Breakfast is King – not necessarily

Many people believe that having a large breakfast prevents overeating later in the day and can help you lose weight. Even doctors have suggested that you eat about a third of your daily calorie intake at breakfast, enhancing breakfast’s reputation as the most important meal of the day. But where’s the evidence?

James Betts, a senior lecturer in nutrition at the University of Bath has dismissed the idea that “eating breakfast like a king” will kickstart the metabolism to burn more energy and prevent unhealthy food choices later on. “These are largely assumptions based on observations which have never been tested” he says.

Do healthy people eat breakfast or does eating breakfast make you healthy? He thought there would be lots of evidence but couldn’t find it. The idea seems to have started as a marketing ploy by John Harvey Kellogg at the turn of the century as he promoted his cereals.

So to test the theory he asked volunteers to either eat a 700 calorie breakfast or just drink only water until lunch. The “no breakfast group “ate more at lunch but not enough to make up the 700 calories eaten by the other group at breakfast. And it didn’t increase their hunger later in the day.

Hormone tests showed that the levels of hunger were similar in both groups until lunchtime but by mid-afternoon the people who had eaten breakfast were hungrier. By the end of the day however the breakfast eaters had usually burned off the extra calories through fidgeting or light exercise.

Other earlier research has shown that children who skip breakfast perform worse at school than children who have breakfast. But other related factors like poverty, neglect or lack of sleep may also contribute to the poorer performance.

There was also research that showed that men who skipped breakfast were more likely to have a heart attack!

Dr Peter Rogers, a psychology professor innutrition and behaviour at the University of Bristol, says that doctors who tell overweight patients not to skip breakfast should think again as it’s probably the easiest meal to miss out.

And going back to Dr Betts’ volunteers who drank only water for breakfast we now know that water also affects our calorie consumption.

Fighting fit? The new Heavy Brigade

Seems it’s not just us civilians who are getting bigger and more obese.

More than 25,000 British military personnel have been diagnosed as obese in the last 4 years. That’s several battalions!

There is now an “obesity working group” looking into the problem and devising ways to keep people fitter and increase  their knowledge of how to eat more healthily.

A spokesman for the National Obesity Forum said; “These people have got plenty of time to keep in shape and I think it’s a responsibility to feed them properly and give them any amount of time to do exercises and keep themselves in shape”.

Soldiers are supposed to have carefully managed fitness routines involving at least four 1-hour sessions of PT a week.

They can also have a diet ranging from 1,500 to 7,000 calories a day depending on their duties. Clearly not everyone is following the exercise routine or eating healthily.

As one senior officer was quoted as saying; “There are obese soldiers in just about every regiment in the British Army and no unit is immune. It’s also a reflection of the quality of food served in some army cookhouses. Unless the armed forces changes the way it feeds its personnel you will have a problem”.

Of course there are statistics and statistics! The number had been calculated using the much disputed body mass index (BMI)  and the obesity cut-off point of 30.

The MoD rightly points out that this can be misleading as “it doesn’t differentiate between body fat and muscle and says individuals are assessed on their ability to carry out military activities rather than on their weight”.

It’s not just the Brits. It wasn’t that long ago that 40% of the German Army was considered overweight and in 2012 the American Army dismissed over 1,600 soldiers for excess body weight, a 15- fold increase on the figures in 2007.

 

Food to get middle-aged men in the mood….

According to nutrition expert Ian Marber, writing in The Times, here’s what men of a certain age should be consuming to boost their libidos.

Caffeine – can temporarily enhance the male sex hormone testosterone. He recommends a daily shot of espresso to tickle your testes and stimulate testosterone production.

Pumpkin Seeds – not just for Halloween! A source of argernine which helps to improve blood flow in the small arteries found you know where. Works on same principle as Viagra i.e. making muscles relax to improve blood flow. Look it up!

Avacado – apparently eating monounsaturated fats frees up available testosterone (which declines from age 40).

Oysters – not just an old wives’ tale. Oysters, beef and lamb can help to raise your libido as they are rich sources of zinc which helps to keep testosterone levels high, Oestrogen, the female hormone is also found in men and if levels gt too high it diminishes testosterone. Zinc also stops testosterone being converted into oestrogen by inhibiting the action of aromatase.

