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Weight loss: What is Tabata training and how does it work? – Times of India
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When it comes to fitness, there are countless workout styles you can try to lose weight and tone your muscles. From Pilates to Zumba, all forms of exercises are good for improving your flexibility, strength, and endurance. But if you are looking for a new, energising and high-intensity exercise then you may consider trying Tabata. What is Tabata training?If you have ever tried interval training then you must be familiar with the term "Tabata training" or "Tabata protocol." Tabata is a high-intensity interval training, which is specifically designed to get your heart rate up in a short period of time.
Developed by Izumi Tabata, Ph.D., at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Tabata is based on timed interval method. In this training session, you have to perform any exercise for 20 seconds with maximum intensity and then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat this 8 times for about 4 minutes and then change the exercise. The benefit of doing Tabata training Performing exercises at high intensity helps to target a greater range of muscle groups as compared to other traditional exercises. Tabata training does not only helps to keep you fit but also burns more calories both during and after your workouts. Here are 3 major health benefits of Tabata training:
1. Helps to burn fat This form of workout puts a lot of stress on your body and as a result, you burn more calories in a short period of time. As per a study conducted at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, doing a Tabata workout can help you burn 15 calories every minute. This workout regime can be excellent for people trying to shed kilos.
2. Increases enduranceThis workout routine also helps to increase your endurance. As per a study, performing Tabata four times a week can help to improve your anaerobic capacity (amount of energy produced by the body by burning carbs) by 28 percent, and VO2 max (amount of oxygen consumed while exercising) by 15 percent.
3. Improves efficiencyAs Tabata is a high-intensity workout, you have to stay focused and attentive, which helps to enhance your efficiency.
How to perform Tabata training Though the original study was carried out on a stationary bike, but you can perform Tabata protocol with almost any exercise. Here is what an ideal Tabata training looks like:
Push-ups (4 minutes)
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Weight loss: What is Tabata training and how does it work? - Times of India
Diet, Exercise, and Apologize to Your Sister: A Prescription for Long-Term Health – Tennessee Today
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Strained relationships with parents, siblings, or extended family members may be more harmful to peoples health than a troubled relationship with a significant other, according to a study published by the American Psychological AssociationsJournal of Family Psychology.
The study, conducted by Patricia N. E. Roberson, assistant professor in UTs College of Nursing, and her longtime collaborators Sarah Woods, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and Jacob Priest, University of Iowa, looked at data collected over a 20-year span.
Roberson studies marriage and family relationships and how they are linked to health outcomes, both broadly and specifically in rural and underserved Appalachian populations. Her work has looked at chronic conditions, breast cancer, and diabetes. Woods and Priest are licensed marriage and family therapists. In the trios work together, they began to focus on the fact that family and marriage are linked to levels of depression and anxiety as well as overall health.
We wanted to understand how family relationships, as compared to marital relationships, are linked to health outcomes over time, Roberson said. The existing research tends to focus on marital relationships, but as we knew from our own experiences as therapists and from research broadly, family is really important, even into adulthood. What we found was that family relationshipsboth positive and negative aspectscompletely blew marital relationships out of the water in health impacts.
In their study, the researchers used data from 2,802 participants in the Midlife Development in the US survey, which included a nationally representative sample of adults. Three rounds of data were collected over a 20-year period from 1995 to 2014. The average participant was 45 years old during the first round.
The survey asked questions about family strain and family support as well as intimate partner strain and support.
Health was measured using participants total number of chronic conditions, such as stroke, headaches, and stomach trouble, experienced in the 12 months prior to each of the three data collection rounds. Participants also rated their overall health from excellent to poor at each round.
The researchers found that greater family relationship strain was associated with a greater number of chronic conditions and worse health appraisal 10 years later, during the second and third rounds of data collection.
We thought that family relationships would be strongly connected to health because those relationships tend to be longerwe have them from when were a child all the way through our livesbut we didnt think they would make the health impacts of marital relationships seem almost insignificant. It was quite surprising to us, Roberson said.
Roberson invoked an adage attributed to Harper Leeyou can choose your friends, but you cant choose your familyto explain why the relationships are so different in the way they affect long-term health.
