U R What U Eat

Mom was right: You are what you eat
Choosing whole foods can ward off a variety of ailmentsAdvertisement | ad info
.by David Katz, M.D.

updated 7/25/2010 1:02:23 PM ET
Share Print Font: +-We are what we eat. We've all heard it, but most of us probably don't quite believe it. After all, you've had french fries and didn't sprout french fry antennae. So we're not really what we eat ... are we?

We are. It's every bit as true as it is hard to see. Just as our homes are made from lumber without looking like trees, our bodies are made from the nutrients we extract from foods without resembling those foods. The nutritional content of what we eat determines the composition of our cell membranes, bone marrow, blood, and hormones. Consider that the average adult loses roughly 300 billion cells to old age every day and must replace them. Our bodies are literally manufactured out of the food we consume.

That's why what we put in them is of utmost importance — and why "clean food" is an urgent priority and "junk" food is neither cute nor innocuous. In short, our bodies are only as clean as the food we feed them.

What difference does that make? Nothing less than this: Our forks — and our feet — are the master levers of medical destiny. Let me explain.

Before 1993, a list of the leading causes of death in the United States included heart disease, cancer, and stroke. But in that year, J. Michael McGinnis, MD, and William Foege, MD, changed this paradigm when they published "Actual Causes of Death in the United States" in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which looked at the causes of these diseases.

They concluded that fully half the annual deaths — roughly a million — were premature and could've been postponed by modifying behaviors, including smoking, diet and exercise, alcohol consumption, use of firearms, sexual behavior, motor vehicle crashes, and illicit drug use. Smoking and poor eating and exercise habits alone accounted for 700,000 premature deaths in 1990.

In 2004, a group of scientists at the CDC revisited this issue in JAMA and came to the same conclusion. This time, however, the toll from eating badly had gone up, due to obesity and diabetes.

Then, last summer, CDC scientists published a paper in the Archives of Internal Medicine analyzing records of more than 23,000 German adults enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study (EPIC) and investigated four behaviors: Are you eating well? Are you a healthy weight? Are you physically active? Do you smoke?

Those with four good answers (eating well, body mass index below 30, active, not smoking), compared with those with four bad answers (not eating well, BMI above 30, not active, and smoking), were 80 percent less likely to have any major chronic disease. (Imagine if a pill could reduce our risk of dying prematurely from any cause by 80 percent!)

You have doubtless heard of nature (genes) versus nurture (environment) — but this shows that lifestyle is so powerful, we can use it to nurture nature, or influence our genes. Various studies have shown this, but Dean Ornish, MD, and his colleagues have produced the most compelling results. Assigning men with prostate cancer to a "clean living" intervention that included a wholesome, plant-based diet; regular physical activity; and stress management, they demonstrated a marked reduction in the activity of genes that can promote prostate cancer growth and a significant increase in the genes that are able to control it.

That's the power and promise in clean eating, so it helps to know what it means. Is it organic? Not necessarily. Food can be organic without being nutritious — think organic gummy bears — or nutritious without being organic, such as conventionally grown broccoli. Organic is a good thing, but it's not a summary measure of "clean."

Clean foods are minimally processed and as direct from nature as possible. They're whole and free of additives, colorings, flavorings, sweeteners, and hormones. I particularly like foods with one-word ingredients, such as spinach, blueberries, almonds, salmon, and lentils. The longer the ingredient list, the more room there is for manufacturing mischief — additions of chemicals, sugar, salt, harmful oils, and unneeded calories — and the more likely it is that you should step away from the package so no one gets hurt!

There's also strong evidence that, as a rule, the closer to nature you eat, the fewer calories it will take for you to feel satisfied. The reason? Processed foods often have low amounts of fiber and water; a high ratio of calories to nutrients; and a mix of tastes from added sugar, salt, and flavoring that overly stimulates the appetite center in the hypothalamus. Clean foods are the opposite: lots of fiber and fluid, a high ratio of nutrients to calories, and free of added flavors — all of which send signals of satiety to your brain before you consume too many calories. As an example, think of how many raw almonds you eat before stopping, then compare that to honey roasted almonds — that sugary coating spurs you to eat more. By eating clean, you can control your weight permanently without feeling deprived or hungry or having constant cravings.

So, let's sum up the importance of eating clean. Our bodies are replacing billions of cells every day — and using the foods we consume as the source of building materials. Eating well is part of the formula that can reduce our risk of any major chronic disease by 80 percent and reach into our innermost selves to improve the health of our very genes.

