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MARCH 2008
IF YOU’RE AGE 70 or older, your
nutritional needs—and the best ways
to meet them—aren’t the same as
somebody who’s 25, or even 50. So
Tufts experts have developed a food
pyramid especially for you.
The Modified Food Guide Pyramid
for Older Adults, an update to a
resource originally introduced in 1999,
reflects changes to correspond with the
new USDA food pyramid, MyPyramid.
That Internet-based program, debuted
in 2005, customizes dietary guidance
based on sex, age, height, weight and
exercise habits.…
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APRIL 2007
IN A FINDING THAT challenges
many of the promises of the multibillion-
dollar diet and fitness industry,
a new study suggests that cutting
calories and exercising more
are both equally effective for losing
weight.…
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JANUARY 2007
ARE THE APPARENT hearthealthy
benefits of moderate
alcohol consumption actually
due to drinking? Or have previous
studies, which have
found that adults who drink moderate
amounts of alcohol have a lower risk
of heart attack than non-drinkers, been
confused by other lifestyle factors? For
example, moderate drinkers might also
be more likely to eat a healthy diet or
exercise regularly.…
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FEBRUARY 2006
THE SHIFTING scientific story
on “carbs” in your diet took
another twist at the American
Heart Association’s recent
Scientific Sessions: Results from
the OmniHeart study presented at the
conference showed that substituting
protein or monounsaturated fats for
10% of carbohydrates in an already
healthy diet can reduce heart-disease
risk.…
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FEBRUARY 2007
EVEN AS EXPERTS are sounding
the alarm about a global
diabetes epidemic—predicting a
surge to 380 million diabetics,
7% of the world’s population,
by 2025…
Read>>
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MARCH 2007
TO PARAPHRASE a popular
public-service commercial, This
is your brain… this is your brain
on exercise. But in this case, the
message is hopeful instead of
scary:…
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MARCH 2005
Is your exercise program going downhill?
A new study of hikers in the Alps suggests
that may be OK, especially if you’re looking
to reduce blood sugar. The Austrian
researchers found that, while hiking uphill
was more effective for lowering levels of fats
called triglycerides, hiking downhill was better
for reducing blood sugars and improving
glucose tolerance. Both directions worked to
lower bad cholesterol.…
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MARCH 2006
FREQUENT EXERCISE seems
to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s
disease and other forms of
dementia, according to a new
study published in the Annals of
Internal Medicine. The findings add to
the mounting evidence that keeping
active can help keep your mind sharp
as you age.…
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MARCH 2008
A NEW STUDY HAS SHOWN that regular, non-strenuous
physical activity can substantially reduce the
risk for vascular dementia, a slow, progressive thief of
memory and cognitive function similar to Alzheimer’s
disease.…
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MARCH 2007
EVEN AS researchers are finding
clues that aerobic exercise helps
keep the brain youthful (see
page 1), another new study
adds to the evidence that mental
exercise can contribute to keeping
your brain “fit.”…
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FEBRUARY 2008
Making sense of seemingly contrary findings on the risks from being overweight.…
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APRIL 2005
The popular image of overweight
people spending much of the
day sleeping may have it completely
backwards. A growing
body of research is beginning to
suggest a connection between obesity
and lack of sleep. Indeed, it may be no
coincidence that even as Americans’
hectic lives have led us to sleep less,
we’ve grown fatter. While it’s too soon
to say that getting a good night’s sleep
will help you lose weight, scientists are
starting to understand the complex
inter-relationships between sleep,
appetite and obesity.…
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APRIL 2005
EVERYTHING YOU THINK YOU KNOW about
constipation is probably wrong. Lack of dietary fiber
is usually not to blame for chronic constipation, and
drinking more fluids likely won’t help. You can’t get
“addicted” to laxatives, and there’s no evidence of
“rebound constipation” after you stop taking them. And if
you’ve ever considered “colon cleansing,” forget about it.…
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MAY 2005
Diets that promise weight loss by substituting
steak for pasta and bacon for
bread may be a recipe for increased
heart-disease risk. A new report on a
15-year study of women’s health and
eating habits by the Mayo Clinic College
of Medicine suggests that if you’re
replacing carbohydrates with protein,
the type of protein you pick can make a
difference to your long-term health. The
researchers found an association
between eating more vegetable protein
and a reduced risk of heart disease. But
eating more red meat and dairy products
in place of carbohydrates was
linked to greater coronary heart disease
mortality.…
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MAY 2005
YOU’VE HEARD MOST of
Mireille Guiliano’s diet and
exercise advice before from others,
some of it even in the pages
of this newsletter: Eat more
slowly and eat smaller portions. Start
every day with a real breakfast. Favor
nuts, fruit, vegetables and fish, especially
salmon. Drink more water. Wine
and dark chocolate in moderation can’t
hurt and might help. Walk more, take
the stairs, and start resistance training.
