A team led by nutritionist Michael Ristow of the University of Jena in Germany asked a group of young men to exercise after giving half of them moderate doses of vitamins C and E. In the pill-takers, exercise failed to improve insulin sensitivity, which is believed to be one of the important benefits of activity. (The more sensitive the body is to insulin, the better able it is to convert glucose into energy, keeping blood sugar levels on an even keel.) Antioxidant takers also failed to experience a boost in their body’s natural defense mechanism against oxidative damage.

Quoted in The New York Times, Dr. Ristow didn’t beat around the bush. “If you exercise to promote health, you shouldn’t take large amounts of antioxidants,” he said. As he points out, the study results suggest that taking antioxidant vitamins may short-circuit the body’s own natural antioxidant system.

The researchers were quick to say that antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables are fine, since they contain many substances that are known to be healthy.

This isn’t the first study to point to potential risks from taking high doses of antioxidants. But then other findings continue to suggest that there may be real benefits. In people with early signs of macular degeneration, for instance, a mix of antioxidants seems to slow the progression of the vision-robbing disease. And there’s provocative evidence from early trials that a mix of antioxidants may prevent or slow noise-induced hearing loss.

For now, it’s probably wise to go easy on antioxidants unless your doctor says you need a supplement. And, of course, to help yourself to an extra serving or two of fruit or vegetables.

© 2009 PDQhealth

Exercise improves the quality of life for women after menopause even if they don’t shed a pound, according to a study of 430 women conducted by Corby K. Martin, PhD, and his colleagues at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge. The women, who were sedentary at the beginning of the trial, were randomly divided into a non-exercise control group or one of three exercise groups, of varying intensity. Over the six-month study, between 88 and 95 percent of the women in the activity groups followed the program.

The more activity the women engaged in, the better their self-reported quality of life, the researchers found. Compared to the sedentary control group, all three exercise groups significantly improved their social functioning scores–a measure of the capacity to engage in normal social activities.

“Our results indicate that improved quality of life can be added to the list of exercise benefits and that these improvements are dose dependent and independent of weight loss, at least among people similar to this study’s sample,” the authors of the paper, published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded.

© 2009 PDQhealth

Many randomized trials show that exercise effectively eases chronic back pain, improves function, and minimizes disability. Yet when researchers at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill surveyed almost 700 individuals with chronic back pain by telephone, less than half had been prescribed exercise. Of those who were, 46 were given an exercise prescription by a physical therapist, 27 percent by a physician, and 21 percent by a chiropractor.

As the researchers note, “who you see is what you get.”

“Considering current evidence of the efficacy of exercise,” they conclude, “these findings demonstrate that exercise is being underutilized as a treatment for chronic back and neck pain.”

How effective is exercise for back pain? And what’s the best form of exercise to do? Therapeutic aquatic exercise appears to help many sufferers, according to a 2009 analysis of dozens of studies. Other research shows benefits both from resistance exercise and aerobic workouts. For more details, check out “Fitness and Low Back Pain,” by Len Kravitz and Ron Andrews of the University of New Mexico’s Department of Exercise Science. You’ll find useful practical advice from the International Fitness Professionals Association. If you need more help, ask you doctor to refer you to a physical therapist.

© 2009 PDQhealth

Within just a few class periods I could tell my balance was better and my flexibility had increased. And they’ve continued to improve. Another benefit to yoga – and any other type of exercise – is stress reduction.  I find I am able to control my hunger better when I control my stress level, and that happens far more often on the yoga days.  I plan to continue both yoga class and the walking I am doing with my co-workers.

I’m also managing to control my weight. Last year I changed my eating habits, a little at a time, and was able to lose 30 pounds in six months! I feel much better, my blood pressure is lower, and my cholesterol is lower, too.

My secret: making sure that I had a balance between protein, carbs and fat at each meal. I had been concentrating on eating very low fat foods in the last few years, and since I’m not a big meat eater, that left me with primarily carbs. To make it worse, I was eating a lot of high glycemic carbs which really affected by blood sugar during the day, resulting in hunger. We’ve all been there in that ‘vicious circle’. Once I broke the cycle I found I could easily control my hunger.

