A study recently published in the journal Health Affairs says that by adding a one cent per ounce tax on soda and sugar sweetened beverages, we could save billions of dollars every year from reducing the incidence of heart disease and diabetes. Researchers estimated the tax would result in adults consuming, on average, 9 fewer calories per day. That may not sound like much but that equates to enough weight loss to reduce the number of obese adults by 867,000 in 10 years. This would translate into 95,000 fewer instance of coronary artery disease, 8,000 fewer strokes, and 26,000 fewer premature deaths. It would also raise about $13 million a year which could be used for nutrition education and other programs to help people learn how to cook and eat more healthfully. This idea is gaining favor and the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity is a strong advocate for the tax.

US News and World Report assembled a panel of 22 health experts including registered dietitians and specialists in diabetes, heart health, human behavior, and weight loss to review detailed assessments of 20 diets. The experts rated each diet in seven categories, including short- and long-term weight loss, ease of compliance, safety, and nutrition. They rated the DASH diet and the TLC diet as the best overall diets. To read the complete article and reviews of all the diets, click here.

Children’s overall screen time has more than doubled since 1999 to more than 7 hours a day! The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 hours of entertainment media time for school-aged kids a day (including 1 to 2 hours of educational, nonviolent TV).  With perseverance, patience and consistency — you can help your kids scale back their media time. Here’s how:

Make gradual changes. Do your kids usually watch hours of TV daily or are they used to constantly having the TV on as background noise? If so, try cutting down 1 hour a week to start.

Unplug your child’s room. Having a TV in your kid’s room can interfere with her sleep, making her wired at night and tired during the day. It can also lead to overeating and more sedentary behavior, and an increased risk of obesity. Keep the TV and computer out of your child’s room. If you put TVs and computers in a central location, you can better monitor the time spent in front of them.

Create a screen time schedule. Once you’ve established a TV time limit, sit down with your child every week and let him figure out how he plans to use it. Just make sure that screen time doesn’t occur during meals or within an hour of bedtime. Otherwise, honor the agreement. For example, let your child watch TV freely, without interruptions from you.

Cover the TV when it’s not in use. Put a blanket over the unit or store it in a cabinet with the doors closed when no one is watching it. If it’s not obviously out in front of them, they’ll be less likely to be drawn to it.

Talk to older kids about TV advertising. You might approach this by helping them see how advertisers often work hard to persuade them to make poor food choices. Then talk about healthier choices such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. This can lead to a great discussion about healthy food and activity.

Mind your own screen time. If you spend a chunk of your day surfing the net or watching TV, you can’t expect to pry your kids loose from their screens. Keep track of your screen time. Avoid channel surfing, and only watch TV shows that you really watch. Pick a show, turn it on, then turn off the TV when the show is over.

Encourage other activities. Reading, doing puzzles or board games, playing outside, and spending time with friends or family are a few of the healthy activities your kids can engage in instead of watching TV, playing video games, or being on the computer.

Stand your ground. Be consistent. Chances are cutting back on your child’s screen time will cause some conflicts. Stay calm and remind your child why these limits are important. In the end, you and your child will reap the rewards. A recent study in the journal Pediatrics showed that kids whose parents set limits on their kids’ TV and other screen time were more likely to be active than children whose parents gave their kids free rein.

Paraphrased from an article from the Dec 11 Rudd Center Health Digest newsletter.

http://www.cbs47.tv/webmd/parenting/youngchild/story/TV-and-Kids-How-to-Cut-Screen-Time/Qe_T-lT6lUew_h1duvNQCg.cspx

A 15-minute walk can cut snacking on chocolate at work by half, according to research by the University of Exeter. The study showed that, even in stressful situations, workers eat only half as much chocolate as they normally would after this short burst of physical activity.

Published in the journal Appetite, the research suggests that employees may find that short breaks away from their desks can help keen their minds off snacking.

In the study, 78 regular chocolate-eaters were invited to enter a simulated work environment, after two days abstinence from chocolate snacking. Two groups were asked to take a brisk 15-minute walk on a treadmill and were then given work to complete at a desk. One group was given an easy, low-stress task, while the other was asked to complete a more demanding job. The other two groups were asked to have a rest before completing the same tasks as the first two groups. Again, half were given an easier and the remainder a more challenging task. Chocolate was available in a bowl on the desk for all participants as they carried out their work.

Those who had exercised before working consumed on average half the amount of chocolate as the others: around 15 grams, compared with 28 grams. 15 grams is equivalent to a small ‘treat size’ or ‘fun size’ chocolate bar.

The difficulty of the task made no difference to the amount of chocolate they ate, which suggests that stress did not contribute to their cravings for sweet snacks.

