Diet & Weight Loss Archive

You may be risking a condition linked to esophageal cancer.

Surprising findings from a study in Denmark: researchers say that being overweight puts you at risk for heart attack and heart disease, regardless of whether you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar. Those conditions in combination are known as metabolic syndrome, and it's a common belief that people who are overweight but still metabolically healthy don't face additional health risks. But the study, published Nov. 11, 2013, in JAMA Internal Medicine, changes that thinking. "Maintaining a healthy body weight is of paramount importance to reduce the risk of getting diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Overweight individuals without apparent metabolic problems may simply be in the early stages of disease development," says Dr. Chandra Jackson of the Harvard
School of Public Health.

Obesity now has an official designation as a disease. Learn how the new obesity guidelines may affect your heart health.

It's a well-accepted fact that excess body fat strains the heart, wreaks havoc on blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels, and diminishes health and well-being on many other levels. Despite this knowledge, it has not always been clear how best to tackle the problem. However, two recent developments may help clarify the issue.

For overweight people with atrial fibrillation, shedding pounds can ease the racing heart, dizzy spells, and breathlessness that often occur with this condition, a study in The Journal of the American Medical Association reports. The most common heart rhythm disorder, atrial fibrillation causes the heart's upper chambers (atria) to beat fast and irregularly. Rates of atrial fibrillation are on the rise in the United States, and the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity may be partly to blame, say the authors.

The study included 150 people with atrial fibrillation symptoms who were overweight or obese. Half were randomly assigned to a control group that received general advice on weight loss, eating right, and exercise. The others followed a strict diet plus light exercise. All were also treated for factors that put them at risk for heart problems, such as high blood pressure and smoking.

If you're overweight or obese, a combination of diet and exercise can help you lose more weight and reduce your knee pain better than either intervention alone. Being overweight can strain the knee joints, contributing to or worsening knee osteoarthritis. Researchers at Wake Forest University tested the effects of diet, exercise, or a combination of both on knee pain and function. They randomly assigned 454 overweight and obese adults (ages 55 and older) with knee osteoarthritis to one of three interventions—diet and exercise, diet only, or exercise only—and followed them for 18 months. People in the study who both dieted and exercised lost the most weight—11.4% of their body weight, compared with 9.5% for the diet group and 2% for the exercise group. They also had less knee pain, better function, and faster walking speed, according to the study, which was published in the Sept. 25, 2013, issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Q. I've heard that red wine can prevent heart disease. Is that an old wives' tale?

A. There's a lot of evidence indicating that it's true. Large observational studies indicate that the most common kind of heart disease, coronary artery disease, is less likely in moderate drinkers than in people who do not drink. Moderate drinkers are men who take one or two alcoholic drinks per day and women who take one drink per day. On the other hand, people who are heavier drinkers have a higher risk of other types of heart disease, particularly cardiomyopathy that leads to heart failure. They also have more strokes. So too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

Here's more evidence that the Mediterranean diet has protective health benefits: a study published Nov. 4, 2013, in Annals of Internal Medicine found that women who adhered to a Mediterranean-type diet in midlife had greater physical and mental function in old age. Researchers looked at questionnaire responses about dietary habits from more than 10,000 women in their 50s and 60s, then compared it against how the women fared healthwise 15 years later. They concluded that women who followed a healthy diet during middle age had about 40% greater odds of surviving past the age of 70 without chronic illness and without physical or cognitive impairment. The women who were healthiest ate more plant foods, whole grains, and fish; ate less red and processed meats; and limited alcohol intake. That's typical of a Mediterranean diet, which is also rich in olive oil and nuts. Want to make the switch? Start by sautéing food in oil, not butter; eat more fruits and veggies as snacks; choose whole grains instead of refined breads and pastas; and substitute a fish meal for a red meat meal at least twice per week.?

Fluid buildup indicates worsening heart failure. Learn how to spot it and treat it early.

The buildup of excess fluid in your body can take a variety of forms from belly bloating and swollen ankles to nausea, persistent coughing and fatigue. You may be tempted initially to dismiss this hodgepodge of problems as having little to do with your heart. However, they all signal water retention, which can mean trouble for people with a history of heart failure.

Q. I know I'm not supposed to consume trans fats, but I'm not sure how they damage health. Can you explain it?

A. Despite what you might have heard for decades, not all types of fats in your diet are bad for you. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are "good fats." We need the good fats in our diet, in moderation. (Any type of fat contains a lot of calories, and pigging out on "good fats" can lead to unhealthy weight gain.) In contrast, saturated and trans fats are "bad fats."

Trans fats, once seen as harmless additives that ended up in everything from Twinkies to French fries, are finally getting the reputation they deserve—bad for health. For years, the FDA has labeled trans fats as “generally recognized as safe.” That term applies to substances added to foods that experts consider safe, and so can be used without testing or approval. Yesterday the FDA proposed removing trans fats from the generally recognized as safe list, a step that would eliminate artificial trans fats from the American food supply. Oils rich in trans fats, long a workhorse of the food industry, boost harmful LDL cholesterol. They also depress protective HDL, which trucks LDL to the liver for disposal; have unhealthy effects on triglycerides; make blood platelets more likely to form artery-blocking clots in the heart, brain, and elsewhere; and feed inflammation, which plays key roles in the development of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.