Nerdy Science Blog

A team of researchers at Rockefeller University found that Western diet, which is high in fat, and low in fiber, vitamin D and calcium, is associated with colorectal cancer.

Researchers found that high fat diets induce inflammatory response in mice colon, and such inflammation could be the cause for carcinogenesis in mice colon. Carcinogenic process is a process normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. High fat diets will induce oxidative stress and alter immune responses, and this will eventually increases the risk of colorectal cancer.

The result was published in November 2009 issue of The Journal of Nutrition.

Colon cancer is a deadly disease that affects millions of people around the world today and appears to be the third most common form of cancer worldwide. There are also evidence shows that consumption of red meat, processed meat and alcohol are also likely to increase the risk of colorectal cancer.

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Scientists from University of South Florida and Tampa VA Hospital found that Atkins diet helps in weight control and stress management better than American diet on rats. Atkins-type diet is a diet high in animal and vegetable fat with low level of sugar. American-type diet is high in both fat and sugar. The scientists found that rats fed with low carb diet (Atkins diet) exhibited lower fear memories in response to a scary experience.

Professor David Diamond, in the Departments of Psychology, Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, University of South Florida, presented the findings at the Annual Society for Neuroscience conference in Chicago on Oct 17.

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People in developed world often have severe vision loss when they are older than 65-year-old.  The severe vision loss is mainly caused by a late stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD).  AMD is normally associated with age, genetic markers and smoking behaviour.

Two reports in May issue of Archives of Ophthalmology show that more intakes of omega-three fatty acids and avoidance of trans-unsaturated fatty acids can lower the risks for such age-related eye disease.  Omega-three fats can normally be acquired from fish, nuts and olive oil.

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It is not how fat you look that determines you risk of having a heart disease, but it is where your fat is located in your body that determines it.  People with trim waistline please don’t laugh too early as you are risk free from heart disease.

Research team of the Framingham Heart Study presented the thickness of a person’s neck can help to determine the heart risk at a meeting of American Heart Association.  This can give as many as or more information about the heart risk than waist measuring.  3,300 women and men over age 51 were studied by measuring their necks, the cholesterol level and blood glucose level.  The risk of getting heart disease is determined by the level of cholesterol and blood glucose.  The average circumferences of the neck for men are 40.5cm and 34.2cm for women.  People with fatter neck have lower good cholesterol, which is the high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and higher level of blood glucose.  The thickness of the neck does not influence the bad cholesterol, namely low-density lipoprotein (LDL).

People with 3cm wider neck have 2.2 mg decrease in good cholesterol per decilitre of blood (mg/dl), whereas women are 2.7mg/dl.  Human subjects with 3cm more neck size have increased blood glucose of 3.0mg/dl for men and 2.1 mg/dl for women.

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Do you ever wonder why some boney people don’t eat much, but some other people (regardless they look fat or slim) get hungry easily and eat more?

Dr. Kaiping Yang and other researchers at Lawson Health Research Institute identified that abdonimal fat tissue produce hormone Neuropeptide Y (NPY) that stimulates more fat cell production (fat cell won’t replicate itself). NPY is a potent appetite stimulating hormone that was once believed only produced in brain. This hormone makes you think you are hungry and you will eventually eat more.

Some people who look slim actually have a lot of fats in their body and they eat a lot. Does this research applies on these people?

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