Diet / en Is a calorie always a calorie? Not when it comes to almonds, Թϱ researchers find /news/calorie-always-calorie-not-when-it-comes-almonds-u-t-researchers-find <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Is a calorie always a calorie? Not when it comes to almonds, Թϱ researchers find</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/almonds-web-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=pZ2YhM2m 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/almonds-web-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=lxJQR_Z7 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/almonds-web-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=gJ3xl_8d 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/almonds-web-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=pZ2YhM2m" alt="Almonds spilled on a white table"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-04-13T10:18:17-04:00" title="Tuesday, April 13, 2021 - 10:18" class="datetime">Tue, 04/13/2021 - 10:18</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(Photo by Sirinate Kaewma/EyeEm via Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jim-oldfield" hreflang="en">Jim Oldfield</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/insulin-100" hreflang="en">Insulin 100</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/diet" hreflang="en">Diet</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nutritional-sciences" hreflang="en">Nutritional Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers at the University of Toronto have found that a calorie labelled is not the same as a calorie digested and absorbed when the food source is almonds.</p> <p>The findings, <a href="https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(21)00131-2/fulltext">published in the journal&nbsp;<em>Mayo Clinic Proceedings</em></a>, should help alleviate concerns that almonds contribute to weight gain, which persist despite the widely recognized benefits of nuts as a plant-based source of protein, vitamins and minerals.</p> <p>“Nuts have generally been thought of as healthy the last two decades, but the messaging around nuts has often come with a disclaimer that they are high in fat and energy,” said <strong>John Sievenpiper</strong>, principal investigator on the study and an associate professor in the departments of&nbsp;nutritional sciences&nbsp;and&nbsp;medicine&nbsp;in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. “We still see that caveat in the media and on the internet today, and it has been part of many clinical guidelines, although that is changing.</p> <p>“Other researchers have shown that there is a bioaccessibility issue with nuts&nbsp;– that a calorie labelled may not be a calorie absorbed. This study quantifies that effect with almonds in a relevant population.”&nbsp;</p> <p>The researchers found that after digestion, about 20 per cent of calories derived largely from fat in almonds remained unabsorbed, which they observed in stool samples. That translated to about two per cent less energy absorbed from the diet overall among study participants.</p> <p>A person eating the same amount of almonds in a daily diet of 2,000 to 3,000 calories would absorb 40 to 60 calories less than would be predicted by Atwater factors, on which many food labels are based. That could result in weight loss up to 2.9 kilograms, or 6.3 pounds, over a year, assuming no compensation in the form of increased intake or decreased energy expenditure.</p> <p>Participants in the study did not gain weight, which is consistent with the majority of high-quality trials that measure nut consumption and weight gain&nbsp;– some of which show an association with weight loss, said Sievenpiper, who is also a staff physician and scientist at&nbsp;St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto.</p> <p>The researchers used a randomized crossover trial to study 22 women and men with high cholesterol&nbsp;who underwent a series of three, month-long dietary interventions separated by a week-long washout period.</p> <p>All study participants consumed an NCEP Step-2 diet (low in saturated fat and cholesterol, part of the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program). The three dietary interventions were full-dose almonds (75 grams per day or three quarters of a cup); half-dose almonds plus half-dose muffins; and full-dose muffins as a study control. The nutritional makeup of the muffins matched the almonds in amount of protein, fibre and fats.</p> <p>“One unique aspect of this study is that it assessed people with high cholesterol, who are at greater risk for cardiovascular disease,” said&nbsp;<strong>Stephanie Nishi</strong>, who was a doctoral student at Թϱ at the time of the study and is now a post-doctoral researcher at the&nbsp;Universitat Rovira i Virgili&nbsp;in Spain.</p> <p>“That has not been done in this population before, and it’s important because this group typically gets many messages to eat more nuts, owing to the evidence for nut consumption and heart health,” Nishi said.</p> <p>Nishi and Sievenpiper both said there is a big gap between the number of nuts people are recommended to consume and how many they actually eat&nbsp;– both generally and in populations at risk for cardiovascular and other disease.</p> <p>Further barriers stemming from concerns about weight gain are counter-productive, the researchers said.</p> <p>Diabetes Canada recently adjusted their guidelines based in part on the study’s findings, and to avoid the stigma around nuts and weight gain, said Sievenpiper, who has contributed to guidelines for patients with diabetes and other metabolic disorders, and for cardiovascular disease.