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Eating higher amounts of low-fat dairy could increase the risk of developing Parkinsons disease, according to a recent large-scale study.

Those who consume three servings or more of low-fat dairy a day carried a 34% higher risk of developing the disease compared to those who consumed less than oneserving.No such link exists with full-fat dairy, researchers found.

Whats more, drinking more than a serving of skim or low-fat milk each day coincided with a 39% higher risk compared with drinking less than one serving per week.

As many as onemillion Americans live with Parkinsons, a neurological disorder that affects movement, according tothe Parkinsons Disease Foundation.

The study, co-authored by Katherine C. Hughes at Harvards T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, published last week in the American Academy of Neurologys journal,Neurology. Yet researchers emphasized it showeda link in low-fat dairy to Parkinsons, not a cause.

To put it all in context: The study involved data from more than 128,000 men and women over about 25 years, during which 1,036 of those people developed Parkinson's. Of those who ate three-plus daily servings of low-fat dairy at the start, just 1% developed the disease.

(Participants in the study completed surveys on their health every two years and on their diets every four years.)

Previous researchsuggested a link between Parkinsons and dairy products, asMedical News Todaynoted, but the results of this study the largest on such a link to date, researchers said shouldnt cause a shift in your diet, one expert told the site.

"It's really important to point out that the risk of developing Parkinson's was still very low (around 1 in 100), even in those who consumed lots of dairy, so there is no reason for people to make changes to their diet based on this research," said Claire Bale, head of research at Parkinsons UK.

More research is needed before any verdict on dairy consumption can be made, researchers said, but the results did show evidence of a moderate increased risk, according to Hughes, the co-author.

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Low-fat dairy tied to higher risk of Parkinson's disease - USA TODAY

Victoria Advocate

Eliminating wheat from your diet Victoria Advocate Gluten is a relatively new nutritional topic, and the gluten-free diet has become a popular one. Gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley, is a component of many products containing flour. A few examples of gluten-containing foods include bread ... and more »

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Eliminating wheat from your diet - Victoria Advocate

The diabetes medication linagliptin can protect against stiffening of the left ventricle of the heart in overweight female mice, a new study suggests.

The finding may have implications for management of cardiovascular diseases in humans, particularly for obese and diabetic premenopausal women, who are more at risk of developing heart diseaseeven more than men of similar age and with similar health issues.

In previous studies, we showed that young, female mice consuming a Western diet, high in fat, sucrose, and high fructose corn syrup, not only gained weight, but also exhibited vascular stiffening consistent with obese premenopausal women, says Vincent DeMarco, a research associate professor of endocrinology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine and the lead author of the study.

Our current study sought to understand if linagliptin prevents cardiac stiffening caused by eating a Western-style diet.

Linagliptin is a medication prescribed to lower blood glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes. The medication works by blocking the enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase-4, or DPP-4. Previous studies have shown that DPP-4 inhibitors offer protection against vascular inflammation and oxidative stressconditions associated with cardiovascular stiffening.

DeMarcos team studied 34 female mice that were fed either a normal diet or a simulated Western diet for four months. Another group of mice were fed a Western diet containing a low dose of linagliptin. The team used an ultrasound system, similar to that used in humans, to evaluate the function of the left ventricle of the heart.

A heartbeat actually is a two-part pumping action that takes less than a second in healthy humans, DeMarco says. The first part, known as diastole, involves relaxation of the left ventricle while it fills with oxygenated blood from the lungs. After the left ventricle fills with blood, it then contracts and pushes blood into the aorta. This part of the cardiac cycle is referred to as systole.

If the left ventricle becomes stiffer it will not be able to relax normally, and diastole will be impaired. This form of heart disease is known as diastolic dysfunction, which is a risk factor for a more serious heart condition known as diastolic heart failure, he explains.

The mice fed the Western diet alone gained weight, exhibited increased heart weight, and developed diastolic dysfunction. However, the mice fed the Western diet along with linagliptin did not develop diastolic dysfunction. They also exhibited less oxidative stress and inflammation in their hearts compared to the mice fed the Western diet alone.

