Bite-Sized Medicine

Bite-Sized Medicine

By Bite-Sized MedicineHealth & Fitness
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Bite-Sized Medicine episodes

  • An Interview: Katie Petro, MS

    Tune in for a special episode with one of the founders of Bite-Sized Medicine, Katie Petro! She is finishing up her degree in dietetics and provided the nutrition expertise to support the early episodes. Hear her perspective on working with medical students and sharing resources to create the episodes that started the podcast.

    10 min
  • Red Meat

    Controversy is everywhere when it comes to meat intake in general, particularly processed meats and red meats. Let us review the evidence and quality/bias of study concerns that may help physicians make more reliable recommendations.


    Resources:

    1. Eat Less Red Meat, Scientists Said. Now Some Believe That Was Bad Advice. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/health/red-meat-heart-cancer.html
    2. Red and processed meat consumption and risk of glioma in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4621656/
    3. Meat subtypes and their association with colorectal cancer: Systematic review and meta‐analysis. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ijc.29423
    4. Effect of Lower Versus Higher Red Meat Intake on Cardiometabolic and Cancer Outcomes. Annals of Internal Medicine.
    5. Patterns of Red and Processed Meat Consumption and Risk for Cardiometabolic and Cancer Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Cohort Studies. https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/2752327/patterns-red-processed-meat-consumption-risk-cardiometabolic-cancer-outcomes-systematic
    6. Here's The Real Truth About That Confusing Red Meat Study. https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-the-real-truth-about-that-confusing-red-meat-study
    7. Is it safe to Increase consumption of Red Meat? KCRW’s Second Opinion. https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381444879/k-c-r-w-s-second-opinion
      8. 7 min
    8. Grilling and carcinogens

      Learn the effects of grilling and carcinogens according to most recent evidence.


      Resources:

      https://www.aicr.org/press/press-releases/2019/cancer-experts-issue-warning-on-grilling-safety.html

      8 min
    9. Snacking

      A review of the research on frequency of consumption and quality of snack foods with respect to its effect on overall health.


      Resources:

      1. Adv Nutr. 2018 Mar 1;9(2):86-98. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmx003. Snacking Recommendations Worldwide: A Scoping Review. Potter M1, Vlassopoulos A1, Lehmann U1.
      2. Meals and snacking, diet quality and energy balance
      3. “What Science Says about snacking” https://foodandnutrition.org/july-august-2015/science-says-snacking/
        4. 6 min
      4. Fad Diets

        A run through of the evidence, theory, and effect of common fad diets.

        Resources:

        1. Agaston, Arthur. The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss. Rodale, 2003.
        2. Atkins, Robert C. "Dr. Atkins' diet revolution; the high calorie way to stay thin forever." (1972).
        3. Cordain, Loren. The paleo diet: lose weight and get healthy by eating the food you were designed to eat. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007.
        4. D'adamo, Peter J., and Catherine Whitney. The Eat Right 4 Your Type The complete Blood Type Encyclopedia. Penguin, 2002.
        5. Dansinger, Michael L., et al. "Comparison of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone diets for weight loss and heart disease risk reduction: a randomized trial." Jama 293.1 (2005): 43-53.
        6. Davis, William. "Wheat belly: lose the wheat, loss the weight and find your path back to health." New York: Rodale (2011).
        7. Ornish, Dean. "Eat more, weigh less: Dr. Dean Ornish's life choice program for losing weight safely while eating abundantly." (1993).
        8. Pittet, P. H., P. H. Gygax, and E. Jequier. "Thermic effect of glucose and amino acids in man studied by direct and indirect calorimetry." British Journal of Nutrition 31.03 (1974): 343-349.
        9. Wang, Jingzhou, et al. "ABO Genotype,‘Blood-Type’Diet and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors." PloS one 9.1 (2014): e84749.
          10. 8 min
        10. Brain Foods

          Which foods play a role in cognitive function and how can we be sure to eat to protect our brains? We will review the evidence on what foods seem to promote brain function and the understanding behind why they are helpful!

          Resources:

          1. Geijselaers et al. “Glucose regulation, cognition, and brain MRI in type 2 diabetes: a systematic review.” Lancet Diabetes Endocrinology 2015; 3:75-89.
          2. Edwards et al. “Short-term consumption of a high-fat diet impairs whole-body efficiency and cognitive function in sedentary men.” The FASEB Journal. March 2011, Vol 25.
          3. Shinto et al. “A randomized placebo-controlled pilot trial of omega-3 fatty acids and alpha lipoic acid in Alzheimer's disease.” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. 2014;38(1):111-20.
          4. Resnick. “Iron and mechanisms of emotional behavior.” Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. 2014;25(11):1101-1107.
          5. Lomagno et al. “Increasing iron and zinc in pre-menopausal women and its effects on mood and cognition: a systematic review.” Nutrients. 2014 Nov 14;6(11):5117-41.
          6. Konofal et al. “Iron Deficiency in Children with ADHD.” Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. 2004;158(12):1113-1115.
          7. Joseph, James A., Barbara Shukitt-Hale, and Lauren M. Willis. "Grape juice, berries, and walnuts affect brain aging and behavior." The Journal of nutrition 2009;139(9): 1813S-1817S.
          8. Krikorian, Robert, et al. "Blueberry Supplementation Improves Memory in Older Adults." Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 2010;58(7): 3996-4000.
          9. Devore, Elizabeth E., et al. "Dietary intakes of berries and flavonoids in relation to cognitive decline." Annals of neurology 2012;72(1): 135-143.
            10. 9 min
          11. Cancer

            In this episode we focus on optimizing the body's ability to regulate inflammation and cope with stress. We also touch on some foods that are associated with increased risk of certain cancers.


