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The United Way of St. Francois County awarded the largest amount of grants to date during the annual grant presentation held on Tuesday at the Farmington Public Library.

A total of nearly $200,000 was awarded to 33 agencies more than $20,000 over last years total.

I thought it was one of the neatest, biggest that weve had so far, Executive Director Clay Whitener said. We gave away more money than we ever have before we earned a little more, so we were able to give back a whole lot more."

Whitener addressed those representing the agencies receiving grants stating he sees the work they do and how hard the work can be.

We appreciate your support of us, and in an effort to show our appreciation for what all of you do thats why this day is here, he said.

Mark Toti, president of the United Way board, introduced the agencies receiving grant funds and gave a few statistics of the work those organizations provide in the county.

More than 140,000 meals are served through the four senior centers and Meals on Wheels for Special Diets program; more than 50,000 individuals receive assistance through the seven food pantries in the county. Grant monies were also received by the five Caring Communities programs serving the students in each of the countys five school districts, as well as 16 agencies able to continue specific services to the county through the grants received.

Agencies awarded this year include Bismarck Senior Center, Bonne Terre Senior Center, Farmington Senior Center, Park Hills Senior Center, Meals on Wheels for Special Diets, Central Caring Communities, West County Caring Communities, Bismarck Caring Communities, Farmington Caring Communities, North County Caring Communities, Bonne Terre Food Pantry, Bismarck Church of God Food Pantry, Elvins Food Pantry, Farmington Ministerial Alliance Food Pantry, St. Vincent de Paul at Immaculate Conception Church in Park Hills, St. Vincent de Paul at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Farmington, House of Praise Food Pantry in Desloge, Childrens Advocacy Center, East Missouri Action Agency, Habitat for Humanity of St. Francois County, L.I.F.E Center for Independent Living, Parkland Foster Adopt Families, Parkland Pregnancy Resource Center, SEMO Family Violence Council, Shared Blessings Homeless Shelter, Young Faith in Christ, Upward Smiles Dental Clinic, Salvation Army, St. Francois County Mental Health Board, Visions of Hope, St. Francois County Health Center, BJC Behavioral Health Club House, and St. Francois County Community Partnership.

Donations to the United Way of St. Francois County are made in a variety of ways. Some donations are received through payroll deduction or through charitable donations, memorial gifts or legacy gifts.

Fundraiser events also raise money for the grants provided, such as Dine Out for United Way, bell ringing during the holiday season, Sing United or the Girls Night Out event.

Every contribution goes toward the grants the United Way pledges to give each year to agencies in St. Francois County that help people in need, with 100 percent of every financial gift to United Way of St. Francois County going to the local agencies funded by United Way.

Planning is already underway for raising money toward next years grant presentation.

Right now, were trying to get ready for fall, Whitener said. (The time frame for) bell ringing is pretty well scheduled. Were going to start a little bit before the Thanksgiving holiday (when) everybody is in the giving spirit and theyre not really sure how to help. Dine Out (for the United Way) is going to last two months instead of four.

Whitener said payroll deduction is a year-round way businesses and corporations and their employees can help those agencies.

The United Way of St. Francois County is recognized by the IRS as a 501c organization. Organized in 1994, the local United Way exists to raise funds for local agencies to meet the needs of people in St. Francois County.

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A day of giving - Daily Journal Online

You may not expect a mental health practitioner to prescribe a healthy eating plan, but that approach may not be far off. In recent years, scientists have been studying the link between food and mood more closely. They've found that there may be a relationship between the risk of common mental health issues - including depression and anxiety - and our diet quality.

"The role of diet in mental health may be particularly important for populations who are vulnerable to nutritional shortfalls, such as infants and the elderly, and those consuming a less-than-optimal diet," says Robin Kanarek, PhD, a Tufts University psychology professor studying the interaction of nutrition and behavior at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. Far too many people fall into the latter category. But with a little effort, people generally can improve their eating habits.

When looking at the quality of your diet, consider both foods to eat more of and those to limit. Observational studies show that healthy eating patterns that include plenty of nutrient-rich plant foods, such as vegetables, fruits and whole grains, and omega-3-rich foods, such as salmon and flax seeds, are associated with decreased risk of depression and anxiety.

On the other hand, a Western-style diet - rich in foods high in refined carbohydrates (sugar and white flour), highly processed foods and sugary beverages - is associated with increased risk of depression and anxiety.

"While the results of earlier studies suggest a relationship between nutrient intake and mood, research that actually examines the effects of diet on measures of mental health is needed to confirm a causal relationship between food and mood," Kanarek says. That will require rigorous intervention studies. The first controlled trial explicitly designed to test dietary improvements in people with depression, dubbed the SMILES trial, was recently published in BMC Medicine. It suggests dietary approaches to improving mental health warrant further study.

The three-month trial was led by scientists at Deakin University in Australia. They enrolled 67 adults with relatively poor-quality diets and moderate to severe depression (under medical treatment). They reported a low intake of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and fiber but a high intake of sweets, processed meats and salty snacks.

Half of the people were asked to follow a modified Mediterranean diet ("Modi-Med Diet," above) and complete nutrition counseling sessions. The other half (the control group) attended general social support sessions but received no diet advice.

Compared to the control group, those in the diet group had significant improvements in depression and anxiety symptoms. The greatest benefits were seen in those who improved their diet the most. At the end of the trial, 32% of people in the Modi-Med Diet group no longer met criteria for depression. In comparison, only 8% of those in the control group had remission of their depression. These findings are very encouraging but now need to be replicated in larger studies.

Scientists also are taking a closer look at why diet might impact mental health. Some possibilities theyre exploring include diets effects on the gut microbiota (bacteria and other microbes), inflammation, oxidative stress (cell damage) and brain plasticity (changing structure, wiring and function).

While scientists work out the details linking diet and mood, dont wait to adopt a healthy eating pattern. We already know it could benefit your physical health. Its potential to lift your mood may be a bonus.

View original post here:
Connecting Food And Your Mood - HuffPost

It's also known as the Navy diet, the Army diet and sometimes the ice cream diet, because in addition to hot dogs and tuna fish, you get to eat ice cream on all three days of the program.

Smells fishy, right? Well, hold your nose. It's about to get really stinky.