If youre in a toxic marriage, you can choose to get a divorceyou can set yourself apart from that person, she said. Family relationships arent like that. Those people are around us from when were a child into adulthood; if those relationships are harmful or toxic, its very difficult to get away from that.
But in addition to the negative effects, Roberson pointed out, positive relationships affect us as well.
Im fascinated by marriage and family in terms of health outcomes because we know those relationships can change, she said. We can identify facets of family and marital relationships that are linked to long-term health outcomes. These are untapped interventions to improve health care outcomes.
When were considering how to improve our health, in addition to considering eating healthfully and exercising, we should think about how to reduce the stress and strain in our relationships. Not all relationships can change, but you can find the supportive ones to focus on. Rally those relationships around you because that can also influence your health.
Podcast:Roberson, Woods, and Priest discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly advice about relationships in their podcast, Attached. Learn more about their research on family and marital relationships in episode 7.
CONTACT:
Karen Dunlap (865-974-8674, kdunlap6@utk.edu)
Emily Kissel (864-974-4180, ekissel@utk.edu)
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Diet, Exercise, and Apologize to Your Sister: A Prescription for Long-Term Health - Tennessee Today
Effective Way To Get Rid Of Visceral Fat – msnNOW
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ThamKC/Getty Images It is healthy to have some body fat in the body. But visceral fat is the type that you should avoid because of its harmful effects.
Visceral fat forms within the abdominal cavity, near vital organs, including the liver, stomach and intestines. In some cases, it may also appear in the arteries.
Having such type of fat is unhealthy and can contribute to numerous serious and potentially deadly health problems. People with visceral fat are at risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, colorectal cancer and even Alzheimers disease.
Poor diet is known as the most common cause of visceral fat buildup. But people can avoid excess fat by making simple changes to their daily food consumption.
Low-carb diets have been found to be effective in reducing visceral fat. Studies showed that reducing carbs even work better than diets that focus on low fat consumption.
In one study with 69 overweight people, the group that took a low-carb diet for eight weeks lost 10 percent more visceral fat and 4.4 percent more total fat than those on a low-fat diet, Daily Express reported Thursday.
Among all forms of low-carb diets, the keto diet appeared the most effective in getting rid of visceral fat. This approach focuses on drastically reducing carb intake and replacing it with fat.
The keto diet uses the natural metabolic state called ketosis to promote weight loss. Another study that involved 28 overweight and obese adults showed that the very low-carb diet could burn more fat than a low-fat diet.
Researchers even allowed the keto group to eat up to 300 more calories per day. A separate experiment supports initial findings, showing that people on keto diet could lose 2.2 times more weight than those following a calorie-restricted, low-fat diet.
The other foods people can eat on keto are seafood, cheese, meat, low-carb vegetables, nuts and seeds, avocados, eggs and olive oil. However, the diet also requires reducing or completely avoiding certain food products.
To effectively cut weight and lose visceral fat, people on keto should eat less foods that are high in carbohydrates. The list includes pasta, sugary foods, root vegetables like potatoes and unhealthy fats like mayonnaise.
Video: Tim Tebow On Doing Keto For Over 7 Years (Rachael Ray Show)
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Effective Way To Get Rid Of Visceral Fat - msnNOW
VERIFY: Keto Might Not Be The Safest Diet – WFMYNews2.com
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GREENSBORO, N.C. After indulging on turkey, rolls, stuffing, casseroles, pies -- you name it -- this Thanksgiving, perhaps you are considering a somewhat healthier meal plan going forward.
VERIFY QUESTION
Good Morning Show viewer Judy Knighten asked, "Can you VERIFY the KETO diet?"
Specifically, she asked whether it is healthy and if it works.
VERIFY SOURCES
VERIFY PROCESS
Both Mayo Clinic and registered dietitian Melissa Leonard agree the Keto diet is safe...for only a very select group of people.
The Keto diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet, which restricts grain intake and sets limits on fruits and some vegetables. It is called the Keto diet, because the body burns and gets energy from fat, instead of carbs, causing the person to enter a state of ketosis. Leonard said it is enticing to people, because it can cause quick initial weight loss and gives a strict set of rules to follow.
