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www.ambiente.us MAY / MAYO 2008
OPEd: Diet Sodas and their Risks
by Ann Fonfa
I am an advocate for people with cancer, with a specialty in using natural
approaches. This is a concept that can mean different things to different
people, but encompasses categories like vitamins/supplements, exercise,
acupuncture/herbs, homeopathy, massage, mind-body-spirit relaxation
techniques, and much more. The most accessible of all is healthy lifestyle
behaviors. The great thing about achieving health is that it can be done one
step at a time. Like the fabulous and true cliché, 'One day at a time' - that's
the way we live it, that's the way we change it.
I run a website that provides information on everything you see in the
paragraph above. The Annie Appleseed Project, a non profit corporation
was founded as a result of my personal search for cancer therapies that
did not harm my body while 'helping' it. I believe that conventional treatment
can and should be combined with natural approaches. That concept
generated the term complementary medicine (sometimes called CAM
or integrative medicine).
Because I spend my days in the office reading journals, health newsletters, and magazines while speaking
with people with cancer, I often come across articles of interest. www.annieappleseedproject.org contains
some information on heart disease, osteoporosis and diabetes, but mostly cancer. As a patient advocate I
see the whole person, not body parts of diseases.
Recently I found this study about the negative effects of soda to the heart. The evidence is in - soda is bad for
your heart. Past studies have shown that just thirty sodas a year can increase cancer risk.
Strangers who sit with me at meetings or mealtimes will often receive a discreet note in which I give just a
few of the MANY reasons soda is so d.mn unhealthy. Yes, I am a bore on the subject but my advertising
budget is so small compared to the soda companies.
Soda companies market their unhealthy products using music, dance and lots of pizzazz. But what they sell
is poison pure and simple. It is a complete waste of calories too, and it causes us to miss drinking water,
tea, juice, etc. Learn to stop drinking it. If you are addicted - that is drinking more than one a day, please
substitute a glass of water (one day at a time) for each soda you might have drunk.
Regular soda has about 15 teaspoons of sugar. Ridiculous! And sugar-free uses chemicals that can harm
animals (may be carcinogenic as in cancer-causing). We like to pretend that does not matter to human
beings, but I think, I think, I really think that's absurd.
It has been shown to leach minerals from our bones. After conventional cancer treatment, our bones are
weakened, normal aging and menopause as well, another STRONG reason to avoid it. Since radiation and
some chemotherapy can weaken the heart, this has implications for cancer patients and survivors.
So for these and other reasons, I urge you all to reduce away your soda consumption to as LOW as you can
go. To find out more, read this study:
Study Links Diet Soft Drinks With Cardiac Risk
Just one soda a day tied to higher incidence of metabolic syndrome
By Ed Edelson HealthDay Reporter
Drinking more than one soda a day -- even if it's the sugar-free diet kind -- is associated with an increased
incidence of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors linked to the development of diabetes and
cardiovascular disease, a study finds.
The link to diet soda found in the study was "striking" but not entirely a surprise, said Dr. Ramachandran
Vasan, study senior author and professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. There had
been some hints of it in earlier studies, he said.
"But this is the first study to show the association in a prospective fashion and in a large population," Vasan
said.
That population consisted of more than 6,000 participants in the Framingham Heart Study, which has been
following residents of a Massachusetts town since 1948. When the soda portion of the study began, all
participants were free of metabolic syndrome, a collection of risk factors including high blood pressure,
elevated levels of the blood fats called triglycerides, low levels of the artery-protecting HDL cholesterol, high
fasting blood sugar levels and excessive waist circumference.
Metabolic syndrome is the presence of three or more of these risk factors.
Over the four years of the study, people who consumed more than one soft drink of any kind a day were 44
percent more likely to develop metabolic syndrome than those who didn't drink a soda a day.
The findings are published in the July 24, 2008 issue of the journal Circulation.
A variety of explanations, none proven, have been proposed for the link between diet soft drink consumption
and metabolic syndrome, Vasan said.
That association was evident even when the researchers accounted for other factors, such as levels of
saturated fat and fiber in the diet, total calorie intake, smoking and physical activity.
