Free Republic

Bankruptcy shows diet is 'too extreme' for U.S., baker says. In Boise, staff members of the Idaho Potato Commission gave each other gleeful high-fives when they heard the news. In Houston, the folks at the U.S. Rice Producers' Association declared "good riddance." And fruit farmers in the Central Valley said they were "happy to see them go." Across the United States, producers of carbohydrate-laden food exulted at the decision by Atkins Nutritionals Inc., the Ronkonkoma, N.Y.-based designer of the once popular low-carbohydrate weight-loss program, to file for bankruptcy protection. The company said it planned to reorganize and focus mainly on...

NEW YORK - Atkins Nutritionals Inc., the company that promoted low-carb eating into a national diet craze, filed for bankruptcy court protection Sunday, a company spokesman said. Atkins has been hurt by waning popularity of its namesake diet, which focuses on eliminating carbohydrates such as bread and pasta as a way to shed weight. The diet quickly became one of the most popular in U.S. history, spawning numerous derivatives and a virtual cottage industry of low-carb regimens - but also drew criticism from many experts for its focus on fatty foods and low fruit and vegetable consumption. A hearing on...

Tufts researchers recently reported that while the leading source of calories in the average American diet used to be from white bread, that may have changed. Now, according to preliminary research conducted by scientists at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Americans are drinking these calories instead. The research was presented in abstract form at the Experimental Biology Conference in April of this year and a more comprehensive paper is being developed.Odilia Bermudez, PhD, MPH, studied the reported diets of a large nationwide sample of American adults. Among respondents to the 1999-2000 National...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Foods with a low-glycemic index, which are digested relatively slowly and cause smaller increases in blood sugar, may protect the heart and blood vessels better than low-fat fare, according to the findings of a small study. Researchers in Boston found that when obese people consumed as many carbohydrates with a low-glycemic index as they wanted, they lost just as much weight in 12 months as people who stuck with a conventional, calorie-restricted low-fat diet.Carbohydrates with a low-glycemic index include foods such as nonstarchy vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts and diary products, according to the report in...

Diet-related chronic diseases represent the single largest cause of death and sickness in the United States and most Western countries. Yet while these diseases are epidemic in contemporary Westernized populations and typically afflict two-thirds of the adult population, they are rare or nonexistent in hunter-gatherers and other less Westernized cultures.Why? There is an increasing awareness that the profound environmental changes, such as diet and other lifestyle conditions that began with the introduction of agriculture and animal husbandry (the care and breeding of domestic animals), occurred too recently for the human genome to adapt to.Thus, universal characteristics of preagricultural human diets...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to carbohydrates, it's not how much you eat, but which kind, that makes a difference to your bathroom scale, new research shows. People who are overweight do not appear to eat more carbohydrates overall than people who weigh less, the researchers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology. However, they found that overweight people tend to eat more refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and pasta, which cause a rapid spike in blood sugar. "Total amount of carbohydrate is not related to body weight," Dr. Yunsheng Ma of the University of Massachusetts...

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 11 (Reuters) - McDonald's  has agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit over artery-clogging trans fats in its cooking oils, the company said on Friday. McDonald's said it will donate $7 million to the American Heart Association and spend another $1.5 million to inform the public of its trans fat plans.The settlement is the result of litigation from a San Francisco area activist who has been seeking to raise public awareness of the health dangers from the trans fatty acids (TFAs) in hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. Trans fats are used in thousands of processed...

Sugar and Grains Increase Depression   Depression may be the culprit behind both mental and physical health conditions. According to studies, more than normal rates of depression can be found in patients with clinically manifest type 2 diabetes. Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes and can be characterized by insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency--either of which can be present at its onset.And, while the relationship between insulin resistance and depression is a vague and contradictory area, a more recent study may have made some headway.Treading New GroundResearchers discovered a positive connection between higher levels of...

Changing the way the world eats is an ambitious goal. The significant changes in the government’s dietary guidelines are an important step forward and a clear signal that the message Dr. Atkins long championed is increasingly heeded. I’m delighted to see the much-awaited dietary guidelines of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). A close look at the recommendations released last week shows how closely these recommendations reflect our efforts to raise carbohydrate awareness and emphasize the importance of weight management. It appears that government officials have listened to the Atkins’...

Soy Formula May Stunt the Intestinal Growth in Your Baby   Concerns regarding the safety of soy formula were raised after two studies revealed that the amounts of soy isoflavone genistein, a chemical found in commercial soy formulas, might inhibit the intestinal growth in babies. There is a great deal of merit surrounding this concern, particularly because nearly 25 percent of formula-fed babies in the United States consume soy formula.Commercial soy formulas contain anywhere from 32 to 45 milligrams of genistein. These concentration levels exceed the amount found to affect menstrual cycles in women. Since formula is the only...

