Obesity-linked Deaths on the Increase

The number of people being killed by obesity-related illnesses has increased in England during the last decade.

Latest figures based on the analysis of death certificates by a team at the University of Oxford, and published in the European Journal of Public Health, revealed an annual rise in fat-linked deaths between 2000 and 2006.

On the death certificates, links to obesity rose by an average of 8% for men and 4% for women, year-on-year. And the researchers believe many more deaths may have been caused by obesity but not recorded.

This research has been published at a time when recent ministerial figures paint a similar picture, showing a jump from 358 obesity-related deaths in 2000 to 757 in 2009, with directly linked deaths in people under 65 rising from 88 in 2000 to 190 in 2009. In addition, the Scottish government has warned that 40% of Scots might be obese by 2030 unless things change.

Approximately 25% of UK adults are currently obese.  

Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said people in the so-called early stages of obesity often did not realise the risks that being overweight pose. He said: “People do not realise how closely linked it is with serious conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and diabetes. We have to take obesity seriously.” (Source)

There are a number of strategies which can be adopted to help ensure your weight returns to and remains at a healthy level.

•    Eat well
Make sure you are eating enough fruit and vegetables on a daily basis as these provide you with the necessary nutrients. They will also curb your appetite for sugary or fatty snacks, helping to keep calories down in-between meals. Make sure you eat a good breakfast, lunch and dinner too, making use of fresh ingredients like fish, eggs, potatoes and beans.

•    Exercise regularly
You should be doing a minimum of 30-minutes exercise five times a week which leaves you slightly out of breath and raises your heart rate. If your health permits it – always check with your doctor first – incorporate at least two intense cardio sessions into your weekly routine too.

•    Get help!
With your fitness, that is. You could consider using a personal trainer to help keep you motivated and create an exercise routine tailored to your needs, ability and goals. Another way to boost your weight loss and fitness level is boot camps. Fitness boot camps provide you with the advice, support and inspiration you need to stay fit and healthy – as well as giving you a thorough workout which leaves you feel exhausted and exhilarated.

Vanessa Alexander 

Esteem Fitness

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Although we know that setting your resolutions are far easier to make than to they are to keep, but it has never stopped people to look forward and to set their goals for a better year ahead. It’s a time to reflect on the changes we want to make and follow through on those changes.

This is the perfect time to greet the newness and to learn from the past to make the future better. To be in perfect health is definitely a dream for everyone and we at Esteem Fitness can help you achieve your goals and objectives.

We have developed 5 SIMPLE tips you can follow this year to help you live a positive lifestyle and surround the New Year with a glow of health.

• Workout and Exercise – It has been proven that regular exercise has been associated with various health benefits like reducing stress, lowers blood pressure and increases longevity. Apart from being physically healthy, it also leads to a healthy mind. Corporate companies can opt for fitness classes such as yoga, strengthen classes and running clubs to get their staff healthy and it will also enhance their mood, productivity and the ability to focus better.Our professional trainers will ensure that you will enjoy working out whilst obtaining personal goals. So start working out and have a better health and feel the difference this New Year.

• Healthy eating – say no to junk food!!! It’s easier said than done especially when you have to walk pass fast food outlets and fight the constant temptation.

A healthy diet is central to overall good health. You need to plan your meals to ensure that you consume all of the required nutrients. Take time to learn by reading articles or even consulting your nutritionist on what food to avoid as well as healthy eating options that are realistic and make informed choices.   

• Quit drinking and smoking – If you have vowed to quit drinking and smoking this year, we at Esteem Fitness can help you with just that. While many struggle to do so, we have programmes to aid people who would want to make a difference in their lives. Our qualified professionals can aid you with the necessary support to tackle your tackle your issues.

• Stress Management – With the number of increasing reports on stress management, more corporate companies are incorporating various well-being programmes to overcome the problem. Stress is commonly related to over-worked, tension, depression, fatigue and other issues. Apart from exercising which is one of the best ways to tackle the problem, there are many other well-being programmes to overcome this problem.

