Belly Fat is Far More Dangerous! By Dr. Mercola. A study on belly fat presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress. The traditional index of obesity, BMI (body mass index), has been proven to be terribly flawed as having a normal overall BMI and high abdominal obesity was found to be more dangerous than having a total BMI in the obese range. For example, cardiovascular deaths in the study were 2. BMI and a normal waist- to- hip ratio. It also implies that monitoring one's belly fat is more important than watching BMI. According to Medical News Today: 3. This group has the highest death rate, even higher than those who are considered obese based on body mass index. From a public health perspective, this is a significant finding.' .. Dr. Lopez- Jimenez wants readers to understand that even though their body mass index might be normal, it doesn't mean they have a low risk of heart disease. People can determine their risks by getting a waist- to- hip measurement, because where fat is distributed on the body can tell a lot, even if people have normal body weights. The study above used waist- to- hip measurement. This is done by measuring the circumference of your hips at the widest part, across your buttocks. Then measure your waist at the smallest circumference of your natural waist, just above your belly button. Divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement to get the ratio. The University of Maryland offers a handy online waist- to- hip ratio calculator you can use, which also tells you whether or not you might be at an increased risk for heart disease. The featured study used the following waist- to- hip ratio designations: Normal = 0. High = 0. 8. 5 or greater in women, and 0. Another even simpler method to figure out if you have a weight problem is to measure only your waist circumference (the distance around the smallest area below the rib cage and above your belly button). Waist circumference is the easiest anthropometric measure of total body fat. Either of these methods are far better than BMI for judging disease risk, as BMI fails to factor in how muscular you are. BMI also cannot give you an indication of your intra- abdominal fat mass. Waist size, on the other hand, gives a good indication of the amount of fat you're carrying, particularly around the stomach area. Abdominal fat is considered an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease and stroke. Your waist size is also a powerful indicator of insulin sensitivity, as studies clearly show that measuring your waist size is one of the most powerful ways to predict your risk for diabetes. If you're not sure if you have a healthy waist circumference, a general guide is: For men, between 3. For women, between 3. Body Fat Percentage – Another Way to Gauge Ideal Body Size. Yet another tool, which many experts are now leaning toward as the most accurate measure of obesity, is body fat percentage. As it sounds, this is simply the percentage of fat your body contains, and it can be a powerful indicator of your health. Too much body fat is linked to chronic health problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Too little body fat is also problematic and can cause your body to enter a catabolic state, where muscle protein is used as fuel. A general guideline from the American Council on Exercise is as follows: Classification. The remaining 20 percent can be acidic foods. An Anti-Acne Clear Skin Meal Plan That’ll Get You Glowing. Eat your way to a better complexion. Women (percent fat)Men (percent fat)Essential Fat. Athletes. 14- 2. 0 percent 6- 1. Fitness. 21- 2. 4 percent 1. Acceptable. 25- 3. Obese. 32 percent and higher 2. Body fat calipers are one of the most trusted and most accurate ways to measure body fat. A body fat or skinfold caliper is a lightweight, hand- held device that quickly and easily measures the thickness of a fold of your skin with its underlying layer of fat. Taken at three very specific locations on your body, these readings can help you estimate the total percent of body fat within your entire body. You can also use a digital scale that determines body fat, which is what I use personally. I use an Eat Smart Precision Get. Check out the latest fitness trends, workouts, gear, sports news and health nutrition and advice, all on SELF. The diet plan that works for EVERYONE: From office workers to menopausal women, newlyweds to fitness fanatics, expert reveals what you should be eating depending on. Buy Amway products online in India at Healthkart.com. Shop Nutrilite Amway Protein, Tablets, Capsules at best prices. A study on belly fat confirms that visceral fat – the type that gathers around your internal organs – is far more dangerous than having a total BMI in the obese range. Fit Body Fat Scale that I picked up from Amazon for around $5. Although many body fat measurements can be inaccurate, they are nearly all more accurate than BMI, and are particularly useful to determine whether you are gaining or losing fat. Although the absolute value may be off, the direction you are going (whether your