January 16th, 2012
Not only do fattening foods taste good but they could also somehow make you subconsciously realize they’re full of calories for energy. As a result, they may encourage you to eat more than you should.
Scientists report that mice genetically engineered to have no sense of taste still developed a preference for sugar water compared to ordinary water. The finding suggests the mice had a way of sensing that the sugar water had calories – and energy for their bodies – while the other water didn’t.
Humans, of course, could be different. But additional research indicates that “taste isn’t the only reason we like high-calorie foods,” said study author Ivan E. de Araujo, an assistant fellow at The John B. Pierce Laboratory at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
“Even in the complete absence of taste, it’s possible to develop a preference for high-calorie foods,” he added.
The “reward systems” in the brain tell people when they’re enjoying things like food. The question for the researchers was whether the systems would work without taste as part of the equation.
“The brain systems that encode rewards will develop a preference for caloric food even in the absence of taste information,” said Dr.de Araujo.
If that translates to humans, the findings could explain why some low-calorie foods aren’t popular among people even when they don’t taste that bad, he added.
Dr. Anthony Sclafani, a researcher at the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, said the findings are important, because they’re the “first to show that nutrients in the gut can directly activate the brain reward system.”
A regular exercise regime and a balanced nutritious diet can help reduce cravings for fattening food and reverse an underlying cause of excess PCOS weight and obesity, namely the imbalance of blood glucose and insulin called Insulin Resistance. By reversing this latter condition, you can facilitate Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome weight loss.
January 9th, 2012
One of the first rules of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome weight watching has always been to put the sugar bowl at the back of the cupboard and use low-calorie sweeteners instead. But a new study suggests that dieters might be better sticking with sugar after all.
Researchers say a sweet taste can prompt the body to prepare for a large intake of calories. When this does not arrive after using a low-calorie sweetener, the body then becomes confused and either demands more food or burns less energy, with resulting weight gain.
“The data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to greater body-weight gain than the same food sweetened with high-calorie sugar,” says the study by Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The researchers accept that the finding sounds like diet heresay and will seem baffling to those who have long recommended the use of sweeteners to control weight. And they also claim that other artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, which do not lead to the delivery of calories, could have similar effects.
In the study published by the American Psychological Association’s journal, some rats were fed with yogurt sweetened with saccharin while others ate yogurt sweetened with glucose, a natural sugar.The saccharin-fed rats went on to consume more calories and put on more weight.
The research drew a critical reaction from the food industry. “This study oversimplifies the causes of obesity,” said Beth Hubrich, a dietitian with the Calorie Control Council, representing companies which make diet foods and drinks.
“The causes of obesity are multi-factorial. Although surveys have shown that there has been an increase in the use of ‘sugar-free’ foods over the years, portion sizes of foods have also increased, physical activity has decreased and overall calorie intake has increased.”
One fact is not in dispute: as well as causing dental decay, too much sugar can lead to obesity, which is often an underlying cause of a variety of serious disorders.
But a balanced, nutritious diet combined with regular exercise can help reverse an underlying cause of excess weight and obesity, namely the imbalance of blood glucose and insulin called Insulin Resistance. By reversing this latter condition, you can facilitate PCOS weight loss.
January 3rd, 2012
Obesity is spreading like wildfire among young people, with kids often wanting junk food before they are old enough to read.
But this fascination with unhealthy food that can make them fat isn’t inborn. Instead, the desire is implanted via a continuous barrage of advertising aimed specifically at children, according to a new report.
A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 75% of all ads aimed at young children and teenagers were peddling candy, snacks, sugary cereal or fast food. Children aged between 2 and 7 see, on average 12 food ads a day from various sources, which grows to about 4,000 a year, said the report.
Advertisers attract their attention by using popular characters like SpongeBob SquarePants and Shrek to sell everything from Burger King hamburgers and french fries to Pop-Tarts and Skittles. The American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups are calling for a ban on this kind of advertising.
In an effort to head off such a ban, 11 major food and beverage manufacturers have formed a coalition to regulate their own advertising pitches. Although activists are skeptical, the coalition claims that, henceforth, members will commit at least half of their children’s advertising to healthier products.
Overweight children and adolescents have a much greater risk of becoming obese as adults than kids of normal weight. Regular exercise when combined with a balanced, nutritious diet at any age can help reverse an underlying cause of excess weight and obesity, namely the imbalance of blood glucose and insulin called Insulin Resistance. By reversing Insulin Resistance, you can facilitate weight loss.
If left unchecked, obesity can also lead to the cluster of increased risks for heart disease called Metabolic Syndrome (Syndrome X) as well as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) – a leading cause of menstrual irregularity, acne and other skin conditions, excess facial hair and female hair loss. Overweight adolescents do not have a monopoly on PCOS, however. Up to 50% of PCOS sufferers may be females who are of normal weight or even lean.
Insulin Resistance-linked weight problems are also associated with Type 2 Diabetes, which is being seen at an increasingly younger age. Before the onset of this latter condition, however, most people develop reversible Pre-Diabetes, a condition in which blood sugar levels are elevated beyond normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes.
Left unchecked, Pre-Diabetes may lead to the Type 2 variety, which can only be managed for the rest of a person’s life. Many Diabetics require daily injections of insulin.
Over the long term, Type 2 Diabetes severely increases the risk of blindness, amputation and kidney disease, as well as a heart attack or stroke. Some 90% of people with Type 2 also suffer from excess weight or obesity.
December 27th, 2011
Does a craving for chocolate play havoc with your Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome weight loss diet? If so, it may be that your habit is harder to kick than you imagine.
Brain changes in chocoholics that occur when they see or eat chocolate are similar to those in addicts when they take drugs, according to a report in the European Journal of Nutrition.
Researchers found certain regions of the brain were more active when people, who confessed to cravings, were fed or shown pictures of chocolate than in non-cravers.
They also discovered the sight of chocolate contributed significantly to the activation of brain areas associated with reward, suggesting that people trying to lose PCOS weight could cut their intake by avoiding the sight of foods they particularly desire.
Professor Edmund Rolls and colleagues at the University of Oxford’s experimental psychology department in England carried out functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on the brains of eight chocoholics and eight non-cravers. All the participants were women.
The volunteers were shown appetizing pictures of chocolate and then fed liquid chocolate while having MRI scans. Among chocolate cravers, greater activity was seen in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, pregenual cingulated cortex and ventral striatum – regions of the brain known to be involved in pleasure sensation, habit-forming behaviours and drug addiction.
Damage to the orbitofrontal cortex acquired through brain injury has previously been associated with compulsive gambling and excessive use of alcohol and drugs.
Professor Rolls said: “Individual differences in brain responses to very pleasant foods help in the understanding of the mechanisms that drive the liking for specific foods and thus intake of those foods.
“Sight and flavor combined give a much bigger response than seeing or tasting the food separately. The sight component is important and complements the flavor,” he added.
Eating a lot of chocolate can be a major factor in gaining excess PCOS weight and becoming obese. But a balanced, nutritious diet combined with regular exercise can help reverse an underlying cause of obesity, namely the imbalance of blood glucose and insulin called Insulin Resistance. By reversing Insulin Resistance, you can facilitate weight loss.