Get a good night’s sleep.…
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JULY 2005
Researchers at Northwestern University
have laid to rest the myth that people
with arthritis shouldn’t exercise. Just the
opposite turns out to be true: Older people
with arthritis who exercise are less
likely to develop physical limitations that
hamper their daily lives.…
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JULY 2005
ARECENT HEADLINE in Time
magazine asked the question
many Americans are wondering
in the wake of a controversial
study by the National Cancer
Institute and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC): “Is it
OK to be pudgy?” The study, published
in the Journal of the American Medical
Association (JAMA), is among the most
rigorous yet to look at the relationship
between weight and mortality. To the
bafflement of many scientists and the
consternation of America’s $46 billiona-
year diet industry, it found that people
who are overweight but not obese have
a lower risk of death than those of
“normal” weight, as defined by the government
using Body Mass Index (BMI).…
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APRIL 2006
PEOPLE WHO CONSUME
regular daily portions of vegetables,
whole grains and fruit
tend to have healthier blood
pressure levels than their more
carnivorous peers, according to a new
British study. The findings bolster recommendations
that adults eat more
plant-based foods for the sake of their
cardiovascular health.…
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JULY 2005
THANKS TO THE ARSENAL
of powerful medical weapons
doctors now have at their disposal
to fight high cholesterol,
it’s easy to overlook the importance
of diet in that battle. Even if you
know to cut back on dietary fats, the
other side of the coin—what foods to
eat more of to combat high blood cholesterol—
often gets short shrift.…
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JULY 2005
VARIETY REALLY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE, at least
when it comes to keeping your brain sharp. Keeping
active can help ward off dementia, according to
researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the
University of Pittsburgh, but it’s the variety and not
the intensity of activity that counts. Their study, recently
published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, followed
3,375 men and women over the age of 65 for eight
years, quizzing them on their frequency of 15 common physical
activities for seniors. Participants in the widest variety of
activities were significantly less likely to develop dementia
over the period of the study.…
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JANUARY 2008
If you’ve been diligent with your workout
regimen but frustrated because
you can’t see the results on the bathroom
scale, take heart—literally. In fact,
your heart may be benefiting more than
you realize.…
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MAY 2007
HERE’S ANOTHER REASON for women to watch
their cholesterol levels: A new analysis of data from
the Women’s Health Study has found that women
with elevated cholesterol levels had twice the risk for
ischemic stroke compared to women with the lowest
cholesterol levels,…
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MAY 2006
THE INK WAS HARDLY DRY
on the controversial news about
low-fat diets from the Women’s
Health Initiative (see last
month’s Healthletter) when a
second arm of the study reported more
results that seemed to contradict conventional
medical wisdom: In a sevenyear
trial of 36,282 postmenopausal
women, researchers found no significant
benefit from calcium and vitamin
D supplementation in preventing hip
fractures.…
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$ 1.95
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DECEMBER 2005
YOUR MOTHER ALWAYS TOLD YOU breakfast
was the most important meal of the
day, and a new Michigan State University
study finds mom was right—at least if you’re
a woman watching her weight.…
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APRIL 2008
Want to live longer? A new study
shows just how powerful four
simple healthy habits can be in
warding off the Grim Reaper.…
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JUNE 2006
HITTING THE WEIGHT ROOM twice a
week for an hour can help women prevent
or at least slow “middle-aged spread,” the
onerous buildup of tummy fat that often
takes hold with aging, a new study suggests.
