A lower carbohydrate higher fat diet and children’s development and concentration
Real Food Dietitian, Bridget Surtees, talks to Real Meal Radio about whether a lower carbohydrate higher fat diet affects children’s development and concentration.
Real Food Dietitian, Bridget Surtees, talks to Real Meal Radio about whether a lower carbohydrate higher fat diet affects children’s development and concentration.
Are the chemicals in your environment making you fat?
By Tamzyn Murphy Campbell
BSc, BSc Med(Hons) Human Nutrition and Dietetics, RD
South Africans rank third fattest in the world after the Americans and British, according to Compass Group Southern Africa’s 2011 report.[1] And while we all know that diet and lifestyle are largely to blame, few realise that insidious little fat-making molecules permeating our environment are making the battle against the bulge even harder.
FAT-INATORS
“[The obesity pandemic trend] is more akin to an infectious disease, a contagion, or some other mass environmental exposure [than]… purely a mass alteration in behaviour change” – Professor Lustig, paediatric endocrinologist at the University of California.[2]
Indeed, recent evidence indicates that various environmental hormone-disrupting chemicals increase the number of fat cells and their storage, thereby promoting obesity.[3] These obesogens can also boost appetite and reduce feelings of fullness, increasing the calories you consume.[2] Plus they can shunt the calories you eat into storage rather than allowing them to be burned as energy. [2] Exposure to obesogens in the womb and during early development could increase fat cell quantity for life and programme you for future obesity, even if the exposure is short-lived.[3]
Despite this field being so new, scientists know of at least 20 obesogens. Some of which have been found in 95% of the American population; implying that chemical exposure has the potential to affect most if not every member of a population.[4]
ESTROGENS
They’re everywhere. In our water, food and plastics. Possibly our biggest environmental estrogen exposures are DDT, bisphenol-A (BPA) and genistein.[2] DDT use as a pesticide has ceased worldwide with a few exceptions. However, it’s still used indoors in countries including South Africa to reduce malaria.[5] DDT is detrimental to health, specifically reproductive health and has been implicated in diseases like cancer.[6] In the US, where it’s been banned since 1972, DDT’s metabolite DEE is still being found in pregnant women’s urine, even in those born after 1972. Pregnant women’s urine-DEE concentration predicts the weight of their children at age three.[2]
BPA (in hard plastic bottles numbered ’7’, babies’ bottles and toys and the plastic lining of tins) is also linked to cancer, reproductive changes,[7] fat cell production and increased adult body mass index (BMI).[2]
Newborn rats given genistein (from soya and alfalfa) were fatter at age three and four months. It’s not known whether genistein contributes to human obesity. Though it’s possible the large amount of soya commonly found in our food supply is cause for concern.[2]
OTHER OBESOGENS
DAMAGE CONTROL
If you’ve been exposed to obesogens, particularly before puberty, your metabolism’s adjusted to be more efficient at storing fat. So, is this an excuse to give up your lifelong weight battle? Dr Bruce Blumberg, professor of developmental and cell biology at the University of California, Irvine, who coined the term ‘obesogen’ back in 2006, says that exposure doesn’t ensure obesity. It just means you have to try a little harder.[4]
It’s probably best to copy Dr Blumberg’s strategy to minimise his and his family’s obesogen exposure: reduce plastic in your life; avoid sugar (for more on this read Lustig article on page X) and processed, canned and packaged food; and eat organic, fresh, home-made food whenever possible. [4]
References include
[1] South African Institute of Race Relations. Press Release. African women and white men weigh in heaviest. Feb 2013
[2] Lustig RH. Fat Chance. Hudson Street Press, London, England. Jan 2013
[3] Grun F, Blumberg B. Endocrine disruptors as obesogens. Mol Cell Endocrinol. May 2009;304(1-2):19-29 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19433244
[4] Ahearn A. What do we know about obesogens? with Bruce Blumberg. Environmental Health Perspectives. Jul 2012;120. Published online http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/july-podcast/
[5] South Africa.info. WHO follows SA’s lead on DDT. Sep 2006 http://www.southafrica.info/about/health/malaria-190906.htm#.UahjMECmg1I
[6] US Environmental Protection Agency. Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) Chemical Program. DDT. Apr 2011 http://www.epa.gov/pbt/pubs/ddt.htm
[7] Breast Cancer Fund. Bisphenol A (BPA). May 2013 http://www.breastcancerfund.org/clear-science/chemicals-glossary/bisphenol-a.html
[8] Sax L. Polyethylene terephthalate may yield endocrine disruptors. Environ Health Perspect. Apr 2010;18(4):445-8 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2854718/pdf/ehp-118-445.pdf
[9] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Factsheet: Pthalates. Apr 2012 http://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/Phthalates_FactSheet.html
Excess inflammation leads to autoimmune, inflammatory and age-related diseases as well as aging, but changing the way you eat can help
By Tamzyn Murphy Campbell
BSc, BSc Med(Hons) Human Nutrition and Dietetics, RD
Excess inflammation leads to autoimmune, inflammatory and age-related diseases as well as aging, but changing the way you eat can help
By Tamzyn Murphy Campbell
BSc, BSc Med(Hons) Human Nutrition and Dietetics, RD
To most of us “inflammation” – characterised by redness, heat, pain and swelling – is a dreaded word associated with a variety of ailments: joint pain, backache, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis (skin condition). But inflammation actually has an essential role to play. It’s our body’s first form of attack against infection or other foreign bodies. The wellknown inflammation related problems set in when inflammation spirals out of control and starts to attack the body’s own tissues – autoimmune disease – or when it goes on too long – thought to be one of the processes responsible for aging and related diseases. So, although inflammation is an important indicator of something being wrong, keeping it in check and preventing it from going overboard is fundamental to health – and what you eat can help.
Belly fat releases inflammatory molecules which scientists blame for obesity-associated inflammatory diseases: insulin resistance, diabetes and heart disease risk factors (high blood pressure and imbalanced blood fat and cholesterol levels). It’s also linked to lower levels of the hormone adiponectin, which may play a role in increased inflammation, heart disease risk and insulin resistance. Research indicates that women with a belly have more signs of inflammation than their male counterparts. Scientists have found that using diet to keep weight in check reduces inflammation and the markers of its associated diseases. So find a diet and exercise program that works for you, and stick to it to drop the kilos and keep inflammation free. Reducing stress and getting adequate sleep can also help keep the belly at bay.
Researchers have found that certain food promotes inflammation, while other food reduces it. Avoid the following to reduce inflammation:
This food helps reduce inflammation throughout the body and therefore also age-related inflammatory diseases (e.g. osteoarthritis) and the activation of aging genes
Rondebosch, Somerset West and Pringle Bay
Western Cape, South Africa