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Health

Potatoes aren’t always bad for you — it’s all in the preparation

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A new study shares some sympathy for a much-maligned vegetable: the potato.  

It found that the way the potato is prepared — including what people add to it — is what’s associated with Type 2 diabetes, rather than the “humble” vegetable itself. 

The study was published in Diabetes Care, a peer-reviewed journal by the American Diabetes Association for health care providers.

Previous research had shown an association between diabetes and total potato intake.

A team of Australian researchers, led by Dr. Nicola Bondonno from Edith Cowan University’s Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute, explored the relationship of vegetable intake and the incidence of Type 2 diabetes. 

The researchers also examined the relationship of potato consumption and the incidence of Type 2 diabetes.

Over 54,000 participants, ages 50-64, were recruited from the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort, which examined the relationship between dietary components and the incidence of cancer and other chronic diseases. 

The participants filled out a 192-item “food frequency questionnaire” at the start of the study.

Those who took part noted how often they ate a particular food for the past 12 months, said co-author Pratik Pokharel, a PhD candidate who worked on the analysis for the paper. 

“The intake of foods and nutrients were then estimated using standard recipes and the software FoodCalc,” Pokharel told Fox News Digital.

Eating more vegetables may equal a lower risk of diabetes

The researchers found that those with the highest total vegetable intake had a 21% lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes — compared to the group with the lowest intake of vegetables, after adjusting for lifestyle and demographic confounding variables.

They also found that participants with the highest potato consumption had a 9% higher risk of Type 2 diabetes, compared to the group who ate the lowest daily amount. 

Boiled potatoes are key

“When we separated boiled potatoes from mashed potatoes, fries or crisps, boiled potatoes were no longer associated with a higher risk of diabetes. They had a null effect,” Pokharel said in a press release. 

The study found that those who ate the most potatoes also consumed more butter, red meat and soft drinks, which are known to increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes.

“When you account for that, boiled potatoes are no longer associated with diabetes,” added Pokharel in the press release.

Plain boiled potatoes had no association with diabetes.
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“It’s only fries and mashed potatoes, the latter likely because [they’re] usually made with butter, cream and the like.”

Most people don’t eat enough vegetables

Approximately 90% adults don’t meet fruit and vegetable recommendations, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s latest dietary guidelines. 

The guidelines recommend that most adults consume two “cup equivalents” of fruits and two-and-a-half “cup-equivalents” of vegetables daily.

Experts suggest aiming for four half-cup servings of fruit and five half-cup servings of vegetables every day to put these recommendations into practice. 

The American Heart Association suggests fruits and vegetables should fill half the plate for each meal to meet these goals.

“One cup of raw leafy vegetables or a baked potato should be about the size of a baseball or average-sized fist,” the association added on its website.

We need to diversify our diet

Pokharel recommends eating a variety of foods.

“It is good to replace white rice and pasta with boiled potatoes, as potatoes have fiber, vitamin C and other nutrients — and potato is still a vegetable,” he said. 

“We get other nutrients from potatoes that we do not find in white rice or pasta,” he also said.

Refined grains are low in certain nutrients, such as fiber, so they can lead to nutritional deficiencies, he said. 

Know the study’s limitations

The study had certain limitations, including that the participants’ diets were self-reported and that the researchers only measured their diets at one point in time. 

Pokharel said repeated measurements of dietary intake would give a more accurate estimate of a complete diet.

He also said the study is only a prospective study — so it cannot establish a causal link between vegetable intake and diabetes, such as noting that eating less vegetables actually causes diabetes.

Don’t blame certain foods — understand the context 

“People eat food rarely in isolation,” Pokharel said.

“We should look at the bigger picture while assessing the relationship between dietary intake and disease incidence,” he added.

“It is crucial to look at the underlying dietary pattern and food processing method to see what other culprits are rather than blaming on one food,” he also said.

