Archive for February, 2010

Study finds that cleats and natural grass make the safest combination

(HealthDay News) — Wearing cleats on a natural grass playing field seems to offer athletes some protection from anterior cruciate ligament injury when they make a quick turn, new research shows.

“These are injuries where an athlete plants his or her foot while making a cut and blows out his or her knee,” Dr. Mark Drakos, a study co-author who, at the time of the research, was an orthopedic fellow in sports medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, said in a hospital news release. The ligament is commonly referred to as the ACL.

“We don’t know all the science behind why ACL injuries may be more common on turf than on grass,” Drakos said. The study begins to address that, he said, because “we need to optimize some of those environmental factors.

To that end, the researchers used lower extremities — knee, foot and ankle — from cadavers to test the strain placed on the ACL, one of four major ligaments in the knee, by four different combinations of shoes and playing surfaces: turf shoe and Astroturf; turf shoe and modern playing turf; cleat and modern turf; and cleat and natural grass.

Compared with the natural grass/cleat combination, the amount of strain on the ACL was 80 percent greater with the Astroturf/turf shoe, 48 percent greater with the modern playing turf/turf shoe and 45 percent greater with the modern playing surface/cleat combination.

When a similar cut, or quick turn, is made on four different surfaces, “the best strain profile is in grass/cleat combinations,” Drakos said. “So, there is less force occurring at your ligament for the same cut on that particular surface using this model.”

The finding is published in the January issue of the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering.

“As a former football player, I was always curious about why I was more sore after playing on artificial surfaces than playing on grass, and I wanted to find out the reasons behind that using a biomechanical model,” Drakos said.

“There are basically 200,000 ACL injuries every year in the United States alone, and this [type of playing field and type of shoe] is an environmental factor which has been shown to play a role in injury, but has yet to optimized,” he said. “I think it is a scenario that deserves attention and further research.”

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more on ACL injury.
– Robert Preidt

SOURCE: Hospital for Special Surgery, news release, Jan. 20, 2010

Follow these tips to improve on your personal best

(HealthDay News) — You may not be an Olympian, but there are lessons you can learn from them if you want to improve your athletic performance.
“The Olympics symbolize the chance for all of us to push the boundaries of human potential. As I tell my students, if you want to compete at a high level, mimic the strategies of those at the top,” Chris Sebelski, an assistant professor of physical therapy at Saint Louis University, said in a news release from the school.

Sebelski offered the following Olympian-inspired tips:

• Set a goal and break it down. For example, if you’re planning a long hiking trip, you might start by walking three miles a day for the first two weeks, gradually building up to 10 miles a day by the end of 10 weeks.
• Be sure to cross-train. It reduces the risk of overtraining, helps avoid injury, enhances muscle performance and helps prevent boredom.
• Work out with others. Sharing a spirit of competition and encouragement will help keep your motivation at a high level. You’ll also gain training benefits from working out with others with different levels of ability.
• Think of people who can help you achieve your goal, such as a trainer, nutritionist, physical therapist or physician. There are many different sources of help and you can select the one that works best for you.

While it’s impossible for most people to devote as much time to training as an Olympian does, you can approach the workout time you do have with the single-minded focus of a world-class athlete.

“Train for a couple of weeks with focus and discipline, and lo and behold, you’ll be surprised by what you can do,” Sebelski said.

Anyone can experience the sense of achievement and pride that comes from striving to improve on their personal best.

“It’s been said that running a marathon is now everyman’s Everest. But that’s true for every sport. You can train for the Sunday night bowling league, if that’s your passion. The bowling championship may be your Olympics,” Sebelski said.

“Regardless of the scale of your goal, you should have the experience, at least once, of training for and accomplishing a physical goal you set for yourself. Crossing that finish line is a feeling unlike any other.”

More information
The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports offers guidelines for personal exercise programs.
– Robert Preidt

SOURCE: Saint Louis University Medical Center, news release, Feb. 5, 2010

When you’re watching your weight and don’t have much time to prepare meals, frozen entrees can be convenient ways to help you control calories.

But beware – they’re not all necessarily good for you, says Health magazine Senior Food and Nutrition Editor Frances Largeman-Roth.

Some have more of certain things than you should have at a time, and some are so light you might be heading for the kitchen cabinet just a few hours after eating them.

