New compound staves off obesity
Washington, April 5, 2012: A compound present in red wine, grapes and other fruits could potentially stave off obesity by blocking the development of fat cells.
Kee-Hong Kim, assistant professor of food science at Purdue University, and Jung Yeon Kwon, a graduate student, reported that this compound piceatannol blocks an immature fat cell's ability to develop and grow.
While similar in structure to resveratrol - the compound in red wine, grapes and peanuts that is believed to combat cancer, heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases - piceatannol might be an important weapon against obesity, the Journal of Biological Chemistry reports.
Resveratrol is converted to piceatannol in humans after consumption, said Kim, according to a Purdue university statement.
"Piceatannol actually alters the timing of gene expressions, gene functions and insulin action during adipogenesis, the process in which early stage fat cells become mature fat cells," Kim said.
"In the presence of piceatannol, you can see delay or complete inhibition of adipogenesis," said Kim.
Over a period of 10 days or more, immature fat cells, called preadipocytes, go through several stages to become mature fat cells, or adipocytes.....IANS/...NRIpress.com
A drink a day may
keep the doctor away
But study finds a balancing
act is required to get alcohol's benefits, avoid its harms
WASHINGTON
By Lauran Neergaard
/ AP Medical Writer
Alcohol is the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the medical world: Drinking
too much causes serious problems, while drinking a little may help many
peoples health.
How many drinks provide just the benefits and not the harm? It depends
on whether a person is most at risk of heart disease, diabetes or breast
cancer. But there is one bottom line: Five or six drinks only on Saturday
night will provide no benefits, while a drink or two a night might.
So concludes an exhaustive new analysis by the National Institutes
of Health that sorts out a plethora of sometimes conflicting research
on alcohols effects.
The review was prompted by cardiologists complaints that patients
suddenly were asking if they should start imbibing, and how much. Other
research is overturning the dogma that people at risk of diabetes should
abstain; still more links even light drinking to breast cancer.
Adding confusion, people are vulnerable to more than one disease as
they age. A 50-year-old woman with breast cancer in the family might
get very different advice on alcohol than one whos pre-diabetic
with high cholesterol.
We are not encouraging anybody to start drinking, stresses
Lorraine Gunzerath of the NIHs National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcohol, who led the analysis published last month in the journal
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
After all, alcoholism remains a major health problem, and people with
liver disease may not tolerate even moderate drinking.
Instead, the report, aimed at people who already drink some, concludes
that to get alcohols potential health benefits, how much those
people can consume must be customized by their age, gender and overall
medical history.
For many of these diseases, If you do drink moderately now, fear
... is not a reason to stop, explains Gunzerath. Some people
have said, Should I stop now because theres diabetes in
my family? Well, if youre a moderate drinker, theres
some protection.
As population-wide advice, consuming two drinks a day for men and one
a day for women is linked to lower mortality and unlikely to harm, the
review found. Men shouldnt exceed four drinks on any day, and
women three -- bingeing is simply bad.
But NIHs disease-by-disease findings provide better details:
-- Studies consistently show that in people 40 or older, consuming
one to four drinks daily significantly reduces the risk of heart disease,
the nations leading killer. In contrast, five or more drinks daily
markedly increases heart risk.
However, frequency seems key. Consuming smaller amounts several times
a week -- one or two daily or every other day -- is most heart-protective.
It apparently takes low, regular alcohol exposure to help raise levels
of the bodys so-called good cholesterol, the HDL type, and to
thin blood.
-- The alcohol-breast cancer link remains controversial. Some studies
suggest a small increase in risk, that roughly 9 in 100 nondrinkers
may get breast cancer by age 80 compared with 10 in 100 women who consume
two drinks a day. Per person, thats a tiny risk.
But women whose mothers or sisters had breast cancer, or those taking
post-menopausal estrogen replacement, are at greater risk from alcohol.
Those women, Gunzerath says, must weigh the fear of breast cancer against
their risk of heart disease in deciding whether to avoid alcohol.
-- One to two drinks a day several days per week seems to lower the
risk of Type 2 diabetes, a disease rising at epidemic proportions.
Low levels of alcohol apparently help the body use insulin to process
blood sugar better. The benefit was seen among the overweight and those
with metabolic syndrome, a cluster of pre-diabetic weight-related
symptoms that include high blood pressure and poor cholesterol.
-- Theres no known safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy,
but what about while breast-feeding? Nursing mothers who want an occasional
drink should consume it several hours before the next feeding, enough
time to metabolize the alcohol so little reaches the infant. And contrary
to folklore, alcohol does not aid lactation but temporarily decreases
milk production.
How much is a drink a day? Five ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer or
1.5 ounces of distilled spirits. To help people add that up, consumer
groups are pushing for alcohol containers to list serving sizes and
the moderate-drinking advice; the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade
Bureau hasnt yet responded.
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