body fat is going up or down) will be very accurate, and this is an incredibly useful measure of whether you're nearing your health goals or not. Remember that it is FAR better to monitor your body fat percentage than it is your total weight, as the body fat percentage is what dictates metabolic health or dysfunction – not your total weight. Does Reducing Fructose Intake Matter If You Want to Lose Weight? A recent study published in the Nutrition Journal. The authors claim their findings indicate there's no difference between regular sugar and high fructose corn syrup on weight loss. Richard Johnson, author of The Sugar Fix, and The Fat Switch (which I'll discuss in a moment), sent me the following rebuttal to share with you. A recent study from James Rippe's group reported in the Nutrition Journal that low calorie diets caused equivalent weight loss regardless of the content of sugar or high fructose corn syrup. The study involved randomizing 2. Sodium The combination of fat, sugar, and lots of sodium (salt) can make fast food tastier to some people. But diets high in sodium can lead to water retention, which. Each group was given a diet calculated to reduce total calorie intake by 5. At the end of 1. 2 weeks all low- calorie groups showed similar decreases in weight. The authors concluded that the key aspect for weight loss is caloric restriction and not the content of fructose in the food. They also said that diets containing sucrose and high fructose corn syrup acted no differently from each other. Why the Fructose Content of Food Counts Let us address two issues that this study raises. The first question is whether it matters to reduce the intake of added sugars when you go on a diet. The second question is whether there is any real difference between table sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup. Does reducing sugar content matter? It is true that weight is largely governed by the law of thermodynamics, and that to lose weight the most effective way is to reduce food intake. This is why any diet that reduces calories will be effective at weight loss. However, reducing intake of added sugars, such as from table sugar (sucrose) or high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), does matter. These sugars contain fructose, and fructose has been shown to encourage weight gain because fructose can induce resistance to leptin, a hormone that controls appetite. When fructose is fed to animals, they lose their ability to control their appetite. Restricting fructose intake can lead to a recovery of leptin sensitivity. This may be one reason low carb diets encourage weight loss, as they are essentially low fructose diets. However, the problem with the study by Rippe is that all four diets consisted of an equivalent reduction in calories – so the benefit of reducing fructose on weight would have been largely obscured. However, we can see trends of a benefit – in that the two diets that contained 1. HFCS showed a 3. 3 and 4. HFCS or sucrose only had a 2. This is likely because the diets lower in fructose were able to satisfy the appetite more effectively and likely did lead to some differences in energy intake. Of greater concern is not weight, but the effects of fructose on body composition, fatty liver and insulin resistance. Fructose can rapidly induce metabolic syndrome and fatty liver that is not observed in animals fed the same number of calories as glucose or starch. Weight gain is driven more by calories, but fatty liver and insulin resistance are driven more by fructose. In this study, the authors did not look at fatty liver or insulin resistance as outcomes. However, they did measure changes in fat percentage – again we see similar trends, with a reduction of 1. HFCS groups, and a reduction of 1. HFCS groups. Thus, these studies suggest that reducing calories may reduce weight, but the content of fructose does matter. Indeed, it is a shame that the authors did not include a hypocaloric diet with high sugar content. For example, some adolescents are ingesting 3. We found that laboratory rats given a diet of 4. We therefore need to rethink about the question of whether calories are just calories. Calories are important when it comes to weight, but the type of calorie can make a big difference on how it affects our risk for fat accumulation and diabetes. Are there differences between sugar and HFCS? The study by Rippe's group also implies that HFCS and sugar are relatively equivalent in their effects. For sure, both contain fructose and can induce metabolic syndrome and weight gain in animals. However, there are several differences that suggest that HFCS may be slightly worse. First, soft drinks containing HFCS do contain more fructose than soft drinks with the equivalent amount of sucrose, in part because of the higher fructose content in HFCS. Our group found that this translates into higher blood fructose levels and higher blood pressure following ingestion. More recently, Michael Goran's group found that the percentage of fructose in HFCS- containing drinks is often higher than labeled, and