The Vegetarian Diet is Killing the Environment - http://clapway.com/2015/12/19/the-vegetarian-diet-is-killing-the-environment/

As it turns out, taking up a vegetarian diet has absolutely no impact on the environment. In fact, a vegetarian diet increases energy use by 38%. It also increases water use by 10% and greenhouse gas emissions by 6%.

Your Vegetarian Diet is Causing Global Warming

The data, published by Carnegie Mellon University researchers, says that the diets recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans pose a great threat to the environment. The results were very surprising to the research team, who expected the opposite. Healthy diets, because they have more fruits, vegetables, fish and dairy products, are more impactful on the environment than foods that have added sugars.

Vegetarian Diets Have Confused the Scientific Community

The study, funded by the Colcom Foundation and the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research at Carnegie Mellon University, clarifies that diets with less meat don’t have any less of a carbon footprint. There is a great amount of grain and land used to produce one pound of meat. The amount of methane that farm animals produce also needs to be taken into account. According to a paper published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, eating beef has a dangerous effect on the environment.

There is also a wealth of information that says vegetarian diets are better for the environment. Cornell University released a report where they proved that a food system based on meat requires more energy and water resources than a lactoovovegetarian diet. This study, published in 2003, might be completely reversed by this latest study. Another study published ten years later claimed to prove that diets with large amounts of plant-based foods have the highest rate of greenhouse gas emissions. This was released a team of French researchers in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

What is the Truth About Vegetarianism vs. Omnivorism?

The research made by Carnegie Mellon University added up the amounts of greenhouse gas emissions that come with a vegetarian diet. It also takes into account other factors, like environmental costs that come from production, transportation, and marketing of the food products.

The team looked into water use, energy use, and emissions for individual food products from different diets, and then added them up. The results of this categorization are very surprising. Producing lettuce creates almost as much gas emissions as beef, which is three times what it does to produce pork. Fresh fish also has an alarmingly high greenhouse gas emission level.

So while cutting out fatty pork and eating more lettuce might be good for your body, it’s actually not that great for the planet. This study also includes the cost of producing food that is eventually wasted. When taking this into account, the toll of vegetarian diets on the environment goes up even further. Compared to beef, of which 33% is wasted, 40% more fruit goes to waste on average.

Measuring the exact effect of food on the environment is pretty complicated. There’s a lot of the data that is uncertain. As such, the Carnegie Mellon study looked to report only things that can be measured concretely.

The Results of the Study

One thing that is certain is that things that are good for the human body aren’t good for the environment. Junk food and foods with added sugars have been proven to leave less fo a carbon footprint, as is the case for foods with saturated fats.

The second thing that this study makes certain is that vegetarian or not, diets have a definite toll on the environment. Everything needs the kind of production, transportation, and upkeep that needs to borrow from the environment, and that is the only way that it can be functional.

Read: We Can Make Meat Out of Plants

 

The Vegetarian Diet is Killing the Environment

The Key to Losing Weight Has Just Been Discovered #diet #weight #weightloss - http://clapway.com/2015/08/24/key-losing-weight-discovered-099/

And no. It is neither a slimming pill nor a new diet regimen. A new study, published in the Patient Education and Counseling journal, indicates that doctor support is the key to losing weight successfully.

GOOD COMMUNICATION = LOSING WEIGHT

According to the study, obese people who felt that their doctors were helping them get thinner doubled their weight loss results compared to those who did not have the same treatment.

Eureka Alert reports that the study involved 347 obese people who were part of the two-year weight loss program, POWER, funded by the U.S. government. By filling out surveys about their relationships with their doctors, the subjects were able to give more data to the researchers who concluded that communication with an expert is the key to fighting obesity.

LOSING WEIGHT: HOW DID THEY DO IT?

63% of the 347 patients who participated in the research as subjects were female and 40% were African-American. All 347 of them were obese with 36.3 BMI on average and cardiovascular disease factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol.

