevant studies were identified by searches of the MEDLINE database from 1970 to March 2011 and the EMBASE database from 1974 to March 2011 without restrictions and by reviewing reference lists from retrieved articles. Cohort studies that reported relative risk estimates with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations of interest were included.

DATA EXTRACTION:

Data were extracted independently by each author and summary estimates of association were obtained using a random-effects model.

DATA SYNTHESIS:

Of the 8 studies included, 4 reported results on type 2 diabetes (175,938 individuals; 6428 incident cases during 1.1 million person-years of follow-up), 4 reported on fatal or nonfatal cardiovascular disease (34,253 individuals; 1052 incident cases), and 3 reported on all-cause mortality (26,509 individuals; 1879 deaths during 202,353 person-years of follow-up). The pooled relative risks per 2 hours of TV viewing per day were 1.20 (95% CI, 1.14-1.27) for type 2 diabetes, 1.15 (95% CI, 1.06-1.23) for fatal or nonfatal cardiovascular disease, and 1.13 (95% CI, 1.07-1.18) for all-cause mortality. While the associations between time spent viewing TV and risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease were linear, the risk of all-cause mortality appeared to increase with TV viewing duration of greater than 3 hours per day. The estimated absolute risk differences per every 2 hours of TV viewing per day were 176 cases of type 2 diabetes per 100,000 individuals per year, 38 cases of fatal cardiovascular disease per 100,000 individuals per year, and 104 deaths for all-cause mortality per 100,000 individuals per year.

CONCLUSION:

Prolonged TV viewing was associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality.

_____________________________________

The study clearly shows that for every two hours of television watched daily,

Diabetes development is increased by 20%,
Cardiovascular disease is increased by 15%, and
All-cause mortality and death is increased by 13%.
Obviously the habit of watching TV correlates with the amount of popcorn, chips, sugary drinks that accompany the activity. Meaning this practice of prolonged TV viewing is worst that any passive sedentary activities like driving or tinkering on a computer.

So guys, it is therefore not yet late to adopt on a different lifestyle. Learn to change and remember to include your children on this health change. Let them see you as parents embarking on a healthy lifestyle so they also can adopt to it.

No TV on weekdays for my kids but this rule is solely to let them focus on studying BUT I let them join me everyday of our bonding of fun run , biking and swimming.

Take time to Care about your Health… be active and Proactive!

Posted in Blogroll, Exercise and Activity Tips, General Health Tips, Lifestyle Measures, Medical News Bits | Leave a Comment »

Stress and the Risk of Weight Gain

July 19, 2014

Stress and weight gain? Yes they are closely associated.  Recently published data from the Biological Psychiatry has closely examined the relationship.

_____________________________________________________

Background
Depression and stress promote obesity. This study addressed the impact of daily stressors and a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) on obesity-related metabolic responses to high-fat meals.

Methods
This double-blind, randomized, crossover study included serial assessments of resting energy expenditure (REE), fat and carbohydrate oxidation, triglycerides, cortisol, insulin, and glucose before and after two high-fat meals. During two separate 9.5-hour admissions, 58 healthy women (38 breast cancer survivors and 20 demographically similar control subjects), mean age 53.1 years, received either a high saturated fat meal or a high oleic sunflower oil meal. Prior day stressors were assessed by the Daily Inventory of Stressful Events.

Results
Greater numbers of stressors were associated with lower postmeal REE (p = .008), lower fat oxidation (p = .04), and higher insulin (p = .01), with nonsignificant effects for cortisol and glucose. Women with prior MDD had higher cortisol (p = .008) and higher fat oxidation (p = .004), without significant effects for REE, insulin, and glucose. Women with a depression history who also had more stressors had a higher peak triglyceride response than other participants (p = .01). The only difference between meals was higher postprandial glucose following sunflower oil compared with saturated fat (p = .03).

Conclusions
The cumulative 6-hour difference between one prior day stressor and no stressors translates into 435 kJ, a difference that could add almost 11 pounds per year. These findings illustrate how stress and depression alter metabolic responses to high-fat meals in ways that promote obesity.

_________________________________________

Stress indeed can bring about eating the wrong choice of food.  Almost always we can’t avoid stress BUT we can do something about it to avoid stress induced weight gain.

It has always been my recommendation to my patients that one way to avert the temptation of eating wrong foods is to stock our pantry and refrigerator with foods that are healthy like fruits or nuts so one can prepare healthy food choices instead.

 

Posted in Blogroll, General Health Tips, Medical News Bits, Nutrition Health Tips, Personal Thoughts, Weight Loss Tips | 6 Comments »
Tags: , , ,