Posts Tagged ‘diet’
Eating Avocados Reduces Bad Cholesterol
Home Cooking Helps Keep the Calories Down
Good news for men who eat soy
Good news for men who eat soy.
As always soy in your diet is the best way to get it!
http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ENDO/46461
Soy Okay in Diabetic Men with Low Testosterone
Published: Jun 23, 2014
CHICAGO — Soy supplements won’t send testosterone levels plummeting in men with type 2 diabetes who already have low levels of the hormone, researchers reported here.
Testosterone levels actually rose with supplementation with either a soy protein bar or a soy protein bar that also contained phytoestrogens, Thozhukat Sathyapalan, MBBS, MD, of Hull York Medical School in England, and colleagues reported at the joint meeting of the Endocrine Society and the International Congress on Endocrinology here.
Some possible benefits in metabolic parameters were also seen with the phytoestrogen-containing soy bars, the group indicated.
“There’s no concern that soy will effect testosterone,” Sathyapalan said. “In fact, it can maybe have a positive effect.”
Some researchers have expressed concerns that the phytoestrogens in soy have estrogen-mimicking effects that may affect testosterone levels — particularly in men who already have low testosterone. These phytoestrogens include genistein and daidzein.
To assess whether these phytoestrogens can impact testosterone levels in men with type 2 diabetes who have borderline low testosterone levels, Sathyapalan and colleagues assessed 210 men with the condition who were between the ages of 55 and 70 and whose testosterone levels were below 12 nmol/L.
They were randomized to a 30-g soy protein cereal bar that either contained phytoestrogens (66 mg) or no phytoestrogens, eating two a day for the three months of the study.
Overall they saw an increase in testosterone levels in both study arms: “We thought there would be a reduction in testosterone levels, but there was an increase in testosterone levels in both groups,” Sathyapalan said at a press briefing.
Mean levels rose from 9.8 to 11.3 nmol/L in the combination group and from 9.2 to 10.3 nmol/L in the soy alone group, his group reported. No changes in estrogen levels were seen in either group.
The researchers also found that those taking the phytoestrogen bar had additional benefits in terms of metabolic parameters and cardiovascular risk.
Specifically, that group showed a significant drop in mean fasting plasma glucose, from 142 mg/dL to 116 mg/dL, compared with a slight uptick from 141 mg/dL to 151 mg/dL in the soy-alone group, as well as a drop in HbA1c not seen with soy alone.
Patients assigned to the phytoestrogen-containing bar also had a significant improvement in insulin sensitivity, with HOMA-IR scores falling from 7.2 to 2.5 compared with a rise from 10.2 to 11.3 for those on soy alone.
The phytoestrogens group also had a decrease in triglycerides, C-reactive protein, and diastolic blood pressure that wasn’t seen in the soy-alone group.
Sathyapalan said the results weren’t surprising given the fact that soy has long been used as a medical food in diabetes. He concluded, however, that further studies are needed to determine the differing effects of soy protein alone and soy protein plus phytoestrogens.
He added that he and his colleagues have also investigated the differences between these two cereal bars in postmenopausal women, finding that both improve bone turnover markers which could have implications for osteoporosis.
Another study, however, showed that soy supplementation may have ties to hypothyroidism; further study is needed to definitively determine if that is the case.
The study was supported by the Food Standards Agency in the U.K.
Sathyapalan reported no relevant financial disclosures.
Source reference: Sathyapalan T, et al “The effect of soy phytoestrogens on cardiovascular risk markers in men with type 2 diabetes and subclinical hypogonadism — A randomized double blind parallel study” ICE/ENDO 2014; Abstract SAT-0367
Vegans show lower BMI and obesity rates than meat-eaters
This article is self explanatory. Note the setting in which the study was done however. Seventh-Day Adventist Communities are atypically more cohesive than those of mainstream Americans. They also have been practicing social values that exemplify, “clean, spiritually intentional living” for several generations. BMI stands for base metabolism index.
It was downloaded from open source Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/05/vegetarians-slimmer-meat-eaters-weight_n_4039441.html
Vegetarians Slimmer Than Meat-Eaters, Study Finds
Posted: 10/05/2013 9:49 am EDT
Vegetarians may not only be more likely to outlive their meat-eating counterparts, they could have a leg up in the weight department, too.
A new study from Loma Linda University researchers shows an association between diet type and weight, with vegetarians having a lower body mass index than non-vegetarians. Interestingly, researchers found this association despite both groups in the study having similar caloric intake.
The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics study is based on data from the Adventist Health Study 2, which includes dietary data from five groups: meat-eaters, semi-vegetarians (occasional meat-eaters), pesco-vegetarians (vegetarians who eat fish), lacto-ovo vegetarians (vegetarians who consume dairy) and vegans (who don’t consume any animal products). Data was collected between 2002 and 2007 from 71,751 Seventh-Day Adventist men and women, with an average age of 59.
Caloric intake was similar among all dietary patterns — about 2,000 calories a day — with the one exception being the semi-vegetarians, who consumed 1,707 calories a day.
Researchers found that average BMI was lowest among vegans, while average BMI was highest among the meat-eaters. Looking specifically at obesity (defined as having a BMI over 30), researchers found that vegans had the lowest percentage of people who were obese — just 9.4 percent — while meat-eaters had the highest percentage of people who were obese — 33.3 percent. About 24 percent of semi-vegetarians were obese, 17.9 percent of pesco-vegetarians were obese, and 16.7 percent of lacto-ovo vegetarians were obese.
Even though calorie intake was similar across all the groups, there were differences in the types of nutrients consumed. Meat-eaters had the lowest intake of plant proteins, beta carotene, fiber and magnesium, and the highest intake of heart disease-linked fatty acids.
Of course, diet isn’t the only factor in weight — the study didn’t examine other factors, such as exercise or socioeconomic status. It merely showed an association between eating patterns and weight, not a cause-and-effect relationship.
