Zinc Does Not Prevent Diabetes
Filed under: Type 2, Adult Onset, Research, Products
Despite claims by zinc supplement manufacturers that the pills can help prevent type 2 diabetes, clinical trials do not support this hypothesis.
Laboratory research suggests that zinc helps promote the production and action of insulin. A four-week study of 56 obese women found that zinc did not have an effect on factors associated with the development of diabetes. This study was an example of one trial that treated 56 people with either zinc or a placebo for four weeks and found no effect. This single trial is too small and too short to tell us anything about the effectiveness of zinc in preventing the development of type 2 diabetes.
Research does support that zinc plays a key role in the regulation of insulin production and glucose utilization. Diabetics have shown a zinc deficiency, which impairs their ability to use glucose. However this fact does not confirm zinc as a supplement to prevent the development of diabetes. I apologize it's a nonevent insofar as news. But look at it this way - it's one trial. Nobody says you have to cross it off your list because 56 obese women didn't see a change in their risk factors for developing diabetes. One study is not gospel.
Vegetarian Tips: Make Your Vegetarian Diet A Balanced Diet!
"Can't find what you are looking for? Try Google Search" Low Calorie Feature Article Vegetarian Tips: Make Your Vegetarian Diet A Balanced Diet!Author: Jasdeep Singh The world has opened eyes to the harmful side-effects of non-veg food like red meat and is now opening arms to Vegetarian Food. A very common myth found among common man is that vegetarian food doesnt provide you with necessary nutrients but a Vegetarian Diet, in no ways, is deprived of necessary nutrients, Only if you have a balanced Vegetarian Diet. Make sure you eat a lot of fruits and dont follow particular monotonous meals. Some Nutrients you dont come across normally in Vegetarian Diets are:- a) Iron b) Calcium c) Zinc d) Protien e) Vitamin D f) Vitamin B12 But you can always have vegetarian source for these nutrients. On a other side of the coin, there are a lots of benifits of Vegetarian Food (incomplete) . They are rich in . You can Find Iron in the following Vegetarian Food items:- Cashews, tomato juice, rice, garbanzo beans (chick peas) and tofu. . You can Find Calcium in the following Vegetarian Food items:- Dairy products, fortified soymilk, fortified orange juice, tofu and broccoli. . You can find Zinc in the following Vegetarian Food items:- Whole grains (especially the germ and bran of the grain), nuts, tofu, leafy vegetables (lettuce, spinach, cabbage), root vegetables (onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, radishes), eggs and dairy products. . You can find Protein in the following Vegetarian Food items:- Vegetarians must eat a variety of plant foods over the course of a day to get enough protein. Eg: Tempeh, miso lentils, tofu, nuts, seeds, and peas. . You can find Vitamin D in the following Vegetarian Food items:- fortified cereals (or a small amount of sunlight) and Fortified milk and soymilk . You can Vitamin B12 in the following Vegetarian Food items:- Tempeh, miso, eggs, dairy products, fortified soymilk and cereals.. Tempeh and miso are foods made from soybeans. They are low in calories and fat and high in protein. Know more about Balanced Diet at http://www.weightloss-health.com/balanced_diet.htm About the Author: Jasdeep Singh For http://weightloss-health.com/ your complete and most comprehensive family guide on Health. Also get free sample low carb recipes, low fat recipes, low calorie recipes, low sodium recipes, low sugar recipes at http://weightloss-health.com/low_carb_recipes.htm If you wish to reproduce the above article you are welcome to do so, provided the article is reproduced in its entirety, including this resource box and LIVE link to our website.... Burning Calorie On A Stationary BikeRestaurant Food Calorie CountLow Calorie Pumpkin Pie
Great taste has its benefits
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Diet, Products
Did you know there are 6 different ways to enjoy Diet Coke with added nutritional benefits? Diet Coke is building up its brand to include essential vitamins and minerals for the health-conscious Diet Coke lovers. Allow me to introduce you to Diet Coke Plus!
