Why Exercise is Good for the Brain

Source: Men's Health Feb 2009

Peanut Snack Bar Recall

Peanut snack bar added to Canadian recall over salmonell

Canadians should not eat a brand of chocolate-dipped honey peanut bar, the latest salmonella-linked product that's part of a growing recall of peanut products in the United States.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it has expanded a voluntary recall to include another snack food made in the U.S.

Isagenix's Chocolate Dipped Honey Peanut IsaLean Bar in 2.29 oz or 65 gram size contains peanut butter or peanut paste recalled in the U.S. by Peanut Corporation of America, CFIA said.

The bars may have been distributed nationally, the agency said.

No reported illnesses are associated with consumption of the bars.

Investigators in the U.S. have traced the outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium to a peanut processing plant in Blakely, Ga.

More than 400 kinds of cakes, cookies, ice cream, other snack foods, Asian-style sauces and dog biscuits have been recalled in the outbreak.

Company 'devastated'

More than 500 people in the U.S. have fallen ill in the outbreak, which may have contributed to eight deaths.

On Wednesday, the Peanut Corp. expanded its recall to all peanut products produced at the Georgia plant since Jan. 1, 2007, as a precaution.

"We have been devastated by this, and we have been working around the clock with the FDA to ensure any potentially unsafe products are removed from the market immediately," Peanut Corp. of America president Stewart Parnel said in a statement late Wednesday.

Company officials are co-operating with state and federal officials, he added.

'One of the largest recalls we've had'

There have been calls for a criminal investigation into the company, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that is premature and the agency's investigation continues.

"We feel very confident that it's one of the largest recalls we've had," said Stephen Sundlof, head of the FDA's food safety centre. "We're still in the process of identifying products, but it certainly is among the largest."

The expanded recall includes contamination with salmonella strains not associated with the current outbreak, Sundlof told a telephone briefing with reporters.

"The additional salmonella strains discovered at this plant underscore that this plant was shipping adulterated product, but as for now we are not aware of any illnesses connected to any other salmonella strains shown at this facility," Michael Rogers, head of FDA's field investigations, told reporters.

FDA inspection reports showed problems including live cockroaches, mould and signs of a leaking roof at the Georgia plant.

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Source: CBC.ca

Botox Can Spread - Health Canada Warning

The toxin in Botox products may spread to distant parts of the body, with potentially fatal consequences, Health Canada said Tuesday in announcing new labelling information for the drugs.

Last February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the toxin had spread, both in products the agency approved and those that were not. Health Canada has been reviewing the safety of Botox and Botox Cosmetic.

No medically confirmed cases of the toxin having spread have been reported in Canada.

In its advisory, Health Canada said the symptoms of "distant toxin spread" include:

• Muscle weakness.
• Difficulties swallowing.
• Pneumonia.
• Speech disorders.
• Breathing problems.

Botox, made by Allergan Inc. of Irvine, Calif., is approved for treating muscle spasms in the neck, eye and foot, muscle pain and excessive sweating in Canada. Botox Cosmetic, which is made by the same company, is approved to treat facial wrinkling.

The drugs use botulinum toxin, which blocks nerve impulses to muscles, causing them to relax.

People with a history of neurological disorders, swallowing difficulties or breathing problems should be extremely cautious about using the products, Health Canada said.

When the U.S. issued its warning, the FDA said the deaths were all among children. Most had cerebral palsy and were being treated for limb spasms, which is not an approved use for the drugs in the U.S. or Canada.

Health Canada has worked with Allergan to revise the labelling, and will continue to monitor the safety of Botox products, the department said.

Workout Water Benefits

Source: Women's Health Dec 2008

Beware FDA Changes to Guidelines

Change in FDA's ethical guidelines for clinical trials troubling: Lancet

The Lancet medical journal is reporting that the United States Food and Drug Administration is abandoning the Declaration of Helsinki as an ethical foundation for international clinical trials.

The declaration was drafted in 1964 by the World Medical Association to provide binding ethical standards for medical research involving humans.

Many basic patients' rights are enshrined in the declaration. Sections of it also govern business and environmental practices of the researchers.

