Weight-Loss Supplement May Induce Mania
in Certain People
he weight-loss supplement
garcinia cambogia may
have the unwanted side
effect of inducing mania,
which is a feeling of an
abnormally high level of
energy, agitation and
euphoria, according to a
recent report of three
separate cases.
In each case, the patient
became manic while taking
the over-the-counter
supplement, and the
doctors who treated the
patients came to suspect
that the supplement played
a role, according to the
report, published in April
in the journal The Primary
Care Companion for CNS
Disorders. Mania can be
harmful if it leads someone
to take part in risky
behaviors.
Despite an increase in
popularity in recent years,
garcinia cambogia has not
really been on
psychiatrists' radar as a
possible trigger of mania,
said Dr. Brian
Hendrickson, a psychiatry
resident at New York
Presbyterian Hospital and
the lead author of the
report.
Indeed, it wasn't until the
doctors saw all three
patients, over the course of
a six-month period, that
the physicians realized
garcinia cambogia may
have played a role,
Hendrickson told Live
Science.
Although the doctors can't
definitively confirm that
garcinia cambogia caused
each person's mania, all of
the patients had been
taking the supplement
regularly for several weeks
before their symptoms
began, Hendrickson said.
Because there are many
mechanisms that can cause
mania, and often, multiple
mechanisms are at play, it
is difficult to single out a
sole cause, the report said.
All of the patients were
stable and had generally
positive moods before the
mania began, according to
the report. When they
became manic, they
experienced common
symptoms of mania such
as a decreased need for
sleep, irritability, excessive
spending and "pressured
speech," meaning they
spoke very quickly and
frenziedly, according to the
report.
Interestingly, the three
patients all had different
baseline levels of risk of
developing mania before
they began taking the
supplements, Hendrickson
said. One patient had no report. In the two other been diagnosed with
history of psychiatric cases, however, the bipolar disorder:
illness, according to the patients had previously

How Your Sandwich Could Be Hurting Your Diet

About half of Americans

eat a sandwich on any
given day, but the classic
lunch item may be
contributing to a generally
less healthy diet, a new
study suggests.

The study found that on

the days that people ate
sandwiches, they
consumed nearly 100 more
calories, as well as more
sodium, fat and sugar,
compared to the days when
they didn't eat sandwiches.
of sandwiches in order to study, the researchers used
The sandwiches that make informed and more data from 2003 to 2012.
Americans typically healthful dietary choices,"
consume tend to be high in the researchers wrote in the About 53 percent of the
calories, fat and sodium, July 9 issue of the journal participants ate a sandwich
and low in produce, study Public Health. on any given day, the study
co-author Ruopeng An, an found. The most common
assistant professor of
In the study, the types of sandwiches were
kinesiology and
researchers analyzed filled with cold cuts,
community health at the
University of Illinois at information from more burgers and poultry.
Urbana-Champaign, told than 27,000 U.S. adults Overall, sandwiches
Live Science. who were surveyed about contributed to about one-
what they ate over the last quarter of people's daily
The finding suggests that 24 hours, on two separate calories, and a third of
people should pay days. The data were from a their fat and sodium for the
attention to the nutrition national survey that is day.
content of their given every year by
sandwiches. "Sandwich researchers at the Centers The researchers then
consumers are advised to for Disease Control and looked at people who
prudently evaluate the Prevention. For the new reported eating a sandwich
calorie and nutrient content on just one of the two
survey days. They found grams of sugar, on days when they ate
that on the days when average, compared to the sandwiches, compared to
people ate sandwiches, days when they didn't eat the days when they didn't
they consumed an extra 99 sandwiches. They also eat sandwiches.
calories, 7 grams of fat, consumed slightly less
268 grams of sodium and 3 fruit and vegetables on the

Healthy Kids: Homemade Meals Not Always Best

Parents who prepare recommended for children Although the analysis was
homemade baby food and ages 4 months to 4 years. based on store-bought
meals for their toddlers
can not only save money,
but may also provide
their kids with more
nutrients, a new study
suggested.