</p> <p>This study was supported by a PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship and a Banting and Best Diabetes Centre Sun Life Financial New Investigator Award, as well as the Almond Board of California.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 13 Apr 2021 14:18:17 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 169050 at Cracking the code on human obesity: Թϱ researchers discover fruit flies may have the answer /news/cracking-code-human-obesity-u-t-researchers-discover-fruit-flies-may-have-answer <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Cracking the code on human obesity: Թϱ researchers discover fruit flies may have the answer</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-02-22-fruit-fly.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=-iZqKEde 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-02-22-fruit-fly.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Oonqike1 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-02-22-fruit-fly.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=WrVqW64b 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-02-22-fruit-fly.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=-iZqKEde" alt="Photo of Fruit Fly"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-02-22T12:30:57-05:00" title="Wednesday, February 22, 2017 - 12:30" class="datetime">Wed, 02/22/2017 - 12:30</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">University Professor Marla Sokolowski: “The fly has been an excellent model organism to understand mammalian behaviour and metabolism, and so this work can point to places to look further in humans” (photo by Martin Cooper via Flickr)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/peter-boisseau" hreflang="en">Peter Boisseau</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Peter Boisseau</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/insects" hreflang="en">Insects</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/fruit-fly" hreflang="en">Fruit Fly</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/obesity" hreflang="en">Obesity</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/well-being" hreflang="en">Well Being</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/diet" hreflang="en">Diet</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A University of Toronto study on fruit flies has uncovered a gene that could play a key role in understanding obesity in humans.</p> <p>The paper published online this month in <em>Genetics</em> examines a “foraging gene” humans share in common with fruit&nbsp;flies. The gene&nbsp;plays multiple roles, and it is found in the same locations&nbsp;for both fruit flies and humans – the nervous system, muscle and fat.</p> <p>“What our study does is nails the gene for being very important for the traits of moving, feeding and fat storage,” says <strong>Marla Sokolowski</strong> of the department of ecology &amp; evolutionary biology at&nbsp;Թϱ’s Faculty of Arts &amp; Science.</p> <p>In nature, fruit flies called rovers with high amounts of the gene tend to move a lot, eat very little and stay lean, while flies with low amounts of the gene&nbsp;called “sitters” are the opposite. The “foraging gene” encodes a cell signalling molecule called a cGMP dependent protein kinase.&nbsp;</p> <p>The same could apply to obesity in humans.</p> <p>“When we say the ‘foraging gene’ is the same, what we’re saying is that when you look at the DNA sequences of the human and the fly there is a lot of similarity, enough that you can see it’s the fly version of the gene that the human has,” says Sokolowski, a <a href="http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards/uprofessors.htm">University Professor</a>.</p> <p>“So you could imagine if you are a fly, preferences for sugar, the tendency to store a lot of fat and the tendency to move less could all be contributing to the likelihood of being more obese if you have low levels of this gene, or to be leaner if you have higher levels.”</p> <p>Such similarities between species are known as orthologs, meaning they are genes that evolved from a common ancestor eons ago.</p> <p>When scientists first started mapping human genomes and comparing them to other organisms, they were shocked to discover humans don’t have that many more genes than flies do.</p> <p>Sokolowski says the research is another part of the puzzle, and the beginning of our understanding of how what was once considered “junk DNA” is actually very important for regulating key characteristics such as behaviour and metabolism.</p> <p>“No one has analyzed it in the way we have in flies, but it’s a hint from the fly. The fly has been an excellent model organism to understand mammalian behaviour and metabolism, and so this work can point to places to look further in humans.”</p> <p>The study involved a technique called recombineering to manipulate DNA at the molecular level, so as to remove and then reinsert the gene in various doses to see the effects on behaviour and metabolism.</p> <p>Lead author <strong>Aaron Allen</strong> was a PhD student in cell &amp; systems biology at Թϱ when the work was done, and he was assisted by Sokolowski, fellow Թϱ student <strong>Ina Anreiter</strong>, and Oxford University collaborator Megan Neville, who taught Allen the technique.</p> <p>“This kind of work is actually so cutting-edge that it takes a really good student to learn how to do this and then bring the technique back to the lab,” says Sokolowski.</p> <p>“To be able to take a gene of this large size and complexity and put it back in the fly so that it works is almost at the edge of what is possible.