Weight Watch Blog

July 13, 2010, 7:00 AM CT

Obesity is associated with reduced sensitivity to fat

Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, finds marked differences between obese and lean men in how they respond to the taste of fat. Fat also is less effective in obese men in stimulating certain gut hormones that are released into the bloodstream and normally suppress appetite.

The rate of obesity continues to rise within the United States and around the world, and over-consumption of calorie-laden fatty foods are an obvious culprit. How much we eat can be influenced by how foods taste and their effects on physiological responses in the gut. A reduced ability to taste and react to fat could lead to overeating and obesity. A team led by Prof. Christine Feinle-Bisset, from the University of Adelaide, Australia, asked lean and obese men to sip drinks with small amounts of fat and indicate when they could taste the fat. The scientists also measured blood levels of a hormone that is normally released from the gut when fat is consumed. Dr. Feinle-Bisset said: "We observed that being obese was linked to a reduced ability to detect fat taste, and with reduced release of an appetite-suppressing gut hormone". The results could help scientists understand more about why some obese individuals are more prone to eating a high-fat diet than lean individuals......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

July 13, 2010, 6:52 AM CT

Food marketing to children

The last six years have seen significant progress in efforts to curb the marketing of unhealthy food to children, with an increasing number of governments taking on the issue, but considerable challenges remain, a leading expert on the topic said today (Tuesday).

At the International Congress on Obesity in Stockholm, Tim Lobstein presented an analysis of the European policy landscape, undertaken as part of the European Commission's effort to gather evidence to support policy making on the marketing of foods to children.

For a number of years, public health experts have argued that the marketing of calorie-packed food and drinks to children contributes to the global obesity problem, but the issue has gained more traction over the last few years as concern over the scale of childhood obesity and has grown and as efforts to combat it have progressed.

"An increasing number of countries are trying to address this issue, with some introducing regulations addressing television advertising during children's programming or the use of familiar personalities or fictional characters to promote products during that television time slot. There is real progress, but the challenges are numerous," said Lobstein, director of policy at the International Association for the Study of Obesity, which coordinated the European Union PolMark study. "Firstly, most countries do not address advertising to children by the calorie content or other nutrient quality of the food product and marketing channels beyond broadcast advertising have been largely ignored. Secondly, our research has shown that there's a certain amount of anarchy at the moment and concluded that the terms need to be set by government, not the industry itself, because eventhough they appear to be willing, there's chaos within the details, with a lot of contradiction in what industry is offering"......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

July 9, 2010, 6:45 AM CT

Extreme obesity in children linked to reflux disease

Extremely obese children have a 40 percent higher risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and children who are moderately obese have a 30 percent higher risk of GERD in comparison to normal weight children, as per a Kaiser Permanente study published online in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity

This large population-based study establishes an association between obesity and GERD in children, an association that has been previously reported in adults. GERD can lead to decreased quality of life, chronic respiratory conditions, and increased risk for cancer of the esophagus (the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach) if it persists through adulthood.

Scientists used electronic health records to conduct a cross-sectional study of 690,321 children aged 2 19 years who were members of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California integrated health plan in 2007 and 2008.

About 8 to 25 percent of children in the U.S. appears to be affected by frequent symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux, depending upon their age and body mass index. GERD is a chronic condition in which the liquid content of the stomach flows up in to the esophagus. This can inflame and damage the lining of the esophagus. GERD appears to be responsible for an increased occurrence of coughs, asthma, and inflammation of the larynx. Left untreated, GERD may result in chronic esophageal inflammation and lasting damage to the esophagus. Cancer of the esophagus is the nation's fastest growing cancer and is expected to double in frequency in the next 20 years -- unlike most other cancers, which are decreasing in frequency. Scientists suspect this rise is due in part to the nation's obesity epidemic......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

June 28, 2010, 7:42 AM CT

Healthier cafeteria food, more intense gym classe

IHealthier cafeteria choices, longer and more intense periods of physical activity and robust in-school education programs can lower rates of obesity and other risk factors for type 2 diabetes, as per a national study called HEALTHY.

