Healthy Lifestyle Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Health Tips From The Professor

Bulging Disc Treatment You Can Do At Home

November 17, 2015 by Dr. Steve Chaney

Author: Julie Donnelly, LMT –The Pain Relief Expert

Editor: Dr. Steve Chaney

This past week I taught an ultra-cyclist how to relieve a bulging disc that was causing him a great deal of pain and preventing him from riding the distances he loves.

The problem is aggravated by the aerodynamic position a cyclist is in while riding.

A bulging disc can happen to anyone though, especially if one sits a lot. As we sit we do the same movements, only we contract the muscles and then hold them contracted for a long period of time as we sit

What Causes A Bulging Disc?

It’s easy to see why an ultra-cyclist would have a bulging disc with the extended riding times in the bent over aerodynamic position.

In the aerodynamic position the muscle of your anterior lumbar; the psoas, is held shortened. Also, the muscle on the inside curve of your pelvis, the iliacus, shortens each time the leg is brought up toward the body when pedaling.

This position is great for riding, but when you stop and stand the tight muscles pull your lumbar vertebrae and your pelvis forward and down. At first you may walk bent over, unable to stand up straight. As your muscles relax you’ll begin to straighten, but many times it may take a while before you can fully stand upright and even then you may feel low back pain.

What Happens To The Vertebra?

When a vertebra is pulled downward and toward the vertebra beneath it, it puts pressure on the disc between the two vertebrae. That pushes the gel-like substance inside the disc to press out the side.

A good analogy is to consider what happens if you step on one side of a jelly donut — the jelly pushes out the opposite side!

A bulging disc is when the gel pushes out the side but doesn’t break the outer lining of the disc. A herniated disc is when the membrane cracks and the gel now squeezes out of the disc.

If the bulging disc, or herniated disc, presses into a nerve or your spinal curve, treatment is necessary to reverse the situation. This is definitely a time when prevention is worth a pound of cure!

A Bulging Disc Treatment and Stretch That Works!

The Treatment:

Start by releasing the tension in your thigh muscles. It sounds weird to release the muscles in your thighs to stop a bulging disc problem, but it’s important.

Using your forearm (as shown) press down deeply and slide your arm toward your knee. Place extra focus, 30-60 seconds, on each tender spot (trigger point) you feel as you slide down your thigh.

Do this treatment several times on each leg. This muscle release technique allows your pelvis to rotate back into proper position.

The Stretch:

Stand up straight, as shown, place one of your lower legs on to a chair. Keep your body as straight as possible. Without moving your pelvis at all, lean back with your mid-back.

Visualize your abdominal muscles stretching — be sure not to move your pelvis.

You are now stretching both your psoas and iliacus muscles. Repeat stretch using other leg.

You may feel a twinge of pain in your low back as the muscles stretch and pull on your lumbar. This is normal. It should not be a sharp pain.

An Alternative Stretch:

And as an alternative stretch, if you are able to use the floor, the Sphinx pose is a perfect stretch for the psoas and iliacus. Be sure to keep your pelvis on the floor.

Releasing the tight muscles of your back allow your vertebrae to separate naturally. Whether you sit for hours at a time, or you ride for hours, this bulging disc treatment will give you relief and will prevent further disc injury.

Wishing you well,

Julie Donnelly

About The Author

Julie Donnelly is a Deep Muscle Massage Therapist with 20 years of experience specializing in the treatment of chronic joint pain and sports injuries. She has worked extensively with elite athletes and patients who have been unsuccessful at finding relief through the more conventional therapies.

She has been widely published, both on – and off – line, in magazines, newsletters, and newspapers around the country. She is also often chosen to speak at national conventions, medical schools, and health facilities nationwide.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Does Genetics Determine Weight?

October 9, 2015September 29, 2015 by Dr. Steve Chaney

Does Genetics Cause Obesity?

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

It’s frustrating. Try as hard as you might, you just can’t seem to lose weight. Even worse you suspect that your friends – and maybe your doctor – assume that you are cheating on your diet. It just doesn’t seem fair.

Perhaps there is a simple explanation. Maybe your genes are keeping you from losing weight. Does genetics determine weight? It has been hypothesized that some of us have a “thrifty” phenotype when it comes to weight loss while others are “spendthrifts”. The theory is that people with a “thrifty” phenotype hold on to weight more tightly when they are “fasting” (i.e. trying to lose weight) and gain weight more readily when they are “feasting” (i.e. eating excess calories).

The metabolism of the “spendthrifts” is exactly the opposite. They lose weight rapidly when fasting and gain weight slowly when feasting. Those would be all of your skinny friends who just can’t seem to understand why you have such difficulty losing weight.

Those experts who favor the “thrifty” phenotype hypothesis point out that it would have provided a tremendous survival advantage in prehistoric times when food was scarce. That’s why some of those same experts think that up to 80% of the population has the “thrifty” phenotype. When you couple the thrifty phenotype with the typical American diet and lifestyle it becomes easy to understand why we have an obesity epidemic in this country.

Is the “thrifty” phenotype hypothesis true? Could it explain why you have such difficulty losing weight? A recent study suggests the answer to those two questions may be yes. I will outline the evidence below.

Then I will address what are probably the two most important questions for you: “If the thrifty phenotype hypothesis is true and you have the thrifty phenotype, are you destined to be overweight? Is there anything you can do about it?

