Happy American Heart Month

In relation to February being American Heart Month and March being National Nutrition Month, I thought I would kick off a series of posts discussing sugar. I find the topic of sugar and increased levels of consumption fascinating. One of my clients is a former nutritionist and she subscribed me to a publication known as “Nutrition Action”. It is a small, research based health letter released quarterly by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. In a recent issue, the topic of “Sugar Belly” is mentioned and examined. Several studies are mentioned which link increased intake of fructose (sugar from fruit) with higher amounts of belly fat, liver fat, and in some cases muscular fat. The publication notes that it doesn’t technically matter where the fructose is coming from as it is used in several different types of sugar such as high fructose corn syrup and table sugar. Most of the “added sugars” or excess amounts of added sugars come from classic examples such as desserts. The primary focus of the article is on the added sugars from sweet drinks such as soda and fruit juice. One study is quoted where individuals who consumed 100% fruit juice increased their risk for diabetes whereas the individuals who consumed whole fruits did not. It is theorized that this may be due to the fiber and other possible nutrients which do not remain in the juice. As I do not have the magazine here with me, I will use other research to further examine this topic.

In a study by Stanhope et al. (2009), the effects of fructose (sugar naturally occurring in fruit) or glucose (sugar or a carbohydrate from plants that is also what our body creates and uses for energy)-sweetened beverages as 25% of one’s diet for a period of 10 weeks was examined. The average age across both groups was between 52-56 and the average baseline weight was 81.9-89.3 kg. In the glucose group, body weight went up by an average of 1.8% and 1.4% in the fructose group. Total body fat increased by 3.2 and 2.8% respectively. Clearly, based on these numbers, total weight and fat gain was similar for both groups. The next bit of data is where it gets interesting. In the glucose group, waist circumference, total abdominal fat, extra-abdominal fat, and intra-abdominal fat increased at 1.7%, 4.8%, 4.6%, and 3.2% respectively. In the fructose group these same variables increased by 1.9%, 8.6%, 7.3%, and 14%. These are large and very significant differences.

When I read this in the “Nutrition Action” health letter I was intrigued, interested, but not surprised. To actually review a bit of the research and see how significant the differences actually are is amazing. Not only did fructose negatively affect visceral fat more significantly than the glucose, it also affected fasting cholesterol with an average increase of 10.1% as compared to 3.9% in the glucose group.

Now, it is important to understand that just because fructose is sugar that comes from fruit, this article does not mean “do not eat fruit”. In fact, I am attempting to recommend just the opposite. As mentioned initially in this blog post, in the study where individuals ate fructose from whole fruit, they did NOT increase their risk for diabetes where as those who digested the fructose from 100% fruit juice DID increase their risk for diabetes.

TAKE HOME POINT: Added sugar intake should be limited no matter your age. Sugar is ok, in fact it is needed to create energy. We generally call sugar “carbs” when we discuss them for energy. The take home point is to get these carbs or sugars from naturally occurring substances such as fruit. The American Heart Association recommends less than 6 teaspoons (100 calories) for women and less than 9 teaspoons (150 calories) for men of added sugar (processed) a day. Below is a link to a document from myplate.gov with 10 tips for limiting sugar intake in our kids, but many of them also apply at all ages.

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/downloads/TenTips/DGTipsheet13CutBackOnSweetTreats.pdf

Reference

Stanhope, K., L., Schwarz, J., M., Keim, N., L., Griffen, S., C., Bremer, A., A., Graham, J., L., Hatcher, B., Cox, C., L., Dyachenko, A., Zhang, W., McGahan, J., P., Seiber, A., Krauss, R., M., Chiu, S., Schaefer, E., J., Ai, M., Otokozawa, S., Nakajima, K., Nakano, T., Beysen, C., Hellerstein, M., K., Berglund, L., & Havel, P., J. (2009). Consuming fructose-sweetened, not glucose-sweetened, beverages increases visceral adiposity and lipids and decreases insulin sensitivity in overweight/obese humans. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 119(5), 1322-1334.

Sitting is toxic to our health!

