Sleep Problems Linked to Weight Gain

As if getting older weren’t hard enough, new research shows that middle-aged and older women who have trouble falling or staying asleep may pack on more pounds than their well-rested peers.

The new findings, reported in the International Journal of Obesity, strengthen the evidence that sleep problems are related to weight gain. In this case, the study design allowed the researchers to show that sleep problems came before substantial weight gain in some participants.

Finnish researchers followed more than 7,300 40- to 60-year-old adults for seven years. They found that women who reported significant sleep problems at the outset generally put on more weight over time than women who slept well.  Roughly one-third of women with frequent sleep problems gained at least 11 pounds, versus about a fifth of women with no sleep difficulties at the outset.  The link in the women persisted even when the investigators accounted for a number of factors that can affect both sleep quality and weight gain — including participants’ body weight at the study’s start, their exercise habits and their general physical and mental health.

Men’s sleep problems apparently were not related to weight gain.  However, the smaller number of men in the study– 1,300 versus more than 5,700 women — may have made any potential effect among men harder to detect.

While the findings do not prove cause-and-effect, they raise the possibility that improving sleep quality might help stave off excess weight gain.  There is evidence that sleep loss alters people’s levels of the appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin — which could, in theory, spur them to overeat.

Source:  Reuters Health –link.reuters.com/nub45m International Journal of Obesity, online June 8, 2010.

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MSG Bad for Your Waistline …Too

We find it in so much of our packaged, convenience foods and in Chinese food.  It’s accused of causing many health issues ranging in severity from allergies and headaches to more serious hypoglycemia, seizures, stroke and even brain damage. And, now the chemical monosodium glutamate (MSG) is found to pose yet another drawback: weight gain.  In a Chinese study, people who used the most MSG in their home-prepared meals were much more likely to be overweight or obese compared to the people who didn’t use the seasoning at all.

Demystifying MSG
MSG is a salt made from glutamic acid. It’s used to heighten the taste of sweet and salty things, and restaurants add it to everything from salad dressings to stir-fries. MSG is also found in lunch meats and other prepackaged and canned foods. Still, if you’re thinking that MSG eaters simply weigh more because they eat more, here’s the scoop. In the study, weight differences between MSG users and nonusers held true regardless of each group’s overall calorie intake and exercise habits. And, some contend that MSG makes us crave, or become addicted, to the foods that contain it.  Food for thought.

Why the Weight?
This was one of the first human studies to investigate whether MSG might affect weight, so more research is needed to confirm the results. But researchers theorize that MSG might mess with the workings of an important appetite hormone called leptin; it’s the hormone that delivers the “I’m full” message. 

Sources:  www.RealAge.com, Excitotoxins — The Taste That Kills, by Russell L. Blaylock

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Dr. Oz’s Secret to Weight Loss Success

 You know that eating less and exercising more helps you lose weight.  But, according to Mehmet Oz, M.D., better known as Dr. Oz, the real secret ingredient to weight-loss success is understanding how two body compounds that regulate appetite and satiety, called ghrelin and leptin, work.  Once you understand how these compounds work to control your hunger, you can use them to help you take off the weight, rather than have them inadvertently sabotage your efforts. Here, Dr. Oz explains five ways to fight cravings and feel full.

Ghrelin is a hormone, secreted in your belly and intestines when your stomach is empty that makes you want to eat. And if you ignore the signals, which typically come every half hour or so, then your belly sends out more ghrelin. “And not just a little bit more,” says Dr. Oz. “A ton more until you’re absolutely famished and have to eat whatever you see.” This is why deprivation dieting or starvation dieting doesn’t work, he explains. Ghrelin is so powerful, it will eventually trump your will power, and you’ll end up raiding your fridge and pantry. “There’s no way to say, No to it,” says Dr. Oz. So, how do you get ghrelin to work for you and not against you?

Have a small snack about half an hour before you sit down to eat your meal.

Dr. Oz suggests a small handful of nuts, a small piece of fruit, even a glass of water with some psyllium fiber mixed in (get the kind that dissolves completely, so there’s no grittiness). Because ghrelin levels rise when you’re hungry and take about 30 minutes to return to normal once you’re done eating, having a pre-meal snack gets this process going so that you actually feel like eating less when you finally sit down to dine.

Eat slowly.

“This is one of the most important things you can do,” he says.  When we eat slowly, reminds Dr. Oz, it gives our ghrelin levels a chance at dropping back down to normal. “When you actually sit down, the ghrelin has already started to come down a little bit and you can hold yourself back,” he says. In other words, when we don’t feel hungry anymore, we can feel more satisfied eating less food.

Really pay attention to what you’re eating.

When we focus on the food we’re eating — as opposed to just shoveling it in during American Idol or Survivor — number one, we appreciate it more and even taste it more. And two, it makes it easier to recognize when our bodies say, “Hey, stop eating, I’m full.” When we eat with our eyes on the TV, it’s entirely possible to clean our plates and then some without even noticing what or how much we ate, which can lead to overeating.

Leptin, which is a protein secreted by our bodies’ own fat, works the weight loss problem from on the other end. While ghrelin controls how hungry (or not) we feel, leptin controls how full we feel and let’s us know when it’s time to put down the fork and push back from the table. And — bonus! — it also helps us burn more calories. “If you can get your leptin levels high, you’ll have a greater ability to keep your hunger and appetite in check,” says Dr. Oz.

Avoid high-fructose corn syrup.

 This can be challenging because high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is added to tons of processed foods, says Dr. Oz. Sure, you expect it in sugary cereals and regular sodas. But it also shows up in unlikely places, like low-fat/fat-free salad dressings, condiments, sweetened yogurts, breads. Yikes! So you need to become a diligent label reader. If high fructose corn syrup is on the ingredient list, leave the product on the supermarket shelf. This is essential because beyond the empty calories that come with these foods, the fructose found in HFCS actually blocks leptin from letting your brain know that you’re done eating. And because your brain also doesn’t recognize fructose as a real food, it makes you want to keep eating. In other words, fructose makes your appetite run amok — you’re driven to eat with no brake on your appetite. And those calories get stored as fat! Double yikes!

Eat foods rich in unsaturated fats.

Unsaturated fats — monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats — are the healthy fats that you’ve probably heard are great for your heart. They’re found in foods like olives and olive oil, avocados (and guacamole!), nuts, seeds, fish, like salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines, and other vegetable and seed oils, like canola, safflower, sunflower, corn and sesame oils. But not only are these types of fats good for your heart and arteries, they also help boost your leptin levels, so they’re more satisfying than saturated fats (found in meats, eggs and dairy foods). According to Dr. Oz, eating foods high in saturated fats doesn’t raise leptin levels nearly as much as foods high in unsaturated fats. So while gram for gram both types of fat contain 9 calories apiece, unsaturated fat calories are actually working in your favor — both for your heart and your waist line.

Source:  AOL Health, Posted by Norine Dworkin-McDaniel