Eat only when you are hungry for better health

New York: Do you tend to munch something or the other between your meals even when you are not hungry? If yes, such a habit could certainly satisfy your taste buds but harm your health, warns a new study.

In contrast to people in traditional societies, people in contemporary societies often eat not on account of hunger but because tasty food is available.The widespread advertising of such food also bombards the consumer with the temptation to eat.

But the findings of the new study by David Gal from University of Illinois at Chicago suggest that it might be healthier for individuals to eat when they are moderately hungry than when they are not hungry.

The individuals participating in the study were 45 undergraduate students.

They were first asked to rate their level of hunger and then to consume a meal rich in carbohydrates.

To measure how the meal was impacting participants' health, participants' blood glucose levels were measured at regular intervals after they consumed the meal.

Blood glucose levels tend to rise after a meal containing carbohydrates and it is generally healthier if blood glucose levels rise by a relatively small amount because elevated blood glucose is damaging to the body's cells.

The results of the study showed that individuals who were moderately hungry before the meal tended to have lower blood glucose levels after consuming the meal than individuals who were not particularly hungry before consuming the meal.

The study was published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research.

New app may help diagnose autism in children

Washington: Scientists have developed a new smartphone app that may screen for symtoms of autism by reading children's facial expressions for emotional cues.

"Not only could the app be used to learn more about childhood autism, it could possibly reveal signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) in warfighters - conditions that often have subtle symptoms and are difficult to diagnose," said Predrag Neskovic, from US Office of Naval Research (ONR)'s Mathematical Data Science programme.

The app, called "Autism and Beyond," was developed by researchers and software developers at Duke University and the Duke Medical Centre in US. "Autism & Beyond" has children complete a series of questionnaires and watch short videos designed to make them smile, laugh and be surprised. Parents or caregivers use a smartphone's user-facing "selfie" camera to record children's facial movements for evaluation by doctors, researchers and software.

The app's core technical component is a complex mathematical algorithm that automatically maps key landmarks on children's faces and assesses emotional responses based on movements of facial muscles. "We analyse the video to track position and movement of the head and face, including the lips, eyes and nose - all of which indicate emotions," said Guillermo Sapiro, a professor at Duke University, who developed the algorithm.

"For example, while watching stimuli like a funny video, does the child smile, look towards the caregiver or ask the caregiver to view the video as well? We study all of that.

90 percent of people get damaged knee joints by 60-65 years

New Delhi: Nearly 90 percent of people suffer from damaged knee joints by the age of 60-65 years, orthopedicians have said, adding that in majority of the cases the condition can be prevented by a proper lifestyle and food habits.

According to doctors, 80 percent of the people in urban India suffer from Vitamin D deficiency, which is the sole reason behind decreasing the bone mass density, leading to the increase of osteoporosis.

Health organisations estimate that in 2014, a total of 50 million people across India are reported to be either osteoporotic or with low bone mass density.

"In our country, joint and back pains are considered as part of the normal aging process. Therefore, instead of dealing with such problem seriously people prefer to go for quick fixes like analgesics or some pain relieving balms.

"Such temporary solutions just further worsen the bone and joint conditions," L. Tomar, a senior orthopedic surgeon at city's Max super specialty hospital said in a statement on Tuesday.

Though surgery and knee transplants can be a solution for the knee damages, a majority of the people delay their knee surgery till the last stage without knowing that it is actually deteriorating their spine further, doctors opined.

He said postponing the right treatment for the knee further worsens the condition and may lead to serious problems in the spine.

Rajeev Jain, orthopedic surgeon at Safdarjung hospital said: "To help people avail the benefit of advanced treatment options, it is important that they know about the safer technologies like minimally invasive joint replacement surgeries which offer better clinical outcomes along with ensuring a quicker recovery without much blood loss or a hospital stay."

Nutrition expert 'accepted $550,000 from Coca-Cola for obesity campaign'

Coca-Cola reportedly paid a nutrition expert and university professor $550,000 to run the company’s “balanced” obesity campaign.

According to the Denver Post, nutrition expert James Hill accepted more than half a million US dollars from the soft drink giant prior to establishing non-profit group, the Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN), which claimed to fund research into the causes of obesity.

Dr Hill, who is also a professor at the University of Colorado and directs the university’s Anschutz Health and Wellness Center, allegedly received “help” from Coca-Cola to conduct conferences to “balance” the obesity debate focused on sugary drinks.

Dr Hill was the president of GEBN, whose mission was to promote the idea that lack of exercise, not a bad diet, was responsible for the obesity epidemic.

Beware! E-cigarettes may lead to cancer

New York: Marketed as a safer alternative to conventional tobacco cigarettes, electronic cigarettes could actually damage cells in ways that could lead to cancer, suggests new research.

n laboratory tests, the researchers found that even nicotine-free versions of e-cigarettes could make human cells cancerous.

"Based on the evidence to date, I believe they are no better than smoking regular cigarettes," said one of the lead researchers Jessica Wang-Rodriquez, professor of pathology at University of California, San Diego, US.

"Our study strongly suggests that electronic cigarettes are not as safe as their marketing makes them appear to the public," the researchers said.

The research team created an extract from the vapour of two popular brands of e-cigarettes and used it to treat human cells in Petri dishes.

Compared with untreated cells, the treated cells were more likely to show DNA damage and die.

In the main part of the experiment, the team used normal epithelial cells, which line organs, glands, and cavities throughout the body, including the mouth and lungs.

The scientists tested two types of each e-cigarette: a nicotine and nicotine-free version.

Nicotine is what makes smoking addictive. There is also some evidence it can damage cells.

The team found that the nicotine versions caused worse damage, but even the nicotine-free vapour was enough to alter cells.

"There must be other components in the e-cigarettes that are doing this damage. So we may be identifying other carcinogenic components that are previously undescribed," Wang-Rodriguez pointed out.

Hypnosis offers new alternative for `awake brain surgery`

Washington: According to a new study, hypnosis may provide a new option for the 'awake surgery' for brain cancer patients.

The study suggests that the new "hypnosedation" technique offers a new alternative for patients undergoing awake surgery for gliomas.

Initial evaluation shows a high rate of successful hypnosis in patients undergoing "awake craniotomy" for brain cancer (glioma), report Ilyess Zemmoura of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Tours, France, and colleagues. They believe that hypnosedation might be especially valuable in patients with more advanced brain cancers.

Researchers evaluated their hypnosis technique in 37 patients undergoing awake craniotomy, mainly for low-grade gliomas, between 2011 and 2015.