My goals for 2009 are to continue doing 30 minutes a day of brisk walking/stair climbing. Exercising as a group with the Ms.Fits makes that a little easier and a lot more fun. I’m also determined to lose another 10 pounds through proper diet and small portions.

Consider the relationship between breast cancer and exercise. While some studies have found that physical activity protects against the disease, others haven’t turned up any link at all. Now several new findings have begun to untangle these contradictions.

Results from a newly-published study by researchers at the German Cancer Research Center (the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, or DKFZ) suggest that physical activity does lower breast cancer risk by as much as 30 percent. But the investigation, which compared 3,464 breast cancer patients with 6,657 healthy controls, also found that not all women benefit equally, and not all forms of breast cancer respond equally to exercise. Physical activity after age 50 appears to offer more powerful protection than exercise earlier in life, according to the results. The protective effects appeared up most clearly for hormone receptor positive forms of the disease. Other forms, including HER2, did not show the same strong association. Because weight gain, total energy intake, and BMI did not have any influence, researchers speculate that physical activity may protect by way of a hormonal mechanism.

There are still mysteries to untangle. In another study published this month, researchers at the National Cancer Institute in the U.S. found that active women had a 13 percent lower risk of the breast cancer than their sedentary counterparts. Women who were overweight or obese seemed to get more protection from exercise. So did those with a family history of breast cancer. But in this study, exercise seemed to protect more powerfully against estrogen receptor negative forms of the disease.

Despite the lingering puzzles, the sum of the evidence now strongly suggests that being physically active can lower the danger of breast cancer. And protecting yourself doesn’t require turning your life upside down. The German Cancer Research Center study found that even everyday activities–gardening, walking to the grocery store, pushing a lawnmower–offer protection. Said Karen Steindorf, MD, who headed up the analysis and is an associate professor at the DKFZ: “Our advice to all women is therefore to stay or become physically active also in the second half of your life.”

True, the aches and pains of middle age and beyond can make it hard to be active. But that’s also a time in life when health and longevity become all the more treasured. The latest findings should offer an additional nudge to get up and get moving. 

© 2009 PDQhealth 

And the residents of Recife have been flocking to join in. Since the program began, more than 100,000 have been enrolled each year and have been taught 888,000 exercise classes. That’s impressive enough. But a new study of the program also shows that current and past participants are three times more likely than those who never participated to continue leading physically active lives. The free classes, in other words, seem to inspire people to make lasting changes for the better.

“This is the first thorough evaluation of a program of its kind and highlights the importance of renewing public spaces and providing physical activity classes,” says Washington University professor Ross C. Brownson, PhD, who led the study. The Recife program, he believes, could serve as a model for similar programs in the U.S.

Eduardo J. Simoes, MD, director of the Prevention Research Centers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which helped fund the study, agrees. “We think this project is an effective strategy to stimulate life-long exercise. Coupled with healthy eating, physical activity can help prevent and control diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease, resulting in improved quality of life and health.”

Fine words, those. Unfortunately, given the sorry state of many municipal and state budgets at the moment, it’s hard to imagine many locales offering free exercise programs–even if such initiatives would end up paying off in better health and lower medical care costs.

Until economic indicators perk up, we may have to rely on approaches that encourage people to take the initiative themselves, such as Live Healthy America. For more information about the program–and to track the progress of our favorite participating team, check out PDQhealth’s on-going series Good Luck, Ms.Fits!

© 2009 PDQhealth

“It’s just in my nature–the batteries I got when I was born,” says Schmidt, who lives in Calgary, Canada. “My legs want to go.”

She can probably thank those restless legs of hers for her sharp-as-a-tack mind. Schmidt recently volunteered for a study that compared active and sedentary older women, conducted by Marc Poulin, PhD, and his colleagues at the University of Calgary. Using a random sample of 42 women with an average age of 65, the team measured the volunteers’ cardiovascular health, resting brain blood flow, and cognitive function.