That said, Leonard noted the Keto diet is high in saturated fat, meaning it can increase the risk for heart disease. And, it is difficult to maintain long-term, which can mean a re-gaining of the weight lost. It also is so restrictive, it can put people at an increased risk of developing an eating disorder.
Leonard and Mayo Clinic note the positive benefits of Keto for people with the seizure disorder epilepsy. The Mayo Clinic cited research, saying Ketosis has brain-protecting benefits. As many as half of young people with epilepsy had fewer seizures after following the diet.
Leonard said, "Because of the restrictive nature of this diet and lack of long-term research for use in individuals for conditions apart from seizure disorders, I would not recommend this diet otherwise."
VERIFY CONCLUSION
Is the Keto diet healthy? Generally, only for people with seizure disorders. Does it work? Usually, yes, for initial weight loss but not long-term.
Do you have a VERIFY inquiry? Submit a post, screen shot or selfie video to Meghann Mollerus via:
Facebook:Meghann Mollerus News
E-mail: Mmollerus@wfmy.com
Twitter: @MeghannMollerus
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VERIFY: Keto Might Not Be The Safest Diet - WFMYNews2.com
5 points to make the Mediterranean diet work for you – Times of India
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Mediterranean diets have risen to prominence in the recent past as they are tasty, effective in aiding weight-loss programmes as well as nutritious. What does the term Mediterranean diet really mean? Its a diet essentially comprising plant-based foods with healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, olive oil, whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables largely. Milk products are minimal, with meat being included only in specific requirements, if at all.The Mediterranean diet is nutrition-wise - one of the richest diets in the world, and yet it can be customized as per ones budget, thus making it a very feasible option. Beans, fruits, vegetables and whole grains and all within budget, too. If you restrict cheat days to once a fortnight and focus on eating clean, you can tailor-make this diet to work for you along with a bit of walking and yoga. There are a few other points to keep in mind, too - dietician and nutritionist, Dr Pooja Sharma enumerates:1.Include more fruits and vegetables in your diet: Aim for 7 to 10 servings of fruit and vegetables on a daily basis. This is one of the best and most crucial aspects of the Mediterranean diet.2.Stick to whole grains. One of the easiest and most important ways to make the Mediterranean switch is by opting for whole-grain bread, cereal and pasta. You may occasionally experiment with other whole grains, such as bulgur and farro.3.Use olive oil: Olive oil extracted from the fruit of the Olea europaea plays an essential role in the Mediterranean Diet. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) considered to be a healthy dietary fat which is overwhelmingly beneficiary, as opposed to saturated fats and trans fats.4.Fish considered to be a good source of omega-3 fatty acids if you are not a vegetarian, add fish twice a week to your diet. Tuna, salmon, trout, mackerel and herring are good choices for your body and brain. 5.Say no to red meat substitute with beans or fish. But if youre someone who just cannot do without a side of meat, include lean meats. A generous helping of plain yoghurt is a great add-on too.6.Amp up the flavour: A smattering of herbs and spices vastly reduces the need for salt in dishes. Make use of them, and spice up your meals without feeling guilty
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5 points to make the Mediterranean diet work for you - Times of India
Weight loss: One woman lost a remarkable six stone with this plan – what did she eat? – Express
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For those hoping to lose a few pounds, a diet plan can help kick start the journey. One woman recently shed an incredible amount of weight, dropping from 17st 9lb to a trim 11st 6lb. Initially losing weight for the sake of her children, the mother-of-two changed her diet plan.
When, Susanne Coles, 34, from Merseyside, was young, she managed to keep a slim frame.
However, the weight started to creep on when she spent a year abroad in Ibiza.
She said: I went to Ibiza one year a size 8, and went back the following year a size 18. I hadnt even realised I had put weight on.
It was as though Id gone to bed one size and woken up bigger. Before I knew it, I was a size 24 and I weighed 17st 9lb.
READ MORE: Hairy Bikers weight loss: The TV chefs shed astounding 7st with this diet plan
After returning to the UK, Susanne struggled to beat unhealthy habits and ballooned to a size 24 and 17st 9lb.
