The Nordic diet: Healthy eating with an eco-friendly bent

If you've never heard of Nordic diet you can imagine a plate of these Swedish meatballs are sold in Ikea. 

But in fact, this style of eating healthier foods focuses on, including many plant foods that nutritionists always encourage us to eat. 

And although the data are limited so far, several studies suggest a model of Nordic diet may promote weight loss and blood pressure.

As the name implies, the Nordic diet foods that are locally sourced or eat in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, traditionally. Developed in collaboration with renowned gourmet restaurant Noma Copenhagen, the plan emphasizes the use of seasonal foods, healthy, regional. (Do not necessarily represent how most Scandinavians eat every day, though)

What is the provision of food

Nordic staple diet are whole grains such as rye, barley and oats; berries and other fruits; vegetables (especially cabbage and root vegetables such as potatoes and carrots); Fatty fish like salmon, mackerel and herring; and legumes (beans and peas).

"The Nordic diet is a healthy diet pattern which shares many elements with the Mediterranean diet," said Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition at Harvard University School TH Chan of public health. 

The Mediterranean diet - widely considered the best diet for prevention of heart disease - also emphasizes plant foods. Both plans include moderate amounts of fish, eggs, and small amounts of dairy products, but to limit processed foods, sweets and red meat. 

Although the Mediterranean diet includes olive oil, the Nordic diet favors rapeseed oil (also known as canola oil). Such as olive oil, canola oil is rich in monounsaturated fat healthy. But it also contains alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid similar to the omega-3 fatty acids present in fish plant. 

Sure, fatty fish - the richest dietary source of omega-3 fatty acids - play a role in both northern and Mediterranean diets (test two to three servings per week) The Northern Plan also emphasizes high quality carbohydrates cereal, cookies and breads made with whole grain barley, oats and rye.

Americans can learn Swedish Wasa crispbreads, most of which are made with whole grains.  

In Denmark, a dense, dark sourdough bread called rugbrød is popular. These whole foods provide many nutrients to protect the heart, including fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Eat lots of fruits is another unique aspect of the Nordic diet may explain some of their health benefits. Research by Harvard scientists have linked eating large amounts of fruits (such as blueberries and strawberries) to a weight gain of less risk of suffering a heart attack. The berries are excellent sources of plant chemicals known as anthocyanins, which appear to lower blood pressure and cause blood vessels more flexible.

Bono: It's easy on the environment, too 

The Nordic diet offers an additional advantage: it is environmentally friendly. On the one hand, herbal diets use fewer natural resources (such as fossil fuels and water) and create less pollution without heavy meat diets.

In addition, the consumption of locally produced food also reduces energy consumption and food waste, says Dr. Hu. And while the Nordic diet makes sense for those who live in northern Europe, people worldwide can apply the same principles to your diet, no matter where they live.

While the Nordic diet has not been shown to prevent heart disease to the same extent that the Mediterranean diet, which is clearly a step above the average American diet, food and meat should be seen as good for He treated heart too. "People who really love berries, rye and canola should go ahead and enjoy a diet of Nordic type instead of waiting 10 years for more evidence," says Dr. Hu.

By: Julie Corliss   

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Gout: Sleep apnea can increase the risk

Gout: Sleep apnea can increase the risk - Gout is the most common type of inflammatory arthritis and affects more than 8 million adults. Men have a higher risk than women.  

And according to a new study, the risk of gout also increases if you suffer from sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing stops the repeatedly during sleep.

What exactly is gout?

The reduction was triggered by the crystallization of uric acid in the joints. It goes like this: Your body produces uric acid breaks down purines, natural waste product of living cells. Normally, uric acid dissolves in blood and passes through the kidneys into the urine.

However, sometimes the body produces too much uric acid or secreted very little. This causes uric acid to accumulate and form urate crystals in the needle form a joint or surrounding tissue. The result flare-ups that cause severe pain, inflammation, swelling and redness.

While the large joint of the big toe is the most affected area, gout can occur in any joint, including their ankles, knees, hands and wrists. The episodes can last from days to weeks.

The relationship between sleep apnea and gout 

For the study, published in Arthritis & Rheumatology, the researchers spent combing through the records in a health database of British comparing people with and without sleep apnea. A total of 9.865 persons were screened with sleep apnea (average 54 years) and are entitled to a "control" group of 43.958 persons without trouble. After one year, people with sleep apnea were 50% more likely to have had an attack of gout compared with the control group.

