Reversal of Chronic Disease Risk Even Late in Life

A hundred years ago, the New York Times reported on a rather sophisticated study for the time: 4,600 cases of cancer appearing over a seven year period, suggesting that the increased consumption of animal foods was to blame. A century later, the latest review on the subjects concluded that mortality from all causes put together, ischemic heart disease, circulatory, and cerebrovascular diseases was significantly lower in those eating meat-free diets, in addition to less cancer and diabetes. I’m surprised they found such significant results given that people in these studies typically didn’t stop eating meat until late in life. For example, in the largest study done up until recently, up to a third of subjects ate vegetarian for less than five years, yet they still […] Read More

Wait! What – Diet Soda Makes You Fat?

Among those who consumed diet sodas every day, or more often than once a day, waist circumference increased over 3 inches. Those who drink diet soda thinking it will help them shed unwanted belly fat may see their waistlines expand instead. New analyses from an observational study of San Antonio men and women age 65 and older seem to indicate this. The San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging (SALSA), led by Helen P. Hazuda, Ph.D., professor of medicine in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, gathered data on health status and lifestyles of 749 Mexican-American and European-American elders, then tracked the health outcomes in 466 survivors for more than nine years. The number of sodas they […] Read More