It's still worth the effort... but...

... weight loss really could be more difficult for some individuals than others, according to new research published by researchers at the Phoenix Epidemiology and Clinical Research Branch of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases division.

Their recent study selected 12 obese individuals (both male and female) to participate in the study.  Allow me to digress for a moment, as I was a little disappointed to see such a small number of participants.  First, males and females have proven to be different in the realm of weight loss.  Second, a statistically significant study should have at least 30 participants, or can it really be applied to the general population?  And third... don't we seem to have an ample supply of obese individuals in this country that could have participated in this?  I'm operating under the assumption that the study was so small simply because there wasn't enough funding for more people.  Now back to the details.

So the participants fasted for a day and then spent some time in an indirect calorimetry room.  Indirect calorimetry, or an indirect calorimeter, is used to measure metabolism - the rate at which we use energy.  Energy is "burned" and the burning of energy creates heat.  Heat is measured in kilocalories or calories.  The indirect calorimeter does this by measures the amount of oxygen we take in and the amount of carbon dioxide we then produce.  Through complex equations with these 2 factors, researchers can then determine how much energy was used by the body (without having to "directly" measure the heat produced as this is much more difficult when working with an animate object).

After the day of fasting, and the measurement of their metabolic rate, all participants then followed a controlled diet for 6 weeks.  The diet provided only 50% of their calorie needs.  At the end of the study, after accounting for differences in age, sex, race and baseline weight, the researchers found that some of the individuals were more resistant to weight loss than others.  This factor itself doesn't seem news-worthy.  What was interesting was that the participants whose metabolism dropped the most following their one-day fast, were the same participants that lost the least amount of weight. 

The ability for the body to adapt to new circumstances seems like a great thing.  But in the face of weight loss, this adaptive metabolism is impressively frustrating.  These people are said to possess a "thrifty" metabolism.  Thrifty is great when you're working with a tight financial budget... but when you're working hard to lose weight and your body is constantly fighting this, it certainly makes the road to success much more difficult.

Interestingly, it doesn't seem that the participants were encouraged to exercise during this study.  That may have been on purpose as exercise can help to increase or at least preserve your metabolic rate (and the study just wanted to see what effect the food restriction had).

So if you find yourself suffering with a thrifty metabolism.  Don't fret.  Your struggle will be harder, but as long as you recognize the need to preserve your metabolism by making smaller diet alterations and increasing activity along the way... your success will taste much sweeter than those for whom weight loss is a breeze.

Next up on the list to study, for these particular researchers, is the effect on metabolism when studying lean individuals who are put on a higher calorie diet.

www.nih.gov/news/health/may2015/niddk-11.htm

What can Asparagus do for Breast Cancer?

Can asparagus do the job that modern medicine struggles to perform?

A short time back I had a friend ask me if I had ever heard what the deal is with asparagus and breast cancer.  At first thought, I was sure I had it figured out.  Asparagus, like other fruits and vegetables, contains a lot of antioxidants.  These antioxidants are know to help prevent cancer by fighting the free radicals with their amazing super powers and preventing the opportunity for those free radicals to alter cell DNA... thus preventing mutant cells that become cancerous.  BAM!  Well, that wasn't quite what I found when I set off to investigate the particulars of asparagus.  Asparagus, while it had antioxidants which are wonderful, also possess other unique characteristics that help it to fight hormone-dependent cancers, like breast cancer.

In a simulation study, scientists suggested that asparagus (asparagus racemosus) could offer protection against the spread (metastasis) of breast cancer cells.  The majority of breast cancer are hormone-responsive.  This means that their growth is dependent upon circulating hormones to promote the tumor growth.

In a normal scenario certain cell receptors are constantly seeking a particular hormone to connect with them to allow molecular pathways to continue.  Think of it like a chain reaction.  If you have some dynamite and a fuse on the dynamite, in order to make the dynamite explode you need a match.  This is also the case with cells.  They need particular hormones to tell them when to start doing their particular job.  This process is normally very effective.  However, in the case of breast cancer, when estrogen connects with some of these cells, it encourages growth to continue, which means the cancer begins to grow rapidly.  Certain plants contain nutrients called phytoestrogens, or plant estrogens.  It would seem that if your body's estrogen was something you wanted less of (while fighting breast cancer), then surely the plant estrogens would be just as dangerous.  What some research has revealed, though, is that these phytoestroens may actually function to block your body's estrogen by binding with these cell receptors.  So in essence, the aggressive cancer growth cannot occur because your body's estrogen couldn't encourage it - the spot was already filled by phytoestrogens and they weren't capable of sending the same cancer growth signal.

