The blood vessels of obese teenagers look more like those found in middle-aged people, say Canadian researchers.

A study of 63 children, whose average age was 13, found signs of “stiffening” in the aorta – the largest artery in the body.

The British Columbia Children’s Hospital team said it was an early indicator of heart disease.

The British Heart Foundation described child obesity as a “ticking public health time bomb”.

One of the key changes in heart disease is the hardening of arteries supplying blood to the heart.

The rate of childhood obesity has rocketed in the last two decades and continues to increase, leading to fears that younger and younger people will fall prey to heart attacks and strokes, as well as other diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.

Measurements of the elasticity of the aorta were taken using ultrasound, which can help doctors work out how fast blood is flowing through the vessel.

However, when the results for the obese teenagers were compared with 55 children with normal weights, the differences were clear.

More worryingly, these findings were not echoed by similar differences in blood pressure, and blood cholesterol levels between the obese and normal weight children.

This suggests that cardiovascular problems which could threaten or even shorten life could be developing “silently” during childhood.

‘Stop the clock’

Dr Kevin Harris, one of the researchers presenting the research at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, said: “The systolic blood pressure was only marginally higher in these obese children – but aortic stiffness is associated with cardiovascular events and early death.”

He now plans research to see if these aortic changes can be reversed with improved diet and exercise.

Dr Beth Adamson, from the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, said: “We must rethink the lifestyle standards we have accepted as a society to protect the future health of our kids.”

Obesity rates in the UK do not lag far behind those in Canada and the US, and the British Heart Foundation said it was equally concerned.

June Davison, a senior cardiac nurse, said: “Last year, figures showed more than a fifth of youngsters are obese or overweight when they start school – a shocking reality and a warning that we are sitting on a ticking public health time bomb.

“Obese children can become obese adults which can mean a whole host of health problems later in life including heart and circulatory disease, the UK’s biggest killer.

“We must try and stop the clock ticking by making it easier for families to make informed, healthier choices about the food they’re eating and the amount of physical activity they’re doing.”

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11607394

A study in 1957 showed that animals lose weight at high altitudes, and weight loss has long been known for people at high altitudes, but the subjects were all extremely fit and active mountaineers and skiers.

Obese and overweight people tend to suffer altitude sickness and resultant nausea, dizziness and heart attacks, when at very high altitudes, so the research team from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich decided to find out what would happen if overweight people spent some time at a moderately high altitude of 8,700 feet.

Their 20 subjects, all male, were of average age 56, obese (average BMI of 34), and with risk factors for diabetes, strokes and heart disease. They were all from Munich, which is around 1,740 feet above sea level, and were housed for a week in a research station 1,000 feet below the peak of Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain. They were encouraged to eat and drink as much as they wished, and apart from leisurely walks around the station, were not allowed to do any exercise. The research team monitored their subjects’ weight, calorie intake, metabolic rate, and hormone levels before their stay, during the week, and a month afterwards.

Leader of the team, Dr Florian J. Lippl, said that during the week the subjects ate around an average of 730 calories less than they had before their stay, and they lost 3.5 lb on average. During the month after their stay they regained an average of 1.5 lb, but they were still burning slightly more calories than they had before their alpine stay.

Dr Lippl said the levels of the hormone leptin, which suppresses appetite, rose during their week at high altitude, while the hunger hormone grehlin was unchanged, and this meant they were less hungry during their stay. Their metabolic rate was also higher at altitude, which meant they burned more calories and this, combined with the lower calorie intake, caused the weight loss.

The research is in a preliminary stage; no data was collected on whether the weight loss was fat tissue, water, or muscle weight, and there was no control group. The researchers plan to use a higher mountain in Italy for the next stage of the research.

One drawback to the mountain retreat for weight loss idea is the finding that after only a month the subjects had re-gained one third of their lost weight. Other studies have shown that appetites return to normal if people are living at high altitude for around six months. Another drawback is the potential for adverse health effects for overweight people at high altitudes, since they can be more prone to heart attacks and other conditions.

Professor Richard N. Bergman of the University of Southern California said the study was preliminary but interesting, and noted that in the U.S. the state of Colorado, which has the highest mean elevation, also has the lowest rate of obesity rate, while the highest rates of obesity tend to occur in states with low mean elevations.

The research paper was published in the journal Obesity on 4th February.

Couch potatoes and computer users face higher risk of death from heart disease, strokes and cancer, warn scientists.

Every hour spent watching television each day increases the risk of dying from heart disease by almost a fifth, say scientists.

Couch potatoes were warned that their lifestyle also increased the risk of death from other causes including cancer.

People who spent hours watching television greatly increased the chances of dying early from heart attacks and strokes, researchers in Australia found. Compared with those watching less than two hours of TV, people who sat in front of the box for more than four hours a day were 80% more likely to die for reasons linked to heart and artery disease.