A good way to beat stress is having team-building events. Get your colleagues together and have a fun-filled day. Enjoy a team event in a social atmosphere and distress. Regular events, scheduled fitness classes, nutritional workshop or even a cooking demonstration can help create a closer bond among employees.

• Lose weight – Reports have indicated that weight loss will help you build confidence and self esteem as well as reducing the risk of heart disease and stress upon your organs. Their programs help you lose body fat at a healthy rate, giving you energy for daily activity. With the proper diet and exercise, you will also start to tone up and this will make you feel stronger and increases muscle mass and bone density. Once you increase your muscle mass, your metabolic rate becomes more efficient at burning body fat.

Esteem Fitness can assist you with any programmes you would like to incorporate to ensure you get to achieve your goals and live a healthy lifestyle.

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Almost as many as 9 in 10 people are unaware that having fat around the waist is a symptom of a build-up of so-called “visceral fat” which forms around your internal organs and is linked to type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

The survey of 12,000 Europeans was carried out by GlaxoSmithKline. The findings showed people did not think being overweight posed a particularly health threat. As Dr Terry Maguire, who is honorary senior lecturer at Queen's University in Belfast and author of this report, said: “Most overweight people still see themselves as having a body image issue not a health problem and they need to understand the health benefits of weight loss as well as the cosmetic results.” (BBC News)

The reason visceral fat, which cannot be seen or felt, is dangerous is its relation to the protein and hormone release which can cause inflammation. This inflammation can lead to artery damage or liver penetration, impacting on how the body dissolves sugars and fats.

The survey found that once people knew the risk, they would lose weight.

Highlighting the positive effect that even a small weight loss could have – weight loss makes the visceral fat easier to dissolve than the fat directly under the skin – the co-author of the research, Professor David Haslam who is chair of the UK National Obesity Forum, was keen to stress steady weight loss is important – not fad diets.

If you have some extra weight around your waist, we have some exercise ideas to help you get started with trimming your waist and becoming healthier.

* Aerobic exercise

Cardiovascular exercise like running, walking, swimming, cycling and squash, give your body a good workout and help to burn fat, especially around your belly. Aim for 5 lots of 30-minute sessions a week and increase the intensity gradually, always working at a level you feel comfortable with and which leaves you slightly out of breath.   

* Muscular strength exercises     

These are good for building inner strength, reducing body fat and lowering blood pressure. Good exercises to do include lifting light weights with more repetition – about ten per exercise. Aim to do a variety of exercises at least twice a week for maximum effect.     

One exercise for strengthening the spine, hamstrings and shoulders: start on your hands and knees, and raise your left arm forward to the horizontal position and your right leg backwards to the horizontal position; hold for between 10 and 20 seconds, and repeat 3 to 5 times. Complete this exercise using the opposite arm and leg.   

* Core exercises

These exercises strengthen your core muscles such as your back, abs and pelvis. The abdominal crunch is a good core exercise: lie on your exercise mat, with your feet on the floor and your knees bent. Place your hands behind your head and slightly raise your shoulders off the ground as you lift your knees towards your tummy – hold that position for 5 seconds, and then relax. Repeat this movement ten times.       

Another exercise, which is particularly good for strengthening your lower back, is the superman pose: lie flat out on your stomach with a rolled towel under your hips to support your back and one under your face. Lift your right arm off the floor and hold for a few seconds before lowering and repeating with your left arm. Then raise your right leg off the floor and hold for a few seconds before repeating with your left leg. Repeat each arm and leg movement ten times.For overall personal fitness, you should combine your exercises with a healthy diet and lifestyle. This includes eating a nutritionally balanced diet and finding effective ways to manage your work/life balance – feeling fitter should help as you will feel happier and more in control as a result.

