Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/CmwdpRQqV_0

I’m attending the National Assn. of Broadcasters Meeting this week.  Here is some evergreen “Health News You Can Always Use.”

Exercise not only strengthens your heart, tones your muscles, and drives more blood flow to your brain, it also trains your fat cells to release healthy proteins into your blood that help keep your body humming.  New research from Harvard’s Joslin Diabetes Center just published in Nature Metabolism demonstrate that exercise-primed fat releases a healthy so-called adipokine that improves glucose metabolism.

This magic protein, Transforming Growth Factor Beta 2 or TGFbeta2, appears in both humans and mice as the result of exercise.  It controls blood sugar levels and neutralizes the effect of a high fat diet which in mice and in many humans induces diabetes.

Your muscles do play a role in the process too.  The lactic acid they produce as you exercise appears to be the trigger that leads to TGFbeta2 release from fat.  The investigators speculate that, someday, this key protein messenger released by fat may become a practical treatment for diabetes.

Takahashi et al. TGF-B2 is an Exercise-Induced Adipokine that Regulates Glucose and Fatty Acid Metabolism. Nature Metabolism, 2019 DOI: 10.1038/s42255-018-0030-7

#fat #adiposetissue #obesity #diabetes #TGFbeta2 #transforminggrowthfactor

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/wnjvya7f9iE

I’m attending the National Assn. of Broadcasters Meeting this week.  Here is some evergreen “Health News You Can Always Use.”

Eyeing that 10 layer chocolate cake or mile high apple pie before you select your main and side dishes will help you make a  more nutritious choice.  So says a study from the University of Arizona’s marketing department just published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology:Applied.

Dining subjects  were presented with either a luscious lemon cheesecake or fresh fruit as a dessert choice at the beginning or at the end of a cafeteria line.  For the meal, they could chose healthy by selecting grilled chicken fajitas with a side salad or unhealthy by picking fried fish and chips.

When the diners put the cheesecake versus the fresh fruit dessert on their trays before selecting the remainder of their meal, they were twice as likely to pick the healthy entree and actually consumed 30% fewer calories.  There were similar findings in a test of online ordering for home delivery.

The researchers also observed that diners with alot on their minds by being challenged with a memory test, a so-called “cognitive load,” made poorer food choices.  They selected the high cal, high fat foods as well as the mega cal cake.

The next time you eat out or order in, check out that tantalizing dessert display before you order.  To relax yourself and clear your mind, have that small glass of wine.

David Flores, Martin Reimann, Raquel Castaño, Alberto Lopez. If I indulge first, I will eat less overall: The unexpected interaction effect of indulgence and presentation order on consumption.. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2019; DOI: 10.1037/xap0000210

#dessert #cake #fruit

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/vOcrGIm3oYQ

I’m attending the National Assn. of Broadcasters Meeting this week.  Here is some evergreen “Health News You Can Always Use.”

Take out meals, just like sit-down restaurant offerings, are way too large with way too many calories.  A British fish n’ chip wholesale supplier cooperated with academic nutritionists at Newcastle University to design what they call the Lite-BITE® box carry out box as part of a UK national campaign to fight obesity.

The usual fish and chip take out meal clocks in at over 1600 calories which is almost an entire day’s caloric tally.  The Lite-BITE® box holds 5 ounces of fish and 5 ounces of chips for a more moderate 650 calories.

Fried fish and fried potatoes are hardly healthy choices, but at least the smaller take-out box keeps the calorie count down.   If a you as a  diner need a more filling meal, a side salad should complete your order.

Right-sizing portion size is a powerful tool in maintaining a healthy weight.  Smaller takeout boxes also makes the food portion appear less puny.  Remember back in the days when airlines actually served us food, they employed the same optical illusion by serving scraps of food on tiny plates and giving us tiny utensils.