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Health

‘Green’ Mediterranean diet burns fat even faster: study

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Following the “green” Mediterranean diet helps burn fat three times faster than typical healthy eating, a new study shows.

Research published in the BMC Medicine journal found that eating a plant-based Mediterranean diet allowed the body to burn a dangerous type of body fat at triple the rate compared to those on a generally “healthy” diet.

Those who consumed the diet for 18 months saw their visceral fat levels reduced by 14%, compared to a control group who ate a standard healthy diet and only saw their fat levels reduced by just 4.5%. And a conventional Med diet performed half as well as its meat-free counterpart.

Visceral fat is the kind that wraps around vital organs in the abdomen, and is more likely than other fats to raise your risk for serious medical issues, including heart disease, Alzheimer’s and type 2 diabetes. This type of fat is what typically gives someone a beer belly, but is found in thin people as well.

Research suggests that losing visceral fat should be the objective in weight loss, and more indicative of health than a personal’s overall weight or the circumference of their waist.

The Mediterranean and green Mediterranean diets were found to support weight loss and waist circumferences but the green Mediterranean diet doubled the visceral fat loss.
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A Mediterranean diet — which is high in fats and proteins but low in carbohydrates — is touted as an overall healthy diet and become increasingly popular for its heart health benefits.

Plant-based foods, such as whole grains, vegetables and legumes are the foundation of the diet with olive oil being the main source of added fat, but the green Mediterranean diet puts an extra emphasis on the greens.

The 18-month study, conducted by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, enlisted 294 participants who averaged to be 51 years old and considered clinically obese. Researchers separated the participants into three groups at random, guiding them through a “healthy” diet, a Mediterranean diet or a green Mediterranean diet.

Duckweed (Wolffia globosa) is high in protein, iron, B12, vitamins, minerals and polyphenols.
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People on the green Mediterranean diet were instructed to forgo red meat and poultry and drink daily three to four cups of green tea, and a duckweed (Wolffia globosa) shake — which is high in protein, iron, B12, vitamins, minerals and polyphenols — to substitute meat intake.

Both groups following the Mediterranean diets had calorie restrictions of 1,400 calories a day for women, and 1,800 a day for men, and ate fewer than 40 grams of carbohydrates a day for the first two months, before being raised to 80 grams.

Those on a general “healthy” diet were not given strict calorie counts.

All participants were given 90-minute nutrition lessons every week for the first month and then once a month for the following five and asked to do aerobic and resistance training three to four times a week for 45 to 60 minutes.

In the end, the study found that while the Mediterranean and green Mediterranean diets lead to participants seeing similar weight loss and waist circumferences, the green Mediterranean diet doubled the visceral fat loss. And the visceral fat loss was tripled compared to the “healthy” diet.

It also concluded that higher dietary consumption of green tea, walnuts and duckweed, paired with with lowered red meat intake, were significantly related to greater visceral fat loss.

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Health

Sleepyheads need these 3 habits to get rid of grogginess: study

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Always wake up feeling groggy? There’s a solution to that.

Scientists believe they found a foolproof three-step formula to turn sluggishness into a refreshed morning feeling.

Though it’s only three factors, some might find it a little difficult, considering it involves exercise and avoiding sugar.

Researchers at the University of California believe the key to feeling renewed in the morning is a combination of strenuous exercise, seven to nine hours of sleep and a high-carb and low-sugar breakfast.

“We know there are people who always seem to be bright-eyed and busy-tailed when they first wake up,” author Professor Matthew Walker said. “But if you think you’re not like that, you tend to think, ‘Well I guess it’s just my genetic fate that I’m slow to wake up. There’s really nothing I can do about it,’ short of using stimulant chemical caffeine, which can harm sleep.

“But our findings offer a different and more optimistic message,” he continued.

The formula published in the journal Nature Communications was put together after analyzing hundreds of people.

