Nutrition: In a new study, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that eating five or more servings of white rice per week was associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. In contrast, eating two or more servings of brown rice per week was associated with a lower risk of the disease. The researchers estimate that replacing 50 grams of white rice (just one third of a typical daily serving) with the same amount of brown rice would lover risk of type 2 diabetes by 16%. The same replacement with other whole grains, such as whole wheat and barley, was associated with a 36% reduced risk. The researchers also found that consuming white rice was associated to ethnicity and diabetes risk, while eating brown rice was not associated with ethnicity but with a more health-conscious diet and lifestyle instead. The study is the first to examine the difference between white and brown rice. It was published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. Read More…
Media: Don’t be fooled by that sexy commercial – making food choices based on television advertising results in a very imbalanced diet according to a new study comparing the nutritional content of food choices influenced by television to nutritional guidelines published in the June issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Investigators found that a 2,000-calorie diet consisting entirely of advertised foods would contain 25 times the recommended servings of sugars and 20 times the recommended servings of fat, but less than half of the recommended servings of vegetables and fruits. In fact, the excess of servings in sugars and fat is so large that, on average, eating just one of the observed food items would provide more than three times the recommended daily servings for sugars and two and a half times for fat – for the entire day. “The foods advertised on television tend to oversupply nutrients associated with chronic illness, (for example, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium) and undersupply nutrients that help protect against illness (fiber, vitamins A, E and D, and calcium and potassium),” said Michael Mink, PhD, lead investigator in the study. Luckily, we know that’s not how YOU make your food choices. Read More…
Nutrition: For centuries, ginger root has been used as a folk remedy for things like colds and upset tummies. Now, researchers at the University of Georgia have found that daily ginger consumption also reduces muscle pain caused by exercise (sports or recreation). Ginger had been showed to exert anti-inflammatory effects in rodents before, and this study has concluded that the root can reduce muscle pain in humans by as much as 25%; it is also believed that heating ginger, as it happens when it is cooked in a soup or sauté, might increase its pain-relieving benefits. The study will be published in the September issue of the Journal of Pain. Read More…
Psychology: Looks like washing your hands has more than a physical benefit. A recent study concludes that the activity “wipes the slate clean,” affecting us psychologically by removing doubts about recent choices, in addition to the feeling of being clean of germs as well as the already established link to feeling morally restored. “It’s not just that washing your hands contributes to moral cleanliness as well as physical cleanliness, as seen in earlier research” said Spike W. S. Lee, a doctoral candidate in social psychology. “Our studies show that washing also reduces the influence of past behaviors and decisions that have no moral implications whatsoever.” The researchers say that the “clean slate” effect may be relevant to many choices and decisions in life, not just the complex ones where ‘good behavior’ is implicated (for example, cheating) but also with simple choices like whether to buy one car over another (buyer’s remorse). The study was published in the May 7th issue of Science. Read More…
As women get older, we go through major changes, like menopause. We are all aware of the physical alterations our moms go through with age, but today we want to generate awareness about something deeper that is also taking place and is not discussed as much: the emotional implications of aging.
It’s a very difficult thing to look in the mirror one day and see a face that you don’t recognize. Crow’s feet, wrinkles around the mouth, spots, gray hair – all of these physical modifications replace previously flawless skin, bright eyes and lusciously thick hair. At the same time, you feel limited, because your mind remains intact (if you’re healthy) or even improves with age as you accumulate more knowledge and self-understanding, yet your body deteriorates as matter must. Even if you are aware of this happening, it is still a frustrating thing to go through. Read More…
Sex: Hooking up or dating? According to research done at a university campus, where ‘hooking up’ is a mainstream means of interaction, both genders showed a preference for traditional dating over hooking up, but when it came to assessing the benefits and risks of these two different ways of relating, there were marked distinctions. Women seemed to want a relationship more than men, and they feared that they will become more emotionally attached to a partner who is not interested in them, while more men seemed to value independence and feared that even in hooking up type of relationships that are supposed to be free of commitment, a woman might seek to establish a relationship. The study was published in the journal Sex Roles. Read More…
Geology: The Age of Aquarius? Not quite – it’s the Anthropocene Epoch, say the scientists and Nobel prize winner who suggest that the Earth has entered a new age of geological time. The term Anthropocene (New Man) Epoch, proposed by the researchers, comes from the interaction between humans and their environment and the changes that this has brought to the world in the past two centuries. Recent human activity, including stunning population growth, sprawling megacities and increased use of fossil fuels, have changed the planet to such an extent that we are entering a new era, says the article published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. “The Anthropocene represents a new phase in the history of both humankind and of the Earth, when natural forces and human forces became intertwined, so that the fate of one determines the fate of the other. Geologically, this is a remarkable episode in the history of this planet,” explain the scientists. They also warn that the dawning of this new era may include the sixth largest mass extinction in the Earth’s history, due to consequences from human activity, such as global climate change and plant and animal extinctions. Looks like the fate of the world is, indeed, in our hands. Read More…
Nutrition: We now know that spices have antioxidants – oregano and others typically used in the Mediterranean diet – but who’s got the most? According to research published in the Flavour and Fragrance Journal, cloves are king when it comes to these benefits. “Out of the five antioxidant properties tested, cloves had the highest capacity to give off hydrogen, reduced lipid peroxidation well, and was the best iron reducer”, said Juana Fernandez-Lopez, one of the authors of the study. The researchers hope that the high antioxidant properties of this and other spices will make the food industry consider them for usage in preserving food, instead of using synthetic chemicals that cause toxicity and other side effects. But, until then, you can just make some clove tea for yourself and enjoy the taste as well as the benefits. Read More…
Exercise: Poor air quality apparently affects the running times of women marathoners, according to a study. Higher levels of particles in the air were associated with slower running times for women, while men were not significantly affected. The differences, according to researcher Linsey Marr of Virginia Tech, may be due to the smaller size of women’s tracheas, which makes it easier for certain particles to deposit there and possibly cause irritation. “Although pollution levels in these marathons rarely exceeded national standards for air quality, performance was still affected,” Marr said. Her studies were conducted where major USA marathons are located, such as New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, where pollution tends to be highest. Although the regular person might not be significantly impacted by low-yet-still-acceptable air quality, marathoners typically inhale and exhale about the same amount of air as a sedentary person would over the course of two full days. This means they are exposed to much greater amounts of pollutants than under typical breathing conditions. Interestingly, the performances of female marathoners appeared to only be affected by particulate matter, and not other pollutants like carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide or sulfur dioxide. The research was published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise. Read More…
Parenting: Time to make some changes, minority mommies. Efforts to prevent childhood obesity should begin far earlier than currently thought – perhaps even before birth for some populations, according to a study. Research that tracked 1,826 women from pregnancy through their children’s first five years of life found that this was a key period for childhood obesity prevention, especially for minority children. “Almost every single risk factor in that period before age 2, including the prenatal period, was disproportionately higher among children,” said Elsie Taveras, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of population medicine at Harvard Medical School. Looking at risk factors, researchers found that African-American and Hispanic infants were more likely than their Caucasian counterparts to be born small, gain excess weight after birth, begin eating solid foods before 4 months of age and sleep less. The good news: most of these can be modified by getting updated information, not just “wisdom” handed down through generations. The study was published in the online edition of the journal Pediatrics. Read More…
