Western Diets Are Making the World Sick

April 16th, 2011

From NPR’s ‘Fresh Air’: When physician Kevin Patterson described his experiences working at the Canadian Combat Surgical Hospital in Afghanistan, he noticed that the Afghan soldiers, police and civilians he treated in Kandahar had radically different bodies from those of the Canadians he took care of back home.

“Typical Afghan civilians and soldiers would have been 140 pounds or so as adults. And when we operated on them, what we were aware of was the absence of any fat underneath the skin,” Patterson says. “Of course, when we operated on Canadians or Americans or Europeans, what was normal was to have most of the organs encased in fat.”

In a conversation on Fresh Air, Patterson tells Terry Gross that the effects of urbanization are making people everywhere in the world both fatter and sicker.

“Type 2 diabetes historically didn’t exist, only 70 or 80 years ago,” says Patterson. “And what’s driven it is this rise in obesity, especially the accumulation of abdominal fat. That fat induces changes in our receptors that cells have for insulin. Basically, it makes them numb to the effect of insulin.”

He explains that the increase in abdominal fat has driven the epidemic of diabetes over the last 40 years in the developed world — and that he’s now seeing similar patterns in undeveloped regions that have adopted Western eating patterns.

Patterson explains that in his Canadian practice, where he takes care of indigenous populations near the Arctic Circle, there is a marked increase in the number of diabetic patients he sees.  “The traditional Inuit culture of relentless motion and a traditional diet consisting mainly of caribou, Arctic char, whale and seal has been abandoned over this period of time for Kentucky Fried Chicken and processed food and living a life very similar to ours,” he says.

Part of the problem, says Patterson, is that it’s so much cheaper for processed food to be flown into the Arctic Circle than fresh food.  “There’s no roads or rail access to any of those communities,” he says. “So a 4 liter jug of milk can cost you $10 or $11. But there’s a very clear parallel between that and the inner city. In poorer neighborhoods in North American cities, fresh food is either not available or extremely expensive compared to — on a calorie-by-calorie basis — compared to fast food available on every street corner.” Continue reading »

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The Trouble With Plastics

March 6th, 2011

From All Things Considered by John Hamilton: Most plastic products, from sippy cups to food wraps, can release chemicals that act like the sex hormone estrogen, according to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives.

(R)esearchers bought more than 450 plastic items from stores including Walmart and Whole Foods. They chose products designed to come in contact with food — things like baby bottles, deli packaging and flexible bags, says George Bittner, one of the study’s authors and a professor of biology at the University of Texas, Austin.

Then CertiChem, a testing company founded by Bittner, chopped up pieces of each product and soaked them in either saltwater or alcohol to see what came out. The testing showed that more than 70 percent of the products released chemicals that acted like estrogen. And that was before they exposed the stuff to real-world conditions: simulated sunlight, dishwashing and microwaving, Bittner says. Continue reading »

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The Importance of Vitamin D

October 17th, 2010

By Cathie Dunal MD, MPH: The list of Vitamin D’s impact has expanded to both physical and psychological health:

    •. Lower rates of colon, lung, breast, and prostate cancer and melanoma
    •. Less risk for stroke and heart attacks
    •. Less risk for allergies and autoimmune disease
    •. Prevents osteoporosis, through its role in assisting calcium absorption
    •. Better immunity—fewer colds and flu
    •. Lower risk of Alzheimer’s
    •. Improved mood
    •. Lower rates of multiple sclerosis.  (However, this may be a false association because the lower rates are also associated with lower latitudes and more sun—it could be due to another component of sunshine.)

How much Vitamin D should you take?………. Continue reading »

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Grow Your Brain

September 26th, 2010

“Walking for 3 hours per week for only 3 months caused so many neurons to grow that it actually increased the size of people’s brains.”

Increase your production of brain cells with chocolate, tea, blueberries & meditation; decrease brain cells with sugar, nicotine, narcotics, alcohol & stress.

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The Surprising Avocado

August 26th, 2010

By Susan Hall from Health magazine: Avocados keep you thin, protect your vision, and may even prevent cancer.

Protect your vision with a few slices of avocado at lunch or dinner. Avocados are rich in lutein andzeaxanthin, antioxidants found in the retina that keep eyes healthy; they also may help prevent age-related problems, like cataracts and macular degeneration.

Extracts from avocados kill or stop the growth of precancerous cells that lead to oral cancer and may have a similar effect on other cancers, according to a recent study. Researchers credit the fruit’s unique combo of nutrients—which include folate and vitamins C and E.

Add avocado to salsa for a bigger health payoff. A study from The Ohio State University found that people absorbed four-and-a-half times more of the cancer-fighter lycopene from the tomatoes when avocado was added; the healthy fats help you absorb more nutrients.

Skip the mayo, and go for creamy avocado on your sandwich. It packs 4 grams of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat (which lowers cholesterol), 2 grams of fiber, and 1 gram of protein per ounce, making it a lower-fat, more-filling substitute for the white stuff.

Avocado Soups & Ice Creams
Avocado Chocolate Shake
Nutritional Info

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