Category Archives: Diet

Diet, Diet & Nutrition, Food, Health

Infographics: “Reducing Salt In Diet & Foods To Improve Blood Pressure”

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Tip To Improve Blood Pressure - Infographic - Eufic

Does reducing salt improve our blood pressure?

There is consistent evidence that moderate reductions (i.e. a decrease of 3 to 5 g or ½ to 1 teaspoon a day) in salt intake can lead to a reduction in blood pressure.5,6 However, these effects may not be the same for everyone and will depend on an individual’s starting blood pressure (greater benefits are seen in those with higher blood pressure), their current level of salt intake, genetics, disease status and medication use.

It is important to note that salt is not the only lifestyle factor that can influence our blood pressure. Other factors such as eating enough potassium, maintaining a healthy body weight, not smoking, and being physically active are also important when it comes to reducing blood pressure. You can find 7 lifestyle tips to help reduce blood pressure here.

High salt foods:

  • Processed meats such as bacon, salami, sausages and ham
  • Cheeses
  • Gravy granules, stock cubes, yeast extracts
  • Olives, pickles and other pickled foods
  • Salted and dry-roasted nuts and crisps
  • Salted and smoked meat and fish
  • Sauces: soy sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise, BBQ sauce

How Much Salt Is Too Much Salt - Infographic Eufic

What is salt?

Salt is the common name for sodium chloride (or NaCl). It consists of 40% sodium and 60% chloride. In other words, 2.5 g of salt contains 1 g of sodium and 1.5 g of chloride.

Why do we need salt?

Both sodium and chloride are essential for many body functions. They help regulate blood pressure, control fluid balance, maintain the right conditions for muscle and nerve function and allow for the absorption and transport of nutrients across cell membranes. Chloride is also used to produce stomach acid (hydrochloric acid, HCl) which helps us digest foods.

How much salt do we need per day?

The exact minimum daily requirement for salt is unknown, but it is thought to be around 1.25 g – 2.5 g (0.5 – 1 g sodium) per day.1 As salt is found in a large variety of foods the risk of deficiency is low.1,2 The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has stated that a salt intake of 5 g per day (equivalent to 2 g of sodium) is sufficient to meet both our sodium and chloride requirements as well as reduce our risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.1,2 This is equivalent to around 1 teaspoon of salt per day from all sources.

Both sodium and chloride are released from our body through our urine and when we sweat. This means bouts of heavy sweating such as during exercise can increase our salt requirements slightly. However, as most people consume well above required levels it is usually not necessary to increase salt intake during these conditions.1

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Culinary Arts, Diet, Food, News, Podcasts

Food Trends: American “Fresh Seaweed” Products Are Expanding (Podcast)

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NPR PodcastAtlantic Sea Farms is the largest commercial seaweed farm in the U.S. They line-grow their seaweed in clear, icy cold Maine waters. The seaweed — which is sold frozen in pureed cubes and in ready to eat cut strands and fermented products — is never dyed or dehydrated.

Beyond sushi restaurants and roasted snacks, seaweed is increasingly accepted, appreciated, even adored, in American kitchens — and for good reason.

Seaweed is really good for you. It’s loaded with potassium, magnesium, Vitamin B12, iodine, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and tons of calcium. And then there’s the umami bomb of taste: briny, sweet, meaty, and vegetal are just some of the ways cooks describe the flavor of various seaweeds.

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Diet, Diet & Nutrition, Health, Studies

Studies: 4- And 6-Hour Time-Restricted Eating (TRE) Diets, No Food Limits Result In Weight Loss

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UIC Chicago Illinois
University of Illinois, Chicago (July 15, 2020)

“The findings of this study are promising and reinforce what we’ve seen in other studies — fasting diets are a viable option for people who want to lose weight, especially for people who do not want to count calories or find other diets to be fatiguing,” Varady said. 

…participants in both daily fasting groups reduced calorie intake by about 550 calories each day simply by adhering to the schedule and lost about 3% of their body weight. The researchers also found that insulin resistance and oxidative stress levels were reduced among participants in the study groups when compared with the control group.

4- And 6-Hour Time Restricted Eating TRE DietsTwo daily fasting diets, also known as time-restricted feeding diets, are effective for weight loss, according to a new study published by researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The study reported results from a clinical trial that compared a 4-hour time-restricted feeding diet and a 6-hour time-restricted feeding diet to a control group.

“This is the first human clinical trial to compare the effects of two popular forms of time-restricted feeding on body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors,” said Krista Varady, professor of nutrition at the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences and corresponding author of the story.