The study, led by

researchers in Scotland,
found that home-cooked
foods made based on
recipes in cookbooks for
infants and preschoolers
provided up to 77 percent
more nutrients than
similar foods that were
commercially prepared.
The findings were The findings indicate that meals purchased in the
published today (July 19) "home-cooked recipes United Kingdom, Carstairs
in the journal Archives of from infant and toddler said that similar findings
Disease in Childhood. cookbooks are a cheaper may be found for
meal option and contain commercial products in
However, the study also greater nutrient levels, other Western countries.
suggested that meals made
such as protein, compared
from scratch were not
with commercially About 50 percent of the
necessarily better for
babies and toddlers than available infant and toddler home-cooked recipes
store-bought counterparts: meals," said study evaluated in the study
The data showed that the researcher Sharon exceeded calorie
majority of cookbook Carstairs, a doctoral recommendations for
recipes contained more candidate in nutrition at the young children in the
calories and fat than are University of Aberdeen in United Kingdom,
Scotland. containing about 51
percent more calories than
recommended, on average.
And 37 percent of the
recipes exceeded dietary
fat recommendations,
Carstairs said. This could
potentially set the stage for and their risk of obesity,
kids to consume too much the researchers said.
dietary fat and calories
from an early age, which
could affect their health

The 4 Types of Exercise You Need to Be Healthy

When you think of

exercise, you may imagine
strenuous activities such as
running or biking the
ones that make you breathe
hard, turn flush and drip
with sweat. But aerobic
activity is only one type of
exercise, and although it is
critical for boosting fitness,
there are actually three
other types of exercise that
are also important: strength
training, balance training
and flexibility training.
each other, Laskowski you're not flexible, you're
Each type of exercise is said. still going to pull
important in its own way, something when you're
and doing all four types is For example, strength training," said Kelly Drew,
the way to maximize your training makes muscles an exercise physiologist
fitness and prevent injury, stronger, which, in turn, with the American College
experts say. helps to support and of Sports Medicine.
protect joints and this Flexibility also helps you
"While aerobic exercise is could help prevent injury
very important, it's not as do strength training,
during aerobic exercise. because it improves your
effective for overall
Meanwhile, balance range of motion around
health" when done alone
exercises use muscle your joints, ensuring you
compared with when
people include all four strength in a coordinated can perform lifts and other
types of exercise in their fashion to stabilize your strength moves effectively,
routine, said Dr. Edward movements, and can Drew said.
Laskowski, co-director of reduce the risk of injuries
the Mayo Clinic Sports such as ankle sprains, To dig up the most
Medicine Center in Laskowski said. important information on
Rochester, Minnesota. these exercise types, Live
"They all kind of go In addition, you could be Science spoke with experts
together" and complement very fit aerobically, but "if and reviewed the latest
scientific research. Below,
weve linked to our
detailed articles about the
four types of exercise.
Each article discusses the
benefits of the particular
exercise type, as well as of exercise into your
how much you need to do workout regimen.
and how to avoid injury
during the activity. Finally,
we'll provide ways to
incorporate all four types

Whole Grains Each Day Linked to Longer Life

Eating a diet rich in whole

grains may reduce your
risk of dying early, a new
meta-analysis finds.