While the research showed that strenuous exercise helped sleepyheads, the scientists couldn’t point out exactly why — but noted that it does wear a person out and is a known mood-booster.
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While the research showed that strenuous exercise helped sleepyheads, the scientists couldn’t point out exactly why — but noted that it does wear a person out and is a known mood booster.

“It is well known that physical activity, in general, improves your alertness and also your mood level,” Dr. Raphael Vallat, study co-author and postdoctoral fellow, said.

The researchers found a high correlation between mood and levels of alertness, with those who were, on average, happier also were more alert.

“It may be that exercise-induced better sleep is part of the reason exercise the day before, by helping sleep that night, leads to superior alertness throughout the next day,” Vallat said.

While seven to nine hours of sleep is ideal, even just a little more can help. A lie-in — remaining in bed after waking up — can also help fight off that hazy feeling, according to Walker.

The recommended amount of sleep, and particularly good quality sleep, can rid the body of “sleep inertia” — impaired cognitive and sensory-motor performance after waking up. Getting enough sleep also helps clear the body of a chemical called adenosine, which makes us feel tired and builds up throughout the day.

A high-carb, low-sugar breakfast was discovered as the best meal to wake up feeling lively. 
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Sleeping in later can also help with alertness.

“Considering that the majority of individuals in society are not getting enough sleep during the week, sleeping longer on a given day can help clear some of the adenosine sleepiness debt they are carrying,” Walker said.

Participants were also given different meals for breakfast, kept food diaries for two weeks, and wore watches to record physical activity, sleep quantity, quality, timing and regularity. They also self-recorded their levels of alertness from the moment they woke up and throughout the day,

All pre-prepared breakfasts were centered around a muffin and packaged with different nutrients. Some had just a muffin while others were paired with items such as chocolate milk, a protein shake or fiber bars. Some were also given a dose of glucose.

Participants were asked to fast for eight hours prior to eating breakfast and for three to four hours post-meal. They also wore a glucose monitor.

The researchers wanted to test the breakdown of breakfast meals high in sugar, protein and carbohydrates. A high-carb, low-sugar breakfast was discovered as the best meal to wake up feeling lively. 

Breakfasts with a lot of sugar left participants feeling the worst since it can spike your blood sugar levels, negatively impacting the brain’s ability to return to waking consciousness.

“A breakfast rich in carbs can increase alertness, so long as your body is healthy and capable of efficiently disposing of the glucose from that meal, preventing a sustained spike in blood sugar that otherwise blunts your brain’s alertness,” Dr. Vallat said.

While most people assume feeling sleepy in the morning is nothing more than an annoying part of our lives, Walker shared that it actually “costs developed nations billions of dollars every year through loss of productivity, increased health care utilization, work absenteeism.”

He also said that grogginess in the morning can be deadly, resulting in car crashes and work-related incidents.

“As scientists, we must understand how to help society wake up better and help reduce the mortal cost to society’s current struggle to wake up effectively each day,” Walker said.

“How you wake up each day is very much under your own control, based on how you structure your life and your sleep.”

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Health

Why eating potatoes could help you ‘lose weight with little effort’: study

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Carb lovers rejoice! This delectable starch, long a guilty pleasure, just might be a secret weapon when trying to “lose weight with little effort.”

Researchers have discovered the surprising health benefit of potatoes — as it turns out, these spuds are incredibly nutrient-dense and could be a crucial “part of a healthy diet,” according to a new study by researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The root vegetable has long been snubbed as too starchy for people with insulin resistance, and was once thought of as a contributor to type 2 diabetes. But the tater’s bad rap might be rectified now that scientists claim it can be part of the ideal diet.

This is great news for those who loaded up on grandma’s famous mashed potatoes over Thanksgiving, or who over-indulge in carbs at holiday feasts come December and New Year’s.

Because the starch is low calorie but very filling, researchers found that filling a plate full of potatoes can contribute to a shrinking waistline.

“People tend to eat the same weight of food regardless of calorie content in order to feel full,” professor Candida Rebello, a co-author of the study, told SWNS. “By eating foods with a heavier weight that are low in calories, you can easily reduce the number of calories you consume.”