Largeman-Roth offered guidelines on “The Early Show Saturday Edition” to help you navigate the frozen aisle and be diet- and taste-smart.

Generally, what should people look for when choosing a frozen entre?

Look at the ingredient list: The first ingredient should be real food, whether it’s chicken or pasta or vegetables. It shouldn’t start out with stabilizers and fillers. Next, you want to make sure that you’re not topping out over 500 calories. And you want to make sure that the sodium in it is no more than 30 percent of the daily recommendation of 2300 mg.

The meal should have at least three grams of fiber to help you feel full, and look for ones with about 10 grams of satiating protein. And now that there are so many tasty whole grain options, look for meals made with things like brown rice and whole wheat pasta. All of Kashi’s meals are based on its seven whole grain mix.

What should people avoid when choosing a frozen entre?

Avoid high fat entrees. A person on a 1500 calorie diet (for weight loss) is limited to about 50g of fat or less per day. Stick to entrees with less than 15g of total fat, and no more than 5g saturated fat. For sodium, make sure they have less than 700mg. And if you happen to choose one that has more fat, calories, or sodium, it’s not a total disaster – just make sure you balance out the rest of your day with lots of low fat, low sodium choices.

Add-ons

I tried to fill out what the meals I’m pointing to might be low in (fiber, protein, etc) with some add-ons, while also balancing them out, taste-wise. So, a spicy entre gets paired with a refreshing orange, and the mac and cheese gets colorful carrots, since there are no vegetables in the dish.

And, since we’re all supposed to be getting our five-to-nine servings of fruit and veggies each day, pairing a piece of fruit or veggie with your meal is an easy way to do that and boost fiber. Also, carrots are great for weight loss, but it’s thanks to the fiber – not the beta carotene.

And remember: Never buy anything when the major ingredient consists of stabilizers and fillers.

Best entrees, based on taste and nutrition content:

Kashi Red Curry Chicken
Topping out at only 300 calories, this flavorful option gives you a great bang for your buck at the grocery store. In order to make you feel more full for a longer period of time, add a small whole-wheat pita (74 calories, 1g fat) to round out the dish.
Entre alone: 300 calories, 9g fat (3.5 sat fat), 470mg sodium, 5g fiber, 18g protein
Total meal: 374 calories, 10g fat

Price: $5

TIP: Do not exceed 700mg of Sodium per meal

Lean Cuisine Macaroni and Cheese
The creamy texture and rich cheese sauce make this Lean Cuisine “Simple Favorite” entre a great substitute for real comfort food if you’re watching what you eat. For the amount of food you’re given, the dish is somewhat filling, but don’t forget to add fresh veggies! Fresh carrots will give you a nice boost of vitamin A and E as well as beta-carotene, which can be helpful in weight loss.
Entre alone: 290 calories, 7g fat (4g sat fat), 630mg sodium, 1g fiber, 15g protein
Total meal: 410 calories, 10g fat
Price $4
Tip: Look For meals with 15 grams of total fat or less

Amy’s Indian Vegetable Korma
The most intense flavor of the bunch, this meal packs organic vegetables in a curry sauce flavored with coconut milk, organic raisins, cashews, slivered almonds, and organic tomatoes. Combine these intense flavors with hearty golden basmati rice and a dal consisting of a mixture of six delicately spiced lentils and beans and you have a nice little meal. Add one navel orange (70 calories, 0g fat) to balance out the spices-the citrus is a nice complement.

Entre alone: 310 calories, 12g fat (3.5g sat fat), 680mg sodium, 7g fiber, 9g protein
Total meal: 380 calories, 12g fat
Price $5
Tip: Make sure each meal has on average 10 grams of Protein

Spa Cuisine from Lean Cuisine Apple Cranberry Chicken
Available in freezer sections nationwide beginning in March, this dish is a great representation of the new frozen entrees on the market. The Apple Cranberry Chicken combines grilled chicken in an apple reduction with cranberries, French cut green beans and whole-wheat pilaf. The dish itself is colorful, tasty, and has 6g fiber – one of the highest counts we’ve seen. Be sure to add a medium apple to round out the meal, which has about 95 calories.
Entre alone: 300 calories, 4g fat (1.5g sat), 500mg sodium, 6g fiber, 14g protein
Total meal: 395 calories, 4g fat

Price $4

Tip: Buy meals with at least 3 grams of fiber.