The exact nature of the relationship between gout and sleep apnea is unknown, but there are two possible explanations, the researchers said. First, the two conditions share common risk factor: overweight. "Although it is not clear how being overweight is associated with gout, many people who suffer from the condition tend to be overweight," says Dr. Robert Shmerling clinical chief of rheumatology at Harvard University affiliate Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The other theory may be related to hypoxia, a sleep apnea causes complication levels of a person of oxygen to fall during sleep. "This can cause tissue damage and decomposition of the cell, which can cause uric acid levels increase," says Dr. Shmerling.

Even if you have sleep apnea, the risk of a gout attack gets up at night - gout attacks are twice as likely to strike during the night or early morning. It is believed that the main reasons for this drop in body temperature and dehydration that occur during sleep. "The crystals are more likely to crystallize at lower temperatures, and dehydration can prevent excess uric acid is flushed from the body," explains Dr. Shmerling.

The treatment of gout

Gout can be confirmed by analysis of the liquid in a joint by their level of urate crystals. Their level of uric acid in the blood may also be useful for the diagnosis of gout - the higher the level, the greater your risk.

In sudden acute crises, the first line of treatment is a drug, says Dr. Shmerling. These include anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB) and naproxen sodium (Aleve) and prescription NSAIDs such as indomethacin (Indocin) or celecoxib (Celebrex). Colchicine and corticosteroids can also help relieve pain and reduce inflammation. 

Changes in diet and lifestyle can reduce the risk of another attack. Avoid eating seafood and red meat (which can increase levels of uric acid) and limit alcohol and drinks with high fructose corn syrup. Stay well hydrated and adopt an exercise program to help lose excess weight. 

Try to include foods rich in lowering uric acid in your diet, including coffee (caffeinated or decaffeinated) and cherry juice. It also helps to increase your intake of vitamin C through supplements or foods such as peppers, broccoli, strawberries and oranges.

What to do

The investigation has not yet been confirmed whether treating sleep apnea will reduce the risk of gout, but worth discussing with your doctor that sleep apnea is associated with other serious problems health, such as heart disease, hypertension and stroke. There are several ways to treat sleep apnea - and many health benefits to be gained by doing so. 

By: Matthew Solan 
 

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Nutritional Psychiatry: Your Brain on Food

Nutritional Psychiatry: Your Brain on Food - Think of. Your brain is always "on". Watch your thoughts and movements, breathing and heartbeat, his senses - he works hard 24/7, even while you sleep.  

This means that your brain needs a constant supply of fuel. The "fuel" comes from the food you eat - and what is the fuel that makes all the difference. In short, what you eat directly affects the structure and function of the brain and ultimately your mood.
 
As a luxury car, your brain works better when the Premium fuel is achieved only. The consumption of high quality foods that contain lots of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants nourishes and protects the brain against oxidative stress - the "waste" (free radicals) occurs when the body uses oxygen, which can damage cells.

Unfortunately, as a luxury car, the brain can be damaged in case of ingestion of premium fuel than anything. If fuel substances "low premium" (obtained from processed or refined foods) reach the brain, has little ability to get rid of them.  

Diets high in refined sugars, for example, are harmful to the brain. In addition to worsening insulin regulator also promote inflammation and oxidative stress. Multiple studies have found a correlation between a diet high in refined sugars and impaired brain function - and even worsening disorder mood symptoms such as depression.

That makes sense. If your brain is deprived of the quality of nutrition, or free radicals or harmful inflammatory cells circulating in the closed area of the brain, contributing to brain tissue damage, the consequences are to be expected. What is interesting is that, for many years, the medical field is not fully recognized the relationship between mood and food.

Today, fortunately, the growing field of nutritional psychiatry is to find that there are many consequences and correlations of not only what you eat, how you feel and how they behave in the end, but also the types of bacteria that live in your gut.

How the food you eat affects how you feel 

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate sleep and appetite, moods mediation, and inhibit pain. For about 95% of serotonin is produced in the gastrointestinal tract and the gastrointestinal tract is filled with a hundred billion nerve cells, or neurons, it is logical that the workings of your digestive system not only help digest food, but also guide their emotions. 

