January 2016 Health Newsletter

A low-fat diet feels like a natural choice for losing weight, but completely eliminating certain nutrients over time may not be the answer. In fact, one study concluded that low-fat diets did not have a greater impact on weight loss than diets with higher fat contents. Of the 68,000 participants studied, low-carb diets revealed a similar average weight loss to low-fat diets, showing only a 2.5 pound increase in loss. Over time, nutrient-restricting diets like these tend to drop off after the first year, leading to little or no results. So what goes wrong?Any diet that requires the elimination of nutrients, like fat, needs to fill that void with a healthy substitute to help maintain long-term weight loss. Unfortunately, many low-fats diet programs fill that void with snacks stuffed with sodium and sugar. This can decrease the physical and mental endurance needed to sustain a successful low-fat diet over time. That's why it's important for any nutrient-restricting diet to include a healthy serving of fruits and vegetables that are rich in vitamins and minerals. This can help provide the energy and mental focus needed to sustain a successful diet over the long-term.

Young people are notoriously picky about eating fruits and vegetables, but a diet packed with at least 4 servings of fruits and vegetables per day can preserve long-term cardiac health. While plenty of research on this subject has been done on the older adult population, little research was available for the 18 to 30 demographic until the CARDIA study at the Minneapolis Heart Institute. This study narrowed in on the problem of Coronary Artery Calcium, or CAC, in this age group since CAC analysis helps doctors determine if a patient is more at risk of heart failure. Starting in 1985, this program studied the fruit and vegetable intake of over 5,000 people in a 20-year period. At the conclusion of the study, participants were asked a series of questions about their dietary habits and went under CAC tomography scanning to determine the levels of artery calcium buildup. The study divided the participants into two groups; the first group had a high fruit and vegetable intake of 7 to 8 servings, and the second group had a lower intake of just 2 to 3 servings of fiber per day. Using data collected from interviews and CAC scans, researchers discovered that people with eating habits like those in the first group were less at risk of developing a CAC condition by 26%.

Sugary sodas may feel like the perfect thirst quencher, but prolonged soda consumption can actually have serious consequences in the long run. Over time, studies have shown increasing links between soda consumption and the risk for high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and even heart problems. In fact, one Swedish study observed the soda consumption of 42,000 men over the course of 12 years. There were roughly 3,600 new cases of heart failure during the 12-year long study, and it concluded that men who regularly drank two or more servings of soda per day had a 23% greater risk of experiencing heart failure in their lifetime.  Women are strongly advised to ditch the soda as well. Long-term soda consumption in women has been strongly linked to a rise in insulin problems, high blood pressure, obesity, and type-2 diabetes, all of which are triggers for major heart problems. Heart failure occurs when the heart does not have the strength to pump enough oxygen and blood. 23 million people across the globe already deal with heart failure, and it will only continue to worsen with the regular consumption of processed foods, sodium, and sugary beverages like soda.