RxPG News : Fitness

Musculoskeletal problems ail computer workers

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:46:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Those who work for long hours on computers become victims of weak backs and shoulders, an affliction that doctors believe has multiplied over the years.

'Gurgaon is an IT hub and the problem is definitely severe here. I have seen a nearly 10 fold increase in the number of shoulder and back ache patients. They are falling flat on weak shoulders,' said I.P.S. Oberoi, a senior orthopaedic doctor at the Artemis Health Institute in Gurgaon.

'Nearly two years back, we used to get some 20 to 30 patients a month but now the number has gone up to 300. A resounding majority of them are computer professionals and those exposed to a computer for more than three-four hours a day,' Oberoi told IANS.

He said it starts with shoulder pain and leads to severe backache. Even medical studies have found the same result.

A new study by doctors at the Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital here has found that an overwhelming 76 percent of computer professionals in Delhi and its adjoining satellite towns have developed 'musculoskeletal problems'.

'This is a significant proportion and denotes that the occupational health of people working in the computer industry should be emphasised as a field of concern in public health,' the study underlines.

The subjects of this study were software developers, call centre executives and data entry operators.

The study says that long periods of work in front of a computer are causing these shoulder and back problems. 'They are also prone to eye strain and injuries of the hand and wrists.'

'Yes, the problem is increasing. It's an emerging field and much study needs to be done. Our study subjects are people who have worked in the computer industry for at least six months,' Richa Talwar, lead researcher of the study, told IANS.

Her study also found that nearly 76 percent of these computer professionals who are working as software developers, call centre workers and data entry operators too have some sort of visual problem.

P.K. Dave, an orthopaedic doctor and former director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences -, said that the working condition of computer professionals are very sedentary.

'The problem is too bad these days. Many of these professional have a wrong sitting posture and are over exposed to computer screens,' Dave, currently serving at Rockland Hospital here, explained.

'Unfortunately those who are coming for medical help are in the highly productive age group. Generally 30-40 age group are what I have seen as the worst sufferers,' said the Padma Shri awardee.

Explaining the problem, Oberoi said these computer professionals' hands are almost static while working.

'In the entire body, just the portion above the wrist works and the rest is static. They punch keyboards or hold the mouse for long hours. The problem begins here and it goes to the shoulder and finally they develop a weak back. They are falling flat on weak shoulders and sometimes victims can't even move their hands in pain,' he elaborated.

Doctors said that as the NCR region is an IT hub, the problem is quite visible and growing. An improved sitting posture, regular exercise, good nutrition and a firm no to junk food can help victims avoid the problem.

You may damage knees if you're an exercise freak

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:51:15 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) If you are a middle-aged man or woman and tend to over- exercise, then you may unwittingly damage your knees, increasing chances of osteoarthritis, a new study says.

'Our data suggest that people with higher physical activity levels may be at greater risk for developing knee abnormalities and, thus, at higher risk for developing osteoarthritis,' said Christoph Stehling.

Stehling is a research fellow in radiology and biomedical imaging at the University of California, San Francisco -.

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that causes pain, swelling and stiffness. It affects 27 million adults in US, says the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The UCSF study involved 236 participants who had not reported previous knee pain and were enrolled in the National Institutes of Health Osteoarthritis Initiative.

The participants comprised 136 women and 100 men, aged between 45 and 55 years, within a healthy weight range.

They were categorised as low, middle, and high-activity groups based on their responses to the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly - questionnaire.

PASE is a standard test that scores an older individual's physical activity level, based on the type of activity and the time spent doing it.

Several factors contribute to the final PASE score, but a person whose activity level is classified as high typically might engage in several hours of walking, sports or other types of exercise per week, as well as yard work and other household chores.

Subsequent MRI analysis indicated a relationship between physical activity levels and frequency and severity of knee damage, says a UCSF release.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America -.

Exercise addiction could prove fatal

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:46:44 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Oct 23 - The six-pack or the eight-pack abs of Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan may look mighty impressive but it's inspiring many youngsters to pump iron without being aware that this 'exercise addiction' could prove fatal. This week two people in India were victims of 'exercise addiction'.

Forty-two year-old Ranjan Das, the youngest CEO in the country, collapsed with a massive cardiac arrest after working out in his in-house gym in Mumbai, while in Jaipur a young aspiring model died while working out at the treadmill at a gym.

Both were described as fitness freaks.

According to M.S. Bhatia, who heads the department of psychiatry at the G.T.B. Hospital here, cases of people addicted to exercise are growing. Most are young men.

'We get so many cases these days. With the thrust on body, appearance and fitness, plus copying Bollywood stars and ramp models, youngsters are going all out to work out, not knowing how much time they should spend and what is good or bad for them,' Bhatia told IANS.

'We have seen patients who have become so addicted to physical activity that they engage in compulsive, excessive exercise,' Bhatia, who along with others wrote about the growing phenomenon in the Delhi Psychiatry Journal, said.

He said this compulsion is described as 'exercise addiction' as physical activity 'significantly interferes with important activities, occurs at inappropriate times or in inappropriate settings or when the individual continues to exercise despite injury or other medical complications.'

Bhatia said recently a young executive came to them with 'muscle fracture'.

'He complained of physical exhaustion, fever, withdrawal symptoms and lethargy. He didn't want to work, had sleepless nights. He had the typical symptoms of depression. Despite these problems, he didn't want to leave exercising,' he said.

'He was exercising beyond his capacity. His muscles had become weak due to this. He was on steroids because he had skin problem. All this contributed to his feeling depressed. But he never left exercising,' Bhatia said, adding that they had to prescribe an anti-depressant.

But it is just not depression or obsession, it means hormonal changes too.

'It also means hormonal changes like decreased testosterone in men and increased production of cortisol -. Among women, there is an increased risk of stress fractures and osteoporosis. Menstrual cycle of girls may get altered,' he added.

Also, there would be instances of damaged tendons, ligaments, bones, cartilage and joints. 'Behavioural changes like increased anxiety, inability to relax or rest are some other symptoms of this,' he said.

He said people should look out for warning signs.

'One should see whether they are exercising for more than two hours daily repeatedly, always following the same rigid exercise pattern, working out alone, fixated on weight loss or calories, exercising to the point of pain, exercising when sick or injured or skipping work, class or social plans for workouts,' Bhatia told IANS.

'It is said that one percent of the population suffers from exercise addiction and this percentage is higher among elite runners, competitive power lifters, endurance athletes and obsessive gym goers,' he added.

Anubha Verma, 27, is one such case. She is obsessed with exercising since college days. 'Initially, it was a stress buster, but soon it became a lot more,' she told IANS.

Now, every day, she does the treadmill and runs for an hour. She has also bought gadgets like a tummy twister and aerobics mats.

'I just can't do without exercising. I know I am obsessive, but I can't help it,' Verma said.

Bhatia has a word of caution. 'People should from time to time review their exercise regime. They should see that they are not overdoing it and not beyond their capacity.

'It is fine to exercise, but not that much that it overtakes your life or proves dangerous,' he said.

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Tai Chi can help diabetics

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:30:56 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Washington, Oct 3 - Doing tai chi exercises regularly can help diabetics lower their blood glucose levels, says a new study.

Tai chi is an ancient martial art that combines deep breathing and relaxation with slow, gentle circular movements.

Adults diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, who took part in a tai chi programme two days a week, with three days of home practice for six months, cut down their fasting blood glucose levels, enhanced quality of life, including mental health, vitality and energy.

'Tai chi really has similar effects as other aerobic exercises on diabetic control. Tai chi is a low-impact exercise, less stressful on the bones, joints and muscles than more strenuous exercise,' said Beverly Roberts, professor at the University of Florida - College of Nursing.

Roberts studied tai chi's effect on older Korean residents with Rhayun Song of Chungham National University.

Sixty-two participants, mostly Korean women, took part in the study. Half the group participated in at least 80 percent of two supervised sessions one hour per week, with three days of home practice for six months, and the other half served as a control group.

About 23.6 million children and adults in the US or 7.8 percent of the population have diabetes. It occurs when the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life.

Risk factors include obesity, sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy eating habits, high blood pressure and cholesterol, a history of gestational diabetes and increased age, many of which can be reduced through exercise.

'People assume that for exercise to be beneficial you have to be huffing and puffing, sweating and red-faced afterward,' Roberts said.

'This may turn people off, particularly older adults. However, we have found that activities like tai chi can be just as beneficial in improving health.'

Those who completed the sessions had significantly improved glucose control and reported higher levels of vitality and energy.

The research was featured in the June issue of The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

Obesity spurs a tide of cancer in Europe

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:43:34 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) London, Sep 26 - Obesity caused at least 124,000 new cancers last year in Europe, according to a new study.

The proportion of cases of new cancers were highest among women and in central European countries such as the Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovenia and Bulgaria.

'As more people stop smoking and fewer women take hormone replacement therapy, it is possible that obesity may become the biggest attributable cause of cancer in women within the next decade,' said Andrew Renehan, who led the study.

Renehan, senior lecturer in cancer studies and surgery, University of Manchester, and colleagues in Britain, The Netherlands and Switzerland, created a model to estimate the proportion of cancers that could be attributed to excess body weight in 30 European countries.

Using data from the WHO and International Agency for Research on Cancer, they estimated that in 2002 there had been over 70,000 new cases of cancer attributable to excess body mass index -, out of a total of nearly 2.2 million new diagnoses across the 30 European countries.

Researchers found these numbers increased to 124,050 in 2008. 'These are very conservative estimates, and it's quite likely that the numbers are, in fact, higher,' said Renehan.

The number of new cases of obesity-related oesophageal cancer was particularly high in Britain relative to the rest of Europe. 'This country accounts for 54 percent of new cases across all 30 countries,' said Renehan.

