Dr. Jonny Bowden

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  • Cutting Carbs More Effective Than Cutting Fat for Certain Women

    (from Science Daily)

    Obese women with insulin resistance lose more weight after three months on a lower-carbohydrate diet than on a traditional low-fat diet with the same number of calories, according to a new study.

    The results were presented recently at The Endocrine Society’s 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego.

    “The typical diet that physicians recommend for weight loss is a low-fat diet,” said the study’s lead author, Raymond Plodkowski, MD, chief of endocrinology, nutrition and metabolism at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno. “However, as this study shows, not all people have the same response to diets.”

    People with insulin resistance, a common precursor for Type 2 diabetes, metabolize carbohydrates, or “carbs,” abnormally, which may affect their rate of weight loss. For them, Plodkowski said, “the lower-carb diet is more effective, at least in the short term.”

    At 12-weeks, the study funded by Jenny Craig and using prepared calorie-controlled meals as part of a behavioral weight loss program, found that the insulin resistant women on a lower-carb diet lost 3.4 pounds more than those on a low-fat diet.

    Forty-five obese women between the ages of 18 and 65 years participated in the study, and all had insulin resistance, as found by fasting blood levels of insulin. The researchers randomly assigned the women to either a low-fat or lower-carb diet. The groups did not differ significantly in average body weight, the authors reported. On average, women in the low-fat diet group weighed 213 pounds, while women in the other group weighed 223 pounds.

    The composition of the low-fat diet was 60 percent of calories from carbs, 20 percent from fat and 20 percent from protein. Although the lower-carb diet also had 20 percent of calories from protein, it had 45 percent from carbs and 35 percent from primarily unsaturated fats, such as nuts. Menus included a minimum of 2 fruits and 3 vegetable servings a day.

    Use of prepared meals helped make the structured diets easier and more palatable for the dieters, according to Plodkowski. “We wanted to make this study real-world — anyone could follow this plan by making moderate changes as part of a healthy menu,” he said.

    Both groups lost weight at each monthly weigh-in, but by 12 weeks, the insulin resistant group receiving the lower-carb diet lost significantly more weight, 19.6 pounds versus 16.2 pounds in the low-fat diet group — approximately 21 percent more on average.

    “These data have potential widespread applications for clinicians when counseling people with insulin resistance to help improve weight loss as part of a calorie-restricted diet,” Plodkowski said. “They should at least initially lower their carbohydrate intake.”

    Dr. Jonny Comments: This study confirms what a number of other studies have shown recently. The famous “A-Z Diet Study” done at Stanford a couple of years ago pitted four popular diets against each other: Atkins, Ornish, the high-carb LEARN diet and the Zone. Among people who were insulin resistant, the Atkins diet worked the best, and the low-fat diet didn’t work very well at all.

    Three formulas I’ve found very helpful for people with insulin resistance/ metabolic syndrome are MetabolX, Metabolic Syndrome Support Packets, and Metabolic Synergy.

  • 7 Quick Tips to Eat Smart After Dark

    7 Quick Tips to Eat Smart After Dark

    Late-night eating is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to weight loss. (Full disclosure: I have struggles with it myself.) One of the reasons I tend to recommend eating plans that are lower in carbohydrates is because so many high carb foods literally create their own cravings. Advertisers weren’t kidding when they invented the slogan, “Betcha can’t eat just one”. Foods high in processed carbs are literally engineered to goose your appetite centers; in addition, they stimulate insulin, also known as “the hunger hormone”. (Interestingly, insulin’s other “nickname” is “the fat storage hormone”. Get my drift?)

    I asked my good friend VP of Nutrition and Education at Atkins Nutritionals Colette Heimowitz, M.Sc, to provide a few quick tips on how to eat smart after dark. Here’s what she offered:

    • Prevent Late-Night Eating Altogether: Eat low-carb meals throughout the day to keep blood sugar steady, thereby reducing cravings and the temptation to nosh on high-carb items like chips or cookies at night.
    • Crunch Away: If you must snack at night choose crunchy, low-carb foods such as macadamia nuts or celery sticks filled with cream cheese or almond butter. The crunchiness gets your mouth moving, which helps make snacks more satisfying.
    • No Containers on the Couch: Don’t take the food container to the couch. Instead, place your portion on a small plate and bring it with you. That way you’ll eat less and can keep better track of what you’re ingesting.
    • Drink Up: Instead of eating, have something to drink. Hot beverages can help you cut your appetite. Try a mug of herbal tea sweetened with sucralose or stevia, low-carb hot cocoa or some chicken or beef broth. Or for something cool and creamy, have an Atkins Advantage shake. (Note: You can also make a low-calorie, low-carb, satisfying shake at home out of protein powder, with or without berries added for texture and flavor.)
    • Keep Your Hands & Mind Busy: Instead of munching in front of the TV, keep your hands occupied and your mind sharp by picking up an engaging pastime, like knitting or making a scrapbook. You can even do the daily crossword puzzle during the ads.

