Are your favorite foods making you sick?

A study in the journal Nature suggests that emulsifiers—commonly used ingredients in many favorite processed foods—may be interfering with bacteria in our digestive tracts and causing increases in metabolic syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, and obesity.

Ingredients such as lecithin, carrageenan, polysorbate80, polyglycerols and xanthan and other “gums” improve the texture and shelf-life of many supermarket foods and keep ingredients such as oils and fats from separating. They are found in many ice creams, baked goods, salad dressings, veggie burgers, non-dairy milks and hamburger patties.

Several commonly used ingredients in many popular processed foods could be interfering with bacteria in our digestive tracts yielding increases in obesity, metabolic syndrome, IBS and more. Dr Oksana Aron can help you address many of these health concerns.

In the study, when fed emulsifiers, the mice who had normal immune systems developed mild intestinal inflammation and a metabolic disorder that led them to eat more. They became obese, hyperglycemic and insulin resistant. The mice with abnormal immune systems developed chronic colitis.

Food additives could be inducing inflammation

Emulsifiers seem to change the gut microbiota (or environment) and how bacteria interact with the intestine. This paves the way for inflammation. While emulsifiers may not be the sole cause of the rise in obesity, they could very well be a factor.

Many emulsifiers and food additives are considered safe by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, the FDA has not determined safe levels of consumption, particularly because people consume emulsifiers in so many different foods.

Additional studies on humans are needed to better understand how emulsifiers impact humans.

Do you need to lose weight?

Oksana Aron, M.D. is a bariatric physician and internist, specializing in medical treatment of overweight and obese persons:

“Through our comprehensive program, many individuals have lost well in excess of 20% of their initial body weight using a combination of appetite suppressants and a low calorie diet, while eating just regular grocery store foods.”

You can visit Dr. Oksana Aron’s website at WeightLossNYC.com

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Acknowledgements

• Sima Michaels Dembo, MPH, Public Healthcare consultant and writer is a guest contributor to this blog.
• Chassaing, Benoit, et. al., Dietary emulsifiers impact the mouse gut microbiota promoting colitis and metabolic syndrome, Nature, 519, 92-96, Published online 2/25/15. Accessed 3/5/15.
• Grossman, Elizabeth., How Emulsifiers Are Messing with Our Guts (and Making Us Fat), Civil Eats, February 25, 2015. Accessed 3/5/15.

Labels: bronx, brooklyn, diabetes, diet, fda, health, metabolic syndrome, ny, obese

Say Ami-NO THANKS, to Un-Sweet news

Marketed under other names including NutraSweet, aspartame is present in many commercial products including diet foods and diet sodas, sugar-free chewing gum, sweetener packets and more - in fact 6,000 items more - including diabetic foods, vitamins, over-the-counter drugs and even some prescription medications.

Controversial because in 30 years, the FDA has received more complaints (over 10,000) for aspartame than any other food additive combined. Two-thirds of reported complaints reflect neurological symptoms that can even mimic severe health conditions making them harder to diagnose.

Diet Foods and Drinks May Cause Weight Problems

The controversy continues in that some applications of artificial sweeteners may induce metabolic syndrome, as well as simply mislead your body into how many calories you've consumed.

Aspartame, NutraSweet, AminoSweet.. not a health food

The advertising deception in these sweeteners is that in playing on popular culture's fears about sugar, they introduce a new molecule made from distortions in amino acids (basis of proteins) implying a healthy protein connection, where there is no such merit at all.

Mass-consumption of the phenyl-alanine and aspartic acid compounds in these sweeteners have documented effects that can affect brain hormone balance and more.

Healthy Foods Your Best Choice

Your best solution is to eat healthy foods free of artificial additives and misleading marketing messages! Send us your favorite diet recipes and we'll share them with our readers.

Labels: 718-491-5525, artificial sweeteners, brain, metabolic syndrome, nutrition facts

Manage Your Weight

Obesity Health Risk

Public Health

Childhood obesity is not only on the rise — it has tripled over the past 25 years.

According to a report in Academic Pediatrics by an obesity expert at Brenner Children’s Hospital, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, children are not just becoming overweight and obese. Many more are becoming severely obese, which can greatly impact their health. Severe childhood obesity is classified as a child with a body mass index (BMI) that is at least or greater than the 99th percentile for age and gender.

Researchers found the following facts in the study:

• Severe obesity among children jumped from 0.8 percent in 1976-80 compared to 3.8 percent in 1999-2004. There are now more than 2.7 million severely obese children in the U.S.
• The highest increases in severe childhood obesity occurred among blacks and Mexican-Americans and those who live below the poverty level. Severe obesity rates for Mexican-American children went from 0.9 percent in 1976-80 to 5.2 percent in 1999-2004.
• A third of the children considered severely obese were classified as having metabolic syndrome, which is a group of risk factors such as higher-than normal blood pressure, cholesterol and insulin levels that make them more susceptible to experiencing heart attack, stroke and diabetes.

Dr Aron can help

Dr Aron is a bariatric physician — specialist in treatment of overweight and obese persons. Her medical weight loss clinic focuses on the factors contributing to and resulting from excessive weight gain. Her programs are designed to help people lose weight fast, under medical supervision.

Labels: childhood obesity, cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, obesity