Lead researcher Professor Adrian Taylor of the University of Exeter said: “We know that snacking on high calorie foods, like chocolate, at work can become a mindless habit and can lead to weight gain over time. We often feel that these snacks give us an energy boost, or help us deal with the stress of our jobs, including boredom. People often find it difficult to cut down on their daily treats but this study shows that by taking a short walk, they are able to regulate their intake by half.”

Exercise is known to have significant benefits for mood and energy levels and has potential for managing addictions. Professor Taylor and his colleagues at the University of Exeter have previously shown that exercise can curb cravings for chocolate but this is the first study to show a reduction in consumption.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/uoe-swc120711.php

My last hot topic article was about the benefits of tart cherry juice for relieving pain. Now it looks like it may also help improve sleep! See the posting below from the latest Tufts Health and Nutrition Update:

Instead of a glass of warm milk before bedtime, someday it may be routine to sip some tart cherry juice. Researchers in England and South Africa report that two glasses of tart cherry juice a day improved “sleep efficiency” and extended sleep time in a small randomized controlled trial. They divided 20 healthy volunteers, average age 26.6, into two groups: One group drank 30 ml of tart Montmorency cherry juice concentrate, diluted with 200 ml of water, in the morning and in the evening, for seven days, while the control group got a placebo. The cherry-drinking group saw 5-6% increases in sleep efficiency and slept an average 34 minutes per night longer, while the control group actually slept less than before the trial. Scientists suggested that the tart cherry juice might affect sleep by increasing levels of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, which rose in the test group. Antioxidants in tart cherry juice, previously shown to boost recovery after exercise, might also be helpful at bedtime. – European Journal of Nutrition

Instead of popping pain relievers for pain, you might want to give tart cherry juice a try. All you need is one tablespoon twice a day (usually diluted with some water as it is very tart to drink by itself!) to help reduce joint inflammation, muscle soreness after exercise, and prevent gout attacks. This cherry, a cousin to the sweeter Bing and black cherries, is bright red and higher in antioxidants. Look for 100% tart cherry juice in the health food section of your grocery store as it’s not the same as the cherry juice you’ll find on the juice isle.

Though it’s the fourth most common cancer, stomach cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death after lung cancer — primarily because it’s so hard to detect. Fortunately, science is uncovering the power of produce to prevent this deadly disease in the first place. A study in the journal Nutrition and Cancer demonstrated that those with the highest vegetable intake have a 50% lower risk of developing stomach cancer.

Tomatoes, broccoli sprouts, pumpkin, spinach, garlic and cabbage are among the vegetables with proven anti-cancer prowess. Your best bet is to eat more of the veggies you like — aiming for two cups daily. Not only will they provide the antioxidants needed to defend against the kind of DNA damage that can lead to cancer, they’re your best weapons against obesity, which can nearly double your risk of stomach cancer.
In addition to upping your fruit and veggie intake, avoid processed meat — regular consumption of which is linked to a 38% increased risk of stomach cancer.

Source: Dole Nutrition newsletter Jan 2010

McMaster researchers have found one more reason to exercise: working out triggers influential stem cells to become bone instead of fat, improving overall health by boosting the body’s capacity to make blood.

The body’s mesenchymal stem cells are most likely to become fat or bone, depending on which path they follow.

Using treadmill-conditioned mice, a team led by the Department of Kinesiology’s Gianni Parise has shown that aerobic exercise triggers those cells to become bone more often than fat.

The exercising mice ran less than an hour, three times a week, enough time to have a significant impact on their blood production, says Parise, an associate professor.

In sedentary mice, the same stem cells were more likely to become fat, impairing blood production in the marrow cavities of bones.

The research appears in a new paper published by the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

When it comes to improving bone health in postmenopausal women — and people of all ages, actually — a Florida State University researcher has found a simple, proactive solution to help prevent fractures and osteoporosis: eating dried plums.

“Over my career, I have tested numerous fruits, including figs, dates, strawberries and raisins, and none of them come anywhere close to having the effect on bone density that dried plums, or prunes, have,” said Bahram H. Arjmandi, Florida State’s Margaret A. Sitton Professor and chairman of the Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences in the College of Human Sciences. “All fruits and vegetables have a positive effect on nutrition, but in terms of bone health, this particular food is exceptional.”

Arjmandi and a group of researchers from Florida State and Oklahoma State University tested two groups of postmenopausal women. Over a 12-month period, the first group, consisting of 55 women, was instructed to consume 100 grams of dried plums (about 10 prunes) each day, while the second — a comparative control group of 45 women — was told to consume 100 grams of dried apples. All of the study’s participants also received daily doses of calcium (500 milligrams) and vitamin D (400 international units).
Video: Behold, the power of dried plums

The group that consumed dried plums had significantly higher bone mineral density in the ulna (one of two long bones in the forearm) and spine, in comparison with the group that ate dried apples. This, according to Arjmandi, was due in part to the ability of dried plums to suppress the rate of bone resorption, or the breakdown of bone, which tends to exceed the rate of new bone growth as people age.

