Impacts of genetics on snacking patterns

Researcher Elie Chamoun investigated whether genetic variants in taste receptors related to sweet preference, fat taste sensitivity and aversion to bitter green leafy vegetables influence the snacks chosen by children. He found that nearly 80 per cent of children in the study carried at least one of these potential at-risk genotypes that could predispose them to poor snacking habits.

Chidren are eating a lot more snacks now than they used to, looking at how genetics can be related to snacking behaviour, it  is important to understanding increased obesity among children, the study looked at connections between the genes of the three at-risk taste receptors and linked them to snacking patterns among children.

The study entailed tracking the day-to-day diets of children and found that one-third of the children's diets were made up of snacks, children with a sweet tooth, who have the gene related to sweet taste preference, ate snacks with significantly more calories from sugar. The children with the genetic variant related to fat taste sensitivity were found to consume snacks with higher energy density.

People with this genetic variant may have low oral sensitivity to fat and therefore consume more fatty foods without sensing it. Higher-energy density snacks, such as cookies with lots of sugar and fat, have a higher number of calories for their weight. The children with the genetic variant related to avoiding bitter vegetables also consumed snacks with high energy density.
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How brain regulates fat burning

Scientists have discovered a molecular switch in the brain that regulates fat burning and could provide a way to control weight gain following dieting. Monash University researchers have identified a molecular switch in the brain that potentially controls the human body's capacity to store fat, particularly after long periods of "famine" or weight loss-a process that underlies yo-yo dieting, where the body regain the weight lost caused by dieting.

Being able to control this switch may be a therapy for obesity and other metabolic disorders such as Type 2 diabetes. Associate Professor Zane Andrews and his colleagues at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute have identified a protein in mice, called carnitine acetyltransferase (Crat), in hunger-processing brain cells that regulate fat storage after dieting.

During dieting, the body burn more fat to provide enough energy. But at the same time the brains fight to conserve energy and, as soon as food becomes available, the body switches from burning to storing fat and instead uses ingested calories from food.

The international research team discovered the Crat protein and developed a mouse that had this protein genetically switched off. These mice, when fasted or fed after a fast, consume their fat reserves at a greater than normal rate.

Repeated dieting, or yo-yo dieting, may lead to weight gain because the brain interprets these diets as short famines and urges the person to store more fat for future shortages. For the first time the Crat protein in hunger-processing brain cells has been identified as the switch that instructs the body to replace the lost weight through increased fat storage.

Manipulating this protein offers the opportunity to trick the brain and not replace the lost weight through increased appetite and storage of fat, regulating this protein can ensure that diet-induced weight loss stays off rather than sneaking back.
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Stand for long hours and lose weight

Standing instead of sitting for six hours a day could help people lose weight over the long term, according to a Mayo Clinic. Sedentary behavior like sitting, has been blamed for contributing to the obesity epidemic, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The researchers analyzed 46 studies with 1,184 participants. Participants, on average, were 33 years old; 60 percent were men; and the average weight was 143.3 pounds.

The researchers found that standing burned 0.15 calories (kcals) per minute more than sitting. By substituting standing for sitting for six hours a day, a 143.3-pound adult would expend an extra 54 calories (kcals) in six hours. Assuming no increase in food intake, that would equate to 5.5 pounds in one year and 22 pounds

Moderate to vigorous physical activities in daily life have been encouraged in efforts to maintain and lose weight, and reduce the risk of heart disease, focuses on the daily calories a person burns while doing normal daily activities, not exercising.

The researchers found that calories burned between standing and sitting is about twice as high in men as in women. This reflects the effect of greater muscle mass in men on the amount of calories burned, because calories burned is proportional to the muscle mass activated while standing.
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Water could be deadly for an infant

Drinking too much water can be deadly for an infant, and even small amounts offer little benefit to babies. Water is key to adult health, but babies get fully hydrated from drinking breast milk. When an infants drink too much water, the sodium levels drop too lo, this hinders the process of nutrients, which can cause seizures, coma and death.