As always we recommend healthy nutritional supplementation such as AdvoCare over frozen meals at all times, however, we recognize convenience plays a role for some. For this reason, we hope the above information and tips proves useful!

Study found better health outcomes in those who worked out while dieting

(HealthDay News) — If you’re vowing to lose weight this year, consider adding a regular exercise program while you’re cutting calories.

Combining the two results in better health outcomes — such as lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels — than simply cutting calories alone, a new study finds.

“It’s better to lose weight with a combination of caloric reduction and exercise rather than caloric reduction alone,” said study author Dr. Enette Larson-Meyer, an assistant professor of family and consumer science at the University of Wyoming.

For the six-month study, the researchers assigned 36 overweight men and women, average age 39, to one of three groups. One group cut calories by 25 percent. The second cut calories by about 12.5 percent and exercised enough to increase energy output by 12.5 percent. A control group simply stayed on a weight-maintenance diet.

At the study’s end, both the caloric-restriction group and the caloric-restriction plus exercise group lost about 10 percent of their body weight. The average weight at the study start was about 178 pounds, so the loss at the end was about 17 pounds on average.

The exercise prescription varied according to body weight at the start, but typically men walked for 50 minutes at a brisk pace five days a week, and women, 45 minutes five times a week, Larson-Meyer said. They could choose their preferred activity and intensity, however.

At the end, those who included exercise had better health outcomes, according to the study published in the January issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

“The big improvement was related to blood pressure,” Larson-Meyer said. The exercising and dieting group had greater blood pressure improvements, and improvement in cholesterol and insulin sensitivity, too, she said.

“It’s not surprising at all,” Larson-Meyer added. “They definitely work together.”

Working with a professional to decide on calorie restriction and workout routine is best, she noted, especially for obese people with orthopedic problems.

The results make sense to Dr. Walt Thompson, a professor of kinesiology at Georgia State University who has studied exercise adherence for years. “I think it finally proves what we have been saying for a long time,” he said. “Effective weight-loss programs have to include diet and exercise.”

While it’s not difficult for people to start an exercise program — many people do so every January 1st, he noted — sticking with it is hard for most. “By January 15, 50 percent are going to drop out,” he predicted.

His tips for getting people to stay faithful? Identify what is important to you — long-term goals. That might be weight loss. Then come up with short-term exercise goals to help you get to the long-term goal.

Hiring a wellness coach might help, too, he noted. They are experts in helping people change their behaviors.

Overcoming obstacles is important, Thompson said, and lack of time is a big one. When he hears that excuse, he asks people how much TV they watch. Two hours a day is the typical answer.

His suggestion: Record the programs to watch later, skip the commercials, and you’ve found your exercise time.

He tells potential exercisers to find something that motivates them. “Two things motivate me,” said Thompson. “My dad had a heart attack at 52, and I was bound and determined not to.”

His other motivation? About 32 years ago, before he married his wife, she said to him: “If you get fat, I will divorce you.”

He’s pretty sure she wasn’t kidding. And now, it matters little. He remembers her saying it as if it were yesterday, and it still motivates him.

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter

More information

To learn more about how to start an exercise program, visit the American Council on Exercise.
SOURCES: Enette Larson-Meyer, Ph.D., R.D., assistant professor, family and consumer science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyo.; Walt Thompson, Ph.D., professor, kinesiology, Georgia State University, Atlanta; January 2010, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise

Creativity will help you stick to your workout routine, even in foul weather

(HealthDay News) — Winter can put a chill on even the most enthusiastic exerciser’s plans. It’s hard to get motivated to go jogging when you have to sidestep icy patches. And who wants to go to the gym when you have to scrape the ice off the windshield first? But sticking to your exercise program throughout the colder months is beneficial for multiple reasons, experts say. Not only can physical activity lift your spirits during days of limited sunlight, it can help make sure you’re in good shape when it’s time to pull out those shorts and bathing suits again.

To exercise safely in more challenging conditions, you may need to make some adjustments to your routine, said Tony Breitbach, director of athletic training education at Saint Louis University.

“A change in weather should bring a change to your mindset,” Breitbach said. “As temperatures get colder… you need to have a winter sports strategy.” When exercising outdoors, it’s important to dress properly.

Wear layers that you can peel off as necessary. Ideally, the layer closest to your skin should be made of a breathable wicking material and not sweat-absorbing cotton. Then add a layer of fleece or cotton for warmth and, finally, a windbreaker or waterproof outer layer.