One theory is that the high sweetness of all soft drinks makes a person more prone to eat sugary, fattening
foods.
Another is that the caramel content of soft drinks promotes metabolic changes that lead to insulin
resistance. "These are hotly debated by nutritional experts," Vasan said.
Vasan, who noted that he is not a nutritional expert, said he leans toward the theory that "this is a marker of
dietary behavior" -- that people who like to drink sweet soda also like to eat the kind of foods that cardiac
nutritionists warn against.
"But we cannot infer causality," Vasan said, meaning there is no proof that soda itself is the villain. "We have
an association. Maybe it is a causal one or maybe it is a marker of something else."
Carefully controlled animal studies might resolve the cause-and-effect issue, he said.
Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel, director of the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which funds the
Framingham Heart Study, said in a prepared statement: "Other studies have shown that the extra calories
and sugar in soft drinks contribute to weight gain, and therefore heart disease risk.
This study echoes those findings by extending the link to all soft drinks and the metabolic syndrome."
Dr. Suzanne R. Steinbaum, director of Women and Heart Disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City,
said, "There is no safe way of eating junk food, just as we learned the lesson from trans fats and partially
hydrogenated oils often found in fat-free or low-fat cookies. Diet soda does not protect us from the
development of what we are trying to avoid by consuming it."
SOURCES: Ramachandran Vasan, M.D., professor of medicine, Boston University; Suzanne R. Steinbaum,
M.D., director, Women and Heart Disease, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; July 24, 2007, Circulation
Thanks to HealthDay News www.healthdaynews.com
Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training.
Un estudio relaciona las gaseosas dietéticas con el riesgo cardiaco
Apenas una de estas bebidas al dÃa se relacionó con una mayor incidencia de sÃndrome
metabólico
por Ed Edelson - Reportero de Healthday
Un estudio halla que tomarse más de una gaseosa diaria, aún si es del tipo dietético, se relaciona con
mayor riesgo de sÃndrome metabólico, un conjunto de factores de riesgo relacionados con el desarrollo
de la diabetes y la enfermedad cardiovascular.
La relación con la gaseosa de dieta hallada en el estudio fue "notoria", aunque no totalmente
sorprendente, según el Dr. Ramachandran Vasan, autor principal del estudio y profesor de la facultad de
medicina de la Universidad de Boston. Otros estudios ya lo han sugerido, dijo.
"Pero este es el primer estudio en demostrar la asociación de manera prospectiva en una población
grande", aseguró Vasan.
Esa población estaba compuesta por más de 6,000 participantes del Estudio del corazón de
Framingham, que le ha estado dando seguimiento a los residentes de Massachusetts desde 1948.
Cuando comenzó la porción de la gaseosa del estudio, los participantes no tenÃan sÃndrome
metabólico, un conjunto de factores de riesgo que incluye hipertensión, triglicéridos elevados, bajos
niveles de colesterol HDL (que protege las arterias), altos niveles de glucosa en ayunas y circunferencia
excesiva de la cintura. El sÃndrome metabólico es la presencia de tres o más de estos factores de riesgo.
Durante los cuatro años del estudio, las personas que consumÃan más de una gaseosa de cualquier
tipo al dÃa tenÃan 44 por ciento más probabilidades de desarrollar sÃndrome metabólico que los que
no se tomaban una gaseosa al dÃa.
Los hallazgos aparecen en la edición del 24 de julio de la revista Circulation.
Se han probado varias explicaciones, ninguna de las cuales se ha comprobado, para la relación entre el
consumo de gaseosas de dieta y el sÃndrome metabólico, aseguró Vasan. La relación fue evidente aún
cuando los investigadores tuvieron en cuenta otros factores, como los niveles de grasa saturada y fibra en
la dieta, la ingesta total de calorÃas, el tabaquismo y la actividad fÃsica.
Una teorÃa es que la alta cantidad de sabor dulce de todas las gaseosas impulsa a una persona a
consumir más alimentos dulces que engordan. Otra es que el contenido de caramelo de las gaseosas
promueve cambios metabólicos que conducen a la resistencia a la insulina. "Los expertos en nutrición se
debaten intensamente sobre esto", comentó Vasan.
