Growth Hormone Does Not Prevent Loss of Muscle Strength

As you age, expect to lose muscle fibers and strength unless you exercise. A study from the University of Florida in Gainesville shows that a program of exercise training later in life helps aging rats to reverse this age-related loss of muscle size and strength (American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, November 14, 2007). The study also showed that short-term administration of growth hormone late in life does not prevent loss of muscle strength. Previous studies show that it may help people get rid of fat.At this time, there is not enough evidence for an older person to take growth hormone to improve muscle strength, and there is no long-term data on safety. Sudden deaths reported in athletes who...

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Job Fatigue? Carb Snacks Can Help

If you have a physically demanding job that keeps you moving all day, you may have greater endurance if you eat small snacks throughout the day instead of having a single large meal at lunchtime. Researchers at the University of Montana in Missoula showed that snacking on carbohydrates may prolong your endurance during a long day of continuous movement. They asked men and women to exercise intermittently for ten hours. Each hour, they performed nine minutes of upper-body weight lifting, 19 minutes of cycling, and 20 minutes of walking on a treadmill, with a one-minute rest between each exercise. This was followed by a 10-minute rest and feeding period. Those who took carbohydrates every hour were able to keep more sugar (glycogen) in their...

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Longevity Linked More to Fitness than Weight

Being in shape helps to prolong your life, even if you are overweight and even if you store fat primarily in your belly, which is a major risk factor for diabetes, heart attacks, and probably certain types of cancers (JAMA, December 5, 2007). As people age, most gain weight and become progressively less active. Researchers at the University of South Carolina in Columbia showed that a person's fitness level was a far stronger predictor of premature death than body fat. Those who were fit suffered less than half the death rate of those who were out of shape. They also showed that those who store fat primarily on their bellies are at significantly greater risk for dying early and that people with abdominal obesity who exercise are far less likely...

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Intestinal Bacteria May Cause Weight Gain

Why are some people skinny, even though they eat large amounts of food, while others become fat? Jeffery Gordon of Washington University in St. Louis thinks it's because some people have types of bacteria that cause them to absorb more calories from their food.You have two absorption systems in your body. You absorb most of your food as it passes through your small intestines. Food that is not absorbed in the small intestine goes to your colon. The colon contains a huge colony of bacteria that work to ferment undigested carbohydrates such as soluble fiber into short chain fatty acids and simple sugars that can then be absorbed through the colon walls into the bloodstream. Most people get about ten percent of their total calories from food absorbed...

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Clementines: Healthful Snacking and More

Clementines are the small citrus in boxes or mesh bags that appear in markets during the winter months. This year's crop is tasty, juicy and plentiful (prices are low!). They're great for snacking, dessert or in fruit salads. Clementines also make a wonderful addition to almost any green salad. Or try Diana's Recipes Using Clementines.In Canada and perhaps elsewhere clementines may be called mandarins. Technically clementines are a cross between mandarins (Citrus reticulata) and Seville oranges (Citrus auratium). Recipes using clementines can be made with any of the tangerine-sized citrus or with oranges sections cut into bite-size pieces.To prepare clementines for salads, just peel and section. If they are large or you want more flavor from...

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Lactose Intolerance: How to Eat Healthfully

Fifty percent of North Americans are lactose intolerant. They lack the enzyme to split the double sugar, lactose, found in milk and other dairy products. Since you can only absorb single sugars, if you can't split the double sugar, it passes to your large intestine where it is attacked by bacteria and fermented, causing gas and cramping. Some people deal with this by adding the lactase enzyme to their diet. You can eliminate all dairy products and still have a perfectly healthful diet. Yes, milk is a good source of calcium, vitamin D, protein and other nutrients, but it is far from essential. You can get all the calcium you need from a variety of other foods.Many doctors, dieticians and vegetarians oppose the use of dairy products, and back...

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Wound Healing Time Increases with Age; Exercise Can Help

Animal studies suggest that exercise may be even more important for older people than for younger ones. A report from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shows that exercise significantly decreased wound size and increased healing rate in older mice. However, exercise had little effect on the rate of wound healing in young mice. (American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, November 14, 2007).Mice ran on a treadmill at moderate intensity for 30 minutes a day for eight days. They then were given four full- thickness skin wounds and the rate of wound healing was checked daily for 10 days. Compared to age-matched non- exercising mice, the older exercisers healed faster.The leading theory is that...

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Stretching: Know When, How and Why

Stretching the leg muscles improves muscle flexibility and strength, running speed, and jumping distance, according to a study from Louisiana State University. Stretching elongates muscles and tendons. Longer tendons allow muscles to exert a greater torque on the joint to exert more power to help you lift heavier, jump higher and run faster.However, other studies show that you should not stretch before a competition involving speed and strength. The longer the athletes stretched, the weaker they became. Prolonged stretching fatigues muscle fibers so that they contract with reduced force. Do slow deliberate stretches lasting a few seconds to several seconds, rather than rapid hard pulls on your muscles that can tear them. Stretching cold muscles...

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Athletes Harm Others with Performance Enhancing Drugs

Some people think that we should let athletes take performance-enhancing drugs because they think that these athletes can only harm themselves and do not harm others. We already know that anabolic steroids can cause liver damage, heart attacks and strokes, and that growth hormone causes heart attacks by causing the heart muscle to outgrow its blood supply. Now a two-year study of former East German athletes shows that athletes who take these drugs can harm their children.In the 1970s and 80s, almost all government sponsored East German athletes were forced to take anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. A study of 69 children of 52 of these athletes showed that seven had birth defects and four were mentally retarded, an unusually...

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