Archive for July 1st, 2005
Healthy American adults should eat no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day. This is about 1 teaspoon of sodium chloride (salt). To illustrate, the following are sources of sodium in the diet.
1/4 teaspoon salt = 600 mg sodium
1/2 teaspoon salt = 1,200 mg sodium
3/4 teaspoon salt = 1,800 mg sodium
1 teaspoon salt = 2,400 mg sodium
1 teaspoon baking soda = 1000 mg sodium
What are the common sources of sodium?
When you must reduce the amount of sodium (salt) you eat, be aware of both natural and added sodium content. Table salt is sodium chloride. It’s 40 percent sodium by weight. When you buy prepared and packaged foods, read the labels. Watch for the words “soda” (referring to sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda) and “sodium” and the symbol “Na.” These products contain sodium compounds.
Some drugs have high amounts of sodium. Carefully read the labels on all over-the-counter drugs. Look at the ingredient list and warning statement to see if the product has sodium. A statement of sodium content must be on labels of antacids that have 5 mg or more per dosage unit (tablet, teaspoon, etc.). Some companies are now producing low-sodium over-the-counter products. If in doubt, ask your doctor or pharmacist if the drug is OK for you.
Most spices naturally contain very small amounts of sodium.
How can I reduce the sodium in my diet?
* Choose fresh, frozen or canned food items without added salts.
* Select unsalted nuts or seeds, dried beans, peas and lentils.
* Limit the amount of salty snacks you eat, like chips and pretzels.
* Avoid adding salt and canned vegetables to homemade dishes.
* Select unsalted, fat-free broths, bouillons or soups.
* Select fat-free or low-fat milk, low-sodium, low-fat cheeses, as well as low-fat yogurt.
* Specify what you want and how you want it prepared when dining out. Ask for your dish to be prepared without salt.
* Use spices and herbs to enhance the taste of your food.
July 1st, 2005
Potassium is an element (and an electrolyte) that’s essential for the body’s growth and maintenance. It’s necessary to keep a normal water balance between the cells and body fluids. Potassium also plays an essential role in the response of nerves to stimulation and in the contraction of muscles. Cellular enzymes need potassium to work properly.
A potassium deficiency due to increased urinary loss often occurs when medication for certain heart diseases is used to prevent sodium and water retention. To overcome this loss, physicians often suggest eating more foods high in potassium. More potassium may be prescribed as a medicine.
Foods high in potassium include bananas, cantaloupe, grapefruit, oranges, tomato or prune juice, honeydew melons, prunes, molasses and potatoes. Some foods high in potassium are also high in calories. When weight control is important, eat more low-calorie foods. Foods such as fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products that are high in potassium and calcium, when incorporated in the DASH Diet Study, helped to significantly lower blood pressure.
July 1st, 2005
What happens?
It’s estimated there are over 9 million cases of gastro-enteritis each year in England. For an increasing number of people, it’s due to food poisoning, something that’s preventable.
Gastro-enteritis describes symptoms affecting the bowel, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach pain. Food poisoning is the type of gastro-enteritis caused by eating or drinking something contaminated with micro-organisms or germs, or by toxic substances produced by these germs. These illnesses are often accompanied by fever, muscle aches, shivering and feeling exhausted.
These micro-organisms enter the body in one of two ways:
1. In the food. The food isn’t cooked thoroughly, so the micro-organisms aren’t killed off. This is often the case with barbecued food, for example.
2. On the food. For example, the person preparing the food doesn’t wash their hands before handling the food.
Causes
Campylobacter infection is the most common cause of food poisoning seen by GPs. It likes to reside in milk and poultry.
Other common causes include salmonella, listeria, shigella and clostridia. Some take a few hours to cause symptoms, others take a few days. Serious infections with E.coli are fortunately uncommon.
Prevention
Follow these tips to prevent food poisoning:
* Always wash your hands thoroughly before preparing food, after going to the toilet and after handling pets.
* Keep kitchen work surfaces clean.
* Keep pets away from food.
* Make sure food is defrosted completely before cooking.
* Ensure food is cooked thoroughly before eating. Meat shouldn’t have any pink bits.
* Serve reheated food piping hot.
* Keep raw meat and fish covered and store at the bottom of the fridge.
* Store all perishable foods at 5°C (41°F) or less.