In the operating room, patients were placed in a hypnotic trance; for example, they were instructed to "let go" and to "separate the mind and body." The hypnotic experience was progressively enhanced during the first steps of surgery, including specific instructions and imagery for each potentially unpleasant or painful step of the surgery.

Hypnosedation seemed to reduce the impact of unpleasant events during surgery. Some patients reported high stress levels, but this did not appear to affect their subjective experience of hypnosis. The one patient who showed signs of posttraumatic stress disorder after surgery had a particularly good experience with hypnosis.

While the initial evaluation is encouraging, Dr. Zemmoura and colleagues note that it provides no evidence that hypnosedation is superior to standard anesthesia. They also emphasize the considerable investment of time and commitment needed to prepare for and carry out their hypnosis technique: "It requires intense involvement and long training of the whole team, including the patient."

Make this a “happy” new year; avoid hangovers!

New Delhi: Christmas has passed but a vast majority of people are still hungover on the spirit of holidays. Speaking of hungover, the year is nearing its end and the first thing that comes to mind after Christmas is New Year parties.

Yes. Bidding the ongoing year goodbye and celebrating the onset of the new year gives way to just one thought and that is partying till the wee hours of the morning. And partying means binging, eating, letting your hair down, making merry and most importantly, drinking. After all, no party is incomplete without it and new year celebrations demand it!

But, the only hindrance is going to work the next day. No one exactly looks up to people coming in to work with a major hangover and you don't want to miss out on the drinks on new year's either. And what if you do drink to your heart's content and are suddenly intimated about an impromptu meeting that you just can't get out of?

What do you do in such a situation? Avoid stepping up to the bar (with a heavy heart, of course) or drink anyway (we'll tackle the problem tomorrow!)?

What if we tell you that there's a way out? That you can drink as much as you want without welcoming a hangover? All you have to do is follow these tips!

Tried and tested, these five tips are sure to get you out of the “hungover” situation, especially if you have to go in to work tomorrow or attend an important meeting. Read on!

CU nutrition expert accepts $550,000 from Coca-Cola for obesity campaign Coca-Cola money highlights risks of corporate influence

A University of Colorado professor who launched a global campaign to fight obesity accepted $550,000 from the Coca-Cola Co., traveled the world at company expense on speaking engagements and solicited a job at the soft-drink giant for his son.

James Hill, a nutrition expert who directs the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center, also obtained Coca-Cola's help to run conferences for journalists that sought to "balance" an obesity debate focused on sugary drinks and featured a speaker who disparaged soda taxes.

The Coca-Cola connection highlights the secrecy surrounding much of the corporate money pouring into CU's prestigious Anschutz medical campus.

n addition to the money it paid directly to Hill, not through the university, Coca-Cola donated $1 million to CU Anschutz to help Hill spread his message through a group called the Global Energy Balance Network. That was classified as a private gift to the university's foundation, protected by state law from disclosure unless the donor consents.

The CU foundation has accepted $50.7 million in such gifts from a thousand corporations in the past five fiscal years, a small amount of which may be directed to research.

On the research front, CU Anschutz has spent $183 million from corporate and other nongovernment sponsors since 2011.

The top 20, all drug companies, invested $77 million alone.

For people with hair loss, a promising option

Washington D.C.: Home remedies don't always work when trying to boost hair growth, but now, a team of scientist has come up with an alternative.

Inhibiting a family of enzymes inside hair follicles that are suspended in a resting state restores hair growth, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center.

In experiments with mouse and human hair follicles, Angela M. Christiano and colleagues found that drugs that inhibit the Janus kinase (JAK) family of enzymes promote rapid and robust hair growth when directly applied to the skin.

The study raises the possibility that drugs known as JAK inhibitors could be used to restore hair growth in multiple forms of hair loss such as that induced by male pattern baldness, and additional types that occur when hair follicles are trapped in a resting state. Two JAK inhibitors have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

One is approved for treatment of blood diseases (ruxolitinib)

Obesity more dangerous than lack of fitness: study

The concept of 'fat but fit' may be a myth, according to a new study that suggests the protective effects of high fitness against early death are reduced in obese people. Although the detrimental effects of low aerobic fitness have been well documented, this research has largely been performed in older populations. Few studies have analysed the direct link between aerobic fitness and health in younger populations.

The study from Umea University in Sweden followed 1,317,713 men for a median average of 29 years to examine the association between aerobic fitness and death later in life, as well as how obesity affected these results.
The subjects' aerobic fitness was tested by asking them to cycle until they had to stop due to fatigue.

Men in the highest fifth of aerobic fitness had a 48 per cent lower risk of death from any cause compared with those in the lowest fifth.

Stronger associations were observed for deaths related to suicide and abuse of alcohol and narcotics.The researchers also found a strong association between low aerobic fitness and deaths related to trauma. "We could only speculate, but genetic factors could have influenced these associations given that aerobic fitness is under strong genetic control," said co-author Peter Nordstrom, from Umea University.

The study also evaluated the concept that 'fat but fit is ok'. Men of a normal weight, regardless of their fitness level, were at lower risk of death compared to obese individuals in the highest quarter of aerobic fitness. Nevertheless, the relative benefits of high fitness may still be greater in obese people.

Marijuana derivative can safely reduce epilepsy seizures

New York: A medical marijuana derivative was found safe and effective in reducing the frequency of seizures in most children and young adults enrolled in a year-long study led by epilepsy specialists in the US.

The findings provide the first estimates of safety, tolerability and efficacy of prescription cannabidiol (CBD), a medical marijuana derivative, in children and adults with severe, highly treatment-resistant epilepsy, the study said.

"We are very encouraged by our trial results showing that CBD was safe and well-tolerated for most patients, and that seizures dropped significantly," said lead researchers Orrin Devinsky, professor at New York University Langone Medical Centre in the US.

The study took place at 11 epilepsy centres across the US. Patients were given the oral CBD treatment Epidiolex over a 12-week treatment period.

Results showed a median 36.5 percent reduction in monthly motor seizures, with the median monthly frequency of motor seizures falling from 30 motor seizures a month at the study's start to 15.8 over the 12 weeks.

Equally important, CBD was shown to have a sufficient safety profile and was well-tolerated by many patients, despite some isolated adverse events.

The study was published in the journal Lancet Neurology.

mediplex.in/medifit

Rising obesity puts strain on nursing homes

RED BAY, Ala. — At 72, her gray hair closely shorn, her days occupied by sewing and television, Wanda Chism seems every bit a typical nursing home patient — but for her size.

