Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

If you live in the U.S. you are already aware of the profusion of products sweetened with that corn-based alternative to good old sugar: High Fructose Corn Syrup. Earlier, in High-Fructose Corn Syrup: Giving you that empty feeling I gave a few reasons why it’s better to avoid products that have HFCS (especially if the total sugar per serving exceeds about 6-7g). Today, additional information about such sweetened products only serves to strengthen my stand on artificial sweeteners of all kinds.

The Washington Post article titled Fructose-Sweetened Drinks Tougher on Arteries describes experiments which showed that the arteries of people consuming fructose sweetened products were adversely affected with fatty deposits as opposed to those of people who only drank glucose-sweetened drinks.

The researchers found that 9 weeks later, 24-hour post-meal triglyceride (blood fat) levels went up after 2 weeks of fructose-sweetened drink but went down in those who consumed glucose-sweetened drinks.

Those who drank fructose-sweetened drinks also had a boost in fasting blood concentrations of LDL (”bad”) cholesterol and other measures. Those levels were unaltered in those consuming glucose-sweetened drinks, however.

These results were especially pronounced when the participants already had a weight problem. Given such increasing evidence the best recourse would be to avoid unnatural and artificial sweeteners and use the original sugar but sparingly. Even when you have to sweeten your daily cup of coffee, it’s better to go with just plain sugar or brown sugar, as I wrote in “Sweeteners and sugar substitutes - why I just use sugar“.

Now onto this week’s top health and fitness stories:

1. Pack nutrition into your picnic basket: Put a new twist on potato or pasta salad by substituting chopped vegetables for some of the higher-calorie potatoes or pasta.
2. Dine out, don’t pig out - readers give strategies: “My husband and I share! How easy is that?” writes Carine of Laguna Hills, Calif. “half the calories, and it’s cheaper, too,” she points out.
3. Omega-3s may hike baby’s IQ: Children whose mothers get enough omega-3 fatty acid during pregnancy may have sharper problem-solving skills in infancy, a small study suggests.
4. Dietary supplements face stricter regulations: For the first time, makers of dietary supplements, including vitamins and herbal pills, will be required to test their products, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.
5. Fructose-Sweetened Drinks Tougher on Arteries: Fructose-sweetened drinks are more likely to provoke the development of fatty artery deposits in overweight adults than glucose-sweetened beverages, researchers say.
6. Omega-3 fatty acids may help slow prostate cancer: A new study in U.S. with mice suggests that a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil and certain types of fish might help slow prostate cancer, media reported Friday.
7. Ambulance for the obese a Calgary first: Calgary paramedics are now driving the first ambulance in Canada specifically designed for obese patients. The ambulance can accommodate people weighing up to 1,000 pounds, so obese patients don’t have to be reluctant about calling for medical help.
8. Calorie info for NYC fast food joints stays veiled: Fast food restaurants in New York are getting a temporary reprieve from a first-in-the-nation rule requiring them to put calorie information on their menus.
9. Feds, legal threats put snacks on a diet: America’s snack food makers are marketing smaller portion packs, using healthier fats and reducing sugar in some of the nation’s favorite potato chips and cookies.
10. Cinnamon may keep blood sugar down: Adding some cinnamon to your dessert may temper the blood sugar surge that follows a sweet treat, a new study suggests.
11. Canada threatens trans fat limits if no cuts made: The Canadian government called on the food industry on Wednesday to tightly limit artery-clogging trans fats, and threatened mandatory cuts if enough is not done in the next two years.
12. Study finds staggering cost of treating diabetics: One out of every eight U.S. federal health care dollars is spent treating people with diabetes, a study found
13. More seniors-only fitness centers popping up: The gym, Nifty After Fifty, is one of many fitness centers popping up around the country aimed at serving older clients.
14. No progress seen in U.S. women diabetics’ death rate: The death rate for U.S. men with diabetes has fallen sharply since the early 1970s even as more people develop the disease, but women are not making the same progress, researchers said on Monday.
15. Pre-Diabetic Changes Double Heart Disease Risk: Even the very earliest signs of diabetes can increase the risk of dying from heart disease, a new Australian study says.
16. Japan’s New Public Health Problem Is Getting Big: Outside Japan, the country is known for a high reliance on low-fat fish and seaweed dishes. But meat and high-fat foods feature ever more prominently on Japanese tables.
17. Vitamin D primer: there’s no one recommendation for all: It has long been known vitamin D helps our bodies form and maintain strong, healthy bones and prevents fractures in the elderly but it may also help cut the risk of cancer.
18. Low-carb diet ‘cancer risk’ claim: Low-carbohydrate diets may increase the risk of people suffering bowel cancer, scientists have claimed.

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Have a great weekend!

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, health news, fitness news, health links, fitness links, del.icio.us

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Portion control is a recurring theme on FitnessMantra and given that total calorie consumption is the single most important criterion for effective weight management, it’s easy to see why. More than a year ago, I wrote “FDA asks restaurants to reduce portion sizes” in which I even joked about how some restaurant portions were enough for even 4 people sometimes! But as is always the case, government agencies making recommendations and the affected parties actually following those recommendations are two totally different things.

Chefs don’t count calories, so it’s up to you announces an MSNBC news article which begins by saying that if you are trying to watch your weight but still like eating out, then you’re probably out of luck.

In many restaurants, a pasta bowl can hold 2 pounds. A plate of steak or fish weighing more than a pound is not unusual. Even sandwiches can contain more than 1,000 calories. While three-quarters of chefs believed they prepared regular-size servings the portions they offered were two to four times larger than a typical person should eat …

That’s the primary problem right there - chefs not having the right training (or the restaurant not having a strict policy) about what the right portion for a particular kind of food is.

For example, a popular restaurant chain’s smallest steak is 9 ounces and has 740 calories. An appropriate portion would be 4 ounces with only 300 calories.

According to the article, the actual number of calories in the meal ranks pretty low when compared to how good the dish looks when finally presented to the diners and what it costs. So with chefs not knowing how (or unwilling) to count calories, it’s upto you, the discerning consumer to keep tabs on what you’ve eaten. But like the article goes on to say, it’s often not that easy to know when to stop.

A few interesting experiments prove not only that larger portions lead to larger consumption (sometimes upto 50% more!), but also that eating more during one meal does not automatically mean you’ll reduce consumption during the next.

It’s not just a matter of eating less of everything on your plate. We should be eating less of some foods and more of others. It’s the jumbo servings of calorie-laden foods that are high in fat and low in moisture that cause the problems. Popular restaurant fare such as entrees smothered in sauces and french fries tend to fall in this category.

Seek out low-calorie foods that are high in water and fiber content, such as vegetables, fruits and soups. When you cut your portions of fatty meats and fries, fill the gap on your plate with your favorite veggies.

To add to all this lack of information (and just make things a bit more mysterious), just a couple of days ago, fast-food restaurants in New York got a temporary reprieve from having to put calorie information for the food items they were serving. So what is one to do? Just follow the advice in the last line of the article:

Remember, the best way to combat large portions is to order from the menu wisely — and ask for a doggie bag.

Even if you don’t have a doggie, I might add.

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, nutrition, restaurant, portions, portion control

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