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Sokolowski says it’s particularly interesting that one gene should have multiple roles in feeding and obesity in the body, a characteristic known as pleiotropy.</p> <p>The next question would be how exactly it plays multiple roles.</p> <p>“Lots of genes have multiple roles, but the idea here is that this gene may be involved in the coordination of roles in traits important for feeding and obesity,” she says.</p> <p>“We don’t know much about pleiotropy, or how it happens, or how it’s regulated at the level of the molecules. So this sets the groundwork to be able to look at that in detail.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 22 Feb 2017 17:30:57 +0000 ullahnor 105140 at Double-fortified salt – developed by Թϱ research – fights iron deficiency in India /news/double-fortified-salt-developed-u-t-research-fights-iron-deficiency-india <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Double-fortified salt – developed by Թϱ research – fights iron deficiency in India</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-02-15-salt.jpg?h=4c6880dd&amp;itok=uHjYTZCb 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-02-15-salt.jpg?h=4c6880dd&amp;itok=u_ZW8-DC 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-02-15-salt.jpg?h=4c6880dd&amp;itok=y_QCLnt0 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-02-15-salt.jpg?h=4c6880dd&amp;itok=uHjYTZCb" alt="Photo of Levente Diosady"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-02-15T15:22:08-05:00" title="Wednesday, February 15, 2017 - 15:22" class="datetime">Wed, 02/15/2017 - 15:22</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Professor Levente Diosady (centre) and his team developed a way to fortify salt with both iron and iodine. The product is now being distributed to more than 24 million people in India’s Uttar Pradesh state (photo by Mark Balson)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/tyler-irving" hreflang="en">Tyler Irving</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Tyler Irving</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/salt" hreflang="en">Salt</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/iron" hreflang="en">Iron</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/malnutrition" hreflang="en">Malnutrition</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/diet" hreflang="en">Diet</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/development" hreflang="en">development</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/india" hreflang="en">India</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/micronutrients" hreflang="en">Micronutrients</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/gates-foundation" hreflang="en">Gates Foundation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Double-fortified salt – developed at Թϱ to add more iron and iodine to the diets of those who don't get enough – is now being distributed&nbsp;to 24 million people in the state of Uttar Pradesh in&nbsp;India.</p> <p>The Tata Trusts, India’s largest charitable foundation, is supporting the state government to procure and distribute the product&nbsp;while the government of Uttar Pradesh is spending more than $40 million to purchase the salt and make it available to low income consumers at subsidized prices.</p> <p>The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation is funding a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of the product&nbsp;in reducing iron and iodine deficiencies across the population.</p> <p>“We’re very excited to see our invention being distributed on such a massive scale” says Թϱ professor&nbsp;<strong>Levente Diosady</strong>, who specializes in food engineering at the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering. “The opportunity for engineers to make a difference in the lives of people living with malnutrition is incredible.”</p> <p>More than twenty years ago, Diosady was approached by <strong>Venkatesh Mannar</strong>, then a senior advisor to UNICEF, who wanted him to do some simple chemical tests on formulations for double fortified salt.</p> <p>Mannar’s mission was to address deficiencies in micronutrients, vitamins and minerals needed in small but regular amounts by the human body. Lack of these nutrients can reduce overall health&nbsp;with huge personal and economic impact worldwide.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3478 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="545" src="/sites/default/files/2017-02-15-salt2-embed.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Ratan Tata (centre, with flowers), chairman of Tata Trusts,&nbsp;is congratulated by the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh at the launch of the double-fortified salt distribution program (photo courtesy of the Micronutrient Initiative)</em></p> <p>Perhaps the biggest success story in the micronutrient world is iodized salt. Many governments around the world have mandated the enrichment of salt –&nbsp;an inexpensive food item consumed regularly by all people –&nbsp;with iodine as a means to ensure that nutritional needs are met.</p> <p>“Venkatesh was born into a salt-producing family, and he knew how well iodized salt was working in places where it had been tried,” says Diosady. “He wanted to see if we could do the same with iron.”</p> <p>Iron deficiency leads to anemia, a condition that leaves people feeling tired and weak, making it harder to work or study. According to the World Health Organization, iron deficiency is currently the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world, affecting more than two billion people,&nbsp;and a major contributor to maternal mortality.