How The Study Was Designed

This study (Reinhardt et al, Diabetes, 64: 2859-2867, 2015) was truly a remarkable study. 15 healthy, but obese volunteers were put in a metabolic ward for a total of 11 weeks. In the metabolic ward every aspect of their metabolism was closely controlled and measured.

They were given diets that were precisely calibrated to provide a predetermined caloric (energy) input.
Urine and feces were collected and analyzed in an instrument called a bomb calorimeter to determine calorie (energy) output.
They were limited to primarily sedentary activity for the duration of the experiments, and the temperature of the metabolic ward was maintained constant. This eliminated variation in energy expenditures due to activity and temperature.
Metabolic energy expenditure was calculated by placing them in a special room designed to precisely measure oxygen consumption and CO2 production by the subjects over a 24 hour period. Don’t worry about the details. Just know that this is the gold standard for measuring energy expenditure.

Here is what the subject’s 11 weeks in the metabolic ward looked like:

During the first 3 weeks the subjects were provided with a diet designed with just enough calories to maintain their weight based on their weight and sex. If weight gain or loss was observed the calories were adjusted accordingly.

During one 24 hour period in week 3 the subjects were place on a diet that decreased their calories by 50%, (defined as “fasting” in this study) and the resulting decrease in metabolic energy expenditure was measured as described above.

During another 24 hour period in week 3 the subjects were place on a diet that increased their calories by 200% (defined as “overfeeding” in this study), and the resulting increase in metabolic energy expenditure was measured.

During the next 6 weeks the subjects were placed on calorie restricted diet that only provided 50% of the calories they needed to lose weight.

During the final 2 weeks the subjects were placed on a diet designed to provide the calories needed to maintain their new weight, whatever it was.

How Does Genetics Determine Weight?

The results of the study were quite interesting:

All of the subjects lost weight, but the amount of weight loss ranged from 5% to 12% of the original body weight.

Their starting weight did not influence their rate of weight loss during calorie restriction, but their metabolic response to fasting and overfeeding significantly affected their rate of weight loss. Specifically:

The subjects with the smallest decrease in energy expenditure during fasting and the largest increase in energy expenditure during overfeeding (the spendthrifts) lost significantly more weight during the 6 week caloric restriction period (what most of us call a diet).

The subjects with the largest decrease in energy expenditure during fasting and the smallest increase in energy expenditure during overfeeding (the thrifty) lost significantly less weight during the 6 week caloric restriction period.

The amount of caloric restriction needed to lose one pound of weight ranged from 1,558-2,993 depending on whether the subjects displayed the spendthrift or thrifty phenotype. That’s almost a 2-fold difference.

What Does This Study Mean For You?

Life isn’t fair. You probably already suspected that. Your skinny friends actually do have a much easier time losing weight than you do. In fact, they may be able to lose up to twice the amount of weight with exactly the same amount of caloric restriction.

However, the good news is that weight loss is possible – even for you. Everyone in the study lost weight – even those subjects with the thriftiest phenotype. So the question becomes what can you do to lose weight successfully? Here are 5 simple tips.

#1: Don’t give up. Stick with it. Pounds may come off slowly for you, but this study shows they will come off. You just have to keep the faith and be consistent.

#2: Watch what you eat very carefully. The researchers in this study controlled every morsel of food the subjects ate. People always lose weight more rapidly when they are in a metabolic ward. My recommendation is to track what you eat daily using one of the many available tracking apps.

#3: Be consistent with your exercise. The subjects in this study were not allowed to exercise, but that is one of the best ways to increase energy expenditure. Aerobic exercise gives you a small increase in energy expenditure during and immediately following the exercise. Weight bearing exercise gives a long term increase in energy expenditure because it increases muscle mass, and muscle burns calories faster than any other tissue.

#4: Choose a diet that preserves muscle mass (High Protein Diets and Weight Loss ) while you are losing weight.

#5: Avoid all those diets with herbal and pharmaceutical stimulants. They are dangerous and they may just kill you. Check out Are Dietary Supplements Safe.

The Bottom Line

A recent study (Reinhardt et al, Diabetes, 64: 2859-2867, 2015) did a very careful metabolic analysis and divided subjects into what they characterized as either a “thrifty” or “spendthrift” phenotype based on their changes in metabolic energy expenditure in response to fasting and overfeeding. They then looked at how those phenotypes affected weight loss during a 6 week period of caloric restriction. Does genetics cause obesity or help determine weight? Here’s what they found:

All of the subjects lost weight, but the amount of weight loss ranged from 5% to 12% of the original body weight.

Their starting weight did not influence their rate of weight loss during caloric restriction, but their metabolic response to fasting and overfeeding significantly affected their rate of weight loss. Specifically:

The subjects with the smallest decrease in energy expenditure during fasting and the largest increase in energy expenditure during overfeeding (the spendthrifts) lost significantly more weight during the 6 week caloric restriction period (what most of us call a diet).

The subjects with the largest decrease in energy expenditure during fasting and the smallest increase in energy expenditure during overfeeding (the thrifty) lost significantly less weight during the 6 week caloric restriction period.

If you struggle to lose weight, this is a good news – bad news study.

The bad news is that life isn’t fair. You probably already suspected that. Your skinny friends actually do have a much easier time losing weight than you do.