I recall my mother admonishing me, as a child, to clean my plate because there were starving kids in China. These days, China, like us, has epidemic obesity. Forget about cleaning your plate — focus instead on choosing clean foods to put on it in the first place. You know what's at stake: life itself, the liberty that comes with good health, and the likelihood of happiness.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35350889/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/
Copyright© 2010 Rodale Inc.All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Rodale Inc.

美研究指食用染色劑可致癌

2010年07月20日 蘋果日報

本報訊 兒童吃完糖果雪條後舌頭變成五顏六色，食品添加人造色素擺明為了加強賣相，但增加了兒童過度活躍、過敏甚至患癌風險。美國公眾利益科學中心（ CSPI）研究指，多種常用的色素會危害健康，當中三種包括日落黃、檸檬黃及誘惑紅更含致癌物，要求美國當局全面禁用；澳洲已考慮禁用於兒童食物如穀物早餐。該組織發表報告，人造色素廣泛用於糖果、汽水及早餐麥片，如 M&Ms及卡夫沙律醬等食品，每年食品製造商用上 1,500萬磅人造色素，自 1955年以來每人平均食用色素上升了五倍。

芬達橙汁汽水含日落黃報告揭露動物實驗證明，商業用色素對人體有害，當中日落黃（黃色 6號）、檸檬黃（黃色 5號）及誘惑紅（紅色 40號）更含致癌物質，組織要求美國食物及藥物管理局（ FDA）全面禁用。澳洲當局考慮禁用於兒童食品。歐盟今日起，所有含有色素的食品必須加上警告字句；英國數年前則已禁用大部份人造色素。CSPI指出，不同地區的食品或使用不同色素，例如美國出售的芬達橙汁汽水，是由誘惑紅及日落黃製造，但英國則用紅蘿蔔及南瓜提取的天然色素。本港出售的芬達橙汁，罐上列明含色素代號 E110，即日落黃。本港食物安全中心回應稱，這三種色素可應用於添加於食品內，中心會密切留意及監察外國有關食品安全的報告。本身為兒科醫生的醫學會會長謝鴻興表示，兒童過度活躍可能與很多因素有關，難以斷定為食物染色料所致，但染色料非營養必需品，「純粹係個賣相，唔影響食品本身嘅營養，若證實危害健康，停用係合理」。

消委會踢爆80%穀類麥片勁高糖一包冲劑等於三粒方糖 三餐都食爆標

2010年07月16日 蘋果日報
【本報訊】自誇健康食品的穀類麥片，被踢爆絕不健康，消費者委員會發現， 80%玉米、燕麥等冷食穀類含糖量偏高， QUAKER(桂格) apple Oh's食一碗已吃下兩粒方糖。熱食麥片最甜的是雀巢麥片小麥牛奶配方，飲一小包冲劑，便已食了三粒方糖，「如果有女士為減肥三餐都食，已經幾乎爆標」。穀類麥片又常稱含豐富纖維，但原來有的只含少量甚至不含纖維，部份則太鹹。有醫生稱進食高糖多鹽食品，易致肥及增患心臟病與高血壓風險。記者：翁煜雄

消委會與食物安全中心研究市面 38款穀類麥片，包括 21款冷食穀類，即多已加添糖、果汁等的玉米、燕麥、小麥等，且只需加入牛奶毋須烹煮；另外 17款是需加入熱水等冲調的燕麥及小麥等。以每 100克食物計， 21個冷食穀類的糖含量為 4.4克至 43克，其中 80%共 17款，按英國食物標準局的準則屬於高糖，即每 100克含逾 15克糖。其中 QUAKER(桂格) apple Oh's，含高達 43克糖；若食建議份量 28克約 1小碗，便攝取 12克糖，等於兩粒方糖，約佔每日糖攝入上限 50克的 24%，該會宣傳及社區關係小組副主席許樹源稱：「如果有女士為減肥三餐都食，已經幾乎爆標。」熱食麥片則有兩款超甜，桂格即冲燕麥片原味，每 100克約含 29.3克糖，若每次吃一包約 42克麥片，便吃掉 12.3克糖，相當於兩粒半方糖，達每日攝入上限的 25%。最甜的是，糖含量高達 50克的雀巢麥片小麥牛奶配方，飲一小包 32克冲劑，便已攝入 16克糖，等於三粒方糖，達每日上限 32%。另外，穀類麥片常強調含豐富膳食纖維，但安燕家 3合 1即溶麥片，並沒含纖維，而首選牌香甜玉米片營養穀物早餐，每 100克也只含 1.9克纖維，屬偏低。