The findings will be presented Sunday, June 27, at the American Diabetes Association's 70th Scientific Sessions event in Orlando, Fla., and will appear online and in the June 29 issue of The New England Journal (NEJM).

UC Irvine was among eight academic medical centers nationwide chosen to participate in the three-year effort, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive & Kidney Diseases, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, and the American Diabetes Association.

"This is the first-ever study to show you can reduce obesity and other risks for type 2 diabetes in kids and do it in schools with at-risk, high-ethnic-minority populations," said pediatrics professor Dr. Dan M. Cooper, UCI's principal investigator for HEALTHY. "It emphasizes that schools can have a tremendous positive impact on a child's health".

Because type 2 diabetes disproportionately affects minorities and low-income people, the study was conducted in U.S. schools with high enrollments of minority children 54 percent Latino and 18 percent African American, on average and kids from low-income families. UCI partnered with middle schools in the Long Beach Unified School District: Bancroft, DeMille, Hoover, Hughes, Marshall and Stephens......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

May 15, 2010, 8:48 PM CT

Muscle mass building in elderly

For years, scientists have known that resistance exercise training such as weightlifting, in which muscles work against gravity or another force can be one of the most effective ways to fight the debilitating muscle loss caused by aging. But a number of older people are unable to get the full benefits of such training because they suffer from conditions such as arthritis that prevent them from lifting enough weight to stimulate muscle growth. And, while younger men and women continue to produce significant amounts of muscle protein for hours after a resistance exercise workout, seniors receive a much smaller post-workout benefit.

Now, though, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston scientists have determined that moderately and temporarily restricting the flow of blood through muscles a practice adopted by bodybuilders who noticed that it made light weights feel heavier can be combined with low-level resistance exercise training to produce muscle-mass increases in older men.

"We believe that this appears to be a novel therapy for older people who need to bring their muscle mass back up," said UTMB physical treatment professor Blake Rasmussen, senior author of a paper on the investigation ("Blood flow restriction exercise stimulates mTORC1 signaling and muscle protein synthesis in older men") appearing in the recent issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology "It could also be used for patients who have had surgery and aren't capable of lifting enough weight to keep their muscles in shape, or for people who have arthritis or other conditions that make lifting heavy weights a problem."........ Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

April 29, 2010, 6:29 AM CT

Obesity and fibromyalgia

Scientists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have found an association between the level of leisure time physical exercise and a future risk of developing fibromyalgia. The research team also identified BMI as an independent risk factor for fibromyalgia. Details of the study appear in the recent issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome characterized by widespread pain lasting more than 3 months, and tender point sites in the neck, shoulders, back, hips, arms, and legs. Associated features often include unexplained fatigue, sleep disturbances, headache, cognitive difficulty, and mood disturbances. The prevalence of FM increases with age and is considerably higher among women than men. Eventhough the etiology of FM is poorly understood, a number of authors have suggested that a dysfunctional autonomic nervous system involving deficiencies in the hypothalamicpituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system contributes to the development of FM by altering pain perception and endogenous pain inhibition.

As per the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, FM has been associated with stressful or traumatic events, such as car accidents, repetitive injuries, illness, certain diseases, or FM can occur spontaneously. Some researchers speculate that a gene or genes might be involved in fibromyalgia that could make a person react strongly to things that other people would not find painful......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

April 24, 2010, 9:47 AM CT

Forecasting rates of overweight

Obesity rates for American adults have stabilized while the rate of childhood and minority obesity is rising, as per a research studyin the journal Medical Decision Making, published by SAGE.

Using a novel simulation approach based on national data from 2000-2004 and validated against 2005-2006 data, the study looked at future projections for the distribution of body mass index in the United States. The research explored statistics for a number of categories of Americans based on gender, age and race, seeking to discover which overweight groups were the most likely to have stable, rising or lower rates of weight.