The good news is that weight loss is possible – even for you. Everyone in the study lost weight – even those subjects with the thriftiest phenotype. So the question becomes what can you do to lose weight successfully? I’ve given you 5 simple tips in the article above.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Repetitive Strain Injury From Sleeping

September 15, 2015 by Dr. Steve Chaney

Get Off To A Great Start Every Morning

Author: Julie Donnelly, LMT – The Pain Relief Expert

Editor: Dr. Steve Chaney

How Can Sleep Cause Repetitive Strain Injury?

For most of us during sleep we stay in one position for hours at a time. So if you wake up with back pain after sleeping, you are experiencing the side effects of muscles held in one position for hours. This is an example of repetitive strain injury or repetitive stress injury.

Because the muscles have to contract to pull your body into your favorite sleeping position and then the muscles stay in a shortened position for hours this can cause pain and tension in your back.

When you wake up with back pain after sleeping you may think you need a new mattress. You might, but it’s definitely worthwhile to address the tight muscles first as they may be the whole problem.

Have you ever seen a dog do their “downward dog” stretch after a nap? Before the dog bounces back into the world it takes time to awaken its body. This is your pain relief “role-model” for stretching your back after sleeping. You’ll be amazed at how simply moving in bed before starting your day eliminates pain and tension.

Let’s get started! While still in bed begin moving around; raise your arms over head and stretch your legs out and flex your feet. Maybe roll to each side stretching the sides of your body. Try these 3 stretches we recommend

Repetitive Strain Injury Treatment: 3 Stretches After Sleeping

The following stretches will help relieve symptoms of repetitive strain injury due to sleeping in one position for long periods.

When you are ready bring yourself to a seated position (still in bed!).

One at a time, bring your arm across the front of your body. Pull your shoulder and shoulder blade toward the front, but without moving the rest of your trunk. This is a great stretch for your triceps, shoulders and upper back.

Next stretch! Bring your feet together, as pictured here.Start with a straight spine then slowly roll your chin into your chest, rounding your back. Mmmmm…this feels good!

And finally, try this juicy spinal twist.Sit with left leg straight out or you can bend it as pictured. Cross the right foot over the left leg, press your right hand behind you, place your left elbow on your right knee now twist. Stretch as far as you are comfortable. Try holding it 15-20 seconds.

This stretch will even help to loosen your hips if you sit as pictured!

As with all stretches, start out easy – stretching should feel GOOD. You’ll feel the tension ease as the blood starts flowing.The tight muscles that cause back pain after sleeping can hamper your entire day, but doing these simple stretches will make a world of difference!

Wishing you well,

Julie Donnelly

About The AuthorJulie Donnelly is a Deep Muscle Massage Therapist with 20 years of experience specializing in the treatment of chronic joint pain and sports injuries. She has worked extensively with elite athletes and patients who have been unsuccessful at finding relief through the more conventional therapies.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Can Food Affect Your Mood?

May 26, 2015 by Dr. Steve Chaney

An Apple A Day Keeps The Blues Away

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

Can food affect your mood? In rural North Carolina you still occasionally see bumper stickers that say “Life Happens”. Of course, the word they use isn’t exactly “Life”, but you get the point.

We can’t always control what happens to us. What is important is how we react when bad things happen to us. Do we brush them off and move on, or do we let them get us down? There is no shortage of experts telling us how we can keep the blues away. We are told to count our blessings, meditate, think happy thoughts, develop support groups – the list goes on and on.

But is there perhaps one important parameter that most of these experts are missing? Could the foods we eat make us blue?

The standard American diet (S.A.D.) is high in processed foods, fat (especially saturated and trans fats), refined grains, simple sugars, salt and calories. As I’ve said before, almost anything would be better.

You probably already know that the S.A.D. leads to obesity and a whole host of diseases – including heart disease, cancer and diabetes – just to name a few. But did you know that the S.A.D. could make you sad? That’s what two recent studies suggest.

Can Foods Affect Your Mood? Does Junk Food Make You Sad?

The first study by Akbaralay et al (British Journal of Psychiatry, 195: 408-413, 2009) looked at the dietary patterns and mental health outcomes of 3486 participants in the Whitehall II Prospective Study.

In case you didn’t know it, Whitehall is the central district in London where most of the British government offices are located. So the 3486 participants in this study were bureaucrats. They were middle aged (average age 55.6 years old) office staff (74% men, 26% women) who spent most of their day sitting and really didn’t like their jobs very much. (I made up the part about not liking their jobs. It is hard to imagine that kind of job would be deeply fulfilling, but I’m sure that some of the bureaucrats liked their jobs better than others – which is the whole point of this study.)

At the beginning of the study the participants were given a 127 item food frequency quiz to fill out. Interestingly enough, the food preferences of the participants in this study clustered neatly into two groups.

The diets of the processed foods groups predominantly consisted of sweetened desserts, chocolates, fried foods, processed meats, refined grains and high fat dairy products. In short the diet of this group was pretty similar to what we think of as the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.). In contrast, the diets of the whole foods group consisted mostly of vegetables, fruits, fish and whole grains.

Five years later the study participants were analyzed for depression using a 20 item standardized depression scale.

The results were pretty eye-catching. The processed food group was 58% more likely to suffer from depression than the whole food group! And this was after correction for age, gender, weight, marital status, education, employment grade, physical activity, smoking and diseases (high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke).

The reasons for this astounding correlation between diet and depression are not clear. Can food affect your mood? Does this give us more insight?

The authors speculated that the diets of the whole food group were likely higher in antioxidants, folic acid and omega-3 fatty acids than the diets of the processed food group – and studies have suggested that each of these nutrients may protect against depression.

