Eating Less May Slow Aging Process

(HealthDay News) -- Cutting just 300 to 500 calories a day from your diet could be the key to slowing the signs of aging and living longer, according to a new study.

Studies have long shown that reducing calorie intake slows the aging process in rats and mice. A popular theory is that fewer daily calories decreases production of the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3), which then slows metabolism and tissue aging.

A new study, by Saint Louis University researchers, found this hormone decrease occurs when humans regularly skip rich desserts or substitute a turkey sandwich for a Big Mac and fries every day.

"Our research provides evidence that calorie restriction does work in humans like it has been shown to work in animals," study lead author Edward Weiss, associate professor of nutrition and dietetics at Saint Louis University's Doisy College of Health Sciences, said in a prepared statement. "The next step is to determine if this in fact slows age-related tissue deterioration. The only way to be certain, though, is to do a long-term study."

The findings, published in the June 2008 issue of Rejuvenation Research, are based on a study of healthy but sedentary, non-smoking, 50- to 60-year-old men and post-menopausal women. For a year, the volunteers participated in either: a calorie-restriction group that cut their daily calorie intake by 300 to 500 calories per day; a group that stayed on their regular diet and exercised regularly; or a group that maintained its normal routine.

While those in the calorie-restriction and exercise groups both lost body fat mass, only those in the calorie restriction group also had lower levels of the thyroid hormone.

Although a long-term study is still needed to determine if reducing T3 levels through calorie restriction does indeed slow the aging process, Weiss said cutting back on calories is a good idea.

"There is plenty of evidence the calorie restriction can reduce your risks for many common diseases including cancer, diabetes and heart disease," Weiss said. "And you may live to be substantially older."

Weiss warned that while cutting calories, people need to maintain a healthy diet by eating nutrient-rich foods. He noted that long-term slowing of the metabolism could also make people more prone to weight gain over time.

The key to maintaining a healthy weight, Weiss said, is keeping a consistent diet and exercising regularly.

More information
The Calorie Restriction Society has more about calorie restriction.

Health Tip: Choosing Exercise Equipment

(HealthDay News) -- Before you buy home exercise equipment, it's important to make sure you're making the best choice for you and your lifestyle.

Here are things to keep in mind when selecting exercise equipment, courtesy of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons:

• Consider the difference between exercising at home, versus joining a gym. Make sure that you're comfortable with doing it at home.


• Consider less expensive options that offer more variety in your exercise. Look for a stand to convert your regular bicycle into a stationary bike, or consider free weights and a bench instead of a resistance machine.


• Choose a place in your home that is pleasant for exercising. Make sure it's well-lit and well-ventilated.


• Make sure you know how to properly use the equipment before bringing it home.

Training Video 2

Sometimes we all need to be beaten into shape, because we're too lazy to get in shape ourselves. Here's a fun way to beat the flab, and look good in a bikini!Jab/Crosses (Do 4 rounds of 30, aiming to get gradually faster)Jab with your left handCross with your right

Make sure your wrists go straight out from your arm and your arm goes straight out at chin height, aiming for your opponent's mitt, protecting your jaw and your ribs at all timesRotate your hips with each jab and cross Jab/Cross/Push-ups (Good cardio workout, do 10 rounds)Jab/Cross as above twiceDrop to the floor for 4 push-upsJab/Cross/Duck (Repeat for about 2 minutes)

Jab/Cross for four and then duck (Ducking: keep your feet apart -- the aim is to avoid the punch coming from an opponent above your head by using your legs to squat down under your opponent's swing. Keep your eyes on the mitt and do not move your upper body.)Remember, no slacking or you're off to Siberia! Girls, you won't need your bikinis there...

Test-Driving the Wii Fit: Whee!

By Scott Mowbray

Ten minutes after we turned on the Nintendo Wii Fit, my 17-year-old daughter and I reached a verdict: This thing is crazy fun and plausibly healthy. You may be hankering for one of these machines already—there has been no shortage of fuss since the late-May release of the Fit—but I’m here to validate the hankering. I’ve never bought a video game—until now. Read More

5 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism and Lose Weight

Magnesium, interval training, and other tricks to burn more calories
by Ross Weale

Health magazine contributor Samantha Heller shows how to burn more calories, during an interview on the Today show, March 10.



SAMANTHA HELLER
Samantha Heller, RD, is the nutrition coordinator at the Fairfield Connecticut YMCA. A certified dietitian/nutritionist and exercise physiologist, Heller earned her master's degree in nutrition and applied physiology from Teachers’ College, Columbia University. She served as the senior clinical nutritionist and exercise physiologist at NYU Medical center in New York City for almost a decade and created and ran the outpatient nutrition program for the NYU Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. She has also been a fitness instructor for 15 years. Heller specializes in nutrition, wellness, stress management, and fitness for people who are fighting heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity.