Another study looked at how well asparagus root saponins faired when their toxicity to cancer cells was tested.  The asparagus went up against breast, colon and pancreatic cancer cells and emerged victorious,  Results showed that incubation of these cancer cells with the asparagus root saponins increased the incidence of cancer cell death 12-15% over a 48-hour period.  Their investigation also looked for data on how the asparagus prevented cancers invasion of other organs.  As we've discovered over the years the scariest part of cancer can sometimes be the remission when we ponder whether it will appear somewhere else down the road.  It seemed, from their imagery, that cells that were more likely to spread to nearby cells had round shapes and moved somewhat like an amoeba.  Their shape allowed the cells to remain in close contact with each other, moving somewhat like a gang.  When the same cells were treated with varying concentrations of asparagus root saponins, they found the shape of the cells changed.  Now instead of being round amoebas, they looked more like elongated swords.  While still being bound to the same location and performed their assigned jobs appropriately, the cell shape prevented the treated cells from forming strong bonds to each other and thus reduced the cell movement. 

So what do I think?  Well, I think asparagus is amazing.  It tastes good.  It makes your pee smell funky.  And now look at the amazing benefit that eating it could have if you are faced with a battle against breast cancer!!!  Does this mean you should forego chemotherapy or radiation treatments?  NOOOOO!  Your oncologist knows far more about specialized cancer treatment than I could ever dream of knowing.  But does it mean you might want to add it to your list of weekly vegetable options?  For sure!  If you don't care for asparagus, or if you want a hit of asparagus everyday, you can also look for asparagus root capsules. 

You can even sneak some extra asparagus into things for your family.  I made this soup (pictured above) from a corn chowder recipe, but then I not only added some bite-sized pieces of asparagus, but I also took the usually-discarded bottom parts of the asparagus and pulverized them in the blender and added that to the soup base for bonus asparagus goodness!


Singla R, Jaitak V. Molecular docking simulation study of phytoestrogens from Asparagus racemosus in breast cancer progression. Intl J Pharm Sci Res. 2015;6(1):172-

Wang J, Liu Y, Zhao J, Zhang W, Pang X. Saponins extracted from by-product of Asparagus officinalis L. suppress tumor cell migration and invasion through targeting Rho GTPase signalling pathyway. J Sci Food Agric. 2013;93:1492-1498.

When did popcorn become unhealthy?

Well... not the popcorn, but our desire for super easy ways of preparing foods have led us down a path that now makes popcorn less healthy than it once was.

Microwave-ready popcorn is what you need to be weary of.  It seems like a healthy snack, and compared to some other options at the grocery store it probably still is a better choice.  But just like everything put out to consumer's the products are "doctored" so much to make them appetizing they take on some less desirable ingredients in the process.

So what's the problem with microwave popcorn?

1.  Diacetyl.  Pronounced "die-ah-see-tull".  This is a powder that is added to microwave popcorn to give it that fabulous buttery taste and smell when you open the bag.  It is also added to some other food items where a cheesy flavor is desired.  Diacetyl, like most things in small quantities, is not a big problem.  However, diacetyl has been blamed for lung cancer cases (which was nicknamed "popcorn lung") for a number of individuals working in factories that produced things like microwave popcorn.  Certainly these workers were breathing in massive quantities of diacetyl as compared to what you may inhale when you open your one bag of popcorn.  But if a food additive can be shown to cause lung cancer at larger quantities, I'd rather err on the side of caution and avoid it even in small amounts if I can.

2.  Perflourooctanoic Acid (PFOA).  Um, I'll just let you guess at how to pronounce that one for a bit... Per-floor-oh-ock-tan-oh-ick???  Jeez, good thing I'm writing and not reading out loud.  Anywhoo, this is what they put on the lining of the microwave popcorn bag.  It keeps the popcorn from sticking to the bag.  Can't have that.  Might ruin your movie experience.  Instead let's just spray the bag with these delicious chemical that are also used in the production of things like Gore-tex and teflon.  Lovely, right?  The human half-life for PFOA is 3 years!  Ahhhh!  That means if you have 10 grams of it in your body, it would take 3 years just to get down to having only 5 grams.  So while this stuff sits around taking its sweet time leaving your body, it wreaks havoc.  In the few human studies out there, it has been shown to elevate cholesterol and uric acid (which can cause gout - crystals form in the joints causing pain).  In animal studies it has shown negative effects on the immune system, liver, and endocrine systems (diabetes, thyroid, and other hormones).

So is that bag of microwave popcorn really worth it?  Why not pick up a container of popcorn kernels... toss them (1/4-1/2 cup) in a brown paper bag... fold down the open end of the bag 3 times... and microwave for about 2-2.5 minutes (just like you would with your old microwave popcorn).  Voila!  No additive and super simple popcorn.  Just add your own seasonings or eat it plain.

 

Steenland K, Fletcher T, Savitz DA. Epidemiologic Evidence on the Health Effects of Perflourooctanoic Acid (PFOA). Environ Health Perspect. 2010;118(8):1100-1108.