易患糖尿及心臟病
部份含鈉量偏高，即每 100克含逾 600毫克鈉，包括家樂氏玉米片，含 766.7毫克，以及含 710毫克的 Kellogg's(家樂氏)Special K red berries。不含糖的，有慈康農圃有機即溶燕麥片，及桂格即食燕麥片，鈉含量也偏低。家庭醫生關嘉美說，家長以為穀類麥片屬營養食品，常給子女當早餐甚至下午茶，「但好多裝假狗 o架，為增加銷量，加糖、加雜果。」她說攝取過多糖，會增加超重及患肥胖症風險，也易患糖尿病、高血壓和心臟病；攝取太多鈉也會易患高血壓及水腫等，應選購無添加的純燕麥等。

建議食法自己煮燕麥片最健康
食麥片為健康，但隨時被過多糖份和鹽份損害健康。營養師建議，要選低糖、低鹽、高鈣的即冲麥片，最好是買燕麥片自己烹煮，加入脫脂奶或高鈣豆漿，甚或加入肉碎煮一餐有肉味的麥片。但麥片只是澱粉質，勿以為淨食麥片飽肚便健康，必須同時食蔬菜及肉類，才能保持均衡營養。
可加脫脂奶及肉碎英國註冊營養師余思行指，成人每日攝取糖份，女士不應超過 20克，等於 4茶匙砂糖，男士則 30克， 6茶匙。每 100克食品的糖份含量低過 5克才是低糖食品。鹽份即鈉的份量，每日不應超過 2,000毫克。鈣含量超過 300毫克才算是高鈣食品。消費者應參考糖、鹽及鈣質的營養標籤去選擇低糖、低鈉但高鈣的即冲麥片。有些即冲麥片飲品，糖份更高，一小包已含有 3克糖，但冲出來卻是稀的，顯示纖維低。她建議最好購買燕麥片自己烹煮，每餐食 4大湯羮燕麥片，加入一杯脫脂奶或高鈣豆漿，又或加點牛肉、豬肉碎。她提醒，麥片是澱粉質，可代替飯，但要同時進食蔬菜和肉類，才是均衡飲食。

防兒童肥胖從飲食入手

Apple health：2010年07月12日

醫學界普遍認為運動不足是導致兒童肥胖的元凶之一，但英國一項最新研究顯示不健康飲食及營養過剩，才是導致兒童不斷增磅的成因，研究追蹤逾二百名小學生的體重變化，發現小朋友通常是體重開始增加後，才逐漸減少體能活動，並令體重進一步上升。

身體日胖才減少運動英國半島醫學院一項研究有 202名 7歲小學生參加，跟進期三年， 25%參加者是過重或癡肥，他們需定期填寫飲食及運動問卷，研究人員會定期量度參加者的脂肪比例，結果顯示脂肪水平會影響兒童做運動的習慣，但運動量的大小對脂肪比例的改變影響不大。研究發現隨着身體日漸發福，兒童有減少運動的傾向，相信受負面個人形象影響，不想參與體育活動有關，故少運動應是肥胖導致的結果引發肥胖的原因，呼籲學校與家長應從飲食入手預防兒童肥胖。

Start Walking

Want to Lose Weight? Start Walking Now

July 7, 2010

FARGO, N. D. - It may sound simple, but walking is the single most effective form of exercise to achieve heart health, plus it has the lowest dropout rate of any physical activity.

Jenna Johnson, an exercise physiologist and cardiac rehabilitation manager atSanford Merticare, is also an American Heart Association (AHA) volunteer. She recommends the AHA website,www.startwalkingnow.org, to make it easier for people to take their first steps toward better health. Almost immediately, she says, most people will notice a change in themselves through walking.

"If people have not been very active, they're going to see some benefits right away. Just even the day of the first walk, you are going to feel better at the end of the walk. Taking a break at the end, you're going to feel more relaxed, more comfortable – but people will see benefits fairly quickly."

A common deterrent to walking is finding a place to do it, especially with the lack of sidewalks in many neighborhoods. Johnson says the website takes that into account, too.

"The website does show people how to find walking paths in their communities. You can do a real quick 'search' function by putting in your city and state, and it'll show you where local walking paths are available."

The website also has a fitness and nutrition tracker to document calories consumed, as well as three customized walking plans with videos designed for beginners, intermediate and advanced walkers. So it's okay to sit at the computer, says Johnson – but only long enough to get some good information and start walking.