Beetroot Juice – can imitate the effects of Viagra as it raises levels of nitric oxide which encourages this muscle to relax and enhance the blood flow. Effect doesn’t last long so sip it slowly.

Sardines or salmon – There is a well-established link between vitamin D and testosterone which in turn is linked to your libido. It’s estimated that half of male population could have low levels of this vitamin. Apart from exposure to sunlight biggest source is oily fish, Wild salmon better than farmed fish and higher than tuna.

Bananas – A rich source of vitamin B6 may help to increase levels of testosterone by diminishing levels of oestrogen in men. So could improve libido – it seems to work for monkeys!

Oats – as in getting them? Well oats can reduce cholesterol and high levels of cholesterol can reduce blood flow. They contain beta-glucan, a soluble fibre that binds to cholesterol and also increases the good cholesterol. A bowl of porridge isn’t just for Winter now is it?

Lentils –  are high in foliate which can reduce amino acids produced after eating protein which can encourage the build-up of plaque in your arteries. This reduces your blood flow and you know what that leads to. Eat plenty of leafy green vegetables such as asparagus or spinach as these are rich in foliate.

Almonds – Eating almonds helps to keep glucose levels steady. In turn that helps keep insulin levels steady and insulin is something else that reduces the hormone testosterone and hence the libido.

Green Tea – drink a few cups a day as the anti-oxidant flavanol catechin can improve blood flow, and you know where we’r going with that.

Apart from the libido angle these all seem like the kind of healthy foods we should all be eating anyway. I’m no expert so if you want to know more check out Ian Marber’s web-site at ianmarber.com

And if you live in Lancashire see Nik’s expertise at QfLFitness

 

 

Can we afford to eat healthily?

No, according to Eleanor Mills in the Sunday Times yesterday.

She starts her column by pointing out that for the first time in history poor people are fatter than rich people.

At one time of course being generously proportioned meant you could afford to eat well. The we had the idea that pale and thin was good – “you can’t be too rich or too thin” – well yes you can actually and why I support the “No More Skinny” campaign.

But that’s a different story. She says expensive clothes tend to come in smaller sizes than supermarket own-brands, the average British woman is a size 16 (that’s 40-32-42 in inches) and the only part of retail doing well is Plus Size.

If you haven’t got much money it goes further in a fast-food outlet according to research at Cambridge University. They found that eating healthily costs three times as much as eating junk food.

Over the past decade healthy food had increased in price by over twice as much as junk food based on a study of almost 100 food items, taken from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) consumer price index basket, including salmon, yoghurt and tomatoes at the healthy end of the spectrum to pizzas beef burghers and dough its at the other end.

The author of the study said “The increase in price difference is a factor in increasing health inequalities and a deterioration in the health of the population”. An that’s no joke given the cost to the NHS of obesity and diet-related ill-health like type-2 diabetes and heart disease.

The experts seem to think that we can do nothing about it and teaching people to be able to cook well on a low budget won’t help. For example Dr Joun Middleton at e the UK of Public Health charity puts the blame for the poor being obese purely on high prices. I think sometimes charities take a simple point of view to make it easier to get there point across and raise money. How can teaching people to cook not help?

Mills doesn’t agree either pointing out that in many cultures people eat well on low incomes citing Indian cuisine as a good example or making home made soup from beans and pulses. But she acknowledges that having the time to do it is a factor, putting a pizza in the oven for ten minutes when you’re in a hurry to get to work is easier than cooking from scratch. But you can use a slow cooker overnight and it only takes 20 minutes to cook fish and boil potatoes.

• A 2014 Nuffield Health study found that 1/3 of people in the UK said they could;t afford to eat a healthy diet and 1/7 said they didn’t have time to prepare balanced meals.
• DEFRA found that the pest 10% of households by income bought the least fruit and vegetables – almost 3 portions a day down 14% since 2007.
• In 2013 price was rated as the most important factor influencing food choices but if you haven’t got a car getting to a cheap supermarket with kids in tow can be a problem.