Oxidative stress and inflammation are two factors that can promote excess accumulation of collagen, also known as fibrosis, in the walls of the left ventricle, DeMarco says. In our study, we found that Western diet-fed mice had increased fibrosis in the left ventricle that was prevented by linagliptin.

The team also found that linagliptin suppressed not only DPP-4 activity, but also TRAF3IP2 production. TRAF3IP2 is a protein responsible for initiating tissue oxidative stress, inflammation, and fibrosis in the heart.

This was a major novel finding of our study, DeMarco says. However, further research is required to determine exactly how linagliptin affects the function of this important protein.

DeMarco also cautions that linagliptin, like other DPP-4 inhibitors, can be expensive without insurance coverage.

Based on the results of this research and our previous studies, it is tempting to speculate that linagliptin could reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes, DeMarco says. However, ongoing clinical trials will help determine what, if any, cardio-protective role linagliptin could play in the management of obesity-related heart disease.

The study appears in Cardiovascular Diabetology. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Veterans Affairs provided funding for the study.

Source: University of Missouri

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Could diabetes drug protect heart from bad diet? - Futurity: Research News

ScienceBlog.com (blog)

Vegetarian diets almost twice as effective in reducing body weight, study finds ScienceBlog.com (blog) Dieters who go vegetarian not only lose weight more effectively than those on conventional low-calorie diets but also improve their metabolism by reducing muscle fat, a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition has found. A Plant-Based Diet Boosts Weight Loss Twice as Effectively as a Traditional Diabetes Diet, According to New Research ...Business Wire (press release) Vegetarian Diets May Be More Effective for Weight Loss Than Simply Restricting Calories, According to a StudyYahoo Health Study: Vegetarian diets twice as effective at weight lossUPI.com 9Coach (blog) all 7 news articles »

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Vegetarian diets almost twice as effective in reducing body weight, study finds - ScienceBlog.com (blog)

Of all the problems that people face today, depression proves one of the hardest to pinpoint. People often suffer in secret, not wanting to burden others or admit that they need professional help. Those same people continue with their normal routines and, many times, unhealthy eating habits. Now, health professionals are actually linking diet and depression and have found success in using diet to treat the disorder.

Globally, millions of people suffer from depression, an estimated300 millionto be exact. In fact, major depression constitutes one of the mostcommonmental health disorders in the United States, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. These suffering people need options, and a simple change in diet could motivate many to finally take action.

For decades, people have correlated healthy eating with feeling better, including in the area of mental health. However, many people who do not eat well also have outside stress factors, such as a busy schedule or low income. Health professionals can easily attribute any depression in these groups to these outside factors strained by a poor diet.

THE SECRET TO AGING SLOWLY?

Diet and Depression: A Study

However, onestudyset out to evaluate the direct link between diet and depression. The researchers found some interesting results. Several researchers and Australian institutions worked together to conduct a study around the topic at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia. They carried out the study over a 12-week period and observed 67patientswith moderate to severe depression.

For their control group, the patients received social support rather than switching their eating habits to a healthy, well-balanced diet. The other patients then received a series of seven one-hour dietary counseling sessions where they were advised to eat a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and lean meats. The researchers used diet guidelines from both the Australian and Greek governments, forming a modified Mediterranean diet.

After the trial period, the researchers found that over 30 percent of the patients had gone into remission with their depression. Only 8 percent of the control group actually experienced this same improvement.

WALKING CORPSE SYNDROME: THE WALKING DEAD MADE REAL

According to one proponent of the diet for depression idea, Dr. Drew Ramsey, the participants that showed the most remarkable results had improved their diet the most. This trial has greatly encouraged the research on this important topic, helping researchers understand and better help patients suffering from depression.

How Diet Influences Depression

Most people in America today do not associate their diet and depression together. However, because food does influence energy levels and mood, the link only makes sense.