Chism is severely obese, unable to leave her bed without a mechanical lift and a team of nurses. She has not walked in years. Her life is circumscribed by the walls of her room.

Obesity is redrawing the common imagery of old age: The slight nursing home resident is giving way to the obese senior, hampered by diabetes, disability and other weight-related ailments. Facilities that have long cared for older adults are increasingly overwhelmed — and unprepared — to care for this new group of morbidly heavy patients.

“The population is shifting faster than the ability of nursing homes to deal with them,” said Cheryl Phillips, a senior vice president at LeadingAge, an association of nonprofit providers of services for older adults. “We don’t have adequate staff. We don’t have adequate equipment. We don’t have adequate knowledge.”

The percentage of those entering American nursing homes who are moderate and severely obese — with a body mass index of 35 or greater — has risen sharply, to nearly 25 percent in 2010 from 14.7 percent in 2000, according to a recent study, and many signs suggest the upward trend is continuing.

mediplex.in/medifit

US to fight multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Washington: The White House released a plan to combat "global rise" of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

The plan released on Tuesday identified actions the US government will take in the next three or five years.

It included ensuring that all patients with TB are promptly detected and treated and people in close contact with such patients are identified, monitored, and if necessary, treated, Xinhua reported.

"Although any transmission of TB is of public health importance, an outbreak sparked by an individual with undiagnosed MDR-TB or XDR-TB (extensively drug-resistant TB) could have serious consequences due to the difficulty and costs associated with treating patients infected with these resistant strains," a statement said.

The plan also included a goal of improving international capacity and collaboration to combat the disease, which will be done through "strategic investments" to broaden access to diagnosis and treatment in the most affected communities.

In addition, the White House called for accelerating research to combat MDR-TB, including developing rapid tests to diagnose TB, novel therapies and drug regimens to cure TB and MDR-TB within weeks, and new vaccines with the potential to prevent all forms of TB.

TB has caused more deaths than any other single infectious disease worldwide, killing over 1.5 million people each year, the White House said.

14 gram almonds daily can boost your health

New York: Eating a moderate amount of almonds daily can enrich the diets of adults and young children, says a new study.

"Almonds are a good source of plant protein -- essential fatty acids, vitamin E and magnesium," said one of the researchers Alyssa Burns from University of Florida in the US.

For the 14-week study, the scientists gave almonds daily to 29 pairs of parents and children. Most of the adults were mothers with an average age of 35, while their children were between three and six years of age.

The children were encouraged to consume 14 grams of almond butter daily and parents were given 14 grams of almonds per day.

An online dietary recall was used to find out what adults had eaten and how much. That way, researchers could measure diet quality.

The scientists based their conclusions about improved dietary intake on participants' scores on the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), a tool used to measure diet quality and adherence to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

The results indicated that when parents and children were eating almonds, their HEI increased for total protein foods, seafood and plant proteins and fatty acids, while they ate fewer empty calories.

For all components, a higher score indicates higher diet quality. When parents and children ate almonds, their HEI score increased from 53.7 to 61.4.

Parents and children consumed more vitamin E and magnesium when eating almonds, Burns noted.

'Fat but fit' counts for nothing scientists say - obesity is what drives early death

Obese people who regularly exercise are far more likely to die early, compared with slim people who take little or no exercise, research suggests

Obesity is a national threat to the nation's health, the country's chief medical officer has warned

Scientists say they have bust the myth that you can be “fat but fit” with research showing obese regular exercisers are likely to die before slim unfit people.
The study of 1.3 million men found that obese people with high levels of aerobic fitness were 30 per cent more likely to die prematurely, compared with those were slim, despite taking little exercise.
The Swedish research tracked men for 30 years, before coming to the conclusion that being the right weight is the most important factor for long-term health.
Scientists said the findings, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, demolished the myth that being fit was sufficient to protect health, and could compensate for obesity.

A number of studies have suggested that obese people who were regular exercisers were at no greater risk of a potentially fatal illness than normal weight people.
The new research, the largest study of its kind, was based on 18 year old Swedish military conscripts whose aerobic fitness was tested by asking them to cycle until they had to stop due to fatigue.

Activating 'good' fat can curb obesity

New York: The body's ability to harness heat production by converting white fat cells which store calories into beige (good) fat cells that burn energy, can help fight obesity, a new study reveals.

The study suggests natural mechanism in the body, which converts white fat cells into brownish fat cells -- known as 'brite' or 'beige' fat cells -- by using heat production and increasing the sympathetic nervous system's (SNS) supply of blood vessels to white fat tissue, could be a new and promising approach to fighting obesity.

"Perhaps the most important features of white adipose tissue for the conversion of white fat cells to brite/beige fat cells is the density of the SNS nerves being supplied to white adipose tissue, and the fat cell population surrounding this nerve supply having a genetic ability to brown," said Vitaly Ryu from Center for Obesity Reversal at Georgia State.

Our body has two types of fat tissue -- white and brown. White adipose tissue, or white fat, stores energy or calories and produces hormones that are secreted into the bloodstream.

Brown adipose tissue, or brown fat, is a dark-colored fat tissue with many blood vessels that burns energy and produces heat.

There is a connection of white fat tissue with other tissues, including the heart and blood vessels that could lead to coronary and hypertension diseases, understanding how it occurs could be beneficial.

The Problem With Focusing on Childhood Obesity

THERE is good news in the fight against obesity: Rates are finally falling in young children. The bad news? They’re continuing to rise to new heights in adults.

The decline in childhood obesity rates is one achievement within a larger failure. By focusing so much attention on the young, in the hopes that avoiding unhealthy weight gain in childhood would prevent adult obesity, we made the same mistake health advocates made in the battle against smoking 25 years ago. Ultimately, we learned an important lesson in the power of marketing that we should apply today.

The stakes are high. The 38 percent of American adults who are obese are at risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer and depression. According to a recent study published in JAMA, half of adults have either diabetes or pre-diabetes. A decade ago, when rates were lower, one study estimated that obesity was responsible for some 100,000 excess deaths in a single year. Beyond the human tragedy, obesity and diabetes are top drivers of increases in health care costs, which are gobbling up the finances of governments and families.

The obesity rate in children ages 6 to 11, after big increases, has now flatlined, at 18 percent, and the rate in children ages 2 to 5 has fallen below 10 percent for the first time since the 1980s.