The authors also suggested that it might be an indirect effect. Diets that are high in saturated fats and refined grains and low in omega-3 fatty acids increase inflammation, and studies have suggested that inflammation can lead to depression.

Can Food Affect Your Mood? Does Healthy Food Make You Glad?

The previous study suggested that junk food may make you sad. So you might be asking: “Does that mean that healthy foods can make you glad?” According to one recent study (Br J Health Psychol, Jan 24, 2013, doi: 10.1111/bjhp.12021) the answer may be yes.

A team from the University of Otago in New Zealand enrolled 281 young adults (average age = 20) in a study that looked at the effect of diet on their mood. Each day for 21 consecutive days they recorded their mood and what foods they ate using an online questionnaire. In particular, they reported the number of servings of fresh fruit and vegetables and of several unhealthy foods such as biscuits or cookies, potato chips or French fries and cakes or muffins.

The investigators correlated the foods eaten with the moods reported by the participants on the same day, and again on the day after those foods were eaten. Once again, the results were pretty impressive.

On the days when people ate more fruits and vegetables they reported feeling calmer, happier and more energetic than they did on other days (p = .002 – anything less than .05 is considered a statistically significant difference). And the good effects of fruit and vegetable consumption carried over to the next day as well (p < .001).

Can food affect your mood? While I paraphrased the “apple a day” quote to introduce this study, one apple won’t quite do it. According to this study it takes about 7-8 servings of fruits and vegetables to positively affect mood. In addition, it probably wasn’t just the fruits and vegetables that made the difference. Based on the previous study I would guess that the participants in the study may have eaten other healthy foods such as whole grains and fish on their good days.

Can Food Affect Your Mood?

Taken together these two studies suggest that the next time you feel a little blue you may want to look at your diet. You may want to include a healthier diet along with the meditation and positive thinking.

Of course, these studies both measured correlations between diet and mood, and any good scientist will tell you that correlations do not prove cause and effect. It could be that when people are “down in the dumps” they just naturally reach for junk foods rather than fruits and vegetables.

However, since there is no downside to consuming fruits and vegetables, I feel fully comfortable recommending more fruits and vegetables in our diets. If their health benefits aren’t enough to motivate you, maybe the possibility of improving your mood will!

There are some things you just can’t control. To paraphrase those country songs, you can’t keep your girl and dog from running off. Life happens to all of us. Can food affect your mood? If you want to keep your mood where it should be, you can always reach for those fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and sources of omega-3 fatty acids.

The Bottom Line

Two recent studies have suggested what we eat can affect our mood.

The first study showed that people who habitually consumed a diet consisting of sweetened desserts, chocolates, fried foods, processed meats, refined grains and high fat dairy products were 58% more likely to suffer from depression than people who habitually consumed a diet consisting mostly of vegetables, fruits, fish and whole grains.

The second study showed that the subjects in their study reported feeling calmer, happier and more energetic on the days when they ate more fruits and vegetables than they did on the days they ate junk foods.

Of course, these studies both measured correlations between diet and mood, and any good scientist will tell you that correlations do not prove cause and effect. It could be that when people are “down in the dumps” they just naturally reach for junk foods rather than fruits and vegetables.

However, since there is no downside to consuming a healthier diet, I feel fully comfortable recommending more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and omega-3s in our diets. If their health benefits aren’t enough to motivate you, maybe the possibility of their improving your mood will!

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

What Causes Back Pain?

April 21, 2015 by Dr. Steve Chaney

Natural Remedies for Back Pain

Author: Julie Donnelly, LMT –The Pain Relief Expert

Editor: Dr. Steve Chaney

What Causes Back Pain?

Exploring the Overlooked Muscular Causes:

Your back is a symphony of overlapping, interconnected, groups of muscles, tendons, and nerves. Each muscle merges into a tendon, which then crosses over a joint and inserts into a bone. When the muscle contracts it will pull on the tendon and the joint moves.

Your spine has 7 cervical vertebrae, 12 thoracic vertebrae, and 5 lumbar vertebrae, each separated by a gelatinous disk that acts as a cushion to separate the bones and protect them from wear. Muscles span your entire spine, in some cases originating on the vertebrae and connecting each vertebra to the next, in some cases the muscles originate on the ribs and insert into the vertebrae in order to move your spine in the infinite number of angles, and in other cases the muscles originate on your vertebrae and insert into moveable bones such as your shoulder blade, pulling it in various directions.

In order to move in the opposite direction, the contracted muscle needs to relax to remove the strain from the bone, and the muscle on the opposite side contracts to pull the bone in the opposite direction. If the muscle that needs to release is in a spasm it can’t relax, and you have the muscles pulling in two opposite directions – and you have back pain.

The answer to what causes back pain is so broad that it needs to be broken down into four categories:

(1) Why a Muscular Component Can Be What Causes Back Pain

Back pain is commonly caused by repetitively straining the muscles that insert into the vertebrae and ribs. The list of muscles that insert into the bones of your back is long, with each muscle potentially causing pain when it is in spasm and pulling on the bone. Your back is a system of overlapping muscles, so many times when you are treating a muscle for one thing, you are also treating the source of a totally different problem.

This commonly happens when you are treating a thigh muscle that causes knee pain, but is also a key muscle that causes back pain, groin pain, and sciatica.