Diet Coke Plus offers automatic health benefits with the great taste Diet Coke drinkers have come to expect. Each serving provides 15% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) of niacin, and vitamins B6 and B12 and 10% of the RDI for zinc and magnesium. After a little investigating - the vitamins and minerals in Diet Coke Plus might truly payoff. Low magnesium is tied to increased diabetes risk and zinc plays a key role in glucose metabolism. Vitamins B6 and B12 assist in protecting the body from nerve damage from diabetes. In fact, vitamins B6 and B12 showed a positive influence on vibration perception and nerve conduction speed (NCV) in people with diabetic neuropathy.
Coca Cola realized that Diet Coke drinkers are increasingly looking for more beverage options. Coke decided to remove the guilt from the pleasure. With benefits including: increased glucose metabolism, reduction of diabetes risk, and enhanced nerve perception -- move over Verizon. Diet Coke Plus is asking - can you feel me now??
There's plenty of healthy fish in the sea
For several years now, seafood has become one of the most popular dishes for the heart healthy eater. It's high 
protein, low fat combination make it a choice meal, as does its high Omega-3 content. But, not all seafood is created equal, and I don't mean the difference between fish and fish sticks. Aside from the health benefits that should be factored in when choosing seafood, you should also consider the amount of mercury each kind contains.
Taking into account the good and the bad, I've created my All-Star roster for seafood:
#1) Salmon - Be sure to get wild salmon, as the farmed kind may contain chemicals from polluted water. This powerful fish contains three times the 250mg the recommended dose of Omega-3 (a whopping 1.6g), while its mercury content is kept to a minimum (0.01ppm).
#2) Rainbow Trout - Unlike salmon, you should opt for the farmed kind with this fish. Containing 1g of Omega-3, as well as a healthy dose Niacin - which is known to reduce bad cholesterol - and Vitamin B12. Mercury content is also rather low, typically in the 0.07 range.
#3) Oysters - Though they may not look very appetizing, the slippery creature that dwells inside the ugly shell is a pearl of health. With 1.2g of Omega-3, in addition to a high amount of zinc, oysters are a very healthy choice. Note: Oysters are very difficult to open, so you may want to leave the "shucking" to the pros and make them a dining-out-only treat.
#4) Pollock - Not the film director of the famed artist, but the fish that contains .5g of Omega-3 and only 0.04ppm of mercury. This fish is usually what you'll find in fish sticks and even the fillet-o-fish, but of course you would not want to consume it in this form. Here's a recipe for a much healthier way to serve up your pollock.
#5) Alaskan King Crab - Ever watch the show "The Deadliest Catch" on the Discovery Channel? Me, for one, I'm hooked -- no pun intended. It chronicles the day-to-day dangers faced by crab fisherman as they troll the frigid Alaskan waters. Quality programming. Quality food, too. Alaskan King Crab contains .4g of Omega-3 and a very low amount of mercury (0.06ppm). It also contains over 50 percent of your recommended daily amount of zinc and five times the recommended amount of Vitamin B12.
There are a whole bunch of other seafood that is worthy of All-Star recognition, but these five are, in my opinion, the best of the best. Flounder, perch, shrimp, lobster, cod, halibut, tuna, orange roughy, tilapia -- all are also good second-string options. But, these five seafoods listed above make up my starting line-up.
[RESEARCH] Supplementation with antioxidants and folinic acid for children with Down's syndrome: randomised controlled trial
Objectives To assess whether supplementation with antioxidants, folinic acid, or both improves the psychomotor and language development of children with Down’s syndrome.
Design Randomised controlled trial with two by two factorial design.
Setting Children living in the Midlands, Greater London, and the south west of England.
Participants 156 infants aged under 7 months with trisomy 21.
Intervention Daily oral supplementation with antioxidants (selenium 10 µg, zinc 5 mg, vitamin A 0.9 mg, vitamin E 100 mg, and vitamin C 50 mg), folinic acid (0.1 mg), antioxidants and folinic acid combined, or placebo.
Main outcome measures Griffiths developmental quotient and an adapted MacArthur communicative development inventory 18 months after starting supplementation; biochemical markers in blood and urine at age 12 months.