Projections reveal that obesity rates across all age categories for the adult US population will remain stable for the next 10 years. That positive report, however, is contrasted to less positive projections indicating that the following groups of Americans may have rising rates of overweight:.

• Black young adults (age 18-39 years).
• Children mainly boys (ages 6-9).
• Black children (10 and over).

"The unprecedented rise in obesity among U.S. adults over the past two decades appears to have stabilized and will continue to remain stable over the next 10 years," said author Anirban Basu PhD, University of Chicago School of Medicine. "Levels of obesity, however, remain very high and we're especially concerned with the increase in rates of overweight among 6-9 year-old children particularly boys. As they age they could contribute again to the rise of adult obesity, so addressing these risks in early childhood is of utmost importance"......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

March 12, 2010, 7:59 AM CT

Get Up, Get Out and Go!

Getting children involved in finding ways to become more physically active can not only make them more aware of local recreational opportunities, but can even help increase their own physical activity.

That's the result of a study examining the role of seven national parks in contributing to the health of today's youth. The study was conducted by scientists from a variety of disciplines at North Carolina State University and other U.S. universities and funded by the National Park Service.

The scientists developed pilot programs aimed at increasing the awareness of health benefits from participating in recreational activities at national parks and increasing physical activity by park visitors.

Dr. Myron Floyd, professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at NC State, specifically examined the use of Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio by studying area middle-school students.

"We decided early on that engaging the community in activities the park had to offer would be crucial in developing this pilot program," Floyd said. "We had local 6th and 7th graders actually create the tagline to promote the program: Get Up, Get Out and Go! The students also helped us determine what types of activities would get them interested enough to head out to the park"......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 8:04 AM CT

Doctors Miss Major Cause of Infertility and Obesity

Gail Donnelly's classmates nicknamed her "Knobby" because she was so skinny all her bones seemed to poke out from under her skin. But when Donnelly turned 27, that once knobby frame disappeared under mysteriously ballooning weight. Her diet hadn't changed, she was still walking several miles a day, but she gained 50 pounds in just six months.

Her doctor thought the cause was ovarian cysts. It took ten years and two surgeries before a new doctor accurately diagnosed her with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). It's a serious metabolic disorder and a main causes of hormonally related infertility, yet the disorder remains largely undiagnosed and unknown. About 5 million women in the U.S. are affected by it.

"Women are told they are too fat and aren't taken seriously for a long time," said Andrea Dunaif, M.D., the Charles F. Kettering Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a doctor at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "They go to an average of four doctors before they are diagnosed. They have been to physicians who say 'there is nothing wrong with you, don't worry'".

Before she received the news about PCOS, Donnelly, an ordinarily happy person, had sunk into a deep depression and her boyfriend accused her of letting herself go......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

January 14, 2010, 8:03 AM CT

Self-control is contagious

Before patting yourself on the back for resisting that cookie or kicking yourself for giving in to temptation, look around. A new University of Georgia study has revealed that self-control-or the lack thereof-is contagious.

In a just-published series of studies involving hundreds of volunteers, scientists have observed that watching or even thinking about someone with good self-control makes others more likely exert self-control. The scientists observed that the opposite holds, too, so that people with bad self-control influence others negatively. The effect is so powerful, in fact, that seeing the name of someone with good or bad self-control flashing on a screen for just 10 milliseconds changed the behavior of volunteers.

"The take home message of this study is that picking social influences that are positive can improve your self-control," said main author Michelle vanDellen, a visiting assistant professor in the UGA department of psychology. "And by exhibiting self-control, you're helping others around you do the same."