One troublingstudyfound that nearly 60 percent of Americans eat ultra-processed foods, the kind whose ingredient list runs long and includes unfamiliar names. What troubled researchers the most about this study is the fact that 90 percent of added sugars come from these processed foods.

Since Americans are eating a lot of processed meals, theyre also taking in an excessive amount of added sugar. For people with depression, thisdietfilled with added sugar does little to help them.

CATCH OF THE DAY: THE BEST AND WORST FOOD FOR YOUR DIET

It might give a short energy burst, but it will eventually cause energy to sink, bringing any happy moods down with it. In addition, the empty calories will leave the body devoid of essential nutrients that might help to boost a persons mood.

Many people also love caffeine, drinking multiple cups each day. Again, they consume the usual excess sugar and empty calories. However, the caffeine can also disrupt sleep and cause anxiety or nervous tremors.

In addition, people with depression may have a tendency to turn to alcohol. Unfortunately, alcohol depresses the central nervous system. This vital system processes information through the senses and controls emotion. Depressing this system will directly influence a persons mood for the worse, especially those dealing with depression.

A Healthy Diet

Rather than turning to an unhealthy diet, people with depression should focus on getting in plenty of fruits and vegetables. Then, they should add in lean meats, including red meat high in iron. To round out their improved diet, they should also drink plenty of water, forgoing caffeinated and sugary beverages.

According to the research, diet and depression do go hand in hand. Those suffering from depression should eliminate processed foods as much as possible. Instead, they should replace them with a plant-rich diet alongside lean, quality meats. With a few simple changes in lifestyle, these patients can improve their mental health and return to normal activities with renewed energy and joy.

This article first appeared on AskDrManny.com.

Dr. Manny Alvarez serves as Fox News Channel's senior managing health editor. He also serves as chairman of the department of obstetrics/gynecology and reproductive science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. Click here for more information on Dr. Manny's work with Hackensack University Medical Center. Visit AskDrManny.com for more.

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Patterns for diabetes often follow patterns for obesity.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Diabetes is a common medical condition affecting around 29 million Americans or about 1 in 11 adults. Diabetes is a metabolic condition manifested by elevated levels of sugar (glucose) in the blood stream. Diabetes is generally divided into type 1 and type 2.

Type 1 typically occurs in children or adolescents and can cause acute life threatening illness, and only about 5 percent of diabetics are type 1. Type 1 diabetics require insulin to survive.

Type 2 diabetes typically arises in adults and can be treated with diet and oral medications, but sometimes requires insulin. Type 2 diabetes tends to be linked to obesity, but not in every case.Recently, I wrote about the obesity epidemic in the U.S. I reported some CDC statistics that indicated the obesity rates are rapidly rising. Specifically, the data showed that no state had an obesity rate over 15 percent in 1985 and by 2016 no state had an obesity rate less than 20 percent. The overall obesity rate is about 33 percent. It is amazing to see how the U.S. diabetes rates are following the same patterns, but lagging behind by several years. In other words, as obesity rates increase in certain states, diabetes rates increase in a very similar pattern.

Currently, diabetes is diagnosed in an individual with fasting blood glucose of 126 or more. Some providers require two separate tests to confirm the diagnosis. People often refer to prediabetes when the blood glucose fasting is between 100 and 126. Prediabetics have a higher tendency to develop diabetes at a later time. Gestational diabetes refers to women who have elevated blood glucose during pregnancy. These individuals also have a tendency toward developing diabetes later in life.

The main symptoms of diabetes are thirst and frequent urination. However, in the early stages, there may not be symptoms. So, efforts are made to catch diabetes early and to try to prevent it. It is not uncommon to have screening done through Health Risk Assessments or regular office visits. People with risk factors such, as elevated blood pressure or elevated cholesterol, are advised to be screened.

