Month: September 2017

Artificial sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners and what you need to know!

Posted JacobPosted in Diet

There are thousands of foods and supplements that use artificial sweeteners now. They are in your protein, your preworkout, BCAAs and many other food products. The main concern is how safe these are and what side effects they may have on the body. Many people who go on a diet try to save themselves from eating more calories by switching to diet drinks or adding low calorie sweetener. I personally use low calorie powders or add artificial sweeteners such as stevia to my oatmeal and other foods to add flavor without the excess carbs. Aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, acesulfame K, neotame, stevia and tagatose are all sweeteners that you will see in products today.

Aspartame has been heavily discussed and many people are determined to avoid it. Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than normal sugar and studies have suggested some benefits from consuming it. Animal studies showed that it may have possible benefits such as anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. However studies have also shown aspartame might also negatively influence the body. In 2005 research was done by the Ramazzini Foundation in Italy. They concluded that aspartame had carcinogenic properties in rats and that even 20 mg/kg body weight of aspartame daily poses carcinogenic effects. However, in 2009 European Food Safety Authority looked over the Ramazzini Foundation study and reported that the tumors had developed by chance and not due to the exposure to aspartame. The topic is very controversial on whether the findings of carcinogenic properties are true or not. Overall the sweetener is generally considered safe to consume.

Saccharin is the first artificial sweetener used and was discovered over 100 years ago. In the past saccharin use was very controversial because of a study done in 1960. The study showed an increase of bladder cancer in rats. Although this finding was alarming in animals the International Agency for Research on Cancer changed its status of possibly cancerous to not cancerous to humans even with animal trials against it because of interspecies differences. While there is not a ban on it in the US other countries restrict its use and others have banned it completely.

Sucralose is used in many supplements I take and is 600 times sweeter than sugar. It is widely considered safe even with people diagnosed with diabetes. Over a three month period 128 people diagnosed with diabetes were monitored and the use of sucralose resulted in no adverse affect in control of blood sugar. One downside is that it does promote tooth decay unlike some other artificial sweeteners. These studies have been recently been contradicted by new studies on non-caloric artificial sweeteners which in human studies have show a change in the absorption of glucose in the bowel, and sometimes leading to increased glucose levels in the blood. In the recent studies it was thought that artificial sweeteners themselves didn’t cause glucose to rise but actually allowed for increased absorption of actual glucose in the bowel. It was also thought that artificial sweeteners decreased GLP-1 a signaling molecule which keeps glucose levels from getting too high. 

Acesulfame K is great for many products because of its solubility and it remains stable under high temperatures. Just like sucralose it is viewed widely safe around the world.

Stevia is an artificial sugar I use all the time during meal prep. I put it in my oatmeal and on my sweet potatoes. It comes from the plant Stevia rebaudiana, and is found in most stores. Stevia has been studied and showed to be safe to consume with its acceptable daily intake of 4 mg/kg of body weight.

Tagatose is related to fructose chemically. In large doses this sweetener can cause diarrhea, nausea, and flatulence. Other than that it is generally recognized as safe by the FDA.

Neotame is rarely used and is 8000 times sweeter than sugar. It resembles aspartame however is more stable and is recognized as safe to use by the FDA.

At the end of the day it’s up to you to decide whether you want to include these in your diet or not. I use them all the time and don’t mind it if it’s in my food or supplements considering it saves me calories and helps me get a satisfied sugar craving without the net caloric gain. There are studies out there that have been conducted on rats showing an increase in food consumption and appetite however if you stick to a strict eating routine this shouldn’t be a problem for you.

Sources for artificial sweeteners:

Pradhan S, Shah UH, Mathur A, Sharma S. Experimental evaluation of antipyretic and an-algesic activity of aspartame. Indian J Pharmacol. 2011;43:89–90 

LaBuda CJ, Fuchs PN. A comparison of chronic aspartame exposure to aspirin on inflammation, hyperalgesia and open field activity following carrageenan-induced monoarthritis. Life Sci. 2001;69:443–54.  

Hampton T. Sugar substitutes linked to weight gain. JAMA. 2008;299:2137–8. 

Swithers SE, Davidson TL. “A role for sweet taste: Calorie predictive relations in energy regulation by rats” Behav Neurosci. 2008;122:161–73.