Natural Remedies for Back Pain

Treating the muscle is one of the natural remedies for back pain. For this muscle treatment I suggest you use a 12″x 1 1/2″ length of PVC pipe and slide (don’t roll) from the top of your thigh to just above your knee. The main area of treatment is shown in this picture. It’s NOT on the front of your thigh, and it’s NOT on the outside of your thigh, but instead it is in between these two lines.

As you go down your thigh you’ll go over several “bumps,” which are actually large spasms that are pulling down on the front of your pelvis. The pelvis rotation causes a strain on your low back, and presses your posterior pelvis up into your sciatic nerve.

There’s a lot more to this muscle, but it’s so broad that it can’t be explained properly here. In fact, each of the muscles that cause back pain are fully explained, and treatments are demonstrated in my Trigger Point Yoga kit.

(2) Why a Bulging or Herniated Disk Causes Back Pain

The disk between each vertebra is meant to be a cushion for the bones so they don’t rub on each other. However, tight muscles that originate on each vertebra can pull the bones together, pressing down on the disks and cause them to either bulge in the opposite direction, or herniate. For example, if the muscles on the right side of the spine are tight, they will bring the vertebrae closer together on the right, causing the disk to bulge toward the left.

If the muscles on both sides of the spine are tight, they will draw the vertebrae closer together and potentially cause the disk to herniate.

In either case the disks will put pressure on the spinal cord and causes back pain to be severe in that area. However, if it is treated before permanent damage is done, releasing the muscle tension on the vertebrae will move the bones off the disk and the pain will be eliminated.

(3) Why a Vertebra Out of Alignment Can Be What Causes Back Pain

Your spine stays in perfect alignment because muscles are putting the exact amount of “pull” on each side. In fact, without muscles the spine would just hang straight and not be able to move at all — like a skeleton on a hook. It is only because of muscles that the spine has any mobility at all.

The only way a vertebrae can move is either by a traumatic accident (such as falling down a flight of steps, or having a car accident), or by muscles pulling on the bones.

However, if muscles are pulling more on one side than the other the vertebrae will move toward the tight muscles.

The tension in the muscles must be released first if the bones are to be moved back into alignment and not be pulled out again by the tight muscles.

(4) Scoliosis, Osteoporosis, Spinal Stenosis, and other Causes of Back Pain

There are medical conditions such as scoliosis, osteoporosis, spinal stenosis, diabetes, and cancer that are also causes of back pain. These are serious conditions that need medical attention. It is always important to eliminate the possibility of any serious health risks before embarking on a path of treatment for back pain.

Conclusion

Obviously, as noted in #4 above, there are medical causes of back pain, but it is clear that the one that is consistently overlooked, and therefore not treated, is the muscular component. My experience with thousands of clients over the years, both at my office and virtually online, is that muscles are frequently what causes back pain, and that the pain can be lessened or eliminated by treating the tight muscles demonstrating one of the natural remedies of back pain.

You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by exploring the muscular component to back pain!

Wishing you well,

Julie Donnelly

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

About The Author

Does Exercise Make You Live Longer?

January 27, 2015 by Dr. Steve Chaney

Run Long and Prosper

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

Does exercise make you live longer? If you are a fan of the original Star Trek series, you may remember the phrase “Live Long and Prosper”. That sounded great, but it was just a wish – a platitude. It said nothing about how you might accomplish the feat of living longer and prospering.

What if something as simple as increasing your exercise levels might help you live a longer, healthier life? A recent study provides pretty convincing evidence that exercise can increase longevity. If that is really true, maybe the proper phase should be “Run Long and Prosper”.

In my past “Health Tips From the Professor” I have talked about how hard it is to prove the value of any individual lifestyle change on improving our longevity – whether we are talking about more exercise, lower fat diets or individual nutritional supplements.

Most studies have too few subjects and last too short a time to show any significant effect. That’s why the study I’m featuring this week (Byberg et al, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 43: 482-489, 2009) is so remarkable.

How Was The Clinical Study Designed?

The study was designed to answer the question of whether exercise can actually help people live longer.

But what was remarkable about the study was the number of people enrolled in the study and how long the study lasted. The study enrolled 2,204 men aged 50 from the city of Uppsala Sweden in 1970-1973 and followed the men for 35 years!

At the beginning of the study the participants completed a survey on leisure time physical activity and were categorized into low, medium or high activity groups. Participants were re-examined at ages 55, 60, 70, 77, and 82 years and changes in physical activity were recorded.

Other information, such as body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, smoking status and alcohol use, was also collected at each survey. And, of course, the researches recorded how many of the initial participants were still living at each of those ages.

Is Living Longer One of the Benefits of Exercise?

After adjusting for other risk factors (obesity, smoking, excess alcohol consumption, elevated cholesterol or blood pressure), the researchers found that men who reported high levels of physical activity from age 50 lived 2.3 years longer than sedentary men and 1.1 years longer than men who reported medium levels of physical activity.

They also looked at what happened to men who started at low or medium levels of activity and increased their exercise level during the study. After 5 years of increased activity there was no apparent benefit. But after 10 years of increased activity the risk of dying had been reduced just as much as if they had always been exercising at that level!

I find that last finding particularly significant because most studies of this type last 5 years or less. If this study had been concluded at the end of 5 years, you might be tempted to say: “Why bother. If I haven’t exercised before, there’s no point in starting now.” But, this study did last more than five years – so the conclusion was completely different.

The Bottom Line

We’ve known for years that exercise reduces the risks of several types of diseases and improves the quality of life. This study clearly answers “Does exercise make you live longer?” with a yes.