And that’s good news since belly
fat—the deep fat that wraps itself around
organs—is linked with heart disease and
other ailments.…
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NOVEMBER 2005
MOST YOGA SESSIONS aren’t strenuous enough
to meet the requirements for daily exercise or to
burn off lots of calories, but yoga may still indirectly help prevent “middle-aged spread.”…
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SEPTEMBER 2005
IT WAS DISNEY’S LITTLE MERMAID, Ariel,
who sang, “I’ve got gadgets and gizmos
aplenty, whozits and whatzits galore,” but
even she might draw the line at the wave of
new whozits and whatzits promising to help
count calories that you burn. These pricey
gizmos, from Timex as well as fitness companies
such as Polar and Nike, go beyond
the familiar pedometer to monitor heart
rates and energy consumption. Some are
home versions of the calorie-counters at fitness
clubs. Many look like—and double as—
wristwatches.…
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$ 1.95
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JULY 2007
The slow, graceful movements of Tai Chi,
already recognized as a good, low-impact
exercise for older people, may also boost the
immune responses that prevent the painful
nerve condition known as shingles.…
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JULY 2007
PEOPLE WHO EXERCISE regularly and vigorously—
more than just an occasional stroll around the
block—may see their efforts rewarded with a lowered
risk of Parkinson’s disease. That’s the promising news
from researchers at the Harvard School of Public
Health who found that subjects who were the most active,
performing 30 minutes of moderate to intense physical exercise
a day, had a 40% lower chance of developing the disease.…
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NOVEMBER 2006
EVEN AS RESEARCHERS seem to be confirming
the link between abnormal weight
and risk of death (see above), two other
new studies cast doubt on the most common
measure of overweight, obesity and
underweight: Body Mass Index (BMI).…
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NOVEMBER 2006
HIS HOLIDAY gift-giving season,
think beyond the
snowflake sweater and cheesesthrough-
the-mail! Consider supporting
your loved ones’ health…
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OCTOBER 2005
Study suggests secret of low-carb,
high-protein diet fads.…
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NOVEMBER 2006
IF YOU’RE ALREADY CHANGING your
lifestyle to fight heart disease, there’s
good news: You may be helping to prevent
Alzheimer’s disease and other forms
of dementia at the same time.…
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OCTOBER 2005
But chocolate’s still no “health
food”—it’s the flavonols.…
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$ 1.95
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JULY 2006
AMERICANS HAVE ACCEPTED an unhealthy level
of sleep deprivation as a way of life, opening themselves
to a host of costly accidents and illness. That’s
the conclusion of a special panel of the Institute of
Medicine (IOM), in their report on “Sleep Disorders
and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem.” …
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AUGUST 2007
MATURE WOMEN looking to slow age-related weight
gain can look to vitamin D and calcium for a little
extra help. A new study finds that postmenopausal
women taking supplemental amounts of those nutrients
gained less weight over time. The women even found it easier
to shed a few pounds than those who did not take the supplements.…
Read>>
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JULY 2006
GO AHEAD, HAVE ANOTHER cup of coffee.
A newly published study that followed some
120,000 men and women for up to 20
years has found no link between coffee
consumption and higher risk of coronary
heart disease (CHD).…
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$ 1.95
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JANUARY 2005
How to make the switch to healthier fats—without getting fat.…
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$ 1.95
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JANUARY 2005
Lower blood sugar, avoiding traffic jams, finishing high school all linked to reduced risk.…
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|
$ 1.95
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OCTOBER 2006
NEED ANOTHER REASON to lose that
“spare tire”? A large European study suggests
that adults who carry much of their
fat around the middle may be at increased
risk for colon cancer.…
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$ 1.95
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AUGUST 2006
DOES POLICOSANOL, a mixture
of plant alcohols most
often derived from sugar cane,
really fight unhealthy cholesterol?
More than 80 studies
appear to prove policosanol’s power to
reduce levels of LDL, the “bad” cholesterol.