* Keep raw food covered up.
* Rinse fruit and vegetables under running water before eating.
* Throw away any food that’s past its use-by date, doesn’t smell right and/or has fungus on it.
Treatment
Most infections last 24 to 48 hours, during which time fluid is often lost from both ends. To prevent dehydration, drink plenty of cooled boiled water and use re-hydration powders if the symptoms continue. Sometimes, antibiotic treatment is necessary; this can be determined by testing for the micro-organism responsible.
It’s especially important that anyone whose work involves handling or preparing food stays away from work while they have symptoms, to avoid passing the illness to others. They must also notify, and seek advice from, their local environmental health department.
If someone suspects that food bought from, or eaten in, a specific shop, takeaway or restaurant is responsible, they should also inform their local environmental health department, so the standards of food hygiene can be investigated.
July 1st, 2005
Ever get the guilty feeling that you’re being watched as you toss the double fudge brownie mix into your grocery cart? Well, you are!
We checked with some of the top US nutrition experts, who admitted they secretly spy on the rest of us as we make real-world choices in restaurants and grocery stores. Here are their top five gripes.
1. We can’t tell the good fats from the bad ones.
“Most people still don’t get that some fats are actually good for you,” says Alice Lichtenstein, DSc, an American Heart Association spokesperson. “You want to avoid saturated and trans fats, but you need more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Good sources are fish, nuts, avocados, and soybean and canola oils.”
Smarter: Fit in good fats. “If you keep track of total calories, you don’t have to worry about how much fat you eat, just what kind,” explains Dr. Lichtenstein. Grandpa Po’s Slightly Spicy Nutra Nuts use only canola oil (160 cal, 10 g fat, 1 g sat. fat, 2 g fiber, 60 mg sodium); at healthy food supermarkets.
2. We supersize to save money.
“People think that supersizing a restaurant meal is a money saver, but it’s not a health bargain if it has way too many calories,” says Karen Weber Cullen, DPH, RD, research nutritionist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Smarter: Judge with your palm, not your purse. A serving size is about what fits into the palm of your hand (larger for men than women, smaller for children). For most meals, pick one protein, one starch, one veggie, and one fruit based on the serving that will fit into your palm.
3. We think anything liquid has no calories.
“What freaks me out is the amount of sugared soda and juice we drink,” says Judith Stern, ScD, RD, professor of nutrition and internal medicine at the University of California, Davis. “I’d like to see all the sugared drinks sent out into space, where they could orbit the Earth forever.” Sugared drinks balloon your calorie intake and squeeze out more nutritious foods.
Smarter: Try a cup of tea. Available in myriad varieties, the calorie-free brew promotes heart health, staves off several types of cancer, strengthens bones and teeth, and protects the skin.
4. We don’t know how “hungry” really feels.
“If you don’t know when you’re hungry, you don’t know when you’re full, so you won’t know when to stop eating,” says Elisabetta Politi, RD, nutrition manager of the Duke University Diet & Fitness Center in Durham, NC.
Smarter: Tune in with mindful eating. Here’s how.
1. Before you eat, relax, and rate your hunger from 1 (hungriest) to 7 (fullest).
2. Eat slowly, pausing often to rate how your hunger changes.
3. When finished, rate yourself one more time. Try to stay between 2 1/2 and 5 1/2: not too ravenous when you start and not completely full when you stop.
5. We have a microwave addiction.
Many women come home from work and pop a frozen entrée into the microwave. “Eating too many heavily processed foods can leave you short on fiber and antioxidants such as vitamin C,” explains Jo Ann Hattner, RD, clinical dietitian at Stanford University Medical Center.
Smarter: Complement a frozen entrée with a green salad, a 100 percent whole wheat roll, and fruit for dessert. Stock up on the freshest fruit for maximum flavor.
July 1st, 2005
Many physicians encourage women to eat fat-free and low-fat dairy products to get
calcium. This helps reduce their risk of developing the bone disease osteoporosis. In this disease, the bone loses calcium and becomes less dense and breaks more easily.
AHA Recommendation
Women should ask their physicians about how much calcium they need in their diets. Fat-free milk and low-fat dairy products are recommended. They’re excellent sources of calcium.
Vegetable greens such as spinach, kale and broccoli, and some legumes and soybean products are good sources of calcium from plants.