The researchers monitored 8,800 adults for six years to see what impact watching television had on their long-term health. They found that each hour a day spent in front of the television increased the risk of death from all causes by 11%. It also raised the risk of dying from cancer by 9% and the risk of heart disease-related death by 18%.

The scientists warned it was not only telly addicts whose lifestyles put them in danger. Any prolonged sedentary behaviour, such as sitting at an office desk or in front of a computer, posed similar risks. It also made no difference whether or not a person was overweight or obese.

“Even if someone has a healthy body weight, sitting for long periods of time still has an unhealthy influence on their blood sugar and blood fats,” said the study’s lead researcher, Prof David Dunstan, from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Victoria, Australia.

The average amount of TV people watch each day is three hours in Australia and the UK, said the scientists. In the US, where two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese, some people spent eight hours watching television ‑ the equivalent of a nine to five working day.

“What has happened is that a lot of the normal activities of daily living that involved standing up and moving the muscles in the body have been converted to sitting,” said Dunstan.

“Technological, social, and economic changes mean that people don’t move their muscles as much as they used to, and consequently the levels of energy expenditure as people go about their lives continue to shrink. For many people, on a daily basis they simply shift from one chair to another ‑ from the chair in the car to the chair in the office to the chair in front of the television.”

The scientists interviewed 3,846 men and 4,954 women aged 25 and older who underwent sugar tolerance tests and provided blood samples. Participants were recruited from 1999 and studied for the next six years. Based on their own reports of TV viewing they were grouped according to whether they watched less than two hours a day, between two and four hours, or more than four hours.

During the follow-up period there were 284 deaths, 87 from cardiovascular, or heart and artery disease, and 125 from cancer.

While the association between cancer and television viewing was modest, there was a strong link between TV watching and a higher risk of cardiovascular death. This was despite taking account of recognised heart disease risk factors such as raised cholesterol levels and lifestyle.

The findings were reported today in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Dunstan had this message for members of the public: “In addition to doing regular exercise, avoid sitting for prolonged periods and keep in mind to ‘move more, more often’. Too much sitting is bad for health.”

Age: More than 83% of people who die from coronary heart disease are 65 or older. Older women are more likely to die of heart attacks within a few weeks of the attack than older men.Being male: Men have a greater risk of heart attack than women do, and they have attacks earlier in life. Even after menopause, when women’s death rate from heart disease increases, it’s not as great as men’s.
Family history. Those with parents or close relatives with heart disease are more likely to develop it themselves.
Race: Heart disease risk is higher among African Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians, native Hawaiians, and some Asian Americans compared to Caucasians.
Smoking: Cigarette smoking increases your risk of developing heart disease by two to four times.
High cholesterol: As blood cholesterol rises, so does risk of coronary heart disease.
High blood pressure: High blood pressure increases the heart’s workload, causing the heart to thicken and become stiffer. It also increases your risk of stroke, heart attack, kidney failure, and congestive heart failure. When high blood pressure exists with obesity, smoking, high blood cholesterol levels, or diabetes, the risk of heart attack or stroke increases several times.
Sedentary lifestyle. Inactivity is a risk factor for coronary heart disease.
Excess weight: People who have excess body fat—especially if a lot of it is at the waist—are more likely to develop heart disease and stroke even if they have no other risk factors.
Diabetes: Having diabetes seriously increases your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. About three-quarters of people with diabetes die from some form of heart or blood vessel disease.

What do you think are the three

What supplements are the most important depends on your gender and your age. If your diet is lacking, a basic multivitamin is a good idea, which simply assures that you are getting the recommended daily doses of a number of essential vitamins. Beyond this, if you are a woman, I recommend you consider both calcium (600 mg twice a day) and magnesium (200 mg twice a day). 

Calcium is needed for bone health, and while we need approximately 1,500 mg a day, the average American woman has approximately 500 mg a day in her diet. The good news is that if you do not like to take pills, you can get your calcium in the form of chocolate chews! Magnesium is needed for bone health, and it also counteracts the constipating effects of calcium.

If you are premenopausal, you will be glad to know that calcium and magnesium have been shown to improve menstrual symptoms, including cramping, breast tenderness, mood swings, and even food cravings. (Chocolate is actually rich in magnesium, and it has been hypothesized that the need for magnesium may be why women crave chocolate around their periods.) Men do not need to supplement with calcium but should try to get 1,000 mg daily in their diet.

There are two other supplements for both men and women, and fish oil is one of them. Generally in this country, our diets have far more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3 fatty acids. Oversimplified, omega-6′s are the bad fats and omega-3′s are the healthy fats. If your diet is not rich in fish and other omega-3′s, you should consider supplementing with 1,000 mg of fish oil a day, being certain that each pill contains at least 200 mg of DHA and 200 mg of EPA. Increasing omega-3′s decreases inflammation in your system, which can affect everything from heart disease to cancer.