People who reported

eating at least three
servings of whole grains
daily were 20 percent less
likely to die early from
any cause compared with
people who reported
eating less than one
serving a day, the
researchers found. The
analysis included 14
previous studies; all of the
studies were at least six
years long, and many were
more than 10 years long.
The researchers also
looked at specific causes of
death. They found that
eating three servings of
whole grains a day was
associated with a 25
percent lower risk of death
from heart disease, and a
14 percent lower risk of
death from cancer,
compared with eating one
serving or less of whole
grains daily.
The U.S. Dietary assistant professor of
Guidelines recommend nutrition at the Harvard
eating three or more School of Public Health in
servings of whole grains Boston, and the senior
each day. However, author on the study, said in
Americans eat, on average, a statement.
less than one serving a day,
according to the study, The studies in the meta-
published today (June 13) analysis included a total of
in the journal Circulation. more than 786,000 people.
There were nearly 98,000
Indeed, "these findings deaths in all of the studies,
lend further support to the including more than
U.S. government's current 23,000 from heart disease
Dietary Guidelines for and more than 37,000 from
Americans, which suggest cancer.
high consumption of whole
grains to facilitate disease "Multiple individual
prevention," Dr. Qi Sun, an studies consistently
revealed a reduced risk of
death among people who
consumed more whole
grains," Sun told Live
Science.
Moreover, each serving, or
0.5 ounces (16 grams), of
Eating Fat Doesn't Make You Fat, Study Finds
It seems logical to think
that eating a high-fat diet
would tip the scale
upward, but a new study
suggests that might not be
the case. What's more,
eating more of certain
types of fats may help
move the scale in the other
direction.
Men and women in the
study who followed a high-
whole grains a day was
associated with a 7 percent
reduction in a person's risk
of death from any cause, a
9 percent reduction in a
person's risk of death from
heart disease and a 5
fat, Mediterranean diet that
was rich in either olive oil
or nuts lost more weight
and reduced their waist
circumference more than
the people in the study
who were simply
instructed to reduce their
fat intake, according to the
study.
The Mediterranean diet,
rich in healthy fats and
percent reduction in a
person's risk of death from
cancer, the meta-analysis
found.
plant proteins, has been
linked in previous studies
to a wide range of health
benefits, including a
reduced risk of heart
disease and type 2 diabetes
two conditions that are
also linked to obesity.
But despite such benefits,
"obese people [have]
continued to be reluctant
to eat vegetable fats such
as extra-virgin olive oil
and nuts, because they
believe these foods lead to
weight gain," said Dr.
Ramon Estruch, an
internal medicine
physician at the University
of Barcelona in Spain and
the lead author of the
study.
The findings of the new
study show, on the other
hand, that a diet rich in
dietary fats and vegetables,
such as the Mediterranean
diet, does not promote
weight gain, Estruch said.
In the study, the
researchers looked at data
on people who had
participated in the
PREDIMED trial, a five-
year study in Spain that
looked at the effects of the
Mediterranean diet on
heart health. There were
nearly 7,500 older adults in
Potato-Heavy Diet Linked to High Blood Pressur
Packing potatoes into your
diet may put you at higher
risk for having high blood
pressure, a new study
finds, although the
researchers acknowledged
that the study presents an
interesting paradox.
People who reported eating
four or more servings of
potatoes per week were 11
percent more likely to have
hypertension, compared
with people who ate less
than one serving of
potatoes per month,
according to the study.
the study, the majority of
whom were overweight or
obese and all of whom had
either type 2 diabetes or at
least three risk factors for
heart disease.
Moreover, the researchers
found that replacing one
daily serving of baked,
boiled or mashed potatoes
with one serving of
nonstarchy vegetables was
associated with a 7 percent
decreased risk of
hypertension.
But the effects of potatoes
on blood pressure haven't
always been clear cut,
according to the study,
published today (May 17)
in the journal The BMJ.
Potatoes presented a
paradox, because they have
both high levels of
potassium, a mineral
associated with lower
blood pressure, and a high
glycemic index (meaning
that after a person eats
them, his or her blood
sugar levels rise rapidly),
which has been linked to
increased blood pressure,
the authors wrote in their
study.
However, the effects of
eating potatoes on blood
pressure over the long term
has not been previously
studied.
In the study, researchers
led by Dr. Lea Borgi, an
internist at Brigham and
Women's Hospital in
Boston, looked at more
than 20 years of data on
more than 187,000 men
and women who were
enrolled three long-running
studies: The Nurses' Health
Study, the Nurses' Health
Study II and the Health
Professionals Follow-up
Study. None of the
participants had high blood
pressure at the beginning
of the study.
Approximately every four
years, the participants
Extreme Workouts: The Nutritional Needs of Elite Athletes
completed food
questionnaires detailing
how frequently they
consumed certain foods,
according to the study.
Potatoes were sorted into
People who are
competitively active requires special nutrition,
such as college athletes or
those training for an
Ironman event typically Elite athletes will need to
work out several hours a
day.
For instance, Ironman
athletes, who bike 112
miles (180 kilometers),
swim 2.4 miles (3.9 km)
and run a marathon of 26.2
miles (42.2 km) in one day,
for instance, can burn
through 7,000 to 10,000
calories during a race day,
according to Ironman.com.
three categories: french
fries, potato chips and
potatoes that were either
baked, boiled or mashed.
Those grueling activities
experts said.
eat closer to 65 percent of
their calories from
carbohydrates to maximize
their performance, said
Asker Jeukendrup, a sports
nutrition scientist at the
Gatorade Sports Science
Institute, who has done
some of the pivotal studies
on carbohydrate usage and
athletic performance.
In particular, carbohydrate
loading can be beneficial
for top-performing
athletes, especially those
 doing an Ironman or a
marathon, Jeukendrup said.