Results Children randomised to antioxidant supplements attained similar developmental outcomes to those without antioxidants (mean Griffiths developmental quotient 57.3 v 56.1; adjusted mean difference 1.2 points, 95% confidence interval –2.2 to 4.6). Comparison of children randomised to folinic acid supplements or no folinic acid also showed no significant differences in Griffiths developmental quotient (mean 57.6 v 55.9; adjusted mean difference 1.7, –1.7 to 5.1). No between group differences were seen in the mean numbers of words said or signed: for antioxidants versus none the ratio of means was 0.85 (95% confidence interval 0.6 to 1.2), and for folinic acid versus none it was 1.24 (0.87 to 1.77). No significant differences were found between any of the groups in the biochemical outcomes measured. Adjustment for potential confounders did not appreciably change the results.
Conclusions This study provides no evidence to support the use of antioxidant or folinic acid supplements in children with Down’s syndrome.
Trial registration Clinical trials NCT00378456.
Magnesium: The forgotten mineral
Filed under: Diet, Prevention, Research
If I were to ask you to list five essential minerals, I'd put money on the fact that you wouldn't mention magnesium. This is because you, just like me and everyone else, seem to only remember this mineral from the periodic table, not from the label on our vitamins. Iron, Zinc -- those we remember. But, magnesium, not so much. That being said, it may not be a bad idea for us to keep this unpopular mineral fresh on our minds, as its consumption may be linked to our cardiovascular health.
In an 18-year study, French researchers found that men who had the highest levels of magnesium in their blood were 40 percent less likely to die young than those men with the lowest levels. The researchers suspect that this could be due to the fact that low magnesium levels are related to greater inflammation -- which is known to cause heart disease and cancer.
The bigger problem is that an estimated 56 percent of the population doesn't consume a sufficient amount of magnesium -- probably because they forget about it in the first place. To make sure that you're not part of that population, be sure to get around 300mg of the mineral per day. Fortunately, you can get half of that by just eating a small portion of pumpkin seeds.
Mapping Diabetes
Filed under: Type 2, Adult Onset, Diet, Lifestyle, Research, Daily News
Scientists have mapped the genes responsible for causing type 2 diabetes. This new research is giving hope to new tests that can predict an individuals risk for developing the disease and future treatments.
The study compared the genetic make-up of 700 people with type 2 diabetes and a family history of the condition, with 700 diabetes-free people. Four points on the gene map linked to a person's diabetes risk and were confirmed with another group of 5,000 type 2 diabetics. The findings of this research could explain up to 70% of the genetics related to developing diabetes. A particular zinc transporter, known as SLC30A8, which regulates insulin secretion, was shown to have a mutation. Researchers feel they may be able to treat some cases of diabetes by correcting this mutation.
These findings will allow for the creation of a genetic test to predict people's risk of developing type 2 diabetes, as well as better treatments for the presiding cause of their diabetes. Nary a day passes that I am not motivated for the future of all diabetics. This is the type of research that strengthens my faith in the coming of a cure. Identify the nature of the problem and nip it in the bud.
Do You Prefer Healthful Foods Over Medicines?
Filed under: Type 2, Adult Onset, Diet, Research
A new survey reveals that most people prefer to treat diabetes by changing their diets, rather than using medicinesAccording to a survey of 1,022 adults (515 women and 507 men), 69% of Americans would prefer to try a dietary approach, whereas only 21% preferred treating diabetes with medicines. The survey reinforces results from clinical research on diabetes, which has consistently found that people with diabetes adapt well to low-fat vegetarian diets and gain important health benefits. A dietary approach to diabetes based on scientific research shows that a low-fat vegan diet can lower high blood sugar levels three times more effectively than oral medications.
Among the results: women are even more likely than men to prefer food changes over pills. People with more education and higher incomes were especially likely to favor a diet approach. For the financially savvy - this makes a lot of sense. You MUST buy food. You might as well buy healthier foods and curtail your Rx costs. Furthermore, Americans aged 45 to 64 were more enthusiastic about diet changes, compared with older Americans. I'll bet it's the convenience factor. A little less medication, a little more supper, please. The most pill-happy generation was the 18- to 24-year-olds. Don't look at me like that - I'm 28 and favor the flavor over medication, any day. Bon appetit!