Her diet of convenience food and energy drinks meant the number on the scales kept going up.
She said: "Both at college and later on when I was working in a call centre, if I didnt eat at home I was living off convenience food and grabbing at snacks like crisps and chocolate.
I decided to lose weight when my former husband and Daniel and Rebeccas dad - and I got married in November 2008.
I managed to lose three stones then with a slimming group, but I thought after the wedding I could continue to lose it on my own. And I couldnt. It all went straight back on and more.
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Struggling to stay slim, Susanne soon resorted back to unhealthy habits and gained back the weight she had lost.
Breakfast was a McDonalds sausage and egg McMuffin meal with a full fat coke and a hash brown followed by crisps and chocolate for snacks.
She added: For lunch, Id have a sandwich with anything on white bread, followed by more crisps, another chocolate bar and a Red Bull.
Then going home on the bus Id have more crisps and chocolate, if only to relieve the boredom of the journey.
If I was at home to eat I would have a proper cooked meal, otherwise I would have three sausages, chips and gravy from the chippy with full-fat coke.
However, she decided to change her lifestyle for the sake of her two young children.
I didnt want to be the fat mum at the school gates, Susanne explained. I didnt want to embarrass Daniel and Rebecca - kids can be cruel.
Signing up for her local slimming club, she changed her diet plan and the weight started to fall off.
The slimmer swapped unhealthy convenience food for a breakfast of fruit and poached eggs or an omelette.
For lunch, Susanne would tuck into soup or frittata and she would snack on fruit to keep her feeling full.
By following the diet plan, she shrunk down to a trim size 10 to 12 and 11st 6lb, meaning she lost a total of 6st 3lb.
Not only did she lose weight, the dieter felt much more confident and has managed to stick to healthy eating.
She said: "Im now a size 10 to 12, and the family and I had our first proper holiday this summer and I wore a bikini with confidence. Im still not perfect but losing weight has been so liberating.
Life is not about beating yourself up about past mistakes or holding on to bad things that have happened to you. Its about looking forward, letting go and enjoying it!
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Weight loss: One woman lost a remarkable six stone with this plan - what did she eat? - Express
Cristiano Ronaldo Reveals the Only Way He’ll Cheat on His Diet – Showbiz Cheat Sheet
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One thing that Cristiano Ronaldo is known for around the world is how physically fit he is. The Juventus Forward has been the king of the gym for a long time, ever since he first started taking himself seriously as an athlete in school. He used to sneak out his dormitory to hit the weight room at night.
The 34-year-old soccer star now stays busy off the field with his long-time girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez and his four children. He still sticks to a strict workout program and is serious about sticking to his specific diet.
However, his children led Ronaldo to discover the one thing that hell let himself indulge in every now and then.
Ronaldos most notable career years began when he was recruited to play for Manchester United in 2003. The Portuguese soccer star spent six years with them, where he developed into the player his fans now know and love.
He helped lead the team to three league titles and the UEFA Champions League in 2008. He scored 118 goals for Manchester United in the six years he played for them, making him one of the most prolific scorers in the teams history.
In 2009, Ronaldo was recruited by Real Madrid to the tune of a $133 million contract, one of the most expensive deals for an athlete at the time. In his first two years with the team, Ronaldo scored 33 goals and 40 goals, respectively. Real Madrid won the UEFA Champions League in 2013, after Ronaldo brought the team a total of 51 points by himself.
Now, Ronaldo is playing for Juventus after they offered him a four-year contract in 2018. With a contract worth $117 million, he became the highest paid player over 30 years old the team has ever had. And hes still got plenty of playing years ahead of him, thanks to how fit he stays year-round.
While Ronaldo has a strict workout regimen to keep in top shape, its his diet that he feels does the majority of the work for him. When he started out in soccer, he was a skinny kid with little muscle at all. He toldThe Sun that he decided at age 11, after hearing coaches talk about what a shame it was that he was so talented but didnt have any muscle, that he would become stronger.
And thats exactly what he did. He started working out religiously, developing a regimen that works right for him. But he says that his diet plays a big part, as well.