The versatile root vegetable once gained a bad rap for diabetics and the obese, as it was previously thought to contribute to weight gain and insulin resistance.
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The study included 36 people between the ages of 18 and 60 who were overweight, obese or had insulin resistance. Participants were given two different diets, both high in fruits and veggies and swapped 40% of the typical American meat consumption with beans, peas or potatoes.

Beans have been touted as a diabetes superfood, as doctors once crowned the legume the best at keeping blood sugars stable — but these researchers were putting that theory to the test.

“The key aspect of our study is that we did not reduce the portion size of meals but lowered their caloric content by including potatoes,” Rebello continued. “Each participant’s meal was tailored to their personalized calorific needs, yet by replacing some meat content with potato, participants found themselves fuller, quicker and often did not even finish their meal.”

Rebello’s buzz quote: “In effect, you can lose weight with little effort.”

Potatoes contain vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, magnesium, folate and fiber, which all promote health, and have also been found to have antioxidants.

The potatoes were boiled — with the skins on — then placed in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours to maximize their fiber. The spuds were then included in lunch and dinner for the participants in the form of mashed potatoes, shepherd’s pie, wedges, salad and scalloped.

Upon nutrient comparison, scientists discovered potatoes were just as healthy as beans and peas.

“We demonstrated that contrary to common belief, potatoes do not negatively impact blood glucose levels,” Rebello stated. “In fact, the individuals who participated in our study lost weight.”

The study, which was published in the Journal of Medical Food, confirmed that people can still maintain a healthy diet and indulge in some potatoes, challenging what was previously believed about the once-damned starch.

The study is a godsend for carb-lovers, who wouldn’t dare give up their favorite side dish.
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The starchy spuds actually could shrink eager eaters’ waistlines.
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“People typically do not stick with a diet they don’t like or isn’t varied enough,” the professor continued. “The meal plans provided a variety of dishes, and we showed that a healthy eating plan can have varied options for individuals striving to eat healthy.”

Obviously carb lovers can’t only chow down on potatoes, but foregoing them altogether also isn’t necessary. In fact, potatoes are “fairy inexpensive” and are easily incorporated into everyday meals.

Dr. John Kirwan, the study’s lead investigator and the executive director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, used the study to research the effects of food on diabetes and obesity, saying there is more to know about “complex disease” and how to solve it.

“Obesity is an incredibly complex disease that we are tackling on three different fronts: research that looks at how and why our bodies react the way they do, research that looks at individual responses to diet and physical activity, and policy-level discussions and community programs that bring our research into strategies our local and global communities can use to live healthier lives,” he said. “These new data on the impact of potatoes on our metabolism is an exciting addition to the arsenal of evidence we have to do just that.”

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Science

Long-frozen ‘zombie virus’ is ‘public health threat’ amid thaw

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They’re potentially prying open Pandora’s pox.

French scientists have sparked fears of yet another pandemic after reviving a “zombie virus” that had been trapped under a frozen lake in Russia for a record 50,000 years.

“The situation would be much more disastrous in the case of plant, animal, or human diseases caused by the revival of an ancient unknown virus,” reads the “viral” study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed. The new research was helmed by microbiologist Jean-Marie Alempic from the French National Centre for Scientific Research, Science Alert reported.

According to the preliminary paper, global warming is causing vast swaths of the permafrost — permanently frozen ground covering one-quarter of the Northern Hemisphere — to irreversibly thaw. This has had the alarming effect of “releasing organic matter frozen for up to a million years” — including potentially harmful pathogens.

“Part of this organic matter also consists of revived cellular microbes (prokaryotes, unicellular eukaryotes) as well as viruses that remained dormant since prehistorical times,” the researchers write.