Does calcium intake affect the risk of developing cardiovascular disease?
Right now scientists don’t have enough information to know. But the DASH Diet helped significantly to lower blood pressure. This study was based on eating eight or more fruits and vegetables and fat-free and low-fat dairy products.
Data from the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, recommends that adequate daily intake be…
*200 mg for infants from birth to 6 months; 270 mg for ages 6 months to 1 year.
*500 mg for children ages 1–3; 800 mg for ages 4–8.
*1300 mg for children and adolescents ages 9–18.
*1000 mg for adults ages 19–30 (for maximal calcium retention); 1000 mg for adults ages 31–50 (for calcium balance).
*1200 mg for adults ages 51 and older.
*1300 mg for women who are pregnant and under age 19; 1000 mg for pregnant women ages 19–50.
July 1st, 2005
15/06/2005 - People who regularly eat fish are less likely to develop colorectal cancer, reveals new data out today from the biggest ever investigation into diet’s impact on cancer incidence.
Eating fish has already been shown to protect against other cancers, with a direct association seen between oily fish fatty acids and lower risk of prostate cancer.
Yet the most recent prospective studies on colorectal cancer failed to confirm earlier observations that fish might be protective.
The new study, based on data from around half a million participants in the EPIC trial, also confirmed that red meat consumption significantly raises the risk of this cancer, while fibre protects against it.
Adults from ten European countries have been questioned about their dietary habits and lifestyles since 1992 for the EPIC trial (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition). Epidemiologists at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, which coordinates EPIC, and colleagues from other EPIC study centres, assessed the relationship between meat and fish consumption and colorectal cancer risk in 1,329 new diagnoses of rectal and colon cancer since the study started.
They estimate that the risk of colorectal cancer increases by 49 per cent for each 100 grams of ‘red’ meat (pork, beef, veal, and lamb) consumed each day. An increase in daily sausage consumption by 100 grams elevates the risk even further - by 70 per cent.
In contrast, eating 100 grams of fish daily reduces the disease risk by half. People eating less than 14g of fish a day were 40 per cent more likely to develop the cancer than those eating more than 50g per day, the researchers report.
Furthermore, the benefit seen from fish intake cannot be explained by the displacement of meat eating (or vice versa) because the association did not disappear when fish and red meat were mutually adjusted for each other, they write.
The protective effect of fish consumption may be caused by specific long chain, polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, known to inhibit cancers. But the researchers noted that they were unable to differentiate between fatty fish, which contains the majority of omega-3 fatty acids, and other fish.
They also noted that fibre was an important element in risk of the disease. The risk of colorectal cancer was higher in those women that ate less than 26g of fibre daily, irrelevant of their meat intake.
The findings accounted for the influence of different factors such as gender, body weight, alcohol comsumption, physical exercise or smoking on the disease risk. In addition, the data were processed using a method that reduces inaccuracies in the information provided by study participants on their dietary habits.
Recent studies suggest that the intake of iron contained in meat may be behind the raised risk as the mineral can promote the formation of harmful nitroso compounds in the body. On average, ‘red’ meat or meat products have a higher iron content than poultry, which may explain why consumption of the latter did not influence colorectal cancer risk in this study.
July 1st, 2005
Cheeses
The CDC says listeriosis, a food-borne illness with mild flu-like symptoms that can be overlooked, can result in premature delivery, miscarriage, severe illness, or death of the baby. Heidi Murkoff, author of What to Expect When You’re Expecting, concurs with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which cautions that you not eat unpasteurized soft cheeses (and other unpasteurized dairy products), hotdogs, or lunch meat unless cooked.
Cheeses made in the U.S. must be made from pasteurized milk (this process kills the listeria organism), so they are fairly safe. Imported soft cheeses are potentially problematic. These may include Brie, Camembert, feta, goat, Montrachet, Neufchatel, and queso fresco. Listeria may also be found in unpasteurized semi-soft cheeses (slightly more solid cheeses that do not grate easily and are often coated with wax to preserve moisture and extend shelf life). Semi-soft cheeses include Asiago, blue, brick, Gorgonzola, Havarti, Muenster, and Roquefort.
Cheddar, mozzarella, cream cheese, and cottage cheese are fine. “Stay away from those yummy roadside ciders, too,” Murkoff advises. “They’re not pasteurized.”