Ronaldo eats high-protein food and limits his sugar intake. Instead of eating one big meal, hell eat six small meals throughout the day to keep his energy levels up.
But theres one thing that Ronaldo admits to keeping in his diet more than most of his fans would think: pizza! He says that he would get bored of his regular diet if he didnt sneak in some pizza time with his oldest son, Cristiano Jr.
Even though Ronaldo may take the occasional pizza break, hes still one of todays most physically fit athletes. Ronaldo actually stated last year that he feels he has a biological age of 23 and wants to keep playing into his 40s.
The 34-year-old certainly has plenty of years left on the field, as long as he keeps his pizza nights in check. We cant wait to keep seeing what he brings to the field in the years to come.
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Cristiano Ronaldo Reveals the Only Way He'll Cheat on His Diet - Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Weight loss: This easy plan will help you burn belly fat according to personal trainer – Express
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Most people know weight loss can be achieved by eating less and moving more. After losing a few pounds, dieters will often want to tone up and build visible muscles. Burning belly fat is no easy task but combining both cardio and abs exercises can give the best results and help slimmers see definition.
While a healthy diet is definitely important for weight loss, regular exercise will speed up the results.
To tone up the midriff and see definition, dieters will need to do more than just sit ups.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, Mays Al-Ali, nutritionist and yoga teacher at HealthyMays.com, explained the best exercises for slimmers.
By performing five ab exercises, slimmers can start to slim down their waistline.
READ MORE:Chloe Madeley fitness: How does she stay in shape? Diet and workout plan revealed
Plank pose
Mays said: This one is a burner for sure. Start with a one minute hold. See if you can hold longer than one minute.
Plank pose is an all over body toner, but it works the core hard. Repeat three times.
Side plank
If you want strong obliques, this is the pose youll want to hold as you lift those hips high to the sky. Place your palm on the ground for more advanced or resting on the forearm for a little easier, stack both feet on top of each other with straight legs and lift the hips up and hold for one minute.
DON'T MISS
Need more of a challenge? Lift the top leg up in the air. Even more of a challenge? Hold the big toe of the top leg out to the sky. Hold, as long as you can. Switch sides. Repeat three times on each side for maximum ab burn.
Navasana / boat pose
Lie on the ground - keep that chest lifted and shoulders away from the ears, Mays explained.
Take a nice big inhale, and as you exhale, toes and face come away from the ground so the body can hover right above. Hold for a slow count of five working up to 10, then release.
Legs up
Hold this restorative posture long enough and you will be screaming for mercy. Make sure the lower back is pressed into the ground and the legs are together.
Begin with feet flexed, slowly lower legs halfway, point the toes and lift the legs back to the sky. Try and work your way up to 50.
Yoga bicycle
Mays said: Lie on back with both legs bent in the air at the knees. Extend the left leg and point toes, keep right knee bent.
Touch left elbow to right knee whilst twisting through the midsection. Then reverse, extend right leg and point toes, keep left knee bent and touch right elbow to left knee whilst twisting through midsection.
Suck the belly in and exhale as you twist. Count to 50 as you move from one side to the other and work up to 100.
Ab exercises will create definition but it is also important to add cardio exercises to burn belly fat.
So, what is the best fat-burning exercise?
Mays said: Its no secret that squats are the key to a nice butt. Add a jump for even more cardio burn.
Just be careful because improper squat posture can cause some lower back issues. Start with your feet slightly further than shoulder width apart.
Bend down keeping the spine straight until your thighs are parallel with the floor. As youre coming up, add the jump. Land on the balls of your feet.
Viola! If the jump is too much on the lower back then just squat without the jump.
With the jump do three sets of 10 working up to 20 and without the jump do three sets of 20, working up to 30.