Aix-Marseille University professor Jean-Michel Claverie, co-author of the study, issued a warning to medical authorities about the lack of significant updates on “live” viruses in permafrost since original studies in 2014 and 2015, the Sun reported. “This wrongly suggests that such occurrences are rare and that ‘zombie viruses’ are not a public health threat,” the research team wrote in their findings.

“The situation would be much more disastrous in the case of plant, animal, or human diseases caused by the revival of an ancient unknown virus,” the researchers write.
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In order to study these awakening organisms, scientists have, perhaps paradoxically, revived some of these so-called “zombie viruses” from the Siberian permafrost. The oldest — dubbed Pandoravirus yedoma after the mythological character Pandora, whose curiosity led her to open a box trouble, and the type of soil it was found in — was 48,500 years old, a record age for a frozen virus returning to a state where it has the potential to infect other organisms. This shatters the previous record held by a 30,000-year-old virus discovered by the same team in Siberia in 2013.

The new strain is one of 13 viruses outlined in the study, each of which possessed their own genome, Science Alert reported. While the Pandoravirus was discovered below the bottom of a lake in Yukechi Alas in Yakutia, Russia, others have been found everywhere from mammoth fur to the intestines of a Siberian wolf.

After studying the live cultures, scientists found that all the “zombie viruses” have the potential to be infectious, and are therefore a “health threat.” They postulate that we could see more COVID-19-style pandemics in the future as ever-melting permafrost continues to release long-dormant viruses like a microbial Captain America.

“It is therefore legitimate to ponder the risk of ancient viral particles remaining infectious and getting back into circulation by the thawing of ancient permafrost layers,” they write. Unfortunately, it’s a vicious cycle as organic matter released by the thawing ice decomposes into carbon dioxide and methane, further enhancing the greenhouse effect and accelerating the melt.

There are potentially more infectious viruses on ice — that’s melting.
AAAS

The newly thawed virus might only be the tip of the epidemiological iceberg as there are likely more hibernating viruses yet to be discovered.

“If the authors are indeed isolating live viruses from ancient permafrost, it is likely that the even smaller, simpler mammalian viruses would also survive frozen for eons,” University of California virologist Eric Delwart told New Scientist.

More research is needed to determine these unknown viruses’ level of infectiousness when exposed to light, heat, oxygen and other outdoor environmental factors.

This isn’t the first long-dormant organism to be awakened from its icy slumber. In June 2021, Russian scientists resurrected “zombie” worms that had been frozen for 24,000 years in the Arctic.

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Health

Smoking marijuana more deadly in cigarette smokers: study

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Smoking marijuana in combination with cigarettes may do more damage to lungs than cigarettes alone, a new study suggests. 

A study published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journal Radiology showed that marijuana use may be linked to an increased risk of emphysema versus smoking only tobacco. The trend is made more worrisome by the fact that cannabis users were younger on average — most were under 50 — than cigarette smokers.

Emphysema develops over time as lung tissue is damaged and causes air sacs to rupture and trap air in the damaged tissue and prevent oxygen from moving through the bloodstream. It can cause shortness of breath, coughing with mucus, wheezing and chest tightness, and is irreversible once it develops.

Over 3 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with the potentially deadly disease despite it being one of the most preventable respiratory illnesses, according to the American Lung Association.

Researchers from the Department of Radiology at Ottawa Hospital found that 75% of the people in the study who smoked marijuana, potentially alongside tobacco, had developed emphysema, while just 67% of the tobacco-only smokers showed signs of the disease. Only 5% of complete nonsmokers were diagnosed.

Furthermore, they saw that paraseptal emphysema, a specific subtype of the disease that affects the outermost parts of the lung, was more common among marijuana smokers compared to those who only smoke tobacco.

The study reviewed chest scans of 56 marijuana smokers — 50 of whom were also current or former tobacco users — 33 tobacco-only smokers and 57 nonsmokers, taken between 2005 to 2020.