Dick Layman, Public News Service - ND

http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/14853-1

Killing 2 Birds with 1 Stone

Dear All,

The point to post this article is to let you know that by loosing weight, you can reduce Diabetic. Just wish more people know about HP earlier & can save a bunch of $$$ & w/o going through the discomfort & pain of the surgery.

Diabetics turn to weight-loss surgery to tame blood sugar
Surgeons studying whether operation benefits the less hefty


by ALICIA CHANG

updated 7/7/2010 7:44:24 PM ET

LOS ANGELES — For nearly a decade, Cristina Iaboni tried to tame her diabetes the usual way, through daily shots of insulin and other medicine.
Still, her blood sugar raged out of control. So Iaboni combed the Internet for another solution and found a doctor who is testing weight loss surgery on diabetics who, like herself, are merely overweight or a tad obese in an attempt to curb the chronic disease.
Scientists in recent years have discovered that diabetes all but disappears in some obese patients soon after the operation. Many were able to achieve normal blood sugar and ditch their medications.
But does the benefit extend to diabetics who are not quite as hefty? Performing surgery on the not-as-obese with the goal of reversing diabetes is provocative. Iaboni's surgeon is one of a handful of doctors around the world stretching the rules to see if the weight loss operation helps.
Iaboni had gastric bypass surgery last fall at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center as part of a study. In gastric bypass or stomach stapling surgery, the stomach is reduced to a thumb-sized pouch that holds less food.
Now 50 pounds lighter, she has stopped taking diabetes medications. Her blood sugar is almost normal.
"I didn't care if I lost any weight. I just wanted the diabetes to go away," said the 45-year-old Connecticut mother of two teenagers.

A twin health threat
The twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes are fueling an international public health threat. In the United States, one out of five people with obesity-linked Type 2 diabetes are morbidly obese — defined as 100 pounds overweight.
Surgery is generally a last resort after traditional ways to shed the pounds — such as diet and exercise — fail. Even so, there are strict rules for who can go under the knife.
Federal guidelines say surgery candidates must be morbidly obese with a body mass index over 40, or a BMI over 35 plus a weight-related medical problem like diabetes or high blood pressure. Insurers use the cutoffs in deciding whether to pay for the procedure.
BMI is a calculation of height and weight used to estimate body fat. Overweight begins at a measurement of 25, obese at 30 and morbidly obese at 40. A 5-foot-6 person is considered overweight at 155 pounds, obese at 186 pounds and morbidly obese at 248 pounds. The current BMI limits for obesity surgery were set by the National Institutes of Health in 1991.
Dr. Philip Schauer of the Cleveland Clinic is among those pushing the BMI envelope. For a study, he's recruiting 150 overweight and obese Type 2 diabetics with BMIs between 27 and 43. Some will have surgery and their progress will be compared to those who manage their diabetes with medicine. The goal is to see which group can achieve complete remission.
Smaller studies have hinted that stomach stapling and gastric banding — in which an adjustable ring is placed over the top of the stomach to create a small pouch — may work in diabetics who aren't so fat.
"These procedures can cause long-term remission and restore someone to normal blood sugar levels without medication," Schauer said.
How does the surgery help some diabetics beat the disease? Doctors don't exactly know, but there is some evidence that it may not all be due to weight loss. Diabetes occurs when the body can't regulate blood sugar, and some researchers think that the rerouting of the digestive tract after the operation affects the gut hormones involved in blood sugar control.
Last year, 220,000 people had obesity surgery, which can cost between $14,000 and $26,000, according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.
'A promising option'
The surgery is fairly safe. A 2009 study found that death, serious complications or the need for a repeat procedure occurred in 1 percent who received bands, about 5 percent who had minimally invasive gastric bypass and nearly 8 percent who had traditional bypass.
The American Diabetes Association said there's not enough evidence to generally recommend surgery for diabetics with a BMI lower than 35 outside of an experiment.
That's how Iaboni got the procedure. At 5-foot-5 and 191 pounds, she was obese with a BMI of 31.8, but not heavy enough to qualify for regular surgery under the federal BMI limits. She paid $30,000 for the surgery and hospital stay to be part of the study.

Before the operation, she would be nauseated from the diabetes medications and felt lousy all the time. When people learn that she had surgery, many react in surprise.

"They would say, 'You're not heavy. Why would you do this?' People thought I did it for the weight loss," Iaboni said.

Her surgeon, Dr. Francesco Rubino, has been pleased with her progress so far. He has plans to operate on two others as early as this month. Eventually, he hopes to enroll 50 patients with Type 2 diabetes and track if their diabetes goes away after surgery.