We shouldn’t be surprised by the diverging trends. Health advocates are succeeding at what they set out to do. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has spent $500 million since 2007, and pledged another $500 million, to prevent childhood obesity — the largest investment of its kind I know of. Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign also focused on children. Many health organizations have followed their lead. They drew the nation’s attention to schools and day care centers, which, as a result of federal law and other rule changes, now offer more fruits and vegetables in cafeterias and fewer sugary drinks in vending machines.

Ovarian cancer screening trial – a tantalising result?

Spotting ovarian cancer early enough to make a difference is a challenge. Its symptoms can be vague, and often the same as much more common, less serious conditions.

But the impact of an early diagnosis is stark. About 90 in 100 women survive early-stage ovarian cancer for five years or more, compared with just 3 in every 100 women with late-stage disease.

This is why – nearly 15 years ago – we began co-funding a huge trial to find out whether regularly screening healthy women could spot ovarian cancers before they cause symptoms, when treatment is more likely to be successful.

The UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) is run by Professor Ian Jacobs, who’s now based at the University of New South Wales Australia, and Professor Usha Menon from University College London, both of whom are gynaecologists who have worked on the problem of early diagnosis of ovarian cancer for many years.

And since it began, the trial has uncovered a whole range of important information about the potential of ovarian cancer screening, including how effective different tests can be at detecting cancers, and how women are affected emotionally by participating in ovarian cancer screening.

Today, the trial team have published one of their most long-awaited findings: their first analysis of whether ovarian cancer screening could actually prevent deaths from the disease.

But there’s a frustrating catch – while the data seems to show a possible benefit, there’s still a lot of statistical uncertainty in the results, and it’s far from clear how many lives it would save in practice.

So the researchers want to follow the women on the trial for a few more years to see for sure whether screening does actually save lives, and to show how that stacks up against the harms (which include unnecessary surgery and potential complications).

And while today’s result is important, there are several things that follow from it:

We don’t think there’s enough evidence for the NHS to introduce a national screening programme at this stage.

Binge boozing more high-risk than previously believed

New Delhi: Binge drinking is bad, but binge drinking with chronic alcohol use is worse, according to a new study.

Excessive alcohol consumption is a global public health issue. Now, a study by University of Missouri School of Medicine researchers shows that chronic alcohol use, when combined with repeated binge drinking, causes more damage to the liver than previously thought.

Lead author Shivendra Shukla noted that either chronic alcohol use or acute repeat binge episodes caused moderate liver damage when compared to the control group not exposed to alcohol.

However, Shukla, said that in the mice exposed to both chronic use and repeat binge episodes, liver damage increased tremendously. Even more shocking was the extent of fatty deposits in the livers of those exposed to chronic plus binge alcohol. It was approximately 13 times higher than the control group.

The highly amplified fat accumulation was in part caused by metabolic changes within the liver. These changes not only significantly increased fatty liver deposits, but increased stress on the organ while decreasing the liver's ability to fight the stress.

The fat of the land - Mapping obesity (Why a fat-map of England is the opposite of one of America)

Obesity maps of America show slender cities and a bulging countryside.
In England the opposite is true: the overweight are concentrated in urban areas and rural folk are slimmer.
In both countries obesity is associated with poverty.
The differing patterns may be explained by the fact that much of England’s thin “countryside”, particularly
in the south, in fact lies in the well-off commuter belts of cities. Remoter, poorer rural areas,
in the far north, south-west and east, are tubbier.
In both countries people underestimate how fat their fellow citizens are: most guess around half are overweight,
when the reality is nearer two-thirds.
On December 11th England’s chief medical officer called for obesity to be classified as a “national risk”.
Food for thought over Christmas.

How being overweight causes cancer

Extra fat in the body can have harmful effects, like producing hormones and growth factors that affect the way our cells work. This can raise the risk of several diseases, including cancer. It's thought that more than 1 in 20 cancers in the UK are linked to being overweight or obese.

Which cancers are affected?

Research has shown that many types of cancer are more common in people who are overweight or obese, including:

breast cancer, in women after the menopause
bowel cancer
womb cancer
oesophageal (food pipe) cancer
gastric cardia cancer (a type of stomach cancer)
pancreatic cancer
kidney cancer
liver
probably - gallbladder, ovarian and aggressive prostate cancers
This list includes 2 of the most common types of cancer – breast and bowel cancers - and 3 of the hardest to treat – pancreatic, oesophageal and gallbladder cancers.

What leads to people being overweight or obese?
Simply put, obesity is the result of taking in more calories through your diet than you are burning through physical activity.

The reasons for this calorie imbalance vary from person to person. It can sometimes be linked to the genes we were born with, or our environments, as well as our individual behaviour and choices. And some drugs and diseases can also contribute to weight gain.

Most people can reach and stay within a healthy weight range by eating healthily, eating smaller amounts and becoming more active.  Visit our tips and advice on keeping a healthy weight.

Why is being overweight linked to so many different types of cancer?
Fat cells in the body are active and produce hormones and proteins that are released into the bloodstream and carried around the body. Because they are spread through the circulation, these ‘chemical messengers’ can affect many parts of the body, and increase the risk of several different types of cancer.

How does being overweight change hormone levels in the body?
Excess fat changes the levels of sex hormones, like oestrogen and testosterone, in the body. This may increase the risk of cancer.

Fat cells also produce many other chemical messengers which affect how the body works.

The hormone insulin is a very important part of how the body uses energy from food. When people are overweight or obese, there is much more insulin present in the body. It’s not clear how this could lead to cancer, although high insulin levels are a common feature of many cancers.

Belly fat has harmful effects
When too much fat is carried around the belly, it can do even more damage. So-called ‘apple’ shapes are linked to bowel, kidney, oesophageal, pancreatic, breast, and womb cancers.

It isn’t clear exactly why this is, but it could be to do with how quickly certain chemicals from fat can get into the blood.

A healthy body weight is important for children as well as adults
By encouraging your children to lead a healthy lifestyle, you can help them keep a healthy body weight later on in life. A person’s body weight can be influenced by what they ate when they were children, or even what their mothers ate before they were born.

Children who are very heavy at 2 years of age tend to have a higher chance of being overweight later in life. Some studies have found that people who are overweight or obese as children have higher risks of some cancers later in life.

