Wednesday, July 21, 2004
It’s a Heartache
The Spare Tire of Health or Die Hard?
Several studies [1] show that a diet that allows a high fat intake, such as Atkins, increases risk for heart disease for certain people. Some people on low-carb diets have experienced arterial blockage despite having lost weight. (This shows that though there is a link between heart disease and obesity it is not a one-to-one relationship). Some also believe that a number of dieters have become so carbophobic that they are avoiding good carbohydrates such as fiber and may well not be getting the level of vitamins and minerals that they need.
[1] "Counting Carbs" Science News, July 17, 2004; Vol. 166, No. 3 , p. 40 (free access)
Keywords:Diet , Health
Several studies [1] show that a diet that allows a high fat intake, such as Atkins, increases risk for heart disease for certain people. Some people on low-carb diets have experienced arterial blockage despite having lost weight. (This shows that though there is a link between heart disease and obesity it is not a one-to-one relationship). Some also believe that a number of dieters have become so carbophobic that they are avoiding good carbohydrates such as fiber and may well not be getting the level of vitamins and minerals that they need.
[1] "Counting Carbs" Science News, July 17, 2004; Vol. 166, No. 3 , p. 40 (free access)
Keywords:
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Superfund Me!
Would you like PCBs with that?
There is a new fright on the dieting scene, body pollution! When people lose weight through fat metabolization anything that might also be dissolved in that fat will also be freed into the blood stream. This is the mechanism behind acid “flash backs.” Well it turns out that quite a few environmental pollutants are fat soluble. Also, when people lose weight there is a natural hormone that is released to slow the body’s metabolism. This theoretically is designed to help a person survive a period without food. Drug manufacturers are interested in manipulating the body’s response to this hormone since preventing it from doing its job would help many lose weight faster.
To that end scientists investigated the blood levels of the hormone (leptin) in obese patients put on calorie restricted diets [1]. In addition to the hormone they also tracked the levels of 14 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 11 pesticides. What they found was that the pollution cocktail increased by 23 percent in the blood stream and that even when leptin levels declined the body’s metabolism remained suppressed. The only explanation was that the pollution cocktail was somehow involved though the exact mechanism is unknown.
Keywords:Pollution , Pesticides , Xenohormones , Diet
[1] "A Toxic Side of Weight Loss: Pollutants may slow body's metabolism" Science News, July 17, 2004; Vol. 166, No. 3 ($ subscription article)
References (free access)
There is a new fright on the dieting scene, body pollution! When people lose weight through fat metabolization anything that might also be dissolved in that fat will also be freed into the blood stream. This is the mechanism behind acid “flash backs.” Well it turns out that quite a few environmental pollutants are fat soluble. Also, when people lose weight there is a natural hormone that is released to slow the body’s metabolism. This theoretically is designed to help a person survive a period without food. Drug manufacturers are interested in manipulating the body’s response to this hormone since preventing it from doing its job would help many lose weight faster.
To that end scientists investigated the blood levels of the hormone (leptin) in obese patients put on calorie restricted diets [1]. In addition to the hormone they also tracked the levels of 14 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 11 pesticides. What they found was that the pollution cocktail increased by 23 percent in the blood stream and that even when leptin levels declined the body’s metabolism remained suppressed. The only explanation was that the pollution cocktail was somehow involved though the exact mechanism is unknown.
Keywords:
[1] "A Toxic Side of Weight Loss: Pollutants may slow body's metabolism" Science News, July 17, 2004; Vol. 166, No. 3 ($ subscription article)
References (free access)
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Brave Old World
Brave Old World
Toward the end of the Stone Age, about 30,000 years ago, there was a dramatic increase [1]($ subscription article) in the number of people surviving long enough to be grandparents (age 30!). The sudden availability of people with greater knowledge had a deep impact on society according to researchers. The archeological record shows an explosion in artwork and ornamentation that occurred around the same time. The larger available and more knowledgeable population might also have led to the establishment of agrarian cultures that would eventually evolve into the fiefdoms and kingdoms of ancient history.
In order to determine the age at which the subject died, the researchers used a new technique of comparing the teeth from contemporary children and extrapolating tooth wear expected over the years.
[1] "Living Long in the Tooth: Grandparents may have rocked late Stone Age" Science News, July 10, 2004; Vol. 166, No. 2 , p. 20
References (free access)
Toward the end of the Stone Age, about 30,000 years ago, there was a dramatic increase [1]($ subscription article) in the number of people surviving long enough to be grandparents (age 30!). The sudden availability of people with greater knowledge had a deep impact on society according to researchers. The archeological record shows an explosion in artwork and ornamentation that occurred around the same time. The larger available and more knowledgeable population might also have led to the establishment of agrarian cultures that would eventually evolve into the fiefdoms and kingdoms of ancient history.
In order to determine the age at which the subject died, the researchers used a new technique of comparing the teeth from contemporary children and extrapolating tooth wear expected over the years.
Keywords: society , human pre-history , culture
[1] "Living Long in the Tooth: Grandparents may have rocked late Stone Age" Science News, July 10, 2004; Vol. 166, No. 2 , p. 20
References (free access)
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Less is More
Less is More
As seen in the latest Science News (1) ($ subscription article) tadpoles exposed to low levels of a common herbicide (Atrizine) have a greater death rate than ones exposed to higher levels. This finding is another in a series of recent findings (2)($ subscription article) that show that the ill effects of some pollutants are worse when those pollutants are at lower concentrations. The basic reason for why this might be is unknown, but there is some speculation that the hormonal system may be tuned to interact with chemicals only at very low concentrations.
(1) Science News, July 10, 2004; Vol. 166, No. 2, p. 20
(2) Science News, Oct. 12, 2002; Vol. 162, No. 15, p. 228
Other references and sources available from Science News (free access)
Keywords:Pollution , Pesticides , Amphibians
As seen in the latest Science News (1) ($ subscription article) tadpoles exposed to low levels of a common herbicide (Atrizine) have a greater death rate than ones exposed to higher levels. This finding is another in a series of recent findings (2)($ subscription article) that show that the ill effects of some pollutants are worse when those pollutants are at lower concentrations. The basic reason for why this might be is unknown, but there is some speculation that the hormonal system may be tuned to interact with chemicals only at very low concentrations.
(1) Science News, July 10, 2004; Vol. 166, No. 2, p. 20
(2) Science News, Oct. 12, 2002; Vol. 162, No. 15, p. 228
Other references and sources available from Science News (free access)
Keywords:
