Welcome to Weekly Health Update

“A critical weekly review of important new research findings for health-conscious readers”

BLUBERRIES, OBESITY, DIABETES AND METABOLIC SYNDROME

Metabolic syndrome includes a constellation of health disorders that are associated with a high risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.  Specific disorders that are associated with metabolic syndrome include high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood, obesity, and diabetes (or “pre-diabetes”).  In the United States, where obesity has become an epidemic, public health experts estimate that as much as 25 percent of the population currently meets the criteria for metabolic syndrome.

Excessive calorie intake, a sedentary lifestyle, obesity in the abdominal and waist areas (central, or visceral, obesity), genetic factors, and other adverse health risks are known to contribute to the development of metabolic syndrome.  Therefore, both the prevention and treatment of metabolic syndrome are based upon exercise, a healthy low-fat and low-sugar/low-carb diet, and weight loss.  A new prospective, randomized clinical research study suggests that consuming blueberries may also help to reduce some of the adverse health risks associated with metabolic syndrome.

In this study, which appears in the current issue of The Journal of Nutrition, 48 adults (44 females and 4 males) with metabolic syndrome were divided into two groups.  One group, the “experimental group,” consumed 50 grams of freeze-dried blueberries per day (equivalent to 350 grams of fresh blueberries per day), in the form of a beverage, for a period of 8 weeks.  The other group, the “control group,” consumed a “placebo” beverage that did not contain any blueberries (also for 8 weeks).  Blood pressure checks and multiple blood tests were performed at both 4 weeks and 8 weeks into the study.

When comparing the two groups of patient volunteers, the patients in the “blueberry group” were found to have significantly greater decreases in their high blood pressure when compared to the control group.  The level of oxidized LDL cholesterol in the blood, which is a form of the “bad” LDL cholesterol that can directly damage the lining of arteries throughout the body (atherosclerosis), was also significantly decreased in the “blueberry group” of patient volunteers.  At the same time, there were no significant differences between the two groups of patient volunteers with respect to blood glucose (sugar) levels, triglyceride levels, or the levels of HDL (the “good” cholesterol) or LDL (the “bad” cholesterol) in the blood .

Therefore, while a brief period of a diet supplemented with blueberries did not reverse all of the abnormalities associated with metabolic syndrome, the consumption of the equivalent of about 350 grams of blueberries each day did appear to significantly improve at least two of the adverse health factors associated with this syndrome (i.e., high blood pressure and blood levels of oxidized LDL cholesterol).  Based upon the intriguing findings of this small and short-duration study, patients with one or more health factors associated with metabolic syndrome might consider adding some blueberries to their daily diet, in addition to the standard treatment for this life-threatening disorder!

For more information on blueberries, and other sources of dietary polyphenols, as part of a cancer prevention lifestyle, watch for the publication of my new landmark evidence-based book, “A Cancer Prevention Guide for the Human Race,” in September of this year.

Disclaimer: As always, my advice to readers is to seek the advice of your physician before making any significant changes in medications, diet, or level of physical activity

Dr. Wascher is an oncologic surgeon, a professor of surgery, a cancer researcher, an oncology consultant, and a widely published author

For a different perspective on Dr. Wascher, please click on the following YouTube link: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Tdv7XW0qg

I and the staff of Weekly Health Update would again like to take this opportunity to thank the more than 100,000 health-conscious people, from around the world, who visit our premier global health information website every month.  As always, we enjoy receiving your stimulating feedback and questions, and I will continue to try and personally answer as many of your inquiries as I possibly can.

Welcome to Weekly Health Update

“A critical weekly review of important new research findings for health-conscious readers”

LACTOFERRIN REDUCES ABDOMINAL (VISCERAL) OBESITY

Disturbingly, two-thirds of the American population already meets the criteria for being overweight or obese, one-third meets the criteria for obesity, and at least 2 percent of Americans are now considered to be morbidly obese.  The cost of this rising epidemic of obesity is enormous (no pun intended), both to obese patients themselves, and to a nation that is struggling to pay for the skyrocketing cost of providing healthcare to its citizens. 

Obesity has been unquestionably linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, liver disease, gallstones, gastroesophageal reflux, arthritis, cancer, and multiple other serious illnesses.  Despite these sobering realities, however, the incidence of obesity continues to rise in the United States, and increasingly, throughout the world.

In our high-calorie, low-effort modern world, it is very easy to pack on excess weight over the course of our lives.  People, being people, are always looking for quick, easy solutions to their problems, including excess weight.  Unfortunately, other than decreasing our intake of food and increasing the amount of exercise that we regularly perform, no other cures for obesity have yet been found.

However, a newly published study in the British Journal of Nutrition has identified an unlikely new dietary supplement that may be helpful in the battle of the bulge.  Lactoferrin, which is abundant in the colostrum and milk of most mammals (including humans), is thought to primarily function as an antibacterial and antifungal agent, and may help to protect breast-fed babies from infection (in some countries, lactoferrin is routinely added to infant formula for this purpose).  Recent research has also suggested that lactoferrin may have a beneficial effect on the metabolism of fat within the body, and in particular, the so-called “visceral fat” that accumulates within the abdominal area, and which has been specifically linked to an increased risk of generalized inflammation in the body, as well as cardiovascular disease and cancer.

In this small prospective, randomized, doubled-blinded study, 26 overweight men and women with abdominal obesity were randomized to receive either daily lactoferrin supplements (300 milligrams per day) or an identical placebo (sugar) pill (none of the participating patient volunteers knew which group they were in until the study was completed).  These patient volunteers were then followed for 8 weeks.  All of these research volunteers underwent CT scans to measure the extent of their total body fat, superficial (subcutaneous) fat, and visceral (abdominal) fat. 

At the end of this 8-week study, the group that had been randomized to receive daily oral lactoferrin supplements experienced very significant decreases in visceral fat content, as well as decreased body weight, decreased BMI (a standardized measure of obesity that considers both body weight and height), and hip circumference, when compared to the group of volunteers who were assigned to take the placebo pills.  Additionally, blood tests to evaluate the impact of daily lactoferrin supplements on metabolism did not reveal any apparent adverse side effects associated with lactoferrin supplementation.

While this is a very small study (only 26 patient volunteers were included), and the length of follow-up was very short (only 8 weeks), the prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled design of this study, when combined with the rather striking results that were observed, are rather compelling.  Certainly, a larger study, with long-term follow-up, needs to be performed before daily lactoferrin supplements can be recommended as both a safe and effective aid to weight loss.  Moreover, such a study would need to show that the reduction in visceral fat that was observed in this small Japanese clinical study is not only reproducible over the long-term, but is also associated with a clinically significant improvement in the illnesses that have previously been linked to abdominal obesity.   Meanwhile, and until such a study is performed, I find the results from this small prospective clinical study to be very interesting, indeed.

For a detailed review of the impact of obesity, exercise, nutrition, and other important lifestyle factors on the risk of developing cancer, watch for the publication of my new landmark evidence-based book, “A Cancer Prevention Guide for the Human Race,” in September of this year.

Disclaimer: As always, my advice to readers is to seek the advice of your physician before making any significant changes in medications, diet, or level of physical activity

Dr. Wascher is an oncologic surgeon, a professor of surgery, a cancer researcher, an oncology consultant, and a widely published author

For a different perspective on Dr. Wascher, please click on the following YouTube link: 

Texas Blues Jam

I and the staff of Weekly Health Update would again like to take this opportunity to thank the more than 100,000 health-conscious people, from around the world, who visit our premier global health information website every month.  As always, we enjoy receiving your stimulating feedback and questions, and I will continue to try and personally answer as many of your inquiries as I possibly can.

Welcome to Weekly Health Update

“A critical weekly review of important new research findings for health-conscious readers”

OBESITY AND CANCER RISK

We have become the heaviest people in the history of our species, with two-thirds of Americans officially classified as overweight, and one of every three of us tipping the scales into the “obese” range.  For too many of us, day after day, we load our bodies with more fat- and calorie-packed foods than our bodies can utilize.  Surrounded by effort-saving devices that have drastically reduced the amount of food-derived energy that our bodies can reasonably metabolize, a majority of Americans are becoming progressively heavier and heavier.  Moreover, obesity now affects a shocking percentage of children and adolescents in our society, and it is no longer uncommon to see children and teenagers with obesity-related diseases, previously seen only in adults, like diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure, gallstones, and cardiovascular disease.

In addition to chronic illnesses that have long been associated with obesity, it has become increasingly clear that the risk of multiple different types of cancer is also increased by obesity.  Now, a newly published public health study, which appears in a forthcoming issue of The Lancet Oncology, underscores the disturbing extent to which excess weight increases our risks of several different common types of cancer.

In this huge public health study, more than 400,000 patient volunteers from Asia, Australia, and New Zealand were followed for an average of 4 years.  When obese study volunteers (BMI of 30 or higher) were compared with volunteers of normal weight (BMI less than 25), the obese volunteers were found to have a 21 percent higher risk of death due to cancer.  The risk of dying of certain specific types of cancer were even higher among the obese volunteers, including a 50 percent increased risk of death due to colon cancer, a 68 percent increased risk of death due to rectal cancer, a 63 percent increased risk of death due to breast cancer (in postmenopausal women), a 162 percent increase in the risk of dying of ovarian cancer, a 321 percent increase in the risk of death due to cancer of the cervix, a 45 percent increase in the risk of death due to prostate cancer, and a 66 percent increase in the risk of dying from leukemia.

The findings of this enormous public health study are worrisome, to say the least, and reflect the very serious impact that obesity has on our risk of developing cancer, and the risk of dying from cancer.

Obesity is a growing public health problem in the United States and, increasingly, around the world; and the list of chronic, major illnesses associated with obesity continues to expand (along with our collective waistlines).  If you are overweight or obese, then please consult with your physician for advice on how best to lose your excess weight.  Meanwhile, sharply reduce your intake of high-calorie and high-fat foods, and begin a responsible and consistent exercise program, under your physician’s supervision. 

For a more detailed discussion of the scientific links between obesity and cancer, look for the publication of my new landmark book, “A Cancer Prevention Guide for the Human Race,” in August of this year. 

Disclaimer: As always, my advice to readers is to seek the advice of your physician before making any significant changes in medications, diet, or level of physical activity

Dr. Wascher is an oncologic surgeon, a professor of surgery, a cancer researcher, an oncology consultant, and a widely published author

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Tdv7XW0qg

I and the staff of Weekly Health Update would like to take this opportunity to thank the more than 100,000 new and returning readers who visit our premier global health information website every month.  As always, we enjoy receiving your stimulating feedback and questions, and I will continue to try and personally answer as many of your inquiries as I possibly can.

Welcome to Weekly Health Update

“A critical weekly review of important new research findings for health-conscious readers”

Diacylglycerols (also known as diglycerides) are dietary fatty acids that are found, in small concentrations, in many vegetable-based cooking oils, including canola and soybean oils.  However, triacylglycerols, known more commonly as triglycerides, make up the vast majority of the fat content in vegetable-based cooking oils.  Triglycerides, which are the most common sources of dietary fat, are rapidly absorbed by the body and are easily converted into body fat.  (High levels of triglycerides in the blood have also been linked to obesity and cardiovascular disease.) 

Compared with triglyceride fats, diglycerides are more rapidly metabolized in the human body, and are less prone to being deposited as body fat.  In laboratory studies, dietary supplementation with diglyceride oil has been shown to reduce the accumulation of body fat in rats, and to improve overall fat energy metabolism.

A newly published clinical research study, which appears in the current issue of the Journal of Nutrition, further suggests a potential role for diglyceride oils in the prevention and treatment of obesity in humans.

In this study, 26 overweight women with elevated blood triglyceride levels participated in a “crossover” study of diglyceride oil dietary supplementation.  In the first phase of this study, these women volunteers were secretly randomized to receive either diglyceride-enriched vegetable oil (Enova oil, 40 grams per day) or an oil blend containing standard sunflower, safflower and rapeseed oils (40 grams per day, in a 1:1:1 ratio) for 28 days.  After a 4-week break, these patient volunteers were then switched (or “crossed over”) to the opposite dietary oil group for an additional 28 days.

In this study, diglyceride oil supplementation did not appear to alter overall energy metabolism, nor did it reduce blood levels of triglycerides.  However, the daily intake of diglyceride-enriched cooking oil did, indeed, significantly decrease the accumulation of body fat in these overweight women during the course of this small, brief clinical research study.

While switching to diglyceride-enriched cooking oil, alone, is unlikely to prevent or completely eliminate obesity, this vegetable-based fat source may have an important role to play as part of a lifestyle- and diet-based approach to maintaining a healthy weight. 

Now for some bad news related to diglyceride-enriched cooking oils.  Kao Corporation, the manufacturer of Enova oil (also sold as Econa oil), has recently suspended the sales of this product due to concerns about high levels of potentially carcinogenic glycidol fatty acid esters in this and other diglyceride-enriched products.  (These same fatty acid esters are also present in other vegetable-based cooking oils, but at much lower concentrations.)  Hopefully, though, Kao Corporation, or another manufacturer, will find a way to reduce the concentration of glycidol fatty acid esters in diglyceride-enriched food products, and these products will then return to the marketplace.   

To learn more about the critical roles of diet and weight control in the prevention of cancer, look for the publication of my new landmark book, “A Cancer Prevention Guide for the Human Race,” in the summer of this year.