If you haven’t exercised before, it’s never too late to start. Just don’t expect instantaneous results.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

7 Easy Ways To Spot Fad Diets

December 30, 2014 by Dr. Steve Chaney

If It Sounds Too Good To Be True…

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

I think it was P. T. Barnum who said “There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute”. That’s particularly true in the diet world where hucksters seem to be all around us – especially this time of year.

You’ve seen the weight loss ads touting:

Pills or powders that suppress your appetite or magically prevent you from absorbing calories.

Fat burners that melt the pounds away.
New discoveries (juices, beans, foods) that make weight loss effortless.
The one simple thing you can do that will finally banish those extra pounds forever.

You already know that most of those ads can’t be true. You don’t want to be a sucker. But, the ads are so compelling:

Many of them quote “scientific studies” to “prove” that their product or program works.

Their testimonials feature people just like you getting fantastic results from their program. [You can do wonders with “computer enhanced” photographs.]
Many of those products are endorsed by well known doctors on their TV shows or blogs. [It is amazing what money can buy.]

So it is easy to ask yourself: “Could it be true?” “Could this work for me?”

Fortunately, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has stepped up to the plate to give you some guidance. Just in time for weight loss season, they have issued a list of seven claims that are in fact too good to be true. If you hear any of these claims, you should immediately recognize it as a fad diet and avoid it.

7 Easy Ways To Spot Fad Diets

Here are the seven statements in ads that the FTC considers as “red flags” for fad diets that should be avoided:

Causes weight loss of two pounds or more a week for a month or more without changing your diet and exercise routine.

Causes substantial weight loss no matter what or how much you eat.

Causes permanent weight loss without lifestyle change even after you stop using the product.

Blocks absorption of fat or calories to enable you to lose substantial weight.

Safely enables you to lose more than 3 pounds per week for more than 4 weeks.

Causes substantial weight loss for all users

Causes substantial weight loss by wearing a product on your body or rubbing it on your skin.

I’m sure you have heard some of these claims before. You may have actually been tempted to try the products or program. You should know that the FTC said that it considers these to be “Gut Check” claims that simply can’t be true.

The Bottom Line

There are no magical pills or potions that will make the pounds melt away. You need to change your diet, change your activity level and make significant lifestyle changes if you want to achieve long term weight control.

For more science-based health tips visit https://www.chaneyhealth.com/healthtips

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Can Resveratrol Improve Memory Performance In The Elderly ?

December 9, 2014 by Dr. Steve Chaney

Will Red Wine Make You Smarter?

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

It seems like every other day a new headline pops up telling us of yet another nutrient that might improve memory and slow cognitive decline. Perhaps it’s because we having a greying population. Lots of Americans are looking for that magic pill that will allow us to remember where we left the car keys.

This week the banner headlines were about resveratrol, a polyphenol from red wine. The headlines suggested that resveratrol could improve memory performance in healthy older adults. Are those headlines true, and what does that information mean for you?

What is Resveratrol?

Resveratrol is a member of a very large class of compounds called polyphenols that are found in red wine, green tea, and a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. Polyphenols are very diverse structurally, but most of them are excellent antioxidants. They are one of the reasons that we are constantly being told to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.

However, resvertrol and a few structurally similar polyphenols are unique in that they also bind to proteins called sirtuins which regulate metabolic processes related to the aging process. In fact, resveratrol garnered a lot of attention a few years ago when Dr. David Sinclair at Harvard Medical School published a study showing that obese mice given resveratrol escaped many of the metabolic consequences of obesity and actually lived longer than mice who were not given resveratrol.

In animal studies resveratrol appears to improve insulin sensitivity and mitochondrial function, lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure, and reduce inflammation and oxidative damage. Human studies have been limited to date, but suggest that resveratrol may impart many of these metabolic benefits to humans as well.

A recent study showed that resveratrol improved memory performance in grey mouse lemurs, a non-human primate species. However, no one had previously looked at whether resveratrol might improve memory in humans.

Can Resveratrol Improve Memory In Healthy Older Adults?

In this study (A. V. Witte et al, The Journal of Neuroscience, 34: 7862-7870, 2014) investigators recruited 46 older (average age 64), overweight (BMI 25-30), adults from Berlin, Germany. All of the subjects were healthy and none of them had any sign of cognitive impairment. For a six month period half of them were given 100 mg of resveratrol twice a day, and half of them were given a placebo (sunflower oil).

At the beginning of the test period they were given a memory test which measures how many of 15 listed words they could recall 30 minutes later. They also underwent a MRI scan that measured brain volume and functional connectivity of the hippocampus, a key region implicated in memory function. Finally, hemoglobin A1c, a measure of long term blood sugar control was measured.

Here are the results:

There was a significant effect of resveratrol on retention of words over 30 minutes compared to placebo. Memory improved significantly in the resveratrol group, while it declined slightly in the placebo group.

There was no effect of resveratrol on brain volume compared to the placebo (most interventions showing significant effects on brain volume required 2-3 years to demonstrate a significant effect).

Subjects in the resveratrol group showed significant increases in functional connectivity of the hippocampus to other brain regions involved learning and memory compared to the placebo group.

Subjects in the resveratrol group had lower hemoglobin A1c (better long term blood sugar control) compared to the placebo group.