Vanessa Alexander

Esteem Fitness – Corporate Fitness, Nutrition and Well-being Consultancy

Enhancing Personal Health and Corporate Wealth 

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Snorers cause their partners to lose an average of 49 minutes of sleep per night. The worrying knock-on effect of this is that sleeping less increases your chances of heart attack, diabetes, weight gain and premature ageing. Getting enough sleep helps you to learn new physical skills too as it builds procedural memory.

According to Marianne Davey, director of the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association (BSSAA), there are 15 million snorers in Britain and many more million who are kept awake nightly by a partner/friend/sibling snoring.

Snoring and apnoea, a disruption of breathing while you are asleep, are linked to the muscles in your mouth obstructing your airways. These muscles include the uvula (tissue at the back of your throat) being overly large, your tonsils or adenoids, or your tongue partially blocking your breathing.  Obstructions like these make it harder for you to breathe, resulting in the noisier, vibrating breath that we call snores.

And the causes of these muscle obstructions? Dr Ian Myles Black of The Private Clinic of Harley Street states factors like allergies, sleeping on your back, drinking alcohol, smoking and being overweight all play a part.

Bupa divides the causes of snoring and apnoea into physical and lifestyle. Physical causes include a blocked nose, and being elderly as your muscle tone reduces as you grow older which increases your risk of snoring. Lifestyle causes include those covered by Dr Black:

Being overweight

The airways tend to be narrowed if you are overweight, probably due to the excess fat around the neck.

An ENT consultant in Sligo, Ireland, Dr Mary Bresnihan believes that problem snoring is most commonly found in people who are overweight and that the most effective treatment in many cases is weight loss.

Diet

Eating healthy and leading an active lifestyle will help you to stay fit, and less likely to suffer from snoring. Make sure you eat a balanced diet which is full of nutrient-rich foods like fruit and vegetables, drink lots of water and curb your intake of alcohol. Alcohol causes your muscles to relax more than normal as you sleep, increasing the likelihood of snoring, and it also irritates the nasal lining and impedes your breathing.

Smoking

When you smoke, you cause irritation and inflammation to the throat and nostrils which increases the risk of snoring. Passive smoking comes with similar risks.

Allergies

Allergies are accompanied by symptoms including a blocked or runny nose and an itchy throat, which will prevent you sleeping well and may lead to snoring.

A recent Which? report showed that 71 per cent of volunteers who snored found over-the-counter cures such as a mouth guard or anti-snore pillow ineffective. However, the good news is that if you suffer from snoring, there are some simple steps you can take to lower the likelihood of snoring.

Weight is a big factor and a great place to start. A Temple University in America study found that obese sleep apnoea patients who lost just 10 per cent of their weight saw a significant improvement in their condition. By exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet, you will boost your sense of well-being and reduce your risk of snoring.

Alongside a healthier lifestyle and regular exercise, not drinking alcohol near to bedtime – and limiting your intake altogether – will help, as will giving up cigarettes if you are a smoker. Cutting down on alcohol and smoking will help you to feel calmer too and stress-management also bolsters your well-being.

Now, we know these steps are easier said than done. But start by making a few small changes today – such as walking during your lunch break, swapping your chocolate bar for an apple or cereal bar, and enjoying a herbal tea before bedtime instead of a coffee – and you will help you feel healthier, be healthier, and be less likely to snore.

Vanessa Alexander

Esteem Fitness – Corporate Fitness, Nutrition and Well-being Consultancy
Enhancing Personal Health and Corporate Wealth

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The research indicated that the most obese mothers had 35% less chances of falling pregnant and twice as likely to give birth to a premature baby.

Females who are overweight were also at risk with 13% less likely to conceive and a 16% increased risk of premature birth compared to lighter women.

The study involved nearly 50,000 women who were grouped according to their body mass index (BMI).

More than one in four Britons is now thought to be obese and that figure rises year by year. About 3.5 million people in Britain experience fertility problems at some stage, and most National Health Service (NHS) hospitals will not fund fertility treatment for women who are considered obese according to their BMI reading.