Louis Goffe, Frances Hillier-Brown, Natalie Hildred, etal. Feasibility of working with a wholesale supplier to co-design and test acceptability of an intervention to promote smaller portions: an uncontrolled before-and-after study in British Fish & Chip shops. BMJ Open, 2019; 9 (2): bmjopen-2018-023441 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023441

#fish #chips #takeout #obesity

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/CmwdpRQqV_0

I’m attending the National Assn. of Broadcasters Meeting this week.  Here is some evergreen “Health News You Can Always Use.”

Exercise not only strengthens your heart, tones your muscles, and drives more blood flow to your brain, it also trains your fat cells to release healthy proteins into your blood that help keep your body humming.  New research from Harvard’s Joslin Diabetes Center just published in Nature Metabolism demonstrate that exercise-primed fat releases a healthy so-called adipokine that improves glucose metabolism.

This magic protein, Transforming Growth Factor Beta 2 or TGFbeta2, appears in both humans and mice as the result of exercise.  It controls blood sugar levels and neutralizes the effect of a high fat diet which in mice and in many humans induces diabetes.

Your muscles do play a role in the process too.  The lactic acid they produce as you exercise appears to be the trigger that leads to TGFbeta2 release from fat.  The investigators speculate that, someday, this key protein messenger released by fat may become a practical treatment for diabetes.

Takahashi et al. TGF-B2 is an Exercise-Induced Adipokine that Regulates Glucose and Fatty Acid Metabolism. Nature Metabolism, 2019 DOI: 10.1038/s42255-018-0030-7

#fat #adiposetissue #obesity #diabetes #TGFbeta2 #transforminggrowthfactor

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/zIfLaqiW4cw

Children of mothers consuming fish during their first trimester enjoyed enhanced attentiveness at 8 years of age.  A Spanish study of 1641 mother-child pairs reviewed data capturing the pregnant mother’s dietary habits, the children’s food preferences at 1,5, and 8 years of age, and the child’s attention skills.

The 8 year olds with the best attention scores were born to mothers who consumed either a wide variety of fish during pregnancy or fatty fish.  Eating tunafish and/or shellfish tended to lower scores.

The take home: a moderate intake of salmon and trout with occasional herring and anchovies should be part of a mom’s-to-be first trimester menu.  Avoid fish with mercury.

Jordi Julvez, Sílvia Fernández-Barrés, Florence Gignac, Mónica López-Vicente, Mariona Bustamante, Raquel Garcia-Esteban, Jesús Vioque, Sabrina Llop, Ferran Ballester, Ana Fernández-Somoano, Adonina Tardón, Martine Vrijheid, Cathryn Tonne, Jesus Ibarluzea, Amaia Irazabal, Nuria Sebastian-Galles, Miguel Burgaleta, Dora Romaguera, Jordi Sunyer. Maternal seafood consumption during pregnancy and child attention outcomes: a cohort study with gene effect modification by PUFA-related genes. International Journal of Epidemiology, 2019; DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyz197

#Pregnancy #fattyfish #shellfish #tuna #attentiveness 

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/zIfLaqiW4cw

Children of mothers consuming fish during their first trimester enjoyed enhanced attentiveness at 8 years of age.  A Spanish study of 1641 mother-child pairs reviewed data capturing the pregnant mother’s dietary habits, the children’s food preferences at 1,5, and 8 years of age, and the child’s attention skills.

The 8 year olds with the best attention scores were born to mothers who consumed either a wide variety of fish during pregnancy or fatty fish.  Eating tunafish and/or shellfish tended to lower scores.

The take home: a moderate intake of salmon and trout with occasional herring and anchovies should be part of a mom’s-to-be first trimester menu.  Avoid fish with mercury.

