Day: 12/20/2015

Removing sugar from diet for just nine days can have ‘dramatic results,’ new study claims | Health & Families | Lifestyle | The Independent

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Lead researcher claimed his study showed there was a crucial difference between sugar and calorie intake
Researchers were careful to ensure the obese children in the study maintained their weight Rex

Giving up sugar for just nine days can dramatically improve people’s health, a new study claims.

The study, published on Tuesday by the journal Obesity, substituted the sugar intake of 43 obese children with starch and claims to have demonstrated sugar is dangerous not because of its calories but because of the strain it places on the body’s metabolism.

Study author Robert Lustig, paediatric endocrinologist at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco, said his research found the children’s cholesterol improved and their insulin levels dropped.

“Everything got better,” Dr Lustig claimed. “These findings support the idea that it is essential for parents to evaluate sugar intake and to be mindful of the health effects of what their children are consuming.”

23 %

Of UK adults are obese

His findings contest prevalent thinking, supported by multi-national corporations, that claims obesity – and related diseases – are not the result of sugar but of high calorie intake.

  • Dr Lustig says his study was careful to avoid this: researchers ensured the children participating in the study maintained the same weight and were encouraged to eat more if researchers saw their weight falling.

He claimed as a result the children, aged between eight and 18, began “responding to their satiety cues” and told researchers they were “overwhelming them with food.”

“Sugar calories are the worst, because they turn to fat in the liver, driving insulin resistance, and driving risk for diabetes, heart, and liver disease.

“This has enormous implications for the food industry, chronic disease, and health care costs,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

Senior paper author Jean-Marc Schwarz claimed he had never seen results “as striking or significant”.

After only nine days of fructose restriction, the results are dramatic and consistent from subject to subject

Senior paper author Jean-Marc Schwarz

“After only nine days of fructose restriction, the results are dramatic and consistent from subject to subject.”

His study follows a report last week that called for a tax on sugar, rejected by David Cameron. The Prime Minister said other measures – such as tighter controls on advertising – could help to curtail childhood obesity.

Writing in the Guardian, Dr Lustig claims the PM is wrong to think taxing sugar is about obesity – “It’s about type 2 diabetes.”

Approximately 5.4 per cent of Britons suffer from diabetes, with the disease and related complications costing the NHS an estimated £14billion every year.

However, Dr Lustig did caution his study “does not prove that sugar is the sole cause of metabolic disease,” but that “it clearly demonstrates it is a modifiable one.”

Q-carbon Puts Diamonds in Second Place

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shutterstock_45968314

Long ago, ancient scientists attempted to master the craft of alchemy, or the mythical process of turning lead into gold. Alchemy has since been proven to be a hopeless task, but modern scientists have successfully unlocked the secrets to an even more stunning transformation: turning carbon, the basic building block of life, into diamonds.

A new, simple carbon-transforming technique that uses a laser to produce tiny diamond “seeds” is yielding even more sparkling results. Researchers, in a new study, used their method to create an entirely new phase of carbon that surpasses even diamonds in terms of hardness, and the new material could have a number of applications in medical and industrial fields.

Many New Properties

Researchers at North Carolina State University used a laser to craft the new hardest rock on the block, which they named Q-carbon. The novel substance possesses a host of useful properties, such as ferromagnetism, fluorescence and the ability to conduct electricity, making Q-carbon a potentially useful material for scientists and industrialists. In their findings, which were published this week in the Journal of Applied Physics, researchers estimate that Q-carbon is 60 percent harder than diamond, which is a result of tighter bonds between the atoms in Q-carbon’s structure.

To create the new substance, the researchers used a laser to deliver a quick, 200-nanosecond burst of energy to an amorphous (having no definite shape or form) carbon film, heating it to 6,740 degrees Fahrenheit. The laser jolt melted the carbon, which then cooled rapidly to form a crystal lattice structure. Depending on the energy levels and cooling period, the carbon would crystallize into either microscopic diamonds or Q-carbon. The cooling process is known as “quenching,” and it’s also the inspiration behind the carbon structure’s name. The process is also speedy, enabling the researchers to make a carat of diamonds in about 15 minutes.

q-carbon

Tiny diamonds that were made using researchers’ new laser technique.