Diet soda
Minimal harmful effects have been shown from the use of the artificial sweetener aspartame in pregnancy, according to Siobhan M. Dolan, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y. “Like everything else, moderation is best.” A daily diet pop or aspartame-sweetened yogurt is probably harmless.
Coffee
Most studies show no adverse effects from three or four cups of coffee. Still, some doctors and midwives are cautious and point to studies linking java to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and migraines. There are some data that suggest that large amounts of caffeine lead to low-birth-weight babies.
However, if you choose to drink coffee, moderation is key. “Sometimes it’s harder on you to quit entirely,” Dolan admits. “Pregnancy is hard enough on you.”
July 1st, 2005
A high intake of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids could lower the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, according to researchers in the Netherlands.
Both types of unsaturated fatty acids are contained within neuronal cell membranes and are known to have neuroprotective, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties.
The researchers involved in the new study, published in Neurology (2005;64:2040-2045), wanted to build on this knowledge by determining whether a high intake of unsaturated fatty acids might be associated with a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease.
Monounsaturated (MUFAs) fatty acids have been shown to help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol when substituted for saturated fat. Sources of MUFAs include olive, canola oils, avocados, peanuts, nuts and seeds.
One of the main forms of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) is omega-3, commonly derived from fish, which have been shown to deliver considerable benefits for cardiovascular health and cognitive function. Omega-6 is also essential for human health, found in grains, most plant-based oils, poultry, and eggs.
However the modern diet is more heavily weighted towards omega-6 consumption than omega-3, an imbalance that has led to the growing popularity of the latter in fortified and functional foods and in supplement form.
The new study may give further weight to arguments in favor of the Mediterranean diet, which typically consists of foods rich in both MUFAs and PUFAs since it is based as it is on olive oil, nuts, fresh fish, fruits and vegetables. Three separate studies published this year have highlighted the heart health benefits of this diet, in lowering cholesterol levels, lowering the risk factors for heart disease and boosting longevity.
The new prospective population-based cohort study involved 5,289 people aged 55 or over, all of whom were free of dementia and Parkinson’s disease at baseline.
At the start of the trial the participants underwent complete dietary assessment, and the incidence of Parkinson’s disease was assessed through repeated in-person examination and continuous monitoring by computer linkage to medical records.
The mean duration of the study was six years, during which time 51 patients were diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Higher intakes of total fat, MUFAs, and PUFAs were “significantly associated” with a lower risk of developing the disease, but no associations were found for dietary saturated fat, cholesterol, or trans-fat.
“These findings suggest that high intake of unsaturated fatty acids might protect against Parkinson’s disease,” concluded the researchers.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological disorder that affects around 6.3 million people worldwide. One in ten cases are diagnosed before the age of 50.
The cause is not understood but it is thought to result from the combined effects of factors including aging, genetic predisposition, and environmental exposures. Symptoms include tremors, stiffness, slow movement and poor coordination and balance.
A study published in the Archives of Neurology (59, pp 1541-1550) in 2002 linking coenzyme-Q10 to a slowing of the progressive disability caused by Parkinson’s is thought to have been at least partly responsible for a surge in consumer demand for CoQ10, usually sourced from Japan, in the past three years. Prices are high, however, and supply is short, so the new research may present a viable alternative method of prevention.
July 1st, 2005
Serving Size: Standardized size based on amounts people actually eat. Similar food products have similar serving sizes making it easier to compare foods in the same category. For example, the nutritional content of two similar types of tomato sauce can be compared.
Daily Value: Indicates how food fits within a 2,000 calorie diet. Based on dietary recommendations for most healthy people. This helps you to understand if the food has “a lot” or “a little” of the most important nutrients.
Middle Section: The nutrients listed in the middle section are the ones most important to good health. This helps you to calculate your daily limits for fat, fiber, sodium and other nutrients.
Vitamins & Minerals: The Percent Daily Value is the same as the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance for vitamins and minerals (same levels). Only these vitamins and minerals are required on labels although the manufacturer has the option to include others too.
Note: Numbers on the Nutrition Facts label may be rounded for labeling (no decimal proportions listed).
July 1st, 2005
Dr Arch G. Mainous III of the Medical University of South Carolina and colleagues point out that iron and lipids combine to create oxidative stress.