Gut infection can cause malnutrition, vaccine failure

New York: Looking at why providing food is not always enough to treat malnutrition in developing countries, researchers have discovered that damage to the gut from infection can cause malnutrition and vaccine failure.
It has been estimated that if every nutritional measure known to be helpful were applied to every child in the world, global malnutrition would be decreased by only a third, the study said.
"We found that the longer that the child suffered from inflammation, the worse was their nutrition, suggesting that the body's immune response may be the root cause of the problem of malnutrition and a target for prevention," said Bill Petri from University of Virginia School of Medicine in the US.
For the study, the researchers for the last four years have enrolled children at birth and their parents from an urban slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 
The children are visited in their homes twice a week, receive free medical care and are observed for the development of malnutrition. 
Malnutrition is measured by children becoming stunted, or abnormally short for their age.
Despite vaccination, free medical care and nutritional counseling and care, stunting increased from 9.5 percent at enrollment to 27.6 percent at one year of age. 
This demonstrated what has long been known, that malnutrition is extraordinarily difficult to prevent or treat.
"The fact that the infants became malnourished despite our best efforts showed me what a difficult problem this is to solve," Caitlin Naylor from University of Virginia said.
The group suspected that food was not being properly digested by the children who were becoming stunted. 
"We decided to test to see if damage to their gut from infection was causing malnutrition," Petri said.
The researchers found that nearly every child had abnormal results, indicating their guts were damaged.
"Children living in poverty have problems not only with nutrition but with vaccination," Rashidul Haque, director of the field study in Bangladesh, said.
One of the obstacles to the global campaign to eradicate polio has been the relative ineffectiveness of the oral vaccine in developing countries, sometimes necessitating upwards of 10 doses to be effective.
The potentially life-saving rotavirus vaccines also are substantially less effective in these children that need the vaccines the most. 
"Since these two vaccines immunise the intestine, we tested if children with the worst gut damage also suffered from vaccine failure," Petri said.

Rising Obesity Rates Put Strain on Nursing Homes

RED BAY, Ala. — At 72, her gray hair closely shorn, her days occupied by sewing and television, Wanda Chism seems every bit a typical nursing home patient — but for her size.

Ms. Chism is severely obese, unable to leave her bed without a mechanical lift and a team of nurses. She has not walked in years. Her life is circumscribed by the walls of her room.

Obesity is redrawing the common imagery of old age: The slight nursing home resident is giving way to the obese senior, hampered by diabetes, disability and other weight-related ailments. Facilities that have long cared for older adults are increasingly overwhelmed — and unprepared — to care for this new group of morbidly heavy patients.

“The population is shifting faster than the ability of nursing homes to deal with them,” said Cheryl Phillips, a senior vice president at LeadingAge, an association of nonprofit providers of services for older adults. “We don’t have adequate staff. We don’t have adequate equipment. We don’t have adequate knowledge.”

New tool to speed up antibiotic discovery

A team of scientists has come up with a new method that allows them to screen natural products for antibiotics.

Biologists at UC San Diego have found that a method they developed to identify and characterize new antibiotics can be employed to screen natural products quickly for compounds capable of controlling antibiotic resistant bacteria.

The researchers say their latest discovery could permit chemists and others to understand how mixtures of potential antibiotics from microorganisms work without first purifying them. It builds on their development two years ago of a new way to rapidly identify new compounds capable of killing bacteria.

Researcher Kit Pogliano said that the method is a powerful way to identify antibiotics from natural products and understand how they work before they are ever purified, potentially shaving years off of screening efforts by identifying which organisms and growth conditions produce interesting bioactive molecules.

Pogliano noted that some bacteria have evolved resistance to every known class of antibiotic and when these multi-drug resistant bacteria cause an infection, they are nearly impossible to treat. There is an urgent need for new antibiotics capable of treating infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Antibiotic resistance is increasing at an alarming rate. The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, a publication established to produce an analysis of the global problems of antimicrobial resistance, recently predicted that by 2050, the worldwide toll from drug resistant bacterial infections could reach 10 million deaths per year, more than cancer (8.2 million) and diabetes (1.5 million) combined.

Obesity isn’t the half of it: fat or thin, our eating is disordered

Sally Davies, the UK’s chief medical officer, is right to highlight women’s health issues. Her report, published at the end of last week, is comprehensive and thoughtful but her implicit claim, that obesity poses a threat to the nation comparable to terrorism, is concerning (she wants it to be elevated to the level of a “national risk”). This generated headlines but closed down the complex thinking that’s desperately needed.

What is obesity? Is it one thing? No. It is an arbitrary number on a scale which counts people with a BMI of over 30 as obese. Bundled together in Davies’ figures are the “overweight” who, according to the US National Centre for Health Statistics, are not necessarily unhealthy. Health and weight are not the same. There is health at different sizes.


Obesity endangers health of women and babies, warns UK's chief medical officer
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Is obesity a result of overeating? Yes, maybe, and no. There’s science and then there is the agenda of the various health, fitness and diet businesses mixed up in this. Sometimes fatness is the result of inadvertent repetitive dieting which can upset our metabolism. Sometimes it’s a result of eating the non-food foods that industry peddles. These drench our tastebuds with fat, salt and sugar combinations that overstimulate without giving a sense of satisfaction – other than reaching the end of the packet. Sometimes it is because these same non-food foods take a too-quick journey through our body without being properly digested.

Sometimes, as epigeneticists are discovering, it is to do with changes that occurred two generations ago, when food was very scarce. Sometimes, as Tim Spector of King’s College London, proposes, it is to do with changes caused by early and frequent antibiotic use which alter the flora in our gut.

Top 5 foods to lower blood cholesterol

New Delhi: A good diet is necessary to lead a healthy lifestyle. Believe it or not but the diet to eat plays an important role in keeping the cholesterol level in check. One can easily lower their cholesterol levels by doing some exercise with a good diet.

Here are some foods that can lower cholesterol level:

Olive oil

One should use olive oil in their diet to get its heart-healthy benefits. It also helps in lowering the cholesterol level in the body because it contains a potent mix of antioxidants.

Nuts

Nuts like walnuts, alomonds not only us healthy but also reduces the risk of heart disease. Try eating a handful of nuts everyday but make sure that it's not salted or coated with sugar.

Also Read: Top five health benefits of radish!

Fish

Regular consumption of fish helps in keeping the heart healthy as it contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids which reduces your blood pressure and risk of developing blood clots.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal contains soluble fiber that reduces your low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the bad cholesterol. It reduces the absorption of cholesterol into your bloodstream as well.

Also Read: 5 natural foods to provide instant gas relief!

Foods with plant sterols or stanols

Eating of foods with added sterol and stanol like grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes helps you in lowering your cholesterol level. It also reduces the risk of heart disease.

News digest – oxygen scan, tiny tech, Chief Medical Officer’s report, ovarian cancer drug approval and… contradicting articles?