Cooking is apparently back on the school curriculum. This has got to be a good thing. When I was at school, a long time ago I admit, boys did joinery or woodwork at boys’ schools and girls did cookery or domestic science. Both were useful skill sets that more recent generations seem to lack.

 

 

Mums could do better when it comes to baby food

Baby foods from leading brands contain far fewer nutrients than home-made food. 

A study by the University of Glasgow, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, found that many contained high levels of sugar.

Some are promoted for babies from 4 months of age when experts think babies should still be on breast milk or formula.

You would have to feed your baby twice as much shop bought baby food as home-cooked food to provide the same level of protein and get the same energy. It’s cheaper and healthier for your baby to make your own.

Researchers at the university said “The UK infant food market mainly supplies sweet, soft, spoonable foods targeted from age 4 months… that are no more energy dense than formula milk and generally less nutritionally dense than home-made foods”.

The National Childbirth Trust say that babies don’t generally need solid foods until around 6 months.

The family that eats together makes children happier

Although I’ve just posted about children having too sedentary a life-style one area where the government would like us to sit down more is to have a family meal together.

Public Health England says children are becoming anxious and unhappy because of lack of exercise, a poor diet and too much TV-watching.

The Director of Health and Well-being said there was ” a consistent association between behaviour and the impact on well-being”. The dangers for inactive children are both physical and mental.

The British Heart Foundation has gone so far as to warn that this generation of children might die before their parents because of inactivity and poor diet.

There are also links between inactivity and mental and social problems.  Activity is associated with better concentration levels , more positive social behaviours such as being kind to classmates, and higher self-esteem.

The more time children spend in front of a TV screen the more prone they are to experiencing social and emotional problems and low self-esteem.

Long hours watching TV or playing computer games “is associated with reduced feelings of social acceptance and increased feelings of loneliness, conduct problems and aggression”. Most of our 11-year old children watch more TV than in other European countries.

The recommendations, timed to coincide with the start of the new school year, has led to accusations of the government adopting a granny state approach. One website for Mums said it would be better if the government gave practical advice rather than being a parental authority.

We all want the best for our kids –  including wanting them to be happy and healthy – but some people need to be told!

Breastfeeding – a mother’s gift of love and care

Otrazhenie

“Breastfeeding is a mother’s gift to herself, her baby and the earth.”

Pamela K. Wiggins

From The rants in my pants

Mother’s milk, time-tested for millions of years, is the best nutrient for babies. Numerous studies have demonstrated a number of important health benefits to breastfeeding. Among them:

• Breast-fed children are more resistant to disease and infection early in life than formula-fed children
• Breast-fed children are less likely to contract a number of diseases later in life, including juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and cancer before the age of 15
• Mothers who breastfeed are less likely to develop osteoporosis later in life, are able to lose weight gained during pregnancy more easily and have a lower risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer.

Babies also benefit from the physical closeness of nursing. Gazing into their mothers’ eyes, babies come to understand that they are loved and protected and that their mothers are there to provide…

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Diets only work for 10%

A court case in France recently highlighted the dangers of dieting. Dr Pierre Dukan is a best-selling author whose protein-based diet is followed by Hollywood celebrities and who basically says you can eat as much as you like from a limited list and you don’t need to count calories.

In the opposite corner, and being sued by Dukan, was Dr Jean-Michel Cohen, another dietician, who says slimmers should eat a limited amount of most things and exercise regularly.

Cohen was being sued for saying that there is a whole slimming industry, including doctors, profiting from these ideas, but he also upset Dukan by saying that the Dukan diet is a potentially dangerous rehash of old ideas which can increase cholesterol and lead to heart problems and breast cancer. 

The case was eventually settled out of court but a report from the French health watchdog Anses surveyed these diets and 13 others and concluded that they all had dangers and weaknesses and that people would be better off just following a balanced diet. (Mothers with daughters take note!)

More than 80% of people who tried book diets put back their weight and more a year later and the head of the nutrition service at the Pasteur Institute actually said; “slimming makes you fat”.

And last Summer an article in the Sunday Times (24/7/11)providing more scientific proof that diets don’t work.