    A lifestyle that wards off late-night cravings, the Atkins Nutritional Approach includes a wide variety of whole foods including lean protein, vegetables, fruits and whole grains to keep you satiated longer. The plan eliminates the simple sugars and simple carbohydrates that cause blood sugar to spike.

    Dr. Jonny comments: I’ve always felt that Atkins got a terrible rap and was unfairly portrayed in the conventional media as the doctor who told you to eat pork rinds. Luckily, a great deal of research in the past decade has validated much of what he had to say.

    My Diet Boot Camp program uses many concepts originated by Atkins, Barry Sears, Michael and Mary Dan Eades and others who realized early on that the greatest danger to our health and our waistline was not coming from fat but from ridiculously high amounts of processed carbohydrates. Learn more about my Diet Boot Camp.

  • This Spice Manages Your Blood Sugar

    A new study by Richard Anderson, PhD at the US Department of Agriculture has found that cinnamon may help reduce risk factors that are associated with both heart disease and diabetes.

    For this study, 22 obese subjects were recruited, all of whom had what’s called “impaired blood glucose values”. That means their blood sugar wasn’t well controlled, a condition often called “prediabetes”.

    When blood sugar levels are too high, the body produces an abundance of insulin, also known as the “fat-storage hormone” or “the hunger hormone”. The cells become “resistant” to this excess insulin, basically ignoring it while it “knocks” on the cell “doors” trying to get in so it can dump that extra sugar. You wind up with high blood sugar and high insulin, a condition known as “insulin resistance”.

    While it’s possible to have this kind of condition and not be overweight, it’s pretty rare. According to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, most people with insulin resistance (“prediabetes”) develop full blown type ll diabetes within ten years unless they lose 5-7% of their body weight. People with this condition are also much more at risk for developing cardiovascular disease.

    In the present study, the volunteers were randomly divided into two groups. One group got a placebo (an inert substance) while the other got 250mg of a water-soluble cinnamon extract which they took twice a day in addition to their usual diet. The researchers collected blood after an overnight fast right at the beginning of the study, then again after six weeks and once again after 12 weeks. They were looking for changes in either blood glucose (sugar), antioxidant levels, or both.

    The results? Those who took the cinnamon extract improved their antioxidant levels by between 13 and 23 percent.

    That part’s not surprising, as cinnamon contains a number of antioxidants. The surprising finding of the study was that this improvement in antioxidant status was accompanied by improvements in fasting blood sugar.

    Earlier studies- also by Anderson and his team- showed that cinnamon was effective in reducing not only blood sugar, but also triglycerides and total cholesterol in people with type ll diabetes.

    (You can read more about cinnamon and its health benefits in my book, “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth“)

  • Drinking This Beverage Will Increase the Risk for Diabetes

    (Xinhua News Agency- Oct. 29, 2010)

    A new study has found that regular consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a clear and consistently greater risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

    According to the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers, the study provides empirical evidence that intake of sugary beverages should be limited to reduce risk of these conditions.

    The study appears online Wednesday in the journal Diabetes Care and will appear in the November print edition.

    “Many previous studies have examined the relationship between sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of diabetes, and most have found positive associations but our study, which is a pooled analysis of the available studies, provides an overall picture of the magnitude of risk and the consistency of the evidence,” said lead author Vasanti Malik, a research fellow in the HSPH Department of Nutrition.

    Consumption of sugary drinks, the majority of which are sodas, has increased substantially in the U.S. and across the globe and previous scientific studies have shown consistent associations with weight gain and risk of obesity.

    However, this study is the first meta-analysis to quantitatively review the evidence linking sugar- sweetened beverages with type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

    Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors, such as high blood pressure and excess body fat around the waist, that increase the risk of coronary artery disease, stroke and diabetes.