Our scientists revealed a new approach to MRI scanning that could help doctors spot areas of low oxygen inside tumours in a less invasive way. This could be important for guiding treatment, but the Mail Online and Express got a little carried away with this, as the research is still at an early stage.

An analysis of data from the Million Women Study – which we part-fund – found that being unhappy or stressed doesn’t shorten your life. So it’s ok if you’re not feeling festive just yet.

A new report from England’s Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, warned of the growing need to tackle obesity. The BBC has more on this, and we’ve blogged before about the leading theories on how obesity can cause cancer.

Scotland’s new food standards body warned that the country had made little progress in hitting certain dietary targets like fibre consumption. The BBC covered this.

Asking patients to keep track of certain symptoms and report them online to their doctor could help improve their quality of life. Reuters has the details.

Sticking three twisted strands of genetic material inside a special gel could help get an experimental treatment into cancer cells, according to early US research. Gizmag has more.

Gizmag also covered more tiny technology, as US scientists found that microscopic nanobubbles could help sneak drugs into cancer cells. It’s still early days on this one though.

Obesity 'biggest threat to women's health' in England

Obesity is the biggest threat to women's health and the health of future generations, warns England's chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies.
In her annual report, which focuses on women, she said tackling obesity should be a national priority to avert a "growing health catastrophe".
She said either the food industry needed to do more or it would face a sugar tax.
Dame Sally is also calling for better treatment of ovarian cancer and more open discussion on incontinence.
England's top doctor said obesity was so serious it should be a priority for the whole population, but particularly for women because too often it shortened their lives.
In England in 2013, 64% of women aged 34-44 and 71% of women aged 45-54 were classified as overweight or obese.
Obesity increases the risk of many diseases including breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Sugar tax
Dame Sally warned that if the food industry did not clean up its act then new taxes may be the only option.
She told the BBC: "I think it is inevitable that manufacturing has to reformulate and resize, that supermarkets and others need to stop cheap promotions on unhealthy food and putting unhealthy food at the check-out, and limit advertising dramatically.

Plus-size models fuel obesity, says study

Washington DC: On a day we saw actor Parineeti Chopra’s dramatic new photoshoot to announce to the world how much weight she’s lost in the last few months, comes this new debate: Can plus-size models be held responsible for triggering an obesity epidemic in the world?

As the spotlight on plus-size fashion is getting bigger and brighter, it is feared that its runway walkers may be fuelling obesity epidemics with their natural body shapes. The increasing use of plus-sized models in advertising campaigns may be contributing to growing rates of obesity, according to the study from Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business.

The study found that as advertising campaigns increasingly use fewer images of models that are underweight and aesthetically flawless, instead utilising non-traditional models with larger body types, the tactic can have a detrimental effect on the public’s lifestyle and eating behaviour.

The study’s authors posit that efforts to increase acceptance are resulting in increasing the amount of thought consumers put into their appearance and heightening body anxiety -- ironically the opposite of what many of these marketing campaigns are trying to achieve.

The findings have implications for both public policy makers and advertisers. The researchers advise both to be mindful of how individuals’ bodies are portrayed in the media, and develop new strategies that don’t focus on suggesting any shape is “good” or “bad”.

Although, this study demonstrates that accepting larger bodies results is associated with negative consequences, research also shows that ‘fat-shaming’ or stigmatising such bodies fails to improve motivation to lose weight, says co-author Brent McFerran.

He noted that since neither accepting nor stigmatising larger bodies achieves the desired results, it would be beneficial for marketers and policy makers to instead find a middle ground -- using images of people with a healthy weight and more importantly, refraining from drawing attention to the body size issue entirely.

Rising risk of obesity among China's 'left behind children'

Some 61 million rural children left behind by parents moving to China’s booming urban centers are at risk from increased fat and reduced protein in their diets, research suggests.

Some 61 million rural children left behind by parents moving to China's booming urban centres are at risk from increased fat and reduced protein in their diets, research from The University of Manchester, published in Public Health Nutrition suggests.

The study of 975 children from 140 rural villages in nine provinces carefully analysed nutritional intake and showed a particular risk to boys who were left behind in the care of grandparents or one parent while a mother or father sought work away from home.

The research was led by Nan Zhang from the University's School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work. She said: "There are sound financial reasons why so many people move from rural to urban areas in China, but the benefits that more money brings to a family can often be at the expense of child nutrition.

"The Chinese government needs to recognise this growing problem among rural communities and this research provides some evidence to target health policies on encouraging a balanced diet."

Type 2 diabetes reversed by losing fat from pancreas

Type 2 diabetes is caused by fat accumulating in the pancreas, researchers show. They add that losing less than one gram of that fat through weight loss reverses the diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes affects 9% of the global population and was once known as adult-onset diabetes but is now found in young adults and children. It causes too much glucose in the blood due to the pancreas not producing enough insulin -- a hormone which breaks down glucose into energy in the cells -- together with insulin resistance, a condition in which the body responds poorly to insulin.

Diabetic women at greater heart disease risk

Women with Type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to have coronary heart disease compared to men, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement.
"Cardiovascular disease may be more deadly for women with Type 2 diabetes than it is for men," said Judith G. Regensteiner, chair of the statement writing group and director of the Centre for Women's Health Research at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver.

While scientists do not fully understand how the inherent hormonal differences between men and women affect risk, they do know that "some risk factors for heart disease and stroke affect women differently than men and there are disparities in how these risk factors are treated".

The statement said that the women with Type 2 diabetes have heart attacks at earlier ages than men; are more likely to die after a first heart attack than men; and are less likely to undergo procedures to open clogged arteries, such as angioplasty or coronary artery bypass grafting than men.

Legalising cannabis could help stop the obesity crisis by turning people away from alcohol, US study finds

Legalisation caused young people to move away from calorific alcohol and helped older people suffering from chronic pain become more active, the study found
A new study by Californian researchers has suggested that legalising cannabis could help bring down obesity rates - because rather than drinking pints of alcoholic beverages to celebrate or relax, people spark up a calorie-free joint instead.

The study, conducted by scientists from Cornell and San Diego Universities, involved the analysis of 22 years of health data from states which have decriminalised cannabis either for medical or recreational use.
In states where weed was made legal, obesity levels dropped by between 2 and 6 per cent.

Among younger cannabis users, the researchers found that many substituted large amounts of alcoholic drinks for cannabis, meaning they consumed less calories.

And among older people, medical cannabis helped alleviate common ailments like joint and chronic pain, allowing them to be more active and letting them burn more calories.