Researchers from John Hopkins from the School of Medicine, including Wendy L. Bennet, the primary care physician from the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, managed to create bonds with the 347 patients with good communication tactics, empathy and trust which, as the research showed, proved to have beneficial outcomes. Patients were more like to keep to their appointment and stick to their medication schedules.

DID THEY LOSE THE EXTRA POUNDS?

Bennet and her colleagues analyzed all the information by the POWER program trial, to understand if the subjects’ dedication to their goal had an impact on their weight. After that, they were requested to rate their respective doctors through a survey.

Almost all of the participants described their relationships with their physician as high-quality but the overall connection between the doctor and the patient did not have a high impact on weight loss. However, the patients that were satisfied with their relationships with their physicians lost an average of 11 pounds during the trial, compared to those who rated their respective doctors with the lowest ratings. On average, they lost just over 5lbs.

Bennet notes that this research is pure evidence that good connection between providers and patients is important in their weight loss. Also, she added that patients often join commercially run weight loss programs without letting their physicians know:

“Incorporating physicians into future programs might lead patients to more successful weight loss,” she said.

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The Key to Losing Weight Has Just Been Discovered

%#Washington State is currently facing a #salmonella outbreak linked to #pork products.% - http://clapway.com/2015/08/21/salmonella-pork-products-washington-101/

Salmonella is annually responsible for one million illnesses; 19,000 hospitalizations; and 380 deaths in the United States. There are 134 cases in 10 counties, and Washington State is currently facing a salmonella outbreak linked to pork products.

WHAT IS SALMONELLA?

Approximately 600-800 cases of salmonellosis are recorded among Washington residents each year. Salmonellosis (Salmonella) is a food poisoning caused by the Salmonella enterica bacterium. The easiest way to contract salmonella is by indulging in foods contaminated by the bacteria (like pork). Symptoms of Salmonella include fever, abdominal discomfort and vomiting. It develops 12 to 72 hours after infecting the body. Salmonella usually lasts between 4 and 7 days. People typically recover without medical assistance, however diarrhea and dehydration are severe symptoms of the contaminant that require medical attention.

HOW DOES FOOD CONTAMINATION HAPPEN?

Foods become contaminated with salmonella in a number of ways, “during food processing or food handling and by the unwashed hands of an infected food handler,” according to webmd.com. Beef, poultry, milk, and eggs are most commonly contaminated with salmonella. Salmonella can also be found in pet feces and is particularly prevalent in reptiles, baby chicks, ducklings, small rodents and hamsters.

WHAT HAPPENED TO PORK?

“The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has joined the state health department in its investigation into the outbreak,” according to Fox 13 news, “People eating pork are advised to cook it thoroughly.” The majority of illnesses, 84 cases to be exact, occurred in King County; 24 in Snohomish County; 12 in Pierce County and five in Yakima County.

The exposure of the bacteria for Washington community was caused by the consumption of whole roasted pigs served at private events and restaurants. Early testing confirms a connection to a slaughter facility in Graham, WA. “Samples were collected at Kapowsin Meats slaughter facility in Graham last week,” according to the state Department of Health, “testing confirms the outbreak strain was present.”

“The business, which is regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, has cooperated with the investigation,” said foodsafetynews.com, “There may be other sources as well, and disease investigators are searching for the origin of the Salmonella bacteria in the outbreak.”

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DON’T LOSE SLEEP IF YOU NEED TO FLEE THE STATE

Deadly Pigs: Salmonella in Pork Products In Washington

On #obesity, it might not be your fault. And scientists want to help you cure your #hereditary issue. - http://clapway.com/2015/08/20/scientists-discovered-how-obesity-works-to-treat-it-324/

The key gene connected to obesity, responsible for people getting fatter, has finally been figured out. Scientists anticipate this to offer a totally new approach to the problem. It seems like a strict diet and intensive workouts will no longer be the only solutions to obesity, whose mysteries have just been solved.