    The researchers, led by Malik and senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH, did a meta- analysis that pooled 11 studies that examined the association between sugar-sweetened beverages and those conditions. The studies included more than 300,000 participants and 15,043 cases of type 2 diabetes and 19,431 participants and 5,803 cases of metabolic syndrome.

    The findings showed that drinking one to two sugary drinks per day increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 26 percent and the risk of metabolic syndrome by 20 percent compared with those who consumed less than one sugary drink per month. Drinking one 12- ounce serving per day increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by about 15 percent.

    “The association that we observed between soda consumption and risk of diabetes is likely a cause-and-effect relationship because other studies have documented that sugary beverages cause weight gain, and weight gain is closely linked to the development of type 2 diabetes,” said Hu.

    While a number of factors are at work in the development of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, sugar-sweetened beverages represent one easily modifiable risk factor that if reduced will likely make an important impact, say the researchers.

    “People should limit how much sugar-sweetened beverages they drink and replace them with healthy alternatives, such as water, to reduce risk of diabetes as well as obesity, gout, tooth decay, and cardiovascular disease,” said Malik.

  • Walnuts Can Help You Manage Stress!

    A diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil may prepare the body to deal better with stress, according to a team of Penn State researchers who looked at how these foods influence blood pressure at rest and under stress.

    Previous studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids — like the alpha linolenic acid found in walnuts and flax seeds — can reduce LDL (so-called “bad” cholesterol). These foods may also reduce C-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation.

    “People who show an exaggerated biological response to stress are at higher risk of heart disease,” said Sheila G. West, associate professor of biobehavioral health. “We wanted to find out if omega 3-fatty acids from plant sources would blunt cardiovascular responses to stress.”

    The researchers studied 22 healthy adults with elevated LDL cholesterol. All meals and snacks were provided during three diet periods of six weeks each.

    The researchers found that including walnuts and walnut oil in the diet lowered both resting blood pressure and blood pressure responses to stress in the laboratory. Participants gave a speech or immersed their foot in cold water as a stressor.

    “This is the first study to show that walnuts and walnut oil reduce blood pressure during stress,” said West. “This is important because we can’t avoid all of the stressors in our daily lives. This study shows that a dietary change could help our bodies better respond to stress.”

    A subset of the participants also underwent a vascular ultrasound in order to measure artery dilation. Results showed that adding flax oil to the walnut diet significantly improved this test of vascular health. The flax plus walnuts diet also lowered C-reactive protein, indicating an anti-inflammatory effect. According to West, that could also reduce risk of cardiovascular disease.

    The researchers used a randomized, crossover study design. Tests were conducted at the end of each six-week diet, and every participant consumed each of the three diets in random order, with a one-week break between.

    Diets included an “average” American diet – a diet without nuts that reflects what the typical person in the U.S. consumes each day. The second diet included 1.3 ounces of walnuts and a tablespoon of walnut oil substituted for some of the fat and protein in the average American diet. The third diet included walnuts, walnut oil and 1.5 tablespoons of flaxseed oil. The three diets were matched for calories and were specifically designed for each participant so that no weight loss or gain occurred. The walnuts, walnut oil, and flax oil were either mixed into the food in such offerings as muffins or salad dressing or eaten as a snack. About 18 walnut halves or 9 walnuts make up the average serving used by the researchers.

    After each diet, the participants underwent two stress tests. In the first test, they received a topic; and they were given two minutes to prepare a three-minute speech, which they presented while being videotaped. The second stressor was a standard physical test of stress consisting of submerging one foot in ice-cold water. Throughout these tests, the researchers took blood pressure readings from the participants.

    Results showed that average diastolic blood pressure — the “bottom number” or the pressure in the arteries when the heart is resting — was significantly reduced during the diets containing walnuts and walnut oil.

    Walnuts are a rich source of fiber, antioxidants, and unsaturated fatty acids, particularly alpha linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid, and these compounds could be responsible for the beneficial effects on blood pressure. Flax oil is a more concentrated source of omega-3 fatty acids than walnut oil, but this study did not test whether flax oil alone could blunt cardiovascular responses to stress.

    “These results are in agreement with several recent studies showing that walnuts can reduce cholesterol and blood pressure,” noted West. “This work suggests that blood pressure is also reduced when a person is exposed to stress in their daily life.”

    Dr. Jonny Comments:

    Cinnamon or Lemonade Flavored Flax Oil!
    Cinnamon or Lemonade Flavored Flax Oil!