The military diet is a variation of the ever-popular three-day diet, a crash plan of "fill-in-the-blank" foods to eat if you want to lose weight fast. These diets typically claim that you can lose about 10 pounds in three days to a week if you follow their blueprint to the letter. The meal plans are usually extremely basic and calorie-restrictive, because let's face it, that's how you lose weight.

But are these diets healthy? Will the weight stay off?

Breakfast is a cup of caffeinated coffee or tea, one slice of toast with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and half a grapefruit. That's 308 calories.

Lunch is another cup of coffee or tea, a bare-bones slice of toast (whole-wheat is best, they rightly say) and a half-cup of tuna. This meal is tiny, only 139 calories.

Dinner is 3 ounces of any meat (that's about the size of a playing card), a cup of green beans, half of a banana and a small apple (not a large apple, even though the calorie difference is minuscule), but wait: You get a whole cup of vanilla ice cream! If you choose steak instead of a lean chicken breast as your entree, this meal equals 619 calories.

But even with the steak and the cup of full-fat ice cream, the day adds up to a mere 1,066 calories. No snacks allowed.

Here's day two's repast. It adds up to only 1,193 calories, even if you pick some higher-fat options.

Breakfast is another dry piece of toast, one egg cooked however you like and half of a banana. Let's say you fry your egg in oil. That's 223 calories.

Lunch is a hard-boiled egg, five saltine crackers and a cup of cottage cheese. If you choose full-fat cottage cheese, the total is 340 calories.

Dinner is half of a banana, a half-cup of carrots, a full cup of broccoli, two hot dogs (that's right!) and another treat: a half-cup of vanilla ice cream. The meal totals 630 calories (if you eat a full-fat pork or beef dog).

How does this fare fair?

"Ice cream is not a good use of the meager calories," she added. "You could have 3 cups of salad and only eat 100 calories, or other nutritious foods that will be satisfying and hold back the hunger."

Day three is the most restrictive, only 762 calories.

Breakfast is a slice of cheddar cheese with five saltines and a small apple. That's 232 calories.

Lunch is grim: one dry slice of toast and an egg. Even if you fry the egg in oil again, that's a total of 170 calories.

Dinner is 460 calories and a stomach-turning combination of half a banana, a full cup of tuna and another cup of ice cream. Maybe they think that by now, you're so hungry, you'll be willing to eat those foods together.

The websites promoting the military diet say that eating certain food combinations will boost your metabolism.

"There is no truth behind claims that the food combinations in the first few days will increase your metabolism and burn fat," Magee said.

"There's no research I know of behind those claims," Drayer agreed.

And what about the rest of the week?

You round out your week by eating what you like, so long as it's less than 1,500 calories a day. Then you can start on the three-day restrictions again.

Best of all, no exercise -- zero, zip, nada -- is said to be needed on this diet.

"Yet another fad diet that won't lead to healthy or sustainable weight loss!" Magee said with passion, adding that exercise is "key to lasting weight loss."

She also feels there are potential physical and emotional ramifications to diets that restrict and deprive you to this extent.

"It can lead to weight cycling, a quick loss and regain of weight, that can weaken your immune system, mess with your metabolic rate and increase the risk of other health problems, such as gallstones and heart trouble," Magee said.

"We did not develop this. We do not use it. It has absolutely no resemblance to the real military diet. Even our rations are healthier and more nutritionally sound," Deuster said. "It looks like they just took the name 'military' and added it to the diet and capitalized on it."

"The Birmingham Hospital Diet did not originate with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and we do not support or recommend it," university public relations manager Bob Shepard said. "This diet has absolutely no connection to UAB Hospital other than the often repeated but false Internet rumors."

Oh?

"It is unfortunate our name has been associated with this diet," the Cleveland Clinic said in a statement. "We have never endorsed this meal plan, and it does not meet the standards for what we would consider a healthy diet for heart health or overall well-being."

And?

"The American Heart Association is not -- and never has been -- associated with this diet."

"This didn't come from us, despite the use of the word Kaiser. Kaiser Permanente supports a balanced diet, rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains."

Oh, and there are lots of ads.

But nowhere on the page is there an author, an expert, a nutritional guru. No one takes ownership of this information or gives you any credentials to prove their expertise.

"That's a red flag," Drayer said. "Any helpful diet plan should be created or supported by a credible person or resource or organization. If something is out there without any author or inventor, anyone can say anything and not know how the body works."

Trying to track down the owners of three of the most popular military diet sites proved to be a dead end. Emails and calls to listed numbers got no responses.

Add to that the fact that science still doesn't have the "perfect" solution for weight loss and maintenance, he said, and you've got an area that is ripe for exploitation.

Drayer agreed. "I think a lot of people just want to know the next dieting magic bullet, quick fix, and they just go for these fad things."

But why are so many of us fooled in the first place?

The failure of some people's "BS detectors" when they encounter fake information can be explained, Southwell said, by what science now knows about how the brain processes data. Instead of sorting the good from bad as the information arrives, the brain accepts it all, "and then in another part of the brain, it's tagged as true or false."

"It leaves open this window of opportunity," he explained, "so people believe just long enough and then get tired, distracted, and what happens? They get sucked in. They might be skeptical at first but fail to do the research and think, 'well, maybe this will work. This might be my solution.' "

The fact that so many of us share our discoveries with friends and loved ones on social accounts fuels the misinformation fire. Southwell calls it "social contagion."

"It's like the dynamics of infectious disease. You've spread the disease before you've even come down with it, " he explained. "You find it, you share, you read more and find out that it's not effective, or you try it out and you're disappointed. But the genie is out of the bottle already."

According to Southwell, that's exactly what many of these sites are counting on.

"It doesn't matter if it ultimately gets debunked, because it's going to take a while for it to reach the same numbers of people as the original rumor or fake diet," he explained. "And the debunking is not as sexy as the original diet lure.

"In the meantime, you might see the spread of unhealthy dieting behavior, and for some people with certain diseases or conditions, that can cause real harm," Southwell said, such as heart disease or diabetes. "But it can't be traced back. Who is culpable for that?"

Let's face it. We still want a quick way to lose 5 or 10 pounds fast, just in time for that special occasion. Is it possible to do so in a healthy way?

"I will prescribe a modified three-day diet just to jump-start weight loss," Drayer said. "I typically recommend increasing your water intake and eliminating all starchy carbs like breads, pasta, cereal and rice, as well as sweets and treats for one week. Doing this not only cuts calories, but you also shed some extra water too, which can be motivating as the numbers on the scale go down."