</p> <p>But Diosady’s tests showed why iron couldn’t be added to salt in the same way as iodine: the two elements reacted with each other, converting the iodine into a form that simply evaporated away.</p> <p>Undeterred, Diosady and his team began developing a method for encapsulating the iron so that it wouldn’t react with the iodine. Eventually, they packaged ferrous fumarate, an iron-rich compound, into tiny edible particles that look and feel nearly identical to salt grains, and which dissolve when consumed. These particles enabled the iron to be mixed with iodized salt, resulting in a double-fortified product.</p> <p>Soon after, Mannar joined the new Micronutrient Initiative as its president&nbsp;and continued to work with Թϱ food engineers on programs that proved the acceptability, safety and effectiveness of the double-fortified salt. The results of early trials showed a significant reduction in rates of anemia among children who received the product&nbsp;as part of their school meals.</p> <p>Today, double-fortified salt produced in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is being added to school lunches provided to more than five million children in the state&nbsp;through a program supported by the Canadian International Development Agency.</p> <p>The expansion of the project to the state of Uttar Pradesh was a much larger undertaking, requiring even further scale-up of manufacturing.</p> <p>Թϱ Engineering, through a grant agreement from Canada’s International Development Research Centre, is supporting the transfer of technology to India and scale up and roll out of the product to 4.6 million families in Uttar Pradesh. Diosady and Mannar, who is now an adjunct professor at Թϱ,&nbsp;are co-investigators on the project.</p> <p>“When we started, we were producing 100 grams at a time in the lab,” says Diosady. “The first order from Uttar Pradesh for the month of January 2017 alone is for 6,000 tonnes.”</p> <p>Meanwhile, Diosady and his team have continued their research.</p> <p>They are developing ways to encapsulate other micronutrients, such as folic acid and vitamin B12, with the hopes of making a quadruple-fortified salt. They are also working on adding iron to tea.</p> <p>“Tea, like salt, is widely consumed in predictable amounts in India&nbsp;and South Asia” says Diosady. “If we can get an iron-fortified tea into the hands of every tea-seller, there is the potential for a very beneficial health effect.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 20:22:08 +0000 ullahnor 104974 at Fast-food "swamps" linked to greater diabetes risk: Թϱ research /news/fast-food-swamps-linked-greater-diabetes-risk-u-t-research <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Fast-food "swamps" linked to greater diabetes risk: Թϱ research</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>krisha</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-06-09T15:31:06-04:00" title="Thursday, June 9, 2016 - 15:31" class="datetime">Thu, 06/09/2016 - 15:31</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(Lead image by Daniel Oines via Flickr)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/nicole-bodnar" hreflang="en">Nicole Bodnar</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Nicole Bodnar</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/diabetes" hreflang="en">Diabetes</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dalla-lana-school-public-health" hreflang="en">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/disease" hreflang="en">Disease</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/diet" hreflang="en">Diet</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nutrition" hreflang="en">Nutrition</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>They're called fast-food swamps –&nbsp;and if you live near one,&nbsp;a new study from the University of Toronto shows&nbsp;you're at greater risk of developing diabetes.</p> <p>Researchers at Թϱ's Dalla Lana School of Public Health say&nbsp;Canadians under the age of 65 have a greater risk of developing diabetes if they live near a high number of fast-food restaurants with&nbsp;few healthier dining options.</p> <p>The study,<a href="http://journal.cpha.ca/index.php/cjph/article/view/5312"> Relative and absolute availability of fast-food restaurants in relation to the development of diabetes: A population-based cohort study</a>, published on June 9, 2016 in the <em>Canadian Journal of Public Health</em>, is the first in Canada to examine whether living within walking access to various types of restaurants within urban residential areas influences the risk of developing diabetes among adults.&nbsp;</p> <p>At the outset of the study, researchers identified people&nbsp;without diabetes and followed them forward in time to see who did or did not develop diabetes. After accounting for individual- and neighbourhood-level socio-economic factors and neighbourhood walkability, researchers found that individuals had a 79 per cent higher risk of developing diabetes when their neighbourhoods had a disproportionately high volume of fast-food outlets and few restaurants of another type.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Our results show that having restaurant options that offer healthier alternatives to fast-food – for example cafes, sit-down restaurants or coffee shops – may be important for mitigating people's risk of developing diabetes,” said <strong>Polsky</strong>, a PhD candidate in the <a href="http://www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/division/social-behavioural-health-sciences/">Division of Social and Behavioural Health Sciences</a>.</p> <p>“The double whammy of having high numbers of fast food restaurants with few healthier alternatives was associated with the highest risk of diabetes.”&nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="/news/find-a-story?keys&amp;field_topic_tid=All&amp;date_filter%5Bmin%5D%5Bdate%5D=&amp;date_filter%5Bmax%5D%5Bdate%5D=&amp;field_tag_tid_1=diabetes">Read more Թϱ research on diabetes</a></h2> <p><img alt="photo of researcher" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__1187 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2016-06-09-jane-polsky_1.jpg" style="width: 400px; height: 470px; margin: 10px; float: right;" typeof="foaf:Image"></p> <p>With more Canadians purchasing and eating meals outside the home, there is growing interest in finding levers within the retail food environment to improve Canadian's diets and associated health outcomes like obesity and diabetes.&nbsp;</p> <p>Polsky says that the findings suggest that policies that achieve a better balance of restaurant types with more alternatives to fast food could go much farther in reducing the risk of diabetes. &nbsp;</p> <p>“Policies that merely target the volume of fast-food or other retail food outlets may have limited effectiveness without a consideration of the overall balance of the retail food landscape,” said Polsky (pictured at right).</p> <p>This study is part of a supplement, <a href="http://journal.cpha.ca/index.php/cjph/issue/view/323">Retail Food Environments in Canada</a>, which included a foreword by Dr. <strong>Jane Philpott</strong>, Canada’s Minster of Health who is a DLSPH alumnus.</p> <p>“Healthy eating is a partnership and we are supportive of initiatives like this supplement which focuses specifically on food retail environments, places where most of us make the majority of our food purchase decisions,” Philpott wrote in her foreword.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 09 Jun 2016 19:31:06 +0000 krisha 14226 at Losing weight can make you more attractive, experts say – but there's a catch /news/losing-weight-can-make-you-more-attractive-experts-say-%E2%80%93-theres-catch <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Losing weight can make you more attractive, experts say – but there's a catch</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-12-03T07:02:22-05:00" title="Thursday, December 3, 2015 - 07:02" class="datetime">Thu, 12/03/2015 - 07:02</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">“When it comes to incentives for weight loss, some people are more motivated to look attractive than to improve their health,” Daniel Re said (photo by Allan Foster via Flickr)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/sean-bettam" hreflang="en">Sean Bettam</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Sean Bettam</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/psychology" hreflang="en">Psychology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/diet" hreflang="en">Diet</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nicholas-rule" hreflang="en">Nicholas Rule</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Study reveals a noticeably thinner face is the key so be prepared to drop 14 to 18 pounds</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers at the University of Toronto have determined the amount of weight people need to gain or lose before others notice or find them more attractive&nbsp;– based on the way their faces look.</p> <p>“Women and men of average height need to gain or lose about three and a half and four kilograms, or about eight and nine pounds, respectively, for anyone to see it in their face,” said <strong>Nicholas Rule</strong>, associate professor in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and Canada Research Chair in Social Perception and Cognition.</p> <p>“But they need to lose about twice as much for anyone to find them more attractive.”</p> <p>Rule and postdoctoral fellow <strong>Daniel Re</strong> looked at facial adiposity –&nbsp;the perception of weight in the face –&nbsp;because it is an accurate indicator of a person’s body mass index (BMI), which is calculated as a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of the person’s height in metres (kg/m2).</p> <p>“It is a robust indicator of one’s health,” said Rule. “Increased facial adiposity is associated with a compromised immune system, poor cardiovascular function, frequent respiratory infections, and mortality. So, even a small decrease can improve one’s health.”</p> <p>To determine at what point a change in the perception of facial adiposity occurs, Rule and Re digitally created a collection of photos of male and female faces between 20 and 40 years old. In all photos, subjects had neutral expressions, hair pulled back, and no facial adornments. They altered each image to produce sequences of images spanning a range of weights on a gradually increasing scale.</p> <p>Participants in the study were asked to compare randomly drawn pairs of faces from each sequence and choose the heavier-looking one. After several trials, the researchers determined a change in BMI of approximately 1.33 kg/m2 is required to make a difference noticeable.</p> <p>“We calculated the weight change thresholds in terms of BMI rather than simple kilograms or pounds, so that people of all weights and heights can apply it to themselves according to their individual stature,” said Re.</p> <p>The researchers also investigated the threshold at which changes in an individual’s facial adiposity resulted in a change in perceived attractiveness. Although beauty is to some extent in the eye of the beholder, a large body of research shows that there are some universal standards of beauty, and these tend to reflect whether or not someone looks healthy.