Got Belly Fat? You Just May Get Osteoporosis

I just read an article published in ScienceDaily (Nov. 30, 2010) that says that belly fat in women can cause a decrease in bone strength and an increase in osteoporosis.

In the past, studies had indicated that the opposite was true, stating that the excess body fat protected against bone loss. But a new study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) found that having too much internal abdominal fat may have a big impact on bone health.

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"We know that obesity is a major public health problem," said the study's lead author, Miriam A. Bredella, M.D., a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. "Now we know that abdominal obesity needs to be included as a risk factor for osteoporosis and bone loss."

We already know that approximately 72 million American adults are considered obese (according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more and that being obese contributes to a multitude of health problems.

When it comes to being overweight, or obese, the type of fat stored by the body is what determines what type of issue the body may experience. We have many types of fat; subcutaneous, superficial, even bone marrow fat, but visceral fat--the intra-abdominal fat that is packed around the organs in the abdominal cavity---is the fat that is associated with an increased risk of heart disease.

In his study, Dr. Bredella and his colleagues set out to evaluate the abdominal subcutaneous, visceral and total fat, as well as bone marrow fat and bone mineral density, in 50 premenopausal women with a mean BMI of 30. Each woman's bone density was tested using specialized equipment. The imaging revealed that women with more visceral fat had increased bone marrow fat and decreased bone mineral density.

Dr. Bredella concluded, "Our results showed that having a lot of belly fat is more detrimental to bone health than having more superficial fat or fat around the hips. It is important for the public to be aware that excess belly fat is a risk factor for bone loss, as well as heart disease and diabetes."

While bone loss is more common in women, the research team is currently conducting a study to determine whether belly fat is also a risk factor for bone loss in men. According to the National Women's Health Information Center, 10 million Americans have osteoporosis and 18 million more have low bone mass, placing them at risk for the disease.

Osteoporosis, or low bone mass, is a disease that puts you at risk for bone fractures. It also is the reason that older people, mostly women, stoop over when they are upright. The name Osteoporosis literally means "porous bones." Most common in post-menopausal women, after age 75 it is seen in both men and women.

Exercise and taking the proper amount of calcium and Vitamin D have been shown to greatly reduce the chances of developing the disease, or helping minimize it once it has been diagnosed.

The lesson here is pretty obvious: get off the couch, exercise and lose some weight. Your entire body will thank you for it!

Homemade Artisan Bread in Five Minutes!!

I don't know about you, but I absolutely love hot bread fresh from the oven, especially if it's homemade. But who has time for that?

Not this girl.

I decided one day when I had nothing better to do (yeah, like I have those kind of days!) to surf the Web and find a way to make healthy homemade bread without a machine, a mixer, hours and hours of kneading and rising, and without a billion ingredients.

Guess what? I found it! Although the recipe was for white bread using white flour (which unless I am making it just for my husband who lives for white bread I will not touch bleached white flour), I decided to brave it and use whole wheat flour. This recipe comes from a book titled Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The five minute part is the "hands-on" time spent; it does take several hours from start to finish. Afterall, it is not "instant" artisan bread!

So I tried it  and oh my gosh--it was so good. Crispy and crusty on the outside, dense (a bit heavy but not overly so) on the inside, and spread with some almond butter it was simply Devine.

When I made the second loaf, I added in some raw sunflower seeds and brushed the top of the loaf with oil and sprinkled some seeds on it prior to baking.

Beyond Devine.

If you like (or love) healthy, nutty, crunchy, warm and comforting bread, you have to give this a try. It is so easy you will not believe it.

And if the seeds and whole wheat don't trip your trigger---go ahead and use white flour. I won't tell anyone!

Homemade Wheat Artisan Bread
(Makes Four One-Pound Loaves)

• 3 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 TBL sea salt
• 1 1/2 TBL yeast
• 6 1/2 Cups whole wheat flour (or a blend of white and wheat for softer bread)
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (optional)
• 1 TBL sunflower seeds (optional)
• Olive or canola oil
• cornmeal

Preparing the dough:

In a 5-quart bowl or a resealable, lidded, plastic food container, add yeast and salt to lukewarm water. Don't worry about getting it all to dissolve.

