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New Harvard research has found that not all trendy low-carb diets are equal when it comes to maintaining weight — some may even make you gain a few pounds. People who consume low-carb diets that emphasize plant-based proteins and healthy fats have a better chance of keeping excess weight gain at bay than those who eat low-carb diets comprised mostly of meat and unhealthy fats, according to results of a decades-long study published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open. “Our study goes beyond the simple question of, ‘To carb or not to carb?’ ” lead study author Binkai Liu, a research...

When Sweet Tomato, a Chihuahua, arrived at Muttville Senior Dog Rescue in San Francisco, California, her excessive weight astonished her new friends. Weighing a staggering 30 pounds when she should have only weighed 10, Sweet Tomato's previous owner had fed her a diet primarily consisting of sausage and eggs. The consequences were severe, as she could barely move and required a stroller even for short distances. This excessive weight was detrimental to her overall health, prompting her rescuers to embark on a weight loss journey to ensure her well-being.

A new study found a pro-inflammatory diet is associated with an increased risk of relapse in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The researchers found a more pro-inflammatory diet is associated with a higher risk of relapses and more inflammatory brain lesions for MS patients in the years following their first disease attack. MS is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic inflammation that can damage nerve cells. A pro-inflammatory diet as per the study includes foods containing high amounts of fats and proteins. These foods are thought to drive chronic inflammation and immune dysregulation that could affect the course of MS. The...

Lost 33 pounds and had a little more to go. Have been working with a local health and wellness program and monitored dieting. Very happy and dropped two clothing sizes. Going to try to drop another size or two. I have decided to be a little too little than a little too big. Using low to moderate calorie high protein, moderate fate low carb diet. Your diet tips always welcome.

Quick and easy keto bread diet recipe. This keto bread recipe will take approximately 30 minutes to make from start to finish. Have you ever looked at the list of ingredients on regular store-bought bread? There are at least 15 different fat-gaining ingredients in each loaf of bread including artificial preservatives and other chemicals. “Wonder Bread” has 21 ingredients. No “wonder” we are in the middle of an obesity epidemic! This keto bread recipe is super easy to make and contains only 4 ingredients. I’d rather make my own bread because that way I am 100% sure of what I’m...

A new scientific study claims to have found little to no health risks related to eating red meat. The study says previous studies that claimed there was a link between red meat consumption and health issues are based on "weak evidence." Researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) released a study titled: "Health effects associated with consumption of unprocessed red meat: a Burden of Proof study." The paper was published in Nature journal in October. The scientists declared, "We found weak evidence of association between unprocessed red meat consumption and colorectal cancer, breast cancer,...

Prominent organizations including the World Health Organization and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have dismissed low-carbohydrate diets that prevent tooth decay in favor of recommending high-carbohydrate diets which rely on fluoride and food fortification to mitigate dental damage and nutritional shortcomings, a researcher says. Dr. Philippe Hujoel says that not only these organizations but other associations reversed earlier positions and began recommending high-carbohydrate diets. Specifically, he cites the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Dental Association (ADA). In the meantime, Dr. Hujoel says, some scientists provided compelling evidence that low-carbohydrate diets were at least as beneficial...

Pantothenate acid, also known as vitamin B5, stimulated the production of brown fat in both cell cultures and mice, a new study finds. "We identified [pantothenate acid] as an effective [brown fat] activator that can prevent obesity and may represent a promising strategy for the clinical treatment of obesity and related metabolic diseases," the researchers wrote. Unlike the more common white fat, brown fat burns calories to produce heat. Under particular conditions, white fat can be converted to brown fat. Scientists have been investigating the behavior of brown fat and methods of converting white fat in hope of finding treatments...

A new shows remission from type 2 diabetes is possible for people with lower BMIs. Results show a staggering 70% of participants with lower bodyweights went into type 2 remission through diet-induced weight loss, despite not living with obesity or overweight. The Counterpoint study first showed that shedding fat from inside the pancreas and liver was key to remission from type 2 in people living with obesity or overweight. To find out if losing excess fat could also help people with BMIs in the healthy range go into remission from type 2 diabetes, Professor Roy Taylor put people with the...

The findings of a new study suggest that a ketogenic diet—which is low in carbohydrates and protein, but high in fat—helps to kill pancreatic cancer cells when combined with a triple-drug therapy. In laboratory experiments, the ketogenic diet decreased glucose (sugar) levels in the tumor, suggesting the diet helped starve the cancer. In addition, this diet elevated ketone bodies produced by the liver, which put additional stress on the cancer cells. By destabilizing the cancer cells, the ketogenic diet created a microenvironment in which the triple-drug therapy designed by TGen—a combination of gemcitabine, nab-paclitaxel and cisplatin—was more effective at knocking...

