Are you fat on the inside?

We all know that what’s on the inside is what counts……even the fat.

Now I know you are all motivated (even if not enough) to lose the external fat. We all want to look good, right? But, fat on and in our organs can be just as damaging – maybe even more so – than the fat that jiggles on the outside.

This is a bigger problem in people that don’t exercise – even if they are thin. Research shows us that it is better to be an overweight exerciser than a skinny couch potato. In fact, according to an article published on msnbc.com, many sumo wrestlers may be less healthy than their less active fans!

So, don’t just drop the danish (is that as hard for you as it is for me?) and pick up a dumbell!

(Click here to read more).

Cocoa or Tea for High Blood Pressure

Good news for you chocaholics out there. A report in today’s Archives of Internal Medicine looked at the studies done so far regarding high blood pressure, treated with either cocoa or tea.

They found that Cocoa consistently showed an effect, lowering diastolic blood pressure by 4.7 points and lowering systolic blood pressure by 2.8 points.

No effect for tea drinking.

However, remember that in most of the studies on chocolate use very high concentrations of cocoa. Much of the time it is more like the unsweetened baking bars than a dark chocolate dove promise….darn!

New Simple Osteoporosis Self-Screening

I know that many of you are worried about osteoporosis. If you are not, particularly if you are a woman and/or skinny, you should be.

Researchers came up with a simple self-test to see if you should go get a DXA scan. You take your weight in kilograms, subtract your age and then multiply by 0.2.

Lets work through an example for someone who is 50 years old and weighs 150 lb:

1) Get your weight in kilograms. 150 lb/2.2 = 68 kg.

2) Take your weight in kilograms and subtract your age. 68 (kg) – 50 (years) = 18.

3) Now multiply by 0.2. 18 x 0.2 = 3.6.

In the study they recommend that you get your bones checked with a DXA scan if your score on this self-test is less than 2.

I really can’t explain why they added the last step of multiplying by 0.2. It seems simpler to say that if your weight in kilograms is less than your age minus 10 get checked. So, for our example:

68 (kg) – 50 (years) = 18, which is greater than 10; OK for now.

Anyway, this does NOT mean that if you pass this quick screen you can forget about it, or ignore your doctor’s advice to get a screening. But if you fail, as Shakespeare once said, “Get thee to a DXA scanner!”

Sleep Apnea Causes Brain Damage!

Read the article here!

Must Read on Cancer Screening!

Click here for the article.

Giving blood may save a life – yours!

New research published in this weeks JAMA gives some more weight to the idea that too much iron in your body can contribute to cardiovascular disease.

The researchers studied 1277 patients with peripheral artery disease. Some were treated by giving blood every six months. In the younger patients, age 43-61, the mortality rate (i.e. the percentage that died from all causes) was 54% lower than the untreated group. Benefits were also seen in smokers.

Dr. Leo Zacharski, the lead author of the study explains why: “There is evidence that iron accumulates over time. There’s no question about that. We have no way of excreting iron and, as it builds up in the system, it exerts oxidative stress (free radicals) that cause damage to the tissue.”

So, skip the gym tonight and go out for pizza and donuts and ice-cream and…….!! Unfortunately, cholesterol, blood pressure and exercise still matter. Iron is part of the story, but not the only factor or even the most important.

The most practical advice to draw from this study is to avoid a vitamin supplement with iron if you are a man or a post-menopausal female. And if your iron stores are too high, giving blood may save the life, not just of the recipient, but the donor as well. But don’t think you can throw out the broccoli or your gym membership.

Running away from back pain

Running will wear out your back. Let’s get a show of hands. How many of you agree? OK, let’s change the statement just a little. If you have arthritis, you shouldn’t run because it will wear out your back. Hands one more time – a few more.

A group of researchers at Stanford looked at these questions. Let’s see what they found.

They followed 866 mature individuals (i.e. average age in the early sixties) for 14 years. They looked at members of a running association vs. non-members and at ever-runners vs. never-runners. The members of the running association ran about 26 miles per week.

The runners (anyway they sliced it) had slightly less arthritis, 35% vs. 41-43%. But more importantly, they reported significantly less pain.

So, go get your three miles in today and all will be well? No!! At the risk of stating the obvious, consider (rationally) your current state of fitness and start slowly. Don’t expect to pick up right where you left off before the kids, the Carter administration, or what have you.

Now that we have the obvious disclaimer out of the way, one last bit of advice. Pick something fun! If the thought of running is less pleasant than a root canal, DO SOMETHING ELSE!

The real goal is staying active consistently. If you enjoy your chosen method of exercise, you’re much more likely to keep it up and reap the benefits.

Reversing Heart Disease

Just in time for Valentine’s day, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has released an informative and (somewhat) encouraging article on reversing heart disease.

They measured the size of the cholesterol plaques in the coronary arteries of 1455 people before and after 18-24 months of drug therapy. They also compared the changes in the size of the cholesterol plaques to the changes in the patient’s cholesterol levels.
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In this study the patient’s heart disease began to reverse IF their level of HDL (a type of cholesterol) increased AND their levels of LDL (another type of cholesterol) decreased.

The reason this makes sense is that LDL and HDL have different jobs. Cholesterol is not all the same. LDL brings cholesterol out to the body for use. This is good and important. The cell wall of every cell in your body needs cholesterol to be healthy. However, when you have too much, sometimes the extra gets caked on your artery walls, causing heart disease.

Why this happens to some and not others is not known for sure. Some think that the cholesterol builds up like a scab when the artery wall is injured whether from tiny tears caused by high blood pressure, or an infection.

HDL takes cholesterol from your body to your liver to be processed. Researchers have theorized that HDL does take cholesterol from artery plaques, but this is the first research to show actual physical evidence that it really does happen. The American Heart Association has a pretty good article here on how this all works.

The bad news from this study is that no decrease in “clinical events” was shown. When you double over from a heart attack or stroke, that is a “clinical event”.

This may simply be because changes that are big enough to matter take time. This study only followed patients for 18-24 months.

So, if you are ready to take control of your heart health increasing your HDL, or good cholesterol is a great way to start. Dr. Richard Fogoros has a great article here with some natural ways to do this.