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Diet Bytes
August 2005
By WLR Guest Dietitian
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Protein power
When low carbohydrate diets like the Atkins diet were at
the peak of their popularity, the big question was ‘how can
you lose weight when you can eat as much meat, cheese, cream
and butter as you like?!’
Recent studies have helped solve
this mystery by showing that like any other dieter, Atkins
dieters eat fewer calories, and so lose weight. This seems to
be at least partly because the high protein content of the
diet helps suppress appetite.
Another reason is the rigid
rules and lack of variety – how much meat can you really eat,
butter and cream isn’t the same without some bread, pasta, or
potatoes to put it on, no sugar means snacks and ‘afters’ are
less more-ish.
Back to protein. An increasing number of studies suggest
that having a higher intake of protein-rich foods such as lean
meat, fish, chicken, tofu and low fat dairy foods can help
people feel fuller sooner, so eat fewer calories over the day.
The good news is that this benefit was found with more
balanced diets, rather than extreme low carbohydrate diets.
More research is needed before clear recommendations can be
made, but as a first step, and for good nutrition, make sure
you include a protein-rich food at each meal with a total of 3
servings of milk and dairy foods over the day (see
Milk, Calcium and Weight Loss and
Eat
Eggs for Weight Loss for more information).
For example at breakfast your protein-rich food could be a
pot of yogurt, milk on cereal or an egg, light soft cheese,
beans or peanut butter on toast. Then say, meat, fish, egg or
houmous in a lunchtime sandwich. Protein-rich foods tend to
naturally form a part of main evening meals, but if having
pasta take care not to have it with just a tomato sauce.
Include protein-rich ingredients such as tuna, chicken, pulses
or ham and to keep calories in check serve yourself a bit less
pasta - and enjoy it with a crisp green salad.
Every pound makes a difference to
osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is a form of
arthritis where cartilage in the joints slowly deteriorates,
leading to inflammation, swelling, pain and stiffness.
One of
the key risk factors that we can have control over, for the
development and worsening of osteoarthritis of the knee, is
being overweight. Therefore people with knee arthritis are
advised to achieve a healthier weight and be more active.
Activity (to suit their abilities) helps to keep the joints
mobile as well as keep weight in check.
And it seems that just losing a modest amount of weight
could make a real difference.
Research published in the
medical journal Arthritis & Rheumatism found that for every
pound of weight lost, there is a four-fold decrease in the
amount of pressure exerted on knee joints during day to day
activities.
The researchers recommend more long-term research
to see if weight loss will actually slow down the worsening of
the condition, but are encouraged that losing a modest of
weight could make a real difference to people’s symptoms and
well-being.
WLR says
Osteoarthritis can be a painful and debilitating
condition and in the UK affects around 8 out of 10 people over
50 to some extent. It can involve all joints of the body, but
is most commonly found in the fingers, knees, hips and spine.
Risk factors include obesity, past joint injuries, being
older, and being female – knee and hand osteoarthritis are
especially more common amongst women. It also tends to run in
families.
As with all things, prevention is better than cure, so
looking after our weight, being as active as we can and
enjoying a healthy fruit and veg-rich diet can help our health
in many ways, including reducing our risk of this common
health problem.
Trust me, I’m a doctor!
Around this time last year, 100
doctors signed up to the British Medical Association’s
weight-loss challenge.
It was part of a World Medical
Association initiative to not only help motivate overweight
medics to shape up, but help them gain more insight into what
losing weight is really like for the patients they advise to
drop the pounds for their health’s sake.
A year of ‘dieting’ and exercise resulted in a reasonably
impressive average weight loss of 8.7kg (1st 5lb). But like
everyone, some clearly found it harder going than others with
one doctor losing 7 stone over the year, with others gaining
or losing just a little.
WLR says
This is great to see as so many different health
professionals often lack understanding about what it is really
like for their patients/clients to
control their weight once
they leave the consulting room and head back to the reality of
their busy lives in a food-filled society.
Supplementary benefits?
July saw the introduction of new European Union laws to
regulate vitamin and mineral supplements.
The legislation, which was approved three years ago, has
established a list of vitamins and minerals that may be used
in food supplements and lays down criteria relating to
labelling to ensure that consumers are better informed about
their contents. The measures are designed to protect the
public’s health and to enable approved supplements to be sold
throughout the EU.
Under the
new rules, which start on 1 August, only food
supplements on the approved list may go on sale.