Disclaimer: As always, my advice to readers is to seek the advice of your physician before making any significant changes in medications, diet, or level of physical activity

For a different perspective on Dr. Wascher, please click on the following YouTube link: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Tdv7XW0qg

Welcome to Weekly Health Update

  “A critical weekly review of important new research findings for health-conscious readers” 

OBESITY, ALCOHOL & LIVER DISEASE

Chronic liver disease, including cirrhosis, is the 12th most common cause of death in the United States, alone, and causes nearly 30,000 deaths per year in America.  Increased alcohol intake and obesity are both known risk factors for chronic liver disease.  Moreover, recent research has suggested that the combination of alcohol intake and obesity may synergistically increase the risk of chronic liver disease above and beyond the sum of these two risk factors.  Two newly published prospective, randomized clinical research studies from the United Kingdom further suggest that increased alcohol intake in the presence of obesity significantly increases the risk of chronic liver disease, and premature death related to chronic liver disease.  Both of these studies appear in the current issue of the British Medical Journal.

In the first study, more than 1.2 million women (average age was 56 years) were recruited between 1996 and 2001.  In this Million Woman Study, after an average duration of follow-up of 6.2 years, 1,811 women were either admitted to a hospital with a new diagnosis of cirrhosis, or died of cirrhosis.  Based upon the extensive health data collected from all of the participants in this enormous public health study, both obesity and alcohol intake were proportionally linked to an increased risk of cirrhosis, as well as death due to cirrhosis.  (Note: a standard glass of wine, mixed drink, or beer contains about 0.6 ounces, or 14 grams, of alcohol.)

For every 5 units of BMI above 22.5, the relative risk of cirrhosis increased by 28 percent (BMI is a standard measure of body fat content that is adjusted for height and weight).  Among women who reported the consumption of less than 70 grams of alcohol per week (equivalent to 5 alcoholic drinks per week), the absolute risk of developing cirrhosis, over a period of 5 years, was 20 percent higher in women with a BMI of 30 or more, when compared to non-obese women with normal BMIs (“obesity” is defined as a BMI of 30, or greater; while being “overweight is defined as having a BMI of 25 or greater, but less than 30).  Among the women who reported consuming 150 grams or more of alcohol per week (which is equivalent to 11 or more alcoholic drinks per week), a normal BMI was associated with a 170 percent increase in the absolute risk of developing cirrhosis, while obese women (with a BMI of 30 or greater) who consumed 150 grams or more of alcohol per week experienced a whopping 400 percent increase in the risk of developing cirrhosis!  When this data was extrapolated to the population of the United Kingdom, as a whole, it was determined that alcohol consumption, particularly at higher levels, accounted for 42 percent of all cases of non-fatal and fatal cirrhosis in middle-aged women, while obesity caused an additional 17 percent of all non-fatal and fatal cases of cirrhosis of the liver.

In the second published study in the British Medical Journal, data from two prospective clinical studies was analyzed.  A total of 9,559 men participated in these prospective public health studies, with a highly impressive median follow-up of 29 years.  These nearly 10,000 male study participants were divided into separate study groups based upon their measured BMI and their self-reported alcohol intake.

During nearly 3 decades of observation, 80 (0.8 percent) of these male research volunteers died directly due to chronic liver disease, while another 146 (1.5 percent) died of multiple causes, but with liver disease as a contributing cause of death.

As with the previous study, there were significant interactions between alcohol intake, BMI, and chronic liver disease (after adjusting for other known risk factors for chronic liver disease).  In this study, the consumption of 15 or more alcoholic drinks per week in volunteers with a normal BMI more than doubled the relative risk of dying of chronic liver disease when compared to other non-obese men who consumed less than 15 drinks per week.  Among the overweight (but not obese) men who consumed 15 or more alcoholic drinks per week, the relative risk of death due to chronic liver disease was more than 7 times higher than was observed in overweight men who consumed significantly less than 15 drinks per week.  Finally, and most disconcertingly, obese men who consumed 15 or more alcoholic drinks per week experienced nearly 18 times the relative risk of dying from chronic liver disease as compared to their obese counterparts who drank significantly less alcohol.  (Even among obese men who consumed 14 or fewer alcoholic drinks per week, the relative risk of death due to chronic liver disease was still more than 4 times higher than what was observed in obese men who did not drink alcoholic drinks at all.)

Based upon this data, the researchers conducting this study were able to determine that there was a synergistic, enhanced risk of dying from liver disease when alcohol intake was present in addition to being overweight or obese.  This “relative excess risk” due to an interaction between alcohol intake and increasing BMI amounted to 4 times the relative risk of simply adding the individual liver disease risks of increased BMI and alcohol intake.

