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Volume 1, Issue 10
Controlling diabetes helps reduce risk of stroke
Does aging make you gain weight?
Lift weights before your flu shot
Health experts release new heart disease guidelines for women
Kids consume more calories while watching TV
Controlling diabetes helps reduce risk of stroke
In recent years, an increasing number of individuals have been diagnosed with diabetes. However, there are still many individuals who are undiagnosed, which increases their risk for a variety of medical complications.
Case in point, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital recently conducted a study with 50,000 stroke patients with diabetes. The results indicated that stroke patients, who had undiagnosed diabetes when their stroke occurred, had poorer control of their diabetes risk factors than patients who'd been diagnosed with diabetes prior to their stroke. In addition, stroke patients with undiagnosed diabetes may be at greater risk of recurrent stroke and cardiovascular complications.
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Does aging make you gain weight?
Often times people over the age of 50 will complain that they struggle to keep the pounds off. But is the "battle of the bulge" real and if so what can people do about it?
Recent research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicates that older adults do indeed gain fat and lose muscle. Researchers studied a group of older adults ages 70 to 79 for a period of six years and found that up until age 80 both men and women gained body fat and lost lean muscle mass. Knowing this important fact, medical and fitness professionals can now develop the appropriate interventions that target fat loss while preserving skeletal muscle to prevent disability and other obesity-related illnesses.
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Lift weights before your flu shot
Each year millions of people receive a flu vaccination in the hopes of avoiding catching the flu. For those that would like to boost their immune system even more, look no further than your local health club!
Researchers in England conducted a study among 60 healthy men and women. The participants were divided into two groups, one of which lifted weights for 25 minutes before receiving their flu shots and the other which rested for 25 minutes prior to getting their shots. Participant's blood was then tested 6, 8 and 20 weeks after receiving the shot and consistently found an increased immune response among the exercisers.
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Health experts release new heart disease guidelines for women
The American Heart Association, the countries foremost expert on heart disease, recently released new guidelines for preventing heart disease in women. The guidelines now focus on a women's lifetime risk for heart disease, rather than her short-term risk.
All women are still urged to exercise a minimum of 30 minutes per day, but as part of the new guidelines, women who need to lose weight or maintain weight loss are now advised to engage in 60 to 90 minutes of moderate-intensity activity on most, or preferably all, days of the week.
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Kids consume more calories while watching TV
Do your kids watch hour upon hour of TV? Is it hard to motivate them to get of the couch and go outside and play? If this is the case in your household, parents beware: new research indicates that TV watching can lead to weight gain among kids.
Researchers at the University of Buffalo studied a group of kids, looking at how often and how much they ate throughout the day. Results indicated that watching television disrupts children's normal response to food -- they will eat more while they're sitting in front of the tube, whether or not they're really hungry.
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Sources
1American Stroke Association, 2007.
2Ding J, et al. (2007). Effects of birth cohort and age on body composition in a sample of community-based elderly. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 85, 405-10.
3Edwards KM, Burns VE, Allen LM, McPhee JS, Bosch JA, Carroll D, Drayson M, Ring C. (2007). Eccentric exercise as an adjuvant to influenza vaccination in humans. Brain, Behavior and Immunity, 21, 209-17.
4Circulation, 2007.
5Temple JL, Giacomelli AM, Kent KM, Roemmich JN, Epstein LH. (2007). Television watching increases motivated responding for food and energy intake in children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 85, 355-61.
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