The FDA is instead adopting the International Conference on Harmonization's Guideline for Good Clinical Practice (GCP), which allows less stringent ethical standards for overseas research.

In a commentary published in the Jan. 3 issue of the Lancet, medical research experts Jonathan Kimmelman of McGill University, Charles Weijer of the University of Western Ontario and Eric Meslin of the University of Indiana call the move "troubling."

The authors urge the incoming U.S. administration of president-elect Barack Obama to stick to the original declaration pending a review of the implications for American research overseas should the new guidelines be adopted.

"The FDA regulates the largest drug market in the world, and we worry that its replacement of the Declaration of Helsinki with a less morally authoritative document may cause others to follow suit, thereby undermining international ethical standards for research," they write.

In October 2008, the FDA formally stopped requiring that foreign clinical studies supporting applications for drug licensing comply with the declaration.

The authors point out several important requirements that the declaration contains but the GCP lacks, including:

* Investigators must disclose funding, sponsors and other potential conflicts of interest to both research ethics committees and study participants.
* Study design must be disclosed publicly (e.g., in clinical trial registries).
* Research, notably that in developing countries, must benefit and be responsive to health needs of populations in which it is done.

Source:CBC.ca

Diet Tips that Work

The Top Four Diets That Really Work

Friday January 2, 2009

CityNews.ca Staff

If your plan for the New Year involves a new you from head to toe, losing weight may be at the top of your "to do" list.

Many people choose the first day of 2009 as the day they cut out salty snacks, scale back on soft drinks and vow to eat more vegetables.

But slow changes are preferable to a radical diet overhaul - for one, note experts, it's easier to stick to small goals.

Registered dietician Julie Daniluk even has a helpful pun to keep her clients on target.

"You need to decide within yourself that you're going to do a live-it and not a die-it."

Swapping your regular Coke for diet, for example, is simpler to achieve than going to the gym every morning, drinking only a smoothie for breakfast and completely cutting out after-dinner chips.

Marco Coffa, a successful dieter who lost 90lbs in nine months, found that an approach filled with small steps led to a dramatic change.

"I just woke up one morning and I said, you know what? I'm tired of being fat."

That tiny thought led to a major shift in what he eats.

"Now I eat a lot of protein, a lot of fibre, and just stay away from the junk."

If you're really committed, Health Specialist Laura DiBatttista found the top four diets that really work:

Volumetrics:

Simply put, eat soup first.

"High amounts of veggies and fruit are going to fill you up," explains Daniluk.

"That's really what it's all about.

Energy-density is another name for figuring out how many calories are in a given weight (serving size) of food. The lower the energy-density, the more you can have. The basic rule of thumb of Volumetrics: eat a low-cal soup or salad before you start eating. Starting with a low-density food helps you stay satisfied long after you finished eating your main course.

10,000 Step:

Make exercise an integral part of your life, not just something you do at the gym.

"If we can combine diet with exercise, we're going to have a permanent win," she outlines.

Walking 10,000 paces every day is easier than it sounds: Grab a pedometer and start counting how many steps you're taking when you park farther from the door, get off the subway a stop early, or take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Eat Dinner For Breakfast:

Get the bulk of you calories in the morning so you can burn them off all day. It prevents you from loading up at noon or right before you go to bed.

"You'll be left with this incredibly happy, fulfilled sensation instead of feeling flat from a bowl of cereal."

Weight Watchers:

It's lasted this long for a reason: Devotees swear it works. The plan involves weekly meetings and weigh-ins for motivation and behavioral support for diet and exercise changes. Weight Watchers relies on its users using a book of recipes provided by the company. In an investigation, Consumer Reports found the recipes appetizing and easy to prepare.

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Six Strategies For Success

1. Make a commitment
Permanent weight loss takes time and effort. It requires focus and a lifelong commitment. Make sure that you're ready to make permanent changes and that you do so for the right reasons.

2. Get emotional support
Only you can help yourself lose weight by taking responsibility for your own behavior. But that doesn't mean that you have to do everything alone. Seek support when needed from your partner, family and friends.

3. Set a realistic goal
When you're considering what to expect from your new eating and exercise plan, be realistic. Healthy weight loss occurs slowly and steadily. Aim to lose 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kilogram) a week.