For those who drink their calories, Drayer recommends slashing sugary beverages such as sodas, flavored lattes, fruit juices and smoothies, "as the calories from these beverages can really add up."

Magee prefers to trick the body into losing weight, to avoid what she calls a starvation backlash.

"When you decrease your calories so severely as they do in the three-day military diet, your body tends to go into conservation mode and actually burns fewer calories," she said, "because it thinks you are entering a potato famine or similar, and it wants to survive.

"I think it's better to trick your body into burning calories by decreasing the calories you eat a little, increasing exercise to burn more calories, to create a daily deficit of about 250 calories a day," she explains. "It's slower but more sustained weight loss, and you are more likely to lose body fat rather than muscle tissue and water."

Regardless of what method you try, said Drayer, remember that any diet should be cleared by your nutritionist or doctor before you begin. And when it comes to the three-day military diet, she concluded: "I can't imagine any doctor or expert endorsing the military diet as healthy or beneficial in any way."

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Military diet: 3-day diet or dud? - CNN

Kent Maurer used to be a meat and potatoes kind of guy.

"I grew up having my bacon and eggs for breakfast," he said. "I'd have my burger and fries for lunch, my steak for dinner and my ice cream for dessert."

The 61-year-old now adheres to a different diet. Rather than grilling chicken or making pot roast, Maurer often prepares a hearty salad and baked potato for dinner. He said his decision to stick to a plant-only diet changed his health and his life.

The Park City resident feels everyone can benefit from the choice to abstain from meat, dairy and other animal products. Not only does being vegan help protect people from heart disease, he said, it also benefits the environment by cutting down on resources used to feed and transport livestock.

If you look around, all the biggest, fastest and strongest animals on the planet

including the animals were eating

are plant-eaters.

"If you look around, all the biggest, fastest and strongest animals on the planet including the animals we're eating are plant-eaters," he said.

Getting introduced

Maurer was a little apprehensive about the diet when he was introduced to it, which is something that isn't uncommon, he stressed.

When the Colorado native lived in California in the '80s, he found regular work as a stunt man for the action-adventure show "A-Team" and befriended one of the program's stars, Dirk Benedict.

Between faking death during staged explosions and rappelling down buildings, Maurer would chat with Benedict, especially during lunch breaks.

"I always noticed his plate of food," Maurer said. "His plate of food was brown rice and steamed vegetables. Mine was a burger and fries."

Curiosity got the best of Maurer, and he asked the actor why he ate the same meal every day. Limiting his consumption of meat, Benedict was on a macrobiotic diet and mostly munched on grains and vegetables.

The actor explained to Maurer his reasoning for following a mostly vegetarian diet, telling the stunt man the diet helped him heal from prostate cancer.

"He goes, 'I grew up in a cattle ranch in Montana. And at 29 years old, I got prostate cancer,'" Maurer said, adding that Benedict seemed to correlate his cancer with eating meat.

"That was the last I thought about it after that," Maurer said.

The stunt man grew homesick when he was in California and decided to return to his roots to work in Aspen, Colorado. There, he became a personal trainer and focused on staying fit, which is something that has always been important to him.

"When I was a kid, I wasn't the fastest or the biggest or the strongest," Maurer said. "I started exercising and tried to get better. It paid off."

He stayed in Aspen for a while. But after he married wife Laura in 1987, the couple decided the Aspen lifestyle was too expensive.

"We wanted to have a family," Maurer said.

They moved to Tucson, Arizona, and Maurer took a job as spa director at Canyon Ranch, a ritzy health resort.

Once again, the vegan lifestyle seemed to knock at Maurer's door. He noticed meals prepared at the spa closely mirrored Benedict's macrobiotic diet. He said he made a correlation between eating veggie-heavy meals and staying healthy, but he remained committed to eating the starches and proteins he grew up enjoying.

Making a lifestyle change

After a move back to the Golden State, Maurer jumped on the plant-only bandwagon when he once again became a personal fitness instructor, which had its challenges, he said.

The trainer was able to help clients build muscle and lose weight, but he wanted to do more.

"I got people stronger and fitter," he said. "I also had people who were getting heart disease and cancer. I even had clients that would die because of these diseases.

"I felt like I wasn't doing any good for these people who I've gotten so close to, so I started looking outside the box I was comfortable with."

Maurer was in his 40s when he decided to try a diet that had followed him, almost like a shadow, during his adult life. He started traveling from his residence in San Diego to Los Angeles to attend conferences on veganism. After Maurer discovered he had high cholesterol, he decided to challenge himself.

"I said, 'OK, I'm going to try this for a month," Maurer said. "I can always go back to my old way of eating if I get weak or if I can't handle it."

He stuck to a diet of oatmeal in the morning, burritos in the afternoon and salads in the evening. In between meals, he snacked on fruits and nuts. He said the results from eating veggies, grains, fruits and nuts shocked him.

"My cholesterol was almost 300, because even though I looked good, my internal organs were starting to pile up with all that saturated fat and cholesterol I'd been eating my whole life," Maurer said. "So after one month, I went back to the doctor and my cholesterol went from 298 down to 160."

Maurer cut meat out of his life 21 years ago. His wife and two kids also jumped on board. Now, his mission is to encourage Parkites to adopt a vegan lifestyle.

Maurer's calling

Since moving to Park City in 2007, Maurer still a personal trainer has challenged locals to follow a plant-only diet.

"I ask them to stop eating animals for 10 days and see what happens," he said. "I take them to a grocery store and show them how to read labels and what foods to eat. I also take them on hikes, so they can talk to me and ask some questions."

The Parkite who, in addition to spreading his vegan motto, loves to hike and enjoys watching documentaries wants people to know he feels eating a plant-only diet has more pros than cons.

Yes, a stand against the mistreatment of cows and chickens is a reason to refrain from eating meat and animal byproducts, he said, but his main drive is his belief that the livestock industry could one day lead to a global crisis, which is something he feels can be avoided.

Maurer said the water it takes to nourish plants fed to animals should instead be used for plants grown for human consumption.

"There is only 1 percent of water that we can drink that's not salt water or not frozen, and the whole planet has to share it," Maurer said, adding he thinks the next big war will be over available water.

