Tag: nutrition and diet
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Nation & World
Exercise, calorie restrictions can rejuvenate older synapses
Harvard researchers have uncovered a mechanism in mice through which caloric restriction and exercise delay some of the debilitating effects of aging by rejuvenating the connections between nerves and the muscles that they control.
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Nation & World
With fasting, enzyme turns off body’s production of fats, cholesterol
Fasting helps cause an enzyme with several important roles in energy metabolism to turn off the body’s generation of fats and cholesterol, Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have found. …
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Nation & World
Processed meats come with increased risk of heart disease, diabetes
In a new study, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that eating processed meat, such as bacon, sausage, or processed deli meats, led to a…
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Nation & World
Polyunstaturated fats may cut risk of heart disease
Although for nearly 60 years people have been urged to decrease their consumption of saturated fats to prevent heart disease, there has been surprisingly little scientific evidence that doing so actually decreases the risk of coronary heart disease events
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Nation & World
A molecule that destroys normal metabolism is found
Overeating in mice triggers a molecule once considered to be only involved in detecting and fighting viruses to also destroy normal metabolism, leading to insulin resistance and setting the stage…
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Nation & World
Low-carb diets linked to atherosclerosis and impaired blood vessel growth
Even as low-carbohydrate/high-protein diets have proven successful at helping individuals rapidly lose weight, little is known about the diets’ long-term effects on vascular health. Now, a study led by team…
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Nation & World
D. Mark Hegsted, national force in science of human nutrition, dies
D. Mark Hegsted, who was instrumental in the development of the federal “Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” died Tuesday, June 16, 2009, at the age of 95 at a nursing center…
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Nation & World
Shining light on leptin’s role in brain
In investigating the complex neurocircuitry behind weight gain and glucose control, scientists have known that the hormone leptin plays a key role in the process. But within the myriad twists…
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Nation & World
Glutamine supplements show promise in treating stomach ulcers
Nearly 20 years ago, it was discovered that bacteria known as Helicobacter pylori were responsible for stomach ulcers. Since then, antibiotics have become the primary therapy used to combat the…
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Nation & World
Eating fatty fish once a week reduces men’s risk of heart failure
Eating salmon or other fatty fish just once a week helped reduce men’s risk of heart failure, a recent study shows, adding to growing evidence that omega-3 fatty acids are of benefit to cardiac health.
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Nation & World
Waist size predictor of heart failure in men and women
Adding to the growing evidence that a person’s waist size is an important indicator of heart health, a study led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has found that larger waist circumference is associated with increased risk of heart failure in middle-aged and older populations of men and women.
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Nation & World
Infant weight gain linked to childhood obesity
As childhood obesity continues its 30-year advance from occasional curiosity to cultural epidemic, health care providers are struggling to find out why — and the reasons are many. Increasingly sedentary…
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Nation & World
Weight loss bottom line: Fewer calories
A new study by Harvard researchers and colleagues shows that eating fewer calories leads to weight loss, regardless of where those calories come from. Many popular diets emphasize either carbohydrate,…
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Nation & World
Obesity: Reviving the promise of leptin
The discovery more than a decade ago of leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone secreted by fat tissue, generated headlines and great hopes for an effective treatment for obesity. But hopes dimmed…
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Nation & World
Harvard Initiative for Global Health recipient of NIH Global Health Nutrition grant
The Harvard Initiative for Global Health (HIGH) has been selected to receive a prestigious $400,000 Framework Programs for Global Health grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center.…
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Nation & World
Suboptimal sleep, TV watching correlate with overweight in infants and toddlers
Infants and toddlers who sleep less than 12 hours a day are twice as likely to become overweight by age 3 than children who sleep longer. In addition, high levels…
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Nation & World
Consumption of some foods associated with decrease in ovarian cancer risk
New research from the Channing Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) reports that frequent consumption of foods containing the flavonoid kaempferol, including non-herbal tea and broccoli, was associated with…
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Nation & World
Weight gain between first and second pregnancies and sex ratio
A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, found that mothers who experienced an increase in weight from the beginning of…
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Nation & World
Hormones in milk can be dangerous
Ganmaa Davaasambuu is a physician (Mongolia), a Ph.D. in environmental health (Japan), a fellow (Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study), and a working scientist (Harvard School of Public Health). On Monday…
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Nation & World
Risk of breast cancer may be associated with red meat consumption
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have found that eating more red meat may be associated with a higher risk for hormone receptor–positive breast cancers in premenopausal women. This…
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Nation & World
Dietary supplements can cause harmful reactions with prescription medicines
More than one of every five people who take prescription drugs also use dietary supplements, like ginseng and gingko, without telling their doctors. Such combinations may lead to harmful results,…
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Nation & World
Study says moderate drinking reduces men’s heart attack risk
Even as studies have consistently found an association between moderate alcohol consumption and reduced heart attack risk in men, an important question has persisted: What if the men who drank…
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Nation & World
Study shows benefits of eating fish greatly outweigh risks
Many studies have shown the nutritional benefits of eating fish (finfish or shellfish). Fish is high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids. But concerns have been raised in recent years…
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Nation & World
Sunshine may help prevent breast cancer
Evidence is piling up that boosting vitamin D intake may help prevent breast cancer. One major study of 1,760 women found that the higher the levels of vitamin D in…
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Nation & World
Mad cow protein found to have a sane side
It’s a devastating disease, changing behavior, causing uncontrolled movements, blindness, coma, and, finally, death. And we all have the makings of it in our heads. When it topples cows, it’s…
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Nation & World
Fatty foods feed heart attacks, researchers say
Hold the french fries, doughnuts, and cookies, and save as many as 228,000 heart attacks and deaths from heart disease. That’s the message from a team of researchers at the…
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Nation & World
Researchers create pigs that produce omega-3 fatty acids
Researchers report they have created pigs that produce omega -3 fatty acids, which are known to improve heart function and help reduce the risks for heart disease, representing the first…
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Nation & World
Binge eating disorder may have genetic ties
Researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital have reported that binge eating disorder runs in families, raising the possibility that this condition may have a genetic basis. In the study, published in…