'This may be due to synergistic interactions between smoking, alcohol, excess body weight and acid reflux - and is currently an area where research is required,' Renehen said, according to a Manchester university release.

Renehen presented these findings at the 15th congress of the European Cancer Organisation and the 34th congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology.

These findings are slated for publication in the International Journal of Cancer.

US yoga activists bring benefits to needy

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:38:29 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Time was when yoga was considered a lifestyle choice in the US, something upper class people did in the luxury of spare time. That image is changing fast, thanks to activists who want to spread the therapeutic benefits of yoga among those who badly need them.

Take, for example, the scene at George Washington University on a recent afternoon. The desks in a classroom were pushed aside and 15 school students were sitting cross-legged on the floor with their eyes closed, breathing deeply.

'For an hour, under the guidance of volunteer yoga teacher Jessi Long, they stretched and lunged, extending their hands toward the ceiling and folding into toe-touching forward bends,' a Washington Post report noted.

At the end, they lay unmoving on their backs in shavasana, or corpse pose, drawing audibly deeper breaths.

'Remember this feeling in your daily life,' said the teacher, rousing them with her voice. 'You can always come back to this feeling of relaxation and release.'

The class, for students in Upward Bound, a programme to prepare low-income youths for college, is part of 'a growing movement to take yoga beyond its reputation as boutique exercise for the well-to-do and use it as therapy for groups such as at-risk and homeless youths, HIV/AIDS patients and torture survivors'.

In Media, Pennsylvania, Sprout Yoga holdsfree classes to people recovering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and eating disorders, whereas Yoga Hope in Boston serves battered women and recovering addicts, the Post reported.

'We're just trying to give people access to the true yoga,' said Adrienne Boxer, executive director of Street Yoga, an Oregon-based organisation that teaches homeless teens and victims of sexual abuse, among others.

'It's a lot more than an asana, or a pose, that you're striking. It's the way that you breathe and the way you relate to others and communicate.'

Mark Lilly, who founded Street Yoga in 2002, said the interest in making yoga freely accessible grew steadily until two years ago - and then it exploded.

'Enough service providers - social workers and nurses and senior staff at nonprofits and clinics and hospitals - had done yoga in their own lives,' he was quoted as saying. 'It just hit in a big way for a lot of people at the same time.'

Jasmine Chehrazi, 29, who founded the non-profit studio Yoga District here three years ago, is one of the key people behind the 'yoga activist' outreach effort in the area.

She invited Lilly to Yoga District's bare-bones studio in Bloomingdale. Lilly spent three days last week at the studio teaching 30 yoga instructors, social workers and medical students how to teach yoga to a pregnant teen, an abused child or a recovering addict.

'Empowering people to meet their own needs is one of the biggest things we can do,' Lilly said. 'Yoga is just the context.'

That attitude can sound naive, and people trying to come to terms with pain or trauma may need more than yoga poses. But the Post noted: 'Even some sceptics of alternative therapies agree that yoga is a tool people can use to feel better.'

'Yoga is exercise, and it's pretty well established that exercise improves the mood and can reduce stress,' said Steven Novella, a Yale University neurologist who founded the New England Skeptics Society and edits Science-Based Medicine, a blog that has been critical of what it calls 'pseudoscience' done in support of alternative therapies such as acupuncture and herbal remedies.

'These are pretty basic science-based claims,' he said for benefits of yoga.

And the newcomers are not looking for scientific evidence either. Sasha Lord, a 27-year-old Girl Scouts field director, said: 'I suffer from depression, and I think yoga really helps me. It's an urban survival skill.'

Monea Hendricks, 27, an African American doctoral candidate at Howard University who started practising yoga to relieve stress during college, said: 'People think yoga is for upper class white people. It doesn't have to be an expensive, upscale, Northwest D.C. thing - it can actually meet people exactly where they are.'

Professional cycling reduces sperm quality

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:30:19 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Amsterdam, July 6 - Intensive professional cycling training damages sperm, according to a study presented at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam recently.

Professor Diana Vaamonde, affiliated with the Spanish University of Cordoba Medical School, found that high-intensity training by triathletes significantly diminishes the quality of their sperm.

Previous studies by Vaamonde's team had already shown that both high exercise intensity and high exercise volume might be detrimental to sperm quality.

In the new study, in which the research team thoroughly analysed the sperm quality of 15 triathletes with an average age of 33, the scientists found a direct correlation between the volume of training in each activity and sperm quality.

Of the three modalities, only cycling, the activity for which triathletes undertake the most training, showed a clear correlation with sperm quality. The more time and distance covered in cycling, the worse sperm quality became.

'We found a statistically adverse correlation between sperm morphology and the volume of cycling training undertaken per week,' Vaamonde said.

The scientists say that the reduced sperm quality is most likely caused by a number of factors. Irritation and compression caused by friction of the testes against the saddle or the localised heat produced by wearing tight clothing might explain part of the problem.

But, the study says, reactive oxygen species - small molecules that are a natural by-product of oxygen metabolism and which react to stress by increasing to such an extent that they can damage cell structures - and energetic imbalances may play an important role in the sperm alterations.

Vaamonde said it was necessary to develop 'protective measures' for professional sportsmen to prevent damage to their sperm quality, including freezing their sperm prior to intensive training programmes.

Giving up smoking and bad habits can improve senior's health

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:27:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Washington, April 24 - Previous smokers easily outpaced current smokers in physical activity, suggesting that giving up such bad habits can positively impact a senior's health later in life.

These findings were based on a study of more than 2,000 seniors who were current smokers, past smokers and had never smoked.

All three groups were compared to show a link between smoking and the speed at which participants walked.

Eliminating bad habits such as poor food choices and lack of exercise - which can lead to weight gain or poor muscle condition - has been an ongoing struggle for seniors.

According to Alison Moore, member, American Geriatrics Society -, the most important part of successfully changing bad habits is to go into the transformation with a positive attitude.

Moore offers the following suggestions to help older adults conquer some of the more common bad habits. For example bad food choices: Excess weight can cause multiple health problems and complications, including diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Substituting good carbohydrates - for bad carbohydrates - and adding lean proteins, while limiting foods with high fat and sugar contents, will help seniors maintain a healthy weight.

Smoking and drinking: Smoking and excessive alcohol intake is proven to have negative health effects on a person at any age, but seniors who smoke and drink regularly increase their chances of more advanced medical problems.

The effects of many medications are altered when mixed with alcohol, which can pose serious health risks, especially for seniors taking multiple medications.

There are a variety of activities seniors can do to keep their minds focused and sharp, including word puzzles, interactive games, joining a book club or participating in other social and volunteer activities, said an AGS release.

Lack of exercise: Keeping physically active is integral to keeping the heart, mind and bones healthy. For some seniors, physical restrictions make exercise a challenge, but there are still small ways to incorporate physical activity into a daily routine, such as parking further away from the store to get in a short walk.

These findings will be presented during the American Geriatrics Society's Annual Meeting between April 29 and May 3 in Chicago.

Do you know if your blood pressure is high?

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:32:48 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) London, Nov 13 - Over 50 percent of people with high blood pressure might not be aware of their condition, a new study has found.

Franco Cappuccio of Warwick University Medical School led the team from Britain to participate in a European study examining awareness, treatment and control of high blood pressure, or hypertension, precursor of heart attacks and strokes.

The IMMIDIET study examined 1,604 people from south-west London, Limburg in Belgium and Abruzzo in Italy. All of them underwent a medical examination, including blood pressure - check-up and answered a lifestyle and health questionnaire.

The researchers found 24 percent of participants had high BP and 56 percent of those were not aware of their condition. Of those that were aware, less than half had their high BP under control.

Looking at the differences between regions, researchers found the British participants had lower BP overall and better control than the Italians and Belgians, said a Warwick release.

'Our results show that high blood pressure is a looming problem for Europe. Although in the UK the management of high blood pressure is better as compared to some other countries, in part due to the incentives that GPs receive to achieve blood pressure targets,' said Cappuccio.

The research was published in the Journal of Hypertension.

Anti-smoking hospital programmes successful: Indian American expert

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:02:20 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Washington, Oct 14 - Hospital-based anti-smoking programmes, along with referrals for cardiac rehabilitation, seem to help patients quit smoking after a heart attack, according to a study co-authored by Indian American cardiologist Susmita Parashar.

'The findings are important because cardiac rehabilitation and hospital-based smoking cessation programmes appear to be under-utilised in current clinical practice and should be potentially considered as a structural measure of health care quality for patients with heart attack,' Parashar, from the Emory University School of Medicine, said.

Emory University researchers studied 639 patients who smoked at the time of their hospitalisation after heart attack. Six months later, 297 of the patients - about 47 percent of them - had quit smoking.

The odds of quitting were greater among patients who received discharge recommendations for cardiac rehabilitation and those who were treated at a facility offering an inpatient smoking cessation program. However, individual counselling was not associated with quit rates.

Parashar said the study shows that patients recovering from a heart attack are more likely to quit smoking if they are referred to a cardiac rehabilitation programme or if a hospital-based smoking cessation programme is available to them.

The report appeared in the October issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA and Archives journals.

Parashar graduated from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences -, New Delhi, in 1996. She attended State University of New York, Syracuse for her internal medicine internship from 1997 to 1998. After completing her residency at Medical College of Georgia, Augusta in 2000, she joined the general internal medicine department at Emory University as an academic faculty member.

In 2003, she became an assistant professor of medicine at Emory. She completed her Master of Public Health and Master of Science from Emory in 2005.

Her research interests include women and heart disease, racial and sex disparities in heart disease, depression and coronary heart disease and role of inflammation and oxidation in outcome of coronary heart disease.

Peers' jeers rob obese kids of cheer

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:22:36 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Taunts or jeers of peers can rob obese adolescents of peace of mind and result in health and psychological problems that overshadow their young adulthood.