DeNoon, Daniel J. Reviewed by Charlotte Grayson Mathis MD. “Drink More Diet Soda, Gain More Weight? Overweight Risk Soars 41% with Each Daily Can of Diet Soft Drink”, Web MD Medical News (2005)

Artificial Sweeteners May Damage Diet Efforts

Lin SY, Cheng YD. “Simultaneous formation and detection of the reaction product of solid-state aspartame sweetener by FT-IR/DSC microscopic system.” Food Addit Contam. 2000;17:821–7 

Soffritti M, Belpoggi F, Degli Esposti D, Lambertini L, Tibaldi E, Rigano A. First Experimental Demonstration of the Multipotential Carcinogenic Effects of Aspartame Administered in the Feed to Sprague-Dawley Rats. Environ Health Perspect. 2006;114:379–85. 

Zwillich T. Aspartame Safety Study Stirs Emotions. Italian Study Shows Sweetener Promotes Cancer in Rats; FDA Says It’s Safe. 2007.

Reports of the meetings on Aspartame with national experts. ON-1641 Noted at the 36th Advisory Forum Meeting. 2010. May 19-20 

Grotz VL, Henry RR, McGill JB, Prince MJ, Shamoon H, Trout JR, et al. Lack of effect of sucralose on glucose homeostasis in subjects with type 2 diabetes. J Am Diet Assoc. 2003;103:1607–12.

Tagatose, the new GRAS sweetener and health product.

Impact of artificial sweeteners on glycaemic control in healthy humans

 

 

benefits of sauna

Benefits of sauna use and the science behind it

Posted DylanPosted in Health

Benefits of sauna use go beyond the relaxing and quite heavenly experience that you get from a 10 minute post workout sweat session. Sauna and steam rooms have a decent amount of research behind them. Recently Ironsnack took a trip out to Vegas for a week of pleasure. Aside from putting on some good weight through daily full body workouts and delicious buffets we spent a good deal of time at the spa, where we discovered the sauna. Jacob and I found it to be the perfect post workout start to the day. As a doctor I have been very curious about the effects the sauna has on the body. So here is what I found.

Sauna bathing is essentially sitting or lying in a hot room and the environment can be dry or wet. Wet saunas have temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius compared to dry saunas but often can feel warmer due to the high humidity (nearly 100%). Where dry saunas have humidity between 10-20% and a temperature around 80-100 degrees Celsius at level of the head while sitting up.

The physiologic changes in heated muscle include increase carbohydrate utilization and possible improvement in insulin sensitivity as well. Some other small studies have found that sauna bathing can help decrease total cholesterol and LDL (bad cholesterol) while increasing (HDL) good cholesterol. The positive effects went away 1-2 weeks after the participants stopped using the sauna. The magnitude of these changes were similar to those seen in moderate-intensity exercise.

Many of us have take nitric oxide supplements, or nitric oxide precursors such as citruline and L-arginine to get a better pump or to look more vascular. It was found that hamsters that underwent sauna treatment for 4 weeks had increased expression of nitric oxide synthase (an enzyme that produces NO) compared to those that didn’t undergo sauna therapy. Sauna therapy also decreased “afterload” which is the force that the heart has to overcome to pump blood to the body. Maybe this best can be though of as relaxing the vascular system making it easier for the heart to pump. The blood vessels have smooth muscle in them and they are essentially less ‘clamped down.’ This makes sense in two ways, one because NO relaxes the vessels and two because the vessels especially in the skin dilate in an effort to cool the body down faster. In humans it been observed that sauna use decreases diastolic blood pressure, your blood pressure when your heart is relaxed.

A study published in 2015 in JAMA Internal Medicine found important benefits of sauna use. They found increased use of the sauna was associated with reduced risk of sudden cardiac death, coronary vascular disease, and all cause mortality. The study followed people for around 20 years and found that those who used the sauna more frequently had a lower risk of death. Benefits of sauna use also include increased appetite and decreased reporting of aches and pains in those who are mildly depressed. Researchers have also looked at the incidence of the common cold in those who use sauna baths regularly. They found that there were fewer episodes of the common cold in those that used the sauna. However, the length and severity of the cold if you were to get one was unchanged. When athletes and non-athletes used sauna one time they found that white blood cell count (cells that fight off infection) were increased in the athlete population after a sauna. The researchers thought that this might indicate a faster mobilization of immune cells in athletes. They even suggested that sauna bathing might enhance immunologic defense. Further studies of the benefits of sauna use in competitive male runners found increased endurance and running performance after 3 weeks of post-exercise sauna bathing.

Pseudo-science warning! If you have thought about a sauna you probably couldn’t help but think the thought “sweating out the toxins.” Researchers found there was no difference in “toxin” excretion rates between infrared, exercise, dry or wet saunas.

