Being Physically Active in the Evening May Prolong Your Life
Moving about in the evening is associated with lower risk for heart disease and death in obese adults, compared to being physically active in the morning or afternoon. Evening activity was associated with lower incidence of eye, kidney or nerve damage in those who were also diabetic in addition to being obese. The study included 29,836 obese adults, average age 62, including 2995 who also suffered from diabetes. The researchers used wrist accelerometers to determine levels of physical activity, and followed the participants for 7.9 years.
Olga Fikotova, Cold War Romance
Czechoslovakian Olga Fikotova, the 1956 Olympic Discus Champion, died at age 91 of breast cancer in Costa Mesa, California on April 14, 2024. During the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, Olga met Harold Connolly, the American who won the gold medal in the 16-pound hammer throw. Their Cold War romance sparked a hopeful wish for peace around the world.
Emulsifiers and Inflammation
A recent study of 92,000 French adults suggests that people who eat lots of emulsifiers in processed foods are at significantly increased risk for certain cancers. Those who ate the most foods with an emulsifier called carrageenan, had a 32 percent increased risk for breast cancer, and those who ate the most mono- and diglyceride emulsifiers had a 46 percent increased risk for prostate cancer. Other studies found that people who eat the most food with emulsifiers, such as ice cream and processed cheeses.
Good News About Nuts and Peanuts
A recent analysis of 86 studies found that “there is no association between nuts and weight gain, and in fact some analyses showed higher nut intake associated with reductions in body weight and waist circumference. The researchers from University of Toronto noted that even though nuts are concentrated sources of fats, “The physical structure of nuts may also contribute to fat malabsorption due to the fat content in nuts being contained within walled cellular structures that are incompletely masticated or digested.”
Roman Gabriel and Death from “Natural Causes”
Roman Gabriel was a quarterback in the National Football League for 16 years, with the Los Angeles Rams from 1962 to 1972 and the Philadelphia Eagles from 1973 to 1977. In 1969 he led the NFL with 24 touchdown passes and was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. He was in the Pro Bowl in 1967, 1968, 1969, and 1973. At the height of his football career, he appeared in the movie, “Skidoo,” starring Jackie Gleason in 1968, and “The Undefeated” starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson in 1969.
Use “Stress and Recover” Workouts, Even If You Exercise Just For Health
Competitive athletes train by “stressing and recovering,” and healthy people who do not compete in sports can gain greater benefits from their exercise programs by using this same training principle. You have to damage muscles to gain strength and enlarge muscles. You become more fit if on one day, you stress your muscles by taking a hard workout, and then letting your muscles recover by exercising at a very slow and relaxed pace with reduced force on your muscles, for as many days as it takes for your muscles to feel ready for another hard workout.
Eating Very Fast or Eating Late at Night May Increase Weight Gain
Most of you already know that weight gain, diabetes and heart attacks are associated with eating pro-inflammatory foods such as mammal meat, sugar-added foods and fried foods. However, you may not know that people who eat their meals very fast (an average of less than six minutes), snack after supper just before going to sleep, or who skip breakfast, are also at increased risk for these three conditions.
Akebono Taro: 500-pound Sumo Wrestler Dead from Heart Failure
Akebono Taro was the first non-Japanese-born wrestler ever to reach the highest rank in Sumo wrestling and he was also one of the tallest and heaviest Sumo wrestlers ever at 6′ 8″ in height and more than 500 pounds in weight. Taro retired from wrestling in January 2001 due to multiple injuries, and his massive obesity eventually caused him to die of heart failure at age 54.
Muscle Fibers and Sarcomeres
Each muscle fiber is made of a series of blocks called sarcomeres that are lined up end to end. Each sarcomere is attached to the one next to it at a “Z line.” Muscle fibers do not contract equally along their lengths; they contract only at each “Z line”. To strengthen a muscle, you have to put enough force on the muscle to damage the Z-lines, as evidenced by bleeding and swelling into the Z-lines.
Colon Bacteria for Your Health
Researchers at the Mass General Hospital report that stool samples from more than 1,400 participants in the Framingham Heart Study grew certain bacteria, such as Oscillibacter or Eubacterium coprostanoligenes, that break down cholesterol in your gut to lower blood cholesterol levels. Realize that these bacteria lower cholesterol only as long as you don’t take in more calories than you burn. When you take in lots of extra calories, your liver makes so much more cholesterol that your blood cholesterol level will still rise.