People tend to mimic the behavior of those around them, and characteristics such as smoking, drug use and obesity tend to spread through social networks. But vanDellen's study is believed to be the first to show that self-control is contagious across behaviors. That means that thinking about someone who exercises self-control by regularly exercising, for example, can make your more likely to stick with your financial goals, career goals or anything else that takes self-control on your part......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

December 18, 2009, 6:46 PM CT

10-15% of women may have disordered eating

Montreal, December 18, 2009 Several maladaptive eating behaviors, beyond anorexia, can affect women. Indeed, some 10 to 15 percent of women have maladaptive eating behaviours and attitudes as per newly released study from the Universit de Montral and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute reported in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

"Our results are disquieting," says Lise Gauvin, a professor at the Universit de Montral Department of Social and Preventive Medicine. "Women are exposed to a number of contradictory messages. They are encouraged to lose weight yet also encouraged to eat for the simple pleasure of it".

Some 1,501 women took part in the phone survey on eating disorders and disordered eating. Not one participant was classified as anorexic. The average age of these urban-dwelling participants was 31, the majority of respondents were non-smokers and university graduates.

Dr. Gauvin says the study sheds new light on binge eating and bulimia, which are characterized in part by excessive eating accompanied by feelings of having lost control. "About 13.7 percent of women interviewed for this study reported binge eating one to five days or one to seven times per month," she says, noting 2.5 percent of women reported forcing themselves to vomit, use laxatives, or use diuretics to maintain their weight or shape......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

December 18, 2009, 6:34 PM CT

Added sugar in raisin cereals

Elevated dental plaque acid is a risk factor that contributes to cavities in children. But eating bran flakes with raisins containing no added sugar does not promote more acid in dental plaque than bran flakes alone, as per new research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Some dentists believe sweet, sticky foods such as raisins cause cavities because they are difficult to clear off the tooth surfaces, said Christine Wu, professor and director of cariology research at UIC and lead investigator of the study.

But studies have shown that raisins are rapidly cleared from the surface of the teeth just like apples, bananas and chocolate, she said.

In the study, reported in the journal Pediatric Dentistry, children ages 7 to 11 compared four food groups -- raisins, bran flakes, commercially marketed raisin bran cereal, and a mix of bran flakes with raisins lacking any added sugar.

Sucrose, or table sugar, and sorbitol, a sugar substitute often used in diet foods, were also tested as controls.

Children chewed and swallowed the test foods within two minutes. The acid produced by the plaque bacteria on the surface of their teeth was measured at intervals.

All test foods except the sorbitol solution promoted acid production in dental plaque over 30 minutes, with the largest production between 10 to 15 minutes......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

December 17, 2009, 8:18 AM CT

New weapon in battle of the bulge

A real possibility does exist for developing a new generation of foods that make people feel full by releasing anti-hunger aromas during chewing, researchers in the Netherlands are reporting after a review of research on that topic. Such foods would fight the global epidemic of obesity with aromas that quench hunger and prevent people from overeating. Their article appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.

Rianne Ruijschop and his colleagues note that researchers long have tried to develop tasty foods that trigger or boost the feeling of fullness. Until recently, that research focused on food's effects in stomach after people swallow it. Efforts now have expanded to include foods that release hunger-quenching aromas during chewing. Molecules that make up a food's aroma apparently do so by activating areas of the brain that signal fullness.

Their analysis observed that aroma release during chewing does contribute to the feeling of fullness and possibly to consumers' decisions to stop eating. The report cites several possible applications, including developing foods that release more aroma during chewing or developing aromas that have a more powerful effect in triggering feelings of fullness......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

December 17, 2009, 8:07 AM CT

Golden ratios for female facial beauty

eauty is not only in the eye of the beholder but also in the relationship of the eyes and mouth of the beholden. The distance between a woman's eyes and the distance between her eyes and her mouth are key factors in determining how attractive she is to others, as per new psychology research from the University of California, San Diego and the University of Toronto.

Pamela Pallett and Stephen Link of UC San Diego and Kang Lee of the University of Toronto tested the existence of an ideal facial feature arrangement. They successfully identified the optimal relation between the eyes, the mouth and the edge of the face for individual beauty.

In four separate experiments, the scientists asked university students to make paired comparisons of attractiveness between female faces with identical facial features but different eye-mouth distances and different distances between the eyes.

