Month: September 2021

Reduce your belly fat 10 percent with a half cup of this food.

Lowering sugar consumption by about one can of soda and adding one half-cup of fibre-rich foods daily reduces abdominal fat and type 2 diabetes risk.

A study has found that decreasing about 47 grams of sugar intake per day — equivalent to a can of soda — lowers insulin secretion, on average, by 33 percent.

Increasing fibre intake by 5 grams a day — the amount in a half cup of beans — results in a 10 percent reduction of belly fat.

Visceral fat is a type of body fat stored within the abdominal area and internal organs.

This type of fat causes abdominal obesity and is also associated with several health problems, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Dr Emily Ventura and colleagues conducted a 16-week study on overweight Latino adolescents who were between 12 to 19 years old.

They tested if increasing fiber consumption and decreasing sugar intake have an effect on type 2 diabetes risk factors.

The study’s authors wrote:

“A reduction in visceral fat indicates a reduction in risk for type 2 diabetes, considering that to a greater degree than total body fat, visceral fat [fat surrounding the internal organs] has been shown to be negatively associated with insulin sensitivity.”

Those who increased fiber intake had a significant reduction in body mass index (-2 percent vs. 2 percent) and visceral adipose tissue (-10 percent vs. no change) compared with those who decreased fiber intake.”

Being overweight or obese are serious issues affecting adults and children around the world.

The World Health Organization reports that in 2016 over 1.9 billion adults were overweight and more than 650 million adults were obese.

The authors of this study wrote:

“Our results suggest that intensive interventions may not be necessary to achieve modifications in sugar and fiber intake.

Accordingly, nutritional guidance given in the primary care or community setting may be sufficient to promote the suggested dietary changes in some individuals.

In addition, policies that promote reduced intake of added sugar and increased intake of fiber could be effective public health strategies for the prevention of type 2 diabetes in this high-risk population.”

The study was published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (Ventura et al., 2009).

Keep reading here

The foods that help you live longer and protect you from cancer and heart disease.

Drinking tea and eating apples, or any flavonoid-rich foods, can shield people from cancer and heart disease, new research finds.

People who have a daily consumption of 500 mg of flavonoids are more likely to live longer and more healthily.

If you eat one orange, one apple, 100 g of broccoli and 100 g of blueberries and have a cup of tea per day, you are guaranteed to obtain 500 mg of flavonoids.

Flavonoids are antioxidants and part of the polyphenol class found in plants and known to have several health benefits and help prevent various diseases.

Apples, cherries, dark chocolate, pears, tea, red wine (due to grapes), cabbage, and berries, including blueberries and strawberries, are good sources of flavonoids.

The discovery of flavonoids’ protective effect on lowering risk of some diseases comes from a new study that looked into the diets of 53,048 Danes over 23 years.

Dr Nicola Bondonno, the study’s lead author, said:

“It’s important to consume a variety of different flavonoid compounds found in different plant based food and drink.

This is easily achievable through the diet: one cup of tea, one apple, one orange, 100g of blueberries, and 100g of broccoli would provide a wide range of flavonoid compounds and over 500mg of total flavonoids”.

They found that those who ate flavonoid-rich foods were protected against cardiovascular and cancer-related diseases.

They also found that daily intake of flavonoid-rich foods had the most protective effect for heavy drinkers and smokers.

These smokers or those who had two standard alcoholic drinks per day were at higher risk of chronic diseases.

The reason is that smoking and alcohol intake can harm blood vessels and cause inflammation to the cells, leading to greater risk of serious diseases.

The potential health benefits of flavonoids are related to their antioxidants having anti-inflammatory effects and their ability to improve blood vessel function.

This may explain why the smokers and drinkers benefited strongly from foods rich in flavonoids.

Dr Bondonno said:

“It’s also important to note that flavonoid consumption does not counteract all of the increased risk of death caused by smoking and high alcohol consumption.

By far the best thing to do for your health is to quit smoking and cut down on alcohol.

We know these kind of lifestyle changes can be very challenging, so encouraging flavonoid consumption might be a novel way to alleviate the increased risk, while also encouraging people to quit smoking and reduce their alcohol intake.”

The study was published in Nature Communications (Bondonnoet al., 2019).

Keep reading here