Installing solar panels or investing in other renewable sources takes money, Maurer said, but people can conserve a valuable resource by changing their diets.

"I think it all starts with what we're eating," he said. "Peace starts at our dinner table."

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Profile: Kent Maurer feels world peace starts at the dinner table - The Park Record

High Altitude Health Deborah Holmes MedX of Estes

It's summer time and I've found myself deciding that it's ok to indulge in some of these wonderful things that only come around during the summer. I'm thinking of s'mores next to the fire, ice cream, hot dogs on the grill, staying up a little later and enjoying the warm summer evenings on the deck with a glass of wine! Its O.K. don't you think?

Life can't be all strict and no flex, at least I don't think. Life is about moderation. Moderation allows us to enjoy some of the things that make life sweeter, more fun and enjoyable, especially during this summer time.

Moderation should be our motto for life and specifically when it comes to our health. I believe moderation is the key to a healthy, long and happy life.

I think back to a friend of mine from college, who jumped all over me one night for not eating a piece of pizza because I was "on a diet." Her comment to me was "like you are never going to eat another piece of pizza in your life."

Of course, I know that there is a difference between eating a piece of pizza and eating an entire pizza. Moderation.

With all these "fads" happening in the world, we see things come and go in the health and fitness world. Everyone is trying to come up with the perfect diet, the perfect exercise machine, the perfect solution. Something new or some new idea on dieting and exercise and encourage you to do it to the extreme. They want complete control and dominance over your choices making you over-indulge on the diet plan or take the workout to the extreme claiming it's the only way it will work. How many of these programs really stick around? Not many. How many of these programs are successful? Not many. How many of these programs really focus on your health? Not many.

The bottom line for every diet program that I know, begins and ends with moderation. Eating moderate portions of food, eating moderate amounts of each food group that provides necessary nutrients for our bodies and eating within moderate time frames throughout the day. Even the Atkins, South Beach and State of Slim diets, which all direct your diet intake away from carbohydrates for an amount of time, will eventually lead you back into including carbohydrates in your diet but only to be eaten in moderation.

Still the most successful diet program around today, is Weight Watchers. Why, because they incorporated individual choice and moderation into their philosophy a long time ago!

Even in exercise you need to exercise for health, not to body build or to run a marathon. Those are unrealistic goals for almost all of us. However, strength training and walking/jogging for health is realistic and it includes moderation.

Research continues to show that exercise done in moderate amounts of time and intensity will provide the best outcome for a long and healthy life. Those who practice moderation, tend to keep a healthy outlook about exercise (and eating) and maintain their exercise all their lives. They exercise for life, function and overall health.

Those who practice moderation also tend to have fewer injuries that are often associated with more extreme exercise, which also favors long term consistency and dedication.

Just think about it. Coffee, alcohol and juices, enjoy them with moderation. Chocolate and sweets? Go ahead and eat them, with moderation. Carbohydrates, fat and fiber, all very important in your diet, with moderation. Television, video games, computers; sure, with moderation. Dining out, shopping and spending money, fun to do but needs to be done with moderation. Hobbies, interests and desires make up our personalities, yet should not become obsessive. Therefore, practice moderation.

Hopefully, you got my intended message with this article. It is such a real issue in life. We all need to enjoy the good things in life and not feel guilty about it. We all need to experience life to its fullest without becoming obsessive. We all need to live healthier without making it so difficult. It's all about moderation, in everything we do.

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A motto for life moderation - Estes Park Trail-Gazette

Success on a weight-loss diet can be predicted by measuring a persons blood sugar and fasting insulin levels, according to a study presented at the American Diabetes Association meeting in San Diego.

Moreover, effective weight loss and control in some can be achieved without restricting calories, as long as the diet is rich in fiber.

The international study examined data from six studies of different diets designed to improve nutrition. It found that those biomarkers consistently predicted losing weight and keeping it off.

The kinds of diets that work depend on whether a patients blood sugar level is higher than normal as in prediabetes, or high enough to indicate diabetes. Results were presented at the American Diabetes diseaseAssociation 77th Scientific Sessions.

Those with type 2 diabetes can lose weight on a diet rich in plant fats, such as those from olive and avocado oil.

A fiber-rich diet without calorie restrictions is successful for many with prediabetes, the study found. Carbohydrate and fat intake should be adjusted according to fasting insulin levels.

Remarkably, for many patients, use of these biomarkers can lead to a six- to seven-fold greater weight loss, study leader Arne Astrup said in a statement. He is head of the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Going forward, we can educate patients when a diet they planned to follow would actually make them gain weight, and redirect them to a strategy that we know will work for them.

The study also included researchers from the University of Colorado, Tufts University, Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red de Fisiopatologia de la Obesidad y Nutricion and Gelesis Inc.

The study fits in with other research indicating that weight loss diets need to be matched to an individuals own metabolic profile.

And for the diets to really stick, they cant be temporary, but part of a changed lifestyle that people can embrace without feeling deprived.

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For successful weight loss dieting, check blood sugar and insulin - Journal Times

Billy Crook's commercial crabbing boat, Pilot's Bride. He says it's looking like it's going to be a good year for crabbing on the Chesapeake Bay. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

Billy Crook's commercial crabbing boat, Pilot's Bride. He says it's looking like it's going to be a good year for crabbing on the Chesapeake Bay.

Drive east from Washington and eventually you run smack into the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, the massive estuary that stretches from the mouth of the Susquehanna River at Maryland's northern tip and empties into the Atlantic 200 miles away near Norfolk, Va.

The Chesapeake is home to oysters, clams, and famous Maryland blue crab.

It's the largest estuary in the United States.

And for a long time, it was one of the most polluted.

Decades of runoff from grassy suburban yards and farm fields as far north as New York state, plus sewage and other waste dumped by the hundreds of gallons, made the Chesapeake so dirty that by 1983, the crab population had plummeted to just 2 percent of what Capt. John Smith saw when he explored the bay in the 1600s.

For years, people tried to clean it up. States and the federal government spent millions of dollars. The first effort began in 1983 officially launched by President Ronald Reagan in his 1984 State of the Union Address.

And each time, the cleanup efforts failed. The bay's health wasn't getting much better.

By 2009, when the Chesapeake Bay Foundation sued the Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to get the EPA to do more to clean up the bay, the Chesapeake's dead zone was so big it often covered a cubic mile in the summer.