Ryan Adams, assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati and William Bukowski, professor at Concordia University, Montreal, examined peer victimisation as a predictor of depression and body mass index in obese and non-obese adolescents.

Adams explained that while peer victimisation is comparable to bullying, bullying behaviour typically involves one-on-one targeting while peer victimisation can also entail victimisation that can come from the peer group in general.

Over a four-year period, the study found lower self-esteem and increased depression and body mass index for obese females who felt they were victimised by their peers.

Obese males reported increased depression and lower feelings about physical appearance. However, negative feelings about their physical appearance earlier in the study were linked to a decrease in body mass index as they got older.

For non-obese males and females, there was no link between peer victimisation and increased body mass index, but there were links to negative feelings about physical appearance as they got older.

'Victimisation may not only reinforce the negative self-concepts that a risk factor for victimisation, such as obesity, may cause, but a risk factor for victimisation, such as obesity, will also make it more likely that the adolescent will be victimised indefinitely,' Adams said.

Using data from Statistics Canada, the researchers randomly selected Canadian children identified through the National Longitudinal Survey for Children and Youth and gathered data from 1,287 participants over three different time periods, including when the children were 12-13 years old, 14-15 years old and 16-17 years old.

To determine if children were being victimised by peers, they were asked whether children said nasty things to them at school, whether they felt bullied at school, or if they were bullied on the way to home or school.

To examine feelings about their physical appearance, the children were asked whether they liked the way they looked. To check body mass index over the three time periods, the children were asked to report their weight and height. Body Mass Index - was then calculated for males and females, and obesity was determined based on the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention's growth charts.

'It is important to go beyond using obesity as a predictor of long-term adjustment and examine the processes and experiences of obese individuals that might cause depression or changes in health,' said Adams.

These findings were published in the current issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

No evidence of gene doping at Games but worry remains

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:34:47 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Beijing, Aug 10 - Gene doping may not be present at the ongoing Beijing Olympic Games but anti-doping experts remain worried that illegal use of gene therapy.

David Howman, director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency -, voiced his concerns over illegal practices in this area Sunday.

'We worry about unfair practices. My concern is somebody is trying to do it without having it properly, medically verified and ethically confirmed. It is like manufacturing drugs without under proper scrutiny,' he said. He was here to oversee the anti-doping program at the Games which opened on Friday.

WADA plays the role of independent observer for the program and carry out about 1,000 of the 4,500 tests during the Games. It also set up an anti-doping outreach program for athletes in the Olympic Village.

'We are doing a lot of work in gene therapy because we want it to be in place for the good public health reasons. What we worry about is being abused by those want to cheat. It should not be abused by athletes,' said Howman.

At this point, WADA doesn't believe gene doping is present.

'No evidence, nothing is coming forward to suggest that gene doping is going on,' said WADA president John Fahey. 'No gene doping is occurring a this point of time.' WADA has held three gene doping symposiums with experts, scientists, ethicists, athletes, and representatives from the Olympic Movement and governments studying the issue. The third symposium was held in Saint Petersburg in June this year. Fahey said all participants of the symposiums agreed that more research should be done.

'There is a recognition that there must be sufficient research to find the detection process in advance because it is a concern it may become something in the lexicon of doping in the days ahead,' said the Australian.

WADA has been conducting 22 projects on developing a system for detecting gene doping. Howman said combined efforts were needed to combat the problem.

'We do a lot of research and we would like to do more but we haven't got a lot of money, so we rely on other countries and research bodies to help us with it,' he said.

Little exercise goes a long way for older adults

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:26:41 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Sydney, July 19 - A little exercise or 'resistance training' to strengthen muscles goes a long way in keeping older men fit as a fiddle, according to a study by University of Queensland.

Tim Henwood of the University said his doctoral thesis is based on how people aged over 65 responded to such training.

'What we were looking at was how simple resistance training can improve muscle strength, power and functional performance,' said Henwood.

'This type of training not only has significant physical benefits but has also been associated with a decreased risk of later life disease.'

Henwood said participants do a basic twice-weekly, machine-based resistance training programme that targets the major muscles of the upper and lower body. All training sessions were thoroughly supervised to promote motivation and correct technique.

'We saw some very significant increases, up to a 50 percent in muscle strength and power,' he said.

'However, the really important increases were those we saw in the participant's functional ability.

'For this age group these increases are what allows them to keep successfully climbing stairs and getting out of chairs, thereby allowing them to retain their independence.'

How exercise changes structure and function of heart

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) For the first time researchers are beginning to understand exactly how various forms of exercise impact the heart. Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators, in collaboration with the Harvard University Health Services, have found that 90 days of vigorous athletic training produces significant changes in cardiac structure and function and that the type of change varies with the type of exercise performed. Their study appears in the April Journal of Applied Physiology.

“Most of what we know about cardiac changes in athletes and other physically active people comes from ‘snapshots,’ taken at one specific point in time. What we did in this first-of-a-kind study was to follow athletes over several months to determine how the training process actually causes change to occur,” says Aaron Baggish, MD, a fellow in the MGH Cardiology Division and lead author of the study.

To investigate how exercise affects the heart over time, the MGH researchers enrolled two groups of Harvard University student athletes at the beginning of the fall 2006 semester. One group was comprised of endurance athletes – 20 male and 20 female rowers – and the other, strength athletes – 35 male football players. Student athletes were studied while participating their normal team training, with emphasis on how the heart adapts to a typical season of competitive athletics.

Echocardiography studies – ultrasound examination of the heart’s structure and function – were taken at the beginning and end of the 90-day study period. Participants followed the normal training regimens developed by their coaches and trainers, and weekly training activity was recorded. Endurance training included one- to three-hour sessions of on-water practice or use of indoor rowing equipment. The strength athletes took part in skill-focused drills, exercises designed to improve muscle strength and reaction time, and supervised weight training. Participants also were questioned confidentially about the use of steroids, and any who reported such use were excluded from the study.

At the end of the 90-day study period, both groups had significant overall increases in the size of their hearts. For endurance athletes, the left and right ventricles – the chambers that send blood into the aorta and to the lungs, respectively – expanded. In contrast, the heart muscle of the strength athletes tended to thicken, a phenomenon that appeared to be confined to the left ventricle. The most significant functional differences related to the relaxation of the heart muscle between beats – which increased in the endurance athletes but decreased in strength athletes, while still remaining within normal ranges.

“We were quite surprised by both the magnitude of changes over a relatively short period and by how great the differences were between the two groups of athletes,” Baggish says. “The functional differences raise questions about the potential impact of long-term training, which should be followed up in future studies.”

While this study looks at young athletes with healthy hearts, the information it provides may someday benefit heart disease patients. “The take-home message is that, just as not all heart disease is equal, not all exercise prescriptions are equal,” Baggish explains. “This should start us thinking about whether we should tailor the type of exercise patients should do to their specific type of heart disease. The concept will need to be studied in heart disease patients before we can make any definitive recommendations.”

Posture linked to blood pressure

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 12:18:11 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) London, Aug 13 - Scientists in Britain have said that the position in which you hold your body plays a role in maintaining blood pressure.

Scientists who conducted studies on mice suggest that good posture could help keep blood pressure level normal while bad posture could increase it, reported the online edition of the New Scientist

Posture is the position in which body is held upright against gravity while standing, sitting or lying down.

Good posture involves training body to stand, walk, sit and lie in positions where the least strain is placed on supporting muscles and spine during movement or weight-bearing activities.

Scientists had earlier suspected a link between the muscles in the neck, blood pressure and heart rate.

Now, researchers at the University of Leeds in Britain have found a direct connection between these neck muscles and a part of the brainstem, which plays a crucial role in regulating heart rate and blood pressure.

Brainstem is the lower part of the brain where it connects to the spinal cord.

Researchers said their finding could explain why blood pressure and heart rate sometimes change when the neck muscles are injured. Similarly, it is possible that hours spent hunched over a computer may raise blood pressure.

Aging Process Reversed by Exercise

Tue, 22 May 2007 03:59:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A recent study, co-led by Buck Institute faculty member Simon Melov, PhD, and Mark Tarnopolsky, MD, PhD, of McMaster University Medical Center in Hamilton, Ontario, involved before and after analysis of gene expression profiles in tissue samples taken from 25 healthy older men and women who underwent six months of twice weekly resistance training, compared to a similar analysis of tissue samples taken from younger healthy men and women.

The gene expression profiles involved age-specific mitochondrial function; mitochondria act as the powerhouse of cells. Multiple studies have suggested that mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in the loss of muscle mass and functional impairment commonly seen in older people.

The study also measured muscle strength. Before exercise training, the older adults were 59% weaker than the younger adults, but after the training the strength of the older adults improved by about 50%, such that they were only 38% weaker than the young adults.

We were very surprised by the results of the study, said Melov. We expected to see gene expressions that stayed fairly steady in the older adults. The fact that their 'genetic fingerprints' so dramatically reversed course gives credence to the value of exercise, not only as a means of improving health, but of reversing the aging process itself, which is an additional incentive to exercise as you get older.

Future studies are being designed to determine if resistance training has any genetic impact on other types of human tissue, such as those that comprise organs; researchers also want to determine whether endurance training (running, cycling) impacts mitochondrial function and the aging process. The most recent study also points to particular gene expressions that could be used as starting points for chemical screenings that could lead to drug therapies that would modulate the aging process.

The vast majority of aging studies are done in worms, fruit flies and mice; this study was done in humans, said Melov. It's particularly rewarding to be able to scientifically validate something practical that people can do now to improve their health and the quality of their lives, as well as knowing that they are doing something which is actually reversing aspects of the aging process.

