Rationale for reasonable demands

There is not a foundation of rocket science underlying the statement...have you considered losing weight. And yet I find that reading the explanation calls to mind reasons that may otherwise drift into the side of ones mind, retrievable only through extrapolation of what one already knows about such things.

The explanation is wonderfully succint:
1. Hypertension
2. Dyslipidaemia
3. Type II Diabetes

And then of course the fourth,

4. All of the above / Clustering of Risk Factors / Prevention

Now, further explanaition, so that one does not look ridiculous by spouting out nil beyond names of diseases...

1. Hypertension - losing weight was found to correlate with proportional reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

2. Dyslipidaemia - losing weight correlated with reductions in serum cholesterol, serum triglycerides, and improved the oxidised LDL: total LDL ratio, thereby reducing the risk of atherosclerosis, due to the so called "atherogenic dyslipidaemia", wherein there is lowered HDL in conjunction with elevated LDL.

3. Type II Diabetes - Losing weight correlated with an improved fasting blood sugar level, and improved peripheral glucose uptake, as well as decreases in the morbidities associated with Type II Diabetes.

4. All of the above / Clustering of Risk Factors / Prevention - Finally, there appears to be a phenomenon wherein the greater the weight gain the more likely that more risk factors will occur simultaneously. Also, it appears that the more risk factors one develops, the more likely a coronary artery disease will occur. This last point is based on my perhaps misguided interpretation of the article, and therefore I am open to correction on this.

The final finally, and most important to note in those considering indulging and repairing later: Once developed, weight loss will not necessarily improve the risk factors.

This has been a basic overview of the article listed below, a deeper read renders your understanding relatively deeper, in accordance with the principles of reality with which you may be familiar.

"Benefits of Weight Loss"
International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders
J. Vidal

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12457296

Defining Parameters (and Giving Results) For Our Lunch Time Choice

Often one may be assaulted with the decision, do I choose this vitamin water, or do I choose this fruit and/or berry juice this lunch (or morning tea, afternoon tea, breakfast or dinner, whenever one may be disposed to such a choice)..

In response to this rather urgent question, several researchers examined the polyphenol content (antioxidant phytochemicals) of a large variety of vitamin-enhanced waters and fruit/berry juices to find if there were a difference.

It seems there is...a statistical difference in fact...between the polyphenol content contained in the drinks of both of these groups. Measured as catechin equivalents and removing the effect of ascorbate (vitamin C) on the data, it was found that there was a statistically significant higher quantity of catechin equivalents (antioxidants essentially) in the fruit and berry juices compared to the vitamin-enhanced waters.

Of course the association of specific brands to polyphenol content were not released, however we will have to remain confident in the ability of the researchers to define what a fruit/berry juice is and, concordantly, what a vitamin-enhanced water may be.

Though this at first glance may appear to guide our choices forever more, before the entirety of health conscious consumers terrified of ageing and the like flock to the fruit and berry juices and the vitamin-enhanced water market dwindles into oblivion, I ask them to stop and think. What else are antioxidants? Why vitamin A, E, C, Coenzyme Q10 and selenium, not to mention the numerous other nutrients contributing to glutathione production and superoxide dismutase, are. Therefore simply because catechin equivalents may be higher in fruit/berry juices compared to vitamin-enhanced waters doesn't necessarily mean the entire antioxidant capacity of these waters is negligible, in fact it may be higher...unless of course the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent reacts with these nutrients which are then detected, and confused for catechin equivalents, by the Thermo Spectronic Genesys 20 spectrophotometer, in which case the fruit/berry juices substantially annihilate the vitamin waters. However I remain unsure if this is the case, and I really need to get back to studying the physiology of bone linear growth...it's so nice reading 'epiphyseal plate' and 'zone of resting cartilage' again, it's been so long...

I hope this may help, or at least tickles your interest, in the world of polyphenols and beverages...

Reference - http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/2/12/1290/pdf (This is a pdf, so beware of the size, if you wish to see only the abstract)

Optimal cognition

Let's all imagine that we did not know that sleep was important...

Right, well that was not so helpful in comparison to the information that I am ABOUT to share.