Lastly, we are learning that many Americans are actually deficient in vitamin D, and this can cause a huge variety of symptoms including muscle aches and fatigue. You can ask your doctor to check a vitamin D level to know specifically if you are deficient. It is also safe to supplement with vitamin D3, 1,000 mg a day. Vitamin D is also critical in bone health, and seems to be associated with cancer risk as well. Supplementing at these levels poses no risk of toxicity.

Walter Willett, who chairs the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health, argues that there is a “direct causal link” between sugar-sweetened soft drinks and energy drinks and obesity, which is in turn linked to heart disease, some types of cancer, arthritis, and type 2 diabetes.

So he and a colleague, Lilian Cheung, a lecturer in the nutrition department, are suggesting that we all start focusing on drinks with a far lower sugar and calorie content: things like water, tea, seltzer with a splash of juice, and coffee with one lump of sugar. They call on beverage makers to create reduced-calorie beverages with no more than 1 gram of sugar per ounce, without using noncaloric sweeteners like aspartame and stevia.

[See why VitaminWater is a poster child for the importance of reading food and drink labels.]

That kind of beverage would have about 3 teaspoons of sugar per 12 ounces and about 50 calories. Look at Harvard’s chart to see how soft drinks, juices, and sports drinks stack up next to that standard—the worst offender, cranberry juice cocktail, has 200 calories and 12 teaspoons of sugar in a 12-ounce serving. (No word yet on how the beverage industry trade group has received this suggestion, but I will write a post if it does respond.)

[Here's the skinny on caloric sweeteners like agave and corn syrup.]

Why the fuss over sugary beverages rather than, say, candy bars? Willett and Cheung say that these drinks are the largest source of added sugar in the diet of young Americans, with teen boys drinking more than a quart per day. In addition, other researchers, such as Barry Popkin, have suggested that liquid calories don’t prompt our bodies to feel full the way calories in solid form do.

The Harvard folks say we need to retrain our bodies away from intense sweetness, which is why their hypothesized beverages don’t include low-calorie sweeteners like stevia, either. “When adults get conditioned to everything being sweet, it’s hard to appreciate the gentle sweetness of a carrot or an apple,” says Willett. That means using even low-calorie sweeteners may lead to weight gain, he says. (Or it may not: A study published last year suggesting low-calorie sweeteners led to overeating was done in rats, not people.)

As I’ve written before, whether or not you buy the idea that sugary soft drinks and energy drinks are any worse than sugar in solid form, cutting them out may be an easy way to lose weight. Harvard suggests alternatives including low-sodium miso soup, infused waters, and homemade fresh fruit coolers. If you’re not willing to give up your soda habit and are trying to lose weight, at least be aware of the calories and sugar the drinks are adding to your diet, and make up for that by paring back elsewhere.

Almost 500, 000 different women lose their lives to heart disease annually: Women who are moms, grandmas, aunts, sisters, and daughters. The good news is that heart disease is the most preventable cause of death in women. Heart disease prevention is easy, if you follow a few simple tips:

1. Don’t smoke or if you already do smoke, quit. Smoking is the leading cause of heart attacks and other heart diseases including hypertension or high blood pressure. If you smoke, think about it: Do you really want a cigarette to decide when it’s time for you to go? Start today to take steps to quit smoking.
2. Exercise, exercise, exercise At least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity such as walking or other aerobic activities, on most days helps prevent heart disease. If thirty minutes is too long for you, start with 10-minute increments during the day. Increase your exercise time by 5 or 10 minutes every other week or as often as you fell comfortable. Believe it or not, before you know it, you’ll actually look forward to your exercise time.
   Tip: If you have high blood pressure when you begin regular physical activity, make sure that you monitor you blood pressure regularly. You’re new; healthier, physical condition may mean that you no longer have high blood pressure. Never stop blood pressure medication without see your healthcare provider, first.
3. Eat a healthy diet and maintain a healthy weight. A healthy diet is one that includes plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, and dairy. This is an essential part of heart disease prevention, as well as overall good health. Read the USDA’s 2005 Dietary Guidelines http://www.healthierus.gov, and use the tools available at MyPyramid.gov to learn how to follow an individualized eating plan and exercise routine.
4. Use alcohol only in moderation. Women should limit themselves to one alcoholic beverage per day. Of course, not drinking alcohol at all is even better.Following the four steps outlined above will reduce your risk of heart disease substantially. Another benefit of following these heart disease prevention steps is that you’ll also be preventing or reducing your risk of obesity, stroke, high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, and many types of cancer.

like diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. It also reduces your odds of being able to walk up a flight of stairs or get through your day without crying. Obese women have it toughest, finds a new study published today in the British Medical Journal. They’re nearly 80 percent less likely to experience “healthy survival” when they reach age 70, compared with women who gained fewer than 9 pounds since age 18.