Dead zones form when the water becomes too concentrated with nitrogen and phosphorus allowing algal blooms to grow and block out sunlight from reaching beneath the water and causing populations of fish and crabs to plummet.

Then, last summer, scientists recorded no dead zone in the Chesapeake Bay. And wildlife was returning, too. The EPA's new plan seemed to be working.

"When I first heard that spawning sturgeon were back in the bay, my reaction was, 'Yes! We can get this done,'" says Will Baker, the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation's president. "It's really exciting. You give nature half a chance and she will produce every single time."

Scientists and advocates for the bay say that success is fragile. And it may be even more so now. The Trump administration's budget proposal calls for eliminating the program's $73 million in funding.

"I think if we saw the federal government withdraw, you would see the Chesapeake Bay revert to a national disgrace right as it's becoming a great national source of pride," Baker says. "Things are going in the right direction, but nature can turn on a dime and I don't think it's a scare tactic to say within the next eight years, we could see the last 35 years of effort go down the tubes and start to change direction."

And that could have implications not only for the future of the bay cleanup, but for any other states hoping to clean up some of the country's other most polluted waters from Lake Erie to the Gulf of Mexico.

Eric Young, Matthew Gaskins, and Steve Hinks went out crabbing for fun, and caught five blue crabs on their first run of the day. Gaskins says so far it's shaping up to be a good year for crabbing on the Chesapeake. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

Eric Young, Matthew Gaskins, and Steve Hinks went out crabbing for fun, and caught five blue crabs on their first run of the day. Gaskins says so far it's shaping up to be a good year for crabbing on the Chesapeake.

Locals like 22-year-old Matt Gaskins say the difference in the bay's health is noticeable.

He's on a boat with two of his friends. A handful of blue crabs click in a bucket resting in the middle of his small boat. Gaskins says he can tell how the bay's doing by how many crabs he's catching. He was out on the South River the day before.

"Everyone pretty much around the whole river has been doing really well," he says. "The rockfish are doing really well this year, and also the crabs are doing really well."

Scientists from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation say that's proof the cleanup efforts are making a difference.

"The trend is for a smaller volume of the dead zone over time, which is really encouraging. For the last two years, they never measured water that had zero oxygen, which is the first time that it had ever happened in the history of collecting data," says Beth McGee, a scientist with the foundation.

Beth McGee, director of science and agricultural policy at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, rides on a boat in the Chesapeake Bay. The foundation conducts regular tests on the water. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

Beth McGee, director of science and agricultural policy at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, rides on a boat in the Chesapeake Bay. The foundation conducts regular tests on the water.

But why is the cleanup finally working now, after all those years of trying?

In 2009, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation sued the EPA, trying to compel the agency to enact a tougher cleanup plan. In the past, a group of six states that make up the Chesapeake Bay watershed Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware and New York, plus the District of Columbia, had put in place various pollution control plans to limit the fertilizer and sewage they released into the bay.

But without sufficient funding or any real consequences for states that didn't meet benchmarks, things didn't really improve.

The Obama administration needed to change that. To do it, the administration came up with a novel interpretation of the Clean Water Act of 1972, which gives the federal government the power to require that states write a "pollution diet" for any body of water the feds declare polluted. States have to calculate how much of each pollutant a body of water can take on, and then figure out how to hit those numbers.

But actually making the reductions had always been voluntary. Only one in five of these pollution diets had actually been implemented, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation wanted to ensure states followed through. The Obama administration would use its powers under the Clean Water Act to compel states to take action by withholding funding from states that didn't follow through on implementing their cleanup plans.

Baker says that's part of the challenge cleaning up the Chesapeake requires cooperation not just from the places that have the bay in their backyards but also from states in the whole watershed whose rivers and streams feed into the bay.

"The critical role of the EPA has been to be the glue that holds the six states and the District of Columbia together working in concert to save the Chesapeake Bay system," Baker says.

How do you convince states without that tangible tie to make sacrifices for a bay they don't even border?

"The Chesapeake Bay is a system of six states, 64,000 square miles," Baker says. "And when you work in Pennsylvania for clean water in the Chesapeake Bay, you're really working for clean water in Pennsylvania."

The EPA's plan was controversial from the start. The American Farm Bureau Federation sued over it. As attorney general of Oklahoma, Scott Pruitt signed an amicus brief supporting the Farm Bureau's position. He's now running the EPA the agency that is tasked with administering it.

The Supreme Court declined to take up the case letting a lower court's ruling stand that upheld the program.

Chip Bowling's farm sits on banks of the Wicomico River in southern Maryland. The Wicomico flows into the Potomac River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay.

He farms 1,600 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat on land that's been in his family for seven generations.

Chip Bowling is a Maryland farmer and chairman of the National Corn Growers Association. He farms on land that's been in his family for seven generations. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

Chip Bowling is a Maryland farmer and chairman of the National Corn Growers Association. He farms on land that's been in his family for seven generations.

"When we got our work done, we literally would jump out of our work clothes and put a pair of shorts on and T-shirt, and run down here, and either swim, fish, get on the boat," he says.

He's been doing that more than 50 years.

"If you walked at the end of this pier when I was a kid, you'd see aquatic grass growing," Bowling says. "You actually had a hard time walking through it because the grass was so lush underwater."

That lush grass provided a habitat for crabs and fish. Now, it's beginning to return.

Agriculture was a big focus of the cleanup plan. As chairman of the National Corn Growers Association, Bowling and his organization joined the lawsuit. In Maryland, for example, the state imposed regulations as part of the cleanup that required farmers to write pollution diets for their farms.

Bowling's farm in Southern Maryland is on the banks of the Wicomico River, which eventually flows in to the Chesapeake Bay. Sam Gringlas/NPR hide caption

Bowling's farm in Southern Maryland is on the banks of the Wicomico River, which eventually flows in to the Chesapeake Bay.

The federal government provided money to help, like funds for planting buffer strips between cropland and waterways that feed into the bay. States wrote their own plans to meet federal benchmarks and the federal government could withhold funding from states that didn't comply.

That upset farmers, who felt the EPA was going too far.

But Bowling has come around.

"Nobody likes rules," he says. "Nobody really likes regulations. But you also know that you have to have both."

What changed? The plan appeared to be working.