A study published in 2003 found that 14 days of restricted sleep, restricted being 6-8 hours or less per night with no other sleep permitted, day time naps, etc. was equivalent to 3 days of complete sleep restriction, that is, no sleep at all for 3 days on cognitive performance (I can't be bothered finding the full text of this article to discover what precise activities were done to measure cognitive performance, and therefore it will have to remain a mystery).

Therefore, due to the findings in this article, one is asked, in order to excel in all cognitive tasks, to maintain a consistent sleep duration every night, and that duration to be approximately 8.16 hours per night.

In conclusion, though no physiological reasoning was given in the abstract (don't judge me for just reading abstracts, I really should be investigating senescent chemosensory loss and the resultant effect on taste sensations and thus food intake and its relation to iron status in the elderly), I may get to it one day...

Now to senescent chemosensory loss...

:D

Reference - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12683469

Low Calcium AND Low Vegetable Intake...aka. "why are these vegetables not so nice?"

Research published last year examined a very interesting causal relationship

Given that,

In general, the population doesn't eat enough vegetables

AND

In general, the population is calcium deficient

COULD IT BE

That vegetable distaste, indeed bitterness, is a result of calcium's presence, or, does calcium content affect the bitterness of vegetables.

In conclusion, they found there was a correlation, however were cautious to establish causation, that because vegetables high in calcium were bitter, people don't eat them and are thus low in calcium. They investigated a rat model finding that rodents can indeed detect which foods are high in calcium and eat those foods when they are either calcium deficient, or genetically engineered to love eating calcium, and rather, when they are calcium-replete, choose to eat less of the calcium-full, i.e. bitter, foods.

Therefore, when choosing not to eat vegetables, or indeed when a client comes to you and says, my bones keep breaking, and bursting through my skin, and then I can't stop bleeding (Osteoporosis and haemophilia, the former obvious, the latter as calcium is a cofactor in the production of clotting factors), and I hate vegetables, maybe that would be the time to ask them, do you not like vegetables because of bitterness, if yes, then maybe they are deficient due to dietary choices.

Just a thought, but yeah, also if anyone ever asks you, "Hey, you should know, why is this collard so damn bitter?" You can reply "Why, my apprenticed friend, it is due to the calcium content."

WARNING - if they ask "Why is this radicchio so damn bitter" DO NOT reply with the above, instead reply "Due to, potentially excipient, or otherwise spirited, bitter compounds within it I believe, not calcium however."

There you go, a good ol' look at calcium and bitterness - I'm glad I know this now, the little angel of knowledge is hugging my heart :D

Reference - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2768385/

Um, really annoying smell to study too

I have finished working and I am sitting here, trying to write an assignment and all I can smell is my feet, maybe a little to much information for ones liking, but hey its a start, and I would love to explore pheromones, etc. so this is the pathway that I see coming

Foot odour -> Scent chemicals -> scent chemicals effect on the brain -> other scent chemicals effect on the brain -> pheromones -> could foot odour ever be a pheromone?

If these concepts are already studied, that doesn't matter because I am not intending to break new ground here, but rather explore what is known, and other people to say, hey, thats such a good point, oh Ive always wondered about that, I wonder why.

Well this is why

I am quite busy with my assignment so I cannot say too much here, but hey, anyway.

Apparently foot odour has to do with:
- short chain fatty acids found in the socks and on the feet,
- particularly iso-valeric acid, as this was found in those with foot odour, and not those without,
- and by incubating sweat and lipids from people with strong foot malodour, the smell can actually be reproduced, with gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry analysis revealing a similar short chain fatty acid profile

(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2369557 - I'll just give the link for now, so it can be found really fast for those who need rapid confirmation of things that they read :P


So there you go, now I will know that forever and whoever reads it will know it too...now to investigate iso-valeric acid, no, I shall study...but in time... :P

The Beginning of Knowledge - Though not as far back as the Greeks, or even the Amoeba's

This blog is created as sometimes I feel a need to relax my mind during study and ponder those questions to which I do not know the answer.

Through gaining knowledge on various topics one can then expect further interest to be spurred and deeper insight to be sought, corollaries to be made and the eventual endowment of personal satisfaction from being such a polymath.

Ok, that might be taking it a little far, but the overall picture is that this is a source of knowledge and understanding and contemplation of what is and what might be.

I invite not debates, nor arguments nor anything at all mean or cruel, but rather, hey, have you seen this recent paper, etc. etc.