THE FTO OBESITY GENE

In 2007, researchers found out that there was a gene that was somehow related to obesity, but they were not able to connect it to appetite and other factors. However, now we know that the FTO gene has an evil, faulty version that stores energy from food as fat, and does not let it get burnt.  What the experiments show is quite positive, though, since tests on mice and human cells indicate that this can be reversed and the hope of a drug or other treatment might be developed.

Responsible for this research are scientists from Harvard University and MIT, who published their study online on Wednesday on  the New England Journal of Medicine.

OBESITY IS NOT ALL ABOUT EATING

Melina Slaussnitzer, lead author of the study and genetics specialist at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, says that this discovery is an answer to those who believe that obesity is a choice: “For the first time, genetics has revealed a mechanism in obesity that was not really suspected before,” she says.

Related Post: Vitamin D Pills May Be Dangerous for Teenagers

Dr. Clifforf Rosen, associate editor at the medical journal and scientist at Maine Medical Center Research Institute, says that “it’s a big deal,” and that obesity is not all about eating, but how the FTO gene decides to store energy and use food. With this discovery, “you now have a pathway for drugs that can make those fat cells work differently,” he continued.

BUT THERE IS NO MAGIC PILL

So far, there has not been an obesity drug that would fight the problem long-term targeting metabolism. Most of them just aim at the brain and affect appetite in many different ways, but scientists are positive that this is going to change. Even though we cannot guess how long it might take before a new drug based on the new data becomes available, they say that it will not be something like a magic pill. People will not be able to eat whatever they want without gaining weight and targeting fat pathway could affect other things.

Eating habits and exercise are still important since the gene glitch does not explain all obesity. Actually, FTO was found in 44 percent of Europeans but only 5 percent of blacks suggesting that there are other genes at work, as well.

Manolis Kellis, MIT professor, says that having the glitch doesn’t make you doomed to become obese but may predispose you to it: “People with two faulty copies of the gene (one from Mom and one from Dad) weighed an average of 7 pounds more than those without them. But some were a lot heavier than that, and 7 pounds can be the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy weight.”

A CURE IS ON THE WAY

With more than half a billion obese people in the world, the necessity of a drug which can hit obesity in its nucleus is getting bigger and bigger. The experiments, as the journal describes, anyway, show that scientists are already getting close to creating a new pill that will change the way experts fight obesity and the diseases it hosts.

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Another piece of offbeat news. The #paleo #diet ain"t all its cracked up to be? - http://clapway.com/2015/08/09/move-over-paleo-consuming-carbs-made-us-smarter-244/

While the paleo diet may still be popular, a new study suggests that consuming carbs in the form of starches was the key to accelerating brain expansion in early human evolution, effectively making us smarter as we evolved larger brains.

Consumption of Carbs Responsible for Brain Growth, Increased Intelligence

A key issue in the human evolution timeline has focused on human brain evolution, specifically why we grew such large, complex brains and how. While the answers have yet been clearly defined, it is a widely accepted assumption that the size of our brains is somehow connected to a dietary change within the past 3 million years.

While most studies relied on evidence of increased meat consumption (we’re looking at you, Paleo Diet advocates!), other studies highlighted the importance of the invention and continued development of cooking as they factors for our brain size increase.

However, a new study by Dr. Karen Hardy and researchers is arguing that based on evidence from archaeological, anthropological, genetic, physiological, and anatomical data, it is not meat consumption that drove the brain to accelerate expansion, but rather consumption of dietary carbohydrates.

So stock up on the potatoes, rice, and whole-grain breads as this study breaks into the health and diet arena of the scientific community to argue for human evolution (and smarter evolution at that!) through eating carbs in the form of starches.

Are All Diets Equal? The Case for Carbs in Brain Evolution

The study, published in The Quarterly Review of Biology does not necessarily argue against the role that meat consumption played in the human brain’s evolution. However, it does argue that plant-based foods (carbs) were absolutely essential in the evolution and expansion of the human brain.

During the Pleistocene epoch, the human brain was undergoing many rapid changes. One of these was an increase of brain size and function.

