Can losing weight around the midriff reduce the risk of visual loss and blindness?
Accumulated weight around the mid-riff (abdominal fat) is associated with an increased risk of chronic conditions including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. One of the mechanisms that may cause the build-up of fat around the middle concerns secretion of the hormone insulin, which is produced principally in response to rising levels of sugar in [...]
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Triglyeride levels associated with cardiovascular disease risk, and why we need to be wary of low-fat diets
The focus that the medical and scientific establishments put on cholesterol as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (e.g. heart disease and stroke) can means that other risk factors may not the attention they might deserve. For example, blood fats known as triglycerides have been linked with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Just a couple of weeks [...]
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Caffeine fails to enhance the taste of cola, so what’s it doing there?
I was lecturing today and at one point was exploring some of the adverse effects on health the artificial sweetener aspartame may have with regard to human health (for more about this, see here). One of the attendees was lamenting the fact that she had, for several years, drunk one and a half litres of [...]
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Change in fatty composition of the diet found to boost the body’s fat-burning potential
There are lots of different types of fat in the diet, including what are know as polyunstaturated- fats. These fats come in two major forms in the diet: omega-6 and omega-3. The main omega-6 fatty acid in the modern-day diet is known as linoleic acid. Rich sources of linoleic acid include plant oils such as [...]
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Waist size found to be strongly associated with risk of death
Previously on this site I have drawn attention to the fact that the body mass index (weight in kg divided by the square of someone’s height in metres) is not a particularly good gauge of health status. For a start, the BMI tells us noting about the body’s composition, and it is entirely possible for [...]
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Short bouts of activity found to bring similar benefits to more extended periods of exercise
Activity and exercise come in many different forms, but my number one favourite is walking. This is at least partly based on the fact that walking is something almost everyone can do, and doesn’t require any special skills or for someone to be ‘sporty’. Another reason for my enthusiasm for walking is that fact that [...]
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Peppermint oil comes out top in review of treatments for IBS
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a condition characterised by symptoms such as abdominal discomfort, bloating, wind and altered bowel habit. In conventional medicine, there is no real consensus on what causes IBS. IBS is what might be termed a diagnosis of exclusion. In other words, it’s the diagnosis that individuals end up with when tests [...]
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Shorter sleep time found to be associated with increased risk of cariovascular disease
For a long time now I’ve been a fan of sleep. Not just because of its relatively immediate impact on energy levels and sense of wellbeing, but also because of the research which links adequate sleep with improved health in the long term. Short sleep times have, for instance, been linked with an increased risk [...]
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Statins reduce cardiovascular disease in healthy people, and why this study is a poke in the eye for the cholesterol hypothesis
It’s been going this way for a while: even healthy people should be on the cholesterol-reducing drugs known as statins. That, in a nutshell, is the verdict of a study published over the weekend which found that even in people deemed to be at low risk of cardiovascular disease, treatment with rosuvastatin (Crestor) at a [...]
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Diet higher in protein and lower in carb shown to be superior for fat loss and other things
I believe that what represents an ideal diet varies from person to person, but one thing I’m clear about is that many health professionals and even our Governments advise intakes of carbohydrate that are greater than is good for us. In particular, while starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and breakfast cereals have [...]
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