The British Fertility Society recommended two years ago that women who were defined as clinically obese should not receive fertility treatment until they had lost weight.

“This study underlines the fact that if you are thinking about having children, you should start thinking about losing weight at least six months before you conceive,” said Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum.

Dr Barbara Luke, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, who led the study said: “Obesity is a state of inflammation and increasing obesity is not good. It is not conducive to conception and it is not conducive to pregnancy.”

Overweight and obese women, who are planning to opt for the IVF treatment, should consider incorporating exercise and healthy eating habits. At Esteem Fitness, we can provide personal training and nutritional advice, to ensure your desired results is achievable. Our personal training is catered to people in London, Surrey, Sussex, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.

Admin

Esteem Fitness – Personal Training London and South East UK

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Throughout the last decades medical researchers have gained insights into the importance of sleep and dreaming for human health. Many population studies today aim to assess not only how much and when certain parts of the population sleep but also whether our sleep patterns have changed over time and in how far chronic diseases could be associated with this.

Although there is quite a wide variation of sleep patterns between individuals current evidence suggests at least 7 to 8 hours continuous sleep per night is healthy for most people, below and above that the risk of physical and mental health problems, injury and mortality increases whereas productivity decreases. Population studies suggest a higher risk for the metabolic syndrome, diabetes type 2 and obesity in people who usually sleep shorter or longer than 7 to 8 hours per night. It appears however that sleep duration has declined in the USA and Europe by about 2 hours over the last 50 years.

According to a recent study in the USA up to 29% adults report to sleep less then 7 hours per night and up to 70 million U.S. adults state to have chronic sleep disorders. These numbers might be just as high for the UK and in particular in groups of people which are under a lot of time pressures, work related or personal stress.

Based on this study, women and people below the age of 45 years are more likely to report insufficient sleep in the preceding 30 days and the 25-34 years old usually report the highest number of nights of insufficient sleep. People above 65 years of age commonly report insomnia, however if their health status is taken into consideration healthy elderly appear to gain enough sleep whereas the ones who suffer of chronic diseases have often reduced hours of sleep.

A further aspect of healthy sleep is when someone is asleep or awake. Studies on shift workers support that working through nights has negative effects on quality of sleep and health which is believed to be caused by varying hormonal levels within the body at day and at night or our inner ‘clock’. The human body is adapted to be awake at day hence certain hormones are excreted at specific times of the day. Cortisol for example has high the circulating levels in the morning which decrease progressively throughout the day. Cortisol is vital for the energy metabolism and is as such involved in weight gain or weight loss, this may in part explain why shift workers tend to be more likely to be overweight as low circulating cortisol in the night could support weight gain.

Another important hormone influenced by our biological ’clock’ is melatonin which is released in larger amounts when the night falls and makes you feel drowsy and sleepy. This hormone is also believe to be the causal factor for the sleepiness in the afternoon dip as there is an increased production of melatonin between 1pm and 4pm.

So, how to get a good night's sleep?

• Avoid caffeine it can take up to 8 hours to wear of the effects of caffeine hence a coffee in the late afternoon could prevent you from falling asleep.

• Avoid other stimulants such as certain pain killers, alcohol (prevents deep sleep) or nicotine.

• Avoid large heavy meals before going to sleep.

• Avoid exercise before bed time as exercise increases your metabolism and blocks sleep hormones hence you may find it difficult to fall asleep. However exercising during the day is beneficial for a good night sleep.

• Having a hot bath before going to bed as well as creating a calm and relaxed environment improves your chances of a good night sleep.

• Try to reduce any noise and light in your sleeping room and have a comfortable bed/mattress.

• Aim to go to bed always around the same time this will help you body to adjust and get prepared to sleep.

• Don’t lie awake in bed, if you are unable to find sleep within 20 min, get up and try to do something relaxing rather than rolling back and forth in your bed and getting more and more anxious about not falling asleep.

