Eating High Levels Of Fructose Impairs Memory In Rats

Researchers at Georgia State University have found that diets high in fructose — a type of sugar found in most processed foods and beverages — impaired the spatial memory of adult rats. They placed rats in a pool of water to test their ability to learn to find a submerged platform, which allowed them to get out of the water. They then returned them to the pool two days later with no platform present to see if the rats could remember to swim to the platform’s location. Those rats on a fructose diet can’t remember as well where the platform was when you take it away. They swam more randomly than rats fed a control diet.

Read more.

See also this story on high fat diets and memory loss.

Addictive additives in food MAKE us eat more

According to David Kessler, the former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, over-eating might be due to the combination of fats, sugars and salt used by food manufactures to trigger a ‘bliss’ point in the human brain.

It’s time to stop blaming individuals for being overweight or obese,’ says Kessler. The real problem is we’ve created a world where food is always available and that it is designed to make you want more of it. For millions of us, modern food is impossible to resist.

Read more.

European questionnaire on environmental factors affecting PA

The main purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic overview of perceived environmental measures in relation to physical activity that are currently used in Europe in order to develop a questionnaire for population monitoring purposes in the EU member states. In total 23 published or unpublished European studies were identified by literature search. The new proposed questionaire is available in both a long and a short version.

Read more.

Soda Tax is not Fair to less fortunate people

Adam Drewnowski, director of the Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington, believes taxing soda fails to target obesity’s true causes — and is unfair to boot.

Drewnowski notes that soda consumption patterns in the general population correlate not just with obesity but with poverty, and that in focusing on the soda-obesity connection we fail to address other conditions associated with poverty, from sedentary lifestyles and television viewing to unemployment and “general hopelessness,” that contribute to weight gain.

“We should be looking at those things,” Drewnowski says. “That’s my complaint — why aren’t we?”

Read more.

The cost-effectiveness of removing TV advertising of high-fat and/or high-sugar food and beverages to Australian children

Although recognizing the limitations of the available evidence, restricting TV food advertising to children would be one of the most cost-effective population-based interventions available to governments today.

Read more.

Built environment and blood pressure

The purpose of this study was to examine built environment characteristics and older resident health behaviors as they relate to change in blood pressure. The authors conclude that neighborhoods with high walkability may ameliorate the risk of hypertension at the community level and promotion of neighborhood walkability could play a significant role in improving population health and reducing CVD risk.

Read more.

SWEAT

The Senior Walking Environmental Assessment Tool (SWEAT),  a tool for measuring built environmental features associated with physical activity of older adults, was revised to create an easier-to-use tool for use by practitioners and community members.

Read more.

Healthy free school lunch may result in weight gain in boys in 9th grade

A pilot project in Kristiansand in Norway aimed to study whether service of a free school lunch has an impact on weight development and food intake among pupils at a lower secondary school. A free healthy school lunch was served to 9th grade pupils over 4 months, from January to May 2007. Weight and height were measured before and after the intervention.

BMI did not increase among the girls at the intervention school, but increased significantly among the boys at the intervention school and among the control school groups.  Further studies are needed to clarify the impact of school meals on overweight and academic performance.

Read more.

A systematic review of weight gain prevention

Only 10 trials qualified for inclusion in this review. Existing trials varied by intensity, delivery methods, target groups and study components, and therefore provide limited opportunities for comparison of effect size. Five studies reported a significant difference in weight between intervention and control subjects of between 1.0 and 3.5 kg, due largely to an increase in weight in the control group. Further large, effective, evidence-based programmes are urgently needed in the general population as well as high-risk groups.

Read more.

Citrus-derived Flavonoid May Prevent Obesity

A flavonoid derived from citrus fruit has shown promise for preventing weight gain and other signs of metabolic syndrome which can lead to Type 2 Diabetes and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Read more.