Annointed Hands Soft Tissue Therapies

05/09/2025

IS BREAKFAST THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY?

👉Most nutrition experts recommend eating breakfast because it increases energy levels, restores 🩸blood sugar after a night without eating, and helps restore carbohydrate stores in the muscles and liver. Carbohydrates are essential for 🧠brain function and during exercise at intensities above 65 percent of maximum effort. Also, breakfast reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol. A literature review led by James Betts from the University 👨‍🔬of Bath in the U.K. found that skipping breakfast has no effect on metabolic rate and bodyweight control. Reduced caloric intake from skipping breakfast is balanced by a reduction in metabolic rate. Skipping breakfast has no long-term effects on weight loss, but may affect energy levels during the day.
👀(Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, published online 13:1-11, 2016)

05/09/2025

VITAMIN D CAUSES LAB FAT CELLS TO LOSE FAT

👉Vitamin D is synthesized in the body in a reaction involving sunlight.
Vitamin D can also be consumed in the diet by eating fatty 🐠fish, mushrooms and supplements. Several recent studies have linked low vitamin D levels to poor bone health, muscle weakness, deficiencies in reproductive hormones, low aerobic capacity and increased body mass index (the proportion of weight to height). A Korean 👨‍🔬study showed that vitamin D triggered fat loss in fat cells exposed to vitamin D. Vitamin D also affected genes that affect fat cell formation, fat breakdown and fat use as energy. Recent research has shown that 4,000 IU of vitamin D-3 is most effective for weight loss and fat loss. The only health claims allowed by government agencies for vitamin D are reducing the risk of osteoporosis, preventing inflammation and promoting normal muscle function.
👀(Nutrition, 32: 702-708, 2016)

04/09/2025

LOW-CARBOHYDRATE DIETS
PRODUCE MINIMAL LONG-TERM
WEIGHT LOSS

👉A meta-analysis of 14 randomized, controlled studies by researchers from the Graduate School of Medical Science in Kyoto, Japan 🇯🇵found that the average
12-month weight loss in people following low-carbohydrate diets was only 1.54 pounds, and the average fat loss was 1.7 pounds. Harvard 👨‍🔬University scientists estimate that at least 45 million Americans go on weight-loss diets every year, and the vast majority fail. The goal of a weight-control program should be to lose body fat and maintain the loss. Quick-loss regimens often result in the loss of muscle tissue and do nothing to instill healthy, long-term dietary habits to maintain the new weight. Interestingly, even those who rely on the most popular structured programs to lose weight (e.g., Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig) give praise and credit to those companies when they reduce weight and fat.
Unfortunately, these same people regain the modest weight loss after about one year on the program, and then blame themselves for the failure. This sets them up to rejoin the or ganization all over again, and they do. That is one of the reasons such programs remain in the lucrative weight-loss business clients join and rejoin, often many times during a decade! Also, "yo-yo" diets (cycles of repeated loss and regain of bodyweight) are unhealty, and contribute to coronary heart disease and other metabolic disturbances. Relying on external resources certainly has its place, but most of the initiative must ultimately come from within to alter daily habits.
👀(Obesity Reviews, published online April 5, 2016)

04/09/2025

MAXIMUM WAIST CIRCUMFERENCE RECOMMENDATION DEPENDS ON BMI

👉Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of the proportion of weight to height (BMI = weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared). A BMI below 18.5 is underweight, 18.5 to 24.9 is normal weight, 25 to 29.9 is overweight, while 30 or more is obese.
Public health recommendations also include maximum waist circumference as a predictor of poor health. The maximum recommended waist size is 40 inches (102 centimeters) in men and 35 inches (88 centimeters) in women. 🇰🇷Korean researchers found that the current waist circumference recommendations underestimate the metabolic risks in non-obese people and overestimate the risk in obese people. The researchers recommended a maximum circumference of 84 cm and 76 cm in non-obese men and women, and 93 cm and 87 cm in obese men and women, which are below the recommendations by the National Institutes of Health in the 🇺🇸United States. They concluded that these cutoffs are better predictors of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Weight-trained athletes generally have larger BMIs than normal, so these recommendations might not be relevant in bodybuilders and other strength athletes.
👀(Nutrition & Metabolism, 13:26, 2016)

03/09/2025

BROWN FAT: THE NEW FRONTIER FOR FIGHTING OBESITY

👉The human body contains small amounts of a calorie-burning tissue called brown fat (brown adipose tissue, BAT) that converts food energy directly into heat. White fat does the opposite it stores energy. BAT is an important heat-generating tissue that helps animals and humans adapt to the cold. Individual differences in BAT content and activity play important roles in human obesity. A review of literature led by Antonio Giordano from the 👨‍🔬University of Pavia in Italy concluded that converting abdominal fat to BAT might result in a breakthrough in the obesity epidemic. Increasing brown fat activation helps people expend more calories and burn more fat. Key nutrients, such as L-arginine, L-citrulline and L-glutamate, can increase brown fat activity, which will increase caloric expenditure and promote fat burning. Scientists are actively seeking drugs to turn on brown fat and promote weight loss. 👀(Nature Reviews Drug Discoveries, published online March 11, 2016)