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Weight loss: This easy plan will help you burn belly fat according to personal trainer - Express
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil-Rich Diet Protects Mice from Multiple Forms of Dementia | Medicine, Nutrition – Sci-News.com
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Extra-virgin olive oil, a major component of the Mediterranean diet, is rich in cell-protecting antioxidants and known for its multiple health benefits. Previous studies in mice showed that extra-virgin olive oil preserves memory and protects the brain against Alzheimers disease. In the new animal study, a team of researchers from Temple University and the Sapienza University of Rome shows that a family of related neurodegenerative diseases called tauopathies which are characterized by the gradual buildup of an abnormal form of a protein called tau in the brain can be added to the list. The study is the first to suggest that extra-virgin olive oil can defend against a specific type of mental decline linked to tauopathy known as frontotemporal dementia.
Mice receiving extra-virgin olive oil displayed improved memory and cognition which was associated with increased basal synaptic activity and short-term plasticity; this effect was accompanied by an upregulation of complexin 1, a key presynaptic protein; moreover, extra-virgin olive oil treatment resulted in a significant reduction of tau oligomers and phosphorylated tau at specific epitopes. Image credit: Skica911.
Extra-virgin olive oil has been a part of the human diet for a very long time and has many benefits for health, for reasons that we do not yet fully understand, said Professor Domenico Pratic, director of the Alzheimers Center at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.
The realization that extra-virgin olive oil can protect the brain against different forms of dementia gives us an opportunity to learn more about the mechanisms through which it acts to support brain health.
In a previous work using a mouse model in which animals were destined to develop Alzheimers disease, Professor Pratic and colleagues showed that extra-virgin olive oil supplied in the diet protected young mice from memory and learning impairment as they aged.
Most notably, when the researchers looked at brain tissue from mice fed extra-virgin olive oil, they did not see features typical of cognitive decline, particularly amyloid plaques sticky proteins that gum up communication pathways between neurons in the brain. Rather, the animals brains looked normal.
The new study shows that the same is true in the case of mice engineered to develop tauopathy.
In these mice, normal tau protein turns defective and accumulates in the brain, forming harmful tau deposits, also called tangles. Tau deposits, similar to amyloid plaques in Alzheimers disease, block neuron communication and thereby impair thinking and memory, resulting in frontotemporal dementia.
Tau mice were put on a diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil at a young age, comparable to about age 30 or 40 in humans.
Six months later, when mice were the equivalent of age 60 in humans, tauopathy-prone animals experienced a 60% reduction in damaging tau deposits, compared to littermates that were not fed extra-virgin olive oil.
Animals on extra-virgin olive oil-rich diet also performed better on memory and learning tests than animals deprived of the olive oil.
When the scientists examined brain tissue from extra-virgin olive oil-fed mice, they found that improved brain function was likely facilitated by healthier synapse function, which in turn was associated with greater-than-normal levels of a protein known as complexin-1. Complexin-1 is known to play a critical role in maintaining healthy synapses.
The team now plans to explore what happens when extra-virgin olive oil is fed to older animals that have begun to develop tau deposits and signs of cognitive decline, which more closely reflects the clinical scenario in humans.
We are particularly interested in knowing whether extra-virgin olive oil can reverse tau damage and ultimately treat tauopathy in older mice, Professor Pratic said.
The findings were published in the journal Aging Cell.
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Elisabetta Lauretti et al. Extra virgin olive oil improves synaptic activity, shortterm plasticity, memory, and neuropathology in a tauopathy model. Aging Cell, published online November 24, 2019; doi: 10.1111/acel.13076
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Extra-Virgin Olive Oil-Rich Diet Protects Mice from Multiple Forms of Dementia | Medicine, Nutrition - Sci-News.com
Vitamin E and vaping injuries: What’s safe in your diet is rarely safe in your lungs – Press Herald
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THE CONVERSATION The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced a preliminary finding that implicates a vitamin E additiveas the potential cause of lung injury from THC vaping.
The agency examined fluid samples from the lungs of 29 patients with vaping-related illness and found vitamin E acetate in all 29 samples. This is a major development in the search for answers, and it was of great interest to me generally as apublic health researcher.
Even more, it was of special interest to me because I previously researched vitamin Es role in lung health and development. For three years, as a post-doctoral research fellow, I studied the role of vitamin Es typical role in lung health, lung development and the epidemiology of childhood lung diseases when it is absorbed from our diet.