Bowling, who once joined a lawsuit to rule the program unconstitutional, is fighting for the program's survival.

"It was a struggle to get there," he says. "I was critical in the beginning. What we do know now is that working together, we have figured out a way with funding to get those programs in place and to get the bay on track."

But the big part of that, at least for Bowling, is funding. And the Trump administration has proposed cutting it entirely from the federal budget from $73 million to zero.

Billy Crook has crabbing been on the Chesapeake Bay for 41 years. He says a healthy bay can have a positive impact on his family's finances. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

Billy Crook has crabbing been on the Chesapeake Bay for 41 years. He says a healthy bay can have a positive impact on his family's finances.

For Billy Crook, a commercial crabber who makes runs on the Chesapeake, a healthy bay can have a big impact on his family.

"I got a bunch of little kids. I had a good year last year, so they got a trip to Disney World," he says.

But that doesn't mean he gives the EPA credit.

"The EPA they do some good, but mostly, they do a lot of talk," he says, leaning over the side of his boat. "They always talk about putting money in the bay. We never see the physical evidence of them doing much."

Bowling may support the Chesapeake Bay's cleanup program, but that doesn't mean he's clamoring for a similar program elsewhere such as in the Mississippi River watershed. Runoff into the rivers and streams there feed the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone predicted this year to cover an area the size of New Jersey.

"I can guarantee you, they're not going to ask for one like the Chesapeake Bay," Bowling says. "Hopefully we won't have a mandate nationwide. In my opinion, knowing what we're doing, I think that voluntary is a great way to start. The mandate made us do it, but I can guarantee you we would still change the way we farm."

Lauren Lurkins, director of natural and environmental resources for the Illinois Farm Bureau, says farmers in her state have increasingly prioritized water cleanup over the last few years, but that a Chesapeake-like program would be a step too far for states bordering the Mississippi River.

"It's a huge land mass that is covered and it gets really complicated and it makes for a bigger effort that is pushed down from the federal government," Lurkins says. "(Illinois farmers) don't have the ability to help shape or start to engage in a plan that covers 31 states or even half of that. It's just something that's brought down on top of them."

Even EPA officials under the Obama administration and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation have refrained from touting the bay cleanup as a program ready for adoption elsewhere.

The beach at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation headquarters in Annapolis, Md. "You give nature half a chance and she will produce every single time," says Will Baker, the nonprofit's president. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

The beach at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation headquarters in Annapolis, Md. "You give nature half a chance and she will produce every single time," says Will Baker, the nonprofit's president.

"We're not talking about cleaning up the waters of the world. We're talking about one iconic national treasure. If others can use the protocols that have been put in place here so successfully, go for it," Baker says.

Sen. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat who's been advocating for the Chesapeake cleanup for decades, is more confident the plan can be employed in other places. Even so, he acknowledges adopting the plan elsewhere won't likely happen in the near future.

"I think this model will expand and be used in other parts of the country," he told NPR. "There's no question that if we had a different administration that put a higher priority on the environment, that it would be more aggressive in using this type of model in other places in the country."

During his confirmation hearing, Pruitt told Cardin he promised to preserve the program. The EPA did not respond to a request from NPR for an interview.

But Cardin says he's optimistic about the Chesapeake cleanup's future. White House budgets are just proposals and almost every federal program has an advocate somewhere in Congress.

"I've talked to my Democratic and Republican colleagues and they're very supportive of the federal role in the Chesapeake Bay program," he says. "It's in everyone's interest to preserve this unique body of water. It's not of one state or one region, but a national treasure."

Bowling is also confident the funding won't disappear.

"We think that when the new administration figures out what they're going to cut and how they're going to cut it, that there's still going to be funding left for programs like environmental cleanup," Bowing says. "I can guarantee you we're doing something in D.C. today to make sure that we pass on to the administration and Administrator Pruitt what we're doing works and we need funding to get there. I don't think they're going to allow something that's come so far to go away."

But funding for new programs? That will be a tough sell.

A couple of years ago, environmentalists outside the watershed may have looked eagerly to the Chesapeake Bay as a model cleanup they could adopt in their own backyards.

But now there's an even more basic worry whether the model plan itself will continue.

Selena Simmons-Duffin produced and Jolie Myers edited this radio story.

Go here to see the original:
Chesapeake Bay Dead Zones Are Fading, But Proposed EPA Cuts Threaten Success - NPR

Over the past few years, there have been several food movements that have taken the world by storm. Avocado toast and quinoa bowls are just a few examples of how the diet of Americans, especially young adults, are rapidly changing. Although these food trends may fade out overtime, there is one trend that is growing in numbers and should stick around for a whilea gluten free diet. Whether it be from an increase in allergies, or just a more health-conscious generation, no one can deny that gluten free diets are becoming more and more common.

Still, the reaction of the new diet trend from the rest of the world has been mixed. Some people commend gluten free eaters for making an attempt to rid their bodies of anything unnatural or processed, while others may have a tendency to find the diet pretentious or inconvenient. It is not uncommon for people to be annoyed by others dietary preferences, but that is no reason to succumb to eating foods that are bad for your body.

Despite your feelings on the subject, when looking at the effects of a gluten free diet on the body, it is clear that there are a great deal of health benefits. By reading some of the concrete evidence here, you might find yourself tempted to try a gluten free diet, even if you are not gluten intolerant.

By starting a gluten free diet, you will automatically be eliminating processed foods from your body. The result is that your body will be rid of unnecessary chemicals and artificial flavors, and keeping those harmful foods out of your body will have only good effects on your health.

For example, you will stay full longer, lose more weight and have a better chance of fighting off infections. Your body will thank you for eliminating the foods that make it work hard throughout the day. So, at the end of the day, one of the main reasons people benefit from going gluten free is that it, by and large, it eliminates foods from your diet that most nutritionists already know will make you feel worse.

An important reason to consider a gluten free diet is that celiac disease is not always apparent or active in a persons body. Many people can live their lives normally, eating whatever they please with no trouble, but their bodies are suffering greatly from an unknown disease. The result of eating a gluten diet over a long period of time when you have celiac disease could be as severe as colon cancer.

