December 16, 2009 / by Steve / 2 Comments / Filed under Fitness & Training, Public Health
A “panel of experts” at the Food and Drug Administration voted 12-4 yesterday in favor of allowing AstraZeneca to market its cholesterol pill, Crestor, to patients with healthy cholesterol levels. In other words, we can expect to see a big push by AstraZeneca drug reps to convince physicians to prescribe even more statins to patients under the guise of promoting public health.
The most disturbing thing about this decision is that it has very little to do with public health and everything to do with creating an additional “market” for AstraZeneca. The UK-based drug maker is currently facing fierce potential competition from generic drug makers, and this initiative is largely about expanding its sales to stem the projected revenue losses once Crestor goes off-patent.
In fact, it’s quite compelling that the entire decision stems from a study that clearly implicates inflammation as being the key factor in coronary artery disease:
The company based its request on a much-heralded study published last year, showing a 44 percent reduction in heart problems even among patients with normal cholesterol levels. All the patients had elevated levels of the so-called C-reactive protein, however, a key indicator of inflammation that can lead to clogged arteries, causing heart attack or stroke. Scientists are still unsure whether the positive results were due to lower cholesterol or C-reactive protein, since Crestor reduces both [ed. emphasis mine] .
Bottom line – It’s not the LDL, it’s the inflammation. And you don’t need a statin to reduce your overall levels of systemic inflammation.
Until this issue gets addressed at a higher level, the FDA will continue to be overly influenced by Big Pharma when it comes to most issues of public health. In the meantime, remember that drug companies are businesses with profit motives – just like physician practices.
December 15, 2009 / by Steve / 1 Comment / Filed under Fitness & Training
I’ve long been a proponent of drinking green tea, but I may start substituting a cup of decaffeinated coffee here and there.
A recent study in Australia concluded that consuming one or more cups of coffee or tea significantly reduces a person’s chances of developing type 2 diabetes:
For every additional cup of coffee a person consumed each day, the study’s authors found, a person’s risk of diabetes was reduced by 7 percent. In the six studies that looked at decaf coffee, the researchers found, people who consumed more than three or four cups a day were at 36 percent lower risk of diabetes. And in seven studies that examined tea drinking and diabetes risk, people who drank more than three or four cups daily were at 18 percent lower diabetes risk.
As you can see, it appears that decaf coffee had the largest positive effect. And bear in mind that this study was based upon data from combined studies of over 450,000 people going back to 1966.
I’m not sure why decaf coffee is such a standout. Perhaps caffeine inhibits some of the lignans and chlorogenic acids that the researchers cited as some of the substances that may be responsible for the effect. Still, it’s definitely worth keeping in mind.
December 13, 2009 / by Steve / 2 Comments / Filed under Fitness & Training
The December 2009 edition of National Geographic has an excellent piece on the Hadza of Tanzania. They are one of the last remaining true hunter-gatherer societies, and I’ve written on them previously.
There’s no way we can fully replicate the hunter-gatherer lifestyle – nor should we attempt to do so. Paleolithic hunter-gatherers lived a tough life, and the Hadza deal with harsh realities that we fortunately do not have to worry about in our society:
Medical help is far away. One bad fall from a tree, one bite from a black mamba snake, one lunge from a lion, and you’re dead. Women give birth in the bush, squatting. About a fifth of all babies die within their first year, and nearly half of all children do not make it to age 15. They have to cope with extreme heat and frequent thirst and swarming tsetse flies and malaria- laced mosquitoes.
But we do have the advantage of being able to extract the best of their lifestyle without having to experience the worst. Despite the many risks they confront on a daily basis, the Hadza are incredibly strong, hardy and resilient people – something which is primarily a function of diet and activity patterns that parallel those of our paleolithic predecessors. And there’s something even deeper – dare I say primal? – about the way they live their lives. Per the author:
The days I spent with the Hadza altered my perception of the world. They instilled in me something I call the “Hadza effect”—they made me feel calmer, more attuned to the moment, more self-sufficient, a little braver, and in less of a constant rush. I don’t care if this sounds maudlin: My time with the Hadza made me happier. It made me wish there was some way to prolong the reign of the hunter-gatherers, though I know it’s almost certainly too late.
Read the whole thing.
