This common food additive may fuel weight gain, diabetes

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ood additives are a mainstay of Western diets. New research shows how a commonly used anti-mold agent alters sugar metabolism and drives insulin resistance in mice and men.

Does a common preservative in bread alter our metabolism?

Obesity and type 2 diabetes have reached epidemic levels, with nearly 40 percent of adults in the United States classed as obese and, as of 2015, 9.4 percent living with diabetes.

Eating a Western diet, high in processed foods, sugar, and fat, is a known risk factor for obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Avoiding processed foods is actually not that easy. Preservatives, which keep our food fresh for longer, lurk in many places.

One such chemical is the anti-mold agent propionate, a short-chain fatty acid that the bacteria in our gut produce naturally. As a preservative, its other name is E282, and it features as a common food additive in bread and other baked goods.

According to the Codex Alimentarius, the international food standards guide by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, propionate may be added to a host of other things, including breakfast cereals, dairy- and egg-based deserts, sausage casings, processed cheese, and sports drinks.

Researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston, MA, along with colleagues at the Sheba Medical Center, in Ramat Gan, Israel, and others, made a surprising discovery when they studied the effects of propionate in mice and humans.

The team recently published their findings in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Propionate leads to high blood sugar in mice

Dr. Amir Tirosh, an associate professor of medicine at Tel-Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and director of the Institute of Endocrinology at Sheba Medical Center, told Medical News Today that he had initially set out to study the actions of fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4), which researchers think plays a role in sugar and fat metabolism.

"We incidentally came across an old scientific paper from 1912 demonstrating that administration of propionate to dogs resulted in increased glucose production," he explained.

To study the connection between propionate and FABP4, Dr. Tirosh and the team gave healthy, nonobese mice a dose of the preservative. As in the dogs, the team found that blood sugar levels rose.

The question is: How does propionate work to achieve this?

The researchers found that propionate activated the sympathetic nervous system, as measured by levels of norepinephrine, and increased the levels of the hormones glucagon and FABP4. This caused the liver to produce high levels of glucose, which in turn led to high levels of insulin in the blood.

"Normally, these hormones act during fasting to protect against a dangerous drop in blood glucose," Dr. Tirosh explained. "In this case, they are engaging without such a threat and increasing blood glucose."

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The mice were then fed a low dose of between 0.15 and 0.3 percent propionate in their diet over several weeks. This is equivalent to how much a person eating a Western diet would consume.

As a result, the mice developed higher levels of glucagon and FABP4, high levels of blood insulin, and insulin resistance — a hallmark of type 2 diabetes. They also put on more weight, with a significant increase in fat mass, compared with the mice receiving a standard diet.

Propionate disrupts metabolism in humans

Next, Dr. Tirosh and his colleagues recruited 14 healthy, nonobese volunteers.

The study participants ate a meal containing 500 calories supplemented with propionate in the form of 1 gram (g) of calcium propionate or placebo.

"This propionate dose of 1 g is equivalent to the most commonly used amount of 0.3% [...] to which humans are exposed when consuming a single processed food–based meal," the study authors explain.

After 2 weeks, the same participants returned, and the groups were switched, meaning that the volunteers who were in the placebo group during the first visit ate the propionate-containing meal during the second visit.

As with the mice, the study participants experienced spikes of norepinephrine, glucagon, and FABP4, increased blood insulin levels, and reduced insulin sensitivity.

"We were very surprised to see that even when [a] small amount of propionate was given to humans, [it] had significant effects on the systemic level of key hormones such as FABP4," Dr. Tirosh commented.

Finally, the research team analyzed data from 160 participants of the Dietary Intervention Randomized Controlled Trial, known as DIRECT, to see if propionate levels and weight loss were connected.

At the start of the study, the team found a link between levels of propionate and insulin resistance. After 6 months, lower levels of propionate showed an association with more significant improvements in insulin sensitivity.