If you want to avoid lengthy, costly and intrusive doctors appointments to see if you might have an undetected case of celiac, you could just save yourself the time and money and simply cut gluten out of your diet. Since its already established that removing many gluten-containing foods from your diet benefits you, when you consider the additional factor that you may unknowingly have celiac disease, the risk/benefit analysis of preventatively removing gluten from your diet begins to really tip toward the benefit side.

One of the most beneficial things about going gluten free is that it will drive you toward healthier foods as a substitute. When you are at work and are looking for an afternoon snack, you wont reach for the donuts in the conference room or the candy bar from the vending machine. Instead, you might have an apple or some veggies with hummus. Having the mindset of avoiding gluten will instinctively help you to make healthier choices about what you put in your body.

As a result, even going gluten free in the same way people go half-vegetarian, or vegan once a week, can be a great compromise. When you avoid gluten, you avoid a whole host of foods that are bad for you for a litany ofotherreasons, so cutting them out of your diet periodically will do nothing but bring you health benefits, and youll also learn to appreciate the treats more when you decide to have them.

With summer just approaching, everyone is ready to lose some weight before hitting the beach. Eating gluten free foods is a healthy and natural way to shed those few extra pounds. Instead of going on a crazy diet and not eating anything, you will have the same effect by eating the right things for your body.

You will also be able to feel stronger and more fit if you structure your weight loss around gluten free foods. You will be able to eat an appropriate amount throughout the day, meaning you wont feel weak and tired like you would if you simply restricted yourself from eating.

A gluten free diet is something worth considering because it has an effect on the entire body. Foods containing gluten make you groggy and less productive, so by eliminating them, you will be able to feel more awake and refreshed to take on the day. Gluten free foods will also reduce bloating, which is a major cause for feeling tired and sluggish. So, not only will you feel more awake, but you wont be as bloated after eating.

Related to energy levels, gluten free diets improve concentration and mental focus. When your body is busy coping with the gluten inside it, your brain becomes consequently distracted. By eliminating the tendencies of bloating and grogginess, your mind is free to focus all of its energy on other things, making you more productive and healthier all at the same time.

The world is slowly but surely moving in a gluten free direction. Almost every restaurant or grocery store has at least some gluten free options. The next time you go out to dinner or go to the store, try purchasing some of these foods and see how you feel. If you are not gluten intolerant, you could start slow in order to ease yourself into a gluten free lifestyle. By starting off just eating one gluten free meal a day, your body and mind will start to adjust to the idea of eliminating gluten, and before you know it, you will be living and happier and healthier life.

The rest is here:
5 Reasons to Go Gluten Free Even if You're Not Gluten Intolerant - Study Breaks

What happens when the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet meet? The MIND diet, a combination worth considering to help you stay mentally sharp as you get older.

If the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet had a baby, it would be the MIND diet. If you want to up the odds of staying mentally sharp as you get older, its a way to eat thats worth considering.

The Mediterranean diet has a well-established track record of promoting overall good health while reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet is a similarly healthy eating plan that is effective for lowering high blood pressure.

While both of those ways of eating have been shown to have benefits for brain health, reducing the risk of cognitive decline from dementia and Alzheimers disease, the MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet is tailored to fit the current science, taking the best of both diets and going a step further. It was developed by Martha Clare Morris, a nutritional epidemiologist at Rush University Medical Center, through a study funded by the National Institute on Aging.

Theres no cure for Alzheimers disease, and even the approved treatments are not all that effective, so this really points to the importance of prevention, said Fran Grodstein, ScD professor of medicine at Brigham and Womans Hospital at Harvard Medical School, speaking at the Nutrition & Health Conference in Phoenix in May. If we can make some changes at the earliest stages [of Alzheimers], we dont need to worry about treatments or cures.

The most significant shifts the MIND diet makes are in its recommendations for vegetables, fruit and fish. For the effects of fish on brain health, the biggest difference is between people who eat no fish and those who eat at least one serving per week especially among those at high risk of Alzheimers. Research shows that eating a lot of vegetables especially green leafy vegetables is associated with slower cognitive decline, but when it comes to fruit, researchers only saw a difference with a few servings of berries each week.

Higher intake of fruit wasnt bad, but it wasnt providing any substantial benefits in terms of memory, Grodstein said. Blueberries and strawberries to a lesser extent differ because they are rich in anthocyanins, a type of phytonutrient that has positive effects on the areas of the brain that affect learning and memory.

What I love about the MIND diet is that its simple, attainable, and a promising way to keep the brain healthy, said Maggie Moon, MS, RDN, a Los Angeles-based registered dietitian nutritionist and author of the book The MIND Diet. There are no outlandish foods or overly restrictive rules. Its actually simpler than either the DASH or Mediterranean diets. And at the end of the day, its heart healthy and provides good nutrition for just about anyone.

Moon said that while the Mediterranean and DASH diets appear to reduce the risk of Alzheimers disease only if followed strictly, the MIND diet was effective even when followed less closely. Following most guidelines cut the risk of Alzheimers disease in half and kept the brain 7.5 years younger. Following about half of them still reduced the risk by 35 percent, she said. A randomized clinical trial is underway that will directly test the effects of the MIND diet compared with a standard control diet, based on the following 15 guidelines.

10 food groups to include more of:

Green leafy vegetables: Six or more servings per week

Other vegetables: Seven or more servings per week

Nuts: Five or more servings per week

Berries: Two or more servings per week

Beans: Four or more meals per week

Whole grains: Three or more servings per day

Fish (fin fish, not fried): One or more meals per week

Poultry (not fried): Two or more meals per week

Olive oil: Use as primary oil

Wine: 1 glass per day

Five food groups to include less of:

Red meat: Less than four meals per week

Butter and stick margarine: Less than one serving per week

Cheese: Less than one serving per week

Pastries and sweets: Less than five servings per week

Fast food: Less than once per week

So what can you do today to make your meals more MIND-worthy?

Double down on dark-green leafy vegetables. Keep greens like kale, arugula, collard greens and spinach washed and ready to go so you can enjoy some daily.

Keep fresh or frozen blueberries on hand. Toss some fresh blueberries and walnuts on an arugula salad for a brain-boosting trifecta. Add them to oatmeal or smoothies.

Plan at least one fin fish meal for this week. Fish with fins especially salmon, sardines and anchovies are rich sources of brain-healthy (and heart-healthy) omega-3 fatty acids. If you enjoy shellfish, have it in addition to not instead of your one fin fish meal.