As oxidative stress is thought to play a role in the development of cancer, they decided to assess whether people with high iron status had increased risk of cancer.
Writing in the 15 June issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology (vol 161, issue 12, pp1115-22), the team reports that raised iron increased the likelihood of developing cancer by 66 per cent, and high VLDL cholesterol increased the risk by 54 per cent.
But combining elevated iron with elevated VLDL increased the risk of cancer by 168 per cent, they said.
Their results were derived from 3278 subjects in the Framingham Offspring Study who had elevated iron and lipid levels. All participants were at least 30 years old when they enrolled in the study. They were followed up for development of cancer at least 14 years later.
“These findings support the hypothesis that iron-mediated oxidation of cholesterol increases oxidative stress, which can lead to cancer formation,” Mainous and colleagues conclude.
High iron plus low HDL or ‘good’ cholesterol also increased the risk of cancer to a similar degree.
If the finding is confirmed, it could suggest that consumers need to consider their cholesterol levels before taking iron supplements.
Earlier this year, the same team showed that people with elevated levels of serum transferrin saturation - an indicator of iron overload - who also consume high levels of dietary iron had an increased risk of cancer and cancer mortality.
The researchers have called into question the strategy of the addition of iron to food by manufacturers.
July 1st, 2005
Is that heart-shaped box of chocolates bad for your heart, or could it do some good?
Chocolate tastes so good, it just has to be sinful, right? Well, it may not be as bad as you think. In fact, believe it or not, chocolate could offer some health benefits.
Nutrition experts at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas say that the cocoa bean, the primary ingredient in chocolate, is a good source of anti-oxidants, those beneficial compounds that help reduce the risk for cancer and heart disease. In that respect, chocolate is similar to red wine, grapes, tea, onions and apples.
When it comes to the way chocolate affects your heart, the news is mixed. Studies have shown that the primary fat in chocolate has a neutral effect on total cholesterol levels and levels of LDL, the bad cholesterol. In other studies, chocolate appears to increase triglyceride levels and decrease levels of HDL, the beneficial cholesterol.
Remember that the good properties of chocolate are based on cocoa alone. Things change when it’s processed to turn it into candy. That’s when milk and sugar are added, increasing the fat and cholesterol content and diluting the antioxidant levels. Dark chocolate is lower in calories and higher in antioxidants than milk chocolate is.
So what’s the bottom line? Should you indulge a little? Sure, says Lona Sandon, a UT Southwestern nutrition expert and registered dietitian. Even if there may or may not be health benefits, a little chocolate every so often may make you feel good. Just remember to eat it in moderation.
July 1st, 2005
Don’t let your backyard burgers put a damper on your holiday cookout.
Backyard grilling is a traditional part of a July Fourth celebration, and nutrition experts at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas say you need to observe food safety precautions to keep your cookout fun for everyone.
It’s especially important to be careful when cooking hamburgers. Ground beef is the most common source of the E. coli bacteria that can cause serious illness and even death. Beef can become contaminated in slaughterhouses because even healthy cattle may carry the bacteria. Ground beef is processed more, with more of the meat surface coming in contact with processing equipment, so it’s more likely to become contaminated.
In most cases, E. coli infection causes no symptoms or just some intestinal distress, but life-threatening complications occur in about 10 percent of cases. Children and the elderly are most at risk.
Fortunately, this bacteria becomes harmless when meat is well cooked.
Dr. Scott Grundy, director of UT Southwestern’s Center for Human Nutrition, says any meat should be handled properly. Keep meat refrigerated. Ground beef should be used within one or two days. Never put cooked meat back on a surface or dish that has held raw meat. Wash all surfaces that have come into contact with raw meat. Wash your hands before and after preparing food.
Hamburger should be cooked to the well-done stage, when all pink color is gone and juices run clear.
July 1st, 2005
Restaurant portion sizes are huge—about 2 to 3 times larger than the food labels list as a serving. Even well-trained nutrition professionals tend to underestimate the amount of fat and calories in restaurant foods.
Food is abundant in the United States. There are 3,800 calories available in the food supply for each person each day. However, the average American (over the age of 4) needs about 2,350 calories per day.
Food advertisements promote mostly foods high in calories, fat, or sugar. Only 2% of food advertising is for fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans, combined.