    While walnuts are undoubtedly a rich source of antioxidants and fiber and ALA, researchers suspect that the stress-lowering compound in this common food is the plant-based omega-3 fat, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).

    And while each tablespoon of walnut oil does contain 1.4 grams of ALA, flaxseed oil is a far better source, containing 7.2 grams per tablespoon. Both oils have a similar amount of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat (3.1 grams for the walnut oil, 2.7 grams for the flaxseed oil).

    Flax and flaxseed oil have the additional benefit of lignans, plant compounds known to have a strong anti-cancer effect.

  • Black Rice: Better than Blueberries?

    There’s a new health food on the horizon—black rice. And this time, the media hype may be accurate. Emerging research shows that it is even richer in antioxidants and valuable plant compounds than blueberries.

    As most of us know, the difference between brown rice (a “whole grain”) and white rice is that white rice is highly processed. First the hull is removed, leaving- in the case of brown rice- a brown colored layer of bran. When this layer of bran is removed you have white rice, a food that is– from a nutritional point of view– pretty lame.

    With black rice, the hull is also removed, but this time the remaining layer of bran is black. Research by Zhimin Xu at the Department of Food Science at Louisiana State University Agricultural Center has shown that the black layer of bran is rich in a particular class of powerful plant compounds known as anthocyanins.

    These anthoycanins are pigments that can appear blue (blueberries), red (raspberries) or purple (grapes and purple cabbage), and when ingested, they protect cells against oxidative damage from free radicals.

    Free radicals damage our cells and our DNA and contribute to just about every degenerative disease. Scientists suspect that one reason fruits and vegetables are so healthy is because they are rich in the vitamins and phytochemicals that help defend against this damage. Though the best known of the antioxidants are vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, zinc and beta-carotene, hundreds if not thousands of other similar healthy compounds (flavonoids, anthocyanins, polyphenols, catechins) are found in foods like nuts, berries, beans and tea.

    “Our research shows that black rice bran is even richer in the health promoting anthocyanin antioxidants than blueberries- but with less sugar and more fiber”, Dr. Xu told me. Antioxidants have been shown to have an important role in fighting a number of diseases including heart disease(1) and cancer. (2)

    The special value of the antioxidants in black rice is that they are both water-soluble and fat-soluble. “Vegetables and fruits- like blueberries- are rich in the water-soluble antioxidants (vitamin C), while soybeans, for example, contain fat-soluble antioxidants (vitamin E). Black rice is exceptional because it contains a rich mix of both classes of antioxidants”.

    Black rice is widely available in specialty stores (Korean grocers and health food stores) and in Asian cooking it’s often mixed with white simply to create a pleasing visual presentation. But it can be cooked and served exactly like brown rice. “Be sure to extend the cooking time just a bit to soften the texture”, Dr. Xu advises.

    1) http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/99/4/591
    2) http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/prevention/antioxidants

    Additional references:

    http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/ss01/anthocyanin.html
    http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/antioxidants-vitamin-e

  • Featured Recipe: Decadent Better-Fat Walnut Brownies

    Featured Recipe: Decadent Better-Fat Walnut Brownies

    The following recipe for decadent, healthy brownies is just for readers of this newsletter, “In Step With Jonny”—it’s an advance preview of our forthcoming book, “The 150 Healthiest 15-Minute Meals on Earth” by myself and my co-author, chef extraordinaire Jeannette Bessinger. Enjoy! (more…)

  • What Nutritional Labels Really Mean

    Nutritional labels- often confusing for even the most sophisticated consumers- contain a lot of information. Some of it is useful. A good deal of it is not.

    Let me explain. (more…)

  • What’s the Real Deal on Collodial Silver?

    If someone told you that they were in possession of something that could cure any illness almost instantaneously, would you believe it?

    If you were told that there was a small risk of permanently changing the color of your skin, would you be willing to run the risk and take it anyway? (more…)

  • Antioxidants Lower the Risk for Heart Disease!

    If you read the popular media, you’ve probably gotten the impression that antioxidant supplements don’t “work”.

    Don’t believe everything you read in the paper.

    While it’s true that certain studies examining single nutrients have sometimes shown disappointing results—like the famous beta-carotene study a few years back—dozens of other studies have shown the profoundly beneficial effect of antioxidants on reducing or preventing the kinds of damage that can contribute to degenerative disease and to aging itself. (more…)