Diets: “They All Work When You Stick To Them”

Public perception,  even that of some health professionals,  is that people who are classified as obese are lazy and have made few serious attempts to lose weight.  We are now starting to understand that the underlying causes of the obesity epidemic operate at numerous levels – individual,  cultural,  societal, and biological.  We also acknowledge that fad diets are not the solution to weight loss,  and that we need to consider a number of short and long term strategies to facilitate the social change needed to enable individuals,  families and communities to live healthy lifestyles.

Many obese individuals still rely on ‘quick fix’ strategies in their ongoing and often life-long, struggle with their weight.  Furthermore, physicians still recommend many popular commercial diets as individual strategies for weight loss,  even though they have been shown not to be effective.  Read on…

Diets: “They All Work When You Stick To Them”.

Are all Omega-3 Fatty Acids Created equal?

Breanne M Anderson and David WL Ma

Omega-3 (N-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids have been shown to have potential beneficial effects for chronic diseases including cancer, insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease.

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in particular have been studied extensively, whereas substantive evidence for a biological role for the precursor,  alpha-linolenic acid (ALA),  is lacking.

Image via Wikipedia

It is not enough to assume that ALA exerts effects through conversion to EPA and DHA,  as the process is highly inefficient in humans.  Thus, clarification of ALA’s involvement in health and disease is essential,  as it is the principle n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid consumed in the North American diet and intakes of EPA and DHA are typically very low.

Continue Reading >>  Are all Omega-3 Fatty Acids Created equal?.

Caffeine And Sports Performance

International society of sports nutrition position stand: caffeine and performance

Research on the physiological effects of caffeine in relation to human sport performance is extensive. In fact, investigations continue to emerge that serve to delineate and expand existing science.

image via flickr

Caffeine research in specific areas of interest, such as endurance,  strength,  team sport,  recovery, and hydration is vast and at times,  conflicting.  Therefore,  the intention of this position statement is to summarize and highlight the scientific literature,  and effectively guide researchers, practitioners,  coaches, and athletes on the most suitable and efficient means to apply caffeine supplementation to mode of exercise,  intensity,  and duration.

Continue Reading >>  Caffeine And Sports/Exercise  Performance.

Related articles

• Ergogenic Supplements: Vitamins, Minerals, Aminos, ETC. (gustrength.wordpress.com)

The Creatine Transporter: A Brief Review of Creatine Supplementation in Humans and Animals

Ever wondered why creatine works better for some people than for others? The theory is that some are “non-responders” to creatine supplementation.

image via flickr

It is hypothesized that this variability is due to the process that controls both the influx and efflux of creatine across the cell membrane, and is likely due to a decrease in activity of the creatine transporter from various compounding factors. Furthermore, additional data suggests that an individual’s initial biological profile may partially determine the efficacy of a creatine supplementation protocol. This brief review will examine both animal and human research in relation to the regulation and expression of the creatine transporter (CreaT). Schoch, et al.

Read on >>  The Creatine Transporter: A Brief Review of Creatine Supplementation in Humans and Animals.

Related articles

• Creatine And Exercise (gustrength.com)

Calorie Confusion: The History of the Calorie

Image via Wikipedia

by James L Hargrove

Nutrition scientists,  dietitians and clinical nutritionists face a dilemma that other scientists do not.  Ever since the adoption of the international system (SI) of scientific units in the 1950’s,  the joule has been the only defined SI unit of energy.  Neither the g-calorie nor the kcal is an SI unit.  However, unlike other scientists, nutritionists are involved in public education concerning energy balance,  and the U.S. lay public has been familiar with the Calorie for over 100 years.  Indeed, the Calorie on U.S.  food labels is one of the few tools available for public education about energy balance.  At present,  it is not helpful to ask lay people to set aside this tool and instead learn metric prefixes and SI terminology.  An interesting but little known aspect of this situation is that the Calorie predated the joule by more than 60 years, and the original definition was almost exactly the same as presently found on U.S.  food labels.  One purpose of this article is to explain the priority of the Calorie relative to other energy units,  and how it was displaced by the joule and kcal.

Calorie Confusion: The History of the Calorie.

