Longer Sleep (In Short Sleepers) Can Prevent Weight Gain

It is well known that both too little sleep, and too much sleep, are associated with obesity.  Reduced sleep in particular is a problem in modern society - I'm sure we can all attest to this!   The optimum amount of sleep is between 7-8 hours for adults.

A recent study led by my colleague Dr Chaput looked at people who habitually slept less than 6 hours per day, and divided them into two groups: those who increased their sleep to a healthier 7-8 hours per day, and those who kept their usual sleep habits.

At 6 years, they found that those who kept their short sleep patterns gained 2.4kg more fat mass than those who changed their habits to longer sleep.

So, for those of us who are certain that we can thrive on less than 6 hours of sleep - it may not be the best for our health in the long run.

Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2013 

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen

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Eating With Your Ears, Eyes, Mouth, and Hands

Think the soundtrack they play at Starbucks is random?  Think again.

It's an interesting concept called multisensory dining, and it's gaining momentum as research to support it continues to grow.

The principle of multisensory dining is that the enjoyment of food is not just affected by how it tastes, looks, and feels, but can even be affected by the sounds you hear when you are eating, and the texture and color of the dishes it's served up in.

Some interesting research findings can be read about here - for example, higher pitches of sound may emphasize sweeter flavors in food, and lower sounds may emphasize bitterness.  As previously blogged, music can also affect how much food we consume at a meal. 

Food may also taste different depending on what color of dish it's served in.  Color of plate can also affect how much we eat - having contrast between food color and plate color can help to keep portions under control (read more about this here).

The psychology behind eating patterns is fascinating, and there is still so much for us to learn!

Thanks to my friend Priti for the heads' up on this article.

Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2013 

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen

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What's On Your Breath - And What Could It Mean For Your Body Weight?

It is increasingly recognized that the bacteria that grow in our guts (and yes, they are in there - around a kilogram of them in each of us!) have an impact on our overall metabolism and risk of obesity.  A new study shows that the type of gases in your breath (reflecting the type of bacteria you have in your gut) are associated with body weight.

The study looked at nearly 800 individuals, and classified them according to whether they had high levels of methane, hydrogen, both, or neither on breath testing.  They found that those who had higher methane and hydrogen on their breath had higher body mass index, and higher body fat percent, than the other groups.

The authors hypothesize that the high methane, high hydrogen breath is due to colonization with a bacteria called M smithii, a bacteria that may make food calories more available for absorption from our intestines.

Another lesson that it is so much more than calories in/calories out that factors in to our body weight.

Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2013 

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen

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Calculate Your Salt Intake!

Ever wonder how much sugar you take in in a day?  Check out this great new online sodium calculator - you may be shocked by your results!

The calculator was developed by researchers from the University of Toronto, in collaboration with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.  It takes about 3 minutes to calculate your salt intake using this fantastic tool.  A series of questions are asked about how often you eat out, eat canned foods, processed foods, etc, and based on this information, it estimates your average daily sodium intake.

I was surprised by my own results - apparently I consume an average of 2800mg of sodium daily, exceeding the recommended maximum of 2300 mg per day.  I learned that a whopping 35% of my daily intake comes from eating out, even though it's only 1-2 times per week for lunch and 1-2 times per week for dinner.  One quarter of my salt intake comes from dips and sauces (here I enjoy soy sauce, ketchup or salsa about once a day).  Looks like I've got some work to do!

Have a go at this yourself - please share your results and thoughts using the comments link at the bottom of this post!

Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2013 

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen

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Complications Of Obesity - New Textbook

For a new online textbook entitled Complications of Obesity (editors Wieland Kiess and Arya Sharma), published in Best Practice & Research, Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, I was asked to contribute a chapter about the metabolic complications of obesity.   In this chapter, I focus on diabetes, prediabetes, gestational diabetes, the metabolic syndrome, and polycystic ovary syndrome.

The textbook as a whole covers topics written by colleagues from around the world about the societal impact of obesity (including weight discrimination and bullying), complications of obesity ranging from sleep apnea to cancer to mental health impact, with a third section focussing on management of obesity.   We sincerely hope that this is a collection of information that will be useful to the public and the health care profession!


Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2013 

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen

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Survival of the Fattest? The Obesity Paradox

We know from population studies that obesity is a risk factor for the development of a long list of medical problems, including heart disease.  Interestingly, a number of research studies suggest that obesity actually has a protective effect in patients who already have established heart disease, and a recent study shows that this protective effect includes patients with type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

The study by Doehner and colleagues, which is an analysis of data from the PROactive trial (a study of a diabetes medication called pioglitazone, vs placebo), they found that over a follow up period of almost 3 years, patients with type 2 diabetes and heart disease had the lowest mortality rates if their body mass index (BMI) at the start of the study was between 30-35.  (A BMI of 30 or greater is considered as 'obese'. You can calculate your own BMI in the right hand column of www.drsue.ca .)

They also found that weight loss was a predictor of mortality, and that weight gain was NOT associated with increased death rates.  In patients taking pioglitazone, a medication that is known to cause weight gain, those who did gain weight on pioglitazone had improved survival compared to those who did not gain weight.

This phenomenon, which has also been shown in several studies of nondiabetics, is what we refer to as the Obesity Paradox - that people with cardiovascular disease seem to be protected by higher body weights.  How is this possible?

The theory is that people who are sick are often losing weight, because they have lost their energy or appetite to eat, or because their illness causes such a high calorie burn that they can't keep up with food intake (this is seen in cancer patients as well).  Thus, the people who gained weight or didn't lose weight in the study were likely more 'well' in general, whereas the people who were thin or losing weight were likely to be sicker with their heart disease, and therefore had a higher rate of death during the study period.   Perhaps it could also be a better 'starting point' to have extra fat tissue on board before a person becomes sick - thereby giving that person more energy stores to draw from while overcoming a period of illness.

All in all, this information reminds us that fat tissue isn't all bad - it actually evolved over millions of years to help us survive periods of famine, and probably periods of illness as well.

Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2013 

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen

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How Many Calories Are Burned During Sex? (and other mythbusting)

Anyone out there of the opinion that minutes logged getting busy in
the sack count towards the day's cardio workout? Sorry for the bad
news, but - think again.

The New England Journal of Medicine has just published a very
interesting read about the myths, presumptions, and facts about
obesity. Amongst the myths is one about sex: while lore has it
that 200-300 calories are burned during sex, the average (6 minute)
romp in the hay for a 70kg man only burns about 21 calories (based on
3 METs, a metabolic equivalent of energy output). As the article
points out, watching TV for the same 6 minutes burns about 7 calories,
so the net burn is actually only 14 calories.

Now that I've got your attention - the other myths in the article are
definitely worth a read and are equally 'hot' topics of discussion!

Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2013 

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen

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