Dr. Chet’s Health Memos
If it’s in the health news today, I’ll be writing about it as soon as I read the research, both old and new. With my email Health Memos, you’ll know more about making lifestyle choices that will help you get and keep good health. These free, concise updates on health are emailed to subscribers twice a week. Subscribe today and get a free MP3, in English or Spanish, of Dr. Chet’s Top Ten Tips—Small Changes for a Healthier Life.
Curcumin and Pepper
I’m just back from Peoria, and there’s nothing like spending a couple of days with health-conscious people to yield some very interesting questions. This week, I’m going to examine one question in detail: is turmeric absorbed as effectively without pepper in the blend? A phytonutrient found in turmeric called curcumin is being extensively studied for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. But pepper? I checked into it and here’s what I found.
In a study done in 1998, researchers examined the absorption of curcumin with and without piperine, the phytonutrient that provides the pungent smell . . .
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Gaining Muscle and Losing Fat with Protein
Can you gain muscle while losing weight? Let’s take a look at the final study in this week’s Research Update on protein.
Researchers recruited 40 young overweight men to participate in a four-week diet and exercise weight loss program with an average age of 23 and average BMI of 29.7. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups. The control group had a diet that reduced calories by 40% and provided 1.2 grams of protein per kg of body weight per day. The protein group had their intake reduced by 40% but were given 2 . . .
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Protein Intake and Sleep Quality
Today we’re going to look at two studies from Purdue University, Paula’s alma mater, on the role of protein intake and sleep during a weight loss program (1). In the first, 14 subjects were given a diet with an increasing percentage of protein intake. After two weeks on their normal diet, subjects were put on a diet that reduced calories by 750; every four weeks, the protein content was increased, beginning with 10%, then 20%, and finally to 30% protein. Their sleep was assessed using the Pittsburg Sleep Quality test before and then after four weeks on each . . .
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Research Update: Protein
Two recent studies on protein mean it’s time for a research update. Let’s begin by covering a couple of basics about protein.
By definition, a protein contains all nine essential amino acids. That includes all animal sources of protein. It also includes most beans and nuts; that’s how vegetarians get enough protein. When you have the nine essential amino acids, your body can make the other 11 amino acids you need to make everything from hormones to muscle. The benefit of getting protein from plant sources is that you also take in the phytonutrients you can’t . . .
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Dancing Your Way to Fitness
Does the way dancers train make them some of the fittest and leanest athletes? On Tuesday, we looked at heavy weights and fewer repetitions. Let’s look at light weights and many repetitions.
In ballroom and other forms of dance, the resistance is almost always body weight. Yes, there are lifts and there are powerful turns and jumps, but the only resistance is often body weight. Think of repeatedly doing half-squats, push-ups, or abdominal curls for hours on end, plus the muscle needed to hold . . .
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Do Dancers Rule the Fitness World?
Dancing with the Stars began a new season last night, and once again Paula asserted that dancers have the best bodies: great musculature and shape without being unnaturally bulky. She wondered if dancing was the equivalent of exercising at high reps with low weight as opposed to typical weightlifting that emphasizes systematically increasing weight when a specific number of repetitions are met. I do as my wife commands, so this week I'm looking into the difference in results between high reps at low weight and fewer reps at high weight.
Let’s look at fewer reps at . . .
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The Bottom Line on the Latest Sucralose Study
“Sucralose causes cancer.”
“Sucralose prevents cancer.”
You’ve got to be confused when you read those recent headlines about the same research study! You read or listen to my messages because you want to know what I dig out of the original research to get past the confusion. Well, let’s get to it.
The Data
The data were messy (1). When you look at the numbers in the table that reported the incidences of cancers, the patterns were not clear. Using the data on the male mice, the incidence of cancers went . . .
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Does Sucralose Prevent Cancer?
After Tuesday’s message, I’m sure that you were reading labels and getting ready to throw out foods that contain sucralose based on that single study (1). I’d wait a while, at least until I get finished reviewing this study. Today let’s take a look at another headline that says sucralose prevents cancer in some mice (2). This was an article written by Emily Willingham, a regular contributor to Forbes. She did what I usually do: read the actual research paper and then check out the claims the authors made. I’ve read it, but . . .
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Sucralose: A Tale of Two Headlines
One of my biggest complaints about health news is science by headline. Over the weekend, the headlines exploded with the news that in a recently published study, sucralose caused cancer! You know that’s going to catch my attention. Artificial sweeteners are part of the third-rail of health topics that include GMOs, soy, and vaccinations. What made this so interesting was that there was another headline based on the same study that said sucralose reduced the rate of cancer. That’s what we’re going to talk about this week.
Let’s start with the “sucralose causes cancer” headlines . . .
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Breastfeeding? Take Vitamin D
To recap the week, breastfed infants do not appear to be getting enough vitamin D. Neither the moms nor the infants are exposed to enough sunlight to make their own vitamin D, especially in winter. Moms who breastfeed and don’t supplement their infants with vitamin D don’t have adequate amounts of vitamin D in their breast milk. That leaves a logical question: what happens if the moms supplement their diet with vitamin D? Two recent studies asked that very question.
In the first study, Australian researchers gave pregnant women either a placebo, 1,000 IU vitamin D3, or . . .
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