April 2018

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
HEALTH
April 2018
13
Strike a balance with calorie-restricted diet
Opting for a calorie-restricted diet is being touted as a sustainable way to lead a fitter, healthier life.
According to a recent study published
in the journal Cell Metabolism,
those following a calorie-restricted diet
not only burned fat but also underwent
reduced cell damage — a crucial part
of minimising the ageing process. The
study has also reignited interest in the
term ‘calorie-restricted’ with many
wanting to know how it can be adapted
for health benefits.
Researchers define caloric restriction
(CR) as reducing food intake while
avoiding malnutrition. This usually
means consuming 30-40% fewer calories
than the standard daily requirement.
That’s the equivalent of limiting
daily intake to around 1,200 calories
for women and 1,400 calories for men.
Calorie restriction vs fasting
Calorie restriction is not the same as
fasting. The process involves cutting
off all sorts of food that can cause oxidation.
It also includes adding to the
diet, foods that are rich in antioxidants.
This in turn helps in protecting the
body from oxidative stress. “For example,
eating too much sugar and
processed carbohydrates (like pasta,
bread, and baked goods) can damage
your skin’s collagen, which keeps your
skin supple and helps resist wrinkles.
Moreover, these foods damage your
overall health. They come with risk of
heart diseases and diabetes. The bad
boys are: alcohol, sugar, refined flour
and its products, fatty meats, sugary
pastries, etc,” says Delnaaz T
Chanduwadia, chief dietician, Jaslok
Hospital and Research Centre, Pedder
Road. In a crux, the food should be
nutrition-dense rather than being calorie-dense.
Foods that are particularly
high in antioxidants are the colourful
fruits and vegetables. The pigments
found in these colourful vegetables
work as potent antioxidants.”
Who is it recommended for?
Losing sustainable amount of
weight may improve weight-related
medical conditions such as diabetes
and high blood pressure. Therefore,
those suffering from these illnesses can
opt for this diet.
Experts also recommend this diet
for people with obesity. “Due to obesity,
there is an increase in free radical
via smoking, increase in fatty food,
trans fat, difficulty in breathing, etc.
The body is under constant stress
because of which the free radicals
attack the lipid layer of the cell and
cause damage. This further alters the
protein structure which hampers the
function of enzyme and hormones
later, altering the DNA and mitochondria
of the cell leading to complete
damage. It continues as a chain, which
later leads a greater risk of cardiac
arrest and makes one more vulnerable
to stroke, arthritis, cancer and early
ageing,” says Pooja Thacker, nutritionist,
Bhatia Hospital, Tardeo.
Drinking water may
help exercising seniors
stay mentally sharp
Older people should drink more water to reap the full
cognitive benefits of exercise, a study suggests.
The study presented at the American Physiological
Society (APS) annual meeting in San Diego, US explores
the association between hydration status before exercising
and exercise-enhanced cognition in older adults.
Dehydration has been shown to impair exercise performance
and brain function in young people, but less is
known about its impact on older populations. "Middleage
and older adults often display a blunted thirst perception,
which places them at risk for dehydration and
subsequently may reduce the cognitive health-related
benefits of exercise," said Brandon Yates from Spaulding
Rehabilitation Hospital in the US. The researchers
recruited recreational cyclists (average age 55) who participated
in a large cycling event on a warm day. The
cyclists performed a "trail-making" executive function
test - quickly and accurately connecting numbered dots
using paper and pencil - before and after the event.
170 potential lung cancer
drug targets identified
Scientists, who tested over
200,000 chemical compounds,
have identified 170 candidates that
can be potentially used for developing
new drug therapies for lung
cancer. The five-year project set
out to identify new therapeutic targets
for non-small cell lung cancer
as well as potential drugs for these
targets - a significant step forward
towards personalising cancer care,
researchers said.
For the large majority of compounds,
we identified a predictive
biomarker - a feature that allows
the development of 'precision medicine,'
or individualised treatment
for each patient," said John Minna,
from University of Texas in the US.
For the study, published in the
journal Cell, the researchers
searched for compounds that would
kill cancer cells but not harm normal
lung cells.
"We began an ambitious project
with the goal of identifying 'therapeutic
triads': chemicals that kill
cancer cells, biomarkers that predict
who would respond, and the
therapeutic targets on which those
active chemicals work," said
Medication use increases in newlydiagnosed
dementia patients
Researchers have found an increase
in medication use by the patients who
have been newly-diagnosed with
dementia and they may consume
unnecessary or inappropriate medicines
that increase the risk of side effects.
"Our study found that following a diagnosis
of dementia in older people, medication
use increased by 11 per cent in a
year and the use of potentially inappropriate
medications increased by 17 per
cent," said lead author Danijela
Gnjidic, Senior Lecturer from the
Faculty of Pharmacy and Charles
Perkins Centre at University of Sydney.
According to the researchers, potentially
inappropriate or unnecessary
medications included sleeping tablets,
pain drugs, depression drugs and
acid reflux drugs (proton pump
inhibitors). "These medications are
typically recommended for short
term use but are commonly used
long term by people with dementia,"
Gnjidic said. Around 50 million people
live with dementia around the
world—425,000 in Australia alone.
Also, dementia is currently the second
leading cause of death in
Australia, the researchers said. The
longitudinal study, published in the
Journals of Gerontology: Medical
Sciences, of nearly 2,500 people was
conducted in collaboration with Yale
University and University of
Kentucky.
Minna.
Continuing to uncover the
mechanism of action for the majority
of the 170 chemicals will be a
key focus of future research.
Follow-up work will also include
testing the chemicals on other types
of cancer. Preliminary work shows
some of the compounds are likely
effective against certain breast and
ovarian cancers as well.
The researchers have carefully
developed and curated a collection
of lung cancer cell lines since the
1970s that is now recognised as the
world's largest. The team of scientists
began by testing 200,000
chemicals against 12 lung cancer
cell lines.
"The initial screen gave us
15,000 chemical 'hits,' way too
many to work with in detail, but
with repeat testing we eventually
narrowed the number down to
170," said Bruce Posner, Professor
of Biochemistry and Director of the
High-Throughput Center at
University of Texas.
The set of 170 chemical compounds
was then tested across 100
lung cancer lines.
Eat fatty fish to cut your heart disease risk
Consuming fatty fish four times a
week may help increase the amount of
good cholesterol and prevent the risk of
heart disease,
finds a study.
The findings
showed that fatty
fish increases the
size and lipid
composition of
high-density
lipoprotein
(HDL) particles,
also known as
good cholesterol,
in people with
impaired glucose
metabolism.
Morever, using daily 30 ml of camelina
oil -- rich in alpha-linolenic acid, which
is an essential omega-3 fatty acid -- was
also found to decrease the number of
harmful Intermediate-density lipoprotein
(IDL) particles.
The IDL
lipoprotein is
the precursor of
(low-density
lipoprotein)
LDL, which is
also known as
the bad cholesterol.
Previous
studies have
shown that
long-chain
omega-3 fatty
acids found in
fish have a beneficial effect on lipoprotein
size and composition.