Make sure you’ve adequately insulated your extremities. The face, fingers and toes are most likely to get frostbitten. Pain or tingling in your ears, fingers or toes is a sign that it’s time to come in from the cold, Breitbach said.

And don’t forget a hat. Substantial body heat is lost through your head.

Though you may feel less thirsty in cold weather, continue to drink water while exercising. Avoid caffeine and alcohol-based beverages, which can contribute to dehydration.

If you run in the dark, wear reflective clothing so that drivers can see you.

Warming up is extra important when it’s cold outside. Before leaving home, do some stretching and other exercises to limber up. Once outside, start with some brisk walking before beginning to jog.

Also watch out for overuse injuries. Indoor surfaces such as gym floors or concrete can be hard on the knees and can worsen overuse issues.

If the winter blues have extended to your feelings about exercise, get creative. Find an indoor pool or go to that Pilates class you’ve been wanting to try. Ice skating and cross-country skiing burn lots of calories. And there’s nothing like a snowball fight with your kids to get your heart pumping.
– Jennifer Thomas

SOURCE: Saint Louis University Medical Center, news release, Dec. 18, 2009

Especially high rate among blacks may have genetic cause, researcher says

(HealthDay News) — The more overweight you are, the more likely you are to have a stroke, a new study reports.

The study, which followed 13,549 middle-aged Americans for 19 years, looked at stroke risk associated with several measures of obesity, emphasizing body mass index (BMI), a ratio of weight and height, but also such measures as waist circumference.

“We found that the risk of stroke was increased with each measure of obesity,” said Dr. Hiroshi Yatsuya, a visiting associate professor of public health at the University of Minnesota and lead author of a report published online Jan. 21 in Stroke.

The degree of risk varied by sex and ethnic group. For example, people in the highest BMI category had a 1.43 to 2.12 times higher risk for stroke, with variations by race and sex. The risk ratios ranged from 1.65 to 3.19 when obesity was measured by waist circumference and from 1.69 to 2.55 when the ratio of waist to hip was used.

The risk was especially high for blacks, the study found. For example, the incidence of stroke was 1.2 per 1,000 person-years for white women and 4.3 per 1,000 person-years for black women. In the highest BMI category, rates ranged from 2.2 for white women to 8.0 for black men.

That higher incidence of stroke for blacks has been found in many previous studies, and it also is seen in Asians, Yatsuya said. The reason is unknown, but “there may be a genetic difference,” he said.

But the increased risk linked to weight was evident in every ethnic group, the study found. Throughout, men and women in the highest obesity category had about double the risk for stroke as did those in the lowest category.

Obesity appears to act by increasing the incidence of high blood pressure and diabetes, two major risk factors for stroke and other cardiovascular problems, the study indicated. When blood pressure readings and diabetes were factored into the calculations, the association between obesity was weakened, “suggesting these major risk factors explain much of the obesity-stroke association,” Yatsuya said.

And despite the mountain of evidence linking obesity and stroke, “we don’t have clear evidence that obesity reduction reduces stroke rate,” he said. Controlled trials are needed to prove that obesity prevention or reduction reduces stroke risk, he said.

Daniel Lackland, a professor of epidemiology at the Medical University of South Carolina and a spokesman for the American Heart Association, said that the exact relationship between obesity and stroke risk has not been established, but the new study “contributes to a better understanding of it.”

“Obesity contributes to both diabetes and hypertension [high blood pressure], which are associated with stroke and at an earlier age,” Lackland said.

And though definitive proof might be lacking that obesity prevention or reduction reduces the risk for stroke, the American Heart Association and other major organizations stress the need for weight control by proper dieting and physical activity, he said.

A BMI of 20 is regarded as normal, with overweight beginning at 25 and obesity at a reading of 30.

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute offers a simple way to calculate your BMI.
SOURCES: Hiroshi Yatsuya, M.D., Ph.D., visiting associate professor, public health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Daniel Lackland, Dr.P.H., professor, epidemiology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C.; Jan. 21, 2010, Stroke, online

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Persistence is the key to success! There is no such thing as a quick fix and you are setting yourself up for failure if you think there is. Good things come to those who wait and any health and fitness goals are going to take effort and commitment on your part.