Study 'one piece of the puzzle'

Dr. Tirosh acknowledges that the study's limitations include that fact that he was unable to show cause and effect of propionate consumption on global obesity and type 2 diabetes. The team also did not study the long-term effects of chronic, low-level propionate exposure in humans.

MNT asked Dr. Tirosh if he would recommend that people avoid propionate in their diet.

"It will be premature to do so based on a single study. Therefore, we are not making such recommendations," he explained. "Our research should serve as a proof-of-principle for the potential interference of propionate in normal metabolism, but most of the data was obtained in mice, and we need to be careful when translating these findings to humans."

"We see our findings as one piece of the puzzle," Dr. Tirosh explained.

Meanwhile, the team's research efforts continue, with a focus on how preservatives, artificial sweeteners, and other natural ingredients might affect our metabolism.

"Given the epidemic proportion of obesity and diabetes, there is a need, in our view, to extensively assess the potential long-term metabolic effects of many environmental factors that have changed over the past few decades, both for their potential harmful and useful effects."

Source:MedicalNewsToday

Just how effective is hypnosis at relieving pain?

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ould hypnosis relieve pain? The largest meta-analysis to date concludes that it could be a viable, safe, cost-effective option.

Hypnosis might provide an innovative way to treat pain.

Researchers estimate that chronic pain affects more than 1.5 billion individuals globally.

Doctors often prescribe opioid medications to treat this type of pain. However, these drugs are expensive and, of course, highly addictive.

As the opioid crisis unfolds, scientists are increasingly focused on finding alternative ways to tackle pain.

Recently, researchers from the University of Greenwich in London, United Kingdom, assessed whether hypnosis might be useful against certain types of pain. To do this, they collated and analyzed 85 existing studies.

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The researchers published their meta-analysis in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.

Hypnosis and pain revisited

Over the years, several studies and reviews have assessed hypnosis as an analgesic — sometimes, researchers refer to this as hypnoanalgesia. For instance, a review published in 2016 looked at pain during childbirth.

The authors concluded that "Hypnosis may reduce the overall use of analgesia during labor, but not epidural use." The authors also explain that "[f]urther research is needed in the form of large, well‐designed randomized controlled trials."

Another review, published in 2000, looked at pain more generally. The researchers combined data from 18 studies.

The authors concluded that there was a "moderate to large hypnoanalgesic effect." Although intriguing, according to the authors of the current review, these findings had "several important limitations," not least a lack of studies to include in their analysis.

Since 2000, interest in hypnoanalgesia has grown, and the number of new studies has grown in line. In total, the latest analysis includes 85 studies.

All of the studies used experimental pain models, such as extreme cold, shocks, pressure, exercise, and lasers. Also, all of the studies compared the benefits of hypnosis with no treatment (rather than testing them against a placebo or drug), and they all recruited healthy adults.

The researchers only collected studies that used a quantitive assessment of pain, for instance, the use of a 10-point scale. Overall, the analysis included 3,632 participants.

Sensitivity to hypnosis

Because not everyone succumbs to hypnosis to the same extent, the review also took into account each participant's level of susceptibility.

There are a number of ways that researchers can assess how susceptible someone is to hypnosis. For instance, following a suggestion that the participant's arm is heavy, they might lower their hand. If they drop it by 6 inches or more, the practitioner might consider them to be more suggestible than someone whose arm moved only 1 inch.

Once the analysis was complete, the results came out in favor of hypnosis as a potentially useful analgesic. Lead author Trevor Thompson, Ph.D., says:

"This is by far the largest review of its kind, examining the effects of hypnosis in over 3,500 people, and presents very compelling evidence. About 15% of the population are highly receptive to hypnosis, and those people saw just over a 40% drop in pain."

It was not just the people who were most susceptible to hypnosis who saw the benefits. Most people are moderately suggestible, and they experienced a 29% reduction in pain.

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The authors also note that evidence indicates that it is possible to increase hypnotic suggestibility in a variety of ways, including training and practice, non-invasive brain stimulation, and by pharmacological agents, such as nitrous oxide.

