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Archive for May 22nd, 2012

Harvard study: some fats may harm the brain, lead to dementia later in life

Posted in Food, Health on May 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I cook everything in peanut oil, which does not taste like peanuts and which is also high in mono- and poly-unsaturated fats — and low in saturated fats. And, if you are like me and refuse to give up fats completely with cooking (I live on chicken stir-fry) there is more evidence out from another Harvard study that suggests that it’s not only good for your circulatory system, it’s likely better for your brain:

Some studies have linked dietary fat to the development of dementia later in life. A new study suggests that the risk may depend on the type of fat consumed.

Scientists studied 6,183 women over age 65, tracking their fat consumption and changes in their mental abilities over four years. The women completed a food questionnaire at the start of the study, then periodically took tests of mental ability.

The researchers assigned a “change score” to each volunteer, summarizing changes in memory and abstract thinking over time — the lower the score, the greater the decline. The study appeared online Thursday in the journal Annals of Neurology.

After controlling for many health and socioeconomic factors, the researchers found that women who consumed the most saturated fat were 60 percent more likely than those consuming the least to have change scores that put them below the 10th percentile. On the other hand, women who reported consuming the most monounsaturated fat were 44 percent less likely to have change scores in lowest one-tenth. Consumption of polyunsaturated fats and trans fats was not associated with any change, nor was total fat.

“People might consider making changes or substitutions in their diet, switching out saturated fats in favor of monounsaturated fats,” said the lead author, Dr. Olivia I. Okereke, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard.

Short blog post above from the New York Times.

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I can picture how the right wing is going to mischaracterize these findings that many homeless people are obese

Posted in Poverty, Wingnuts on May 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Right wingers love to use data they’ve not read and don’t fully understand as long as the overall message of the data supports right-wing memes, such as the myths about fat poor people.

Well, get ready for more of this as a study out of Oxford and Harvard reveals that many homeless people are overweight.

I can hear the tea baggers now: They’re fat! They eat awfully well for poor people!

Except, just as with many of the tea baggers you see, homeless people are not fat because they eat luxuriously. They’re overweight because their eating habits are so shitty. Call it the hunger-obesity paradox:

Why are today’s homeless obese?

Homelessness does not necessarily make you skinny, and for good reasons that make perfect physiological sense.

The study suggests a number of explanations. First, being homeless often means a mostly sedentary lifestyle, along with sleep deprivation and stress. Those three factors are known to contribute to obesity. Also, there are physiological changes in the body when food intake is inconsistent. Basically, since the body doesn’t know when it’s going to get food again, it’s more likely to “hang on” to calories and fat.

Food that shelters or other “institutional” providers serve is often high in refined carbohydrates, and that likely adds to the problem. Food-pantry donations, which are usually nonperishable goods, are processed and often high in sugar and carbohydrates. And when homeless people buy food, it’s likely to be inexpensive and low in nutrition but high in calories.

Study author Katherine Koh, a student at Harvard Medical School, explains that the overweight-homeless scenario mimics what’s called the “hunger-obesity” paradox.

“The rise of obesity among populations that don’t have regular access to food has recently been documented in developing countries and in certain low-income populations,” she says. “This research shows that this paradox may affect homeless people as well.”

Paul Montgomery, a co-author of the study who is a professor of psychosocial interventions at the University of Oxford in England, says the study shows the importance of the quality, as well as the quantity, of food that homeless people eat.

“Interventions aimed at reducing obesity in the homeless, such as improving nutritional standards in shelters or educational efforts at clinical sites, should be considered in the light of these findings,” he says.