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Diet, Health, Medicine, Studies

Diet Studies: Benefits Of “Time-Restricted Eating” (TRE) Improve With Greater Time Restriction

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From iScience / Cell.com (June 26, 2020):

iScience June 26 2020…the beneficial effects of TRE are dose dependent, with greater reductions in body weight, fat mass, and improvement in glucose tolerance when a 9-h protocol was implemented versus 12 and 15 h. The optimal TRE time frame to recommend for people has not been tested. Clear improvements have been noted after 6-, 8-, 9-, and 10-h protocols. It is likely that the greater time restriction would result in greater weight losses, which may maximize the metabolic benefits.

Eating out of phase with daily circadian rhythms induces metabolic desynchrony in peripheral metabolic organs and may increase chronic disease risk. Time-restricted eating (TRE) is a dietary approach that consolidates all calorie intake to 6- to 10-h periods during the active phase of the day, without necessarily altering diet quality and quantity.

Time-Restricted Eating

TRE reduces body weight, improves glucose tolerance, protects from hepatosteatosis, increases metabolic flexibility, reduces atherogenic lipids and blood pressure, and improves gut function and cardiometabolic health in preclinical studies. This review discusses the importance of meal timing on the circadian system, the metabolic health benefits of TRE in preclinical models and humans, the possible mechanisms of action, the challenges we face in implementing TRE in humans, and the possible consequences of delaying initiation of TRE.

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Diet, Health, Medicine, Reviews

Health Infographics: “Cancers Associated With Overweight & Obesity”

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Cancers Assoicated with Overweight and Obesity - National Cancer Institute - Infographic

There is consistent evidence that higher amounts of body fat are associated with increased risks of a number of cancers (6), including:

  • Endometrial cancer: Obese and overweight women are two to about four times as likely as normal-weight women to develop endometrial cancer (cancer of the lining of the uterus), and extremely obese women are about seven times as likely to develop the more common of the two main types of this cancer (7). The risk of endometrial cancer increases with increasing weight gain in adulthood, particularly among women who have never used menopausal hormone therapy (8).
  • Esophageal adenocarcinoma: People who are overweight or obese are about twice as likely as normal-weight people to develop a type of esophageal cancer called esophageal adenocarcinoma, and people who are extremely obese are more than four times as likely (9).
  • Gastric cardia cancer: People who are obese are nearly twice as likely as normal-weight people to develop cancer in the upper part of the stomach, that is, the part that is closest to the esophagus (10).
  • Liver cancer: People who are overweight or obese are up to twice as likely as normal-weight people to develop liver cancer. The association between overweight/obesity and liver cancer is stronger in men than women (11, 12).
  • Kidney cancer: People who are overweight or obese are nearly twice as likely as normal-weight people to develop renal cell cancer, the most common form of kidney cancer (13). The association of renal cell cancer with obesity is independent of its association with high blood pressure, a known risk factor for kidney cancer (14).
  • Multiple myeloma: Compared with normal-weight individuals, overweight and obese individuals have a slight (10% to 20%) increase in the risk of developing multiple myeloma (15).
  • Meningioma: The risk of this slow-growing brain tumor that arises in the membranes surrounding the brain and the spinal cord is increased by about 50% in people who are obese and about 20% in people who are overweight (16).
  • Pancreatic cancer: People who are overweight or obese are about 1.5 times as likely to develop pancreatic cancer as normal-weight people (17).
  • Colorectal cancer: People who are obese are slightly (about 30%) more likely to develop colorectal cancer than normal-weight people (18).A higher BMI is associated with increased risks of colon and rectal cancers in both men and in women, but the increases are higher in men than in women (18).
  • Gallbladder cancer: Compared with normal-weight people, people who are overweight have a slight (about 20%) increase in risk of gallbladder cancer, and people who are obese have a 60% increase in risk of gallbladder cancer (19, 20). The risk increase is greater in women than men.
  • Breast cancer: Many studies have shown that, in postmenopausal women, a higher BMI is associated with a modest increase in risk of breast cancer. For example, a 5-unit increase in BMI is associated with a 12% increase in risk (21). Among postmenopausal women, those who are obese have a 20% to 40% increase in risk of developing breast cancer compared with normal-weight women (22). The higher risks are seen mainly in women who have never used menopausal hormone therapy and for tumors that express hormone receptors. Obesity is also a risk factor for breast cancer in men (23).In premenopausal women, by contrast, overweight and obesity have been found to be associated with a 20% decreased risk of breast tumors that express hormone receptors (22).
  • Ovarian cancer: Higher BMI is associated with a slight increase in the risk of ovarian cancer, particularly in women who have never used menopausal hormone therapy (24). For example, a 5-unit increase in BMI is associated with a 10% increase in risk among women who have never used menopausal hormone therapy (24).
  • Thyroid cancer: Higher BMI (specifically, a 5-unit increase in BMI) is associated with a slight (10%) increase in the risk of thyroid cancer (25).