Are the researchers showing that thin women who maintain their weight over the years actually live longer? Well, no, but they do indicate that these women live better, not just avoiding chronic diseases but also sidestepping mental and physical health problems that prevent women from enjoying the leisure time of their senior years—say, Mediterranean cruises or romps in the park with the grandkids.What’s more, the study showed that it’s truly tough to be a “healthy survivor,” free of any sort of chronic physical or emotional pain or health condition at age 70.

Only 10 percent of the 17,000 nurses in the study were, and this group included those who didn’t gain any weight as well as those who gained quite a bit.

(Those who lost weight were excluded from the study because it might indicate disease.) But weight mattered; about 16 percent of the women whose weight didn’t deviate by more than 9 pounds when they reached middle-age could call themselves healthy survivors, compared with 11 percent of those who gained between 9 and 22 pounds by midlife. The percentages dropped further with more weight gain; just 3 percent of healthy survivors were obese in middle age.

Certainly, body weight plays a role in long-term health, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. The study also found, for example, that it makes a difference where a woman carries her fat—whether it’s mostly on her hips and thighs or around her belly.

Those with a waist circumference of more than 28 inches had a lower likelihood of being a healthy survivor regardless of whether they were overweight. “We’re really moving away from the idea of whole body fat and focusing on where fat is located in the body,” says Carol Shively, a fat researcher at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. A large waist often indicates an excess of fat around the body’s organs—called visceral fat—which can lead to dangerous inflammation, a process thought to be involved in heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and even depression. The kind of body fat that tends to accumulate around the hips and thighs, she says, may not be damaging to our health. Obese individuals, though, usually have plenty of both kinds.

I think the take-home message here is that you don’t need to panic if you’ve gained a few dress sizes over the years, but you should do everything you can now to keep your weight stable or even lose some weight if your body mass index is well above the healthy range. (Here’s how to assess your BMI.) Studies suggest that physical activity can play a big role in helping you maintain your weight over time. Every time I cut back on my workouts, the number on scale starts to creep up. And I don’t think I’ve found that magic formula, having put on about 15 pounds since high school.

I asked my colleague Katherine Hobson, the On Fitness blogger, to tell me how she managed not to gain an ounce since her teens, and she tells me that she was actually 10 pounds heavier at 18. “That was my all-time high,” she says. “I started running after college and now do that about three to four times a week for 30 minutes at a time, plus 40-minute swim sessions two to three times a week, and two to three strength training sessions.”

And if you think you can’t fit daily activity into your life, here’s her take on the 10 excuses for not exercising and why they won’t fly. Also, follow these 7 tips to shed pounds if you’re at an unhealthy weight or are trying to trim some inches from your waist.

Vitamins are the essential building blocks of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Many of us take multivitamins and vitamins to satisfy our body’s nutritional needs, yet unaware of what each vitamin is doing for us. There are many other aesthetic benefits of using vitamins that will make you feel and look healthier.

• Found in orange vegetables like raw carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, and cantaloupe
• Vitamin A improves the eyes ability to adjust to changes in light
• It also acts as a natural moisturizer to the skin making it soft and smooth

Vitamin B9 (Folic Acid)

• Found in green vegetables like spinach, broccoli, and asparagus, mushrooms, liver, and dried beans and peas
• Vitamin B9 is important to take during pregnancy because it allows the rapid reproduction of cells and benefit your developing child. This will also prevent birth defects
• It may act as protection against some forms of cancer and heart disease

Vitamin B12

• Found in fresh fish, dairy products, beef, pork, and eggs
• Vitamin B12 increases energy, reduces stress, improves the memory, helps the digestive system, and makes the immune system stronger.
• It can also act as a natural anti-depressant because of it’s ability to help your body create serotonin (a feel-good chemical)

Vitamin C

• Found in strawberries, melon, citrus fruits, papaya, raw or steamed broccoli, and brussel sprouts.
• Vitamin C helps boost the immune system, fighting colds, protecting against cancer, and the prevention of heart disease.
• It also improves the strength of teeth and makes the gums healthier, and fights against sun damage making the skin appear and feel healthier.

Vitamin D

• Found in egg yolks, fatty fish, and fortified milk. The sun is the best source for vitamin D
• Vitamin D is the best immune system booster. It is said that vitamin D helps fight against cancer and tuberculosis.
• Vitamin D will give you strong bones and teeth because it helps the body absorb calcium

Vitamin E

• Found in vegetable oil, mayonnaise, peanuts, whole grains, sunflower seeds, yams, and sweet potatoes.
• Vitamin E is the best protection against free radicals, helps prevent cancer, improves the immune system and protects against heart disease.
• It also improves the look and feel of the skin reducing pores and balancing the production of oils. Vitamin E is the best vitamin for healthy hair.