Archive for March, 2008
The old adage “we are what we eat” received further support this week, and may even suggest “we are what our parents ate” when a new study by researchers in the US revealed that healthy men who have a diet low in folate have a higher risk of chromosomal abnormalities in their sperm. Chromosomal abnormalities in sperm are known to cause a range of congenital conditions such as Down sydrome and learning and development disorders.
The study is the work of scientists at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and is published in the 19th March issue of the journal Human Reproduction.
Women of childbearing age are encouraged to maintain a healthy intake of folate because it is essential for healthy fetal development, and to prevent neural tube birth defects such as spina bifida or anencephaly (severe type of brain damage). That is why folic acid is now added to bread, cereal, flour and other grain products in the US.
But this is the first study to suggest that folate intake in men may affect their children.
Researcher at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and coordinator of the study, Suzanne Young, said:
“Recent studies have suggested that paternal diet affects sperm count and motility, which is important for conception, but this new study takes it further to say that male diet may be important for healthy offspring as well.”
Young said their study was the first to examine the effects of diet on chromosomal abnormalities in sperm.
“These abnormalities would cause either miscarriages or children with genetic syndromes if the sperm fertilized an egg,” explained Young.
The researchers said that about 1 to 4 per cent of healthy male sperm has an abnormal number of chromosomes, or aneuploidy. These abnormalities arise when cells divide (meiosis) in the testis, but their cause is not well understood.
If an aneuploidic sperm fertilizes a normal egg, the fetus would either miscarry or develop a chromosomal disorder, such as trisomy, where cells have three copies of each chromosome instead of the more usual two (one from each parent).
In this study the investigators looked at three chromosomes linked with common types of aneuploidy in live births: X, Y and chromosome 21. Down syndrome, for example, is caused by having an extra chromosome 21. Klinefelter syndrome, which can affect language and learning development, is caused by an extra X chromosome in boys, and boys carrying an extra Y chromosome have XYY syndrome, also linked to learning and behavioral difficulties.
The participants were 97 non-smoking men with no previous history of reproductive or fertility problems. The aged from 22 to 80 and were either still working at or had retired from a government research laboratory.
The men filled in questionnaires about their diet and supplements like multi-vitamins and other nutrients. Semen samples were taken up to a week later.
After taking out the effects of age, alcohol and medical history, the results showed that men who reported the highest folate intake had a 19 per cent lower rate of aneuploidic sperm that men with moderate folate intake, and 20 per cent lower than men with the lowest folate intake.
The analysis did not show any links between aneuploidy and other nutrients such as zinc, calcium, beta-carotene and other vitamins, said the researchers, who concluded that:
“Men with high folate intake had lower overall frequencies of several types of aneuploid sperm.”
Co-principal investigator of the study, professor of epidemiology and maternal and child health at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, Brenda Eskenazi, said:
“”The emphasis related to the birth of a healthy baby has been weighted towards the health and diet of women, not just during pregnancy, but before.”
“What we’re finding now is that a nutritious diet, specifically folate intake, may be beneficial for men as well when it comes to producing healthy offspring,” she added.
Folate, which occurs naturally in a range of foods such as liver, leafy green vegetables, peas, beans, lentils and citrus fruits, is a water soluble vitamin of the B group.
Folate is essential for DNA, RNA and protein synthesis and the development of new cells. It also helps to control homocysteine, an amino acid that has been linked to heart disease.
But before men hoping to become dads rush out to buy folic acid or start maxing out on lentils, they should take note, as the researchers themselves suggested, that this study only found a link between folate and healthy sperm, it did not establish for certain that there is a cause and effect relationship.
Study co-principal investigator and chair of the Radiation Biosciences Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Andrew Wyrobek, cautioned:
“We can’t yet say that increasing folate in your diet will lead to healthier sperm.”
“But we did come up with enough evidence to justify a larger, clinical and pharmacological trial in men to examine the causal relationships between dietary folate levels and chromosomal abnormalities in their sperm,” added Wyrobek.
