Mediterranean diet tied to reduced weight gain

People who follow a diet typical of the Mediterranean region might dodge the added pounds that often come with aging, hints a new Spanish study. However, the researchers can't be sure if it was the diet itself or related healthy behaviors that were responsible for staving off the weight.

The Mediterranean diet is generally rich in fish, fruits, vegetables, legumes and cereals, while low in red meats and dairy. Previous research has uncovered benefits for its followers, including protection from cardiovascular disease and diabetes, as well as weight loss among those who are already overweight or obese.

Yet doubts continue to linger over the potential caloric costs of the diet's high fat content, largely in the form of olive oil, noted lead researcher Juan-Jose Beunza of the University of Navarra. "The question we wanted to answer was: What is the effect of the Mediterranean dietary pattern among young, non-obese, healthy people? And we found it is a convenient dietary pattern since it slows down the weight gain normally observed with age," Beunza told Reuters Health in an e-mail.

Beunza and his colleagues recruited more than 10,000 Spanish university graduates, averaging 38 years old, and had them fill out a 136-item food frequency questionnaire. Then the researchers followed the men and women for about six years.

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A lot of choice in diabetes medications

For people with Type 2 diabetes, diet and exercise often aren't enough to keep blood sugar levels in a healthy range. That's where medication comes in.

Metformin typically is the first choice for a diabetic patient beginning drug treatment. It's been around for decades (and marketed in the U.S. for 15 years) and is considered a very safe drug. Other advantages include the fact that it doesn't cause weight gain — as do some other diabetes medications. Plus it's generic and thus cheaper, says Dr. Andrew Drexler, director of the Gonda Diabetes Center at UCLA.

If blood sugar is not sufficiently controlled by the first-line treatment after, say, three to six months of treatment, doctors usually recommend adding a second medication to the mix. A host of long-term studies have found that a majority of patients end up taking at least two drugs within a decade of beginning treatment. That second drug may be any one of the others on the market, says Dr. David Kendall, the chief medical officer for the American Diabetes Assn. Numerous studies comparing drug combinations have found no clear winner: "Almost regardless of what you pick, you're going to do better," he says.

Read the full article at LA Times - Click Here

Anti-smoking prescription too radical

Parliament's Maori Affairs select committee had good reason to initiate an inquiry into the tobacco industry. The Maori smoking rate is 45 per cent, more than double that of the rest of the population and, on average, Maori take up the habit at a startlingly young age of 11.

Such statistics also fuelled the committee's programme to halve the overall smoking rate by 2015 and make New Zealand smoke-free by 2025. Sensibly, it conceded that most people would not support prohibition as a way of reaching this goal. Even so, its prescription is too radical, and not much of it is ever likely to be enacted.

The committee wants tobacco displays in shops to be banned, and cigarettes and loose tobacco to be sold only in plain packaging. It also seeks to ban smoking in cars and public places.

On a more novel note, it wants the Government to cut back the amount of tobacco that can be imported and to reduce the number of retail outlets, while also reducing the quantity of cigarettes for sale at each shop. The committee suggests, further, that tobacco companies should pay for addiction treatment, including nicotine patches.

Read the full article at NZ Herald - Click Here

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