Cook a batch of whole grains and a pot of beans (drained, rinsed canned beans are OK, too) and use them in meals throughout the week.

Have a serving of nuts for a snack or sprinkle them on one of those leafy green salads.

I love that you can take the concepts of the MIND diet and apply them to any global cuisine, Moon said. Korean bibimbap made with fish, Mexican bean salad, Japanese buckwheat soba noodles with poached chicken. If you want to know more about the science behind the MIND diet, along with practical tools, check out Moons book, which includes 75 recipes, along with seasonal food guides, preparation tips, menu planning work sheets, and scoring sheets. Moon also puts her culinary-school training to good use by posting new recipes on MINDdietmeals.com.

Read this article:
Boost your brain health with the MIND diet - Seattle Times

High fat foods tend to be the most palatable and preferred choice of food in both humans and animalsand the most overeaten. We are more likely to eat an entire bag of chips or a pint of ice cream and still want more than overindulge on broccoli. Even though we need fat in our diets, most people eat far too much of it. The reason why is because fat makes food taste delicious. It enhances the flavor, aroma, and texture of food, making us want it even more. Many experts believe that foods high in fat, like junk food, may be addictive and can lead to compulsive eating. This may be why eating healthy, only the calories and nutrients our bodies need, is a challenge for so many people struggling with obesity.

Scientists in Japan, however, may have good news with their latest study recently published in Diabetologia. They have found that a component in brown rice may epigenetically help reduce cravings for high fat foods. Based off their previous work, which investigated brown rice component -oryzanols effect on hypothalamic control, this study examined the same components impact on the functioning of the brain reward system in mice.

Numerous studies have indicated that overeating and drug addiction share common mechanisms in terms of responses in brain reward circuitries. In particular, a high fat diet decreases dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) signaling in the striatum, a critical component of the brains motor and reward systems. But, targeting this area of the brain with obesity drugs has not been entirely successful and often comes with adverse side effects. Therefore, a natural food-based approach toward the brain reward system might be more effective in treating obesity and obesity-related conditions safely.

This is where epigenetics comes in. Epigenetic modifications can arise as a result of changes in the environment, including lifestyle and diet. DNA methylation, which is a primary regulator of gene expression, can be modified by nutrition. For instance, well-known research on agouti mice fed methyl supplements showed altered DNA methylation which correlated with their phenotype differences in weight and color. Plus, other animal studies have linked a maternal high fat diet with changes in DNA methylation within the brain reward system of their offspring, contributing to their strong preference for high fat foods. It is also known that DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) are involved in regulating feeding behavior and that some natural food-derived substances, such as caffeic acid and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), have proven to act as DNMT inhibitors.

To evaluate -oryzanols potential influence on the brain reward system and feeding behavior, the researchers studied groups of mice fed either a regular chow diet or high fat diet (HFD) for several weeks, giving them free access to food and water. Some HFD-fed mice were administered -oryzanol either in pellet form or by oral gavage. In addition, they also evaluated a strong pharmaceutical DNMT inhibitor (5-aza-2-deoxycytidine).

After 12 weeks, striatal levels of molecules involved in D2R signaling (D2Rs) in the brain were evaluated. The principal results showed that mice fed only a HFD had decreased production of D2Rs via an increase in DNA methylation of the promoter region of the D2R. On the other hand, mice fed a HFD and given -oryzanol had reduced expression and activity of DNMTs, which thereby raised and restored the D2Rs levels in their striatum. Correspondingly, body weight and high fat food preference measured throughout the experiment were lower in the mice given -oryzanol, especially in the group administered the brown rice component orally. As expected, the mice treated with the DNMT inhibitor, 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine, had increased levels of striatal D2R which also reduced their preference for dietary fat.

SEE ALSO: Nicotine Could Cause Epigenetic Changes to Testes and Compromise Fertility

These findings were further supported by enzymatic in vitro assays confirming that -oryzanol as a complete structure inhibited the activity of DNMTs significantly. In the study, EpiGenteks EpiQuik DNA Methyltransferase Activity/Inhibition Assay Kit provided quick measurement of total DNMT activity using a 96-stripwell microplate. The researchers used this kit to colorimetrically quantify the ratio or amount of methylated DNA, which is proportional to enzyme activity, through an ELISA-like reaction.

While the high fat diet by itself did not seem to affect mRNA and protein levels of DNMTs in either the striatum or the hypothalamus (also tested), the addition of -oryzanol did diminish levels of DNMTs in the striatum. The contrary occurred in the hypothalamus, as it proved to noticeably increased levels of DNMT1. The researchers wrote, These data raise the possibility that -oryzanol might regulate levels of DNMTs in a striatum-specific manner.

Further investigation led them to suppose that -oryzanol might decrease the mRNA level and enzyme activity of DNMT1 in the striatum by negatively regulating the expression of ERR a nuclear protein known to positively regulate the mRNA level of DNMT1. They found that -oryzanol essentially decreased ERR activity by roughly 40%. This was contrary to its effect on increasing protein levels of DNMT1 in the hypothalamus, where production of STAT3 (a positive regulator of DNMT1) is dominant. They also noted that ERR was highly expressed in the striatum of mice but not in the hypothalamus; vice versa was true for STAT3.

Although further research is needed, this study in combination with their prior one provides reasonable evidence that the brown rice component, -oryzanol, acting as a DNMT inhibitor, may reduce the preference for high fat foods via epigenetic modulation of striatal D2R. The report concluded that -oryzanol represents a unique property of ameliorating both hedonic and metabolic dysregulation of feeding behavior and that [it] is a promising anti-obesity candidate.

In the fight against obesity, epigenetics research is clearly needed. Studies like this on diet and the effects that individual nutrients or bioactive food components have on gene expression might ultimately lead to reliable anti-obesity treatments ones that could help undo the damage of this particularly common and challenging health condition.

Source: Kozuka, C., Kaname, T., Shimizu-Okabe, C. et al. (2017).Impact of brown rice-specific -oryzanol on epigenetic modulation of dopamine D2 receptors in brain striatum in high-fat-diet-induced obesity in mice, Diabetologia,doi:10.1007/s00125-017-4305-4

Excerpt from:
Brown Rice Could Curb Cravings for High Fat Foods by Epigenetically Affecting the Brain - WhatIsEpigenetics.com

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