The active women in the group had 10 percent lower resting and exercising blood pressure, a strong defense against heart disease and stroke. They also had more vigorous circulation in their brains. And they had a 10 percent edge over their sedentary colleagues in measures of brain function.

“The take home message from our research,” said Dr. Poulin, is that basic fitness–something as simple as getting out for a walk every day–is critical to staying mentally sharp and remaining healthy as we age.”

© 2009 PDQhealth

Live Healthy America officially begins on January 14, so there’s still time for anyone interested in getting into shape to enroll. The sign-up fee of $18 buys you a personal online tracking page, a year’s subscription to one of a bunch of health/lifestyle magazines, and a cool Live Healthy America t-shirt. You can read all about it and register at Live Healthy America.

Competition is heating up. More and more companies, medical centers, and other businesses and institutions around the country are participating as part of their ongoing wellness programs. In some cases, multiple teams have formed to compete against one another to see who can exercise the most and lose the most.

And so, in the spirit of healthy competition, with a fanfare of trumpets and a rousing drum roll, PDQhealth introduces…The Ms.Fits!

This group of ten friends and co-workers from the College of Nursing at the University of Iowa will be taking part in Live Healthy Iowa, a 100-day program that challenges participants to eat better, be more active–and shed some pounds. Week by week, the Ms.Fits have agreed to share their experiences with PDQhealth.
 
The idea behind the program, which expanded nationwide last year to become Live Healthy America, is simple. Participants form teams of two to 10 people to support and challenge each other, competing in two categories: accumulated minutes of activity and/or number of pounds lost. Live Healthy America maintains a website where teams report their weekly results and get access to helpful information. Awards and prizes are offered to keep participants motivated, including cookbooks, fitness videos, gym bags, and stretchy bands.

When Kim Geguzis, the volunteer “wellness ambassador” for the University of Iowa’s College of Nursing, first heard about the program, she decided it was just what she and some of her co-workers in the dean’s office could use to jumpstart their efforts to lose weight and eat heatlhier diets. “Quite frankly, I don’t feel I’ve been a very good example of health because my BMI is 35.8,” Geguzis admitted in an email. “Since my husband and I met two years ago, we’ve both gained 30 pounds. Not good! If this is what being in love does, we’re in trouble.”

“Women in our office just started saying, ‘Count me in!’” explained Sue Licher, who helped Geguzis form the Ms.Fits. “And after we started walking for a couple of days–just to get in training–a few more joined in.”

They’ve already reported some surprises. When the first recruits started climbing stairs at work to get into shape for the program, one wiseguy set up a toll booth on the third floor. “Being the good eggs that we are, we paid the 10 cent toll each of the three times we passed,” Licher reported in a recent emal to PDQhealth. “Someone else offered us candy as we passed.”J

“A little friendly competition is a great way to motivate people and add some fun to physical activity,” Troy Vincent, director of Live Healthy America told PDQhealth. Last year, teams in 47 states took part. “This year, we hope to double our participation,” said Vincent.

Like Geguzis, Licher’s big goal is shedding some excess pounds: 23, to be specific. “Right now I’m five-six and a half and weigh 173 lbs, which is a BMI of 27.5–right in the middle of the “overweight” range. Getting down to 130 or 140 would be nice. But I’d be happy with 150.”

So mark your calendars for January 14. We’ll be checking in regularly with the Ms.Fits to see how many minutes of activity they’ve tallied, how many pounds they’ve lost…and whether they’ve been able to resist those candies. To follow their progress, click here.

©2009 PDQhealth

Researchers at Loyola University Health System compared African-American women in metropolitan Chicago with African women in rural Nigeria. By any measure, their lifestyles could hardly have less in common. Certainly one distinction was plain to see. The Nigerian women weighed an average of 127 pounds, compared to 184 for their counterparts in Chicago—a whopping 57 pound difference.

Yet something unexpected turned up when scientists compared physical activity. The two groups of women differed hardly at all. The Chicagoans burned an average of 760 calories a day doing physical activities. The Nigerians tallied up 800 calories. The variance was not statistically significant.