The study points out that evidence of increased carbohydrate consumption, along with the adaptive role that cooking had to play in order to improve the ability to digest the starchy carbs, had a tremendous impact on the brain’s development.

Cooking starches (think of things such as putting a potato on the roast) helped improve the digestibility of the foods. It also provided a source of preformed glucose, which was used by the developing brain to meet high glucose demands, including red blood cells production, brain function, and even fetal development.

Digestible carbs were absolutely needed for the increased demands of the growing brain during this time. What also may have helped fuel carbs’ role in brain evolution was the increase of salivary amylase genes that increased starches energy yield after cooking.

Consuming Carbs, Cooking, and Creating Bigger, Better Brains

There are some merits to the Paleo Diet, including limited sugar consumption, it may not be the true “caveman” diet during some ages of the human evolution timeline that dates back to 3 million years.

Through much of the research focus on diet and its role in evolution, carbohydates have been overlooked. That is until Dr. Hardy and her team came along to clear up some of the misconceptions the starches carry.

The study showed that the brain needs up to 25% of the body’s energy, as well as at least 60% of its blood glucose. Only a diet rich in dietary carbohydrates could supply such a high glucose demand.

This same glucose need is effectively doubled during human pregnancy and lactation, which in the case of low-carbohydrate diets, would be too short of a supply to support the health of the mother and baby.

The research goes on to include that the availability of starches were found all over the world, available to all ancestral civilizations, whether in the form of tubers, seeds, fruits, or nuts.

What’s more is that as the art and science of cooking spread through the world, the raw starches became more easily digestible. Couple that with the fact that an increased presence of salivary amylase genes, which helps to digest starches as well, and the evidence points to carbs being our friends.

While eating meat most likely started the evolution of the human brains, the coevolution of cooking and consuming carbs in the form of starches accelerated the evolution to help make a perfect diet to increase our smarts and chances of survival.

Additional Image Credit to Ryan Raffa
Additional Image Credit to Alessandro Valli

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Move Over Paleo! Consuming Carbs Made Us Smarter

There is #hope for #America yet. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/27/americans-are-eating-healthier-234/

The diets followed by people who live in the United States have been discussed on many occasions. The fact that the rate of obesity had been increasing was an issue of full awareness. What is new is that Americans’ eating habits began to change, and this time they are not worsening.

The fact that the consumed calorie percentage has dropped might appear unexpected, and, unfortunately, this doesn’t change the obesity rates at this moment. However, the news that Americans are now eating healthier foods and drinking less sugary beverages is extremely promising. Furthermore, this is the first time the calorie consumption has a significant decline in 40 years since the government began tracking the food consumption.

Obesity Rates have Stopped Rising with Healthier Eating

As stated above, obesity is still an enormous problem in the US since over a third of America’s population is obese. However, the proportion has stabilized. It seems that when it comes to adults and children who are already going to school, the rates of obesity are not rising anymore. Furthermore, when talking about younger children the rates have also dropped. Both African Americans and European Americans stopped eating as many calories as they used to. But the change varies from one group to another.

Significant Fall in the Level of Sugary Sodas

The impact sugary sodas have on our bodies is known by everybody. But this didn’t stop people from consuming large quantities of sugary beverages. In accordance with the report, the average American has cut down on soda consumption by 25 percent in the last 25 years.

Americans Still Don’t Eat Healthy Enough

According to the study, it seems that both lower income families, as well as families with high income, have been cutting down on calories lately. While this is fantastic news, doctors say that there is still a lot more to carry out.

The fact that Americans don’t eat enough fruit and vegetables, and still eat junk food instead, remains a problem since unhealthy eating and manner of living can actually be the cause an impressive number of diseases, like diabetes or cancer. However, the fact that the consumption of calories has a much lower rate shows that healthier eating and lifestyle in the US will be improved over the next years.