</p> <p>Rule and Re found that the average decrease required to make the faces in the sample appear more attractive was 2.38 kg/m2 for women, and 2.59 kg/m2 for men, translating to about 6.3 and 8.2 kilograms (approximately 14 and 18 pounds) for women and men of average height, respectively.</p> <p>“The difference between the groups suggests women’s facial attractiveness may be more sensitive to changes in weight,” said Rule. “This just means women attempting to lose weight need to shed slightly fewer pounds than men for people to find them more attractive.”</p> <p>“When it comes to incentives for weight loss, some people are more motivated to look attractive than to improve their health,” said Re.</p> <p>The research is described in full in the study “H<a href="http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/08/09/1948550615599829.abstract">eavy Matters: The Relationship Between Just Noticeable Differences in Perceptions of Facial Adiposity and Facial Attractiveness</a>,” published in <em>Social Psychological and Personality Science</em>.</p> <p><em>Sean Bettam is a writer with the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science at the University of Toronto.</em></p> <p><em>(<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/foshydog/5111516935/in/photolist-8MFRUk-pdsQzJ-7zu4fo-5Ro6Q7-b7KN9Z-6kaBaN-DgdhC-fZg17z-7zu3xw-8dfgYv-CmTND-rHaYij-8diz5h-8H3bvB-8H6jtG-8H6kcN-6qLz11-7L4qCR-pgHr9U-8H3aJK-7gMEaU-aC93kY-5xaWxn-ncNAYH-dtmEYC-bycKZR-8dixNs-nsYAo2-8KrAgL-67ZnaV-8dffKT-bMykgc-dDrn6D-3m6Z7p-shADvN-byDD47-bMyjAr-bMykSe-dFfnfM-4sDXYq-9n6xgq-9n3sQB-bX291j-dVz4uc-aSFNhp-bX27Mm-bX28AW-oDyapz-dysUHf-ejy3Ac">See the original of the above photo at Flickr</a>)</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-12-03-weight-scale.jpg</div> </div> Thu, 03 Dec 2015 12:02:22 +0000 sgupta 7498 at Popular diet theory debunked /news/popular-diet-theory-debunked <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Popular diet theory debunked</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2014-01-15T11:01:47-05:00" title="Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 11:01" class="datetime">Wed, 01/15/2014 - 11:01</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Healthy eating habits can help you lose weight but the success of your diet has nothing to do with your blood type, researchers found (photo by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District via Flickr)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/michael-kennedy" hreflang="en">Michael Kennedy</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Michael Kennedy</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nutrition" hreflang="en">Nutrition</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine" hreflang="en">Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/diet" hreflang="en">Diet</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">It's not about your blood type, research shows</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers from the University of Toronto have found that the theory behind the popular blood type diet – which claims an individual’s nutritional needs vary by blood type – is not valid. The findings are published this week in <em>PLoS One</em>.</p> <p>“Based on the data of 1,455 study participants, we found no evidence to support the ‘blood-type’ diet theory,” said the senior author of the study, Dr. <strong>Ahmed El-Sohemy</strong>, associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Nutrigenomics at the University.</p> <p>“The way an individual responds to any one of these diets has absolutely nothing to do with their blood type and has everything to do with their ability to stick to a sensible vegetarian or low-carbohydrate diet,” said El-Sohemy.</p> <p>Researchers found that the associations they observed between each of the four blood-type (A, B, AB, O) diets and the markers of health are independent of the person’s blood type.</p> <p>The ‘blood-type’ diet was popularized in the book <em>Eat Right for Your Type</em>, written by naturopath Peter D’Adamo. The theory behind the diet is that the ABO blood type should match the dietary habits of our ancestors and people with different blood types process food differently. According to the theory,&nbsp;people adhering to a diet specific to&nbsp;their blood type can improve health and decrease risk of chronic illness such as cardiovascular disease.</p> <p>The book was a <em>New York Times</em> best-seller that has been translated into 52 languages and sold over 7 million copies. But last year, a comprehensive review published in the <em>American Journal of Clinical Nutrition</em> found no evidence to support the ‘blood-type’ diet and called for properly designed scientific studies to address it.</p> <p>“There was just no evidence, one way or the other," said El-Sohemy. "It was an intriguing hypothesis so we felt we should put it to the test."</p> <p>The Թϱ researchers took an existing population of mostly young and healthy adults who provided detailed information about their usual diets and provided fasting blood that was used to isolate DNA to determine their ABO blood type and the level of cardiometabolic risk factors, such as insulin, cholesterol and triglycerides. Diet scores were calculated based on the food items listed in <em>Eat Right for Your Type</em> to determine relative adherence to each of the four ‘blood-type’ diets.</p> <p>"We can now be confident in saying that the blood type diet hypothesis is false,” said El-Sohemy.</p> <p><em>Michael Kennedy is a writer with University Relations at the University of Toronto.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2014-01-15-blood-type-diet-groceries.jpg</div> </div> Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:01:47 +0000 sgupta 5815 at