Sunday, April 6, 2014
Eat Chocolate To Get Thin? Study Touts Cocoa For Weight Loss
Researchers have identified the specific ingredient in chocolate that may be most responsible for its newly recognized weight loss and anti-diabetes benefits. The announcement was made today in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry,
Scientists have known for some time that cocoa leads the pack when it comes to flavanol-rich foods, with the potential to boost heart health, lower blood sugar, and decrease body fat. What they haven’t known is which flavanols are responsible for which health benefits.
In this study, researchers at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute set out to test several groups of cocoa compounds to see which were most effective for preventing weight gain and obesity. The winners: a group of compounds called oligomeric procyanidins (PCs). The researchers also found that oligomeric PCs or OPCs helped regulate blood glucose levels, suggesting the compounds might prove useful in treating diabetes.
Said lead researcher Andrew P. Neilson: “Oligomeric PCs appear to possess the greatest antiobesity and antidiabetic bioactivities of the flavanols in cocoa, particularly at the low doses employed for the present study.”
Flavanols are big news these days; in my story earlier this week, researchers announced that a flavanol found in strawberries and other fruits and vegetables may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and age-related memory loss.
And no doubt this isn’t the first time you’ve heard about all the health benefits of dark chocolate – in the past few years studies have demonstrated that eating a small quantity of dark chocolate regularly can improve heart health, boost brain function, and even help prevent cancer. But this is the first time scientists have identified this specific group of compounds, oligomeric PCs, as being the most actively beneficial for weight loss.
The way they did it was this. Mice were separated into groups and fed a high-fat diet augmented with a variety of supplements for 12 weeks. One group of mice received a cocoa flavanol extract, while other groups received monomeric, oligomeric, or polymeric procyanidins (PCs).
When the mice were compared, it was clear that those fed oligomeric PCs had the lowest fat mass, lowest body weight, and were least likely to develop impaired glucose tolerance and insulin resistance – all this despite eating a high-fat diet.
Of course, the same caveat applies as always; this is a mouse study, meaning that the results can’t be applied directly to humans until further testing confirms that the benefits translate to us.
That said, researchers have been looking into the potential benefits of oligomeric PCs – also known as procyanidolic oligomers or PCOs – for some time. Double-blind clinical research has shown they have the ability to strengthen capillaries, and a 2003 study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that oligomeric PCs, along with other cocoa flavanols, were anti-inflammatory and inhibited platelet function to reduce blood clotting.
But there is still plenty of research to be done to isolate exactly which compounds in cocoa are responsible for its remarkable healthful properties.
Why does this matter? Because chocolate, as we all know, doesn’t just contain cocoa, there”s plenty of sugar and fat in the mix, too. And sugar and fat are not what you want to be eating if you’re overweight or diabetic. By isolating the flavonones most responsible for chocolate’s health benefits, science may be able to offer the antioxidants in a concentrated, purified form.
Of course, that woudn’t be nearly as much fun.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Being 'calorie aware' is key to weight loss
Many people believe that eating several smaller meals a day aids in weight loss, but a new study suggests otherwise.
It turns out that when trying to lose weight, eating five small meals a day won't make you any skinnier, but what matters most is being "calorie aware".
The study, from Britain's University of Warwick, analysed 24 women of varying weights and compared the amount of calories burnt by those who ate two meals a day with those who ate five meals and found no measurable difference.
“The size and frequency of the meal doesn't affect the calories we burn a day,” said Dr Milan Kumer, the lead researcher for the study.
Although size and frequency of a meal doesn't matter, when trying to decide whether it's better to have several small meals a day or go back to eating three, says dietician Dr Joanna McMillan she's always been a three-meals-a-day person.
The trouble with eating so often is that the thought of food is constantly on your brain, which is one of the things Dr McMillan tries to get people to think less about.
“If you're thinking about eating food every two to three hours then you're constantly going 'what am I going to eat next? What am I going to have next? What time is it? Am I ready to eat again?'”
A lot of people need to be directing their attention away from food in order to control their weight, she says.
The idea behind eating several smaller meals came from a series of studies that compared eating one big meal at the end of the day to eating six small meals spaced throughout the day, both containing the same amount of calories, explains Dr McMillan.
They found that you burned more kilojoules metabolising and digesting the six small meals than you did digesting one big one, making eating more portions the favourable option when dieting.
That said, we are so accustomed in our culture to three meals a day.
“What I find is when people are trying to eat five or six meals a day they still eat the same for breakfast, lunch and dinner but they're adding food in between and they end up eating more food,” says the dietician.
What does make sense about eating more meals is that you are less likely to be hungry, but at the same time people are also less likely to be satisfied.
“I talk to my clients about their hunger rating on a scale from one to 10, one being 'I'm ravenous hungry' and 10 being 'I'm Christmas-lunch stuffed.'”
When eating smaller meals constantly you're never “ravenous” but you're never “Christmas-lunch stuffed” either.
Meaning you're more likely to go in search of something else. “It's sort of like that itch that you can't scratch,” says Dr McMillan.
Like everything, there is also a downside to counting calories. “It can lead to obsession and disordered eating.”
But also if you are selecting your foods based on calories alone then you aren't taking into account their nutritional content.
“Someone might say 'well, I'm not eating nuts because they have a high kilojoule count' and they'll choose a low fat, low kilojoule rice cracker instead. What they've done is chosen a processed food over a natural food that has no health benefits.”
Instead of counting calories, Dr McMillan prefers the idea of “calorie awareness”. This means being aware of how many calories you're trying to have and knowing roughly how many goes into each portion.
“When I walk into McDonald's and look at the burgers I understand what eating one means without counting the kilojoules of everything that goes into my mouth,” says Dr McMillan.
“I'm a dietician and I couldn't tell you how many kilojoules are in the meal that I cooked for dinner last night,” she says.
The key to weight loss is being calorie aware, not how many meals you eat each day.
It's about knowing your body and trying to understand your hunger and what's driving you to seek food.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
Eat Fat Burn Fat
Wait…fat can help us maintain our weight? Fat doesn’t make us fat? In a word: exactly.
Fat is not something to avoid. For starters, it’s essential for normal growth and development. Dietary fat also provides energy, protects our organs, maintains cell membranes, and helps the body absorb and process nutrients. Even better, it helps the body burn fat, says nutritionist and owner of Nutritious Life meal system, Keri Glassman, RD, who recommends that about a third of any weight-loss plan’s calories come from dietary fat.
Before you grab a deep-fried hot dog, consider this: not all fatty foods are created equal. The foods you choose can mean the difference between a trim body and one plagued with obesity and disease, Glassman says. While a diet of stereotypically fatty foods like pizza, French fries, and hamburgers can contribute to weight gain and deterioration of health, the dietetic community is learning that the overall nutritional content of these foods—not their saturated fat—is what’s to blame. Sure, research from 50 years ago found that saturated fatty acids, a type of fat that’s “saturated” with hydrogen and typically solid at room temperature, raised LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.
But a reevaluation of that research has shown that they raise HDL (good) cholesterol just as much, if not more, protecting the body from unhealthy cholesterol levels and heart disease, says nutritionist and national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association Tara Gidus, RD. “Instead of making any one thing in the diet a villain, we need to look at total caloric content as well as quality of food, what are we eating that is ‘good’ and helping our body’s immune system and cells to stay healthy.”
Most of the fat that you eat—especially if you want to lose weight—should come from unsaturated sources, both monounsaturated (MUFA) and polyunsaturated (PUFA), Glassman says. Why? These good-for-you foods (like fish, seeds, nuts, leafy vegetables, olive oil, and, of course, avocadoes) pack tons of nutrients. Besides removing LDL cholesterol from arteries and promoting a healthier heart, unsaturated fat can help you burn fat big time without cutting calories. A 2009 study in the British Journal of Nutrition, found that participants who consumed the most unsaturated fatty acids have lower body mass indexes and less abdominal fat than those who consumed the least. Why? The unsaturated folks ate higher-quality foods.