Andrea Zick, Esteem Fitness Nutritionist London

Esteem Fitness – Personal Training London and the South East

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With the approaching Christmas and New Year celebrations, many will have to see to the various gatherings, family, eating and other “busyness” than most of us can handle. Unfortunately one of the most common victims of all of our holiday stress is our own health and well-being. Undoubtedly, this time of the year our waistlines will expand. It is hard to turn away good food and sadly we find little time to work it off. So it may seem to be going downhill and people tend to feel 5 to 10 pounds heavier after the holidays.

This is a common result of this accumulating weight gain and people tend to make it their New Year resolutions to shed off that additional weight and start a healthier lifestyle. But as the saying goes, it's easier said than done. Generally, most do not succeed in a long run. Any business related to health and fitness like gyms will see a boom after the New Year but by March, the healthy lifestyle will fade away.

So instead of waiting for New Year, why not start exercising and get healthier now. Start your new healthy behaviours by getting a personal trainer, train with group of friends or utilise your corporate fitness and well-being offerings provided by your company. Try not to fall into the same rut as last year and start exercising and eating healthy now. If you do, chances are you probably won’t gain the weight over the holidays.

By the time the New Year comes around, you will have already established good health behaviours, and you will have an easier time sticking with your New Year resolution which you have already started. As a bonus, not only will you look great before and after the holidays, you will feel healthier too.

Admin

Esteem Fitness – Corporate Fitness, Nutrition and Well-being Consultancy
Enhancing Personal Health and Corporate Wealth

Post from: Fitness Magazine

Metabolism is the amount of calories you burn at rest, or the amount of energy your body uses to function. The average 30-year-old woman burns 1,150 to 1,250 calories daily, while the average 30-year-old man uses 1,600 calories. After age 30, your metabolism slows down. The drop is slight – only half a percent a year – but it adds up. Continue to eat the way you did in your 20's, and you'll be consuming more calories than your body can use. Those extra calories become fat.

Menopause, extreme dieting or inactivity can slow the calorie burn even more. The good news is you can rev up your metabolism. The best way is to exercise. Any activity, from washing dishes to running a marathon, speeds up the rate at which you burn calories. Not only does the exercise itself burn calories, but a good workout creates muscle, which burns calories more quickly than any other tissue.

A University of Maryland at Baltimore study showed that after a 16-week strength-training programme, the resting metabolic rate of healthy 50- to 65-year-old men jumped 7.7 percent. And a University of Colorado study found that post-menopausal women who regularly swam or ran for at least 45 minutes five days a week maintained the same resting metabolic rate as younger, pre-menopausal women.

Here are some simple tips on how to crank up your internal flame:

• Don't overdo calorie cutting. Putting yourself on a very low-calorie diet is a surefire way not to lose weight. Your body is programmed to defend your usual weight. So if you suddenly drop 1,000 calories from your diet, your resting metabolic rate (the number of calories your body burns to maintain basic bodily functions) will automatically slow down, because your body now assumes that you're starving.
So how many calories should you consume? Just complete our free diet profile to find the level that’s right for you.

• Eat breakfast. Believe it or not, it may be the most important meal of the day as far as metabolism (and weight loss) is concerned. Breakfast eaters lose more weight than breakfast skippers do. Your metabolism slows while you sleep, and it doesn't rev back up until you eat again. So if you bypass breakfast, your body won't burn as many calories until lunchtime as it could. That's why it's smart to start the day with a solid 300 to 400 calorie meal.
Choose a high-fibre breakfast – fibre helps you feel fuller for longer and helps stabilise blood sugars, avoiding hunger and food cravings.

• Pile on the protein. Research shows that getting plenty of protein can boost your metabolism, causing you to burn an extra 150 to 200 calories a day. Protein is made up mainly of amino acids, which are harder for your body to break down than fat and carbs so you burn more calories getting rid of them.