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Diet, Neuroscience, Obesity, Studies

Neuroscience: High-Sugar Diets Suppress Dopamine, Leading To Overeating

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From Phys.org/Univ. of Michigan (June 9, 2020):

High-Sugar Diet Dampens Release of Dopamine Causing Overeating - Univ of Michigan - Credit Christina May and Monica Dus“On a high-sugar diet, we find that the fruit flies’ dopaminergic neurons are less active, because the high sugar intake decreases the intensity of the sweetness signal that comes from the mouth,” Dus said. “Animals use this feedback from dopamine to make predictions about how rewarding or filling a food will be. In the high-sugar diet flies, this process is broken—they get less dopamine neuron activation and so end up eating more than they need, which over time makes them gain weight.”

It is well known that consuming food and drink high in sugar is not great for us, but scientists are continuing to unravel the intricacies of how the sweet stuff drives negative health outcomes. The latest finding comes from researchers at the University of Michigan, who through studies in fruit flies have found that excess amounts of sugar can shut down crucial neural circuits linked to regulating satiety, possibly leading to overeating in humans.

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Aging, Diet, Diet & Nutrition, Health, Old Age, Podcasts, Studies

Podcast: “MedDiet” Alters Gut Micriobiome In Older People, Improves Frailty, Cognition, Inflammation

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We observed that increased adherence to the MedDiet modulates specific components of the gut microbiota that were associated with a reduction in risk of frailty, improved cognitive function and reduced inflammatory status. 

Dr Philip Smith, Digital and Education Editor of Gut and Consultant Gastroenterologist at the Royal Liverpool Hospital interviews Professor Paul O’Toole; who is Professor of Microbial Genomics, Head of School of Microbiology and Principal Investigator in APC Microbiome Ireland, an SFI funded centre at University College Cork, Ireland, on “Mediterranean diet intervention alters the gut microbiome in older people reducing frailty and improving health status: the NU-AGE 1-year dietary intervention across 5 European countries” published in paper copy in Gut in July 2020.

Read article in BMJ Journal “Gut”

Diet, Exercise, Health, Medicine, Obesity, Studies

Study: “Intensive Diet And Exercise” Reverses Type 2 Diabetes In 61% Of Patients

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From The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology (June 2020):

Our findings show that the intensive lifestyle intervention led to significant weight loss at 12 months, and was associated with diabetes remission in over 60% of participants and normoglycaemia in over 30% of participants. The provision of this lifestyle intervention could allow a large proportion of young individuals with early diabetes to achieve improvements in key cardiometabolic outcomes, with potential long-term benefits for health and wellbeing.

The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology

Type 2 diabetes is affecting people at an increasingly younger age, particularly in the Middle East and in north Africa. We aimed to assess whether an intensive lifestyle intervention would lead to significant weight loss and improved glycaemia in young individuals with early diabetes.
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Between July 16, 2017, and Sept 30, 2018, we enrolled and randomly assigned 158 participants (n=79 in each group) to the study. 147 participants (70 in the intervention group and 77 in the control group) were included in the final intention-to-treat analysis population. Between baseline and 12 months, the mean bodyweight of participants in the intervention group reduced by 11·98 kg (95% CI 9·72 to 14·23) compared with 3·98 kg (2·78 to 5·18) in the control group (adjusted mean difference −6·08 kg [95% CI −8·37 to −3·79], p<0·0001). In the intervention group, 21% of participants achieved more than 15% weight loss between baseline and 12 months compared with 1% of participants in the control group (p<0·0001). Diabetes remission occurred in 61% of participants in the intervention group compared with 12% of those in the control group (odds ratio [OR] 12·03 [95% CI 5·17 to 28·03], p<0·0001). 33% of participants in the intervention group had normoglycaemia compared with 4% of participants in the control group (OR 12·07 [3·43 to 42·45], p<0·0001).
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Diet, Health, News, Obesity, Studies

Health: The Benefits Of “Intermittent Fasting” For People In High-Stress Jobs

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From Oxford University Press – OUP (May 1, 2020):

…ultra-processed foods are generally the foods available to nurses working nightshifts, firefighters returning to their department after a call, police officers Intermittent Fasting Article in OUP May 1 2020patrolling neighborhoods, or military soldiers during field-exercises. Thus, time-restricted eating removes the added stress of what to eat, and serves as a practical intervention conducive to the schedules of many people.

Time-restricted eating has been shown to lower circulating insulin, blood pressure, body fat and overall body weight, inflammation, and oxidative stress.

Time-restricted eating is a nutrition intervention which alternates between a period of fasting (12 – 16 hours) followed by a period of eating (8 – 12 hours). Unlike other diets, which focus on the caloric content of a meal or which foods you should eat, time-restricted eating focuses exclusively on when you eat by compressing and standardizing the feeding window each day. In turn, people following this type of eating pattern naturally enter a state of caloric deficit.

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Nutrition Reviews - Time-Restricted Feeding

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