They discovered two "golden ratios," one for length and one for width. Female faces were judged more attractive when the vertical distance between their eyes and the mouth was approximately 36 percent of the face's length, and the horizontal distance between their eyes was approximately 46 percent of the face's width.

Interestingly, these proportions correspond with those of an average face......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

December 16, 2009, 11:11 PM CT

Online Canadian Pharmacy and Competitive Pricing on Medications

People who buy prescription drugs often may well be aware of the tremendous rise in the prices of medicines. In 2006, the prices of prescription drugs witnessed an increase of 8.4%. If your prescriptions are not covered under your medical insurance policy, you appears to be contributing a huge amount towards buying drugs. The best way to save some dollars off your medical bills is to buy prescription drugs at an authorized online Canadian pharmacy.

Tips to Save Money on Prescription Drugs at an Online Canadian Pharmacy
Here are some useful tips for consumers to reduce expenses on prescription medications:

• Comparison shopping is very important whether you are shopping online or offline. When you are shopping online, it becomes very easy to compare rates and terms of various Canadian pharmacies. There can be variation in the prices of different pharmacies due to various factors, such as level of service and quality of the drugs offered. One should not shop on the assumption that if a drugstore sells more affordable products, it will be the best choice for prescription medications.
• Some pharmacies offer special discounts to senior citizens, provided they are members of recognized organizations. For instance, members of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) are charged reduced prices on prescription drugs.
• One can always buy generic drugs instead of brand names. The reason is that generic prescription drugs and brand names have the same basic composition, but different prices.
• If one is prescribed two or more medicines, then it appears to be possible to buy a medicine that offers the combined effect of the two. Most physicians prescribe these drugs without any extra charges. This will not only save you money but will make it easy for you to take and memorize a single medicine.
• Some Canadian pharmacies offer subscriptions through mail order programs to people who have been consuming the same prescription medications for a long time.
• One may ask the pharmacist if a drug can be bought in a larger dose and be consumed after splitting it into two parts. This may result in saving a lot of money. However, some pills are supposed to be consumed as a whole pill which is due to a special coating on them.

At NorthWestPharmacy.com, one can find Canadian drugs with up to 80% discount compared to local pharmacies. The website lists various products from their discount Canadian pharmacy. Moreover, if a particular medicine is not mentioned on the website, NorthWestPharmacy.com can often source it at its discount Canadian pharmacy pricing for its customers. Just give them a call toll-free and ask........ Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

December 15, 2009, 7:40 AM CT

Manual Wheelchair

As the name implies, a manual wheel chair requires the user to propel it manually while sitting on it. Manual wheelchairs are for individuals who find it difficult to walk and have been around for centuries.

Manual Wheelchair Types

A manual wheelchair is the basic design for all types of wheelchairs in use today. Most manual wheelchairs are stored by folding them and can therefore be kept in a vehicle for transport and use on arriving. These are obviously cheaper than electric chairs and come in different variations. Here are some common types of manual wheelchairs:

• Transport Wheelchairs
• Standard Wheelchairs
• Lightweight Wheelchairs
• Ultra Lightweight Wheelchairs
• Heavy Duty Wheelchairs
• Pool and Beach Chairs
• Tilt Wheelchairs
• Recliner Wheelchairs
• Rehab Shower Commode Chairs

Manual Wheelchair: Basic Features:

Any basic model manual wheelchair comprises a seat and back support, two large side wheels and two small castor wheels in the front with foot rests. The rear wheels have average diameter of ranging from 20-26 inches and resemble bicycle wheels......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

November 10, 2009, 8:37 AM CT

Diet switching can activate brain's stress system

In research that sheds light on the perils of yo-yo dieting and repeated bouts of sugar-bingeing, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have shown in animal models that cycling between periods of eating sweet and regular-tasting food can activate the brain's stress system and generate overeating, anxiety, and withdrawal-like symptoms.