The group’s research, “Comparative Effects of Dried Plum and Dried Apple on Bone in Post Menopausal Women,” was published in the British Journal of Nutrition. Arjmandi conducted the research with his graduate students Shirin Hooshmand, Sheau C. Chai and Raz L. Saadat of the College of Human Sciences; Dr. Kenneth Brummel-Smith, Florida State’s Charlotte Edwards Maguire Professor and chairman of the Department of Geriatrics in the Collegeof Medicine; and Oklahoma State University statistics Professor Mark E. Payton.

In the United States, about 8 million women have osteoporosis because of the sudden cessation of ovarian hormone production at the onset of menopause. What’s more, about 2 million men also have osteoporosis.

“In the first five to seven postmenopausal years, women are at risk of losing bone at a rate of 3 to 5 percent per year,” Arjmandi said. “However, osteoporosis is not exclusive to women and, indeed, around the age of 65, men start losing bone with the same rapidity as women.”

Arjmandi encourages people who are interested in maintaining or improving their bone health to take note of the extraordinarily positive effect that dried plums have on bone density.

“Don’t wait until you get a fracture or you are diagnosed with osteoporosis and have to have prescribed medicine,” Arjmandi said. “Do something meaningful and practical beforehand. People could start eating two to three dried plums per day and increase gradually to perhaps six to 10 per day. Prunes can be eaten in all forms and can be included in a variety of recipes.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture funded Arjmandi’s research. The California Dried Plum Board provided the dried plums for the study, as well as some funding to measure markers of oxidative stress.

Source: http://www.fsu.com/News/No-bones-about-it-Eating-dried-plums-helps-prevent-fractures-and-osteoporosis

Spices not only make our meals more delicious, they also provide important benefits to our health! Take a look at this article….and start adding more of these spices to your foods!

Eating a diet rich in spices, like turmeric and cinnamon, reduces the body’s negative responses to eating high-fat meals, according to Penn State researchers.

“Normally, when you eat a high-fat meal, you end up with high levels of triglycerides, a type of fat, in your blood,” said Sheila West, associate professor of biobehavioral health, Penn State, who led the study. “If this happens too frequently, or if triglyceride levels are raised too much, your risk of heart disease is increased. We found that adding spices to a high-fat meal reduced triglyceride response by about 30 percent, compared to a similar meal with no spices added.”

West and her colleagues prepared meals on two separate days for six men between the ages of 30 and 65 who were overweight, but otherwise healthy. The researchers added two tablespoons of culinary spices to each serving of the test meal, which consisted of chicken curry, Italian herb bread, and a cinnamon biscuit. The control meal was identical, except that spices were not included. The team drew blood from the participants every 30 minutes for three hours. They reported their findings in the current issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

“In the spiced meal, we used rosemary, oregano, cinnamon, turmeric, black pepper, cloves, garlic powder and paprika,” said Ann Skulas-Ray, postdoctoral fellow. “We selected these spices because they had potent antioxidant activity previously under controlled conditions in the lab.”

When the meal contained a blend of antioxidant spices, antioxidant activity in the blood was increased by 13 percent and insulin response decreased by about 20 percent.

According to West, many scientists think that oxidative stress contributes to heart disease, arthritis and diabetes. “Antioxidants, like spices, may be important in reducing oxidative stress and thus reducing the risk of chronic disease,” she said, adding that the spice dose they used provided the equivalent amount of antioxidants contained in 5 ounces of red wine or 1.4 ounces of dark chocolate.

Skulas-Ray noted that adding two tablespoons of spices to meals did not cause stomach upset in the participants. “They enjoyed the food and had no gastrointestinal problems,” she said. But, she added, “The participants were notified ahead of time that they would be eating highly spiced foods and they were willing to do so.”

In the future, West plans to investigate whether she can get the same results by adding smaller doses of spices to meals.

Other Penn State researchers on the paper include Ann Skulas-Ray, graduate student; Penny Kris-Etherton, Distinguished Professor of Nutrition; Danette Teeter, former research assistant; and John Vanden Heuvel, professor of veterinary science. Chung-Yen (Oliver) Chen, scientist, Tufts University, also was involved in the study.

The McCormick Science Institute and National Institutes of Health supported this work.

http://www.stonehearthnewsletters.com/antioxidant-spices-reduce-negative-effects-of-high-fat-meal/nutrition/