The discovery of Q-carbon reveals a new solid phase of carbon, or a different way of arranging carbon atoms. Until now, graphite and diamond were the only known solid phases of carbon. Q-carbon only forms under extreme conditions, making it unlikely to exist in nature except at the cores of some planets, study author Jay Narayan suggested in an interview with the New York Times.

Easy to Create

A key feature of this process is that it takes place at room pressure and temperature. Current artificial diamond manufacturing techniques require equipment capable of generating extremely high pressures and temperatures or catalyzing gasses. Using lasers to create diamonds, on the other hand, is simple and inexpensive, has potential to revolutionize the production of synthetic diamonds, which are currently used as components in drill bits, lasers and heat sinks, among other uses.

Researchers also created different shapes with diamonds using this process by varying the substrate on which the heated carbon was cooled. A plate of sapphire, glass or polymer plastic, for example, yielded different configurations. The team created forms as varied as needles, dots and films made of diamond, shapes which could be used to deliver drugs, manufacture smartphone screens or in electrical components.

And if you’d like to try your hand at “diamond” production, you could always try using the microwave.

Drinking Tequila Can Help You Lose Weight – Tequila Linked to Lowered Blood Sugar and Weight Loss

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One tequila, two tequila, three tequila … (your fat pants just hit the) floor.
​While it’s widely known that throwing back booze racks up a ton of empty calories, a new study has found a link between tequila and weight loss. This is huge news for agave-spirit lovers — and virtually anyone who plans on drinking over the holidays.

According to the American Chemical Society, which researched the effects of tequila on blood glucose levels last year, sugars found in the plant that makes tequila can help lower your blood sugar. The sugars that naturally occur in the agave plant are called agavins — not to be confused with agave syrup — and are non-digestible, so they won’t raise your blood sugar.

During the study, researchers found that mice who’d been given a standard diet, and then drank water with agavins added, ended up eating less overall and had lower blood sugar levels than the others who hadn’t consumed agavins. What’s more, the mice consuming agavins also produced a hormone called GLP-1, which keeps the stomach full longer and produces insulin​, leading researchers to believe that agavins could be beneficial for people with type-2 diabetes or struggling with weight-loss issues.

 

The perfect amount of red wine to have every day h…
I’m not saying you should start shaking up party-size batches of sugary margaritas or palomas, but a round of tequila shots might start sounding more and more enticing now that we know this potential weight-loss link.

French power station generates electricity from cheese

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Cheese-based power station in the Alps produces enough power to supply a community of 1,500

Albertville in Savoie, France

Generating electricity from cheese could be the plot of an Asterix comic book, but that is exactly what is happening at a new power plant in theFrench Alps.

A by-product of Beaufort cheese, skimmed whey, is converted into biogas, a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, at the plant in Albertville, in Savoie.

“Whey is our fuel”
François Decker of Valbio

Bacteria are added to the whey to produce the gas, which is then used to generate electricity that is sold to the energy company EDF.

“Whey is our fuel,” said François Decker of Valbio, the company that designed and built the power station, which opened in October. “It’s quite simply the same as the ingredient in natural yoghurt.”

Beaufort cheese

After full-fat milk is used to make Beaufort cheese, whey and cream are left over. The cream is taken to make ricotta cheese, butter and protein powder, which is used as a food supplement.

The residual skimmed whey is then placed in a tank with bacteria, where natural fermentation produces methane in the same way that the gas is produced in cows’ stomachs.

The gas is then fed through an engine that heats water to 90 degrees C and generates electricity. The plant will produce about 2.8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, enough electricity to supply a community of 1,500 people, Mr Decker told Le Parisien newspaper.

It is not the first cheese-based power station, but one of the largest. Valbio built its first prototype plant 10 years ago beside an abbey where monks have made cheese since the 12th century.

Since then, about 20 other small-scale plants have been built in France, other European countries and Canada. More units are planned in Australia, Italy, Brazil and Uruguay.