The research is being published in an advance, online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) the week of November 9, 2009.

"When a number of people diet, they try to avoid fattening foods that taste good, but ultimately end up going back to their regular eating habits," said senior author Eric Zorrilla, Ph.D., an associate professor and member of the Pearson Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Research and Harold L. Dorris Neurological Research Institute at Scripps Research. "We observed that rats cycled in this way between palatable food and less tasty, but otherwise acceptable, food, begin to binge on the sweet food, stop eating their regular food, and show withdrawal-like behaviors often linked to drug addiction. As in addiction to drugs or ethanol, the brain's stress system is involved in each of these changes".

"Our research suggests that this eating pattern leads to a vicious circle," explained Pietro Cottone, Ph.D., who is co-first author of the paper with Valentina Sabino, Ph.D.; both are former postdoctoral fellows at Scripps Research who are now assistant professors and co-directors of the Laboratory of Addictive Disorders at Boston University School of Medicine. "The more you cycle this way, the more likely it is you cycle again. Having a 'free day' in your diet schedule is a risky habit"......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

November 5, 2009, 8:27 AM CT

TV commercials for kids promote unhealthy food

Childhood obesity in the United States is reaching epidemic proportions. With more than one fourth of advertising on daytime and prime time television devoted to foods and beverages and continuing questions about the role television plays in obesity, a study in the November/recent issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior examines how food advertising aimed at children might be a large contributor to the problem.

Scientists at the University of California-Davis examined the types of food advertisements seen by children watching English- and Spanish-language American television programs on Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons, which are high viewing times for children. Recordings were made of programs on twelve networks including highly rated children's cable channels Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Kids' WB, networks that appeal to older youths (MTV, BET), mainstream English-language channels ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and UPN, and Univision and Telemundo, the two highest rated Spanish language channels.

Out of 5,724 commercials recorded, 1,162 were food-related, with 91.2% of food promotions in English, and 8.7% in Spanish. Only 1 commercial was bilingual. Overall, nearly 1 in 5 advertisements was for a food or nutrition-related product, with 5.2 food advertisements presented every hour. Fast-food restaurants, sugary food, chips/crackers, and sugar-added beverages collectively accounted for more than 70% of food commercials; 34% were for ''food on the run,'' fast-food restaurants and convenience food......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

November 4, 2009, 8:18 AM CT

Lap band surgery for morbidly obese children

surgeon at Children's National Medical Center and colleagues from New York University have found laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (Lap band) to improve the health of morbidly obese adolescents.

The study, reported in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, involved nearly 50 girls and boys ages 14-17. The participants showed significant decreases in total and android fat mass 2 years after surgery. Android fat has been associated with the development of obesity-related illnesses, such as diabetes, heart disease, and insulin resistance.

"This study is the first to demonstrate the improvements in overall health and distribution of weight loss after Lap band surgery in adolescents," said Evan Nadler, MD, the main author and pediatric surgeon at Children's National. "While weight-loss surgery should always be a last resort for adults and adolescents, these findings show us that surgery in adolescents reduces the risk of significant health complications".

The study observed that Lap band surgery improved glucose metabolism, reducing the adolescents' risk of developing insulin resistance. Additionally, bone mineral density was not impacted by the surgery, suggesting that bone growth is not affected.

Dr. Nadler is the co-director of the Obesity Institute at Children's National Medical Center, which is comprehensively addressing the epidemic of childhood obesity. Staff includes pediatricians, nutritionists, psychology experts, heart specialists, gastroenterologists, and surgeons who treat patients and families in a clinical setting. The Obesity Institute also includes scientists looking at genetic differences and racial disparities, especially among children and adolescents, as well as community-based research among different ethnic groups......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

October 28, 2009, 11:30 PM CT

Getting the Affordable Insurance Quotes at Insurancespecialists.Com

There are a number of companies on the internet who provide excellent insurance deals for their customers. One of the best places on the internet to look for free insurance quotes is at insurancespecialists.com. They offer almost 50% savings on your insurance purchases. They provide guidance and information on all type of insurance policies.