"Based on these findings, most people would experience around a 30% drop in pain or more, which is generally considered to be clinically meaningful pain relief."

Lead author Trevor Thompson, Ph.D.

Interestingly, the analysis also revealed that the effect size was similar whether the person underwent hypnosis in person or via an audio recording.

If hypnosis truly can reach these levels of analgesia, it could be a game-changer. "In the United States, around 47,000 people died from opioid overdosing in 2017, and around a quarter of people prescribed the drugs for pain misuse them," explains Thompson.

He continues, "Our findings suggest hypnosis could be a safe and effective alternative. It can be administered quickly, cheaply and easily at home with a 20-minute audio recording."

The researchers plan to continue their dive into hypnoanalgesia, specifically looking at chronic complaints, such as lower back pain. Currently, however, there are not enough data available to reach definite conclusions.

Reservations and limitations

The authors note certain limitations to the current analysis. First and foremost, it is not possible to compare pain models with chronic pain, which can have very different physical and psychological aspects.

Generally, the pain inductions that researchers used in the studies produced a brief experience of pain. This analysis could not ascertain how the efficacy of hypnosis might change over longer lengths of time, as in chronic conditions.

Another of the authors' concerns is that the average age of participants was relatively young, at around 24. The authors wonder whether older populations might see the same level of effect.

They conclude that "[a]lthough the role of hypnotic intervention in clinical pain settings is well researched, limited high-quality data with numerous design biases prohibit reliable conclusions [...] and further well-controlled clinical studies are needed."

Source:MedicalNewsToday

When to consume protein: The facts

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e all need protein as part of a balanced diet and to stay healthy. Some people consume protein for specific reasons, such as to help them lose weight or gain muscle mass. However, it is not yet clear when the best time is to have that protein.

There is some evidence that consuming protein can help a person lose weight, and there is clear evidence that it can help people build muscle mass if they also exercise.

However, research, as yet, does not make it unclear when is the best time to have protein. It is also unclear if there is any best time at all, why this is the case, or whether it is the case for everyone.

Most people in the United States get enough protein in their diet. Still, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) say many people should vary the types of food containing protein that they eat.

If a person is trying to build muscle mass, they may also take protein in the form of supplements to help them build muscle tissue after exercise.

When you are trying to lose weight

Protein is essential for building muscle and may aid weight loss.

There is some evidence that eating protein can help a person lose weight.

Evidence suggests protein does this in part by increasing satiety. Satiety is the feeling of being full.

Currently, there is little solid evidence regarding when the best time to eat protein might be to encourage weight loss.

For example, researchers published a study in the journal Advances in Nutrition suggesting that eating snacks that contain protein may reduce the number of calories a person consumes at their next meal.

However, the research paper also points out that studies demonstrating this are scarce and sometimes conflicting. They suggest more studies are needed to confirm their findings. This was also the conclusion of a study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

In contrast, a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that a diet generally higher in protein can improve body weight management. The classification of higher protein in the study was 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.

Research is still evolving about the relationship between protein and weight loss, including when is the best time to eat protein for this purpose.

When you are trying to build muscle

Various studies have looked at whether there is a link between the time a person consumes protein and hypertrophy, which is how much muscle a person builds after exercise. However, the results are unclear.

Two studies in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism and the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition suggest there is no relationship between building muscle and the timing of consuming protein.

More research is necessary to establish if there is a link between the timing of protein intake and the amount of muscle a person builds.

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A small, older study in the Journal of Physiology found that skeletal muscle grew in older adult males who took a protein supplement soon after exercise.

A recent meta-analysis in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition suggests that while evidence is conflicting about the best time to consume protein after exercising, if athletes eat protein soon after working out, they are more likely to consume enough protein over the course of a day to build their muscles.

The researchers conclude that there are no known downsides to eating protein before or after a workout. Also, if that helps an athlete get sufficient nutrients for their body to recover, then there is no issue.

The most explicit message from current research is that if a person wants to build muscle, then consuming enough protein is more important than the timing of when they consume the protein.