However, any
products that were already on the market before July 2002 will
be given a four-year extension, provided that the manufacturer
has already made an application to go on to the approved
‘list’. As a result, UK based manufacturers have submitted
around 500 applications to the Food Standards Agency.
(Click here for a list of
ingredients likely to be banned)
Despite concerns about how the new rules will restrict
availability, in practice most vitamin and mineral supplements
currently on the shelf will not need to be removed or changed
as a result of this directive.
WLR says
This new law is a very welcome development,
despite what some critics might say. It will ensure that the
products available are safe, can offer some benefit, are
clearly labelled and are in doses that are backed up by
thorough scientific evidence.
Vitamins and minerals are vital
to life, but does taking high doses mean better health?
In some
cases we know that taking high doses over a long period can
actually harm health, and in many cases we just don’t know
what the effects might be. So some level of regulation is all
about protecting the public’s health not simply denying them
choice.
This new law has been further supported by a number of
important studies that came out in July. One showed that high
doses of vitamin E have no proven benefit in reducing the risk
of health problems such as heart disease and cancers. While
another found that high doses of
vitamin C do not prevent the
common cold.
A further study in the Journal of the American Medical
Association concluded that there is good evidence to show that
certain diet patterns such as eating plenty of fruit, veg and
whole grains are linked to reducing the risk of diseases such
as cancer and heart disease. But providing people with
supplements to mimic the beneficial nutrients in these foods
such as vitamin E, or beta-carotene has failed to provide the
benefits that eating healthy food does.
In other words, a pill
can’t provide the multitude of nutrients and beneficial
goodness found in real food.
Some groups of people will benefit from vitamin and mineral
supplements, for example people on a restricted diet; women
planning pregnancy are advised to take 400mcg
folic acid daily
to reduce the risk of neural tube defects such as spina
bifida; housebound people benefit from a
vitamin D supplement.
Overall, the clear message is that for most of us, a
healthy, balanced diet is the best way to meet nutritional
needs and promote optimal health.
For more information visit:
Food Standards Agency
For more information on the use of supplements visit the
British Dietetic Association’s Food Facts centre
– and click on ‘Nutritional Nirvana – a pill for every ill’
Is aspartame still safe?
Aspartame, the artificial sweetener found in many of our
favourite ‘no added sugar’ foods, hit the headlines again in
July. A new study in Italy raised questions about a possible
link between aspartame and some forms of leukaemia.
As a result the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has
announced that it will review the evidence ‘as a matter of
high priority’.
Meanwhile, it is useful to know that a
comprehensive review of the safety of aspartame was carried
out in the UK in 2002 and concluded that there was no need to
change the current regulations on its use. The Food Standards
Agency has said it will be looking carefully at the results of
the EFSA review, which is expected to take a number of months.
Like many food additives, the safety assessment for
aspartame has led to the setting of an Acceptable Daily
Intake, or ADI. This is an estimate of the amount of an
additive that could be routinely consumed every day over a
lifetime with no appreciable health risk. In the case of
aspartame, an adult would have to consume 14 cans of a
sugar-free drink every day before reaching the ADI, assuming
the sweetener was used in the drink at the maximum permitted
level.
There is one very small group of people who cannot
safely consume aspartame. They have the rare, inherited
disease phenylketonuria (PKU), and as a result are unable to
metabolise the amino acid
phenylalanine (which is one of the
building blocks of aspartame) effectively.
Read the Food Standards Agency report
Read Diabetes UK’s statement
Is computer use linked to overweight in teenagers?
Using
the computer, playing computer and video games, and watching
television are now part of children’s and teenagers’ everyday
life. Because they involve sitting they have also been
earmarked as one of the factors behind the rise in the number
of overweight children in the UK.
However, not all of these games deserve this bad reputation
according to a new study carried out amongst over 6500
teenagers in Finland. While spending more time watching the
telly or using the computer (for email, writing or surfing)
was linked to being overweight, playing digital games (with a
computer, video or console) wasn’t.
The researchers suggest
playing digital games is a more active pursuit than TV or
surfing, or it may be that teenagers who like digital games
tend to have lifestyles that reduce their risk of being
overweight.
WLR says
One great example of a fun console game to keep
the kids (and parents!) active are the interactive dance mats.
Even a bit of karaoke will keep them moving and socialising.
With the summer holidays here it can be easier to get them out
of the house so don’t forget old time favourites like frisbees,
swing ball, hula hoops, skipping, hopscotch and rounders. Not
to mention a family bike ride or walk in the park.
Studies
suggest that active parents have active kids, so as for so
many things, being a good role model will be a great help to
you your kids.
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