In continuing the general theme of the last few posts, we will examine sitting and its effects on our health. In the most recent blog we discussed how sitting for extended periods of time over months or years can compound and lead to potential muscular imbalances possibly causing pain. The purpose of this blog is to examine recent literature on how sitting affects our guts. More scientifically stated, how sitting affects our risk for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and mortality rate among other things. In a study utilizing data from the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, it has been reported that children and adults in the US spend 55% of their waking day in sedentary pursuits (Katzmarzyk, Church, Craig, & Bouchard, 2009). The pursuits include the more obvious possibilities such as working at a desk, playing video games and using a computer. This data also included less considered sedentary pursuits such as eating a meal at a table and riding in a car. It is important to understand that sitting is not only considered “sitting” when you do it at a desk or on the couch.

In the actual study conducted by Katzmarzyk et al. (2009), data from the Canada Fitness Survey was used which included a sample size of 7278 men and 9735 women. In this study, the researchers examined sitting time as almost none of the time, one fourth of the time, half of the time, three fourths of the time, and almost all the time during waking hours. In this study, several elements were considered such as smoking, alcohol consumption, leisure time physical activity, and body mass index.  There are many studies out there which examine sitting time as an independent factor in contributing to diabetes, heart disease etc. This study is interesting because it examined sitting time not only independently but co-dependently in smokers, non-smokers, former smokers, active individuals, inactive individuals, individual’s alcohol consumption, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

The study found that no matter the circumstances, those who sat more, were more likely to die from all causes than those who sat less. There was in fact a dose response relationship which means that the more the individuals sat, the higher their rate of mortality was. Even in the individuals who were meeting the minimum recommended amounts of physical activity, if they sat for the majority of the rest of the day, they still maintained a higher mortality rate than those who were just as active but sat less. The only cause in which there was no correlation found between sitting and mortality rate was cancer.

Perhaps going forward, we must consider decreasing our sitting time just as important as exercising and eating healthy. Below are 10 tips for decreasing your likelihood of being a statistic in this study:

1: Stand up more!

2: Exercise at least 30 minutes a day!

3: Exercise more than that!

4: Take frequent walking breaks if you have a desk job.

5: Walk at lunch.

5: Park further away at stores and work.

6: Run around with your kids when you get home from work.

7: Do yard work when you get home even when you had a long hard day of sitting on the job.

8: Walk the dog when you get home from work.

9: Turn off the TV!

10: Do not smoke!

 

Reference

Katzmarzyk, P., T., Church, T., S., Craig, C., L., & Bouchard, C. (2009). Sitting time and mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 41(5), 998-1005.

How Sitting & Poor Posture Can Affect Our Body

 

So, let us take some time to examine sitting and how it affects our body. I touched on this briefly in my most recent blog post. Through that previous post we discovered that individuals who have a desk that requires them sit nearly every day for extended periods of time, tend to have high rates of neck, shoulder, and low back pain. We also learned that performing physical activity on a regular basis helps to alleviate some of this pain and that specific shoulder resistance exercises can lead to a lower incidence of reported neck pain.

Sitting for prolonged amounts of time can lead to anatomical issues as well. Maintaining a constant body position for a significant amount of time each day, for months or years on end can lead to postural distortions and muscular imbalances. By this I mean that sitting in a position similar to the picture to the right with the shoulders internally rotated, forward head posture or chin jutted forward and rounding of the upper back can lead to an imbalance between the muscles on the front of your body and the muscles on the back of your body. So if you sit as mentioned, you may have a very tight chest and an overstretched or weak upper back.

One must view the body as a chain. If there is a kink in the chain in one area, there may be issues with movement in other areas of the chain. Many of our muscles are linked together through connective tissues. They can be grouped into interdependent systems. If we maintain poor posture for extended periods of time such as that mentioned above, we are informing our central nervous system that this is how we are “supposed” to be. Our central nervous responds through allowing our muscles to adapt to the length or tightness or looseness with which they are in during these prolonged positions. Our body is not meant to be in this position. We are meant to remain upright. In an ideal world, when you are standing still, from a lateral view, I should be able to draw a straight line from your ear, to the middle of your shoulder, middle of the hip, middle of the knee, and the out the bottom of the heel.

When our body is out of alignment (a kink in the chain) and unable to move correctly, it can lead to pain. Low back pain, so called “sciatica”, neck pain, headaches, all of these can be positively affected by specific corrective exercise techniques as well as through proper posture during stationary and dynamic activity activities. Examples of these include frequent breaks from sitting, sitting or standing up straight with the shoulders back when sitting and standing, and participating in a regular exercise program. Stay tuned for my next blog post which will examine through research, the possible effects sitting can have on your health.

Thanks,

Joe