Free radical fighter
Vitamin E comes from oily foods in our diet. It has also long been known to be important for child development, especially in the womb, where it contributes to healthy lung and nervous system growth, among other things. Vitamin E has eight different isoforms, or types, and each may do slightly different things in our bodies. The kind of vitamin E you get from your diet can therefore vary widely based upon the types of oily foods that you eat.
When we eat vitamin E, it is absorbed by our gastrointestinal tract along with fats. It then travels throughout our bloodstream in the fatty molecules called cholesterol. Finally, it is taken up into our bodys fatty tissues and cellular membranes.
Once incorporated into the body, vitamin E serves as an antioxidant, protecting us from some of the harmful effects of our metabolism and respiration. Antioxidants stabilize what are calledfree radicals, unstable and highly chemically reactive compounds with extra electrons generated by our metabolism. Free radicals, when left unchecked, can destabilize other molecules around them and cause cellular damage.
When vitamin E comes into contact with certain kinds of free radicals, ittransfers that instability onto itself and neutralizesthose free radicals.
So, in the aftermath of the vaping illnesses and deaths, an important question emerges: What happens if, instead of eating vitamin E in your diet, you inhale vitamin E, along with a vaporized solution of THC?
I have no idea.
There are only a tiny handful of studies in which someone tried to nebulize, or vaporize, vitamin E in experiments related to lung health. All were animal studies with a small sample size, and none were combined with a THC vaping fluid.
Its also not clear in this case why vitamin E acetate was added to the vaping fluid, butreports suggest it is usedas a cutting agent to make the THC oils less thick. Perhaps someone thought it was safe to do this in an inhaled product because vitamin E was a natural vitamin. Importantly, however, many substances that are helpful when taken orally can be harmful when inhaled.
No place for oily molecules
The fact that vitamin E typically has to travel in fat-solublelipidsmay perhaps provide a clue as to the harms vitamin E acetate can cause when vaped. Physicians have long known thatinhaling oils and other lipidscan lead to the deposition of oily droplets in the lungs. They also know that this deposition can in turn canlead to inflammationand the potential for permanent lung scarring, respiratory failure or death. Its not a good idea to consistently inhale particles like small solids or oily liquid drops into your very delicate lungs.
We all know what it feels like to choke on something large enough to block our windpipe. But a small, inhaled particle can go past the large airways and lodge in the tiniest airways and thealveolithat transfer oxygen into our bloodstream, causing damage to these fragile structures.
We may not notice right away that we are being harmed. Only tiny segments of the lung are affected, and our lungs are designed to have some reserve capacity.
But over time, as these small injuries add up, more and more lung tissue becomes involved, and symptoms develop. Such injuries can become fatal. For example, think of the diseases caused by asbestos, silica from sand blasting, coal dust and tobacco smoke.
So, perhaps a vitamin E additive could cause damage in a similar way in this context.
A bigger issue
In addition, I believe this is actually a symptom of a broader problem, brought about in part by the1994 lawthat allows dietary supplements and some devices to go to market without meetingstringent safety and efficacy standards. Supplement makers dont have to provide evidence that their products work, and the FDA allows them to monitor the safety features themselves.
Its a good business for the manufacturers; dietary supplements sales are estimated to be worth aboutUS$120 billion by 2020. But it may not be good for the American public. By taking untested products, or by using products that are safe in one context but not studied in another, consumers end up participating in millions of uncontrolled experiments in which safety data are frequently absent. There is minimal quality control, minimal oversight and minimal knowledge of what might happen.
Any type of minimally regulated product that we inhale into our lungs on a regular basis clearly deserves a special level of scrutiny before use. I would argue that any inhaled product should have to demonstrate significant safety data prior to being allowed on the consumer market. Do these products even work? How do they work? If they do work, whats the right dose so that its safe, but still effective? How long can you safely use it? Without that knowledge, we are sailing in dangerous waters with no map.
So, until the day that our poorly regulated, uncontrolled market of self experimentation in lung health comes to an end, I will share a motto that experiments and experience have equally proven to be true. If you want your lungs to outlast your hair, please dont inhale anything but air.
See the rest here:
Vitamin E and vaping injuries: What's safe in your diet is rarely safe in your lungs - Press Herald