Diabetes affects a number of systems. It is the No. 1 cause of kidney failure. In addition to the kidneys, diabetes affects the eyes, nerves (causing neuropathy), digestion, blood vessels and the immune system. Cardiovascular disease is a result of blood vessel disease and is the leading cause of death in diabetics. Immune system dysfunction makes diabetics more prone to infections making immunizations a priority. Much of the diabetic care is focused on controlling the blood glucose levels and reducing the other risk factors including high blood pressure, cholesterol and smoking. Blood glucose control reduces tissue damage and complications.

Glucose control is generally monitored through a blood test referred to as the glycohemoglobin or A1c. This test measures glucose that is attached to the hemoglobin in red blood cells. Red blood cells recycle about every two months so this measurement gives an indication of the average blood glucose over a two-month time period and is used to monitor treatment plans.

The best way to prevent diabetes and help control it is to be active and control diet and weight. It is advised to do at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week. Diet changes include avoiding simple sugars in food and drink, avoiding fatty foods and controlling portions to control weight all help.

Like obesity, diabetes is becoming more prevalent at a rapid pace. Diabetes management presents many challenges for patients and health-care providers. The best way to try to avoid diabetes is through diet, exercise and weight control. Stay healthy my friends.

Dr. Michael Shattuck is a family practice physician at ThedaCare Physicians-Wautoma.

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Control diet, weight in diabetes fight - Appleton Post Crescent

Been to Whole Foods or CVS lately? If so, you may have been drawn in to the freezer aisle after noticing a particularly appealing-looking pint. 280 calories, the container boasts. Um, what? So theoretically, you could consume an entire pint of creamy ice cream while taking in fewer calories than a bowl of cereal? Yes, thats right.

Food-lovers, fitness freaks, moms, and Weight-Watchers fanatics have all stumbled upon this dessert-enabling haven in the freezer aisle. As Halo Tops website explains, the creamy confection is low-calorie, high-protein, and low-sugar. Whats more, they offer a huge variety of flavors ranging from Sea Salt Caramel and Mint Chip to Red Velvet and Pistachio. Too good to be true?

Some think so. On an online comments board, one skeptic insists, It tastes exactly like what it is: diet ice cream. I don't get why people are going crazy over this stuff. Sensory panelists for Consumer Reports thought Halo Top had a chalky texture and lacked the fullness of regular ice cream.

However, some ice cream eaters love it, chalky texture and all. One college student even went so far as to eat only Halo Top for an entire week. PopSugar conducted a blind taste test and reported, There was a whole lot of Love! and Delicious! and Yummy! in our taste test notes.

Here at The Daily Meal, we are just as divided.

Our editor-in-chief, Susan Houriet, was underwhelmed with the taste. I had heard great things about Halo Top at Weight Watchers, but I just couldn't get over the aftertaste of the sweetener they use. While she reported being able to taste a bitter residue of artificial sweetness in the dessert, I disagree I love it, and cant taste a bitter aftertaste. Its truly my dessert dream come true.

Nutritionist and health coach Cara Scinto, MS, believes the now I can eat as much ice cream as I want! mindset that comes with the low-calorie label isnt helpful. Yes, they're lower in sugar, which gives some folks the idea eating a full pint is okay. Which, to be totally honest, I think isn't the greatest health-wise. When we asked her why not, she responded, First off, the sugar alcohols that are added in place of real sugar can lead to stomach problems like a belly ache.

Plus, she pointed out, eating too much of a good thing isn't mindful eating.

In summary, the pint of Halo Top has the potential for other adverse health effects, regardless of its low calorie count especially when it comes to mental health. Despite being calorically equivalent to only a few bites of Ben and Jerrys, eating a pint of ice cream is still eating a pint of ice cream. That kind of eating isnt exactly considered moderation.

But what about the nutritional value? Is the healthy-looking label too good to be true? Weve gone through Halo Tops nutritional information so that you dont have to decipher the label through all the buy me! marketing.

The truth is, Halo Top isnt ice cream its artificially sweetened, contains a lot less fat, and slashes sugar from its ingredient list. How does Halo Top get so sweet? Stevia. Thats the simple answer. Stevia is a sweetener deemed natural by health experts because its been extracted from the stevia plant, Stevia rebaudiana. Its actually 200-300 times sweeter than regular sugar which explains why Halo Tops ice cream is so incredibly sweet.