Limited Exercise Useful for Obese Women

Wed, 16 May 2007 03:47:43 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New research indicates that even small amounts of physical activity, approximately 75 minutes a week, can help improve the fitness levels for postmenopausal women who are sedentary and overweight or obese, according to a study in the May 16 issue of JAMA.

Low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and death, and improvements in fitness are associated with a reduction in these risks. Physical activity habits are the primary determinant of fitness in adults and changes in physical activity result in changes in fitness, according to background information in the article. However, there is a poor understanding of the relationship between levels of physical activity and the change in fitness levels.

Timothy S. Church, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., of the Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, La., and colleagues examined the effect of 50 percent, 100 percent, and 150 percent of the NIH Consensus Panel physical activity recommendations on cardiorespiratory fitness in sedentary, overweight or obese postmenopausal women with elevated blood pressure. The Panel recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days of the week. The study included 464 sedentary, postmenopausal overweight or obese women whose body mass index ranged from 25.0 to 43.0 and whose systolic blood pressure ranged from 120.0 to 159.9 mm Hg. Enrollment took place between April 2001 and June 2005.

Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: 102 to the nonexercise control group, 155 to the 4-kcal/kg (400 calories), 104 to the 8-kcal/kg (800 calories), and 103 to the 12-kcal/kg (1,200 calories) per week energy-expenditure groups for the 6-month intervention period. Target training intensity was the heart rate associated with 50 percent (a modest intensity) of each womanâs peak VO2 (a measure of oxygen consumption and fitness level).

The average minutes of exercising per week were 72.2 for the 4-kcal/kg, 135.8 for the 8-kcal/kg, and 191.7 for the 12-kcal/kg per week exercise groups. Compared with the control group, the VO2abs (absolute) increased by 4.2 percent in the 4-kcal/kg, 6.0 percent in the 8-kcal/kg, and 8.2 percent in the 12-kcal/kg per week groups. There were no significant changes in systolic or diastolic blood pressure values from baseline to 6 months in any of the exercise groups vs. the control group.

âPerhaps the most striking finding of our study is that even activity at the 4-kcal/kg per week level [approximately 72 min/wk over about three days] was associated with a significant improvement in fitness compared with women in the nonexercise control group,â the authors write. âThis information can be used to support future recommendations and should be encouraging to sedentary adults who find it difficult to find the time for 150 minutes of activity per week, let alone 60 minutes per day.â

Major genetic study identifies gene for obesity

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 03:35:28 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Scientists have identified the most clear genetic link yet to obesity in the general population as part of a major study of diseases funded by the Wellcome Trust, the UK's largest medical research charity. People with two copies of a particular gene variant have a 70 per cent higher risk of being obese than those with no copies.

Obesity is a major cause of disease, associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. It is typically measured using body mass index (BMI). As a result of reduced physical activity and increased food consumption, the prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide. According to the 2001 Health Survey for England, over a fifth of males and a similar proportion of females aged 16 and over in England were classified as obese. Half of men and a third of women were classified as overweight.

Scientists from the Peninsula Medical School, Exeter, and the University of Oxford first identified a genetic link to obesity through a genome-wide study of 2,000 people with type 2 diabetes and 3,000 controls. This study was part of the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, one of the biggest projects ever undertaken to identify the genetic variations that may predispose people to or protect them from major diseases. Through this genome-wide study, the researchers identified a strong association between an increase in BMI and a variation, or "allele", of the gene FTO. Their findings are published online today in the journal Science.

The researchers then tested a further 37,000 samples for this gene from Bristol, Dundee and Exeter as well as a number of other regions in the UK and Finland. Bristol Universityâs ALSPAC study (also known as Children of the 90s), which has followed the development of 14,000 children since before birth, made a significant contribution to this work.

The study found that people carrying one copy of the FTO allele have a 30 per cent increased risk of being obese compared to a person with no copies. However, a person carrying two copies of the allele has a 70 per cent increased risk of being obese, being on average 3kg heavier than a similar person with no copies. Amongst white Europeans, approximately one in six people carry both copies of the allele.

"As a nation, we are eating more but doing less exercise, and so the average weight is increasing, but within the population some people seem to put on more weight than others," explains Professor Andrew Hattersley from the Peninsula Medical School. "Our findings suggest a possible answer to someone who might ask 'I eat the same and do as much exercise as my friend next door, so why am I fatter?' There is clearly a component to obesity that is genetic."

The researchers currently do not know why people with copies of the FTO allele have an increased BMI and rates of obesity.

"Even though we have yet to fully understand the role played by the FTO gene in obesity, our findings are a source of great excitement," says Professor Mark McCarthy from the University of Oxford. "By identifying this genetic link, it should be possible to improve our understanding of why some people are more obese, with all the associated implications such as increased risk of diabetes and heart disease. New scientific insights will hopefully pave the way for us to explore novel ways of treating this condition."

The findings were welcomed by Dr Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust.

"This is an exciting piece of work that illustrates why it was so important to sequence the human genome," says Dr Walport. "Obesity is one of the most challenging problems for public health in the UK. The discovery of a gene that influences the development of obesity in the general population provides a new tool for understanding how some people appear to gain weight more easily than others. This discovery, along with further results expected from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium later this year, will open up a wealth of new avenues to understand and treat common diseases."

The FTO gene was first discovered whilst studying the DNA of a cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes. The risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases significantly for obese people. Through its effect on BMI, having one copy of the FTO allele increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 25 per cent, having two by 50 per cent.

"We welcome this result, which holds promise for tackling rising levels of obesity and the associated risk of developing type 2 diabetes," says Professor Simon Howell, Chair of Diabetes UK, which funded the original collection of samples from people with diabetes. "The discovery has been possible not only because of exemplary team work of scientists from a large number of institutions but also because of the cooperation of the 5,000 diabetes patients and 37,000 people without diabetes who gave blood samples for the study."

Belly size an indicator of heart disease

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 15:25:30 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New York, Dec 29 - The size of a person's belly is a better indicator of heart disease than how obese he or she is, says a new study.

Body Mass Index - was earlier used as a measure to predict heart disease risk. But a person could have a high BMI because he or she is muscular as opposed to fat, according to the health portal Medical News Today.

Carlos Iribarren and colleagues of the research division of Kaiser Permanente of Northern California in Oakland studied another factor known as sagittal abdominal diameter -, a measure of 'visceral obesity'.

SAD is also called 'supine abdominal height' which has been used to predict mortality in men, and is a measure of the girth around the abdomen - half way between the top of the pelvis and lower ribs.

It is considered a more reliable measure of a person's girth than the waistline, and the measurement is taken by a health professional using a caliper.

The scientists performed a cohort study involving 101,765 male and female members of the Kaiser Permanente of Northern California. They had been through health checks between 1965 and 1970 where their SAD was recorded, and a follow-up check was done 12 years later.

After adjusting for a number of social and lifestyle factors such as age, sex, education, BMI, smoking, alcohol and Hormone Replacement Therapy - in women, they found that men in the top 25 percent of SAD girth measurement had a 42 percent higher risk of coronary heart disease - than those in the bottom 25 percent of SAD girth measurement.

For women the figure was 44 percent, said the study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The researchers also looked at the results within categories of BMI. They found that within the same BMI range, the SAD measure was a reliable predictor of CHD risk.

'Two people with the same Body Mass Index - would effectively have different risks of developing CHD depending on the size of their belly - the larger the belly the bigger the risk', the researchers said.

They also found that SAD was a consistent predictor for CHD across racial groups. However, the younger a person was, regardless of race, the stronger the link between SAD and eventually having CHD.

Good sleep could make you slim

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 18:29:41 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New York, Dec 6 - It may not be necessarily diet control or exercise, but if you want to become slim develop a good sleeping habit, suggests a new book after looking at a host of new research.

Sleepless nights significantly disrupt our hormones and metabolism, leaving us much more prone to overeating and weight gain, according to 'The Duvet Diet - Sleep Yourself Slim' written by health journalist Jane Worthington, reported online edition of Daly Mail.

But once you get into healthy sleep habits, she says in the book, you'll find it much easier to control your appetite and lose weight. She quoted several studies including a recent one of more than 6,000 people carried out at Columbia University, America.

People who slept four hours or less per night were 73 percent more likely to be obese than those who slept between seven and nine hours a night, it said. And those who got five hours sleep a night were still 50 percent more likely to be obese.

Other evidence to back up Worthington's theory comes from a series of pioneering studies by the University Libre de Bruxelles and the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago, Illinois, both of which showed clear links between metabolic changes and sleep deprivation.

In the first study, healthy young men were observed during a 16-day sleep trial. For three of those days the men had eight-hour periods of sleep; for the next six days they slept for just four hours; and for the last seven days they had 12-hour sleep periods.

It was found that at the end of the four-hour nights, the subjects had significantly decreased levels of the hormone leptin.

'Leptin provides our brains with the 'stop feeding me - I've stored enough food' signal,' explains Worthington. 'If the levels of leptin are decreased, the brain starts to tell the body it's hungry when it's not, so this may increase the drive for food intake and, ultimately, contribute to obesity.'

The second study compared the glucose tolerance levels of poor sleepers - with normal sleepers.

Glucose tolerance measures your body's ability to deal with excessive sugar in the blood. 'Low' tolerance is a sign that it is not doing this effectively, which could put you at long-term risk of developing diseases such as diabetes.

The glucose tolerance of the poor sleepers was found to be much lower than that of the normal sleepers.

According to the researchers, this suggests too little sleep on a regular basis could push poor sleepers down the slippery slope towards obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Daily aerobics can cut snoring in overweight children

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 19:34:01 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New York, Nov 23 - Daily aerobics can cut snoring in overweight children, says a study.

The research published in the November edition of the journal Obesity looked into 100 overweight children aged 7 to 11 in Augusta, Georgia. A quarter of the kids snored or had other sleep-related breathing problems, reported the online edition of the health magazine WebMD.