A contributing editor to Health magazine, her writing has also appeared in numerous other magazines, including Men’s Fitness, Men’s Health, and Glamour, as well as sites such as Fitness.com.

A Month of Exercise Helps Ease Heart Failure

(HealthDay News) -- Just four weeks of moderate exercise is enough to boost the cardiac performance and breathing capacity of patients with heart failure, a new study finds.

This slightly more strenuous exercise program -- in standard use in Europe for people with heart failure -- works at least as well as the less intense American regimen, the researchers noted. They presented the findings Tuesday at the Experimental Biology conference in San Diego.

In heart failure, the heart progressively loses the ability to pump blood. In the United States, doctors typically recommend three-times-a-week exercise sessions for eight to 12 weeks to help ease the condition, noted study author Stephen F. Crouse, a professor of kinesiology and internal medicine at Texas A&M University, in College Station.

His team looked at data from an Austrian rehabilitation center where 366 heart failure patients (average age 63) exercised 14 to 22 minutes on stationery bicycles six times a week. Participants also did a brisk 45-minute walk each day.

Four weeks of that regimen were enough to produce a significant increase in the participants' breathing capacity, Crouse said.

"This is something that we can recommend continuing for the rest of their lives," he added.

The benefits of exercise for people with heart failure are well-established, Crouse acknowledged. "There are some data from U.S. studies showing that the European regimen has at least equal benefits," he said.

The study used such standard measures of heart function as VO2max, which measures oxygen consumed; resting heart rate; and blood pressure. But of greater interest was the measurement of blood levels of the protein NT-proBNP, which is secreted when heart muscle cells are stressed, Crouse said.

"We have this biomarker in the blood that can be followed very well and that correlates with [cardiac] performance," he said.

Levels of NT-proBNP went down as standard measures of heart performance went up, Crouse said. Blood levels of the protein dropped by 33 percent in the study group after four weeks of the exercise regimen.

Measuring NT-proBNP "is something we would suggest could become a routine clinical test, of treatment and performance," Crouse said. A blood test for the protein is not expensive and is a better alternative for more costly tests such as echocardiography, he said.

The longer-term effects of a continued exercise program for heart failure will be assessed by the Texas A&M team, Crouse said. "We need data to follow them out," he said.

The results were not surprising and will not affect advice on exercise now given to people with heart failure, said Dr. William E. Kraus, research director at the Duke University Center for Living. His center is currently leading a major trial of long-term exercise training for people with heart failure, with results expected later this year.

Use of NT-proBNP as a measure of performance is "a new wrinkle, but not so much of one that it makes me want to change practice," Kraus added.

More information

Guidelines for exercise in heart failure are provided by the Cleveland Clinic.

Diabetics Face Doubled Risk of Heart Attack

(HealthDay News) -- Diabetics are more than twice as likely to suffer a heart attack, stroke and death from cardiovascular disease, putting them at the same risk level as non-diabetics who had previously suffered a heart attack, Danish researchers report.

The findings, appearing in April 1 issue of Circulation, led one study author to suggest all diabetics talk to their doctors about possibly starting treatments to control cholesterol levels and blood-pressure levels.

"We've talked about 'the lower, the better' for cholesterol and blood pressure to reduce the risk of heart attack," lead author Dr. Tina Ken Schramm, a research fellow at the Gentofte Hospital in Hellerup, Denmark, said in a prepared statement. "Now I think we should be saying the sooner, the better for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases in diabetics."

The study analyzes patient and national registries for people aged 30 and older living in Denmark in 1997. Researchers found 71,801 people with diabetes and 79,575 who had a previous heart attack, then identified deaths and causes of death over five years.

"The increased risk was observed in people at all ages with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes who were receiving insulin or other drugs to reduce levels of sugar in the blood," Schramm said. "When people with diabetes do have heart attacks, they are twice as likely to die as non-diabetics."

The relative risk, or hazard ratio, of dying from cardiovascular disease was found to be 2.45 times greater for female diabetics compared with 2.62 times greater for women with a prior heart attack. The relative risk of dying from cardiovascular causes was 2.42 times higher in male diabetics; for men who had a prior heart attack the hazard ratio was 2.44.

When looking at heart attack, stroke or death from cardiovascular disease combined, men with diabetes faced a 2.32 higher risk while the risk rate was 2.48 for men who had at least one heart attack. For female diabetics, the combined relative risk was 2.48 while those with a history of myocardial infarction had a hazard ratio of 2.71.

The study did not look at patients on diet-only treatment for diabetes. The researchers also couldn't differentiate between type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients or adjust for common risk factors, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, smoking, physical activity and blood glucose levels.

Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes, develops when the body doesn't make enough insulin and fails to efficiently use what insulin it does produce. In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas makes little or no insulin, requiring the patient to need daily doses of insulin.

More information
The American Diabetes Association has more about diabetes prevention.

Current Health News: Video on how to keep your workout plan

Current Health and fitness news tips to get to the gym and make sure you never skip a workout again! (more)