Vasan, que anotó que no es un experto en nutrición, aseguró que se inclina por la teorÃa de que "este es
un marcador de comportamiento de la dieta", que a las personas que les gusta tomar gaseosas dulces
también prefieren los alimentos que los nutricionistas cardiacos advierten que no se deben tomar.
"Aún asÃ, no podemos suponer causalidad", aseguró Vasan, lo que significa que no hay prueba de que
la gaseosa misma sea la mala de la pelÃcula. "Tenemos una relación. Quizá sea causal o tal vez un
marcador de algo más".
Estudios cuidadosamente controlados con animales podrÃan resolver este asunto de la causalidad, dijo.
La Dra. Elizabeth G. Nabel, directora del U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, que financia el
Estudio del corazón de Framingham, aseguró en una declaración preparada que "otros estudios han
demostrado que las calorÃas y azúcar adicionales de las gaseosas contribuyen al aumento de peso y,
por consiguiente, al riesgo de enfermedad cardiaca. Este estudio hace eco de los hallazgos al extender la
relación a todas las gaseosas y el sÃndrome metabólico".
La Dra. Suzanne R. Steinbaum, directora de Enfermedad cardiaca y mujeres del Hospital Lenox Hill de la
ciudad de Nueva York aseguró que "no hay una manera segura de comer comida basura, de la misma
manera que aprendimos la lección de las grasas parcialmente hidrogenadas, como las trans, que con
frecuencia se encuentran en las galletas sin o bajas en grasa. La gaseosa de dieta no nos protege del
desarrollo de lo que estamos tratando de evitar al consumirla".
ArtÃculo por HealthDay, traducido por Dr. Tango
FUENTES: Ramachandran Vasan, M.D., professor of medicine, Boston University; Suzanne R. Steinbaum,
M.D., director, Women and Heart Disease, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; July 24, 2007, Circulation
Copyright © AMBIENTE MAGAZINE. Do not reproduce without citing this source.
OPEd: Diet Sodas and their Risks
by Ann Fonfa
I am an advocate for people with cancer, with a specialty in using natural
approaches. This is a concept that can mean different things to different
people, but encompasses categories like vitamins/supplements, exercise,
acupuncture/herbs, homeopathy, massage, mind-body-spirit relaxation
techniques, and much more. The most accessible of all is healthy lifestyle
behaviors. The great thing about achieving health is that it can be done one
step at a time. Like the fabulous and true cliché, 'One day at a time' - that's
the way we live it, that's the way we change it.
I run a website that provides information on everything you see in the
paragraph above. The Annie Appleseed Project, a non profit corporation
was founded as a result of my personal search for cancer therapies that
did not harm my body while 'helping' it. I believe that conventional treatment
can and should be combined with natural approaches. That concept
generated the term complementary medicine (sometimes called CAM
or integrative medicine).
Because I spend my days in the office reading journals, health newsletters, and magazines while speaking
with people with cancer, I often come across articles of interest. www.annieappleseedproject.org contains
some information on heart disease, osteoporosis and diabetes, but mostly cancer. As a patient advocate I
see the whole person, not body parts of diseases.
Recently I found this study about the negative effects of soda to the heart. The evidence is in - soda is bad for
your heart. Past studies have shown that just thirty sodas a year can increase cancer risk.
Strangers who sit with me at meetings or mealtimes will often receive a discreet note in which I give just a
few of the MANY reasons soda is so d.mn unhealthy. Yes, I am a bore on the subject but my advertising
budget is so small compared to the soda companies.
Soda companies market their unhealthy products using music, dance and lots of pizzazz. But what they sell
is poison pure and simple. It is a complete waste of calories too, and it causes us to miss drinking water,
tea, juice, etc. Learn to stop drinking it. If you are addicted - that is drinking more than one a day, please
substitute a glass of water (one day at a time) for each soda you might have drunk.