Food advertisements subtly (and not so subtly) encourage overeating and eating when you aren’t hungry. For example, one ad from Quaker advises parents to feed their children chewy granola bars to keep them quiet. The text reads, “Kids talking too much? Give ’em a Chewy. Chewy stops the chatter.” Other familiar lines brought to you by the food industry include, “don’t just stand there—eat something,” and “once you pop…you can’t stop.”
Modern conveniences like remote controls, elevators, car washes, washing machines, leaf blowers, and drive-through windows at fast-food restaurants all mean less physical activity. The Dallas Morning News tallied up the number of calories a person could burn if he replaced several “convenient” activities, such as driving through a “drive-through” window, with their more active counterparts, such as walking into the store. Together, they added up to 8,800 calories worth of missed physical activity opportunities each month, or the amount of activity needed to burn off 2.5 pounds of fat.
Americans are not getting the basic nutrition education they need to maintain a healthy diet and healthy weight. Funding for nutrition education pales in comparison to what the food industry spends advertising unhealthy foods. Federal funding to promote nutrition and physical activity also lags far behind funding to prevent tobacco use.
Physical education (PE) in schools, which gives kids a chance to be physically active and teaches them the skills they need for a lifetime of physical activity, is declining. Only a quarter of high school students participate in daily PE, down from 42% in 1991. In fact, half of high school students are not enrolled in PE at all.
Given all the forces working against Americans’ attempts to maintain a healthy diet and weight, the government needs to do more than just cross its fingers and hope that the obesity problem goes away. To start, Congress and the Administration should increase the budget of the CDC’s Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity. They also should increase funding for the 5 A Day program, to more strongly promote fruit and vegetable intake to all Americans.
Education must be supported by policy changes that make it easier for people to eat better and be active. No one policy will solve the problem. However, a combination of policy approaches would help.
July 1st, 2005
Is there a healthy way for teens to lose “baby fat”?
Teens are often very worried about their appearance, and losing excess weight may be part of their concern. When teens go through growth spurts, they may put on extra weight while they get taller. If a teen is overweight for their height and age, it’s important for them to take an approach to weight loss that teaches them healthier habits for a lifetime of feeling and looking good.
Nutrition experts at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas say that because teens may still be growing, severely limiting food intake isn’t the best way to go about shedding extra pounds. Instead, put together a balanced diet of nutritious foods, along with exercise.
Dr. Scott Grundy, director of UT Southwestern’s Center for Human Nutrition, offers these tips for helping teens lose weight: Build your diet around foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean meats, poultry, fish, low-fat dairy products and whole grains.
Instead of depriving yourself of favorite foods, eat smaller portions. You’re less likely to go on an eating binge if you don’t feel deprived.
Be aware of when and where you eat. The timing of meals and the places you eat can have a big impact on what you eat and how much you eat. Eating on the run or grabbing a vending machine snack between activities may cause you to eat more than you realize. Try to plan mealtimes where you can relax and enjoy your food.
And develop good exercise habits by learning a sport or activity that you can enjoy for life.
July 1st, 2005
The way you go about trying to lose weight could have an impact on your health.
With all the talk about America’s obesity epidemic, diet and weight loss have become popular subjects.
We’re all looking for a quick, easy way to shed excess pounds. One diet craze that’s swept the nation is the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. On this diet, you can eat a lot of meat, eggs and cheese as long as you avoid carbohydrates. Although that doesn’t sound like a formula for weight loss, it does work to help people lose weight rapidly. But researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas say this diet is not without risks.
The high-protein diet works by forcing the body to burn fat as fuel. The body needs energy to function,
and it usually uses carbohydrates as a source of energy. If carbohydrates aren’t available, the body has to find other energy sources, including fat. When the body has to burn fat as fuel, it forms ketone (key tone) bodies, which can build up in the blood and lead to a potentially fatal condition called ketoacidosis (key to acid o sis).
Excess ketone bodies in the blood make the blood more acidic, and that increases the risk for kidney stones and weaker bones. Dr. Chia-Ying Wang, a UT Southwestern researcher, and her colleagues recently conducted a study of high-protein diets and found that chemical changes caused by these diets not only make kidney stones more likely to form, but also hamper the work of cells that build bones.
Researchers are now looking at ways to counteract these possible health risks associated with high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets.
July 1st, 2005
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