But the small-scale study of 150 participants based in Canada had limitations. Researchers did not gather sufficient data on how subjects consumed cannabis, how often they smoked it or for how long they’ve kept up the habit. The method by which cannabis users inhale the substance makes a difference: Blunts, for example, contain tobacco in the wrap.

Tobacco-only smokers in the study were noted to have consumed at least one pack — 20 cigarettes — per day for the past 25 years.

Researchers also did not account for other previous health conditions.

“There’s a public perception that marijuana is safe, or that it’s safer than cigarettes. But this study raises concerns that this may not be true,” said lead study author Dr. Giselle Revah, assistant professor of radiology at the University of Ottawa, in a statement to Agence France-Presse.

“The American Lung Association says the only thing that should go into your lungs is clean air, so if you’re inhaling anything, it could potentially be toxic to your lungs,” Revah said in a CNN report.

“There’s definitely a concern that we’re going to see another generation of lung disease related to these behaviors,” Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, told USA Today.

Researchers point out that marijuana and tobacco are smoked differently, with marijuana smokers usually inhaling deeper and longer, while tobacco is commonly smoked with quick exhalations. Conventionally manufactured cigarettes also have a filter, which may catch certain harmful toxins.

Due to the limitations, experts admit that the study cannot fully the compare the safety of marijuana and tobacco, but agreed that the findings suggest more research should be done as use of the drug is on the rise. E-cigarettes, too, are increasingly popular and should be factored into future research.

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Health

Scientists may have developed fentanyl vaccine

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Scientists believe they’ve developed a vaccine that will block fentanyl from entering the brain and stop users from getting high — a breakthrough being hailed as a “game changer” in the fight against the opioid overdose epidemic.

In testing on rats, the vaccine “produced significant amounts” of anti-fentanyl antibodies that clung to the deadly addictive synthetic opioid, according to a study printed in the journal Pharmaceutics.

That prevented the drug “from entering the brain, allowing it to be eliminated out of the body via the kidneys,” said lead author Colin Haile of the University of Houston’s Drug Discovery Institute.

“Thus, the individual will not feel the euphoric effects and can ‘get back on the wagon’ to sobriety,” said Haile, predicting it “could have a significant impact on a very serious problem plaguing society for years.”

Lead author Colin Haile hopes the vaccine “could have a significant impact on a very serious problem plaguing society for years.”

Fentanyl is up to 50 times stronger than heroin, and a dose of only 2 milligrams — the size of two grains of rice — can prove fatal.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 71,000 Americans died of fentanyl overdoses last year — almost 195 a day — by far the biggest cause of the overall 107,622 fatal overdoses.

The vaccine’s preclinical results “demonstrate efficacy in neutralizing” fentanyl, making it “a potential therapeutic for [overuse] and overdose in humans,” the study stated.

Another of the Texas university’s professors involved in the study, Therese Kosten, called it a potential “game changer.”  

“Fentanyl use and overdose is a particular treatment challenge that is not adequately addressed with current medications,” Kosten said.

Fentanyl is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and killed more than 71,000 in the US last year.
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Those treatments used at the moment are short-lasting and need multiple doses, Kosten said, while the vaccine would effectively also work as a “relapse prevention agent,” the study said.

The team plans to start manufacturing clinical-grade vaccines in the coming months with plans to start trials on humans.

The researchers said the vaccine did not cause any adverse side effects in the rats it was used on, and said the positive fentanyl-blocking results came from low, safe doses.

They also “expect minimal side effects in clinical trials” because the main components are already widely used and tested.

Also, the antibodies proved specific to fentanyl, meaning “a vaccinated person would still be able to be treated for pain relief with other opioids,” Haile noted. 

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Health

How picking your nose could increase risk of Alzheimer’s

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Don’t go digging for gold in your golden years.

New research suggests that picking your nose could increase your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.

Bacteria can travel through the nasal cavity’s olfactory nerve — streamlined through a pick — reach the brain and create markers that are “a tell-tale sign of Alzheimer’s disease,” according to scientists from Australia’s Griffith University.