December 13, 2009 / by Steve / Make A Comment / Filed under Fitness & Training
Former Olympic speed skater Eric Heiden recently published the article ““Faster, Stronger, Better” via Tribune Media Services that you should definitely read. The five-time gold medalist, who now makes his living as an orthopedic surgeon, highlighted strength training as the key to weight loss and fat metabolism, and he cited a 2008 study in the journal Cell Metabolism.
The entire study is also worth checking out, but let’s take a look at some of the key excerpts. First, here’s a quick summary from the introduction:
While current pharmaceutical interventions are moderately effective in treating the clinical symptoms of metabolic syndrome, at this point only rigorous diet and lifestyle modifications (such as endurance exercise) are thought to be capable of significantly preventing harmful increases in fat mass that will ultimately shorten life span. Now, a new report by Izumiya et al. (2008) elegantly demonstrates that fast type IIb muscle fiber hypertrophy in response to Akt1 signaling blocks metabolic dysregulation and weight gain due to a high-fat/high-sugar diet, indicating that increasing fast muscle size via strength training may also be an important intervention for at-risk populations.
Metabolic syndrome is a relatively recent term which is used to describe a set of risk factors that, when present, place an individual at higher risk of developing diabetes, stroke, or coronary artery disease. The symptoms and features of metabolic syndrome are:
- Fasting hyperglycemia (diabetes mellitus type 2 or impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, or insulin resistance)
- High blood pressure
- Central obesity (also known as visceral, male-pattern or apple-shaped adiposity), overweight with fat deposits mainly around the waist
- Decreased HDL cholesterol
- Elevated triglycerides
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that approximately 47 million adults in the United States – or roughly 25 percent – have metabolic syndrome, and the numbers unfortunately continue to grow. Clearly, this is a major public health issue which needs to be addressed by utilizing the most effective means. And unfortunately, the conventional wisdom of “diet modification + cardio/endurance training” is simply not the most effective way to combat metabolic syndrome.
Now before all you dietitians and aerobics instructors train your flame throwers in my direction, let me be clear one one thing – diet modification and physical activity are both essential to combating metabolic syndrome. It is impossible to achieve optimal human health on a high-fat/high-sugar diet which has unfortunately become the mainstay of most Americans. And, yes, most us are way too sedentary when it comes to our activity patterns.
But the human body also needs to be physically stressed in ways that trigger positive gene expression. And while cardio/endurance training in moderation is helpful, it simply cannot match strength training when it comes to promoting positive gene expression.
Going back to the study:
Activation of Akt1 triggered a striking reduction of body mass due to decreased visceral fat mass and white adipocyte atrophy. These effects of enhanced Akt1 signaling on diet-induced obesity were directly related to muscle hypertrophy—blocking hypertrophy with rapamycin completely abolished the effects of transgene induction on body and fat mass.
In other words, fast muscle fiber development through strength training (muscle hypertrophy) led to increased fat/weight loss even when the test subjects were subjected to a high-fat/high-sucrose diet.
The analysis concludes accordingly:
Endurance training promotes slow muscle fiber adaptation, while fast muscle fibers are more responsive to resistance training paradigms. In humans, such training has been linked to reduced adiposity and improved insulin sensitivity and is now a recommended mode of exercise for individuals with type 2 diabetes ([Albright et al., 2000] and Schmitz et al., 2007 K.H. Schmitz, P.J. Hannan, S.D. Stovitz, C.J. Bryan, M. Warren and M.D. Jensen, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 86 (2007), pp. 566–572. View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus (8)[Schmitz et al., 2007]).
Bottom line – increasing skeletal muscle mass through appropriate strength training seems to be the key to triggering weight loss and alleviating the metabolic syndrome – which in turn helps prevent or fight diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and even certain types of cancer.
So ditch that 90-minute spin class and go hit the weights instead…
December 13, 2009 / by Steve / Make A Comment / Filed under Fitness & Training
Check out the Harvard Health Letter piece, “Swimming: A Sport for All Seasons” which the Tribune carried on December 9th. It’s an extended article with a lot of great information including the following:
Swimming for 30 minutes to an hour three times a week does the following:
-Lowers blood pressure. Swimming, like other forms of moderate exercise, can also improve the heart’s pumping function.
-Improves mood. Not only does swimming ward off the blues, water activities are on a par with yoga in quelling anxiety.