No doubt the sauna experience is extreme, there are big shifts in fluid, heart rate, and changes in blood pressure. Dry saunas have reporitly greater losses of body water compared to wet saunas about a pound and half of body water per session vs 0.8 lbs in the wet sauna. Wet saunas tend to increase heart rate more than dry sauna. You should always check with your doctor before deciding to use a sauna, especially if you have medical problems. The safety of saunas has been explored in in a few studies one group found that 60 degree C sauna bathing was safe and actually improved symptoms in those with chronic systolic heart failure (heart not pumping strongly.) Other studies have made the claim that sauna use has been well tolerated and posed no health risks to healthy people from childhood to old age. They noted decreased systolic blood pressure, increased ejection fraction (percentage of blood the heart squeezes out with each beat) and improved exercise tolerance. For those who cannot tolerate exercise thermal therapy such as sauna bathing has been mentioned by researchers as a possible alternative to exercise.

Summary of the researched benefits of sauna use

  1. decreased diastolic blood pressure
  2. decreased aches and pains and increased appetite in those who are mildly depressed
  3. decreased muscle fatigue
  4. decreased bad cholesterol and small but significant increase in good cholesterol
  5. fewer common colds
  6. decreased mortality
  7. improved exercise endurance
  8. improved immune function
  9. increased nitric oxide for better pumps and vascularity
  10. decreased symptoms in those who have systolic heart failure
Sources for benefits of sauna use:

Effect of temperature on muscle metabolism during submaximal exercise in humans.

Beneficial effects of sauna bathing for heart failure patients

Regular Sauna Bathing and the Incidence of Common Colds

Safety and efficacy of repeated sauna bathing in patients with chronic systolic heart failure: a preliminary report.

Human Excretion of Bisphenol A: Blood, Urine, and Sweat (BUS) Study

Environmental determinants of chronic disease and medical approaches: recognition, avoidance, supportive therapy, and detoxification.

Safety, acceptance, and physiologic effects of sauna bathing in people with chronic heart failure: a pilot report.

Comparison of physiological reactions and physiological strain in healthy men under heat stress in dry and steam heat saunas

Effect of a Single Finnish Sauna Session on White Blood Cell Profile and Cortisol Levels in Athletes and Non-Athletes

Regular thermal therapy may promote insulin sensitivity while boosting expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase–effects comparable to those of exercise training.

The effect of sauna bathing on lipid profile in young, physically active, male subjects.

Changes in the lipid profile of blood serum in women taking sauna baths of various duration.

Effect of post-exercise sauna bathing on the endurance performance of competitive male runners.

Association Between Sauna Bathing and Fatal Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality Events

The Medical Risks and Benefits of Sauna, Steam Bath, and Whirlpool Use

Physiological functions of the effects of the different bathing method on recovery from local muscle fatigue

Repeated thermal therapy diminishes appetite loss and subjective complaints in mildly depressed patients.

 

Omega-3 fatty acids

Fish oil (omega-3 fatty acids.) What are the benefits?

Posted JacobPosted in Supplementation

Some supplements are pure snake oil; meaning they’re sold by really sly villains with bad intentions and wont do a thing but waste your money, while others actually can benefit you. One supplement I normally take every day is fish oil. Fish oil has a lot of benefits that many people don’t know about. Fish oil is important because it contains Omega-3 fatty acids. Many of these supplements contain both EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).

Some of the benefits of these fatty acids include reducing blood pressure, improving cardiovascular health, and recent studies suggest it can help with inflammation. In a clinical study they tested healthy women and men to see if omega-3 fatty acids had an effect on inflammation. For this study they had their subjects do eccentric arm curls while being restricted on their omega-3 intake for 14 days and then again after 7 days of omega-3 supplementation. At the end of the study they found that when omega-3 was added, muscle soreness was 15% less than the diet without it. However, if you are eating foods high in omega-3 fatty acids then you don’t really have to supplement with fish oil. A diet with good amounts of beans, flax, canola oil, and obviously fish will give you the adequate amounts of omega-3 fatty acids that you need.

Normally you can get it at most vitamin stores and the supplement its self is very cheap. When supplementing with fish oil the adequate intakes differ between age and sex. For most of the population from age 19+ the adequate intake of omega-3 fatty acids is 1.6g for men and 1.1g for women. The adequate amount also changes for pregnancy (1.4g) and lactation (1.3g). Unlike a lot of fats, the body can’t produce omega-3 fatty acids on its own which is why it’s important to include diets that supply the body with these fats or to use omega-3 supplementation. If you want to learn about more of the benefits of fat in your diet check out our YouTube video here. If you are interested in supplementing with fish oil here is a product that is highly rated by a third party company that checks the contents of the supplement and for impurities.

 

Sources for omega-3 fatty acids:

The Effect of Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation on the Inflammatory Response to eccentric strength exercise

National Institute of Health: Omega-3 Fatty Acids