Tag Archive for: weight loss

Weight Loss Supplement: The Acacia Rigidula Headline

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Science by headline is becoming more and more common; case in point, the headlines said things such as “New Study Reports Untested Amphetamine-like Substance in Weight Loss Supplement!” I just can’t let that one go, so that’s the subject of this week’s messages.

Let’s begin with the study. Researchers tested 21 weight loss supplements that contained an ingredient called Acacia rigidula. Never heard of it? Neither did I. It’s a type of bush commonly known as blackbrush acacia that grows in Texas and Mexico and purportedly has similar properties to the banned herb ephedra . . .

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Weight Loss: A Better Solution

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Wrapping up our look at the research paper that examined the effectiveness of commercial weight loss programs, I think the authors dropped the ball. Yes, they did what they intended to do: review the research on weight loss programs with the purpose of being able to point physicians to effective programs based on the evidence. But that ends up being lame. All they did was provide an outside source the physicians could recommend; they completely ignored the idea of physicians providing weight loss programs within the medical practice.

Although the authors were all physicians or physicians in training, they think . . .

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Weight Loss: The Problem with the Study

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Continuing our look at the recently published study “Efficacy of Commercial Weight-Loss Programs: An Updated Systematic Review,” there was a significant problem with the study and most likely, not in the way you might think. I saw no problem with the statistics or measurement variables as sometimes happens. It wasn’t a meta-analysis, so there were no issues in study selection. In my opinion, it goes back to the intent of the study.

In an editorial in the same edition of the journal, the author reported that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the American Heart Association . . .

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Weight Loss: The Headlines

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From the relatively benign “Commercial weight-loss programs offer little evidence of success” to the more provocative “It’s all hype: Few commercial weight-loss programs are effective,” it appeared the researchers at Johns Hopkins threw a gigantic wrench into the $2.5 billion commercial weight loss industry (1). After all, if the programs don’t work, why would anyone want to fork out the money? Or maybe, just maybe, this was more hype than anything else; let’s take a look.

A group of physicians and students from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine performed a search using traditional scientific . . .

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Low Carb vs. High Carb: The Bottom Line

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Today we finish the review of the latest study on the potential health benefits of low carb vs. high carb. We know what the researchers suggested are the beneficial effects of a low-carb diet and the potential problems of a high-carb diet. Were they correct? Let’s take a look.

I’m going to say this upfront because as you read on, you might get the impression I didn’t think much of this study, but that’s not really my viewpoint. This was a monumental effort by many different people. Think about it: they prepared every meal . . .

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Low Carb vs. High Carb: The Results

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In today’s message, we’re going to continue the review of a recent study that compared a low-carb to high-carb diet (1). Today I’ll focus on the results the researchers emphasized.

The researchers measured just about every variable associated with the development of type 2 diabetes including anthropomorphic measurements, insulin levels, and the complete breakdown of all the types of fatty acids found in triglycerides.

Let’s start with the basics. All subjects lost weight even though that wasn’t the intent of the study. The number of calories per day was decreased by an average . . .

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Low Carb vs. High Carb

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The debate never seems to end over which diet is best: high carbohydrates as recommended by the USDA; or low carbohydrates as promoted by those following one of the Paleolithic diets; or an Atkins diet type of approach. The different diets aren’t just supposed to be good for weight loss, they’re also supposed to help reduce the risk of diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

In a recently published study, researchers attempted to answer the question: which diet is best, low carb or high carb (1)? They recruited overweight subjects with metabolic syndrome to participate in a . . .

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Breakfast and Weight Loss, Part 2

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Today we’re going to review the second study that reported eating breakfast may have no relationship to whether you’re overweight. This approach is radically different from the study I talked about on Tuesday. The approach in this study was to examine many variables related to metabolic rate, activity, and measure of fat and sugar metabolism (1). The goal was to answer the question whether breakfast “jumpstarts” metabolism, therefore assisting people to lose weight.

Researchers divided 33 normal-weight men and women into two groups. One group skipped breakfast entirely and didn’t eat until after noon. The other . . .

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Breakfast and Weight Loss

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Two recent studies examined the importance of breakfast and weight loss. The research question is simple: Does eating breakfast help you get to and attain a healthy weight?

Let’s take a look at the first study (1). Researchers in five cities screened 746 people. Of those, 309 overweight people were then randomly assigned to one of three groups; they were then further subdivided into to those who typically ate breakfast and those who were breakfast skippers. All subjects were given a pamphlet called "Let’s Eat for the Health of It" that talked about healthier eating (2). The researchers . . .

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Equipment, Examples, and Hibiscus

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Wherever I am, I observe people. Here are a few recent observations about kids, fitness, and tattoos. Tattoos? It doesn’t go where you think it might.
Kids and Exercise Equipment
As I was working out on the treadmill in the fitness room of the hotel I stayed at in Fort Worth, the door opened and a mom and her son walked in. I would say he was about seven or eight years old, and he wanted to try out the elliptical trainer. No luck—he wasn’t big enough to get any type of movement. Then he tried the . . .

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