-Relieves arthritic symptoms. Swimming relieves pain and increases flexibility for people with arthritis and fibromyalgia.
-May promote weight loss. In studies, swimming hasn’t fared well as a way to lose weight. But an hour of swimming burns 350 to 500 calories. That’s less than the 420 to 590 calories you’d use up jogging for an hour, but it’s still significant.
-Tones large muscle groups. Swimming strengthens not just the arms and legs, but also the back and abdominal muscles.
But then again, we already knew this stuff!
December 12, 2009 / by Steve / 2 Comments / Filed under Swim Reports
Dave and I did a quick 3/4 mile out at Ladder #1 at around 1:30pm today. No pictures, unfortunately, as we bolted right from the car to the lake and back after finishing.
The sun was blazing away when we started out, and the air temperature came in at a balmy 36F – quite pleasant after Thursday’s 9F cold snap! Also, the lake temperature finally dropped below the 40F mark which means it’s now officially in the “no wussbag zone.”
December 11, 2009 / by Steve / 1 Comment / Filed under Equipment & Gear
Here are some pictures of the technical shirt many of us received for doing the Harbor Lights Triathlon:
As you can see, whoever did the printing on these shirts did a pretty good job. The images and logos are clearly printed on the synthetic fabric, and the colors and textures are uniform.
Now here’s what at least one OWC customer received from Zazzle:
Yep…that’s heat damage to the micro fiber fabric, folks. They clearly don’t know what they’re doing.
Which is why we no longer use them.
December 8, 2009 / by Steve / 1 Comment / Filed under Extreme!
Dave send me a quick text message indicating that the forecast for Wednesday calls for the possibility of 10-12 foot waves out at Ladder #1. Still, that’s nothing compared with the 50-footers making their appearance right now in Hawaii .
December 6, 2009 / by Steve / 1 Comment / Filed under Swim Reports
I slept in a tad bit and missed Dave’s call this morning. I touched base with him around 8:45am, and he had already completed his swim. Water conditions were ideal – no waves whatsoever with clear skies and plenty of sunshine. Dave offered to swing by and pick me up so I could get in a quick dip, and I happily obliged!
Given the air temperatures of 28F (-2.2C), I decided to go with my full winter thermal gear. This included my H2O windsurfer’s wetsuit and my Deep See diving hood. I probably could have gone with the Xterra full suit, but I erred on the side of caution since I did not have any time to do my usual cold water preparation (pre-swim cold water immersion, hydration/nutrition, etc.).
The water came in at a toasty 40F (4.4C), and I decided to test out Dave’s snorkel set up. One thing was obvious with the snorkel – you use a LOT less energy swimming with it! Dave’s going to send a few more shots, but below is one from this morning.
Happy December!
December 3, 2009 / by Steve / 2 Comments / Filed under Fitness & Training
I’m a big fan of Hammer Nutrition products, and one of the biggest benefits you get as a purchaser is a free subscription to their highly informative newsletter, Endurance News.
One of the more noteworthy articles in the November 2009 issue is “Off-Season Supplement Suggestions.” Hammer mostly uses the piece as a forum for recommending their own products (which I both expect and respect), but I was quite pleased to see them recommend a fish oil supplement. In fact, fish oil is the only non-Hammer supplement on the list. Per the article:
For general health purposes, fish oils provide one of the absolute defenses against cardiovascular disease. For example, an ever-growing body of research suggests that athlerosclerosis, angina, heart attack, arrhythmias, stroke, and congestive heart failure may be prevented with the consumption of fish oils. Fish oils help to reduce blood pressure, maintain arterial wall elasticity, and prevent blood clotting… they really are the heart’s “best friend.”
Research shows that fish oils have a positive influence on brain function and mood, including the alleviation of anxiety, insomnia, and other symptoms of depression. In addition, Omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil have been shown to provide impressive anti-inflammatory benefits by reducing specific proinflammatory cytokines and Series 2 prostaglandins, while increasing the level of anti-inflammatory Series 3 prostaglandins.
I’ve always been a huge proponent of fish oil as an essential supplement to our diets, and there are numerous references to it on this site. So I’m glad to see Hammer Nutrition taking such a strong stance on including it in an endurance athlete’s diet.