The researchers randomly split the kids into three groups. One group got 40 minutes of supervised aerobic exercise - such as tag, basketball, soccer or jump rope - every day for about 13 weeks. Another group got 20 minutes of the same sort of daily aerobic exercise.

For comparison, kids in the third group weren't assigned for any aerobic exercise but were free to continue their usual activities.

After about 13 weeks, the researchers took feedback from the parents on the snoring of the children and their sleep related breathing problems.

The found that kids in the exercise groups had a bigger drop in snoring and sleep-related breathing problems than those not assigned to exercise.

Both exercise groups showed a similar drop in snoring, said Catherine L. Davis her colleagues from the Medical College of Georgia who conducted the study.

But kids assigned to exercise at least 40 minutes a day showed the biggest overall improvement in sleep-related breathing problems, they said.

Since the study included only obese children, it's not clear if the findings apply to kids who aren't overweight, they added.

Sleep well for a trimmer body

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 18:56:48 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New York, Nov 23 (IANS) A decent night's sleep curbs the number of pounds women put on as they age, according to a finding by a team of US researchers led by an Indian-American doctor.

In a study that followed more than 68,000 US women for 16 years, the team headed by Dr Sanjay Patel of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland found that women who slept more each night tended to put on less weight during middle age.

The findings were published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and presented earlier this year at a medical conference.

The researchers found that women who typically clocked five hours of sleep were one third more likely to have substantial weight gain than those who slept for seven hours.

A key finding by the team also said that putting an extra 10 pounds doubles a woman's risk of diabetes.

According to Patel, there are several possible explanations for the findings. It could be that sleep deprivation causes the body to metabolise calories less efficiently. It may also be that a lower number of hours spent sleeping reflects a basic life change that can have a fairly dramatic impact, reported the Health on the net foundation.

Whatever the reasons, sleeping seven hours or more each night could help prevent women from gaining that extra pound, say authors of the study.

The researchers based their findings on data from the long-running Nurses' Health Study, which has followed the health of thousands of female nurses for the past 30 years.

The need for "exercise prescriptions."

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 21:04:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) For many older adults, a visit to the doctor is not complete without the bestowal of at least one prescription. What if, in addition to prescribing medications as necessary, physicians also prescribed exercise? Ann Yelmokas McDermott, PhD, a researcher in the Lipid Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University, and Heather Mernitz, PhD, now of the Nutrition and Cancer Biology Laboratory at the USDA HNRCA, propose using the familiar concept of a prescription to help physicians incorporate exercise recommendations into their routine practice. In the journal American Family Physician, McDermott and Mernitz provide clinicians with explicit guidelines for giving their older patients effective "exercise prescriptions."

Their motto for determining an exercise prescription is 'FITT-PRO':

-Frequency
-Intensity
-Type
-Time
-Progression

According to FITT-PRO principles, an exercise prescription must explicitly instruct the patient regarding what type of exercise to do, how often, how hard, and for how long. The exercises must also progress over time as the patient becomes more physically fit. McDermott and Mernitz caution that, as with medication prescriptions, these exercise parameters must be personalized to suit each patient's health status and goals.

McDermott, who is also a licensed nutritionist, points out that fewer than half of older adults report ever having received a suggestion to exercise from their physicians. "Clinicians shouldn't feel like they have to be fitness experts to discuss exercise with their patients," she says. "These guidelines are intended to serve as a how-to manual for health care providers." The article provides sample prescriptions, as well as instructive tables and figures for clinicians to follow in creating individualized exercise prescriptions for their patients.

The authors explain, "There are four ways to improve physical fitness: aerobic exercise, resistance training, flexibility, and lifestyle modification." All programs should include combinations of these types of activities, and be tailored toward the individual's fitness goals. "For example," McDermott says, "when the goal is to improve functional capacity in activities of daily living, a cross-training program emphasizing the core muscle groups of the back, thighs, and abdomen is preferred."

"Only 30 percent of America's senior citizens engage in regular exercise," notes McDermott, "yet there is compelling evidence suggesting that people in all conditions of health and at all fitness levels benefit from regular physical activity. In fact, the most de-conditioned individuals have the greatest and fastest response." Mernitz adds, "Seniors tend to have less access than other demographic groups to physical activity information and programming. In contrast, they have relatively more contact with their health care providers."

"Starting an exercise program later in life can significantly modify risk factors, even if a person has been sedentary in prior years," McDermott concludes. "Health care providers can play a major role in offering effective and inexpensive primary or adjunct therapies, encourage appropriate physical activity, and dispel myths that persist as barriers to exercise in the elderly."

Among the useful resources McDermott and Mernitz reference is a book created by colleagues at the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, along with experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The book (citation below), available as a PDF on the CDC web site, is called Growing Stronger: Strength Training for Older Adults, and contains detailed explanations and useful illustrations of strength-training exercises. It is intended to help seniors make strength training part of a regular exercise routine.

High Common Daily Activity Levels Reduce Risk Of Death

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:10:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Older adults who expend more energy through any daily activity, including non-exercise activity, have a lower rate of death than adults who are less active, according to a study in the July 12 issue of JAMA.

Observational studies have shown that older adults who report low physical activity levels are at a higher risk of death compared with those who report moderate or high levels of activity. These findings have been based on questionnaires asking about physical activity levels, which may not be recalled accurately and are unable to account for many types of daily activity, according to background information in the article. Self-reported physical activity does not provide accurate estimates of absolute amounts of activity (kilocalories per day) and thus is less precise in determining whether higher levels of total activity-induced energy expenditure offer survival advantages.

Todd M. Manini, Ph.D., of the National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues conducted a study to determine the association of free-living activity energy expenditure with death from all causes in a group of 302 high-functioning, community-dwelling older adults (aged 70-82 years). The researchers measured energy expenditure over a two week period using a technique that includes determining the rate at which certain isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen, given as doubly labeled water, are eliminated from the body as carbon dioxide, a direct measure of total energy expenditure. The resting metabolic rate was also measured. Participants were followed up over an average of 6.15 years (1998-2006). Fifty-five participants (18.2 percent) died during follow-up.

The researchers found that, after adjusting for various factors, higher levels of activity energy expenditure and physical activity were associated with a lower risk of death. Compared with the third of individuals with the lowest activity energy expenditure, those in the highest third had a 69 percent lower risk of death. The absolute risk of death was 12.1 percent in the highest tertile of activity energy expenditure, 17.6 percent in the middle, and 24.7 percent in the lowest tertile. According to self-reports, individuals expending higher levels of free-living activity energy were more likely to work for pay and climb stairs but self-reported high-intensity exercise, walking for exercise, walking other than exercise, volunteering, and caregiving did not differ significantly across the activity energy expenditure tertiles. The authors suggest that this lack of relationship is likely due to the inaccuracies of self-reported activity levels.

Our study suggests that any activity energy expenditure in older adults can help lower mortality risks..., the authors write. Efforts to increase or maintain free-living activity energy expenditure will likely improve the health of older adults.

In an accompanying editorial, Steven N. Blair, P.E.D., of the Cooper Institute, Dallas, and William L. Haskell, Ph.D., of the Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif., comment on the findings of Manini and colleagues.

Higher levels of activity energy expenditure appear to be protective, and it is relevant to discuss how much and what type of physical activity is required to achieve these benefits. Ultimately, public health experts should consider how these results can be translated into recommendations for individuals.

...Manini et als conclusion that simply expending energy through any activity may influence survival in older adults is provocative and if documented by future research would have major implications for physical activity recommendations. However, such a conclusion needs to be verified in studies that would combine activity energy expenditure assessed by doubly labeled water and the intensity profile determined using recently developed accelerometer [an instrument for measuring the rate of change of velocity per unit of time] technologies.

How Group Dynamics Affect Fitness and Eating Habits

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:50:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Imagine break-room vending machines featuring fruit juice and vegetables instead of cookies and soda pop. Consider colleagues who insist on mid-morning group exercise breaks and applaud a lunchtime workout rather than criticizing the cut of the sweat suit. Ponder an organizational culture that encourages walking the stairs instead of riding the elevator.

A UCLA-evaluated study of a demonstration project led by Community Health Councils, Inc. (CHC) in Los Angeles shows how incorporating physical activity and healthy eating into an office or other organizational culture pays dividends for participants.

Published in the July 2006 edition of the peer-reviewed journal Health Promotion Practice, the study finds that a six-week wellness-training program significantly increases vigorous physical activity among participants. A 12-week curriculum, meanwhile, boosts fruit and vegetable intake while reducing feelings of sadness and depression, and can even reduce waistlines.

"Creating a culture of healthy living within an organizational framework requires buy-in by leadership, staff and clientele," said Dr. Antronette K. Yancey, lead author of the study and associate professor of health services at the UCLA School of Public Health. "Both the physical and social environment must change.

"The model we studied holds promise for extending the reach of worksite wellness programming to organizations, at-risk populations and communities not traditionally engaged by such efforts," she added. "However, many obstacles to organizational and individual engagement are apparent. Recommendations include offering a flexible menu of options that may be tailored to each organization and developing strong intra-organizational connections throughout the program to improve sustainability."

The Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 2010 demonstration project, led by Los Angeles-based Community Health Councils, adapted and implemented an organizational wellness intervention originally developed by the local health department. The
program provides training in incorporating physical activity and healthy food choices into the routine "conduct of business" in a variety of predominantly public and private, nonprofit agencies.

"Our goal is to increase life expectancy and improve quality of life for all ages by helping communities support programs that eliminate health disparities experienced by racial and ethnic minorities," said study co-author Lark Galloway-Gilliam, executive director of Community Health Councils. "The focus of the CHC Organizational Wellness Program is on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes within the African-American community, where CVD rates are 20 percent higher for black men and 40 percent higher for black women compared to their white counterparts. And blacks are 1.8 times as likely to have diabetes as whites."