According to pediatric nurse Danielle Stringer, for the first six months of  infants lives, they are better off getting all of their calories and water from breast milk or baby formula. Drinking water can deprive babies of calories that they need in the first six months of their lives, leading to malnutrition and death.

The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that infants should consume exclusively breast milk - if at all possible - for the first six months of their lives, and continuing with supplemented soft foods and drinks through their first year. When babies drink too much water, it knocks their sodium to fluid ratio out of balance, and they can die of water intoxication.

Their bodies will try to overcompensate by having the cells take on more water, which will result in swelling all over the body, including the brain, which can result in seizures, coma or brain death. In rare cases when a baby is given an inordinate amount of water, this can happen suddenly, it's more likely to occur with small doses of water, over time.

Long before they seize, a lot of babies will just start to show signs of malnutrition, such as losing weight and swelling. Their tiny, rapidly growing bodies need about all the calories they can get, meaning they need nourishment - in the form of breast milk or baby formula - about every two to four hours. Breast milk is about 88 percent water, so new mothers that can breastfeed need not worry that their infants could get dehydrated.

At six months old, you can offer water to your baby in a sippy cup, but they don't typically need it because they are still getting breast milk or formula. Between six and 12 months old, it is safe for infants to have two to four ounces of water, but even then, interestingly, babies are smart enough that they're mainly not interested in water at that age, and parents need to know that that's totally okay for them.
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Winter work out is better than summer sweat

According to personal trainers and exercise physiologists, the body's primary goal is to maintain stasis, or stability, and that includes keeping a steady temperature. In the cold, the body needs to burn extra fat, to produce energy to heat it back up to the ideal temperature.

Working out in the cold weather can shake off some extra calories. During the winter, the body ramps up its production of a chemical called ATLPL, which helps it to store up fat for the evolutionary scarce season, so staying active in the winter is important to counteracting that.

Working out in the cold makes it difficult for the body to stay warm and burn a ton of calories, the cold acts as a 'thermal stressor,' forcing the body's temperature regulation out of work. To keep the core, vital organs at the right temperature, blood flow to the extremities is reduced, and kept concentrated closer to the heart and internal organs.

The heart rate and metabolism slow, trying to save up energy and keep the warm blood in place. That's when the shivering starts. Those shakes are a series of fast muscle contractions and releases, a way for the body to produce some extra warmth by burning energy stored in fat.

When you get into a relatively consistent, high intensity workout - though you'll feel like you're working harder at first, against your slower heart rate and metabolism - the body begins warming up from more robust fat burning. As your heart rate rises, blood and warmth return to your hands, feet and other extremities, and shivering is no longer necessary.

Once you hit that point, you're burning calories as you would during exercise at any temperature. During the winter, the body crave extra simple carbohydrates found in sugary foods like baked goods and get vitamin D deficient spending too much time indoors. Getting some winter sun will boost your vitamin D to break those sweet indulgences.

Walking in moderately warm clothing on a cold day will keep the heart rate from getting high enough to cancel out the shivers, but enough activity is require for burning some fat for energy. Body temperature will be  lower when you are closer to the cold while playing in the snow, making the body ready to fight to stay warm.
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Energy dense foods increase the risk of cancer

Nutritional modifications can reduce risk of developing cancer, there is a proven link between obesity and some types of cancer. Dietary energy density DED contributes to cancer risk. DED is a measure of food quality and the relationship of calories to nutrients. The more calories per gram of weight a food has, the higher its DED.

Whole foods like vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruits, lean protein, and beans are considered low-DED foods because they provide a lot of nutrients using very few calories. Processed foods like cake, burger and pizza are considered high-DED foods because you need to eat larger amount to get necessary nutrients. Regular consumption of foods high in DED contributes to weight gain in adults.

Women who consumed a diet higher in DED were ten percent more likely to develop an obesity-related cancer, independent of their body mass index.
Obese people may develop different kinds of cancer like oesophagus, kidney, bowel, breast and pancreas cancer.