This information will help us set dietary folate levels that may reduce the risk of miscarriage or birth defects linked to the fathers,” he said.
If further research supports these findings, the researchers suggest it might be a good idea to increase the current recommended 400 micrograms
Not too long ago someone emailed me and thanked me for the information on the site about weight loss. They told me that they lost 30 pounds by following the info on the site, which is always nice to hear. They then went on to tell me about a weight loss chat room that they go into every once in a while where the people in there didn’t know very much about losing weight. They wanted me to check it out. So, I checked this weight loss chat room out one day and what I saw was pretty bad and actually kind of funny, in pathetic kind of way though. The main subject of this room was of course the almighty question… How do I lose weight? I am going to answer that question for you right now plain and simple and by only using 4 easy words that everyone can understand even if you know nothing about weight loss.
The main thing in this weight loss room that caught my attention was that every once in a while, someone would come in and say that they lost weight. Everyone else in the room would then congratulate them on losing the weight and within the next 5 seconds, EVERYONE in the room would all ask this person one question all at once…. “How did you lose it???” Honestly, I find that question to be extremely funny. I just can’t figure out how anyone can ask that question. Someone loses weight and you ask them how they lost that weight? What kind of stupid question is that? To me that question is just as funny as if someone said “I just got a haircut” and someone asks them “Really? How did your hair get cut off?” The obvious answer is “With scissors.” And the answer to the question “how did you lose weight” is just as simple and as obvious as that… and that is why I find it so funny.
You see, despite the hopes and dreams of many lazy people, there is only one way to lose weight. No, that wasn’t a typo. You can only lose weight 1 way, by doing 1 thing. Here it comes, get your pads and pens ready and write this one down. Here are those 4 simple words that I mentioned before, here is how weight loss happens.
Drum roll please…
If you want to lose weight, you need to “eat right and workout.” There you have it ladies and gentlemen, the 4 simple words. Eat right and workout! That’s it! That is ALL that works!! EVERYTHING else is USELESS! If weight loss and losing weight is your goal, then you just need to eat right and workout and THAT’S IT!!!!
In being more productive, no cell phone or technology is necessary. A fresh mind helps clear your mind, gets the blood flowing and allows you to take your mind off the tasks in daily life.
More and more business are stating to internalize this thought in promoting activities, and ways for their employees including MS as well as Health organizations such as Health Michigan. From games and brain teasers to the newspaper, being able to focus your mind elsewhere will all attribute in allowing you to take a fresh look at your tasks.
Even simply walking will produce enough cardio to begin allow your body to loosen, and your mind to wander. When we are young, we have recess, but in a working / productive world that 15 minutes of being able to run around and come back into the classroom refreshed was lost - Only in America is exercising thought of as something that we ’should do’, in other countries it is a part of life.
Daily exercise is an important factor in any healthy diet or lifestyle for that matter. Whether you are looking to tone or make up for lost years exercise helps in many ways including:
- Exercise helps to control your weight and keeps you in good shape
- reduces stress
- helps control blood pressure
- reduces the risk of Coronary Heart Disease
- reduces the risk of certain cancers
- helps with your mobility, even later in life
This combination may seem unusual—until you try it. The sweet-tartness of the apple, creaminess of the cheese and bite of the sauerkraut work together beautifully in this easy hot sandwich. Serve with oven-roasted potatoes or a green salad.
Makes 2 main-dish or 4 appetizer servings
ACTIVE TIME: 10 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes
EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy
1 cup sauerkraut, rinsed
1/2 cup water
2 9-to-10-inch (burrito-size) flour tortillas
1 1/3 cups grated reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
1 small Granny Smith or other tart, juicy apple, peeled and very thinly sliced
1. Put sauerkraut and water in a medium nonreactive skillet. Gently heat just until the liquid has evaporated but not so much that the sauerkraut begins to stick to the pan. Remove from the heat.
2. Gradually heat a large cast-iron over medium heat. Put one tortilla in the pan and immediately sprinkle 1/3 cup cheese over half of it. Quickly arrange about half the apple slices over the cheese, then top with half the sauerkraut, spreading it evenly. Sprinkle with another 1/3 cup cheese.