5 natural foods to provide instant gas relief!

New Delhi: It is a common fact that most people tend to eat more when the food is just too delicious But, overindulgence in food can take your health for a toss and may lead to a bloated stomach due to indigestion which ultimately leads to excessive gas in the stomach.

This painful gas if not passed out either through burping or while flatulence, not just puts you in an uncomfortable situation but can also be a warning of serious health issue.

Here are few natural remedies to provide immediate gas relief:

Ginger:

Consume just the right amount of ginger about half an hour before each meal and feel the difference.

Garlic:

Garlic is one of the oldest medicinal plants and is widely recognised as a health enhancing supplement. It not just gives flavour to your food, but can also help aid stomach gas as it has high fiber content.

Cumin:

Add a tablespoon of crushed cumin seeds to the soup to soothe the intestinal gases.

Basil:

Taking juice of basil leaves with water empty stomach in the morning enhances digestive power and hence prevents bloated stomach.

Peppermint:

Adding peppermint to your tea or eating them raw can help a lot in easing gastric problem.

Smoking and drinking down but obesity continues to rise: survey

The latest snapshot of the nation's health shows that smoking and heavy drinking are on the decline but the war on obesity has failed to trim Australian waistlines.

About 19,000 Australians took part in the 2014-15 National Health Survey, compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

It found 63.4 per cent of Australian adults are now overweight or obese, slightly up on the 62.8 per cent recorded in last survey in 2011-12.

Around one in four children aged five to 17 are overweight or obese, again slightly up on the 25.7 per cent in 2011-12.

Louise Gates from the ABS said one in three adults, or 29.7 per cent, are not getting enough exercise, while a further 15 per cent do no exercise whatsoever.

"Overall, more men are overweight or obese (71 per cent) than women (56 per cent)," Ms Gates said.

Smoking continues to go out of fashion with 14.5 per cent of adults lighting up daily, compared with 16.1 per cent three years ago.

Young adults are also giving up cigarettes, with 16.3 per cent smoking every day, down from 28.2 per cent in 2001.

"Across the board, smoking rates reflect a decrease over the last 15 years, particularly for people under 45," Ms Gates said.

The Northern Territory has the highest rate of smokers at 21 per cent, followed by Tasmania with 18 per cent, while the ACT has the lowest at 12 per cent.

Risky drinking has shown a decline, with 17.4 per cent of adults consuming more than the recommended two standard drinks a day, down from 19.5 per cent in 2011-12.

Asia's first facility for Open Foetal Surgery unveiled

New DelhI: India has become the fifth country in the world to have a facility for Open Foetal Surgery after Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda unveiled the first such facility in Asia at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Kochi.
Open Foetal Surgery entails, taking the baby with birth defects out of mother's womb, doing surgery and putting back inside the womb. The pregnancy is allowed to continue. Later a Cesarean section is done and the baby is delivered.
This prevents the damage that would have occurred to the baby in the uterus before delivery and helps in obtaining normal baby.

News digest – tobacco company allegations, cold sores, a jab to prevent cancer and…potatoes?

BBC’s Panorama revealed shocking allegations that people working on behalf of British American Tobacco have offered payments to politicians, civil servants and other Government officials in several African countries. Here’s our analysis.
MPs from across the political spectrum published a report backing the need for measures to tackle childhood obesity – including a sugar tax. The Mail Online and the Guardian were among the many media outlets to cover the report.
A fine balance of genetic damage inside cancer cells could decide how aggressive certain tumours are. New Scientist investigates.
The Express claimed that “cold sores are KEY to destroying cancer tumours”. But the fascinating research featured in the article is actually targeting cancer cells with a modified version of the virus that causes cold sores – the tingling lip lumps themselves can’t destroy tumours.
Our scientists found that spreading cancer cells that arrive in a new part of the body must be able to change their new environment to continue to grow. Here’s our press release with the details.
We asked if it’s possible to develop a jab to prevent cancer.
This Guardian article approached the tough topic of how a parent tells their children they have cancer.
The Telegraph focussed on the challenge of tackling pancreatic cancer.
Could genetics have a part to play in how hard it is to give up smoking? New Scientist explores a recent study.
Scientists moved a step closer to targeting a cancer-causing molecule that has been deemed ‘undruggable’ by many. The Mail Online covered this, but the findings were in mice so it’s definitely too soon to talk of ‘breakthroughs’.
Popular Science picked up on a study testing liquid metal ‘nano terminator’ particles as a way of delivering cancer drugs to tumour cells. But it’s early days as the findings were only shown in mice.
IBM’s data analysis platform – called Watson – could help doctors diagnose and treat cancer patients in India, according to Forbes.
The Mirror featured a fascinating video showing a cancer cell spreading into the bone of a mouse.
A study looking at depression in women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer reinforced the need for patients to speak to their doctor about how they are feeling. The Mail Online has more on this.

Meditation `better pain reliever` than morphine

You may want to get on the "Breathe in, breathe out" bandwagon as a team of boffins has suggested that meditation, a science-backed, no-prescription-needed way to reduce pain, is way better than taking morphine.
The study conducted at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre in North Carolina suggests that just a few minutes of meditation each day could prove better pain relief than powerful drug medication.
The study showed that those individuals who had been taught to use relaxation and breathing techniques to cope with the pain had calmer brain scans. These people reported a 27 per cent reduction in pain intensity and 44 per cent less emotional pain.
Lead researcher Fadel Zeidan believes these findings prove that mindfulness meditation can produce different patterns of brain activity.
He said that based on the findings, they believe that as little as four 20-minute daily sessions of mindfulness meditation could enhance pain treatment in a clinical setting, adding "However, given that the present study examined healthy, pain-free volunteers, we cannot generalise our findings to chronic pain patients at this time."

Dengue cases on rise in Dindigul

Dindigul: Despite an intensive drive undertaken by the administration to control mosquito breeding, dengue cases are on the rise here due to continuous rains, tanks overflowing, rainwater stagnating and plastic wastes and containers being dumped near residential areas.

Officials said former Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry department and veterinary surgeon Murugaiah died of dengue fever.

Many dengue affected people were treated at the government hospital here and taluk hospitals.

In Chinnalapatti alone, four people were diagnosed with the vector-borne disease. The Department of Health Services has already started distributing herbal concoction to the patients at Dindigul GH and primary health centres.

The officials said more cases of dengue were being reported from the areas where poor people lived.

Many cases were detected late, said Elango, former director of public health department.

