NEW

Health Care Leaders Form Trustworthy & Responsible AI Network (TRAIN)

Monday, at the HIMSS 2024 Global Health Conference, a new consortium of healthcare leaders announced the creation of the Trustworthy & Responsible AI Network (TRAIN), which aims to operationalize responsible AI principles to improve the quality, safety and...

EPA Rule to Slash EtO Emissions, Reduce Cancer Risk

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a rule that will reduce lifetime cancer risks for people living near commercial sterilization facilities across the country. The final amendments to the air toxics standards for ethylene oxide commercial...

AI Revolutionizes General Surgery, says GlobalData

Artificial intelligence (AI) integration in general surgery has surged, promising revolutionary advancements in precision and patient outcomes. AI tools have transformed preoperative planning, intraoperative assistance, and postoperative care, enhancing diagnostic...

Study Shows Potential for Using AI Tools to Detect Healthcare-Associated Infections

A new proof-of-concept study published today in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) reports that artificial intelligence (AI) technologies can accurately identify cases of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) even in complex clinical scenarios. The...

Foods for a Flatter Stomach

If you want a flatter stomach, cutting calories and exercising are must-dos. But new research also shows some foods may have waist-shrinking (and consequent health-boosting) properties. Here are five tummy tamers to add to your diet:

1: Canola Oil

Already dubbed a heart-healthy cooking oil, canola now touts another boon: when Brazilian researchers fed rats a diet containing either canola or soybean oil for two months, the canola eaters gained nearly 20 percent less fat in and around the organs of the belly (also known as visceral fat) than those who chowed on the soybean-oil-enriched diet.

While researchers can’t say exactly how much canola oil people would need to include in their diet to achieve this effect, they believe that canola oil’s high omega-3 content lowers insulin levels, ultimately discouraging fat storage in the abdomen.

2: Beans

Swapping animal proteins in your diet for vegetarian proteins like beans may do more than help your heart (and the planet): a 2011 Diabetic Medicine study found that a six-month-long calorie-controlled vegetarian diet was more effective at blasting belly fat and stimulating weight loss in diabetic volunteers than a calorically equivalent non-vegetarian diet.

The vegetarian diet burned more deep (visceral) abdominal fat, as well as that extra layer just under the skin (subcutaneous fat), explains lead researcher Hana Kahleova, M.D., of the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague.

3: Low-fat Milk

Milk (and other low-fat dairy products) will help you build strong bones, but if you want to whittle your waistline and gain calorie-burning lean muscle you may need to up the ante. In a 2011 Journal of Nutrition study, dieters who ate 30 percent of calories from protein, including six to seven daily servings of dairy, chiseled off more belly and total fat– and gained more lean muscle – than women who trimmed the same number of calories but ate less protein and dairy.

Researchers think the whey protein in dairy, which boasts the amino acid leucine, is particularly important in stimulating the formation of new muscle proteins.

4: Whole Grains

When researchers from Pennsylvania State University placed volunteers on a three-month weight-loss program and instructed one group to eat only whole grains for their grain servings and the other group to choose only refined grains (and avoid whole grains entirely), the wholegrain eaters melted significantly more abdominal fat.

While the fiber in whole grains may deserve some of the credit, researchers note that whole grains are rich in magnesium, a mineral instrumental in regulating fat metabolism.

5: Red Peppers

In a recent Journal of Nutrition study, Dutch researchers asked 374 men about the foods they ate most frequently. They found that those whose diets contained the most beta carotene and lycopene (phytochemicals that make carrots orange and give red peppers and tomatoes their brilliant hue) had the smallest waists and the least abdominal fat.

Because beta carotene and lycopene are potent antioxidants, researchers think they may mop up the harmful compounds that promote fat storage. Peppers are also packed with vitamin C, a nutrient needed for fat burning.

Previous

Next

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

X