The Gluten-Free Diet: Safety and Nutritional Quality

Image via Wikipedia

The prevalence of Celiac Disease (CD),  an autoimmune enteropathy, characterized by chronic inflammation of the intestinal mucosa, atrophy of intestinal villi and several clinical manifestations has increased in recent years.  Subjects affected by CD cannot tolerate gluten protein, a mixture of storage proteins contained in several cereals (wheat, rye, barley and derivatives).  Gluten free-diet remains the cornerstone treatment for celiac patients.  Therefore the absence of gluten in natural and processed foods represents a key aspect of food safety of the gluten-free diet.  A promising area is the use of minor or pseudo-cereals such as amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa, sorghum and teff.  The paper is focused on the new definition of gluten-free products in food label,  the nutritional properties of the gluten-free cereals and their use to prevent nutritional deficiencies of celiac subjects.

Ground Up Strength: The Gluten-Free Diet: Safety and Nutritional Quality.

Ginseng Leaf and Stem: Bioactive Constituents and Pharmacological Functions

Image via Wikipedia

by Hongwei Wang^, Dacheng Peng, and Jingtian Xie

Ginseng’s leaf-stems are more readily available at a lower cost than its root.  This article reviews the pharmacological effects of ginseng leaf-stem on some diseases and adverse effects due to excessive consumption.

Ginseng is cultivated in China,  Korea,  Japan and Russia,  as well as in the United States and Canada.  Ginseng is one of the most well-known herbal medicines widely used in East Asia as a tonic,  restorative and anti-aging agent in traditional Chinese medicine.  Ginseng is a slow-growing,  deciduous,  perennial plant of the Araliaceae family which includes Panax ginseng (Renshen, Chinese or Korean ginseng), Panax japonicus (Japanese ginseng) and Panax quinquefolius (Xiyangshen, American ginseng).  Ginseng is used as a dietary supplement in the United States.

In Chinese medicine practice, ginseng root is the most commonly used part of the plant.  It contains ginsenosides as the major bioactive components known to have complex and multiple pharmacological effects.

Continue Reading >>  Ground Up Strength: Ginseng Leaf and Stem: Bioactive Constituents and Pharmacological Functions.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Herbs Can Work if You Know How to Work Them (gustrength.wordpress.com)

Hypoglycemic Herbs

Image via Wikipedia

by Hongxiang Hui,  George Tang and Vay Liang W Go

Conventional drugs treat diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity, increasing insulin production and/or decreasing the amount of glucose in blood.  Several herbal preparations are used to treat diabetes, but their reported hypoglycemic effects are complex or even paradoxical in some cases.  This article reviews recent findings about some of the most popular hypoglycemic herbs, such as ginseng, bitter melon and Coptis chinensis.  Several popular commercially available herbal preparations are also discussed, including ADHF (anti-diabetes herbal formulation),  Jiangtangkeli, YGD (Yerbe Mate-Guarana-Damiana) and BN (Byakko-ka-ninjin-to).  The efficacy of hypoglycemic herbs is achieved by increasing insulin secretion, enhancing glucose uptake by adipose and muscle tissues, inhibiting glucose absorption from intestine and inhibiting glucose production from heptocytes.

Continue Reading >>  Ground Up Strength: Hypoglycemic Herbs.

Tips For Avoiding Food Allergens

Image via Wikipedia

From Dr. Robert Gravani a series of videos on avoiding food allergens.

Allergen free grocery shopping is somewhat difficult, even though food labels have become increasingly more clear about what types of food allergens might be present in them But working with people in the super market in various fresh prepared departments to alert them to specific food allergies is really the first step.  The second step is becoming very active and avid label reader and trying to look at each food package and determine whether the specific offending protein might or might not be present in that specific product is very,  very important in preventing allergic reactions from occurring.

Watch Videos >> Tips For Avoiding Food Allergens.

Misconceptions Abound: Strength, Fatloss, Skills, and Progression

Misconceptions abound! This post in my blog at GUS is a little older but one of my favorites.  It discusses some of the lesser known misconceptions or myths about traning specifically for strength,  especially as misunderstood by the typical ‘fitness’ trainer with no specialized strength training knowledge.  I also go into several misconceptions that surround strength training.  For example: “Strength training is the KEY to fatloss.”

Continue Reading >> Misconceptions Abound:  Strength,  Fatloss,  Skills, and Progression

Also see Part II