4. Enjoy healthier foods
Adopting a new eating style that promotes weight loss must include lowering your total calorie intake. But decreasing calories need not mean giving up taste, satisfaction or even ease of meal preparation.

5. Get active, stay active.
Dieting alone can help you lose weight. Cutting 500 calories from your daily diet can help you lose about a pound a week: 3,500 calories equals 1 pound (0.5 kilogram) of fat. But add a 45- to 60-minute brisk walk four days a week, and you can double your rate of weight loss.

6. Change your lifestyle.
It's not enough to eat healthy foods and exercise for only a few weeks or even several months. You have to include these behaviors in your lifestyle. To do that, you have to change the behaviors that helped make you overweight in the first place. Lifestyle changes start with taking an honest look at your eating habits and daily routine.

Information courtesy the Mayo Clinic.

Car Smoking Ban - Ontario

Ontario bans smoking in cars with kids under 16

Ontario became the latest province to ban adults from smoking in cars where children are present Monday after a government-backed bill passed in the legislature with support from all parties.

The province already bans smoking in workplaces and public areas, such as bars and restaurants. The new ban will also protect kids under the age of 16 who are being exposed to dangerous levels of second-hand smoke, said Health Promotion Minister Margarett Best.

"This is about protection of our most vulnerable citizens — children who do not have a voice," Best told the legislature.

Premier Dalton McGuinty once dismissed a province-wide ban as a slippery slope that infringed too much on people's rights, but changed his tune in March and threw his government's support behind the private members' bill.

Offenders will also face much lighter fines than originally envisioned by Liberal backbencher David Orazietti, who championed the ban. Drivers and passengers who don't butt out in vehicles carrying children won't be fined more than $250 for each offence, rather than being penalized up to $1,000.

Nova Scotia and British Columbia have already outlawed the practice, which critics liken to child abuse. Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick are also considering a similar ban.

Police will be expected to enforce the law once it takes effect, but the province is counting on most people abiding by the law, said Best.

Ontario Provincial Police have said the ban won't make their job more onerous, as they are already inspecting for seatbelts and child car seats.

The province says kids are exposed to up to 27 times the toxins when they're in enclosed spaces like a car, which can worsen asthma and lead to other respiratory illnesses.

Mychoice.ca, a smokers' rights group financed in part by the tobacco industry, has raised concerns that the ban will eventually extend to private homes, but Mr. McGuinty said that's not under consideration

Source: GlobeandMail.ca

Shorter Effective Workout Routines Bring Gains

A shorter workout – but it will hurt

The question

Can I get fit by exercising just a few minutes a week?

The answer

Breathless claims about exercise regimens that produce near-instant results with minimal effort are generally the domain of late-night infomercials and their ilk.

So it may seem surprising that one of the hot topics at last month's American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting in Indianapolis was research on "high-intensity interval training" (HIT), suggesting that many of the benefits of traditional endurance training can be achieved with a few short bouts of intense exercise totalling as little as seven minutes a week.

The latest research on the topic, from a group at Hamilton's McMaster University, was just published in the online edition of the American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. It shows that that HIT improves the structure and function of key arteries that deliver blood to the muscles and heart, just like typical cardio training.

The McMaster group has produced a series of remarkable studies on HIT over the past few years, led by exercise physiologist Martin Gibala.

Their subjects cycled as hard as they could for 30 seconds, then rested for four minutes, and repeated four to six times. They did this short workout three times a week.

"The gains are quite substantial," Dr. Gibala says. When compared with control subjects who cycled continuously for up to an hour a day, five times a week, the HIT subjects showed similar gains in exercise capacity, muscle metabolism and cardiovascular fitness.

Similar studies by University of Guelph researcher Jason Talanian have found that interval training also increases the body's ability to burn fat, an effect that persists even during lower-intensity activities following the interval training.

The results are no surprise to elite cyclists, runners and swimmers, who have relied on interval training for decades to achieve peak performance. To break the four-minute mile in 1954, Roger Bannister famously relied on interval sessions of 10 60-second sprints separated by two minutes of rest, because his duties as a medical student on clinical rotation limited his training time to half an hour a day at lunch.

