Monday links
Published 12.5.2016A bit late hitting send today, but here are the interesting links I came across over the weekend and today.
- Yes, diet and exercise lowers the risk of getting some cancers. David Gorski discusses a meta-analysis measuring the protective effects of diet and exercise. Essentially, don’t be obese (which is easier to do if you don’t get fat in the first place), don’t smoke, be physically active and eat mostly plants. Specifically, veganism is counter indicated. I’ve ranted about veganism previously, but the requirement to supplement means a vegan diet is not a healthy diet. And evidence is growing that the need for supplementation is greater than vitamin B12, which is essential for vegans. Here is the study Gorski discusses.
- Avoid Alzheimer’s, move. More reason why cardiologists (Malhotra) and obesity doctors (Freedhoff) who downplay the importance of exercise need to be regularly ridiculed for their stance. Exercise is important. It can be part of weight loss, though it need not be. Telling people they don’t have to exercise is malpractice. The Mediterranean Diet gets some love, but frankly, any plant heavy diet (not vegan or vegetarian) will do.
- Ballet helps with ataxia in multiple sclerosis (MS). A targeted exercise intervention was designed based on classical ballet training.
Smoothness of gait was measured by calculating s-indexes of 29 reflective markers placed on anatomical landmarks of the body in a 5 meter walk test. Overall, the researchers found that gait smoothness significantly improved on all measures at all locations, including the upper arm, elbow, upper leg, and knee. Patients also had a significant, 42%, improvement on the Mini-BESTest, which Lopez-Ortiz noted far surpassed results in the literature for other exercise interventions.
- Delay the onset of heart failure (always a good thing) by not being obese, and not being diabetic. The two conditions are associated, but one can be a thin type two diabetic because it depends on where your body stores excess fat— as I’ve discussed frequently here.
- The national lipid profile is improving.
Mean total cholesterol levels steadily dropped from 1999-2000 to 2013-2014, from an age-adjusted average of 204 mg/dL to 189 mg/dL, Asher Rosinger, PhD, MPH, of the CDC in Hyattsville, Md., and colleagues reported online in the JAMA Cardiology. Triglyceride and LDL cholesterol levels declined too, over that period, but with significantly steeper negative slopes between 2011-2012 and 2013-2014. Over the 14-year period overall, the age-adjusted geometric mean triglyceride level among adults fell from 123 mg/dL to 97 mg/dL, while LDL cholesterol levels dropped from 126 mg/dL to 111 mg/dL.
- High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) causes asthma?
Recent research conducted by investigators at the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion—a division of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—found that 'Regular-Soda Intake, Independent of Weight Status, is Associated with Asthma among US High School Students.' On the basis of their review of prior studies, researchers hypothesized that the association may be due to high intake of sodium benzoate, a commonly used preservative in US soft drinks. But a closer look at these prior research studies suggests that there is no strong scientific evidence that the preservatives in US soft drinks are associated with asthma. Importantly, other recent research suggests that the association may be with the unpaired (excess free) fructose in high fructose corn syrup.
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