Not long ago, the low-fat/no-fat diet craze swept across the food landscape. Manufacturers marketed low-fat and no-fat everything, and consumers responded by chowing down. It’s healthy, right? Wrong. All wrong. Besides stripping our bodies of a much-needed nutrient, low- and no-fat diet movements have increased obesity rates. Why? It turns out that fat provides a big component to the foods we love: Taste. When food manufacturers removed fat from their foods, they had to load the foods with sugar and salt, which are nutrient-free, to increase flavor. For example, the second most prevalent ingredient Kraft Fat-Free Catalina salad dressing, for instance, is high fructose corn syrup, packing 7g of sugar per serving. And just one ounce of the saucy stuff packs 350mg of sodium—that’s 15% of your recommended daily value—and who eats just one “serving,” anyway?
And that’s just the start. Here are other crucial ways fat can help you slim down:
Fat Burns Fat
The body needs three macronutrients for energy: Carbohydrates, protein, and fat. A gram of fat packs more than twice the energy of a gram of the other two. “When you don’t have any fat in your diet its like you don’t have fuel to burn calories,” Glassman says. The body requires energy to keep its metabolism properly functioning, and a 2007 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that consuming fatty acids can boost metabolic health.
What’s more, “old” fat stored in the body’s peripheral tissues—around the belly, thighs, or butt (also called subcutaneous fat)—can’t be burned efficiently without “new” fat to help the process, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Dietary fat helps break down existing fat by activating PPAR-alpha and fat-burning pathways through the liver.
Think of mealtime like baseball spring training: young, hungry players (new fat) hit the field and show the general manger (the liver) that it’s time to send the old, worn-out players (subcutaneous fat) home. And away they go.
Fat Keeps You Full
Fat isn’t the easiest nutrient to digest, so it sticks around in the digestive system for more time than many other nutrients. MUFAs may also help stabilize blood sugar levels, according to Mayo Clinic. That means you feel full longer, and you won’t feel the stomach-growling urge to raid the refrigerator after mealtime.
In fact, diets with high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, a type of MUFA that the body can only acquire through food, create a greater sense of fullness both immediately following and two hours after dinner than do meals with low levels of the fatty acids, according to a 2008 study from University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. It’s no surprise that dieters who consume moderate levels of fat are more likely to stick with their eating plans than dieters who consume low levels of fat.
The result? More weight lost.
Fat Makes You Happy
Everyone says that dieting, not to put too fine a point on it, stinks. Eating yummy foods makes you happy, and it turns out low-fat versions just don’t do the trick for one surprising reason: We can taste the fat—not just the salt, sugar, and other goodies in food.
Recent research from Purdue University shows that our taste buds can detect fat in food, which helps explain why low-fat foods don’t curb our fat cravings. According to the research, fat may be an entirely different basic taste than what we’ve long considered the four mainstays: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. On an even happier fat note, omega-3 fatty acids can boost serotonin levels in the brain, helping to improve mood, increase motivation, and keep you from devouring a large pizza like it’s your job. 3.5% of women and 2% of men have suffered from diagnosed binge-eating disorders, while millions more people are occasional emotional eaters, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health.
Fat Builds Muscle
“Eating good fats along with an effective exercise program can increase muscle,” says trainer and owner of Results Fitness, Rachel Cosgrove, CSCS, who notes that increasing muscle mass is vital to increasing metabolism and burning calories both in and out of the gym. In a 2011 study published in Clinical Science, researchers examined the effects of eight weeks of PUFA supplementation in adults ages 25 to 45 and found that the fat increases protein concentration and the size of muscular cells in the body. Previous studies have found that omega-3 fatty acids stimulate muscle protein synthesis in older adults and can mediate muscle mass loss due to aging.
Fat Makes Food Better For You
Many nutrients including vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, meaning that the body can’t absorb them without fat. If your body isn’t absorbing nutrients properly, that can lead to vitamin deficiencies and bring on dry skin, blindness, brittle bones, muscle pains, and abnormal blood clotting, according to Gidus.
These vitamins are also key to maintaining energy, focus, and muscle health, all of which contribute to a healthy weight. Vitamin E, for example is a powerful antioxidant and helps maintain your metabolism, while the body’s levels of vitamin D predicts its ability to lose fat, especially in the abdominal region, according to a clinical trial from the University of Minnesota Medical School. So while you can pile your salad high with nutrient-rich spinach, tomatoes, and carrots, you really need to thank the olive oil for sending the salad’s vitamins your way.
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