"It's important to tell patients this is a promising option, but of course we can't promise this is the cure for diabetes for everybody," he said.

Diabetes treatment is expensive. According to the diabetes association, those with the disease spend on average $11,744 a year on health care. A little over half of that is directly related to diabetes. Expenses include hospital stays, medications and supplies, and doctor visits.

A recent analysis by the North Carolina-based nonprofit RTI International found that gastric bypass and banding are cost-effective methods of reducing complications and death in obese people with diabetes.

The money spent on surgery "appears to provide good value," said Thomas Hoerger, who presented the findings last month at a meeting of health economists.

Some experts question whether achieving normal blood sugar is enough to justify getting surgery. Does the surgery permanently reduce a person's risk of diabetes complications such as nerve, kidney and foot damage?

"I don't believe we're at a point where we can tell people that we know the answer to that," said Dr. Robert Kaplan of the UCLA School of Public Health.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38132948/ns/health-diabetes/

癌症病人要多攝取蛋白質

2010年07月08日 蘋果日報

癌細胞迅速生長，令到新陳代謝速率增快，會消耗大量身體能量。腫瘤的增長能阻礙體內蛋白質的合成，維他命與礦物質的吸收也因而減低。當身體無法攝取足夠能量，便會利用體內儲存之營養為能量的來源，病人會出現疲勞、肌肉組織（ lean body mass）及內臟中脂質或蛋白質流失。不同的治療，例如放射治療、藥物治療及手術等出現的副作用，常見食慾不振、惡心、味覺異常、口腔容易潰爛、口乾及吞嚥困難等症狀，令病人減少進食量，導致體重嚴重下降，抵抗力也大大減弱。
癌症病人想吃得好，首先要了解營養的重要性，營養治療的目的在於補充身體所需營養及能量，避免體重遽減，並強化免疫系統，提升抵禦感染能力，充足而不過量的蛋白質攝取（需求量是平時的 1.5至 2倍），有助重建及癒合損傷的身體組織；同時也能減輕治療期間產生的副作用，讓病人更強壯地對抗癌症。

要滿足熱量需求
茶水及清湯只能提供飽肚感覺，並不能滿足熱量需求，應減少選用。另外，要多進食高質量的蛋白質食物，例如蛋類、肉類、牛奶、海產或黃豆製品。飲食原則是維持均衡飲食、增加蛋白質及熱量的攝取。每日的食物應包括五穀類、蔬菜類、水果類、魚肉豆蛋類和奶類等基本食物。盲目進食而攝取不足夠營養對癌症復康幫助有限，每名病人所需能量及營養素各有不同，個別營養飲食治療對癌症復康有莫大幫助，病人可諮詢註冊營養師的意見。下期將分享癌症治療期間的實用飲食貼士。

撰文：香港防癌會賽馬會癌症康復中心義務註冊營養師羅曼詩

第２屆食得健康好煮意烹飪比賽

http://www.healthychoicehk.com/201008special.html

過肥亞洲人 患癌風險高

過肥亞洲人 患癌風險高
(明報)2010年7月1日 星期四 05:10
【明報專訊】肥胖除了影響外觀，還跟癌症扯上關係。一項針對中港台 等地共40萬名亞洲人的跟進研究發現，過重與癡肥的人死於癌症的風險，高於體重正常者6％至21％。

過去不少研究均指出，對西方人來說，癡肥是其中一個致癌風險因素，但這原因是否同樣適用於亞洲人？

奧斯陸大學研究40萬個案

挪威奧斯陸大學（University of Oslo）研究人員Christine Parr率領研究，從中、港、台、日、韓、澳、紐、星招募共40萬名1961至1999年出生的人，進行長達4年的跟蹤研究，記錄這批成年人「體重指標」（BMI）與患癌的關係。在這40萬人中，最終有4872人死於癌症。

超重高6% 癡肥高21%

研究人員發現，參與研究的癡肥者（BMI達30或上），患癌的風險高於體重正常者（BMI介乎18.5至24.9）達21％，超重者的患癌風險則高6％。那些癡肥者分別出現大腸癌、直腸癌、子宮頸、乳癌 及白血病 。有關研究刊於最新一期腫瘤學期刊（Lancet Oncology）。

研究人員指出，在過去20年，愈來愈多亞洲國家人民出現癡肥問題，他們認為亞洲各國應制訂新策略去預防癡肥問題，否則最終加重這些國家及地區對付癌症的壓力。
.