That won’t stop the diet industry’s efforts of course or the newspapers and magazines promoting them. British women start on average 3 diet regimes a year and spend £25k on diets over their lifetime. If you think you know all about diets try this BBC quiz

One in four UK adults is overweight or obese and 16% are trying to shed weight at any one time. The problem is basically that once you gain weight it’s there to stay. Fewer than 10% of people who diet keep the weight off, the other 90% put it back on within a year. There are some advantages to dieting as you probably eat more healthily and may exercise more but yo-yo dieting is not good for you.

The Medical Research Council’s National Survey of Health & Development followed over 5,000 men and women from birth in 1946, and 20,000 people born in 1958. They measured weight and blood pressure and assessed lifestyles.

Interestingly both groups started putting on weight in the 1980s and since then people have been increasing in weight throughout their life. Men tend to put weight on steadily but for women it starts slowly and accelerates in their mid-30s (perhaps after having children?).

The Health Survey for England (2009) shows that 14% of kids and 25% of adults are obese and at least the same percentages are overweight. Excess body fat leads to a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and cancer.

An endocrinologist, Professor Nick Finer, was reported suggesting that we have not evolved to tackle obesity as it has only become a problem since the mid-20th century. Previously there would have been an evolutionary advantage to be able to store fat in our bodies.

Even the idea of a set point for weight no longer seems true as it becoming overweight can rest it to a higher level. So there must be a ratchet effect if losing weight doesn’t reset it lower.

The government has been encouraging people to lose weight to combat the obesity epidemic and has encouraged GPs, pharmacists, and dietitians to offer weight loss programmes.

Researchers have now compared the NHS-provided programmes with private sector provision. Overweight patients selected by their GPs  in South Birmingham were offered the chance to be referred to a weight-loss programme paid for by the NHS. Half of the patients were referred to NHS programmes and half to commercial slimming clubs: WeightWatchers, Rosemary Conley, and Slimming World.

The greatest weight loss was 4.4kgs after 12 weeks for patients who attended Weight Watchers. The NHS programmes achieved a weight loss of only 1.4kgs. despite being 50% more expensive than the private slimming clubs.  After a year the figures for weight lost were:

1. WeightWatchers: 3.46 kgs (4.43 kgs after 12 weeks)
2. Rosemary Conley: 2.12kgs (4.23 kgs after 12 weeks)
3. Slimming World: 1.89kgs (3.56 kgs after 12 weeks)
4. NHS provision: 0.83kgs (1.37 kgs after 12 weeks)

One reason for the private slimming club success is that the dieters went back to them every week. This may not have been the case with the under-resourced NHS.

As the figures show people couldn’t maintain their early weight loss over a full year. Other research has shown that people  achieve their maximum weight loss after six to eight months and there appears to be a natural plateau effect. It seems people find it hard to stick to a diet for longer than 6 months and the majority give up.

Clearly dieting alone is not enough. Eating more healthily is a side effect of dieting which is to be encouraged but exercise rarely gets a mention. If people were fitter they would be able to exercise more and attain a healthier body weight as well as strengthening their bodies and having more flexibility. This in turn would make them healthier – a virtuous circle.

Go to work on an egg again

Eggs are good again.

It’s official. Apparently eggs don’t contain as much cholesterol as previously thought – only “clinically insignificant amounts”.

They have also been found to contain more vitamins than previously.

This is probably because the hens are being fed better – which is good news for hens and the people who eat eggs.

The research, published in the British Nutrition Foundation’s Bulletin, was originally greeted with scepticism as the research was funded by the egg industry.

However it turns out that the British Heart Foundation had revised its own recommendations 2 years ago and removed the upper limit of 3 eggs a week unless you have a genetic condition for high cholesterol.

So you can now have an egg every day – as long as it’s part of a balanced diet low in saturated fats. So maybe the bacon and egg butty is not quite as healthy as I wanted it to be after all?

In any case only about 1/3 of our cholesterol comes from what we eat – and then from saturated fats in cakes, fatty meat, and full fat dairy products, not from eggs. Smoking, being overweight, and lack of exercise are other contributory factors.

If you want to see the original “Go to work on an egg” adverts from the 1950s featuring Tony Hancock click here

Originally posted February 2011