So make sure that 10 to 35 percent of your total daily calories come from protein. If you're on an 1,800-calorie diet, 360 to 630 of those calories should come from lean sources of protein, such as fish, chicken, low-fat cheese, yoghurt and legumes. Aim to have a serving of protein, such as nuts, a small can of tuna or a piece of low-fat string cheese, at every meal and snack.

• Nibble all day. It sounds counterintuitive; why would you eat continually if you wanted to lose weight? But eating five to six mini meals rather than three larger meals every day keeps your metabolism humming 24/7. It will also prevent you from going without food so long that you become so hungry you overeat. Try not to let more than four hours elapse between meals and make sure each meal includes protein, for an extra metabolic boost.

If you eat a high-fibre breakfast of cereal and fruit, have a midmorning snack, such as yoghurt and fruit; lunch (try 100g of chicken or fish with a leafy green salad); another snack, like a banana and a piece of low-fat cheese, in the late afternoon; and a light dinner (100-150g turkey, salmon or another lean source of protein with steamed veggies).

• Skip alcohol. Thinking about having a cocktail or two before dinner? Think again. Having a drink before a meal causes people to eat around 200 calories more, several studies show. Drinking with dinner isn't such a good idea either: other research has found that the body burns off alcohol first, meaning that the calories in the rest of the meal are more likely to be stored as fat. If you do like to have a drink, stick to wine, which has only 80 calories a glass – or minimize the calories by drinking a white-wine spritzer (wine mixed with sparkling mineral water or soda water).

• Drink milk. Load up on low-fat dairy: Women who consumed milk, yoghurt and cheese three to four times a day lost 70 percent more body fat than women who didn't eat dairy in a study published in the American Society for Nutritional Sciences Journal of Nutrition. The reason: Calcium, along with other substances in dairy, actually revs up your metabolism, according to study.

Women reap the largest fat-burning benefit when they consume three servings of dairy and 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day, research shows.

• Pump iron. Experts say weight training is the best way to crank up your resting metabolic rate. As you get older, your resting metabolic rate drops, but weight training can rev it right back up again.
A pound of muscle burns up to nine times the calories a pound of fat does. Regular strength training can increase your resting metabolic rate anywhere from 6.8 to 7.8 percent.

Don't think you have time to hit the gym? You can get great results with only two 15-minute lifting sessions a week. Research, published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, found that doing just one set of 10 reps reaps about the same muscle-building benefits as three sets, as long as they're performed to muscle fatigue.
Bonus: Weight training also gives your metabolism a short-term boost. When women lift weights, their metabolisms remain in overdrive for up to two hours after the last bench press, allowing them to burn as many as 100 extra calories, according to a study published in the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

• Rev up your workouts. Adding interval training – bursts of high-intensity moves – to your workout is a great metabolism booster. Studies have shown that people who do interval training twice a week (in addition to cardio) lose twice as much weight as those who do just a regular cardio workout. You can easily incorporate interval training into your workout by inserting a 30-second sprint into your jog every five minutes or by adding a one-minute incline walk to your treadmill workout. Since your body is working harder, it's a more intense workout – and you therefore burn more calories.. On other days, shake up your routine with 40 minutes of cross-training. Ideally, aim for two 20-40-minute interval-training sessions and two 20-40-minute cross-training sessions a week.

• Break up your exercise routine. Whenever possible, slice each of your workouts into two smaller sessions. For example, do a 15-minute weight-lifting session in the morning, then do your 30-minute walk on your lunch hour or at night. You'll burn an extra 100 to 200 calories that day. Don't have time? Just add in some stair climbing or short walks throughout the day. Even small bursts of activity are enough to get your metabolism revved, according to a study in the scientific journal Nature. For five minutes out of every hour, get up and do something, even if it's just walking around your office. You can end up burning a couple of hundred extra calories.