Be persistent and patient! Violate this step and you’ll never achieve permanent results. A 10 year study was recently concluded which proves that persistence is the single most important aspect of any diet or exercise program. The study followed a group of people (group #1) who exercised and dieted very strictly, but sporadically and compared those results to a group of people (group #2) who exercised mildly and followed a very basic diet, but this group never varied from their routine. Even though group #2 exercised and dieted far less (but did so persistently) they got 68% better results than those who exercised and dieted VERY STRICTLY but only occasionally.

One way to ensure you don’t fall prey to bored, thus increasing your ability to persevere, is to use variety in your diet and exercise routines. The body is very adaptive. Performing the same routine over and over is not only boring, but your body will get used to the routine and quit responding. Change your exercises, the order in which you do them, the number or sets and reps, or change the weights. In one workout you may use weights, another you may use resistance bands, in another, machines. Make every workout different in some way.

Properly plan and monitor your diet and exercise routine to ensure continued success and motivation!

Novel study found they could feel good, just couldn’t sustain positive feelings

(HealthDay News) — It’s not that depressed people can’t feel good, it’s that they can’t hang on to that feeling, a new study claims.

The novel notion upends previous beliefs that depressed people don’t even start out with positive emotions, and that they have no or little response in the areas of the brain related to good feelings.

“This tells us that a consideration of positive emotion is as important, if not more important, in understanding depression,” said Richard Davidson, senior author of a study appearing online Dec. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“It further suggests that we may be able to develop cognitive strategies that aren’t so much focused on minimizing negative emotion but rather enhancing and sustaining positive emotion,” continued Davidson, who is director of the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Previous knowledge agreed that patients who have anhedonia [inability to experience pleasure, a component of depression] have a decreased ability to experience positive emotions,” added Eva E. Redei, the David Lawrence Stein professor of psychiatry at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. “The novelty of this finding is that it’s not that they cannot experience positive emotions, but that they can’t hang on to it.”

The findings may also affect which medications are used for different cases of depression, namely that medications that affect the dopamine or reward system of the brain may be effective in this type of disorder.

“Although depression is considered a mood disorder, we really don’t know how mood is disordered in depression,” said Davidson. “One of the ignored areas in depression is the possibility that one of the major abnormalities in depression is not so much a disorder of negative emotion but rather a disorder of positive emotion. The idea here is that patients with depression or at least a subgroup of them have a problem in sustaining or maintaining positive emotion.”

The study was designed to investigate whether people with depression have trouble maintaining positive emotions over time.

Twenty-seven depressed adults and 19 non-depressed controls were asked to look at images meant to elicit positive or negative emotions, such as a nature scene or a mother hugging her baby for the positive side.

“We asked people to feel whatever emotion was elicited by the picture and then enhance the emotion to the best of their ability using mental or cognitive strategies,” Davidson explained.

As an example, participants viewing the mother and baby picture could imagine the love the mother was conveying to her baby.

Participants were then asked to sustain the positive emotion for 45 minutes while undergoing functional MRI.

“What we found is that normal controls are able to do this and show activation in areas of brain that we know are important for positive emotion, especially the nucleus accumbens, which is critical for reward and positive emotion,” Davidson said. “The depressed patients showed activation in this area comparable to healthy controls in the beginning but were unable to sustain this activation over time.”

The research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals and different foundations.

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

More information

The National Institute of Mental Health has more on depression.
SOURCES: Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D., director, Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, and professor, psychology and psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Eva E. Redei, Ph.D., David Lawrence Stein Professor of Psychiatry, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago; Dec. 21, 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, online

Germ linked to tooth decay evolved from a beneficial organism, researchers say

(HealthDay News) — New research provides insights into the genetic makeup of a germ that causes cavities, and shows why the germ does such a great job of colonizing the mouth.

The germ is known as Bifidobacterium dentium Bd1. Other related germs are best known for sitting in the gut and doing good things, like assisting in digestion and boosting the immune system. But this particular germ is a black sheep in the family because it is linked to tooth decay. (See the new Probiotic Restore Ultra)

In the new study, researchers examined the germ’s genetic makeup and found that it has adapted to the environment of the mouth: It tolerates acid, can protect itself against things that kill germs, and has other tools to survive in its environment.

The findings were published online in the journal PLoS Genetics.

More information

Learn more about tooth decay from the American Dental Association.
– Randy Dotinga

SOURCE: Public Library of Science, news release, Dec. 23, 2009