When they statistically evaluated individual patients, the degree of improvement in the word memory test correlated with the increase in functional connectivity of the hippocampus and both of those measures correlated with decreased hemoglobin A1c.

What Does This Study Mean?

This study is promising in that it is well done and is consistent with previous animal studies. However, we need to keep in mind that this is the very first study of this kind. Similar to most first studies, it is small (only 46 subjects) and short in duration (6 months). It also only tested one dose of resveratrol (200 mg/day).

Now that this study has shown that resveratrol might improve memory in healthy older adults, it provides a strong rationale for more clinical studies to test this hypothesis. There is a need for larger, longer term studies in other population groups. Future studies should also evaluate different doses of resveratrol so that we know how much is needed to positively impact mental function.

Can resveratrol improve memory?

The Bottom Line:

A recent study suggests that resveratrol, a polyphenol from red wine, improves memory (measured by a word recall test) and functional connectivity of the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in memory function.

This is the very first study of its kind. It was small (46 subjects) and short (6 months). However, it was well designed and consistent with previous animal results. Thus, it should be considered preliminary, but promising. More studies are clearly needed to test this hypothesis.

If the results of this study are substantiated, it will not necessary mean that other polyphenols will exert similar effects on memory. The action mechanism of resveratrol is different than most other polyphenols.

It also does not necessarily mean that red wine will make you smarter. The 100 glasses of red wine a day that you would need to drink to get the amount of resveratrol used in this study would probably kill more brain cells than the resveratrol could help.

Finally, as I said in a recent “Health Tips From the Professor” , there are no “magic bullets” when it comes to preventing cognitive decline. Your chances of reducing cognitive decline are best with a holistic approach that includes healthy diet, exercise, socialization, mental exercises, maintaining a healthy weight, B vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids. If this study is confirmed by future studies, you may be able to add resveratrol supplements to the list.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Healthy Thanksgiving

November 25, 2014 by Dr. Steve Chaney

The Holidays Don’t Have To Be Unhealthy

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

While “Healthy Thanksgiving” doesn’t quite have the appeal of the more familiar “Happy Thanksgiving” greeting, I used it here to make the point that Thanksgiving dinner (and many other holiday meals) doesn’t have to be an unhealthy affair.

After all, there is a lot to like about the ingredients in Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey can be a healthy, low- fat meat, if prepared correctly. Sweet potatoes, yams, winter squash and pumpkin are all loaded with vitamin A and other important nutrients. And cranberries are a nutrition powerhouse.
Healthy Thanksgiving

Here are some healthy Thanksgiving ideas:

1) Skip the basting. Choose a plain bird and cook in a bag to seal in the moisture. Remove the skin before serving.

2) Refrigerate the turkey juices and skim off the hardened fat before making gravy and use a gravy cup that pours from the bottom to minimize fat.

3) Use ingredients like whole wheat bread, vegetables, fruits (cranberries, raisins, dates or apples), nuts and your favorite spices for the stuffing and bake it in the oven rather than in the turkey.

4) Serve your sweet potatoes or yams baked rather than candied and let your guests add butter to taste.

5) Use skim milk or buttermilk rather than whole milk and skip the butter for your mashed potatoes.

6) Give your meal gourmet appeal by cooking your green vegetables with garlic, nuts and herbs rather than creamy or fat-laden sauces.

7) Don’t serve the meal on your largest plates. By using smaller plates you ensure smaller portion size and even that second helping isn’t quite so damaging.

8) Use the Shaklee 180 meal replacement products for one or more meals the day before and/or after Thanksgiving so that your total caloric intake over the three day period is not excessive.

By now you have the idea. There are lots of little things that you can do to make your Thanksgiving dinner one that your waist and your heart will thank you for. Bon Appetit and have a Happy, Healthy Thanksgiving!

The Bottom Line

• If you make healthy food choices and choose your portion sizes wisely, you can make this a Healthy Thanksgiving as well as a Happy Thanksgiving.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Is Soda One of The Causes of Arthritis?

November 4, 2014 by Dr. Steve Chaney

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

Recently, I came across an article which claimed an association between soda and arthritis. So, is soda one of the causes of arthritis? In previous health tips from the professor I have shared that soda consumption can cause weight gain and heart disease . As if that weren’t reason enough to avoid sodas, recent headlines suggest that sodas can also cause rheumatoid arthritis. That is a pretty strong claim, so let’s look at the study behind those headlines.

Do Sodas Cause Arthritis?

This study (Hu et al., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 100: 959-967, 2014) followed 79, 570 women enrolled in the first Nurse’s Health Study (NHS) and 107,330 women enrolled in the second Nurse’s Health Study (NHS II) – that’s a total of 186,900 women – for at least 20 years. The women were aged 25-55 at the beginning of the studies and 857 of them developed rheumatoid arthritis over the next 20+ years.

All of the participants in the study filled out a questionnaire covering medical history, lifestyle and chronic disease at entry into the study and every two years afterwards. Compliance to this protocol was >90%, which is excellent for this type of study. The results were pretty impressive:

· Women who consumed ≥ 1 serving of sugar sweetened soda/day had a 63% higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis compared to women who consumed no sugar sweetened soda or consumed < 1 serving/month.

· The association between sugar-sweetened soda consumption and rheumatoid arthritis was much stronger for late-onset rheumatoid arthritis than it was for early-onset rheumatoid arthritis. When the authors restricted their analysis to women who developed rheumatoid arthritis after age 50, consumption of sugar sweetened sodas was associated with a 2.64-fold higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (That’s a 264% increase).