We cannot just think about living in this world filled with uncertainties without the insurances. The climate change is seen all across the world and serious disasters are predicted. A number of businesses have closed down due to the global economic meltdown.

The cost of the healthcare keeps climbing sky high all the time and a lot of people around the world are unable to afford their healthcare costs.

It is imperative for us to protect ourselves from the wrath of the nature and the negative consequences of living in the modern world. Insurances are the best possible options for protecting ourselves and our families.

You might want to check out insurancespecialists.com if you are thinking about getting good insurance deals for great prices.

They offer a wide range of features along with the free insurance quotes for all type of insurances. You could also look up the insurance quotes by the zip codes. It would be wise for you to even compare your existing insurance expenses with the deals offered by them. By doing this, you will be saving hundreds of dollars in the long run......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

September 22, 2009, 10:18 PM CT

Compression Stockings: A Simple Solution for Many Disorders

Compression stockings are used to treat disorders like varicose veins, venous ulcers, blood clots, and lymphedema. These stockings apply pressure on veins and tissues that are close to the skin. The pressure ensures that the amount of blood that the veins can carry is restricted. This prevents the veins from swelling beyond a limit. Since the pressure applied by these stockings is highest at the ankle and lesser towards the upper parts of the leg, the blood is forced back to the heart. They also apply pressure on the tissues below the skin. These tissues transfer the pressure to the blood which gets pumped into the capillaries that go into the deeper tissues of the leg.

Effect on Varicose veins

Varicose veins are veins that cannot properly send blood to the heart because of the malfunctioning of the valves that are supposed to prevent the blood from flowing backwards. Veins of legs tend to be more susceptible to this condition because they have to withstand the pressure of standing and walking. Compression stockings artificially reduce the diameter of the veins and the blood circulation is partially normalized.

DVT/PTS

These stocking are also used to treat deep vein thrombosis (DVT). In this case blood is forced into the deeper veins where the blood has clotted. This usually happens to passengers who travel for long periods in planes that do not have properly adjusted humidity levels. Low humidity leads to DVT. The condition is commonly referred to as 'economy class syndrome'. Often patients who have DVT develop Post Thrombotic Syndrome (PTS). This disorder can be prevented by the use of compression stockings. Thus patients with DVT are suggested to wear them for two years after they have had DVT. ........ Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:21:11 GMT

Melon Extract Against Obesity

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In a study of hamsters fed a high fat diet, it was found that daily consumption of an antioxidant-rich melon extract may prevent obesity.

The said melon extract is commercially available as Extramel and is produced by France's Bionov.

Consumption of the commercially-available extract Extramel, produced by France's Bionov, in combination with a high-fat diet resulted in 29 per cent lower body weight compared to animals fed only the high-fat diet, according to findings published in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

"The major novel finding in our experimental conditions, and in comparison to HF, is that Extramel prevented obesity in high-fat fed hamsters by decreasing body weight, abdominal fat, triglyceridemia, insulinemia, insulin resistance, liver lipids, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and preventing adipokine imbalance," wrote the researchers, led by Jean-Max Rouanet from the University of Montpellier.

First discovered in 1968, Extramel is a rich source of the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) and is dubbed 'the enzyme of life'.
Posted by: Gloria      Read more     Source

July 20, 2009, 11:46 PM CT

Ads work better if all senses are involved

Corporations spend billions of dollars each year on food advertising. For example, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, and McDonald's each spent more than $1 billion in advertising in 2007. A newly released study in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests those advertisers are missing out if their ads only mention taste and ignore our other senses.

Naturally, most food ads mention the taste of the food being marketed. But authors Ryan S. Elder and Aradhna Krishna (both University of Michigan) demonstrate that tapping into our other senses can actually increase consumers' taste perceptions.

"Because taste is generated from multiple senses (smell, texture, sight, and sound), ads mentioning these senses will have a significant impact on taste over ads mentioning taste alone," write the authors.