Nearly 80 percent of deaths from type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are associated with thrombosis, a condition that occurs when blood clots block a vein or artery. Traditionally, it's been thought that proteins released by damaged blood vessels may lead to inappropriate blood clotting, but a new study points to another trigger and a new mechanism that may underlie thrombosis. Beginning with samples from patients, investigators identified the new mechanism that activated PIEZO1, a major mechanosensory ion channel. In the lab, the team examined its effects and its potential as a therapeutic target for preventing thrombosis or identifying people at...

Disorders of the immune system are on the rise everywhere thanks to the global popularity of the so-called Western diet. Autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis have spiked in recent decades, according to scientists James Lee and Carola Vineusa at London’s Francis Crick Institute. Lee and Vineusa have devoted their study to investigating the cause of such illness, which they believe can be blamed on the recent pervasiveness of fast foods, which “lack certain important ingredients.” “Numbers of autoimmune cases began to increase about 40 years ago in the West,” Lee...

Prevailing theories posit plaques in the brain cause Alzheimer's disease. New UC Riverside research instead points to cells' slowing ability to clean themselves as the likely cause of unhealthy brain buildup. Along with signs of dementia, doctors make a definitive Alzheimer's diagnosis if they find a combination of two things in the brain: amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. The plaques are a buildup of amyloid peptides, and the tangles are mostly made of a protein called tau. "Roughly 20% of people have the plaques, but no signs of dementia," said UCR Chemistry Professor Ryan Julian. "This makes it seem as...

Intermittent fasting may not only be a hot dieting trend, but it also has broader health benefits, including helping to fight inflammation, according to a new study. Previous research has shown that intermittent fasting, an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating, may improve health markers not related to weight. Now, the new research shows that intermittent fasting raises the levels of galectin-3, a protein tied to inflammatory response. "Inflammation is associated with higher risk of developing multiple chronic diseases, including diabetes and heart disease. We're encouraged to see evidence that intermittent fasting is prompting the body...

Type 2 diabetes is a condition that around one in 10 Americans deal with on a daily basis. When you factor in the costs of changing diets and lifestyles, doctor visits, and drugs for managing blood sugar, diabetes is not just a health burden — but a financial burden as well. Now, researchers in Finland say eating more whole grains significantly reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Moreover, their review finds adding more whole grains to the public’s diet will substantially cut down the economic costs that come with treating diabetes. Study authors say the target should be...

Low-carbohydrate diets are popular for weight loss and diabetes control. However, for most of the past 50 years, medical and public health experts have instead embraced low-fat diets, concerned about the health effects of saturated fats on cardiovascular risk factors like LDL cholesterol. As a result, low-fat and fat-free foods have proliferated—many of them high in processed carbohydrates. A clinical trial led by Boston Children's Hospital, one of the largest and most rigorous study of its kind, now challenges that thinking. It demonstrates that low-carb diets—even though higher in saturated fat—produce better cardiovascular and metabolic profiles than low-fat, higher-carb diets....

I’ve been saying for ages that the sugar composition of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is no different from that of table sugar (sucrose). Oops. A new study in the journal, Obesity, actually measured the amounts and kinds of sugars in 23 kinds of HFCS-sweetened drinks. The findings are summarized in a fact sheet: • The sugar content varied widely from amounts stated on labels. • Some drinks had 15% less sugar than labeled, but others had as much as 30% more. • On average, the drinks had 18% more fructose than expected. • Several brands of sodas seemed to...

Researchers at the University of Toronto have found that nuts do not contribute to weight gain. The review of quality research on links between nuts, fat consumption and body weight was recently published in the journal Obesity Reviews and is among the most comprehensive to date. It provides further evidence that long-standing concerns about nuts and weight gain—often found in popular media and clinical nutrition guidelines—are unwarranted, the researchers say. "Overall, we found there is no association between nuts and weight gain, and in fact some analyses showed higher nut intake associated with reductions in body weight and waist circumference,"...

Eating your daily calories within a consistent window of 8-10 hours is a powerful strategy to prevent and manage chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, according to a new manuscript published in the Endocrine Society's journal, Endocrine Reviews. Time-restricted eating is a type of intermittent fasting that limits your food intake to a certain number of hours each day. Intermittent fasting is one of the most popular diet trends, and people are using it to lose weight, improve their health and simplify their lifestyles. "People who are trying to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle should pay...

A popular class of diabetes medications called GLP-1R agonists (Trulicity and Rybelsus) may also protect against glaucoma in diabetic patients, according to a new study led by researchers in the Scheie Eye Institute at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. The findings were published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. The researchers looked at retrospective data of 1,961 diabetic patients who were new users of this class of drugs and matched them to 4,371 unexposed control subjects. After 150 days on average, 10 patients in the medicated group were newly diagnosed with glaucoma (0.5 percent) compared to 58...