Add in all the flour at once. Mix with a wooden spoon (you can use very wet hands to help if needed) or a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Don't knead the dough; just mix until it is uniformly moist without dry patches.

Cover with a lid that fits well, but is not airtight. Allow to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse, about 2 hours. (You can let it go up to 5 hours.) The dough is ready to use at this point, but will be easier to shape if it is refrigerated at least 3 hours first.

On baking day:

Prepare a pizza peel by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal (or line it with parchment).

Sprinkle the surface of your refrigerated dough with flour.

Pull up and cut off a 1 pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough, using a serrated knife.

Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won't stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. (Most of the dusting flour will fall off.) The bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will flatten and adhere during resting and baking. Handle the dough as little as possible.

Place the shaped ball on the cornmeal-covered pizza peel. Allow the loaf to rest on the peel for about 40 minutes, uncovered. Depending on the age of the dough, you may not see much rise (more will occur during baking).

20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.

Brush the loaf lightly with oil, or even spray with non-stick cooking spray and press the sunflower seeds onto the surface. 

With a quick forward jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the preheated baking stone. Quickly but carefully pour about 1 cup of hot water from the tap into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch. Allow to cool completely (unless you're like me and have to have instant gratification), preferably on a wire rack.

Store the remaining dough in the refrigerator in your lidded (not airtight) container. Cut off and shape more loaves as you need them anytime over the next 14 days. The flavor and texture will improve after even one day's storage.

Note: If you don't have a baking stone, you can bake the loaf on a cookie sheet, but I found the crust did not come out as crusty/crispy this way. You can also try using unglazed garden tiles or buy a ceramic floor tile at the homecenter and use the backside (the unfinished side) to bake on. If you don't have a pizza peel, the back side of a cookie sheet is a good substitute.
I'm thinking this bread would be delicious with lots of other add-ins as well. I'm thinking all kinds of nuts, maybe cranberries or dried cherries, sesame seeds, whatever you like.

Give it a try the next time you're craving homemade bread but not wanting to spend hours preparing it!



Breaking Medical News

As most of you know, I keep up with the latest medical and health news (I subscribe to a ton of Journals). While the majority of the news I read about studies and such is pretty ho-hum, here and there are a few gems that cause me to put on my glasses  and read thoroughly.

Here are a couple of recent finds that you may not have seen and that are rather interesting:

1. Aspirin may help ward off Cancer

Taking low doses of aspirin (75 mg per day) can reduce the risk of many kinds of cancer, scientists found, and the evidence is strong enough to suggest people over 40 should take it daily as protection.

In the study, published in The Lancet, researchers found the 20-year risk of death was reduced by about 10 percent for prostate cancer, 30 percent for lung cancer, 40 percent for colorectal or bowel cancer and 60 percent for oesophageal cancer in those taking aspirin. For those over the age of 70, aspirin may not be advised due to the increased risk of stomach bleeding.

2.  Smoking may thin the outer layer of the brain

A study published in the Journal of Biological Psychiatry found that the left medial orbitofrontal cortex was thinner in smokers than non-smokers, and the more someone smoked, the thinner the membrane. It has been revealed in the past that smoking is linked to brain abnormalities and decay.The thinning of the membrane is associated with cognitive impairment.

3. Walking may slow degenerative brain issues such as Alzheimer's

A study by the Radiological Society of North America found that in healthy adults, walking at least 72 blocks a week (about six miles) helps preserve brain volume and slow the risk of cognitive decline. Cognitively impaired (those with symptons or have been diagnosed with an impairment) adults needed to walk at least 58 city blocks a week (about five miles) to achieve the same results.

4. Electronic cigarettes found to be unsafe

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside conducted a study that suggests that the chemicals present in the aerosolized vapors emanating from electronic cigarettes may be harmful to your health. This is one of the first studies conducted and researchers feel that much more research needs to be done on the possible unsafe effects that e-cigs may trigger.

5. Even a couple extras pounds can mean trouble

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, while not conclusive, found that in 1.5 million caucasion adults, the risk for death was higher in those above the average weight. Stay tuned for more on this topic!