Weight management alone may not be effective in preventing obesity-related cancers if a women eats diets high in energy density regularly. Higher DED in normal-weight women may cause metabolic dysregulation that is independent of body weight, which increase the cancer risk.
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Breastfeeding reduces cancers risk

Breastfeeding releases the production of prolactin, this prevents regular monthly menstruation. This reduces lifetime exposure to estrogen hormone. High estrogen levels is associated with breast cancer.

It also removes cells with damaged DNA that could lead to tumour development in breast. For every five months a woman breastfeeds, her risk of breast cancer is reduced by two percent.

Breastfeeding burns excess calories, it releases oxytocin hormone which returns uterus to its pre- pregnancy size and may reduce uterine bleeding after birth.

It prevents children from developing different types of cancers, babies who are breastfed may not become obese in future. Breastfeeding prevents all childhood diseases and reduces the risk of sudden infant death syndrome SIDS.
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Facts about body fat

Fat is known as adipose tissue, it is a hormonal and metabolic processes. Adipose tissue stores energy, regulates metabolism and insulin in the body.

Body fat is divided into two; essential and storage fat. Essential fat is needed for daily activities while storage is stored under the skin. 

Fat is an excess calories stored in the body, it produces hormones that human body need to function properly.

Fat loss affects metabolism; low fat in the body will leads to low levels of leptin. Less leptin reduces metabolism.
Limiting calorie intake reduces fat and decreases appetite.

 Fat can be created without food, when body needs new fat cells, stem cells will change into fat over bone or muscle cells.

Fat is stored in the body in the form of triglycerides, free fatty acid FFA.  It secretes different hormones. Too much or too little fat can increase the risk of diabetes

Excess fat can increase the risk of developing cancer; fat secret hormones that aids cancer growth. Dieting can not reduce fat cells, human body has 15 to 35 billions of fat cells.
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Mediterranean diet can reduce risk of bowel cancer

Regular consumption of Mediterranean diet and reducing intake of processed food can reduce risk of developing bowel cancer.

Bowel cancer develops from intestinal polyps, it is associated with low-fibre diet and excess intake of over processed foods like red meat, alcohol and high-calorie foods.

Mediterranean diet is a modern nutritional method that is described as eating more of plants based diet than animal.

Typical example is consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits, vegetables, moderate consumption of fish and dairy products.
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How to lose weight

Weight loss can take time, you can lose weight fast without having to exercise or cut out entire food groups.

But exercise takes time to show results,
one of the simplest things to do is to drink water instead of anything else.

Energy drinks, fruit smoothies and low-calorie alcohol all contain at least 100 calories each.

But they are considered ‘empty’ calories by professionals as they don’t fill you up like 100 calories of food does, so you are better off drinking water and ingesting calories from food.

 Cut out white grain foods such as white rice, spaghetti and bread.
This is because simple carbohydrates cause bloating, particularly around the stomach.

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How to improve your metabolism

Metabolism is the set of life sustaining chemical changes with in the cells that change food to energy.

Metabolism goes up for two to three hours after eating because of the extra metabolic processes required to digest food and absorb its nutrients.

How we eat has an impact on how many calories we burn, eating for 10 minutes can burn 30 calories.

The benefits of exercise are two-fold. First, aerobic activities such as running, cycling and brisk walking increase the amount of calories we burn.

Aerobic exercise can lead to the afterburn effect, where the body continues to burn calories faster for many hours.

Obesity can cause kidney cancer

Obesity is a condition of accumulating too much fat in the body that is having negative effects on health. Body Mass Index that is 30 or more is considered obese.

Consuming excess calories, sedentary lifestyle and endocrine disruptor are common causes of obesity. Obesity is associated with different types of cancer, kidney cancer is one of the cancer caused by obesity.

Insulin is made by the pancreas that allows breakdown of sugar from carbohydrates for energy, kidneys process insulin in the body.

Excess weight can cause insulin resistance, which can leads to high level of insulin, causing cells to divide rapidly.

Carrying excess weight put stress on kidneys and other vital organs in the body, eating more of fruits, vegetables and being active can reduce your risk of kidney cancer.