Diet

When it comes to dieting, people agree this is their biggest problem: Curbing their appetite. And while diet drugs or pills may work, they don't necessarily provide the safest solution, say health experts. One health expert says she's identified three foods that naturally suppress a person's appetite, however. "Satiety is the feeling of fullness after or between meals, and it is an emerging area in weight management," says Linda Milo Ohr, a contributing editor to the Institute of Food Technologists.…
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A good diet may help you get a healthier bod, but could it also save you from dying from cancer? A new study from Oxford University alleges this in the case, now published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. "Interestingly, they found that it was not the individual components that affected mortality, but an overall healthy diet," says Dr. Elisa V. Bandera, an associate professor of epidemiology at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. "The index gives more…
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What's better: Crash diets or a healthy, gradual diet? While most nutritionists say gradual diets, a new study published in The Lancet says you may be better off crash dieting. "We now know that there are several ways of losing weight," says Gaynor Bussell, a public health nutritionist and dietitian. "There may well be a role for using rapid weight loss diets in some people, but it is important to consider how weight loss will be maintained after the diet…
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For those with metabolic syndrome, there are almost always two certainties: Obesity and diabetes. Worse yet, it's on the rise. Yet new research from the Canadian Medical Association Journal may show that not everyone is doomed to develop metabolic syndrome--provided they tweak their eating habits in a few simple ways. Researcher Dr. Jordi Salas-Salvadó recently spoke with the media about what he discovered in his latest study, now set to be published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. "In this…
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Eating a high-fat diet? Turns out there's a new way to make you even skinnier--by using something you'd never expect. According to a new study in PLOS One, mice who ate a high-fat diet supplemented with no-pulp grapefruit juice lost 18 percent more weight than mice who simply drank water. Doing so also lowered their blood glucose levels--something that could also lower the risk of diabetes. For researcher Dr. Andreas Stahl, the news is encouraging. "Obesity and insulin resistance are…
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When it comes to losing weight, staying motivated matters. But regardless of how motivated you are, it won't overcome serious limitations, say researchers--such as having limited access to healthy food. "Changing the environment alone cannot produce results," says Wenjun Li, Ph.D., an associate professor of medicine and director of the Health Statistics and Geography Lab at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. "However, efforts to try to change a person will be very limited without improving the environment." Li recently…
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Having trouble keeping your weight under control? Try this: Text messaging. A recent study from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health says that people who received a weekly text message reminding them of their recommended caloric intake were more likely to remember their caloric limit--and stick to it. Those who opted not to receive a daily text message were more than twice as likely to forget how many calories they needed to consume everyday, however. The findings…
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For diabetics, controlling their blood glucose remains a top priority. Yet other problems that often occur with this disease, such as increased body pain and poorer health in general, often go unaddressed as the disease progresses. Researcher say they've found a way to improve a diabetic's quality of life while keeping their blood glucose under control, however. According to their study, now featured in the health journal Diabetologia, diabetics who consumed a low-carbohydrate diet with an emphasis on wholesome foods…
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Want to stay smart as you age? Here's one way to prevent it: Have more vitamin D. A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that a higher-than-average consumption of vitamin D in the diets of middle-age rats helped them retain more of their memory--allowing them to complete tasks better. The study was led by researchers from the University of Kentucky. "This process is like restocking shelves in grocery stores," says Nada Porter,…
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Want to lose weight? One nutritionist says paying attention to your bowel movements could help. Author Brenda Watson, who recently penned The Skinny Gut Diet, says that increasing the amount of a certain bacteria in your gut--one that coincidentally makes you "regular"--may also help you lose more weight, though the reasons why aren't clear. Now, she wants anyone dealing with obesity to try her diet. "Fiber isn't just good for bulking up stool, it's also the primary source of food…
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