• Get some shut-eye. Skimping on sleep can derail your metabolism. In a study at the University of Chicago, people who got four hours of sleep or less a night had more difficulty processing carbohydrates. When you're exhausted, your body lacks the energy to do its normal day-to-day functions, which include burning calories, so your metabolism is automatically lowered. There are easy ways to get a good night's sleep, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Schedule your workouts earlier in the day; exercising within two to three hours of bedtime can keep sleep at bay. And try soaking in a hot bath, since studies show that warm water makes it easier to fall asleep.

• Chill out. Studies have found that long-term stress can make you overweight. When you're chronically stressed, your body is flooded with stress hormones, which stimulate fat cells deep in the abdomen to increase in size and encourage fat storage. This is worrying because fat deep within your belly is more likely to increase your risk for heart disease, diabetes and cancer. And stress hormones spark your appetite, making you likely to overeat.

Admin

Esteem Fitness – Personal Training London and South East

Post from: Fitness Magazine

Hence it may be questioned whether diet could also improve cognition or cognitive performance in adults. Chronic malnutrition states such as protein malnutrition and iodine deficiencies have clearly been shown to decrease cognitive performance, however whether a low status of micro nutrients and macro nutrients effects cognition seems to be more complex as many factors may interfere with the ability of the brain to process information (Gibson and Green, 2002). Such factors could be age and vulnerability to stress, time of the day or even poor hydration status.

Breakfast seems to increase mental performance particularly for young children in the first half of the day. The effects of breakfast on cognitive function in older children and adults is less well studied, although there is support for beneficial effects, those studies might be stronger influenced by individual differences such as the ability to wake up early, being used to have or not have breakfast or the type of mental task performed within the study.

Studies investigating the effects of food intake on the post lunch dip of mental capacity seem also to be inconclusive as the performance drop might be strongly influenced by other hormonal changes.

Interesting however are findings suggesting that personality type seems to determine in how far a post lunch attention dip occurs or not. Neurotics appear not to lose their cognitive performance as much as do extroverts. Personality such as neuroticism seems also to interact in studies investigating macro nutrient composition and performance.

Current scientific evidence supports that the mental performance of neurotic or stress prone individuals benefits of meals high in carbohydrates and low in protein. Furthermore it appears that meals high in fats decrease alertness and increase sleepiness particularly about 2h past meal ingestion however effects on mental performance seem to be limited.
Late afternoon snacks appear to increase mental ability yet again it is not clear whether this is down to nutrients or to general arousal, as mid-morning snacks seem to induce no effects at all.

Meal size furthermore might be an important aspect to consider if one would like to improve performance with food intake, as subsequent studies indicate that unusually large meals decrease performance for some mental tasks.

A particular interesting aspect of nutritional effects of cognitive performance is the effect of decreased cholesterol levels. A couple of recent studies put forward diets and drugs which reduce blood cholesterol lead to decreased cognitive ability hence it might be necessary to balance cholesterol levels between health harming levels (high cholesterol levels have been shown to increase heart disease) and cognitive decreasing levels and this balance might be furthermore influenced by the relative proportion of mono and unsaturated fatty acids in the diet.

Finally as stated above micronutrients have regularly been shown to effect cognition however their action might be of particular importance in the maintenance of cognition. Population studies in elderly found low levels of riboflavin, cobalmin, and serum folate are common micro nutrient deficiencies in elderly hence they have been proposed frequently to play a role in the decline of cognitive function. B vitamins play an important role in the regulation of homocysteine levels. Increased levels of homocysteine have been implicated in vascular problems which may decrease blood perfusion and supply to the brain and hence lead to progressive loss of brain cell activity. However supplementation of elderly with B-vitamins did not show significant changes in mental capacity.

Finally the effects of vitamin C and vitamin E as antioxidants preventing oxidative damage on brain cells appears to be more supportive as it has been shown that memory and mood improved in vitamin C supplementation in elderly subjects.