For the more than 11 million Americans who suffer from food allergies, some news with a tantalizing aroma is emanating from Israel. Scientists from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology have found a way to neutralize a sesame seed protein that causes allergies and they believe the technique can also be used to eliminate allergens in milk, peanuts and other common foods.

Another Painkiller Linked to Heart RiskNIH Halts Study On Aleve Ingredient The epidemic of bad news about the potential risks of popular anti-inflammatory medications expanded yesterday as federal officials announced that naproxen, a painkiller sold by prescription and also over the counter as Aleve, might increase people's risk of having a heart attack or stroke. <> The new findings bring to three the number of widely used anti-inflammatory drugs suddenly in the spotlight for their potential health risks. Vioxx was pulled from the market this fall, and its sister drug Celebrex, the blockbuster arthritis drug, was linked to heart attacks...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - For the past year, many of the nation's chain restaurants have trumpeted their efforts to give consumers helpful details about the food they serve - from calories to carbs. An unscientific spot check of some of the most popular suggests they do indeed offer a lot of information - from Ruby Tuesday's 1,164-calorie Cuban panini to Subway's 210-calorie Ham Deli sandwich. The push to tell what those menu items will cost your waistline might be more than just helpfulness. The Food and Drug Administration and members of Congress have been considering whether to require such information...

Experts Say Low-Carb Craze May Be Over ) By MARGARET STAFFORD KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - About a year ago, Dave Champlin and his two roommates lived in what their friends at the University of Missouri called the House of Fat. At a combined weight of 890 pounds, the three decided to try the Atkins diet. By sticking to the low-carb, high-protein diet, Champlin lost about 45 pounds and his roommates each lost between 50 and 60 pounds. Despite being pleased with the results, all three were off the diet by this past summer and have gained back some of...

......snip......... A study by NPD Group, an independent marketing information company, found that the percentage of American adults on any low-carb diet in 2004 peaked at 9.1 percent in February and dropped to 4.9 percent by early November. Carb cutting doesn't take Further, it said only one of four people surveyed was significantly cutting carbs and “virtually none” were reducing carbs as much as the diets recommended. That means many companies that rode the low-carb wave are either out of business or refocusing their strategies. ............. Oversaturated market? That decline is not surprising, even at Atkins Nutritionals Inc., a company...

SEATTLE - Sitting in a small evaluation room at the University of Washington, apprehension written on her face, Christa Zamora turned her eyes toward her son Connor and contemplated his future. A talkative and animated 2-year-old, Connor appears normal, Ms. Zamora said, but it is too soon to be certain. Doctors diagnosed autism in her older son, Cameron, just before he turned 3. And with Connor, who is also at risk for developing the devastating neurological disorder, which runs in families, she has decided to be proactive, enrolling him in an early diagnosis study for children as young as 16...

An experimental wonder drug, Rimonabant, helps you lose weight, quit smoking and it also helps protect your heart. Trials have shown that 33% of people on Rimonabant lost 10% of body weight and kept their weight down for two years - this is a record, no other diet drug has managed to keep a person's weight down for so long. The second 33% lost 5% of body weight and kept it down. As well as keeping you lean, the drug also helps you quit the smoking habit. This will be of great interest for many smokers who are afraid to...

- 03-22-2004, 07:40 PM By Gilien Silsby and Gia Scafidi When our human ancestors started eating meat, evolution served up a healthy bonus - the development of genes that offset high cholesterol and chronic diseases associated with a meat-rich diet, according to a new USC study. Those ancestors also started living longer than ever before - an unexpected evolutionary twist. The research by USC professors Caleb Finch and Craig Stanford appeared in the Quarterly Review of Biology. "At some point - probably about 2 1/2 million years ago - meat eating became important to humans," said Stanford, chair of the...

40 Percent in U.S. Use Prescription Drugs By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID WASHINGTON (AP) - More than 40 percent of Americans take at least one prescription drug and one-in-six takes at least three, the government reported Thursday. "Americans are taking medicines that lower cholesterol and reduce the threat of heart disease, that help lift people out of debilitating depressions, and that keep diabetes in check," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said in a statement. The annual report on Americans' health found that just over 44 percent of all Americans take at least one prescription drug, and 16.5 percent...

LONDON (Reuters) - People born in May in the northern hemisphere have a higher than average risk of developing multiple sclerosis, researchers said on Tuesday. An analysis of data from studies of more than 42,000 people in Canada, Britain, Denmark and Sweden showed that May babies have a 13 percent increased chance of suffering from the illness later in life, but that having a November birthday decreased the average odds by 19 percent. "If you are born in May, your risk is higher than any other month and if you are born in November your risk is lower than any...