Specifically, their study, published in Scientific Reports, observed the bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae — a germ linked to respiratory infections including pneumonia — use the olfactory nerve as “an invasion path to assault the central nervous system.” Cells in the brain then responded to the attack by depositing amyloid beta protein, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

Picking your nose might be connected to dementia, new research finds.
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“We’re the first to show that Chlamydia pneumoniae can go directly up the nose and into the brain where it can set off pathologies that look like Alzheimer’s disease,” professor James St. John, the study’s co-author and head of the Clem Jones Center for Neurobiology and Stem Cell Research, said in a press release.

While the study was conducted on mice, St. John said “the evidence is potentially scary for humans as well.”

The olfactory nerve serves as an express route for bacteria to reach the brain as it bypasses the blood-brain barrier, according to the researchers. Their next phase of research, they said, is aimed at proving the same pathway exists in humans.

“We need to do this study in humans and confirm whether the same pathway operates in the same way. It’s research that has been proposed by many people, but not yet completed,” St. John said.

Scientific research has looked into connections between nose picking and dementia.
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“What we do know is that these same bacteria are present in humans, but we haven’t worked out how they get there.”

St. John and his team noted that a loss of smell can be an early sign of Alzheimer’s and suggests smell tests for those 60 and up as an early detector.

“Once you get over 65 years old, your risk factor goes right up, but we’re looking at other causes as well, because it’s not just age — it is environmental exposure as well. And we think that bacteria and viruses are critical.”

Harmful bacteria can reach your brain from picking your nose, new research has found.
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The professor also passed on some valuable guidance on how to protect yourself from nose-pick-related neurological distress.

“Picking your nose and plucking the hairs from your nose are not a good idea … We don’t want to damage the inside of our nose and picking and plucking can do that.

“If you damage the lining of the nose, you can increase how many bacteria can go up into your brain.”

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Health

Eating dinner at 5 p.m. may be healthier, study says

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The early bird gets the worm.

A new study by Harvard Medical School researchers at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital suggests that eating earlier in the day might be better for us — and eating all meals within a 10-hour window could also be healthier.

The research, published in Cell Metabolism, found that the time of day we eat affects our hunger and appetite, energy levels and how the body stores fat.

A new study suggests that eating earlier in the day might be better for you — and eating all meals within a 10-hour window could also be healthier.
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“In this study, we asked, ‘Does the time that we eat matter when everything else is kept consistent?’” Nina Vujovic, a researcher in the hospital’s division of sleep and circadian disorders and author of the study, said.

Researchers asked 16 overweight participants to eat the exact same meals on two different schedules: one earlier in the day and the second about four hours later in the day. For example, one person might eat their meals at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. while someone in the latter group would eat at 1 p.m., 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Eating later more than doubled the likelihood of increased hunger and generated lower levels of the hormone leptin, which is produced when we are full.
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The participants self-reported their hunger and appetite while researchers gathered blood samples, body temperature levels and energy expenditure. The investigators also took biopsies of adipose tissue to compare how the levels between the two eating patterns and gene expression patterns affected molecular pathways involved in adipogenesis — or how the body stores fat.

“We wanted to test the mechanisms that may explain why late eating increases obesity risk,” explained senior author Frank Scheer, a Harvard Medical School professor of medicine and director of the Medical Chronobiology Program in the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women’s. “Previous research by us and others had shown that late eating is associated with increased obesity risk, increased body fat and impaired weight loss success. We wanted to understand why.”

In the two to three weeks leading up to the study, participants had to maintain a strict sleeping and wake-up schedule, and in the last three days prior, they followed identical diets and meal schedules.

The research, published in Cell Metabolism, found that the time of day we eat affects our hunger and appetite, energy levels and how the body stores fat.
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Results showed that late eating increased hunger, decreased energy expenditure, burned calories at a slower rate and altered the adipose tissue gene expression, which promotes fat growth, showing that all these changes combined may increase a risk in obesity. Eating later more than doubled the likelihood of increased hunger and generated lower levels of the hormone leptin, which is produced when we are full.