Policosanol is sold as a dietary
supplement under dozens of brand
names, at about $10-$15 for a 60-pill
bottle, and is included in Bayer’s One-
A-Day Cholesterol Plus vitamins.…
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NOVEMBER 2007
Experts from the American Heart
Asso ciation and the American
College of sports Medicine(ACSM)recently
issued new recommendations
for exercising—spelling
out minimum levels…
Read>>
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DECEMBER 2007
REGULAR EXERCISE that keeps the heart strong
may also strengthen cartilage in the knees and protect
older patients from osteoarthritis, according to a
new Australian study.…
Read>>
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OCTOBER 2007
Just in time for the return of sniffle season, new research
reviews have added to the debate over three popular—but
unproven—weapons against the common cold: echinacea,
vitamin C and zinc. Overall, the meta-analyses give a boost
to echinacea’s claims while dousing hopes for vitamin C and
zinc lozenges. But the bottom line on all three remains a big
maybe.…
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FEBRUARY 2006
GETTING UP OFF YOUR DUFF can add almost four
years to your life, according to a new analysis of
data from the long-running Framingham Heart
Study. Although many previous studies have shown
a range of health benefits from physical activity—…
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MARCH 2006
RESEARCHERS KEEP DISCOVERING new
benefits from getting enough vitamin D,
which has been linked to everything from
stronger bones to preventing prostate cancer
(see the December and May 2005
Healthletters). Now a study, recently published
in Chest, has found that the higher
the level of vitamin D in your blood, the
better your lungs seem to function.…
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JANUARY 2007
Cardiovascular disease and age-related
macular degeneration (AMD) may
share common risk factors, such as
blood pressure, weight, systemic inflammation
and (it’s hypothesized) dysfunction of
the cells that line blood vessels. So might
an active lifestyle, known to help protect
the heart, also help protect your eyes?
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin
tested that idea in a population-based study
of 3,874 citizens of Beaver Dam, Wisc., ages
43 to 86. The study found that regular exercise
three or more times a week was associated
with as much as a 70% reduction in
the risk of developing AMD.…
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SEPTEMBER 2006
CAN A HEART-HEALTHY LIFESTYLE really
make a difference? A new study published
in the American Heart Association journal
Circulation says yes—and that it’s never too
late to start. Researchers at the Harvard
School of Public Health (HSPH) identified
five key healthy lifestyle factors, then
looked at 42,847 men, ages 40 to 75, over
a 16-year period to see how their lifestyles
matched up with risk of coronary heart disease
(CHD). The study found that even
men taking antihypertensive or lipid-lowering
medications may reduce their risk of
heart problems through lifestyle choices.…
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JANUARY 2006
IF YOU’RE A MIDDLE-AGED couch potato,
here’s yet another reason to get off
your duff: Regular exercise now may help
prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
later. Researchers at the Aging Research
Center of the Karolinska Institute in
Sweden have found that exercising at
least twice weekly in midlife reduces the
risk of dementia by …
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$ 1.95
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AUGUST 2005
THREE NEW STUDIES have shed a bit more light on
prostate cancer, which will affect one in six men during
their lifetime, and suggest ways men might reduce their
risk as well as better evaluate their treatment options.
The most extensive of the studies, published in the
Archives of Internal Medicine, looked for links between
exercise and reduced risk of prostate cancer among 48,000
men working in health professions. The researchers studied
data spanning 14 years, during which time 2,892 of the subjects
developed prostate cancer, including 482 advanced
cases. Participants were quizzed about how much time they
spent doing a variety of physical activities: walking, running,
hiking, bicycling, swimming laps, rowing, playing racket
sports, doing calisthenics.…
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JUNE 2008
CONSTANTLY TIRED? Get up
off the couch and move! Two
new studies add to the growing
body of evidence that light
exercise—in some cases as little
as 10 minutes a day—can do more to
replenish energy levels and beat the
“blahs” than taking it easy.…
Read>>
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MAY 2008
A NEW STUDY of more than
60,000 people suggests that you
have a new weapon against
strokes: those old sneakers gathering
dust in the closet. Lacing them up and
hitting the trail—walking for 30 minutes
five times a week or jogging a halfhour
three times a week—can reduce
your risk of stroke by at least 40%.…
Read>>
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$ 1.95
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MAY 2008
Dieting with whole grains trims belly fat and chronic-disease risk.