In addition, the function of these neurons - and the production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin - is strongly influenced by the billions of "good" bacteria that make up your gut microbiome. These bacteria play an essential role in your health.  

They protect the lining of the intestine and to ensure they provide a strong barrier against toxins and "bad" bacteria; the limited inflammation; improve the way you absorb nutrients from food; and activate the nerve paths traveling directly between the gut and brain.

Studies have shown that when people take supplements containing probiotics (good bacteria), their levels of anxiety, perceived stress, and improve mental outlook, compared to people not taking probiotics. 

Other studies have compared the "traditional" diets such as the Mediterranean diet and the traditional Japanese diet, a typical diet "Western" and showed that the risk of depression is 25% to 35% lower in those who eat a traditional diet. Scientists explain this difference because these traditional diets tend to be rich in vegetables, fruits, unprocessed grains and seafood, and contain only small amounts of lean meats and dairy products.  

They are also vacuum processed and refined foods and sugars, which are diet staples style "Western". In addition, many of these unprocessed food ferment, and thus act as natural probiotics. Fermentation using yeasts and bacteria to convert sugar in foodstuffs to carbon dioxide, lactic acid and alcohol. It is used to protect food from spoiling and can add a nice flavor and texture. 

This may seem unlikely, but the idea that the good bacteria not only influence what their intestinal digestion and absorbs, but also on the degree of inflammation throughout the body as well as their level of mood and energy, it gaining ground among scholars. The results so far have been pretty amazing.

What does this mean for you? 

Start paying attention to how you eat different foods makes you feel - not just in the moment, but the next day. Try eating a "clean" diet for two to three weeks - which means cutting out all processed foods and sugar.  

Add fermented foods like kimchi, miso, sauerkraut, pickles, food or Kombucha. You can also try going without milk - and some people even believe they feel better when their diets are not the point. See how it feels. Then slowly introduce foods into your diet, one by one, and see how it feels.When my patients "own will", who can not believe how good they feel both physically and emotionally, and how much worse then they feel when they enter the foods known to increase inflammation. Give it a try! 
By: Eva Selhub MD  

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The high cost of low cholesterol

The high cost of low cholesterol - You've probably heard of new drugs to reduce cholesterol Repatha Praluent and approved by the FDA in recent weeks. Maybe you've even started taking one yourself.

These drugs are miraculous in its ability to reduce LDL (cholesterol low-density lipoprotein), the type that leads to heart disease. But this power comes at a price - literally. Both drugs have an annual cost of about $ 14 600 per year.

The domino effect of drug prices through the roof 

Of course, people who take these medications can not pay the full cost themselves - which will fall to your insurance company. Exactly what a person would have to pay out of pocket depends on your health insurance plan in particular, but many people could end up paying a significant portion of the bill. So if your doctor prescribes these drugs for you, it is important to check with your insurance company about coverage before you start taking it.

But the prices of these drugs can still affect you, even if you take one of them personally. If enough people enrolled in their health plan of the individual, they are prescribed one of these drugs, the total cost of your insurance could be high enough to cause an increase in the premium for all.The high price of new drugs for cholesterol is not unique. New drugs for hepatitis C, arthritis and cancer (called "specialty drugs") are also quite expensive, and together we put a strain on the budgets of health care - and to offset the savings by use of generic medicines cost.

Why new medicines for cholesterol - and other specialty drugs - so expensive? In the US, pharmaceutical companies can set prices based on what the market will bear. Unlike Canada and Europe, the US government can not establish price controls on drugs, so that our drug prices are generally higher than the prices of these same drugs in these regions.

In fact, a new report from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (CIRE), which analyzes the cost-effectiveness of the new drug relationship, concluded that the cost of new medicines for cholesterol is too high . ICER recommends annual price tag of $ 2,177.

What to do with new medicines for cholesterol price 

Although we still have no evidence that the new cholesterol-lowering drugs actually reduce the rate of heart disease, for people with a rare genetic form of high cholesterol (called familial hypercholesterolemia, or FH) they are a godsend. But for people who have the most common form of high cholesterol, there are other options, much less than should be tried first.

Change in diet and regular exercise can help reduce cholesterol levels low, and (generic), an inexpensive statin therapy remains the drug of choice for treatment. A drug called ezetimibe (Zetia) can be added to a statin if statin alone is not fully effective.
 
Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have both proposed legislation to control drug costs, but it is unlikely that these laws were adopted in the short term. Until then, consumers must be aware of the price of drugs that doctors prescribe for them. Often there are less expensive alternatives that should be considered first.
By: Gregory Curfman, MD

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Many infants and young children using mobile devices every day

Many infants and young children using mobile devices every day - This is probably no surprise to anyone who has paid attention to the world around them, but a study just published in the journal Pediatrics indicates that 44% of children under 1 using mobile devices every day. At the age of 2, which passes 77%.

At 4 years, half of the children in the study had their own TV - and three-quarters had their own mobile device. And it was not rich nor children; the study was conducted in low-income urban practice in Philadelphia.

When the researchers asked parents about the different situations in which they let their children use the devices, this is what they said:

   *  70% allow children to use for tasks they could do  
   *  65% use them to keep the child calm in a public place  
   *  58% have used them during the races  
   *  29% of them used to put their children to sleep
 
Now, as a parent, I see quite how to have a smartphone can make all the difference when you are unexpectedly trapped in a boring place with a child who must be calm and quiet. And it is quite possible that some of these children are doing on their devices educational activities that help them learn, or using Skype or Face Time with a friend or relative.

But again, this is worrying. Dr. Dimitri Christakis like, a pediatrician at the University of Washington to study the effect of media on young children, he said in a recent New York Times, "Children need more rounds of applications." We've all been in situations where people interact with their phones and not the other. Radesky Dr. Jenny did a study where we observed families in fast-food restaurants and an alarming number of parents was found to pay . more attention to your phone for your child's interaction with adults is essential for brain development of children -. and build strong relationships Interaction with devices simply can not replace. 

When my children were young, so we went wherever they might need to be calm and patient, who was always ready - with books, small toys, pencils and paper, and some games to play (I Spy, Guess what I am I thought, etc.) do not see too many parents who do. What I see is that parents give their children a tablet or smartphone.

Only time will tell what effect this will have on the children; we will need years to understand if and how it affects their brains and their relationships. While we wait, we must try to do what we know works well for both. So, parents - with the smartphone, pack of crayons. And keep in mind, before turning on the iPad, put your child on your lap and play I Spy.  
By: Claire McCarthy, MD 

 

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Miscarriage: Keep breaking the silence

Miscarriage: Keep breaking the silence - I am encouraged to see public discourse about miscarriage of pain. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, was posted in his Facebook page with pregnancy loss, he and his companion suffered. 

Beyonce and Jay-Z wrote a song about her first miscarriage. Nicole Kidman, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Courteney Cox and Brooke Shields have all publicly shared their experiences of miscarriage. But too often, I always find women and their partners who suffer in silence and alone.
 
Recently, researchers from the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York polled more than 1,000 adults in the United States to determine what the public knows the causes of miscarriage and emotional effects. Their findings were published earlier this year in an article entitled "A national survey on public perception of miscarriage."

Fifteen percent of respondents said they (or a partner) had suffered a miscarriage. More than half of respondents believe that errors are rare, even though studies show that nearly one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage. Over three quarters of respondents believe a miscarriage as a result of stress, and more than a quarter also believes that the main causes were made lifestyle during pregnancy.  

But in fact, most miscarriages are the result of chromosomal abnormalities in the developing fetus, structural abnormalities of the uterus, or endocrine or autoimmune disorders in the mother.

For me, the most striking part of the survey was that many of those who had suffered a miscarriage said they felt they had done something wrong, and he was lonely and embarrassed. However, when his friends know their own involuntary abortions themselves, they feel less alone. They also felt less isolated when celebrities reveal their miscarriages.

So it's great that so many public figures spoke about their own recent involuntary abortions, the study results show that we have yet to achieve the discussion of miscarriage closet. This is the advice I always give my patients who have suffered a miscarriage:

       *  Nothing that has caused the error, and nothing you could have done would have prevented.
       *  Even if it had been completely still in bed, they were totally relaxed and ate only healthy food, although she had a miscarriage.

       *  You will be surprised how many of your close friends and family members have experienced a miscarriage. Share this experience with them. 
By: Hope Ricciotti, MD 
 

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