3. Fold the tortilla over the filled half and press gently on it with a spatula to seal. Heat the quesadilla until the bottom is golden, about 2 minutes, then carefully flip and lightly brown the other side. Slide the quesadilla onto a cutting board and cut it into halves or quarters. Prepare the second one in the same fashion.
Variation: If you like, a little chopped ham tastes wonderful layered in with the other ingredients.
NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per main-dish serving: 306 calories; 9 g fat (4 g sat, 2 g mono); 16 mg cholesterol; 34 g carbohydrate; 22 g protein; 3 g fiber; 951 mg sodium; 229 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Calcium (40% daily value), Iron (15% dv).
2 Carbohydrate Servings
I’ve decided to start a weight loss plan. How should I determine what weight I want to reach?
Remember that your weight is just a small part of the whole picture. Other, more valid, indicators of your fitness level are:
How do you feel–energetic or wiped out?
Do you have good muscle tone, or are you flabby?
Are you able to walk up a few flights of stairs without panting?
Are you able to accomplish the daily tasks that you want/need to do?
If you’ve been overweight since childhood or adolescence, you may not even know what a “good” weight for you would be. Setting a goal of a normal body fat percentage (see “Is using body fat percentage a good way to tell whether I’m overweight?”) or a certain clothing size is probably more realistic than aiming for a specific weight, but even here you should use your common sense. Most women would love to wear size 6 (or smaller) clothes, even those whose large frames make this a totally unrealistic and unhealthy goal for them.
-AM I OVERWEIGHT?
-What do the terms “overweight” and “obese” mean?-
Physicians usually define “overweight” as a condition in which a person’s
weight is 10-20% higher than “normal”, as defined by a standard
height/weight chart. “Obesity” is usually defined as a condition in which a
person’s weight is 20% or more above normal weight. “Morbid obesity”
variously means 50% to 100% over normal weight, more than 100 pounds over
normal weight, or sufficiently overweight to severely interfere with health
or normal functioning.
-Is using a standard height/weight chart a good way to tell whether I’m
overweight?-
Your weight is only a very rough indicator of the amount of fat that your
body contains, and most physicians feel that the percentage of your weight
that comes from fat tissue is far more important than total body weight
(which includes not only fat but also muscles, bones, and bodily fluids).
Height/weight tables could indicate that a lean, muscular person is
“overweight”, while a person whose weight is within the “normal” range might
actually be carrying around more fatty tissue than is healthy. Covert Bailey
states in The New Fit or Fat that standard weight tables can be off by as
much as 20-30 pounds for any given person.
Essential fatty acids, or EFAs, are fatty acids that cannot be constructed within an organism from other components (generally all references are to humans) by any known chemical pathways; and therefore must be obtained from the diet. The term refers to those involved in biological processes, and not fatty acids which may just play a role as fuel. As many of the compounds created from essential fatty acids can be taken directly in the diet, it is possible that the amounts required in the diet (if any) are overestimated. It is also possible they can be underestimated as organisms can still survive in unideal, malnourished conditions.
There are two families of EFAs: ω-3 (or omega-3 or n-3) and ω-6 (omega-6, n-6.) Fats from each of these families are essential, as the body can convert one omega-3 to another omega-3, for example, but cannot create an omega-3 from scratch. They were originally designated as Vitamin F when they were discovered as essential nutrients in 1923. In 1930, work by Burr, Burr and Miller showed that they are better classified with the fats than with the vitamins.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup brown rice
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 1 pound salmon fillet
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a saucepan bring 2 1/2 cups of water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
- In a large pan, add enough water to just cover the bottom of the pan. Lay the salmon fillet in the pan, pink side up. Place cooked rice around the outside of the fish. Sprinkle the orange juice over the fish and rice.
- In a small bowl, combine the dill weed, rosemary, basil, mustard, lemon pepper and sprinkle over the fish and rice. Cover with aluminum foil.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the salmon is tender and flaky.