UCLA examined the results of the CHC study of 35 organizations. More than 700 staff, members or clientsâmostly overweight African-American womenâwithin those organizations completed a 12-week or a six-week curriculum.

Among the findings contained in the UCLA analysis of the program:

* Feelings of sadness or depression decreased significantly among 12-week participants; fruit and vegetable intake increased significantly and body mass index decreased marginally with the 12-week program, with no significant changes in these measures in the six-week group.

* The number of days in which individuals participated in vigorous physical activity increased significantly among six-week participants but not in the 12-week group.

* Attendance and retention rates between baseline and post-intervention assessment were quite low for the 12-week curriculum (30 percent to 37 percent retention) but substantially higher for the six-week offering (66 percent attendance and 60 percent to 92 percent retention).

Exercise benefits in building strong bones

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 00:07:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Recent studies indicate that exercise can help build and maintain healthy bones. But just how early should one start? At the IOF World Congress on Osteoporosis in Toronto, Canada this week, several studies highlighted the importance of exercise in children and adolescents for building peak bone mass that will help protect against osteoporosis in later life.

Researchers at Wright State University School of Medicine in Ohio, U.S.A., have found that leisure activity has a significant impact on the rate of bone mass increase in both girls and boys. Lead author Miryoung Lee and colleague followed a group of 99 children, aged 8 to 18, to determine how changes in physical activity affects their bone mineral density, a measure of bone strength. For both sexes, the rate of bone accumulation was found to be higher with increasing leisure activity level.

In girls, more intense physical activity that is associated with sports also leads to greater increases in bone density. Similar effects were not seen in boys taking part in sports. "During childhood and adolescence, children's bodies grow rapidly and bone mass is accumulated quickly. The amount of bone built during adolescence and early adulthood is one of the most important factors related to the risk of developing osteoporosis in later years. These findings confirm that physical activity is important for optimal bone accrual during childhood, consequently leading to higher peak bone mass," said Lee.

The researchers also found that for an average follow-up period of four years, physical activity levels were not significantly different between boys and girls. "It is, however, more important for girls to exercise during childhood because they are at greater risk of osteoporosis later in life," Lee said.

Researchers from Finland also emphasized how important it is to not only start but maintain regular exercise. Marjo Lehtonen-Veromaa and colleagues at Turku University Central Hospital, found that over a period of four years, girls who stopped exercising had a much lower increase in bone content than those who maintained their physical activity.

At six month intervals for three years, and then once again after seven years, Lehtonen-Veromaa recorded physical activity among 142 girls. The researchers also measured the bone mineral content of the thigh bone and lumbar spine at the start of the study and at the three, and seven year time points. They found that the third of the girls who exercised most had the highest increase in thigh bone mineral content over the seven years (24 percent increase). In the third of girls who exercised the least, that increase was only about 16 percent.

During the course of the study, physical activity among 30 of the girls fell by more than 50 percent and by 25-50 percent in another 29 girls. The researchers found that the effect of this reduction in activity was pronounced. In the 30 girls who were exercising the least by the end of the study, bone mineral content of both the thigh and the lumbar spine were significantly lower than in the girls who maintained their level of physical activity. This effect was more pronounced at the thigh bone.

"It is understandable that girls who exercised intensively during the prepubertal period are disposed to change their exercise habits a few years later, since the objects of their interest will change easily during puberty," said Lehtonen-Veromaa. She suggests that if young girls get tired of one kind of physical exercise, they should search, either by themselves or with their parents, for another type of physical activity that may be interesting enough to pursue. "It is of great importance to continue a physically active way of living because it seems to be deleterious for bone health if the magnitude of physical activity descends deeply, added Lehtonen-Veromaa.

And in keeping with current theories that bone built up during ones youth puts one in good stead when older, Fernando Siqueira and colleagues from the Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil, reported that exercise in childhood and adolescence can reduce the risk for late life osteoporosis. Siqueira and colleagues questioned over 1,000 individuals aged 50 and over in southern Brazil and matched their osteoporosis history with their history of physical activity between ages 10 and 19, as judged from an internationally recognized physical activity questionnaire.

Sigueira and colleagues found that those volunteers who were active in adolescence had a 45 percent lower risk for osteoporosis.

Recognizing the importance of exercise for bone health, World Osteoporosis Day 2005 was dedicated to the theme Move it or lose it. The IOF published "Move it or Lose it," a guide to how exercise benefits bones of all ages. Part of our "Invest in Your Bones" series, the guide explains how exercise helps to build and maintain strong bones, helps prevent falls and fractures, and speeds rehabilitation.

STRRIDE trial: Exercise reverses unhealthy effects of inactivity

Sat, 03 Jun 2006 09:57:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Many of the detrimental effects of physical inactivity can be reversed, and in some cases improved, by a similar period of moderate exercise, Duke University Medical Center researchers have found in a new analysis of data from the first randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effects of exercise in sedentary overweight men and women.

Just as important, the trial participants who exhibited the greatest decline in physical status during inactivity benefited the most from exercise training, according to the researchers.

These findings linking the ability of exercise training to reverse the negative effects of inactivity can be attributed to the exercise alone, because the participants did not alter their diets during the trial, the researchers said.

"Continuing to lead an inactive lifestyle leads to a gradual decline in many important markers for cardiovascular health," said Jennifer Robbins, an exercise physiologist at Duke, who presented the results of the study June 2, 2006, at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Denver.

"The good news is that a small amount of physical activity can make a big difference in reducing the risks for developing such conditions as heart disease, stroke or diabetes," she said. "Our findings demonstrate that while the cost of choosing a sedentary lifestyle can be high, switching to an active way of life can be beneficial at any time."

The current study stemmed from a recently completed trial known as STRRIDE (Studies of a Targeted Risk Reduction Intervention through Defined Exercise). The trial, funded by a $4.3 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, investigated the effects of exercise on sedentary overweight adults at risk for developing heart disease, diabetes, or both.

The STRRIDE trial, in which the intervention ran for six months, randomly assigned 334 participants into three different exercise groups and one control group.

"At the end of the trial, we were surprised to see that many markers of cardiovascular health declined in participants in the control group, who did not exercise," Robbins said. "Our Duke group decided to see if these negative effects could be reversed after the participants spent the same amount of time in an exercise program."

Of the 61 STRRIDE participants randomly assigned to the control group 53 agreed to the take part in the new study, which ran an additional six months. The researchers measured 17 biological factors known to increase cardiovascular risk, including waist size, physical fitness, visceral fat levels, body mass index, cholesterol levels, insulin sensitivity and indicators of metabolic syndrome, a precursor of diabetes.

"In the new analysis, we found that waist size, time to exhaustion, visceral fat and metabolic syndrome scores deteriorated significantly during the six-month period of inactivity during the original STRRIDE trial," Robbins said. "However, after six months of exercise training in the study, 13 of the 17 variables had either reverted to original baseline levels or even improved."

According to Robbins, only a moderate amount of exercise is needed to counteract the detrimental effects of inactivity in these individuals. The STRRIDE trial measured three levels of physical activity: the equivalents of 12 miles of walking per week, 12 miles of jogging per week or 20 miles of jogging per week. Participants worked out on treadmills, elliptical trainers or cycle ergometers in a supervised setting.

"When looking at the group as a whole, we found it wasn't the participants with the highest intensity of exercise who accounted for the combined beneficial effects," Robbins said. "That should be reassuring for people to know they don't have to do a high-intensity workout to get these benefits of exercise."

A previous analysis by the Duke group of the same STRRIDE participants, reported in 2005, found another unhealthy effect of physical inactivity: inactive participants gained an average of 2 pounds in six months.

"At that rate, it can be assumed that this group of inactive people would gain 20 pounds in five years," Robbins said. "This means this population of sedentary people needed to exercise just to maintain their current weight. However, our earlier studies have shown that people who exercise can derive many of the cardiovascular risk benefits even in the absence of weight loss."

The STRRIDE trial was led by Duke cardiologist William Kraus, M.D. The Duke team is currently enrolling patients in STRRIDE II, in which the team will study the effects of weight training, aerobic training, and aerobic and weight training combined on cardiovascular health.

Avoid fungal infection by using towel at gym

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 20:39:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) People who work out at the gym should use a towel when they are on the stationary bike or other shared exercise equipment to reduce the spread of fungal infections.

Fungi cause itchy rashes or in the worst case, circular patches where no hair grows, explains Hans-Juergen Tietz of the Institute for Fungal Illness in Berlin.

According to him, fungus is a huge problem as it spreads when it is rubbed off the skin of someone infected and lands on the racks, where weights are placed or on exercise mats.

Gyms are usually disinfected on a regular basis, but it is still a good idea to exercise caution, experts recommend.

People who do not wish to use a towel should wear something that completely covers their back and shoulders, advises Tietz.

School-going children involved in sports could also contract the fungal infections.

Parents should give their children long-sleeved shirts, when they do sports to protect against the skin fungus.

Apart from that, parents can also insist that mats be cleaned regularly, Tietz said.

Each Extra Hour of TV Translates Into 167 Extra Calories in Diet

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 17:09:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Whether exposure to secondhand smoke increases the chance that children with a family history of cardiovascular disease will develop the disease themselves is under study at the Medical College of Georgia.

If those children also have a variation in at least one of four genes responsible for metabolizing nicotine, their risk may increase even more because nicotine might stay in the body longer and do more damage, an interdisciplinary research team says.

Researchers will study 585 children age 15-20 who have a parent, grandparent or both with essential hypertension and/or a heart attack by age 55.

What I hope to take away from this is more information for parents and caregivers to be able to share with them information about the risk of future disease that their behavior places on their child, says Dr. Martha Tingen, a nurse researcher at the Georgia Prevention Institute and principal investigator on the $220,000 National Institute of Nursing Research grant.