Such time constraints are the main reason Dr. Gibala advocates HIT, since studies consistently find that lack of time is the top reason that people don't manage to get the 30 to 60 minutes of daily exercise recommended by public health guidelines.

"We're not saying that it's a panacea that has all the benefits of [traditional] endurance training," he says. "But it's a way that people can get away with less."

High-intensity exercise is generally thought to carry some risks, so sedentary or older people should check with a doctor before trying HIT. Interestingly, though, University of British Columbia researcher Darren Warburton presented results in Indianapolis showing his work with cancer and heart disease patients, demonstrating that these higher-risk populations can also benefit safely from HIT.

There is a catch - the disclaimer at the end of the infomercial, if you will. To cram the benefits of an hour-long workout into a few short minutes, you also have to compress the effort you would have spent.

"That's the trade-off," Dr. Gibala says. "Going all out is uncomfortable. It hurts." But at least with this approach it's over quickly.

How to take a HIT

The guiding principle of HIT is that the shorter the workout, the higher the intensity you need to reap the benefits. "Basically," McMaster University's Martin Gibala says, "you need to get out of your comfort zone." Start by trying a HIT workout once or twice a week.

The Street-lighter: For a sedentary person who gets winded walking around the block, HIT can be as simple as walking more quickly than usual between two light poles. Then back off, and repeat after you have recovered.

The Bannister: Go hard for one minute, then recover (either

by slowing down or stopping completely) for one to two minutes. Repeat 10 times. This is a staple workout for a wide range of abilities, suitable for any

cardio activity.

The Timesaver: Dr. Gibala's protocol of 30 seconds of all-out cycling four to six times with four minutes rest is the shortest workout shown to be effective. But achieving the necessary intensity outside the lab is extremely challenging, so it's best suited to experts and those capable of extreme self-punishment.

All these workouts should be preceded by a gentle warm-up of at least five to 10 minutes.

Alex Hutchinson

Source: GlobeandMail.ca

75 to Feel Alive

Bit of exercise helps overweight women improve fitness: study

Exercising about 75 minutes a week may be enough to improve fitness levels in inactive women who are overweight, researchers say.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and U.S. National Institutes of Health recommend at least a half hour on most days a week of moderate exercise to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Dr. Timothy Church of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and his colleagues set out to look at the effects of exercising 75 minutes a week, 135 minutes a week or 190 minutes a week — half, the same and 150 per cent of the recommended amount.

"This information can be used to support future recommendations and should be encouraging to sedentary adults who find it difficult to find the time for 150 minutes of activity per week, let alone 60 minutes per day," the researchers wrote in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Surveys suggest about one in five adults in the U.S. report no physical activity, and lack of time is the major reason they give.

The researchers studied 427 overweight women with high or borderline-high blood pressure who had an average age of 57. Participants were randomly assigned to not exercise or to do one of the three levels of moderate intensity physical activity, by walking on treadmills or riding stationary cycles, three or four times a week.

"The lowest exercise dose, the 75 minute a week group, actually not only did not lose fitness, but they actually gained fitness during the six months, and that's an exciting result — that 75 minutes a week produces significant health benefits," Church said in a release.

Slimmer waists

All of the women who exercised were fitter based on measurements of oxygen intake during exercise, and their waists were smaller. That is important because belly fat increases the risk of premature death, Type 2 diabetes, cholesterol problems and hypertension.

None of the women in the exercise groups showed significant changes in blood pressure values or weight after six months compared with the control group, although the study was not designed for weight loss.

The more women exercised, the more they improved their physical fitness, the researchers found. They did not recommend lowering public health guidelines for physical activity, but suggested taking the results into account as revisions are developed.

Given cost and feasibility concerns, the trial used three patterns of physical activity, while in real life there are infinitely more, I-Min Lee of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in a journal commentary.

"The study by Church et al does provide important information on the dose of physical activity to improve physical fitness, a strong predictor of chronic disease and premature mortality," Lee wrote.

"This may be succinctly summarized for patients and clinicians as 'Even a little is good; more may be better!'"

Source: CBC.ca

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