In the experiments, participants were randomly assigned to view one of two ads. One ad was designed to appeal to multiple senses (for example, a tagline for a chewing gum read "stimulate your senses"), while the other ad mentioned taste alone ("long-lasting flavor"). After sampling the gum, the participants listed thoughts they had regarding the item and then rated the overall taste.

"The multiple-sense ad led to more positive sensory thoughts, which then led to higher taste perception than the single-sense ad," the authors write. "The differences in thoughts were shown to drive the differences in taste." The results were repeated with potato chips and popcorn......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

May 8, 2009, 5:15 AM CT

Increased food intake alone explains the increase in body weight

New research that uses an innovative approach to study, for the first time, the relative contributions of food and exercise habits to the development of the obesity epidemic has concluded that the rise in obesity in the United States since the 1970s was virtually all due to increased energy intake.

How much of the obesity epidemic has been caused by excess calorie intake and how much by reductions in physical activity has been long debated and while experts agree that making it easier for people to eat less and exercise more are both important for combating it, they debate where the public health focus should be.

A study presented on Friday at the European Congress on Obesity is the first to examine the question of the proportional contributions to the obesity epidemic by combining metabolic relationships, the laws of thermodynamics, epidemiological data and agricultural data.

"There have been a lot of assumptions that both reduced physical activity and increased energy intake have been major drivers of the obesity epidemic. Until now, nobody has proposed how to quantify their relative contributions to the rise in obesity since the 1970s. This study demonstrates that the weight gain in the American population seems to be virtually all explained by eating more calories. It appears that changes in physical activity played a minimal role," said the study's leader, Professor Boyd Swinburn, chair of population health and director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Australia......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

April 29, 2009, 5:27 AM CT

Reducing Health Risks for Women and Children

Diet and nutrition counseling for virtually all overweight and obese women of childbearing age can reduce health risks linked to excess weight for mothers and children alike, as per a newly released position paper from the American Dietetic Association and the American Society of Nutrition.

The position, reported in the recent issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, represents the associations' official stance on obesity, reproduction and pregnancy outcomes:

Given the detrimental influence of maternal overweight and obesity on reproductive and pregnancy outcomes for the mother and child, it is the position of the American Dietetic Association and the American Society for Nutrition that all overweight and obese women of reproductive age should receive counseling previous to pregnancy, during pregnancy and in the interconceptional period on the roles of diet and physical activity in reproductive health, in order to ameliorate these adverse outcomes.

The joint ADA/ASN position and accompanying paper were written by Anna Maria Siega-Riz, PhD, RD, LDN, assistant professor of maternal and child health at the University of North Carolina; and Janet C. King, PhD, senior scientist at Children's Hospital and Research Center, Oakland, Calif......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source

April 7, 2009, 5:24 AM CT

Children with low self-control more likely to become overweight

Young children who do not display an ability to regulate their behavior or to delay gratification in exchange for a larger reward appear predisposed to gain extra weight by their pre-teen years, as per two reports reported in the recent issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

"Obesity in childhood and adolescence appears to track into adulthood, increasing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and certain cancers in adulthood," the authors write as background information in one of the articles. "To mount effective preventive efforts, we need better information regarding the factors involved in the etiology of childhood overweight and obesity".

In one study, Lori A. Francis, Ph.D., and Elizabeth J. Susman, Ph.D., of Pennsylvania State University, State College, assessed self-regulation behavior in 1,061 children. Data were collected when children were ages 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 12 years old. At age 3, the children participated in a self-control evaluation that involved sitting alone in a room with a toy for 150 seconds. Those who waited at least 75 seconds to play with the toy were classified as high in self-regulation. At age 5, the children participated in an exercise in delayed gratification that involved choosing a smaller portion of a favorite food immediately or a larger portion several minutes later. High self-regulation was defined as waiting at least 210 seconds to eat the food......... Posted by: Evelyn      Read more         Source