The company has been a bit quieter about their use of erythritol a sugar alcohol that isnt metabolized by the body during digestion, resulting in zero calories and zero blood sugar spikes. However, the compound creates a bit of a controversy: While its been ambiguously deemed generally safe by the Food and Drug Administration, it has been known to cause some adverse side effects in consumers. Some have experienced headaches, diarrhea, and other digestion issues after eating foods high in erythritol. There hasnt been a great deal of additional research done on the compound, so youll have to be the judge!

Why does Halo Top taste so creamy? Cream. They use real cream. This factor the dairy is what distinguishes Halo Top from its diet ice cream competitors, like Arctic Zero. (Fear not, healthy readers the cream in Halo Top is diluted with milk to keep the fat content nice and low.)

How is it nutritionally? Truth be told, the nutritional data cant be beat. For a frozen treat to have only 60 calories and only 5 grams of sugar per serving is pretty incredible. The protein content is nothing particularly unusual, however real ice cream has just as much protein as this diet creation, averaging about 4 grams per half cup, so for Halo Top to hail itself as high-protein ice cream is a bit misleading.

Click here for 10healthy summer frozen treatrecipes.

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Is This 'Diet' Ice Cream Too Good to Be True? - The Daily Meal

Dr. Dominic D'Agostino in his laboratory at the University of South Florida (Credit: USF/Tina Meketa)

Napoleon said that an army marches on its stomach and so, it seems, do astronauts. To help the crews of future Mars missions remain healthy, associate professor Dominic D'Agostino of the University of South Florida will spend ten days on a simulated space journey in a laboratory on the bottom of the sea, where he'll eat a special diet designed to counter the side effects of interplanetary spaceflight.

One of NASA's key ways of rehearsing for manned space missions is its NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) expeditions.

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These "analog" missions uses the Aquarius underwater habitat, located 62 ft (19 m) down and 3.5 mi (5.6 km) off Key Largo in the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary in the Atlantic Ocean. Since 2001, 21 teams of international astronauts became aquanauts as they spent up to a fortnight carrying out experiments as well as practicing with new techniques and technologies in the simulated weightlessness of the undersea environment.

D'Agostino, who studies the impact of extreme environments on the human body at USF, will be the only non-NASA or ESA affiliated participant of NEEMO 22 when it deploys on June 18. D'Agostino will dine on a special diet that will include ketone supplement formulations designed to cause his body to go into nutritional ketosis. This is a metabolic state where the body shifts from glucose to using fat as it primary fuel. By keeping his body in nutritional ketosis, his cells will be able to preserve their DNA from damage while he works in the stressful aquatic environment.

To provide a control, the other aquanauts will eat a regular diet as data is collected about their and D'Agostino's gut microbiome, body composition, ability to carry out cognitive tasks, vision, sleep quality, and other physiological parameters.

The hope is that such supplements will help astronauts for counter neurological risks from cosmic radiation, low oxygen, and the stress of living inside the confines of a spacecraft.

Source: University of South Florida

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Undersea scientist tests Mars diet on himself - New Atlas

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the U.S. dairy industry. At $27 billion annually, its impact on the American economy and diet is immense, and at its core, the sector is completely dependent on the health and productivity of cows.

Americans drink more than 6 billion gallons of milk per year, and another 10 billion gallons are used to produce cheese, not to mention the milk that goes into products such as ice cream and yogurt. Yet, its safe to say, most consumers take the well-being of dairy cows for granted. But the countrys 65,000 dairy farmers dont they cant afford to.

One of dairy farmers biggest concerns is the vulnerable and important period for the dairy cow that extends three weeks before and three weeks after calving. Her metabolic needs increase dramatically, and how she copes with this high-energy transition period influences how well she performs during the rest of the lactation.