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Americans Are Eating Healthier

Sloths have a contender in pandas, apparently. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/11/study-reveals-why-pandas-are-lazy-124/

Have you ever found yourself wondering why you were not born panda — sitting on a tree branch all day, eating bamboo and doing nothing? A recent study on the metabolism of giant pandas, however, found out that the animal requires low energy use daily — a reason why it can simply live off a vegetarian diet.

Only 1,800 pandas left

The giant Panda is a rare animal and it is classified as a conservation-reliant endangered species. It is native to south-central China and it is believed that only 1,800 are remaining in the wild. The animal’s diet is made up of 99% bamboo, and they sometimes feed off of with other grasses and wild tubers.

By tracking the daily life of five captive pandas and three wild ones, the study, which was published in the journal Science last Thursday, discovered that the energy expenditure of pandas is as sluggish as that of sloths. This study, in fact, suggests that pandas use only about 38 percent of the energy which is usually used by smaller-sized animals.

More sluggish than sloths

According to the research: “The giant pandas’ energy measurements are among the lowest (relative to body mass) ever made for mammals not in torpor, which is a sort of suspended animation. The daily energy expenditure values for giant pandas are substantially lower than those for koalas, for example, and more akin to those of three-toed sloths”.

Scientists found out that the low-energy demand of pandas is also due to the size of their brains, livers and kidneys which are substantially smaller if compared to those of other bears. Also, the levels of thyroid hormone of giant pandas are very low and are comparable to those of an hibernating black bear. The thyroid hormones play a big role in regulating body weight and energy, therefore low levels could be considered the reason why pandas are so sluggish.

Not “couch potatoes” after all

So, although the stomach of a giant panda is perfectly structured and equipped for meat, the animal’s exceptionally low energy consumption and metabolism rates lead to a bamboo-based diet only. So, while we were all thinking that pandas are just “couch potatoes” doing nothing but eating green sticks, they are actually just following their daily energy requirements.

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Rearranged "Food Order" for Those on a Type 2 Diabetes Diet - http://clapway.com/2015/06/25/rearranged-food-order-for-those-on-a-type-2-diabetes-diet765/

When it comes to being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, restrictions immediately begin to follow. The most evident of the restrictions have to do with eating, to the point where it has been stated by experts that most foods are to be avoided, as opposed to being consumed in moderation. Fortunately, a recent study featuring people on a type 2 diabetes diet shows that avoiding foods is highly unnecessary, just as long as they are eaten in a specific order.

Significance of type 2 diabetes diet on glucose and insulin levels

Not only is the type 2 diabetes diet significant to individuals suffering from the disease, but it also applies to those suffering from obesity as well. The main food groups these diseases tend to focus on are protein, fruits and vegetables, and carbohydrates. In previous years, two groups that were considered to have a significant negative impact on glucose and insulin levels were fruits and carbohydrates. This is due to both of these food groups raising blood sugar at highly drastic, potentially dangerous, levels. According to researchers of studying the matter, “Carbohydrates [and fruits] raise blood sugar, but if you tell someone not to eat them -or to drastically cut back- it’s hard for them to comply.” Following this statement is the breakdown of the recent study of the type 2 diabetes diet itself.

A new study further breaking down the typical type 2 diabetes diet

Featuring 11 participants, the study had them eat two different sequences of type 2 diabetes diet meals, one for each week. In the first week, the participants ate carbohydrates and fruit juice first. A few minutes later, it was followed by vegetables, fat, and protein. During the second week, vegetables, fat, and protein were eaten first followed by carbohydrates a few minutes after. While the participants were eating in two different orders for the next few weeks, their glucose levels were taken. There were many findings and, a new phenomenon was revealed.

A potential new food order for the type 2 diabetes diet

Researchers found that when the participants were eating carbohydrates first and vegetables afterwards, glucose levels proved to be a lot higher than when they were consuming vegetables and protein beforehand. Although more research and studies need to be conducted in order to fully confirm this new finding, it is safe to say that this new food order of eating veggies and protein before carbs is a good bet for Diabetes Type 2 patients.

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Rearranged "Food Order" for Those on a Type 2 Diabetes Diet