Cinnulin PF, a water-soluble extract of cinnamon, has been show to improve the antioxidant status and lowered the fasting glucose levels of obese prediabetic individuals.  Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture continue to document the power of nutrition to help improve health problems faced by millions.

Study participants took 250 mg of Cinnulin PF twice a day for twelve weeks.  These individuals started the study with elevated fasting glucose levels but were not yet diabetic.  The researchers measured various parameters of antioxidant function which demonstrate free radical distress – a factor known to interfere with healthy blood sugar metabolism.  The study showed that as Cinnulin PF improved the antioxidant status of the participants then their fasting blood sugar improved.

This …
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For the first time a clinical trial has proven that drinking 2 cups of water (16 ounces) before each meal resulted in an additional 5 pounds of weight loss over a 12 week period.  Both the water drinking group and the non-water drinking group were on a low calorie diet in order to lose weight.  The researchers suggested that water before meals helps a person feel fuller so they eat less food. 

The researchers did not say whether the additional weight loss from drinking water was due to eating less calories or improved metabolic efficiency while eating the same amount of calories as the other weight loss group.  Regardless, water intake before meals resulted in a greater level of weight loss. 

Water is the universal solvent.  Your metabolism requires water for efficient function.  When you are losing weight you will …
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A nine-year study of 48,500 U.S men and 56,343 U.S. women has shown that the larger your waistline the higher your risk for mortality.  This study adds a new twist to what is already fairly obvious.  It once again showed that those who are really obese have double the rate of early death.  However, it also showed, especially in women, that having and expanded waistline even if you are normal weight was associated with a 25% increased risk of mortality.

This study implies that any belly bulge is not a good thing as you grow older, regardless of your weight.  If you appear to have a normal weight for your height, meaning that your BMI is fine, it could be deceiving.  If your abdominal fat is growing it is a problem.

Previously I have reported that disease clearly progresses as your waistline reaches ½ of your height in inches.  …
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A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial found that 1,400 or 1,500 milligrams of calcium per day in overweight postmenopausal women was associated with significantly better body/trunk composition and noticeably less weight gain. 

For most women the reason to take extra supplements of high-quality calcium is to ensure strong bones and protect against colon cancer.  As a side benefit calcium also helps metabolism.  Postmenopausal women more easily struggle with weight gain.  Calcium is known to quite down an appetite signal in the brain, NPY, which is also associated with hot flashes.  Calcium is not a “one-shot-wonder” for weight loss.  Rather, it is a nutrient tool that helps keep appetite more under control during a time that weight gain is easy.  This study proves conclusively …
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When your fasting blood sugar rises above 90 your body enters into a stress state trying to deal with the extra sugar.  This is true long before blood sugar rises to the point of being labeled a type 2 diabetic.  The extra sugar in your circulation is a challenge for the health of your arteries, heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys, and eyes.  A number of new studies show that supplemental taurine can help combat the stress of high blood sugar and act as a tool to assist in the return to more normal function of your blood sugar regulating systems.

A new Irish study shows that taurine supplementation in young type 1 diabetic patients can prevent changes in the circulatory system that otherwise reduce circulation.  Advanced diagnostic tools showed significantly less arterial stiffness and better blood flow as a result of taurine supplementation – thereby preventing some of the first adverse changes that send a person with higher blood sugar in the direction of cardiovascular disease.  Earlier these researchers had proven how taurine helps produce friendly nitric oxide (eNOS), …
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A new study indicates that one major factor causing today’s obesity epidemic is the garbage fat diet of Americans for the past century.  The Western diet is almost void of omega 3 essential fatty acids.  Instead, high levels of omega 6 oils, such as corn oil and soy oil, have found their way into the food supply.  Scientists show that four generations of this high omega 6 oil/low omega 3 oil is adequate to change gene signaling in a way that creates offspring that are prone to obesity. 

During evolution the ratio of omega 6 oils to omega 3 oils was 4 to 1.  Animals that eat grass, which contains omega 3, have higher omega 3 fat content.  Fatty fish like salomn are also high in omega 3.  Many animals no longer free range on grass and are instead fed corn, which is high in omega 6.  The majority of oils added to processed and packaged foods, including potato chips and corn chips are omega 6 oils.

This has caused the …
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In a rather sobering study scientists have demonstrated that a high-fat diet has the potential to drastically alter the architecture of the brain resulting in poor circulation within the brain, down-regulated metabolism, and outright brain damage in areas of the brain central to appetite regulation.  The implications of the study are that once a person starts eating too much and continues to do so for a period of time they are inducing actual brain damage that will be difficult to reverse — in turn locking in a poor state of metabolic health.

Many people who are overweight can simply cut back on calories, exercise more, and the weight comes off.  Such people have pushed their metabolism into a state of stress but have not yet crossed a more serious inflammatory line wherein the ability to bounce back by doing the right things is compromised.

“It …
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A unique strain of mouse was bred to have no insulin receptors on its bone-building osteoblasts, although it had insulin receptors every place else.  The mouse became fat.  As it aged it grew even fatter and its blood sugar levels shot up and it developed severe insulin resistance.  The mouse was treated with osteocalcin and the problems reversed.  Welcome to the new world of bones as a metabolic powerhouse.  We are witnessing a major breakthrough in the subjects of both bone and metabolic health.

Those of you who are regular readers know I have been reporting on this subject as the science has been emerging over the past year.  Two new studies in the journal Cell, one on insulin signaling in bone and the other on insulin receptors in bone have taken this subject to a whole new relevance – placing it front and center not only for bone health but for blood sugar metabolism and a key way to help prevent type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Osteoblasts are the bone-building carpenter …
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The FDA would like you to know that no nutrient can prevent any disease.  The US Department of Agriculture would like you to know that cinnamon, especially water-soluble extracts, “may be important in the alleviation and prevention of the signs and symptoms of metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular and related diseases.”

While the FDA is still arguing the Earth is flat the USDA says cinnamon can help numerous problems associated with the metabolic syndrome including: insulin resistance, elevated glucose and lipids, inflammation, blood pressure, decreased antioxidant activity, increased weight gain, and increased glycation of proteins.  They also say cinnamon may be helpful in Alzheimer’s disease, reducing the damage of a stroke, and helping to prevent cancer …
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A 60-year study followed the effects of obesity and the rate of early death over the course of a lifetime.  Those who were obese at age 20 had on average an 8 year shorter life.

The Swedish study compared mortality in a sample of 1,930 obese male military conscripts with that in a random sample of 3,601 non-obese male conscripts. Body mass index (BMI) was measured at the average ages of 20, 35 and 46 years, and the researchers investigated that in relation to death in the next follow-up period. A total of 1,191 men had died during the follow-up period of up to 60 years.

“At age 70 years, 70% of the men in the comparison group and 50% of those in the obese group were still alive and we estimated that from middle age, the obese were likely to die eight years earlier than those in the comparison group,” said the study’s leader, …
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