Cutting calories by filling up on whole grains may be
better for your belly as well as your heart. Researchers
at Penn State report that dieters who consume plenty
of whole grains lose more abdominal fat and improve
levels of a marker of inflammation linked to diabetes, hypertension
and cardiovascular disease.…
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JULY 2008
A brisk walk may not exactly lead
you to the fountain of youth—but a
new research review suggests it’s
a good start. According to the report in
the British Journal of Sports Medicine, vigorous
walking for about an hour a day,
five times a week, can boost your maximal
oxygen intake by as much as 25%
within just three months. That’s enough
to turn back the clock on 12 years of
natural decline with aging. For seniors, it
could also add a dozen years of functional
independence.…
Read>>
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JULY 2008
A tape measure may be as good a
gauge of healthy weight as your
bathroom scale. Though obesity
raises your risk for chronic health conditions,
recent research suggests that
where you carry extra pounds makes a
difference. New studies link “belly fat”
with increased risk of death, heart disease
and cancer, even risk of dementia.…
Read>>
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JULY 2008
Making some simple dietary changes,
losing a few pounds and adding a
little light exercise to your daily routine
can significantly lower your risk factors
for diabetes and heart disease. So says a
new Finnish study that found even small
lifestyle changes helped reduce abdominal
obesity and metabolic syndrome—the cluster
of risk factors including waist circumference,
blood pressure, cholesterol and blood
sugar levels—by as much as 15%.…
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AUGUST 2008
Milk may do your body good, but not
by helping you lose weight. A new
review of 49 randomized clinical
trials testing the effect of dairy products
and calcium supplements on body weight
concludes that neither plays a key role in
weight reduction. Despite dairy-industry
claims, 41 of the studies reviewed showed
no significant effect of dairy consumption
on body weight; only five trials had positive
weight-loss results, while one linked dairy
consumption to a reduced rate of body-fat
buildup. Two clinical trials actually associated
dairy intake with gaining weight.…
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AUGUST 2008
Here goes one more excuse for not
exercising, right out the window:
Even if you’re overweight or obese,
regular physical activity reduces your risk
for heart disease. It’s not just that exercise
helps you lose weight. Researchers behind
a new study, published in the Archives of
Internal Medicine, suspect that physical
activity directly combats heart disease.…
Read>>
|
OCTOBER 2008
The “good” type of cholesterol—high-density lipoprotein, or HDL—appears
to help protect against heart attack
and stroke. Now research suggests HDL
may also be good for your memory.…
Read>>
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OCTOBER 2008
While you don’t actually have to
begin each entry “Dear Diary,”
keeping a food diary can be a
valuable tool for losing weight. An observational study of 1,685 overweight or obese patients reports a connection between recording what you eat and successful weight loss: As the number of daily food records per week went up, so did the pounds of weight that subjects dropped.…
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OCTOBER 2008
GETTING PLENTY of exercise may help keep your brain fit. New research at the University of Kansas finds that people with early Alzheimer’s disease who did best on a treadmill test were also less prone to the brain atrophy associated with the disease. The study, published in Neurology, used the treadmill to measure peak oxygen consumption—a gauge of cardiorespiratory fitness—and MRI imaging to view the brains of 57
patients with early Alzheimer’s and a control group of 64 people free of dementia. After controlling for age, higher peak oxygen consumption was associated with greater whole brain volume as well as the volume of white matter, the core surrounded by the brain’s “gray matter.”…
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NOVEMBER 2008
THE SAME HEALTHY HABITS that help protect your heart may also reduce your risk of stroke, according to a new study published in Circulation. People who exercised and ate a healthy diet, drank alcohol in moderation, watched their weight and stayed away from smoking were about 80% less likely to suffer the most common type of stroke than those with the unhealthiest habits.…
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DECEMBER 2008
You already know that keeping active whether walking the treadmill at the gym or gardening in the backyard-can help your heart and your waistline. Now a major Japanese epidemiological study adds to the growing evidence that getting off the couch can also reduce your risk of cancer.…
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JANUARY 2009
Don’t be intimidated by the figure of 2 1/2 hours a week of physical activity in the new federal exercise guidelines, says Tufts’ Miriam Nelson, PhD, who served as vice chair of the expert panel behind the recommendations. “Any activity is better than nothing. That’s the really important message,” says Nelson, an associate professor at the Friedman School and director of the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition. “Don’t think, ‘I’ll never get there.’ It’s important to take a stepwise approach.”…
Read>>
|
JANUARY 2009
Two new reports add to the growing body of evidence that keeping your body fit also helps keep your brain in shape—not just preventing but actually reversing mental decline.…
Read>>
|
MARCH 2009
Even an occasional workout could cut your risk 18%.