Taken together, these two large prospective public health studies confirm previous observations that both rising levels of excess weight and increasing levels of regular alcohol intake are associated, both separately and together, with an increased risk of chronic liver disease, and death due to chronic liver disease.  Moreover, the combination of obesity and increased alcohol intake appears to be a particularly severe risk factor for the development of chronic liver disease, and for death due to liver disease.  Therefore, in addition to the multiple other health risks associated with obesity and excessive alcohol intake, the results of these two studies should cause all of us to reexamine our lifestyle and dietary habits in our pursuit of better health and greater longevity.

To learn more about the role of alcohol and obesity in cancer risk, look for the publication of my new book, “A Cancer Prevention Guide for the Human Race,” in the spring of this year. 

http://www.redcross.org/

http://www.imcworldwide.org/haiti

Disclaimer: As always, my advice to readers is to seek the advice of your physician before making any significant changes in medications, diet, or level of physical activity

For a different perspective on Dr. Wascher, please click on the following YouTube link: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Tdv7XW0qg

I and the staff of Weekly Health Update would like to take this opportunity to thank the nearly 120,000 new and returning readers who visited our premier global health information website last month.  As always, we enjoy receiving your stimulating feedback and questions, and I will continue to try and personally answer as many of your inquiries as I possibly can. 

Welcome to Weekly Health Update

  “A critical weekly review of important new research findings for health-conscious readers” 

NUTS, DIET & OBESITY

In last week’s column, I reviewed recent research suggesting a role for walnuts in reducing elevated cholesterol levels.  Based upon some of the comments that I received from readers regarding this “walnut column,” I will present some additional favorable new health research findings on nuts in this week’s column.

Hard-shelled nuts tend to be rich in inflammation-fighting omega-3 fatty acids (luckily, the majority of the fat content in hard-shelled nuts is in the form of heart-healthy unsaturated fats), and in plant sterols.  As I discussed last week, these compounds help to lower the level of LDL (the “bad cholesterol”) in the blood.

The Mediterranean Diet, which is rich in fish, whole grains, nuts, fresh fruits, and fresh vegetables (and low in red meat and highly processed foods), has repeatedly been shown to decrease the risk of the top two causes of premature death throughout the world (cardiovascular disease and cancer).  However, some health experts have expressed concerned about the relatively high fat content of nuts, and the possibility that daily nut consumption might lead to an increased risk of obesity.  Fortunately, a newly published prospective public health study suggests that the moderate intake of nuts, in combination with the Mediterranean Diet, is actually associated with a decreased risk of obesity.

The current issue of the journal Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases includes the findings of the Mediterranean “PREDIMED” prospective public health study, which enrolled 847 older men and women, with an average age of 67 years.  The diets and activity levels of these patient volunteers were carefully evaluated in this study, and all of these elderly volunteers underwent clinical examinations to determine their waist circumference, and their body mass index, or BMI (a measure of body fat content that is adjusted for both height and weight).

After correcting for other dietary and lifestyle factors associated with obesity in these patient volunteers, the data from this study revealed that increased nut intake was associated with both a decreased BMI and decreased waist circumference.  For every serving of 30 grams of nuts consumed, waist circumference decreased by 2.1 centimeters (approximately 1 inch), and BMI was reduced by 0.78 (kilograms per meter-squared) in these patient volunteers.  Increased vegetable intake was also associated with a decreased waist circumference, as well.  (Not surprisingly, meat intake was significantly associated with an increase in both BMI and waist circumference.)  Moreover, these findings were observed in both male and female study participants.

Walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, pecans, macadamia nuts, and peanuts (which are, technically, not nuts, but which have a nutritional profile similar to hard-shelled nuts) are all rich in omega-3 fatty acids and other heart-healthy nutrients.  Because these nuts do contain a significant number of “healthy fat” calories, however, nuts should be consumed in moderation, as with all fat-containing foods.  Currently, most experts recommend that 30 to 45 grams (1 to 1.6 ounces) of nuts be added to our daily diet to maximize the health benefits of these delicious nutritional treats!

To learn more about nuts and the Mediterranean Diet as part of a comprehensive, evidence-based cancer prevention lifestyle, look for the publication of my new book, in the spring of this year:

“A Cancer Prevention Guide for the Human Race”

http://www.redcross.org/

http://www.imcworldwide.org/haiti

Disclaimer: As always, my advice to readers is to seek the advice of your physician before making any significant changes in medications, diet, or level of physical activity

For a different perspective on Dr. Wascher, please click on the following YouTube link: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Tdv7XW0qg

I and the staff of Weekly Health Update would like to take this opportunity to thank the nearly 120,000 new and returning readers who visited our premier global health information website last month.  As always, we enjoy receiving your stimulating feedback and questions, and I will continue to try and personally answer as many of your inquiries as I possibly can.