Exercise has plenty of benefits. But when people burn more calories by exercising, studies generally show, they compensate by eating more–a basic survival mechanism.  ”We would love to say that physical activity has a positive effect on weight control,” said Richard Cooper, PhD, co-author of the study and chairman of the department of preventive medicine and epidemiology, “but that does not appear to be the case.”

Tellingly, the study, which included 149 women from two Nigerian villages and 172 women from Chicago and its suburban neighbor Maywood, did turn up dramatic differences in diet. The Nigerians eat foods high in fiber and carbohydrates and low in fat and animal protein. The Chicagoans–like the average American–ate a diet top heavy in processed foods, with precious little fiber and 40 to 45 percent of calories from fat.

The new findings don’t come as a complete surprise. In a previous study of volunteers from Jamaica, Loyola researchers detected no association between activity levels and weight gain over a six-year period. Other research has shown little connection between activity and body weight.

None of this implies that gettig off the couch isn’t important. It decidedly is. But so is watching what you eat, all the more so in a world of processed foods and oversized portions. “Evidence is beginning to accumulate that dietary intake may be more important than energy expenditure level,” said Loyola nutritionist Amy Luke, PhD, who co-authored the paper. “Weight loss is not likely to happen without dietary restraint.”

©2009 PDQhealth

“Completely on their own, without any prodding from us, a small group of about 15 people from our study began getting together afterwards to walk at a local mall,” recalled Caroline R. Richardson, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Michigan, who led the study. Curious, Richardson and her fellow researchers interviewed the walkers to find out what motivated them. The volunteers said they liked feeling healthier and more energetic. They liked the social support and motivation they got from their informal group.

And they really liked their pedometers.

Walk more, weigh less

New findings show that these small portable devices, which are typically attached to a walker’s belt or waistband, help motivate people to walk more. A study published in January in the Annals of Family Medicine by Dr. Richardson’s team reported that people who use pedometers as a way to take more steps lose about one pound every 10 weeks, or five pounds a year. That may not sound like a lot. But every little bit of weight lost helps improve health. And experts say gradual weight loss is much healthier and usually longer-lasting than crash dieting.

Using a pedometer offers other health benefits. A team at Stanford University in Palo, Alto California recently reported findings from an analysis of 26 pedometer studies, including a total of 2,767 participants. Overall, people who strapped on the devices added about 2,200 steps per day (2,000 steps equals about one mile). Pedometer users lost some weight and also lowered their blood pressure by almost 4 points.

A personal coach you can clip on your belt

Step counters are useful for setting goals and measuring progress. A daily goal of 10,000 steps will keep most people fit and provide most of the health benefits associated with exercise, fitness specialists say. In Ghent, Belgium, a city-wide program called “10,000 Steps Ghent” offered free pedometers to encourage people to walk more. Users of the devices added 896 steps to their average tally. Those extra steps meant an additional 8 percent reached the goal of 10,000 steps.

Reaching the goal of 10,000 has big pay-offs, especially for people who need an extra push. In a 2006 study of 56 overweight or obese volunteers conducted by researchers at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, walkers tallied 10,000 steps lowered their body weight, lost body fat, slimmed down their waists and hips, and improved their cholesterol numbers. In general, the more steps people racked up, the more benefits they enjoyed.

Even many of us who think we’re pretty active may fall short of the ideal of 10,000 steps. Researchers at the University of Toronto recently asked a family of four—mom, dad, son and daughter—to strap on pedometers for two months but not to change their normal activities. On average, the family members tallied up 6,685 steps doing their daily activities—4,315 short of the goal of 10,000.

If you’re also coming up short of the recommended amount of exercise, a step counter might be just the thing you need to get moving. The devices are relatively inexpensive and easy to use. Even the most BASIC PEDOMETERS tally steps and keep a record of steps walked over the past week. FANCIER VERSIONS hook up to personal computers via USB cables so users can keep a history of the steps they take and use motivational software programs that help set goals and track progress.

“Once people get the hang of them, they really like them,” said Dr. Richardson. “It’s a little like having a personal coach. People check in to see how many steps they’ve taken toward the end of the day. And if they’re falling short, they say, ‘Hey, I better get out there and take a walk.’”