Diet/Weight loss

Diet/Nutrition/Weight loss: A recent medical research article compared intermittent energy restriction diet (500-600kcal/d) followed for 2 nonconsecutive days per week (participants followed their usual diet for the other 5 days) or a continuous energy restriction diet (1200-1500 kcal/d) followed for 7 days per week. Intermittent energy restriction is an effective alternative diet strategy for the reduction comparable to continuous energy restriction and it may be superior to continuous energy restriction for weight reduction. The study was done on diabetics. This may or not apply to the general population.

April 29, 2018

NUTRITION

Mediterranean vs. Vegetarian Diet

A lacto-ovo vegetarian diet (VD) and the Mediterranean diet (MD) were equally effective in reducing body weight, body mass index (BMI), and fat mass, according to a study published in Circulation. The vegetarian diet, however, was more effective in reducing low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, while the MD significantly reduced triglyceride levels.

April 29, 2018

NUTRITION

Supplements

Fish Oil Dietary Supplements

A recent meta-analysis of 10 large clinical trials came to a disappointing conclusion: The popular capsules do little to protect patients with heart disease. The findings are at odds with advice from the American Heart Association (AHA), including a 2017 science advisory recommendation to consider fish oil supplementation for patients with a recent myocardial infarction, or heart attack.

Fish oil supplements did not reduce the risk of coronary heart disease deaths, nonfatal heart attacks, fatal or nonfatal strokes, revascularization procedures, or all-cause mortality among the full study population. The supplements also didn’t protect against major vascular events in any subgroups, including people with a history of heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, or statin use.

April 29, 2018

NUTRITION

Mediterranean Diet

A systematic review of the literature on studies examining associations between adherence to a Mediterranean diet and frailty in older people showed adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with significantly lower risk of incident frailty in older people.

April 29, 2018

NUTRITION

Chocolate

Several studies suggest that dark chocolate from favanol-rich cacao beans may enhance blood flow to central and peripheral nervous systems

Benefits

1. Improve cardiovascular function
2. Retard memory loss and other signs and symptoms of degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases
3. Cacao flavanols in dark chocolate have antioxidant effects that retard and partially reverse degenerative changes in various diseases
4. Dark chocolate consumption also has been associated with enhanced mood and cognition
5. Short-term improvement in contrast sensitivity was observed after consumption of dark chocolate and attributed to increased blood flow, although direct evidence is lacking
6. Moreover, the effect of dark chocolate on other visual functions remains unknown. A randomized, clinical study to assess effects of dark chocolate vs milk chocolate within 2 hours of consumption on multiple aspects of vision enhancements in visual acuity and large-letter contrast sensitivity after dark chocolate ingestion were small. The findings reported suggest that a single dose of dark chocolate improves visibility of small, low-contrast targets within 2 hours compared with milk chocolate, but the duration of this difference and clinical relevance remains uncertain.