During this transition cow period, diseases can result in milk yield decreases of 5 to 10 pounds per day at peak lactation,a considerable economic loss for the producer. And research has shown that there is a domino effect: when a cow suffers from one transition disease, she is more likely to develop another, such as mastitis, ketosis or postpartum metritis.

Field surveys done by Penn State Extension show that more than 50 percent of cows will experience one or more metabolic or infectious disease following calving.

So, dairy-nutrition researchers such as Penn States Alex Hristov have been experimenting with various dietary supplements to bolster the immune systems of transition cows. A professor of dairy nutrition in the College of Agricultural Sciences, he has concentrated on the effects of spicing up the diets of transition cows feeding them phytonutrients and essential oils that are known to boost and support the immune systems of other species, including humans and gauging the cows health response.

Phytonutrients and essential oils bioactive compounds that act as antimicrobials and antiseptics are not required by dairy animals, but ingesting the compounds could make cows healthier, according to Hristov. Some examples are allicin from garlic, thymol from thyme and oregano, capsaicin from hot peppers, eugenol from cloves, pinene from juniper berries, limonene from dill, cinnamonaldehyde from cinnamon, and curcumin from turmeric.

At first, Hristov and other animal scientists considered phytonutrients and essential oils as a way to improve or alter rumen fermentation with naturally occurring compounds rather than commercial additives or antibiotics. The objective in altering rumen fermentation is to reduce methane gas production and increase propionate and butyrate production, resulting in more efficient fermentation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

But in recent research, Hristov has been looking beyond the rumen. In a series of papers, including an invited review published this spring in the Journal of Dairy Science, he and postdoctoral scholar Joonpyo Oh focus on the intestinal effects of phytonutrients in dairy cows, especially capsicum oleoresin from chili peppers. Oh, who conducted the research as part of his doctoral thesis, concluded that phytonutrients appear to have positive physiological effects on the immune response in ruminants, and in lactating dairy cows in particular.

The novel thing about this research is that we have shown that these phytonutrients can have downstream effects after the rumen, Hristov said. For the first time, we have shown that these compounds can bypass the rumen, which means they can avoid microbial degradation in the rumen. So they can be absorbed, through specific receptors, in the small intestine, which allows the cow to benefit from their physiological effects, including improvements in immunity, oxidative stress and insulin regulation.

He explained that the regulatory effects of phytonutrients on cytokines, acute phase proteins, blood immune cells, and oxidative stress status, including lipid peroxidation and endogenous antioxidants, seem to be beneficial for immune suppression of inflammation disease in dairy cows.

Although more research is needed to confirm results of Penn State studies, Hristov believes phytonutrient supplements such as capsicum oleoresin in the feed of transition dairy cows could have an impact on the dairy industry. The transition period is the most critical period in the life of a cow, so anything that can decrease metabolic diseases during that time could prove to be significant, he said.

Anything that improves animal health and immune response in these cows is important. And in previous studies we even saw an increase in milk production. That kind of direct impact, if proven, would be very important.

Follow-on studies are unfolding in Hristovs lab in collaboration with a Swiss company to develop a rumen-protected capsicum product to reliably deliver the benefits of phytonutrients to cows immune systems. Researchers are using capsicum oleoresin, Hristov noted, because after investigating other phytonutrient compounds, the peppers had the most pronounced affect on cows health.

But do cows like having their diet spiced up? From the several experiments we conducted, they dont seem to mind it, Hristov said. Cows consumed the spicy diet the same as the control diet. Perhaps, like some of us, they like it.

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Mashable

Women greeted with dish sponges, diet pill pamphlets at 'Wonder Woman' screening Mashable Attendees at a women-only June 6 screening of the film at a Belgian theater reportedly received bags full of sponges, diet pill pamphlets, squeegees, chocolate, noodles, and chips as a "gift." (Honestly, we are shocked the bags did not include Bic's ...

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Women greeted with dish sponges, diet pill pamphlets at 'Wonder Woman' screening - Mashable

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