Anew study of the relationship
between weight, physical activity
and the risk of heart failure in men
shows the benefits of losing even a few pounds or exercising just a couple of times a month. On the other hand, men who were both obese and inactive were almost three times as likely to suffer heart failure as lean and active men (See
Box). …
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|
MARCH 2009
Although walking is the most popular way adults engage in physical activity, little research has been done on walking’s effect on weight—until now. A new study following 4,995 men and women over a 15-year period finds that regular walking is an effective way to counter the tendency to pack on pounds as people add years to their age. …
Read>>
|
CAN YOU SPARE about seven minutes a week to help ward off diabetes? A new Scottish clinical study suggests that spurts of high-intensity exercise can significantly improve factors such as insulin resistance and glucose tolerance linked to type 2 diabetes risk. “The efficacy of a high-intensity exercise protocol, involving only about 250 calories of work each week, to substantially improve insulin action in young sedentary subjects is remarkable,” concluded James A. Timmons, PhD, of Heriot-Watt University and colleagues in BMC Endocrine Disorders. …
Read>>
|
MAY 2009
CAN YOU SPARE about seven minutes a week to help ward off diabetes? A new Scottish clinical study suggests that spurts of high-intensity exercise can significantly improve factors such as insulin resistance and glucose tolerance linked to type 2 diabetes risk. “The efficacy of a high-intensity exercise protocol, involving only about 250 calories of work each week, to substantially improve insulin action in young sedentary subjects is remarkable,” concluded James A. Timmons, PhD, of Heriot-Watt University and colleagues in BMC Endocrine Disorders. …
Read>>
|
JUNE 2009
THAT EXTRA bacon burger could be shortening your life. A new National Cancer Institute study, among the largest of its kind, reports that people who eat the most red meat and processed meat have a higher risk of death than those eating the least. Higher consumption of white meat such as poultry and fish, however, was associated with a lower risk of death.…
Read>>
|
JUNE 2009
THE GOOD NEWS from the largest-ever controlled trial of weight-loss regimens is that you can ditch the fad-diet books that promise “30 pounds in 30 days.” Whatever plan you follow, researchers concluded, the bottom line is calories. The 811 overweight participants in the two-year study all ended up losing an average of nine pounds and two inches in waist size, regardless of which of the four tested diets they were randomly assigned to.…
Read>>
|
JULY 2009
Nearly a third of people over age 65 suffer a fall every year, with 20% of those spills requiring medical attention. Exercises that target balance and strength, such as Tai Chi, can reduce your risk of a possibly crippling fall, according to a new review of 111 trials totaling 55,303 participants.…
Read>>
|
JULY 2009
Cutting back on sugar-sweetened sodas may be more
effective for weight loss than skipping the same
amount of calories in solid food. A new study reports
that each daily 12-ounce serving of sugared soft
drinks eliminated from the diet led to one pound of
weight loss after six months. Reducing liquid calories
appeared to result in greater weight loss than cutting equivalent
amounts of calories from food.…
Read>>
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AUGUST 2009
A diet designed to fight high blood
pressure may also protect women
against heart failure, according to
a new US study of 36,019 Swedish
women. The women, ages 48 to 83 initially,
were ranked by how closely their
diets matched the Dietary Approaches
to Stop Hypertension (DASH) plan. Over
seven years, 443 women suffered heart
failure. The one-fourth of the women
whose diets most closely followed the
DASH regimen were 37% less likely to
have heart failure than the bottom one-quarter.