Importantly, many of these studies assume that the person consuming the protein is an athlete doing many hours of intense exercise a week. For the average person, what is necessary is that they consume a balanced diet, supplementing this with more protein than usual if they are focusing their exercise on building muscle.

Source:MedicalNewsToday

List of the best full-body exercises

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eople may describe muscle-strengthening exercises as being upper body, lower body, or core exercises. However, there are also various exercises that work most of a person's muscles at once.

A full-body exercise uses a variety of muscle groups in a person's body, rather than just one. No exercise will work every muscle, but these exercises typically work across the upper body, lower body, and core.

According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), exercise should include aerobic activity as well as muscle-strengthening.

Many muscle-strengthening exercises increase a person's heart rate and breathing, but a person should ideally do aerobic activity for 20–30 minutes per day. This is longer than muscle-strengthening exercises usually last.

However, by combining a few exercises that work several muscle groups, including both aerobic activity and muscle-strengthening exercises, a person can ensure that they are exercising every part of their body.

Doing full-body exercises

Many muscle-strengthening exercises use reps and sets. A rep, which is short for repetition, is the total motion of an individual exercise. A set is a certain number of reps.

For example, a rep of a pushup is going from having the arms extended, lowering the chest to the floor, then raising the body back to the original position. A set may comprise 10–20 reps of the pushup, or as many as a person can manage.

Each person will be able to do a different number of reps and sets of an exercise in a single workout. As a rule of thumb, a person could do as many reps as they can, rest for a few minutes, then repeat this set.

According to the ODPHP, even small amounts of exercise make a difference to overall health. A person should not feel any discouragement if only a few reps of an exercise tire them out. They will be able to do more as they exercise regularly, and even a small amount of exercise is beneficial.

Pushups

To do a pushup:

·         Place the palms on the floor under the shoulders, arms extended.

·         Extend the legs back, resting on the balls of the feet, so the body is a straight line.

·         Lower the body, so that the chest or nose is about to touch the floor.

·         Push back up.

Repeat this 10 times or as many times as possible before tiring. Take a break, then do this set again.

If this is too difficult, begin by resting on the knees instead of stretching the legs out. Over time, work up to the pushup described above.

Squats

Starting from a standing position, crouch down into a squatting position, then rise back up.

Repeat as many times as possible, take a break, then do the set again.

Burpees

Burpees combine the benefits of a pushup and a squat, so they are an excellent full-body exercise.

To do a burpee:

·         From a standing position, drop down into a squat.

·         Rather than jumping back up, move into a plank position.

·         Do a pushup, then move back to a standing position.

Repeat this as many times as possible, take a break, then do the set again.

To add intensity, try jumping out of the squat into the standing position. To make it easier, remove the pushup stage.

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Lunges

To do a lunge:

·         Start with one leg at a right angle in front of the body.

·         Extend the other leg back, so that the knee is just above the floor and the ball of the foot is taking the weight.

·         Move up and down, and switch feet so that the legs alternate position.

Repeat as many times as possible, rest, then do the set again.

Running and cycling

Cycling can help strengthen skeletal muscles.

Running and cycling are excellent aerobic activities.

However, according to an article in the journal Exercise and Sport Sciences Review, they can also contribute to increasing strength in a person's skeletal muscles.

To make them even more effective at building muscle strength, a study paper appearing in the International Journal of Exercise Science suggests incorporating high-intensity interval training into aerobic exercise.

This involves running or cycling at a moderate intensity, interspersed with intervals of very high-intensity anaerobic exercises.

Stair climbing

Stair climbing is a beneficial exercise for both muscle-strengthening and aerobic activity.

Climb to the top of a set of stairs, then climb back down. Repeat this for 1 minute, or for as long as possible. Take a break, then repeat.

To maximize the amount of energy a person burns, they should climb stairs one step at a time.

A study of 14 people in the journal PLoS One found that although the action of climbing two steps expended more energy than taking a single step, climbing a staircase one step at a time burned more calories.