In conclusion a healthy balanced diet is not just vital for the development of the brain and its cognitive abilities but also for its maintenance, the direct effects of food and nutrients onto mental performance is complex and influenced by many factors. Current knowledge suggests that low glucose levels in the blood may impair brain functions. On the other hand large meals are more likely to reduce cognitive function; therefore regular small meals might be the best advice if one would like to maintain good mental capacity throughout the cause of a day. Good micronutrient and antioxidant status moreover appears to be vital to protect oneself of early brain degeneration.

Bellisle, F.  (2004) Effects of diet on behaviour and cognition in children, British Journal of Nutrition, 92, 227-232

Bhatnagar, S. and S. Taneja (2007) Zinc and cognition, British Journal of Nutrition, 85, (Suppl. 2), 139-145
Capurso  A., Panza, F. and V. Solfrizzi (2003) The role of diet in cognitive decline, Journal of Neural Transmission, 110, (1), 95-110

Gibson, E.L.  and M.W. Green (2002) Nutritional influences on cognitive function: mechanisms of susceptibility, Nutrition Research Reviews, 15, 169–206

Williamson, C. (2006) Nutrition in pregnancy, Nutrition Bulletin, 31, 28-59

Andrea Zick  Esteem Fitness Nutritionist London
Esteem Fitness Personal training London and the South East

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Recently I discovered a great article by the medical historian Ann F. La Berge summing up the development of the low fat ideology throughout the 20th Century and although the dispute is still ongoing I like to share some of the main ideas and arguments of this article as I believe it will help to understand why the judgement whether a low fat diet can help your health and lead to weight loss is still very difficult and may depend on the individual.

Her article looks at the historically predisposed assumption that the low fat diet could not just help with chronic heart disease but also with weight loss and potentially prevent cancer in the general public. She describes how the first low fat diet suggestions were only supportive for heart disease and even here the suggestions by former scientist were pretty careful. Yet over time this diet suggestion became somewhat of a good tone in scientific circles. This process resulted in an ideology supported by doctors, health care professional, the American federal government, the food industry and most importantly the popular media.

Although the scientific evidence back then and even today was not conclusive this theory was supported in large circles until it became more and more obvious that decades of low fat diet advices were paralleled by increasing obesity rates in the USA.

Interestingly La Berge also points out how the popular media kept their universal advice of a low fat diet although genetics slowly indicated how huge differences in human body systems can be. Indicating also that for some people nutrients may have different effects than for others and that the unique metabolic network of one individual may take longer for a specific nutrient to be processed ten for another. One of the main arguments for the missing effects of the low fat diets on the population was that alongside reduced fat intakes, carbohydrate intakes and in particular non-complex carbohydrate intakes did increase. So many scientists argued that after all it is the too high calorie intake which creates overweight.

However since the Atkins diet (low in carbohydrates, high in fat and protein) became a movement a serious debate shattered the low fat diet ideology. It appeared that many people lost large amounts of weight with a diet high in fat and protein and low in carbohydrates. The French paradox (the traditional French diet is high in fats and the incidence of heart disease was low compared to the USA) supported the Atkins diet even further. Nevertheless even Atkins supports realized the original approach was to invasive with high pressures on some organs such as the kidneys, so today the Atkins supporters usually follow a rather moderate high fat, high protein regimen which includes most importantly complex carbohydrates.

Ann La Berge concludes although many Americans still aim to follow the low fat ideology, research approaches have moved on by now and suggest the more moderate Mediterranean diet which includes a larger amount of unsaturated fats and complex carbohydrates. However even the Mediterranean has been challenged by observations such as those of the Inuit diets and their health, it appears it will take many more years until nutrition advice will be able to recognize the multitude of factors influencing heart disease and obesity. Most researches do acknowledge today at least individual differences in metabolism which may require much more personalized approaches for diet suggestions.

ANN F. LA BERGE (2008) How the Ideology of Low Fat Conquered America, JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND ALLIED SCIENCES, 63 (2), 139-177

Andrea Zick Nutritionist London

Esteem Fitness Personal training London and the South East

Post from: Fitness Magazine