03/09/2025

ADHERENCE TO THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET IS LINKED TO LOWER ABDOMINAL FAT

👉People who strictly follow the Mediterranean diet tend to have lower body mass index (a measure of the proportion of weight to height) and waist circumference - according to a large population study led by Simon Bertoli from the Nutritional 👨‍🔬Research Center in Milan, Italy. The Mediterranean diet is high in fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, olive oil and other mono and polyunsaturated fats and whole grains. This diet reduces LDL ("bad") cholesterol, and maintains blood sugar levels on an even keel. The diet does not affect insulin resistance, but maintains daylong insulin and 🩸blood sugar concentrations at lower levels for extended durations. We have good evidence that the Mediterranean diet promotes metabolic health, prevents obesity and may increase longevity.
👀(Clinical Nutrition, 34: 1266-1272, 2016)

02/09/2025

HIGH PROTEIN INTAKE PLUS
INTENSE EXERCISE CAUSES RAPID FAT LOSS

👉Caloric restriction, high-intensity weight training and intervals, and high-protein diets caused substantial changes in body composition in only four weeks- according to scientists from McMaster 👨‍🔬University in Hamilton, 🇨🇦Canada led by Stuart Phillips and Thomas Longland. Test subjects cut calories by 40 percent and consumed either 1.2 grams of protein (LP, low protein) or 2.4 grams of protein (HP, high protein) per kilogram of bodyweight per day. Both groups performed intense exercise six days per week. The high-protein group lost almost 11 pounds of fat and gained more than 2.5 pounds of lean mass in four weeks, compared to nearly eight pounds and 0.2 pounds, respectively, in the low-profein group. The study showed that high-intensity exercise plus caloric restriction triggers substantial changes in body composition and strength, and that the changes are most significant dring high-protein diet.
👀(American Journal Clinical Nutrition, published online January 27, 2016)

01/09/2025

WORLD OBESITY RATES WILL REACH 20 PERCENT BY 2025

👉Statistics from the National Institutes of Health estimate that 35.7 percent of U.S.
adults are obese and 74 percent are overweight. We are far ahead of other industrialized countries such as New Zealand (28 percent), United Kingdom (27 percent), Canada (26 percent), Germany (25 percent), Finland (23 percent), Brazil (19 percent), China (6 percent) and Japan (5 percent).
Researchers from NCD Risk Factor Collaboration in the United Kingdom predicted that world obesity rates will be 20 percent by 2025- 18 percent in men and more than 21 percent in women. Severe obesity will surpass six percent in men and nine percent in women. These statistics include poor countries where food supply is a problem for large segments of the population. Their prediction was based on body mass index data from 200 countries gathered between 1975 and 2014, and involved nearly 1,700 studies and more than 19 million people.
👀(The Lancet, 387: 1377-1396, 2016)

01/09/2025

GREEN TEA EXTRACT
MAY BE TOXIC TO THE LIVER

👉Green tea extract contains a chemical called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGG) that promotes weight loss by boosting thermogenesis (increased calorie burning) and curbing appetite. Green tea extract is a popular weight-loss supplement, but it could be toxic to the liver-according the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. They have received at least 20 consumer complaints linking the supplement to liver damage.
Animal and human studies have found links between EGG and liver damage in people with metabolic diseases. Obese people often have poor metabolic health, so they might experience side effects from green tea extract when they are trying to lose weight. You can reduce the risk of liver toxicity by avoiding these supplements or taking them with meals.
(Nutraingredients.com, March 18, 2016)

Daily news on dietary supplements, nutraceuticals and functional foods. Free access to news on health ingredients and herbals in Europe.

29/08/2025

BROCCOLI

👉Though a lot of us don't especially care for broccoli (former President Bush was famous for his distaste of the vegetable), we know it's good for us. Packed with iron, fibre, and antioxidants, this green veggie that resembles a tree also contains indoles - naturally occurring compounds that counter the effects of ostrogen, the "female" hormone that make the body more efficient at storing bodyfat in both men and women. Keeping your estrogen levels down can help you lose fat and avoid gaining more fat, so get that yummy broccoli down the hatch!

29/08/2025

DON'T GO BY CALORIES ALONE

👉Many dieters are confused by the fact that not all calories are created equal. Simply counting calories will not get you the results you want when trying to gain muscle and lose bodyfat. Refined carbohydrates such as white bread, fat-free muffins, fruit juice, white rice, rice cakes and cold cereals digest rapidly, leading to weight gain much more easily than slow-digesting fibre-based carbs such as beans, oatmeal, peas, sweet potato and whole grains. Protein contributes to weight loss because eating it actually increases your metabolism. Athletes store excess ingested fat as bodyfat more easily than either carbohydrates or protein because they typically store extra protein as muscle tissue and carbohydrates as muscle glycogen. Stick to low-fat, high-protein foods such as turkey breast, egg whites, fish, fat-free cottage cheese and skinless chicken breasts, and complex carbs like oatmeal, oat bran, sweet potatoes, beans, brown rice and vegetables for steady-burning fuel.

28/08/2025

MA*****NA IMPROVES Body Composition and Metabolic Health

CONTROVERSY HAS SURROUNDED MA*****NA FOR MORE THAN 75 YEARS.

👉It has been a tightly regulated substance with stiff legal penalties for using it. That's changing.
Colorado and Washington legalized the recreational use of the drug and 18 states have legalized medical ma*****na. A study led by Murray Mittleman from Harvard 👨‍🔬University found that ma*****na users showed better metabolic health than non-users. Users had lower insulin levels, less insulin resistance and smaller waist circumferences. The study examined nearly 5,000 men and women from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
👀(The American Journal of Medicine, 126: 583-589, 2013)