In Somerset, the family-owned cheesemakers, Wyke Farms, generate their own electricity from waste cheese, cow manure and leftover crops. The mixture is poured into biodigester vessels that generate enough electricity to make the cheese producer self-sufficient.

2015: The year in science

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http://www.nature.com/news/2015-1.19007?WT.mc_id=FBK_NA_1512_NATSP2015THEYEARINSCI_PORTFOLIO

‘Exercise every day to avoid infertility’

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Daily exercise is a sign of a healthy life, but it has come out that it can also prevent infertility. Doctors believe that a daily workout can cut extra fat from the belly area which helps the body’s pancreas secrete proper levels of hormones, leading to better reproductive health.

Beside this, the city has witnessed an 18 to 20% increase in fertility problems in women due to obesity and other lifestyle issues.

City-based senior endocrinologist Dr Parag Shah, at the sidelines of the 45th Annual Conference of the Endocrine Society of India – ESICON-2015, on Friday said that li festyle-related diseases are increasing due to the problem of hormone imbalance. Shah said Indians have a tendency to gain fat around the centre of the body -the belly area -which usually leads to problem like improper functioning of the pancreas and ultimately causes hormonal imbalance. “This creates problems of pimples, acne, facial hair and irregular menstruation cycle in unmarried girls. And most then suffer with problems with fertility after marriage,” Shah said.

The hormonal disorder, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), is the most common among women of reproductive age, and has increased among the city’s women by around 15 to 20%. Usually , such patients seek treatment from gynaecologists, but actually many of they are affected by hormonal imbalances, he said, adding that daily exercise can prevent such hormone-related diseases.

 

Shah said six months of daily exercise with a proper diet, medication and strict routine is required to address hormone imbalances.

Human Hybrids Are Real. These Pets are actually being sold now to the super-rich. | News Cast – World News

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hybrid

In an undercover laboratory in Vancouver, scientists have been slaving away for the find of the century. It’s not a cure for cancer, or even a way to conquer death. This research is a lot more sinister.

Scientists have found a way to cross humans with dogs, to cater for a market of very rich people who like collecting unique pets. Dr. Paul Bradshaw, 54, from the Hartman Collinge Institute explains “There is only so much you can buy a person who has it all. This is better than buying your loved one a iphone 6!”

Animal rights groups are up in arms, as Pauline Crosby, 34, activist with the Animal Defense League explains “If one my children saw these creatures, they’d scared half to death. Imagine one of them sucking on your toes, in a dark alley”.

Dr Bradshaw explains some of the advantages having Human/Dog hybrids, “they’re obviously very intelligent and their vocal cords are functional. This means, not only can they keep you company like a dog can, they can read you bed time stories and answer the iPhone for you”

One of these hybrids would set you back around 50 million dollars. Not only are they being sold in North America, but there are orders for them in Manchester, Cardiff and London and probably coming to a city near you.

addition news:

We know when the new iPhones are due to be announced (Wednesday September 9th), we know when the pre-orders are likely to commence (Friday September 11th), and when the handsets are going to go on sale (Friday September 18th). All that remains from the important consumer details is the price.

A New Study Shows A Glass Of Red Wine Equals 1 Hour At The Gym .

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The Huffington Post on Friday reported on a new study out of The University of Alberta that shows that drinking a glass of red wine may have the same effect on the body as an hour at the gym.

A component in the wine, resveratrol, was seen to improve physical performance, heart function and muscle strength similar to the effect exercise has on the body.

Principal investigator Jason Dyck said, “We were excited when we saw that resveratrol showed results similar to what you would see from extensive endurance exercise training. I think resveratrol could help patient populations who want to exercise but are physically incapable. Resveratrol could mimic exercise for them or improve the benefits of the modest amount of exercise that they can do.”

Discussion over the health benefits of red wine has been well documented. Previous studies have revealed that those who drink a glass of red wine a day are less likely to develop dementia or cancer, that it’s good for anti-ageing, and can regulate blood sugar.