Researchers will look for adverse clinical cardiovascular measures, including reduced ability of arteries to dilate; the blood encountering increased resistance as it travels through vessels; higher blood pressure; and an increase in the size of the pumping chamber of the heart a result of pumping against elevated pressure.

Exposure to the damaging effects of nicotine and other pathogens in smoke may also cause a vicious cycle in the body.

It likely causes damage to cells on the inner wall lining of blood vessels, which results in less adaptive capacity of the vessels and arteries, which may then cause greater strain on the heart, says Dr. Tingen.

Children exposed to secondhand smoke who have a variation of one or more of the genes that metabolize nicotine CYP1A1, GSTM1, GSTT1 and CYP2A6 can experience cellular damage because the nicotine does not leave the body as quickly, she says.

And if thats happening, theyre going to have more of these adverse pre-clinical cardiovascular measures that predispose them to developing cardiovascular disease, she says.

This research is particularly important because nearly 50 percent of people ages 17 and older are exposed to secondhand smoke in the workplace and each year in Georgia alone, 423,000 children are exposed to smoke at home. In the United States, 45,000-60,000 cardiovascular deaths each year are linked to non-smokers exposure to secondhand smoke, Dr. Tingen says.

The first step will be to unfreeze the blood samples the children come from a 15-year longitudinal database kept by Dr. Frank Treiber, MCG vice president for research and a GPI child psychologist. Then Drs. Yanbin Dong and Haidong Zhu, MCG molecular geneticists, will perform the genotyping looking for children with variations in the identified genes. Dr. Gaston Kapuku, a GPI cardiologist, will help interpret the cardiovascular measures. The blood samples will then be sent to Advanced Bioanalytical Service Laboratories in London for analysis of cotinine levels, a metabolized version of nicotine and a reliable indicator of secondhand smoke exposure.

If kids are exposed in the home and they have genetic alterations that make nicotine stay in the body longer, then theres an increased likelihood that theyre at greater risk for developing cardiovascular disease, says Dr. Tingen.

Being obese could prove dangerous

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 14:27:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Obesity's main causes are well known - an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. The dangers of being too fat are, however, often underestimated.

Together with hypertension and high levels of fat and sugar in the blood, it plays in a deadly quartet that quickly becomes metabolic syndrome (MTS). The metabolism of MTS sufferers increasingly veers off course and could lead to a heart attack or stroke.

Millions of people, especially over 40 years are at risk, says Hartmut Becker of the German health foundation, Exclamation Point, near Munich.

One cause of MTS is obesity, especially deposits of fat around the internal organs, noted Alfred Wirth of the German Adiposity Society in Hamburg. He said the fat was broken down into free fatty acids that blunt the action of insulin, which the pancreas produces to keep blood sugar levels constant. That, put simply, can lead to diabetes.

According to Markus Hanefeld of Dresden, who studies metabolic syndrome, people with MTS are at considerably greater risk of developing diabetes.

Since the amount of fat in the blood also increases, deposits build up in the arteries. Both diabetes and obesity raise blood pressure, increasing the chances of a cardiovascular disorder or even heart attack.

Measuring one's waistline is one way of assessing the risk, experts point out. Becker, a general practitioner, said the danger zone for men was more than 102 cm and for women, more than 88 cm.

The sooner countermeasures are taken, the better the chances of staying healthy, Wirth remarked. When obese persons with MTS lose a lot of weight, he said, the majority also leave their MTS behind.

"There are no special diets," said Becker, who suggested "unsaturated instead of saturated fats, for example fish once or twice a week, roughage and a lot of fruit and vegetables."

Regular exercise is also important. Drugs are an alternative. Some can improve the action of insulin; others impede the assimilation of fat. But all of them have side effects, Becker warned.

The interrelations of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and lipometabolism are not fully known. Professor Wolfgang Kerner of the German Diabetes Society in Dusseldorf noted that nobody knew for certain whether insulin resistance was the main cause of MTS.

"We want to raise awareness that a time bomb is ticking" for people with MTS, said Becker. Meanwhile, Wirth said his primary aim was to convince people of the danger of obesity.

"People think that if they feel good, they are healthy," Wirth said. But there was no such thing as a healthy fat person - "only a fat person who has not fallen ill yet."

Exercise unlikely to cause sudden cardiac death in women

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 01:23:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Sudden cardiac death during exertion is an extremely rare occurrence in women, and regular moderate to vigorous exercise may significantly lower the long-term risk, according to a study in the March 22/29 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on women's health.

Christine Albert, M.D., M.P.H., from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, presented the findings of the study today at a JAMA media briefing on women's health in New York.

Regular exercise has several cardiovascular benefits and 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity exercise almost every day is recommended for healthy adults. Despite the known benefits of exercise, studies have also documented associations between incidents of exertion and sudden cardiac death. Although such deaths are relatively rare, they usually occur unexpectedly among people who appear quite healthy.

Dr. Albert and colleagues used data from the Nurses' Health Study to determine the risk of sudden cardiac death in women during moderate to vigorous exertion. The Nurses' Health Study began in 1976 when 121,701 female registered nurses, aged 30 to 55 years, completed questionnaires about their coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors, lifestyle and medical history. The women have been followed up every two years, for up to 28 years. For this analysis, 84,888 women provided information on their amount of moderate to vigorous exercise per week in 1980, 1992, 1996, 1998 and 2000.

There were 288 cases of sudden cardiac death among the 84,888 women who completed the 1980 questionnaire. The researchers found that only nine of these deaths actually took place during moderate to vigorous exertion, and that only three of these happened while the women were exercising. Of 69,693 women without a history of CHD, stroke or cancer at the study's beginning, 32 percent (22,172) reported no regular moderate to vigorous exercise and 15 percent (10,680) reported exercising for four or more hours per week.

The absolute risk of sudden cardiac death associated with moderate to vigorous exertion was "exceedingly low," the researchers found, at 1 per 36.5 million hours of exertion. Risk of sudden cardiac death was temporarily elevated during moderate to vigorous exertion, compared with the risk during lesser or no exertion. Regular moderate to vigorous activity lessened this temporary risk, and was also associated with a lower long-term risk of sudden cardiac death.

"Although our data are consistent with prior analyses in men that suggest that physical exertion may trigger sudden cardiac death and that habitual exercise diminished this risk, the magnitude of the risk is much lower in this cohort of women compared with a similar cohort of men," the authors write. "In summary, sudden cardiac death during exertion is an extremely rare event in women, and exercising regularly can significantly minimize risk. Therefore, these data should provide reassurance that moderate to vigorous levels of exercise can be prescribed in a safe fashion to women, and if performed regularly, exercise may even lower long-term risk of sudden cardiac death," they conclude.

Strenuous exercise may harm obese kids

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 02:27:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Obese children can barely get out of their chairs and sending them running round the block would do more harm than good, an Australian study has shown.

"Would you feel like running round the block when you were pregnant?" Wollongong University's Julie Steele asked.

"There are these programmes to help them lose weight, but it is the everyday life activities that these kids are struggling with," she told The Sydney Morning Herald.

One-third of Australian children are either overweight or obese - double the rate in 1985.

And Australian kids are piling on the pounds even faster than those in the US. However, childhood obesity is growing at a more alarming rate in New Zealand, Canada and the former East Germany.

Steele and her team studied a group of 43 eight-year-olds who each weighed in at around 40 kg. They took twice as long as average-weight kids to get out of a lounge chair. Some even needed assistance.

"They have flatter feet, collapsed arches," explained Professor Steele. "We think they are just more uncomfortable all the time."

The results of the study were published in the International Journal of Paediatric Obesity.

Steele added that the right approach was not ordering them out to play but helping them deal with daily difficulties like standing up and moving around.

Bulging waistline could indicate how your heart is

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 20:18:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Excess fat around the waist is harmful and could be an indicator of the state of your heart, say scientists in a new study of how body weight affects the heart.

It has long been known that the more overweight a person is the higher the risk is of having a heart attack. Traditionally this risk is measured using the body mass index, which involves dividing weight by height.

But in the first large-scale study of its kind, Canadian scientists who analysed the waist sizes of 168,000 men and women worldwide say excess fat around the middle is more harmful than weight gain on the legs and hips, reported the online edition of Daily Mail.

This is because fat cells around the stomach are the most dangerous of all, pumping out chemicals that can damage the insulin system, they said.

The scientists found that in the men studied, the risk of heart disease increased by between 21 and 40 percent for every five-and-a-half inches (14 cm) extra added to their waist size.

For women, the same increase in heart disease risk occurred for every five-and-a-three fourth inches (14.9 cm) growth in waistline.

The risk was found to be the same across the populations of the 63 countries studied, despite the wide variance in waist sizes.

"After 20 years of research we've learned that it's not how fat you are that determines your risk to obesity, but where the excess fat is located," Jean-Pierre Despres, director of cardiology research at University Laval in Quebec, said.

"Your risk of having a heart attack has nothing to do with your body mass index because it does not take into account the distribution of fat on the body.

"A bulging belly is a better indicator of heart disease than overall body mass," the scientist said.

Thin? You still need exercise

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:34:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) If you are naturally thin you still need as much exercise as others in order to stay healthy, says a study.

Gary O'Donovan of Brunel University in London and other researchers examined the risk of heart disease in a group made up of lean exercisers, lean non-exercisers and obese non-exercisers.

They found that while lean exercisers had the lowest risk of heart disease, high cholesterol levels were almost identical in lean non-exercisers and obese non-exercisers, reported the online edition of Daily Mail.

Slim people who don't work out have the same levels of bad cholesterol as obese non-exercisers, revealed the study published in the International Journal of Obesity.