People who showed symptoms of the disease bough medicines over the counter and approached doctors only when the situation worsened.

Steps were being taken to clear the garbage. Moderate rains were creating ideal ground for breeding of mosquitoes.

Can overweight men pass obesity risk to their children?

"Are you fat because of your dad?" is the Mail Online's bold question to its readers, explaining that "Men's weight directly affects genes in sperm linked to appetite and brain development".
This was based on a new study that found a man's weight influences the genes in his sperm.

This small study showed that DNA in the sperm of obese men differed from that of healthy weight men. The DNA itself wasn't changed, but modifications affecting how it's used by the body were.
These differences raised the possibility that children of overweight men could inherit genetic traits that make them more likely to be overweight themselves.
The researchers then looked at the sperm in six men before and after weight loss surgery, and found that the genes in their sperm changed considerably as they rapidly lost weight. This suggests that losing weight may be able to reverse the genetic changes associated with being overweight.
The results of this study are interesting, but should be treated with caution. The study only compared 13 healthy weight men with 10 overweight or obese men in the first part of the study, and just six men having weight loss surgery. These are very small numbers.
Similarly, we don't yet know whether the genetic changes identified in the overweight men will make their children more or less likely to be obese themselves, as this was not investigated in the study.
If the results of this research are confirmed in larger groups, the findings could lead to men, like women, being advised to eat healthily when trying to start a family.

Coke funds antiobesity research groups ???

A nonprofit obesity research group received $1.5 million from multinational beverages company called Coke. The coke spokesperson has refuted charges "It has no influence on its work".

The emails records shows that Coke helped pick the group's leaders, edited its mission statement and suggested articles and videos for its website.

In an scandalous email received last November, the obesity group's president tells a top Coke executive: "I want to help your company avoid the image of being a problem in peoples' lives and back to being a company that brings important and fun things to them." This shows keenness of antiobesity campaigner to help COKE.

The group as well as Coke executives had  high hopes for the group "that would quickly establish itself as the place the media goes to for comment on any obesity issue." It said the group would use social media and run a political-style campaign to counter the "shrill rhetoric" of "public health extremists" who want to tax or limit foods they deem unhealthy.

"I WANT TO HELP YOUR COMPANY AVOID THE IMAGE OF BEING A PROBLEM IN PEOPLES' LIVES."

The comment of Coca-Cola Co. CEO Muhtar Kent "it has become clear to us that there was not a sufficient level of transparency with regard to the company's involvement with the Global Energy Balance Network."

"Clearly, we have more work to do to reflect the values of this great company in all that we do," Kent said.

The Atlanta-based company told the AP it has accepted the retirement of its chief health and science officer, Rhona Applebaum, who initially managed the relationship with the group. 

Obesity reaches to africa

In a recent development, some parts of Africa best known for looking for charity for hunger are now facing the opposite problem: an obesity epidemic.

“In terms of Africa, obesity is a growing problem. Some countries are really experiencing high levels,” said Shane Norris, head of the new African Centre for Obesity Prevention, which launched in Johannesburg on Tuesday. 
WHO reports that around 13 % of african children will be overweight in 2020 as compared to 8 % in 2010.
Obesity is a known risk factor of diabetes and high blood pressure. Though the rates are well below than global average but Norris argued that unless the issue was addressed soon, obesity levels on the continent would become as high as those in Europe and North America.

This can be considered as an unintended side-effect of Africa’s economic growth.

“Some countries are already experiencing quite high levels of obesity, others aren’t,” he said. “[But] the trend is that more and more African countries, as they economically develop, will face obesity-related challenges.

“We can’t stop economic growth and we wouldn’t want to, but how can we put other things in place to counter the potential ill-health effects of the economic development?”

South Africa, the continent’s most developed country, is leading the trend. Last year, local papers branded it “the fattest nation in sub-Saharan Africa” after figures showed that 26.8% of the 55 million-strong population were obese, costing the government R23 billion (£1bn) in prevention campaigns and combating obesity-related illnesses.

Get more obesity news at www.mediplex.in/news.html

Minimise the festive season damage

Minimise the festive season damage

Rich, sugary food might be calling out to you at celebration time. But here ‘s how not to pile on the calories.

Here it is the festive/wedding /season again. and here you are, as usual wondering if it’s wise to take full advantage of those exciting tables laden with food, or do your best to keep away.

The truth is, between dussehra and new year’s day, day most of us will put on two to three kilos of height. It really is hard not being indulges when the weather is so good and everyone is having so much fun. Which puts us in that awful situation of guilt: we eat and we hate over selves for eating. But there’s no reason to feel that way. Festive are meant for celebration; they are meant to give you a break. They are happy times and they include happy foods for that very reason.

So here’s how to indulge and beat the guilt.

Problem#

Too much dessert

Sweets are difficulty to resist. it’s so easy to pop barfi into your mouth when it is just lying there in plain sight –and then a second one and then a third

Solution

1.     The idea is to eat not gorge. Eat mindfully, not mindlessly. Remember the first bite of the dessert is always the best. Have one or two bites more to satisfy the taste buds. Then stop. Any more will qualify as agreed.

2.     Limit the type of sweets you eat.

3.     Make some goodies at home, like gurpatti, besan laddus, paneer chenna murki…….

Because here you can control the amount of sugar as well as the quality of the ingredients

4.     If you simply can’t resist calories- laden dessert, then cut down on other carbohydrates in your meal. For example, you could just have the soup, salad, and proteins. Avoid the rise, bread and roties and then eat dessert. The point is to limit the damage.

Problem

v  Too much food

As though it weren’t bad enough that you are surrounded by rich food this season, the change of weather also whets your appetite. So there you are, drowning in buter chiken and guilt.

Solution

1.     Learn to eat smart. Choose slow digesting food over the day.

2.     Pears are in season around this time. Their scrumptiously delicate flavour and crunchy texture is a boon, but the bigger advantage is the fact that they contain the sugar called laevulose the sweetest of all known sugars which insure that a sweet tooth  without guilt. So when you are craving a sweet treat in the evening try a yoghurt and peer smoothie the sweetness from the pear will satisfy your sugar carving and the protein in the yoghurt will keep you satiated and hold you over until dinner.

3.     If you are going to a big party in the evening and the plan on gorging on the rich food, it’s bad idea to starve yourself all day in anticipation. You’ll end up revenues and eat more than the usual.  A better idea to eat a low fat, healthy snacks before you step out say a soup and toast or a bowl of yoghurt with some nuts or may be a boiled egg, sandwich  

v