The 10% of women best matching the DASH plan did even better,
with only half the rate of heart failure.…
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OCTOBER 2009
Is there anything you can do to reduce your risk of cognitive decline
and dementia? Research presented
at the recent International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease
(ICAD) in Vienna suggests several
promising ways to answer “yes.” The
findings add to a growing body of evidence that lifestyle changes—exercise, diet, even how much alcohol you drink—can help prevent or slow the mental decline that too often comes with aging.…
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$ 1.95
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OCTOBER 2009
Women who adopt six key dietary
and lifestyle habits can reduce
their risk of high blood pressure
by almost 80%, according to new findings
from the second Nurses’ Health
Study.
…
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|
OCTOBER 2009
That bowl of healthy breakfast cereal you ate this morning
could help you fight heart failure—the leading cause of
hospitalization among older Americans. So could the
broccoli you’ll have with dinner. Eating breakfast cereal and
consuming plenty of vegetables and fruits were two of six
lifestyle factors identified in a new study as protective against
heart failure in men.…
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NOVEMBER 2009
Two newly published studies have
largely confirmed a 2006 finding
that the so-called “Mediterranean
diet” may protect against mental
decline with aging. In an accompanying
editorial in the Journal of the American
Medical Association, David S.
Knopman, MD, of the Mayo Clinic
said the results “provide moderately
compelling evidence that adherence to
the Mediterranean-type diet is linked to
less late-life cognitive impairment.”…
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NOVEMBER 2009
Regular exercise today may help you recover from a
stroke tomorrow. Mayo Clinic researchers report that
people who perform some form of moderate exercise at
least once a week improve their odds of having a good outcome
after a subsequent stroke. Those who were couch potatoes
prior to their stroke, however, were much more likely to
have one or more bad outcomes.…
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NOVEMBER 2009
Dedication to just four healthy habits
can reduce your risk of chronic diseases
such as diabetes, heart disease
and cancer by almost 80%, according to a
new study. Earl S. Ford, MD, MPH, of the US
Centers for Disease Control and colleagues
looked at the association between chronic
diseases and these four lifestyle factors:…
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DECEMBER 2009
New proof that you’re never too old
to exercise comes from an Israeli
study that finds people over age 70
live longer and better if they’re physically
active at least four hours a week.
Physically active seniors were 31% to
58% less likely to die during the study
than their sedentary peers, and 72% to
92% more likely to remain independent
while performing the
activities of daily living.…
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JANUARY 2010
Two new studies suggest ways that
lifestyle changes can help postmenopausal
women reduce their risk of
breast cancer.…
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FEBRUARY 2010
Along-term followup to the Diabetes
Prevention Program trial has good
news for the estimated 57 million
Americans with high blood-sugar levels
that put them in danger of developing
diabetes: Intensive lifestyle changes
aimed at modest weight loss reduced
the rate of developing type 2 diabetes
by 34% compared with a control
group in people at high risk for the disease.
Reducing dietary fat and calories,
exercising such as walking about 150
minutes weekly and losing
weight also proved more
effective in diabetes prevention
than metformin, an
oral diabetes drug.…
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APRIL 2010
The omega-3 fats in fish oil, touted
for their heart-health benefits, may
have a bonus for heart patients:
slowing biological aging at the cellular
level. In a study of patients with stable
coronary artery disease, those with the
highest blood levels of omega-3s also
showed the least shortening of telomeres,
a sign of biological rather than
chronological aging. Patients with the
lowest omega-3 levels, on the other
hand, had the fastest rate of telomere
shortening when
researchers compared
measurements
from the
start of the study
to five years later.…
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JUNE 2010
Postmenopausal women can protect
their bones by exercising, but adding
black cohosh—an herbal supplement
thought to have estrogen-like effects—to
exercise confers no extra protection. That’s
the conclusion of a year-long clinical trial
involving 128 women who recently went
through menopause.…
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JULY 2010
Next to sex and celebrities, health and nutrition may be the favorite topic of today’s mass media—from TV to magazines and newspapers to the Internet. But the popularity of “eat this, don’t eat that” advice doesn’t mean the information you’re getting is always accurate. In thousands of pages and programming hours, it’s easy to let a story run away from the science.…
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