Bad cholesterol or low density lipoprotein can cause a harmful build-up of cholesterol which may narrow the arteries and contribute to heart disease and strokes and slim people need to exercise as much as others in order to stay healthy, it said.

Babies of fat women face problems at birth

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 02:52:37 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Pregnant women should exercise and take appropriate caloric intake before they go for conception, as the babies of obese mothers are more likely to be admitted to intensive care units, says a study.

Such babies also have a higher incidence of neural tube defects, according to a position paper of the Public Affairs Committee of the Teratology Society, reported health portal news-medical.net.

"The literature suggests that compared to normal weight women, women whose body mass index (BMI) is greater than or equal to 30 have approximately double the risk of having an affected child."

While weight reduction surgery can improve the health and fertility of fat women, the committee does not make a recommendation regarding surgery.

The committee recommends that clinicians counsel pregnant women about appropriate caloric intake and exercise before they go for conception.

Obesity afflicts men and women of all ages across the United States and it is on the rise. Among women aged 20 to 39, more than half are overweight and nearly a third are obese, according to official statistics.

Obese women face several health disorders, including increased risk of infertility and problems during pregnancy, hypertension and gestational diabetes. They are also more likely to need a caesarean section, it said.

One French study found that overweight women had higher prenatal medical costs, and spent more time in the hospital recovering from childbirth.

Personal Fulfilment May Motivate Adolescents to Be Physically Active

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:15:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Adolescents are most likely to report personal fulfillment as the strongest motivation to be physically active. Personal fulfillment motivation should be considered when designing physical activity promotion programs for youth, according to a study in the December issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Ensuring that youth are physically active is essential for their physical and emotional health. But rates of physical activity are low among youth and decline during adolescence, according to background information in the article. To increase physical activity among youth, motivations to be physically active must be understood more clearly.

Katie Haverly, M.S., and Kirsten Krahnstoever Davison, Ph.D., of the State University of New York at Albany, conducted a cross-sectional study to identify factors that motivate adolescents to be physically active, and to assess the links between activity motivation and physical activity. (Ms. Haverly is now with the Department of Health Education and Health Behavior, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.) A total of 202 students (92 girls, mean age 12.5 years; and 110 boys, mean age 12.7 years) at a middle school in rural central Pennsylvania took part in the study. The researchers assessed differences in motivators for groups at risk for physical inactivity including girls vs. boys, overweight vs. non-overweight youth, and youth with low vs. high perceived sport competence.

In this study, four sources of motivation were identified: personal fulfillment motivation (e.g., enjoyment, wanting to be fit), weight-based motivation (e.g., wanting to lose weight), parent-influenced motivation (e.g., parents want them to), and peer-influenced motivation (e.g., social activity with friends, to be like the popular kids at school), the authors write.

Adolescents were most likely to report personal fulfillment as the strongest motivating factor for physical activity, followed by weight-based motivation, peer motivation, and parent motivation, they report.

Overweight adolescents reported significantly higher weight-based motivation, compared with those who were not overweight. Adolescents with low perceived sport competence reported significantly lower personal fulfillment motivation, compared with those with higher perceived sport competence.

Personal fulfillment was the most readily endorsed motivation to be active among all participants regardless of risk status, and was the only motivation that was consistently associated with significantly higher levels of self-reported physical activity, the authors write. Results from this study suggest that personal fulfillment motivation could be used as a basis for physical activity promotion programs for youth and that this strategy may be effective for all youth regardless of their risk status.

Healthy junkfood with seaweed alginate

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:58:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The highly-fibrous seaweed extract, alginate, could be used to increase the fibre content of cakes, burgers and other types of food which usually contain large amounts of fat and a low degree of healthy nutrients, say British scientists.

Scientists at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne publish their findings in the academic journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, in a paper detailing alginate's many benefits to the body. The research paper examines the properties of a brown-coloured seaweed called Lessonia and Laminaria, found in the Far East, South America and parts of Norway and Scotland. The seaweed is processed in the laboratory to produce the extract, alginate, a carbohydrate compound which is a tasteless and odourless off-white coloured powder.

The paper shows that alginate has been proved to strengthen mucus, the body's natural protection of the gut wall, can slow digestion down, and can slow the uptake of nutrients in the body.

Moreover, alginate is high in fibre and has been proved to be palatable and safe, and as such is already in widespread use by the food industry as a gelling agent, to reconstitute powdered foods, and to thicken the frothy head of premium lagers.

Studies have shown that eating high-fibre diets can help reduce the incidence of diseases such as bowel cancer. Good sources of fibre are fruit and vegetables, brown bread and cereals like bran flakes.

One of the research team, Professor Jeff Pearson, of Newcastle University's Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, said: "We're just not eating enough fibre, yet we need this to keep us healthy. "We believe it's hard to change people's habits and that the most practical solution is to improve the food they do eat. With pork pies, one of my favourite foods, it could replace the gelatine which usually covers the meat, as the seaweed extract has gelling properties too."

Prof Pearson, who has already made loaves of bread containing the seaweed extract which passed the taste test with colleagues, added: "Bread is probably the best vehicle to reach the general population because most people eat it. Adding the seaweed extract could quadruple the amount of fibre in white bread."

Seaweed alginate

Information about seaweeds and alginate from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Seaweeds are used extensively as food by coastal peoples, most particularly in Japan but also in Korea, China, Indonesia, Peru, the Canadian Maritimes, Scandinavia, Ireland, Wales, Philippines, and Scotland, among other places. For example, laver is a red alga used in Wales to make laverbread, and in Japan dried, formed into sheets called nori, and used to wrap sushi. Irish moss is another red alga used in producing various food additives.

Seaweed is also used for the production of Alginate, a versatile product that is used for a whole range of applications. These include the production of Agar which is used very widely in microbiology as a substrate for culturing organisms. Alginates are also used in the production of foodstuffs to improve texture and mouth-feel. Typical products are ice-cream and a range of proprietary desserts.

Alginic acid (algine, alginate) is a viscous gum that is abundant in the cell walls of brown algae. Chemically, it is a linear copolymer with homopolymeric blocks of (1-4)-linked ß-D-mannuronate (M) and its C-5 epimer α-L-guluronate (G) residues, respectively, covalently linked together in different sequences or blocks. The monomers can appear in homopolymeric blocks of consecutive G-residues (G-blocks), consecutive M-residues (M-blocks), alternating M and G-residues (MG-blocks) or randomly organized blocks. The relative amount of each block type varies both with the origin of the alginate. Alternating blocks form the most flexible chains and are more soluble at lower pH than the other blocks. G-blocks form stiff chain elements, and two G-blocks of more than 6 residues each form stable cross-linked junctions with divalent cations (e.g. Ca2+, Ba2+, Sr2+ among others) leading to a three-dimensional gel network. At low pH, protonized alginates will form acidic gels. In these gels, it is mostly the homopolymeric blocks that form the junctions, where the stability of the gel is determined by the relative content of G-blocks. Commercial varieties of alginate are extracted from seaweed. Certain bacterias, however, also produce alginate. Alginate ranges from white to yellowish brown, and takes filamentous, grainy, granular, and powdered forms. It is insoluble in water and organic solvents, and dissolves slowly in basic solutions of sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide and trisodium phosphate. Purified forms of alginate are used in antacid preparations such as Gaviscon®, Bisodol®, Asilone®, and Boots Own® tablets. Alginate is used extensivly as a mold-making material in dentistry and prosthetics, and in textiles. It is also used in the food industry, for thickening soups and jellies.

Fitness trumps cholesterol as key to heart health

Sun, 04 Sep 2005 08:16:38 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Being physically fit can dramatically reduce mens deaths from heart disease even when their cholesterol rates are high, says Queens researcher Peter Katzmarzyk.

His new study to be published Tues. Sept. 6 by Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association shows that, regardless of their cholesterol level, men can cut by half their risk of dying from cardiovascular disease if they are physically fit.

Other Queens members of the team, from the School of Physical and Health Education, are Chris Ardern and Ian Janssen. Researchers Timothy Church and Steven Blair from the Cooper Institute Centres for Integrated Health Research in Dallas, Texas, are also on the team.

The primary aim of the study was to analyze the effectiveness of last years modifications to the guidelines from the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) for lowering bad (LDL) cholesterol to predict death from cardiovascular diseases.

We wanted to find out if the new guidelines could identify men at risk for cardiovascular disease, says Dr. Katzmarzyk. We confirmed that the guidelines do accurately identify men at risk not only of disease, but also at risk of cardiovascular death. We also discovered that fitness is important across the board at every level of cholesterol.

Results also suggest that within a given risk category, physical fitness is associated with a greater than 50-per-cent lower risk of mortality. In this study, physical fitness was four to five, 30-minute segments of activity per week: equivalent to walking 130 to 138 minutes per week.

Researchers analyzed the cardiovascular risk factors and cardio-respiratory fitness of 19,125 men ages 20 to 79, who were treated at a preventive medicine clinic from 1979 -1995, prior to the revised treatment guidelines.

Using the new ATP III classifications:
· 58 per cent of the men would have met the criteria for being at or below LDL (bad) cholesterol goal;
· 18 per cent would have met the criteria for therapeutic lifestyle change meaning diet, physical activity and weight management could lower LDL; and
· 24 per cent would have met the criteria for drug consideration for lowering LDL.

There were 179 deaths from cardiovascular disease over more than 10 years of follow-up.

Overall, compared to men who met the acceptable LDL level under the revised guidelines:
· Men who met the criteria for therapeutic lifestyle intervention had twice the risk of cardiovascular disease death; and
· Men eligible for aggressive cholesterol-lowering therapy had almost seven-times the risk.

Lowering the threshold for consideration of cholesterol-lowering drug therapy for those at high risk will ultimately save lives and also have important implications for the healthcare system, says Dr. Katzmarzyk .