may contain as much as 6. Second, there may also be differences in how the fructose is absorbed between the two drinks. Thus, HFCS may result in faster absorption of the fructose since the fructose is not bound, whereas sucrose must first be degraded to glucose and fructose in the gut before it is absorbed. Our group found that mixtures of fructose and glucose led to worse fatty liver in laboratory animals than equivalent amounts of sucrose. Clearly more studies are needed, but the evidence does suggest that there are likely biological differences in these two added sugars. In summary, we would recommend reducing intake of added sugars, both from sucrose and from HFCS, in any dietary plan. Black vs Green vs Red. Tea is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world, second only after water. Among all varieties of tea - black, green, white, oolong, red, herbal - which one offer the most health benefits? Should you avoid adding milk in your tea? Does decaf tea provides the same health benefits? The leaves from this tree contain antioxidant polyphenols. As a general rule of thumb, the more oxidizing processing tea leaves undergo, the darker they will turn. These young leaves contain little or no chlorophyll, therefore they are silvery white. White tea is the least processed tea, almost unoxidized. The most prominent benefits are derived from its high antioxidant content, particularly catechins, with anti- cancer properties. Studies found that a cup of green tea contains about 1. Chinese green teas are usually wok- roasted, unlike the Japanese steaming process. Both processes actually halts the natural enzymes, preventing them from oxidizing tea’s natural polyphenols. Among all green tea, matcha contains the highest level of catechin epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), indeed 1. Amazingly, EGCG has been shown to speed up your body’s metabolism, which may help to keep the weight off. That’s because we name it by the color of the black tea leaves, while the Chinese and Japanese name it for the color of the red liquid. Regardless of how we call it, black tea possesses different antioxidants as a result of an additional oxidation process. Such process decreases catechin content, but produces other unique antioxidants, namely theaflavins and thearubigins. It is indeed theaflavins that is responsible for the unique red brewed color! Studies found that these two compounds are capable of lowering cholesterol. Therefore it contains antioxidant profiles of both teas, that is catechins from green tea and theaflavins and thearubigins from black tea. Bacterial and yeast fermentation is introduced in the processing. Such fermentation produces a unique antioxidant called theabrownin. Animal studies have found that theabrownin possesses cholesterol- lowering properties. Indeed, most herbal teas in the market technically are not tea. They are only infusions made with herbs, flowers, roots, spices or other parts of some plants. The proper term for this type of beverage is . Although red Rooibos tea doesn’t come from the Camillia plant, recent studies showed that Rooibos tea contains quercetin, an antioxidant that has been found to benefit heart health, and can act as an anti- inflammatory agent, protecting bodies from other chronic inflammatory diseases. Although herbal tea has not been proven for heart health and cancer prevention, it is still a plant- based drink and is better than soda and juice! Most plants contain some levels of antioxidants, as it is a natural mechanism to protect themselves against extended sun exposure. And it's not because of calories. A small 2. 00. 7 European study found that the addition of milk into black tea completely blunted its heart health beneficial effects! So, try drinking tea plain! Should I Drink Decaf Tea? A cup of tea contains about 3. A few studies found that decaf tea contains less flavonol than regular tea. The lower ORAC values from decaf tea also support the findings of less flavonol content. A 2. 00. 3 UCLA study found that the ORAC values of decaf tea ranged from 5. We suspect that the process of removing caffeine may have removed some beneficial flavonol antioxidants. Based on the above findings, we recommend sticking to regular tea! In addition, all tea contains L- Theanine, a unique compound that give a sense of relaxation. That’s why buddhist monks use tea to help them meditate. And that’s also probably why despite the caffeine content, tea drinkers never complain about being agitated, or unable to fall asleep! Unfortunately, iced tea doesn't necessary provide the same health benefits as brewed tea. A report by the American Chemical Society found that bottled iced tea contain fewer polyphenols than brewed green or black tea. And don't forget about the calories content too; brewed tea contains zero calories while a cup of bottled iced tea contains an average of 8. Different tea offers health benefits. So try drinking a variety, not just one specific kind. Don’t forget to enjoy the wonderful aromas of all tea!
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