Jordi Julvez, Sílvia Fernández-Barrés, Florence Gignac, Mónica López-Vicente, Mariona Bustamante, Raquel Garcia-Esteban, Jesús Vioque, Sabrina Llop, Ferran Ballester, Ana Fernández-Somoano, Adonina Tardón, Martine Vrijheid, Cathryn Tonne, Jesus Ibarluzea, Amaia Irazabal, Nuria Sebastian-Galles, Miguel Burgaleta, Dora Romaguera, Jordi Sunyer. Maternal seafood consumption during pregnancy and child attention outcomes: a cohort study with gene effect modification by PUFA-related genes. International Journal of Epidemiology, 2019; DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyz197

#Pregnancy #fattyfish #shellfish #tuna #attentiveness 

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/4xkbyO9LlJA

If you’re pressured to answer a question, you will answer with a response designed to please the questioner even if its a lie.  UC-Santa Barbara psychologists draw this conclusion after testing a total of 3,000 participants.

Research shows that the human mind has two processing components: the higher functioning, rational section and the more instinctive, animalistic section.  Time pressure and stress spark visceral brain output which is often irrational and downright false.

We should all be aware that our human impulse to answer quickly can get us in deep trouble with our families as well as the law.  When in doubt, the 5 most important words you can use are “let me think about it!”

John Protzko, Claire M. Zedelius, Jonathan W. Schooler. Rushing to Appear Virtuous: Time Pressure Increases Socially Desirable Responding. Psychological Science, 2019; 095679761986793 DOI: 10.1177/0956797619867939

#Impulsivity #lying #stress

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/4xkbyO9LlJA

If you’re pressured to answer a question, you will answer with a response designed to please the questioner even if its a lie.  UC-Santa Barbara psychologists draw this conclusion after testing a total of 3,000 participants.

Research shows that the human mind has two processing components: the higher functioning, rational section and the more instinctive, animalistic section.  Time pressure and stress spark visceral brain output which is often irrational and downright false.

We should all be aware that our human impulse to answer quickly can get us in deep trouble with our families as well as the law.  When in doubt, the 5 most important words you can use are “let me think about it!”

John Protzko, Claire M. Zedelius, Jonathan W. Schooler. Rushing to Appear Virtuous: Time Pressure Increases Socially Desirable Responding. Psychological Science, 2019; 095679761986793 DOI: 10.1177/0956797619867939

#Impulsivity #lying #stress

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/3DvjA_Fh_Kk

An antioxidant compound found in green tea can rearm a powerful antibiotic after its deactivation by the nefarious, multidrug-resistant bacterium Pseudomonas.  British and German pathologists and microbiologists collaborated on this discovery.

Epigallocatechin or EGCG is a natural anti-oxidant found in green tea.  The researchers found that EGCG works in synergy with the antibiotic aztreonam to restore and significantly boost the antibiotic’s ability to kill Pseudomonas aeruginosa in both the test tube and in living test systems.

With news that our antibiotics are running out of steam, medications derived from plants both common and esoteric may come to our rescue.  Meanwhile, the best defense is timely and repeated handwashing.

Jonathan W. Betts et al. Restoring the activity of the antibiotic aztreonam using the polyphenol epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) against multidrug-resistant clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Journal of Medical Microbiology (2019). DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.001060

#Tea #antioxidant #drugresistance #antibiotics #pseudomonas

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/3DvjA_Fh_Kk

An antioxidant compound found in green tea can rearm a powerful antibiotic after its deactivation by the nefarious, multidrug-resistant bacterium Pseudomonas.  British and German pathologists and microbiologists collaborated on this discovery.

Epigallocatechin or EGCG is a natural anti-oxidant found in green tea.  The researchers found that EGCG works in synergy with the antibiotic aztreonam to restore and significantly boost the antibiotic’s ability to kill Pseudomonas aeruginosa in both the test tube and in living test systems.

With news that our antibiotics are running out of steam, medications derived from plants both common and esoteric may come to our rescue.  Meanwhile, the best defense is timely and repeated handwashing.

Jonathan W. Betts et al. Restoring the activity of the antibiotic aztreonam using the polyphenol epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) against multidrug-resistant clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Journal of Medical Microbiology (2019). DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.001060

#Tea #antioxidant #drugresistance #antibiotics #pseudomonas