Things to remember

Doing exercises or an intense exercise session for the first time can make the muscles ache. A person should make sure to give themselves a rest day to allow their muscles to recover.

When doing an exercise for the first time, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute suggest beginning slowly and gradually increasing the intensity. This will help prevent injuries.

Takeaway

Many exercises work muscle groups across a person's body.

Doing a variety of these, as well as combining them with aerobic exercise, can help ensure that the whole of a person's body stays fit and healthy.

Source:MedicalNewsToday

Does it matter what time of day you exercise?

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wo teams of researchers analyzing different aspects of exercise in mice found that the time of day might affect the productivity of physical activity.

Research in mice shows that time of day affects the effectiveness of exercise, but applying these results to humans is complicated.

Scientists already know that the circadian rhythm interacts with our metabolism. A person's circadian rhythm includes physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a cycle of 24 hours.

These behavioral patterns develop in response to light and darkness and relate to the circadian clock, which follows the solar time. Circadian rhythms are present in most living things.

Two teams of researchers decided to explore how the time of day can affect the body's response to exercise.

Gad Asher, who works in the Department of Biomolecular Sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is senior author of the first study, while Paolo Sassone-Corsi of the Center for Epigenetics and Metabolism at the University of California (UC), Irvine, is senior author of the second.

"It's quite well known that almost every aspect of our physiology and metabolism is dictated by the circadian clock," notes Asher.

"Previous studies from our lab have suggested that at least 50% of our metabolism is circadian, and 50% of the metabolites in our body oscillate based on the circadian cycle. It makes sense that exercise would be one of the things that's impacted," says Sassone-Corsi.

Examining mice's response to exercise

The two studies confirm that the circadian rhythm plays an essential role in the way that the body responds to physical movement. Although each team investigated a different component of exercise, the two studies complement each other.

Both teams explored the link between the time of day and exercise performance in mice. These creatures are nocturnal, so to make the results relatable to humans, the researchers had to focus on the active and resting phases of the mice rather than the time on the clock.

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In the first study, the results of which feature in Cell Metabolism, Asher and team compared the exercise performance of mice at different times of the day by putting them in treadmills during their active phase. The mice performed better in the later stages of this phase, meaning that the "mouse evening" was a better time for them to exercise.

In the mouse evening, levels of a compound called 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide (ZMP) were higher. ZMP is necessary for metabolism because it activates metabolic pathways that lead to the breakdown of glucose and fatty acids.

This breakdown relies on the activation of AMPK, a master cellular metabolic regulator. The study findings suggest that ZMP may play a part in increasing exercise capacity in the evening.

"Interestingly, ZMP is an endogenous analog of AICAR (aminoimidazole carboxamide riboside), a compound that some athletes use for doping," says Asher.

The researchers built on their findings by analyzing exercise performance in 12 humans. Using oxygen consumption as a measure of exercise efficiency, they concluded that the participants also had better exercise performance in the evening than in the morning.

Studying how exercise changes muscle

Sassone-Corsi and team also evaluated the performance of mice on treadmills, but they focused on the changes that exercise produced in the mice's muscle tissue. Their results also appear in Cell Metabolism.

In taking this approach, they were able to investigate further the process that leads to glucose breakdown and lipid oxidation (fat-burning).

The findings showed that exercise activates a protein called hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α) in different ways at different times of the day. HIF-1α responds to changes in oxygen levels in the body tissue by stimulating certain genes.

"It makes sense that HIF-1α would be important here, but until now, we didn't know that its levels fluctuate based on the time of day," says Sassone-Corsi.

Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that exercise has a more beneficial effect on the metabolism at the beginning of the mice's active phase than toward the end. Translating this to human time, the effect was most positive in the late morning.

However, it is important to keep in mind that both studies used mice and that translating the findings to humans may be complicated because behavioral patterns vary greatly from person to person.

"You may be a morning person, or you may be a night person, and those things have to be taken into account," concludes Sassone-Corsi

Source:MedicalNewsToday