Regular soda has about 15 teaspoons of sugar. Ridiculous! And sugar-free uses chemicals that can harm
animals (may be carcinogenic as in cancer-causing). We like to pretend that does not matter to human
beings, but I think, I think, I really think that's absurd.
It has been shown to leach minerals from our bones. After conventional cancer treatment, our bones are
weakened, normal aging and menopause as well, another STRONG reason to avoid it. Since radiation and
some chemotherapy can weaken the heart, this has implications for cancer patients and survivors.
So for these and other reasons, I urge you all to reduce away your soda consumption to as LOW as you can
go. To find out more, read this study:
Study Links Diet Soft Drinks With Cardiac Risk
Just one soda a day tied to higher incidence of metabolic syndrome
By Ed Edelson HealthDay Reporter
Drinking more than one soda a day -- even if it's the sugar-free diet kind -- is associated with an increased
incidence of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors linked to the development of diabetes and
cardiovascular disease, a study finds.
The link to diet soda found in the study was "striking" but not entirely a surprise, said Dr. Ramachandran
Vasan, study senior author and professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. There had
been some hints of it in earlier studies, he said.
"But this is the first study to show the association in a prospective fashion and in a large population," Vasan
said.
That population consisted of more than 6,000 participants in the Framingham Heart Study, which has been
following residents of a Massachusetts town since 1948. When the soda portion of the study began, all
participants were free of metabolic syndrome, a collection of risk factors including high blood pressure,
elevated levels of the blood fats called triglycerides, low levels of the artery-protecting HDL cholesterol, high
fasting blood sugar levels and excessive waist circumference.
Metabolic syndrome is the presence of three or more of these risk factors.
Over the four years of the study, people who consumed more than one soft drink of any kind a day were 44
percent more likely to develop metabolic syndrome than those who didn't drink a soda a day.
The findings are published in the July 24, 2008 issue of the journal Circulation.
A variety of explanations, none proven, have been proposed for the link between diet soft drink consumption
and metabolic syndrome, Vasan said.
That association was evident even when the researchers accounted for other factors, such as levels of
saturated fat and fiber in the diet, total calorie intake, smoking and physical activity.
One theory is that the high sweetness of all soft drinks makes a person more prone to eat sugary, fattening
foods.
Another is that the caramel content of soft drinks promotes metabolic changes that lead to insulin
resistance. "These are hotly debated by nutritional experts," Vasan said.
Vasan, who noted that he is not a nutritional expert, said he leans toward the theory that "this is a marker of
dietary behavior" -- that people who like to drink sweet soda also like to eat the kind of foods that cardiac
nutritionists warn against.
"But we cannot infer causality," Vasan said, meaning there is no proof that soda itself is the villain. "We have
an association. Maybe it is a causal one or maybe it is a marker of something else."
Carefully controlled animal studies might resolve the cause-and-effect issue, he said.
Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel, director of the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which funds the
Framingham Heart Study, said in a prepared statement: "Other studies have shown that the extra calories
and sugar in soft drinks contribute to weight gain, and therefore heart disease risk.
This study echoes those findings by extending the link to all soft drinks and the metabolic syndrome."
Dr. Suzanne R. Steinbaum, director of Women and Heart Disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City,
said, "There is no safe way of eating junk food, just as we learned the lesson from trans fats and partially
hydrogenated oils often found in fat-free or low-fat cookies. Diet soda does not protect us from the
development of what we are trying to avoid by consuming it."
SOURCES: Ramachandran Vasan, M.D., professor of medicine, Boston University; Suzanne R. Steinbaum,
M.D., director, Women and Heart Disease, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; July 24, 2007, Circulation
Thanks to HealthDay News www.healthdaynews.com
Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training.
Un estudio relaciona las gaseosas dietéticas con el riesgo cardiaco
Apenas una de estas bebidas al dÃa se relacionó con una mayor incidencia de sÃndrome
metabólico
por Ed Edelson - Reportero de Healthday
Un estudio halla que tomarse más de una gaseosa diaria, aún si es del tipo dietético, se relaciona con
mayor riesgo de sÃndrome metabólico, un conjunto de factores de riesgo relacionados con el desarrollo
de la diabetes y la enfermedad cardiovascular.