· The type of sugar did not appear to matter. Sodas sweetened with sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup were equally likely to increase the risk of rheumatoid arthritis.

· There was no association between diet soda consumption and rheumatoid arthritis.

What Are The Strengths and Weaknesses Of The Study?

Strengths of The Study: The strengths of the study are fairly obvious.

This was a very large study and the effects (64%) and (264%) were also large. Those aren’t trivial differences. The size of the study and the magnitude of the effects bolster confidence in the outcome of the study.

Weaknesses of The Study:

This type of study measures associations. It doesn’t prove cause and effect. Therefore, the headlines saying “Soda Consumption is Associated With Arthritis” are more accurate than those saying “Sodas May Cause Arthritis”.

In studies of this kind we can never be sure whether the variable that was measured (soda consumption in this case) was responsible for the outcome or whether it was some other variable that wasn’t measured that was responsible for the outcome. In particular, the women who developed rheumatoid arthritis were also more likely to:

· Have lower incomes.
· Exercise less.
· Have higher energy (calorie) intake.
· Have poorer diets.
· Take fewer multivitamins and other supplements.

The authors tried their best to compensate for these differences statistically, and the fact that the very large effects of soda consumption on rheumatoid arthritis occurrence were not significantly affected when these differences were taken into account adds confidence to their conclusions. However, it is never possible to exclude the possibility that some other variable they did not measure was responsible for the increase in rheumatoid arthritis.

Are Diet Sodas Off the Hook? Or,could They Be One of The Causes of Arthritis?

Could diet sodas be one of the causes of arthritis? This study showed no association between diet soda consumption and rheumatoid arthritis. Previous studies have suggested that diet sodas don’t increase the risk of heart disease to the same extent as sugar-sweetened sodas. Does that mean that you should just start drinking diet sodas rather than sugar sweetened sodas?

The answer is probably not. As I have pointed out in an earlier issue of “Health Tips From the Professor” , and has been confirmed by a recent meta-analysis of 24 clinical studies (Miller and Perez, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 100: 765-777, 2014), double blind studies in which all other caloric intake is carefully controlled generally show that people tend to gain slightly less weight when consuming diet sodas than when consuming sugar sweetened sodas.

But in the real world, people consuming diet sodas are just as likely to be overweight as people consuming sugar sweetened sodas. People seem to compensate for the calories saved with diet sodas by consuming more Big Macs, Mrs. Fields cookies and extra large Stabucks Lattes. In the real world, water is the only non-caloric beverage that is actually associated with lower weight.

Is It Enough To Just Stop Drinking Sodas?

I have often paraphrased that famous line from Western movies: “Just put down that soda and back away, and nobody gets hurt”. But is it that simple? Can you prevent rheumatoid arthritis just by drinking less soda?

Once again, the answer is probably no. There are a number of factors that can increase your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. Experts will tell you that the causes of rheumatoid arthritis are largely unknown, but that genetic predisposition, smoking and excessive alcohol use can increase your risk.

However, because rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory disease I would add overweight; diets high in animal protein, saturated fats, trans fats and sugar; food allergies; gut health issues; stress & exhaustion and chronic infections – and lack of fresh fruits and vegetables, omega-3 fatty acids and regular exercise.

The clinical study I described above found that soda consumption was much more strongly associated with late onset rheumatoid arthritis than early onset rheumatoid arthritis. Based on those data I would speculate that early onset rheumatoid arthritis may be more strongly influenced by genetics and other lifestyle factors, whereas late onset rheumatoid arthritis may be more strongly influenced by sugar sweetened sodas and other sugary foods. Only time will tell if my hypothesis is true.

Is soda one of the causes of arthritis?

The Bottom Line:

1) A recent study reported that women who consume ≥ 1 serving of sugar sweetened soda/day have a 63% higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis compared to women who consume no sugar sweetened soda or consume < 1 serving/month.

2) The association between sugar-sweetened soda consumption and rheumatoid arthritis is much stronger for late-onset rheumatoid arthritis than for early-onset rheumatoid arthritis. For women who first develop rheumatoid arthritis after the age of 50, consumption of sugar sweetened sodas is associated with a 2.64-fold higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (That’s a 264% increase).

3) The type of sugar does not appear to matter. Sodas sweetened with sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup are equally likely to increase the risk of rheumatoid arthritis.

4) There was no association between diet soda consumption and rheumatoid arthritis. However, this does not mean that diet sodas are a good thing. Consumption of diet sodas is just as likely to be associated with obesity as is consumption of sugar sweetened sodas, and some recent studies suggest that consumption of diet sodas is associated with high blood pressure.

5) This was a very large and well done study, but it only measures associations, not cause and effect. Further studies will be needed to confirm this observation. However, we already know that sodas are bad for us. This may be just one more reason to minimize our consumption of sodas.

6) We shouldn’t assume that we can prevent rheumatoid arthritis by simply cutting sodas out of our diet. Arthritis has multiple causes (see article above). We should aim for a healthier overall lifestyle if we wish to reduce our risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases.

7) Osteoarthritis is much more common than rheumatoid arthritis. This study did not include women with osteoarthritis, so it is uncertain whether these results will apply to osteoarthritis as well.

8) Men are much less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than women, so it will be difficult to do a comparable study in men. However, it is likely that the same association between soda consumption and rheumatoid arthritis would be seen in men as well.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.