Translation:
Diet and Disease
Many older adults are deficient in vitamin B12 and folate
Key findings:
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One in eight adults over 50 were low to deficient in vitamin B12 while one in seven were low to deficient in folate
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The prevalence of low or deficient folate increased with age, from 14% among those aged 50-60 years to 23% among people over 80 years old. Low folate status was also more common in smokers, the obese, and those who lived alone
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Low or deficient vitamin B12 was more common in smokers (14%), people who lived alone (14.3%) and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds (13%)
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Use of both vitamin B12 and folic acid supplementation was low, with higher rates among women than men but less than 4% overall taking supplements of either vitamin
Read the source article here.
Vegetarian or ‘Flexitarian’ Diet Benefits Waistline and Pocket
Adopting a vegetarian or semi-vegetarian diet to lose weight and improve health may not be as onerous as is typically assumed, as people can experience health benefits even if they only partially switch to plant-based foods. In addition, the diets may cost less than other healthy diets, suggests new research presented here at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) 2018.
Access the full article here.
The comments are the best part of this article.
Fewer U.S. teens smoking, doing drugs, and drinking milk
Kids have shifted from a dairy product rich in calcium and vitamin D to beverages laden with sugar and caffeine, which is likely contributing to the nation’s obesity problem, said Barry Popkin, a University of North Carolina researcher who studies how diets change.
“This is not a healthy trend for our long-term health,” he said.
Read the AP source article here.
Nutrition 2018: New data confirm health benefits of plant-based diet
We present some top-line findings from these studies below. When reading these summaries, it is important to bear in mind that while the abstracts presented at Nutrition 2018 were evaluated and selected by a committee of experts, the papers have not undergone the same rigorous standard of peer review that is applied to scientific journals.
So, we should consider these findings as “preliminary results,” until they are properly assessed.
Read the abstracts at this link.
Meat Company Finds Americans Are Afraid of Hot Dogs
Meat brand Applegate finds that 47 percent of consumers are scared to discover the ingredients in hot dogs, while 24 percent of millennials never purchase them.
Read the survey results here.
I find surveys like this amusing. Interview 1000 people and extrapolate the findings to all Americans. The click bait title is great too. It’s so misleading I had to copy it verbatim.
Vitamin B12 Breakthrough for more complete Vegetarian and Vegan diets
Vitamin B12 (known as cobalamin) is an essential dietary component but vegetarians are more prone to B12 deficiency as plants neither make nor require this nutrient.
But now a team, led by Professor Martin Warren at the University’s School of Biosciences, has proved that common garden cress can indeed take up cobalamin.
The amount of B12 absorbed by garden cress is dependent on the amount present in the growth medium, and the Kent team was able to confirm B12 uptake by showing that the nutrient ends up in the leaf.
I can’t wait for the silly money and marketers to grab this and run.
Read the source article here.
Vegan Diet Rapidly Improves Type 2 Diabetes Markers in Adults
The 16-week randomized controlled trial in 73 adults showed that participants who ate a diet of vegetables, grains, legumes, and fruits significantly improved their overall metabolic condition, say Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD, of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC, and colleagues.
Previous studies have shown that the prevalence of diabetes is 46% to 74% lower in people who eat a plant-based diet compared with meat lovers in the general population, according to background information in the article.
A vegan diet has also been shown to improve glycemic control in type 2 diabetes better than calorie-restricted, low-carbohydrate diets, the researchers note.
You can access the Medscape article here.
This is a link to the online abstract.
Reminder — Beer, wine and whiskey are vegan!
To Weigh or Not to Weigh
The National Weight Control Registry has published several studies on the habits of those who have successfully achieved and maintained significant weight loss over 10 years (4, 5, 6, 7). Their findings are based on the tracking of over 10,000 individuals through detailed questionnaires and annual follow-up surveys designed to identify behavioral and psychological characteristics and strategies used to maintain weight loss. 75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
Here’s a short literature review on weighing habits in the processes of losing weight and maintaining weight loss. Read the source article here.
I completed my annual National Weight Control Registry survey this morning.
For the first time in a very long time I reported a weight loss since the last follow up.
When I tell people I’ve lost 200 pounds they are always surprised and ask how I did it.
Well, you’ll just have to buy the book when I finish writing it.
(Eat Like an Asian) A Healthy Asian A Posteriori Dietary Pattern Correlates with A Priori Dietary Patterns and Is Associated with Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in a Multi-ethnic Asian Population
Results
We identified a “healthy” dietary pattern, similar across ethnic groups, and characterized by high intakes of whole grains, fruit, dairy, vegetables, and unsaturated cooking oil and low intakes of Western fast foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, poultry, processed meat, and flavored rice. This “healthy” pattern was inversely associated with body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2) (−0.26 per 1 SD of the pattern score; 95% CI: −0.36, −0.16), waist circumference (−0.57 cm; 95% CI: −0.82, −0.32), total cholesterol (−0.070 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.091, −0.048), LDL cholesterol (−0.054 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.074, −0.035), and fasting triglycerides (−0.22 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.04, −0.004) and directly associated with HDL cholesterol (0.013 mmol/L; 95% CI: 0.006, 0.021). Generally, “healthy” pattern associations were at least as strong as a priori pattern associations with cardiovascular disease risk factors.
Conclusion
A healthful dietary pattern that correlated well with a priori patterns and was associated with lower BMI, serum LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and fasting triglyceride concentrations was identified across 3 major Asian ethnic groups.
Full abstract here.
Eat like an Asian.
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