La relación con la gaseosa de dieta hallada en el estudio fue "notoria", aunque no totalmente
sorprendente, según el Dr. Ramachandran Vasan, autor principal del estudio y profesor de la facultad de
medicina de la Universidad de Boston. Otros estudios ya lo han sugerido, dijo.
"Pero este es el primer estudio en demostrar la asociación de manera prospectiva en una población
grande", aseguró Vasan.
Esa población estaba compuesta por más de 6,000 participantes del Estudio del corazón de
Framingham, que le ha estado dando seguimiento a los residentes de Massachusetts desde 1948.
Cuando comenzó la porción de la gaseosa del estudio, los participantes no tenÃan sÃndrome
metabólico, un conjunto de factores de riesgo que incluye hipertensión, triglicéridos elevados, bajos
niveles de colesterol HDL (que protege las arterias), altos niveles de glucosa en ayunas y circunferencia
excesiva de la cintura. El sÃndrome metabólico es la presencia de tres o más de estos factores de riesgo.
Durante los cuatro años del estudio, las personas que consumÃan más de una gaseosa de cualquier
tipo al dÃa tenÃan 44 por ciento más probabilidades de desarrollar sÃndrome metabólico que los que
no se tomaban una gaseosa al dÃa.
Los hallazgos aparecen en la edición del 24 de julio de la revista Circulation.
Se han probado varias explicaciones, ninguna de las cuales se ha comprobado, para la relación entre el
consumo de gaseosas de dieta y el sÃndrome metabólico, aseguró Vasan. La relación fue evidente aún
cuando los investigadores tuvieron en cuenta otros factores, como los niveles de grasa saturada y fibra en
la dieta, la ingesta total de calorÃas, el tabaquismo y la actividad fÃsica.
Una teorÃa es que la alta cantidad de sabor dulce de todas las gaseosas impulsa a una persona a
consumir más alimentos dulces que engordan. Otra es que el contenido de caramelo de las gaseosas
promueve cambios metabólicos que conducen a la resistencia a la insulina. "Los expertos en nutrición se
debaten intensamente sobre esto", comentó Vasan.
Vasan, que anotó que no es un experto en nutrición, aseguró que se inclina por la teorÃa de que "este es
un marcador de comportamiento de la dieta", que a las personas que les gusta tomar gaseosas dulces
también prefieren los alimentos que los nutricionistas cardiacos advierten que no se deben tomar.
"Aún asÃ, no podemos suponer causalidad", aseguró Vasan, lo que significa que no hay prueba de que
la gaseosa misma sea la mala de la pelÃcula. "Tenemos una relación. Quizá sea causal o tal vez un
marcador de algo más".
Estudios cuidadosamente controlados con animales podrÃan resolver este asunto de la causalidad, dijo.
La Dra. Elizabeth G. Nabel, directora del U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, que financia el
Estudio del corazón de Framingham, aseguró en una declaración preparada que "otros estudios han
demostrado que las calorÃas y azúcar adicionales de las gaseosas contribuyen al aumento de peso y,
por consiguiente, al riesgo de enfermedad cardiaca. Este estudio hace eco de los hallazgos al extender la
relación a todas las gaseosas y el sÃndrome metabólico".
La Dra. Suzanne R. Steinbaum, directora de Enfermedad cardiaca y mujeres del Hospital Lenox Hill de la
ciudad de Nueva York aseguró que "no hay una manera segura de comer comida basura, de la misma
manera que aprendimos la lección de las grasas parcialmente hidrogenadas, como las trans, que con
frecuencia se encuentran en las galletas sin o bajas en grasa. La gaseosa de dieta no nos protege del
desarrollo de lo que estamos tratando de evitar al consumirla".
ArtÃculo por HealthDay, traducido por Dr. Tango
FUENTES: Ramachandran Vasan, M.D., professor of medicine, Boston University; Suzanne R. Steinbaum,
M.D., director, Women and Heart Disease, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; July 24, 2007, Circulation
Copyright © AMBIENTE MAGAZINE. Do not reproduce without citing this source.
