Fat belly may hurt the brain as well as the heart
November 27th 2009 20:27
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From: The Globe and Mail
Doctors have long known that people sporting a big belly are at an elevated risk of getting heart disease. But a new study suggests that having a so-called “apple-shaped” physique is bad for the brain too.
Researchers in Sweden found that women who packed fat on their waist during middle age were more than twice as likely as other women to develop dementia as they grew older.
“Anyone carrying a lot of fat around the middle is at greater risk of dying prematurely due to a heart attack or stroke,” said the study's lead author, Deborah Gustafson, a senior lecturer at the Sahlgrenska Academy of the University of Gothenburg.
“If they nevertheless manage to live beyond 70, they run a greater risk of dementia.”
Those grim findings, published in the journal Neurology, are based on an assessment of almost 1,500 women who were followed for more than three decades. During the course of the study, 161 participants succumbed to dementia.
So why is tummy fat so bad? Researchers don't have all the answers yet. But mounting evidence indicates that abdominal fat is far more biologically active than fat stored elsewhere, such as on the hips or bottom.
Indeed, medical thinking about fat has undergone a revolution in recent years. All fat was once thought to be an inert mass that simply served as body insulation and an energy reserve. Now, researchers realize that some fat – especially abdominal fat – produces hormones and other substances that can have far-reaching effects.
Some of those substances released into the blood stream can trigger inflammation that damages blood vessels, which, in turn, leads to cardiovascular disease.
In a similar fashion, inflammation in blood vessels could reduce blood flow to the brain and contribute to dementia. It's also possible that various components produced by fat directly harm the brain, Dr. Gustafson said.
“The role of fat tissue is really complicated to understand because there is so much that is happening in these cells,” she said. What seems fairly clear is that you should strive to maintain a healthy weight if you want a fit body and an active mind in old age, Dr. Gustafson said.
An abundance of protein
You need to eat protein if you want to maintain or build up your muscles. But routinely gorging on a massive steak at dinnertime won't turn you into a Charles Atlas.
The body can process only so much protein at one time, a new study suggests. And any excess protein is simply burned off as energy or stored away as fat.
The study results indicate that consuming a moderate amount of protein at each meal, combined with exercise, is the key to bulking up muscles, said lead researcher Douglas Paddon-Jones of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
For the study, the researchers recruited 17 young and 17 elderly volunteers. The participants, who included both men and women, were randomly assigned to receive either a four- or 12-ounce portion of lean beef. (Four ounces of beef contains about 30 grams of protein.)
After they consumed the meal, the researchers collected blood samples and muscle biopsies to determine how much of the protein was used by the body for producing muscle.
“We saw that 12 ounces gave exactly the same increase in muscle protein synthesis as four ounces,” Dr. Paddon-Jones said. “This suggests that at around 30 grams of protein per meal, maybe a little less, muscle protein synthesis hits an upper ceiling.”
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, are relevant to the general public – not just profession athletes, he said.
Our bodies, he said, are constantly engaged in a process of protein breakdown and renewal. Yet many people tend to consume most of their daily intake of protein in just one meal – at dinner time. A better approach would be to distribute it more evenly over other meals, “so you have enough protein on board for efficient muscle building during the day.”
Adding an egg, a glass of milk, yogurt or handful of nuts to breakfast, and some more protein at lunch may do the trick. What you want to avoid, he said, “is just throwing a whole lot of protein into a single meal at the end of the day.”
Is your surgeon depressed?
Job burnout and depression may be responsible for many of the medical errors committed by surgeons.
In a survey of 7,905 U.S. surgeons, almost 9 per cent acknowledged making a major mistake in the preceding three months. More than 70 per cent of those admitting to errors said it was their fault, rather than placing the blame on some technical or institutional problem.
The findings of the confidential survey indicated that many of these surgeons were also showing signs of emotional exhaustion and depression.
“These results suggest that a surgeon's personal mental health including burnout may have an effect on quality of care,” said the lead author, Tait Shanafelt of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
The researchers said errors “can haunt surgeons for years” and contribute to even more distress. The study was published in Annals of Surgery.
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Fat leads to many problems that are too much to count. The Dr. Oz Show has slimmed down many people and amazingly made it look simple. Everybody who is overweight adds at least 10 years to their age, making their Real Age older than their current age. One guy was 36 and his Real Age was 51!
Dr. Rozien also makes appearances from time-to-time.
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