One or two servings of dark chocolate per week is good for women's hearts, a study reports.
They say chocolate is the way to a woman’s heart, and they could be right – eating one or two servings of dark chocolate weekly is good for the hearts of middle-aged or elderly women.
A nine-year observational study followed 31,823 healthy Swedish women ages 48 to 82 and found that those who ate moderate amounts of high-quality chocolate had healthier hearts.
The women who gained the most heart-health benefits had eaten one or two servings of the dark chocolate weekly, followed by those who ate one to three servings monthly. Each serving of chocolate was typically between 19 and 30 grams.
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Category: Nutrition News
Gray mouse lemurs given resveratrol avoid seasonal obesity. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Resveratrol—a natural red-wine compound previously shown to protect mice against excess weight gain when fed a high-fat diet—has now been found to reduce seasonal weight gain in gray mouse lemurs in a primate model of obesity.
The study was published in BMC Physiology by a team of researchers from the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, of Paris, who wrote that they had “demonstrated for the first time the short-term effects of resveratrol on the metabolism of an heterothermic [with varying body temperatures] primate.”
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Category: Nutrition News
When losing weight, people should be careful to not lose essential micronutrients.
Losing weight is an admirable goal, but not if proper nutrition is lost in the process. Most popular diets do not provide adequate intake of vitamins and minerals and these could put dieters at higher risk of nutrient deficiencies, a new study reports.
Christopher Gardner and his colleagues from Stanford Prevention Research Center and the Department of Medicine, Stanford University Medical School evaluated micronutrient quality of four diets—Atkins, Zone, LEARN (Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationships), and Ornish—and found each failed to provide adequate amounts of certain vitamins and minerals.
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Category: Nutrition News
A new report reviews how fasting affects fat and cholesterol, which also may apply to Cleanse Days.
Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have found that fasting causes an enzyme (SIRT1) to shut down production of fat and cholesterol, which could open up the scientific field to studying new approaches for lowering weight and improving lipid profiles.
Fasting has been previously known to suppress proteins called SREBPs, which are responsible for controlling fat synthesis and storage, but the mechanism was not well understood. The researchers reported that after a series of experiments in worms, fruitflies and mice they found that fasting acts directly on SIRT1, one of a family of sirtuin enzymes, thereby down-regulating these SREBPs.
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Category: Nutrition News
Lab study is revealing resveratrol's unique actions on human fat cells.
A recent study published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition is offering new insight on how resveratrol—a naturally occurring plant compound—affects fat cell biology.
Scientists have been researching resveratrol’s effects on fat cells ever since a study in 2006 published in Nature showed it protects lab mice fed a high-calorie diet against weight gain and obesity. The principal hypothesis has been that resveratrol activates a gene called sirtuin 1 (Sirt1), which is also activated by calorie restriction.
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Category: Nutrition News
Eating red chili peppers helps with weight loss, suggests study.
Scientists have already known for some time that capsaicin found in cayenne pepper (Capsicum anuum), or red chili pepper, is able to increase fat-burning potential by influencing secretion of adrenal gland hormones. A new study now suggests that this spicy compound may also combat weight gain in other ways by changing the make-up of proteins in fat cells.
Jong Won Yun and his colleagues at Daegu University, of South Korea, who published in April’s issue of Journal of Proteome Research, say they discovered that capsaicin alters proteins in fat cells that lead to markedly increased thermogenesis and fat metabolism, which suggests that this spice commonly used for flavoring foods “may be a useful phytochemical” for battling the bulge.
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Category: Nutrition News
Preserving muscle over time is key for reducing risk of diabetes.
Being overweight is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes; however, a new study shows losing weight alone may not be enough to reduce risk of type 2 diabetes in people with low muscle mass and strength, particularly if they are over the age of 60.
These are the findings of new research from Dr. Preethi Srikanthan of University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues who performed a cross-sectional analysis of 14,528 people from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III.
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Category: Nutrition News
Resveratrol (found naturally in grapes) is not just good for the heart, but also the brain.
Resveratrol, which has previously been linked to cardiovascular health benefits and maintaining youthfulness, is now showing promise in supporting brain health.
The compound, taken orally at high doses, helps improve cerebral blood flow according to a human clinical study from the United Kingdom published recently in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
In the randomized, double-blind, cross-over trial, UK researchers gave 22 healthy adults a placebo (sugar pill) and two doses of trans-resveratrol at 250 milligrams and at 500 milligrams. Forty five minutes after each administration,, the subjects performed cognitive tasks to activate the frontal cortex (the part of the brain that is associated with attention, planning and motivation) for 36 minutes.
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Category: Nutrition News
Dr. Rockway presenting studies on Isagenix products in Anaheim.
Isagenix’s Research and Science is pleased to announce that our team presented scientific posters on Wednesday, April 28, on the findings of two clinical studies on Isagenix products in Anaheim, Calif., at Experimental Biology 2010.
To read the company’s official news announcement, click here. To read the official press release with details on the findings of each study, please click here.
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Category: Nutrition News
More of the "sunshine vitamin" may help older people preserve muscle strength.
A new study suggests that higher levels of vitamin D could result in improved physical function in the elderly not only by helping to keep bones strong, but also by helping to keep muscles strong.
Announcing their findings at the Experimental Biology 2010 meeting in Anaheim, Calif., the study’s researchers said more trials would be necessary to help determine what role vitamin D had in muscle health or if there had been other variables—such as exercise—involved in the results.
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Category: Nutrition News
