Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Photo by Jennifer Burk on Unsplash Researchers from several worldwide institutions – including the Imperial College London in the UK and the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization (WHO) in France – have discovered that cancers related to metabolic diseases …
Photo by Jason Tuinstra on Unsplash Diabetes is a vicious and life-threatening disease. It is a condition where your blood sugar is continuously and seriously elevated. The excess circulating blood sugar is very destructive, inflaming tissues in the heart and circulation, the eyes, brain, kidneys …
If you’ve ever been on a diet, one common tip is to not eat heavy meals at night, usually past 9pm. The reason being that the probability of high activity level after that time, enough to burn the fat from that meal, is very slim. But findings presented at SLEEP 2017, the 31st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC, report that eating late at night could be more dangerous than you think.
In order to understand how eating a meal late at night can negatively impact your body, you must understand how healthy digestion takes place. First, of course, as you eat your meal, your teeth are breaking up the food and enzymes are breaking down the sugars. Once the food makes it way to the stomach, stomach acids and enzymes break it down into proteins. Next, it travels to the small intestines, where enzymes are further breaking down the food particles into proteins, fats and sugars. Once the nutrients from the food particles are absorbed into the small intestines, they pass through the blood stream and are carried to the liver to be processed.
When you are eating harmful foods like junk food, the digestion process is slower. Fast foods do not have the healthy enzymes needed to breakdown the foods properly. An unbalanced diet leads to a high amount of carbohydrates, sugars, salt, and fats at a low nutritional value. The foods are processed and refined but lost most of their key nutrients, do not contain enough nutrients, or contain poor water content (needed to break down the food).
New findings of a small study performed by researchers at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine report that, compared to eating earlier in the day, prolonged delayed eating can increase weight, insulin and cholesterol levels, and negatively affect fat metabolism, and hormonal markers implicated in heart disease, diabetes and other health problems.
In the study, nine healthy weight adults underwent two conditions, one of daytime eating – three meals and two snacks between 8am and 7pm – for eight weeks. The other, delayed eating – three meals and two snacks eating from noon to 11pm – for eight weeks. There was a two-week washout period between conditions to make sure there was no carry over effect. The sleep period was held constant, between 11pm and 9am. Metabolic measures and blood was drawn throughout the study to allow the team to note changes in weight, metabolism and energy used.
The participants who ate later, compared to the daytime condition, weight increased. Respiratory quotient (the ratio of carbon dioxide products by the body to oxygen consumed by the body) rose as well, indicating that eating later led to metabolizing fewer lipids and carbs. The hormone ghrelin that stimulates appetite was found to peak earlier in the daytime in those who followed daytime eating conditions. Researchers say this suggests that eating earlier may help prevent overeating in the evening and at night.
Turmeric, Curcuma longa, is a powerful herb that is native to India. It is a bright yellow/orange spice that is commonly found in foods like curry. The health world is buzzing about this herb due to its high levels of curcuminoids, or curcumin. Curcumin is …
Stevia is a natural, no-calorie sweetener that many have chosen as a replacement to the harmful but commonly consumed white sugar. This alternative sweetener is particularly popular among individuals with diabetes, as their need to control their blood sugar intake and maintenance is much higher. …
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that protects teeth from tooth decay that works by stopping or even reversing the tooth decay process, keeping tooth enamel strong and solid. Also according to the CDC, almost all water contains naturally-occurring fluoride at low levels. Fluoride is also commonly found in toothpaste, mouth rinses, and gels, and many consider it to be essential to good oral hygiene. While the CDC reports, “The independent, non-governmental Community Preventive Services Task Force has noted that the research evidence does not demonstrate that community water fluoridation results in any unwanted health effects other than dental fluorosis, a condition that causes primarily cosmetic changes in the appearance of tooth enamel,” a recent study says otherwise.
In a study published in the Journal of Water and Health, researchers examined links between fluoridation and diabetes as, they say, fluoride is a known preservative of blood glucose. With this in mind, these findings have prompted a surge in people researching how to remove fluoride from water. It’s not just fluoride that people want to remove from water. Some commercial premises owners will look to treat hard water in such a way that removes calcium and magnesium ions in order to soften it.
Kyle Fluegge, PhD, from the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine now serves as a health economist for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and a co-director of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Fluegge studied data between 2005 and 2010 across 22 states, using calculations of county-level water fluoride levels, per capita county tap water consumption, and county measures of poverty, obesity, and physical activity.
Read the full study published in the Journal of Water and Health by clicking here!
Dr. Fluegge reported that a one milligram increase in average county fluoride levels predicted a 0.17% increase in age-adjusted diabetes prevalence. Also revealed were different types of fluoride additives used by each region – sodium fluoride and sodium fluorosilicate, which seem to have an opposing effect and was associated with decreases in diabetes incidence and prevalence. Countries that rely on naturally occurring fluoride in their water and did not supplement with these additives also had lower diabetes rates.
“The models present an interesting conclusion that the association of water fluoridation to diabetes outcomes depends on the adjusted per capita consumption of tap water,” explained Dr. Fluegge. “Only using the concentration [of added fluoride] does not produce a similarly robust, consistent association.” So, Dr. Fluegge adjusted his calculations to incorporate tap water consumption, instead of sticking to calculations that rely on “parts per million” measurements of fluoride in the water.
“This is an ecological study. This means it is not appropriate to apply these findings directly to individuals,” Dr. Fluegge reports. “These are population-level associations being made in the context of an exploratory inquiry. And water is not the only direct source of fluoride; there are many other food sources produced with fluoridated water.”
Dr. Fluegge says that his models indicate natural, environmental fluoride does seem to have a protective effect from diabetes. “However,” he says, “natural fluoride is not universally present in the water supply.”
Read more about Community Water Fluoridation, from the CDC by clicking here.