“We found that eating four hours later makes a significant difference for our hunger levels, the way we burn calories after we eat, and the way we store fat,” Vujovic said. 

Vujovic explained that these results were consistent with many other studies, but this one now shows how and why eating later might increase a risk in obesity. Researchers were able to detect changes in different control systems by using a random crossover study and with tightly controlled behavioral and environmental factors, including physical activity, posture, sleep and light exposure.

The researchers hope to eventually expand on the study to take into account other variables that might be present when not in a controlled setting.

“This study shows the impact of late versus early eating. Here, we isolated these effects by controlling for confounding variables like caloric intake, physical activity, sleep, and light exposure, but in real life, many of these factors may themselves be influenced by meal timing,” Scheer said. 

“In larger-scale studies, where tight control of all these factors is not feasible, we must at least consider how other behavioral and environmental variables alter these biological pathways underlying obesity risk.”

The study is good news for New Yorkers, who have started opting for a 5 p.m. dinner rather than a 8 p.m. meal.

According to the New York Times, New Yorkers are choosing to eat earlier in the day as a way to mark the end of their work day — since blurred lines between work and home life have become par for the course since the pandemic.

Margot Finn, a food studies lecturer at the University of Michigan, told the paper that 5 p.m. isn’t necessarily when people want to eat, but rather “when they want to be somewhere else.”

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Health

White rice is just as bad for your heart as candy, study suggests

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Here’s some spooky news for rice lovers this October: A new study has found that eating too many refined grains is just as bad for your heart as eating too much Halloween candy.

The report, which studied the eating habits and health histories of Iranians, says the risk of premature coronary artery disease, or PCAD, from eating white rice is similar to that of eating the kind of “unhealthy sugars and oils” found in sweet treats.

The study focused on a group of some 2,500 people, some with normal arteries and some with coronary artery disease. Each participant answered a food frequency questionnaire to determine how often they ate whole and refined grains.

Researchers found a higher intake of refined grain was associated with an increased risk of PCAD, while eating whole grains was associated with a reduced risk.

Grains are “refined” when they’re processed into flour or meal, which gives them a finer texture and longer shelf life but eliminates some key nutrients. However, whole grains, like brown rice oats and whole-wheat bread, contain the entire grain.

“There are many factors involved in why people may be consuming more refined grains as opposed to whole grains … Some of the most important factors to consider include the economy and income, job, education, culture, age and other similar factors,” said Dr. Mohammad Amin Khajavi Gaskarei, the study’s lead author.

The study examined the relationship between different types of grain intake and premature coronary artery disease.
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“A diet that includes consuming a high amount of unhealthy and refined grains can be considered similar to consuming a diet containing a lot of unhealthy sugars and oils,” he continued.

Refined grains are quickly broken down by the body since they have been stripped of fiber, which leads to a post-meal spike in blood sugar levels, per the CDC.

Over time, high blood sugar can damage blood vessels and the nerves that control the heart and cause plaque to form in the artery walls.

A 2019 report from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association recommends a diet that emphasizes the intake of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains and fish to decrease heart disease risk factors.

“As more studies demonstrate an increase in refined grains consumption globally, as well as the impact on overall health, it is important that we find ways to encourage and educate people on the benefits of whole grain consumption,” Khajavi Gaskarei continued.

The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association recommend a diet that emphasizes vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains and fish to decrease heart disease risk factors.
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“Tactics to consider include teaching improved dietary choices in schools and other public places in simple language the general population can understand, as well as on television programs and by continuing to do high-level research that is presented at medical conferences and published in medical journals. Clinicians must also be having these conversations with each other and their patients,” the doctor concluded.

The study will be presented at the American College of Cardiology Middle East with the 13th Emirates Cardiac Society Congress in Dubai at a conference that starts Friday and goes through Sunday.

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