            Resources:

            1. Bennett, Jeanette Marie, et al. "Inflammation, nature’s way to efficiently respond to all types of challenges: Implications for understanding and managing “the epidemic” of chronic diseases." Frontiers in Medicine 5 (2018): 316.
            2. Keeren, Kathrin, et al. "Effect of different omega-6/omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid ratios on the formation of monohydroxylated fatty acids in THP-1 derived macrophages." Biology 4.2 (2015): 314-326.
            3. Masters, Rachel C., et al. "Whole and refined grain intakes are related to inflammatory protein concentrations in human plasma." The Journal of nutrition 140.3 (2010): 587-594.
            4. AICR
              5. 9 min
            5. Organics

              A quick dive into what it means for a product to be labeled "organic" and what impact, if any, eating organic has on our health.

              Articles/references

              • https://www.ewg.org/consumer-guides#.W4LwY-hKjIU
              • https://www.ccof.org/organic
              • https://www.ccof.org/policy-advocacy/national-organic-program-nop-national-organic-standards-board-nosb
                • 6 min
              • Gluten

                In this episode we explore gluten, Celiac disease, and the evidence behind utilizing gluten-free diets as a weight loss tool.

                Articles/references:

                • Aziz, I., Dwivedi, K., & Sanders, D. S. (2016). From coeliac disease to noncoeliac gluten sensitivity; should everyone be gluten free? Current Opinion in Gastroenterology,32(2), 120-127. doi:10.1097/mog.0000000000000248
                  • NCGS and the benefits of a GFD are reported amongst patients with irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, and non intestinal disorders such as neuropsychiatric diseases and fibromyalgia. However, no reliable biomarkers currently exist to diagnose NCGS and hence confirmatory testing can only be performed using double-blind placebo-controlled gluten-based challenges. Unfortunately, such tests are not available in routine clinical practice. Furthermore, recent novel studies have highlighted the role of other gluten-based components in contributing to the symptoms of self-reported NCGS. These include fermentable oligo, di, mono-saccharides and polyols, amylase trypsin inhibitors, and wheat germ agglutinins. Therefore, NCGS is now seen as a spectrum encompassing several biological responses and terms such as 'non coeliac wheat sensitivity' have been suggested as a wider label to define the condition.
                  • Jamieson, J. A., Weir, M., & Gougeon, L. (2018). Canadian packaged gluten-free foods are less nutritious than their regular gluten-containing counterparts. PeerJ,6. doi:10.7717/peerj.5875
                    • And in Canada - Jamieson study: GF staples (cereals, breads, flours, pastas) contained 1.3 times more fat and less iron (by 55%), folate (by 44%) and protein (by 36%), than GC counterparts (P < 0.0001). On average, GF pastas had only 37% of the fibre in GC pastas (P < 0.0001). Notably, GF and GC flours were equivalent in nutrient content. Despite GF and GC flours having similar nutritional content, the vast majority of the processed GF foods fell short in key nutrients.
                    • Missbach, B., Schwingshackl, L., Billmann, A., Mystek, A., Hickelsberger, M., Bauer, G., & König, J. (2015). Gluten-free food database: The nutritional quality and cost of packaged gluten-free foods. PeerJ,3. doi:10.7717/peerj.1337
                      • Missbach: Similar GF discretionary food database → less fiber, less protein overall, and ranging from 206% to 267% higher in cost than their gluten-containing ( glutenous) counterparts. 
                      • Taetzsch, A., Das, S., Brown, C., Krauss, A., Silver, R., & Roberts, S. (2018). Are Gluten-Free Diets More Nutritious? An Evaluation of Self-Selected and Recommended Gluten-Free and Gluten-Containing Dietary Patterns. Nutrients,10(12), 1881. doi:10.3390/nu10121881
                      • Theethira, T. G., & Dennis, M. (2015). Celiac Disease and the Gluten-Free Diet: Consequences and Recommendations for Improvement. Digestive Diseases,33(2), 175-182. doi:10.1159/000369504
                      • Wu, J. H., Neal, B., Trevena, H., Crino, M., Stuart-Smith, W., Faulkner-Hogg, K., . . . Dunford, E. (2015). Are gluten-free foods healthier than non-gluten-free foods? An evaluation of supermarket products in Australia. British Journal of Nutrition,114(03), 448-454. doi:10.1017/s0007114515002056
                        • Wu study: Australian supermarket health index comparison between foods labelled gf and those containing wheat or wheat product/rye or barley were equivocal and overall contained less protein
                        • http://freakonomics.com/podcast/demonization-gluten/
                        • Notes from AND Evidence Analysis Library
                          • 9 min

                        About Bite-Sized Medicine

                        From the publisher's feed

                        Created as a joint effort between medical and dietetics students, this podcast consists of short (10 minute) talks covering topics on nutrition, health, and wellbeing.