"If your goal is to just

make it to the finish line,
your need isn't going to be
that high. You probably
don't need to do too much
differently on the day
before," he said. "If you
really want to run a fast
time, then it's a slightly
different story. You can
probably benefit from
increasing your
carbohydrate intake one or
two days before, and
maybe even three days
before" a race, he said.

How Your Diet Affects Your Risk of Colon Poly


NEW ORLEANS
Eating foods known to
promote inflammation may
increase a person's risk of
developing polyps in the
large intestine, or colon, a
new study finds. These
polyps are a common
precursor to colon cancer.
Compared with people
whose diets contained the
lowest amounts of pro-
inflammatory foods,
people whose diets
contained the highest
amounts of pro-
inflammatory foods
such as processed meats
and red meat were 56
percent more likely to have
one of these polyps, also
called an "adenoma,"
according to the new
study.
Kids Are Eating Nuts, Despite Rise in Allergies
"Inflammation is very pro-inflammatory scores,
consistently associated
with [a person's] risk of
colon cancer," said Dr.
Roberd Bostick, a they didn't appear to fight
professor of epidemiology
at Emory University in
Georgia and the senior
author on the study that
was presented here
Tuesday (April 19) at the
American Association for
Cancer Research's annual
meeting.
In the study, the
researchers used a "food-
based inflammation" score 1,955 participants who
that they had developed in
a previous study. Foods colonoscopy, Bostick said.
received scores based on
how they affected a
number of markers of
inflammation in the body,
Bostick told Live Science.
The researchers included
multiple markers such
as different proteins and
molecules in the blood
because inflammation is
complex, and there isn't
one single thing in the
body to measure it by, he
said.
The foods that had the
highest inflammation
scores were processed
meats and red meat,
Bostick said. Dairy foods
that contained fat also had
whereas poultry and fish
were neutral; they didn't
cause inflammation, but
it either, he said. Fruits,
vegetables and nonfat
dairy, on the other hand,
were determined to be anti-
inflammatory, he said.
To look at how diets with
different levels of
inflammatory foods
affected a person's risk of
developing an adenoma,
the researchers recruited
were planning to have a
None of the patients had
been previously diagnosed
with any type of cancer, he
said.
 Control and Prevention. [9 "You typically don't see

About one-third of
U.S. children and
teens eat nuts on any
given day, mostly in
the form of seeds
and nut butters,
according to a new
government report.

The report, which is

based on a national
survey, found that 32
percent of children
ages 2 to 19 ate nuts
on any given day
between 2009 and
2012.
About 40 percent of the
nuts that kids ate were
from a single product, like
seeds or peanut butter.
About 34 percent of nuts
consumed were ingredients
in grain-based foods like
breads, cakes, cereals and
nutrition bars, and 19
percent were ingredients in
candy bars, the study
found.
Experts say that's good
news, as long as the nuts
are not part of junk food.
Including nuts in children's
diets "can be a good thing,
provided the ways in
which it is included are
healthy forms," said study
co-author Kirsten Herrick,
of the Centers for Disease
Snack Foods: Healthy or
Not?]
Nuts can be a source of
protein, and are high in
"good" fats and fiber, the
researchers said. Some
nuts, like walnuts and
pumpkin seeds, are also
good sources of omega-3
fatty acids, the researchers
said.
Stephanie Quirantes, a
nutritionist at Nicklaus
Children's Hospital in
Miami who was not
involved in the study, said
she was "pleasantly
surprised" by the findings,
particularly the finding that
the majority of nuts
consumed by kids are in
the form of single products
like seeds.
kids snacking on nuts,
[but] it's a great way for
them to get an alternative
protein source," Quirantes
said.
Some people have
suggested that the rise in
nut allergies in children
might make some parents
hesitant to feed their
children nuts. Although
more studies are needed
over time to see if children
are eating less nuts,
Quirantes said the portion
of children eating nuts in
the study was actually
higher than she expected.
"I think [parents are] not as
fearful as we may have
thought they would be,"
Quirantes said.