Knowledge Update

​New York, April 20 (IANS) Children who have their dinner along with other family members are generally fit and eating meals together can also help kids cut the risk of developing eating disorders or weight problems later in life, say researchers.

In a study of 200 families, researchers found that children whose family members shared meals that lasted at least 20 minutes each a minimum of four times a week weighed significantly less than peers whose family dinners were three or four minutes shorter.

Parenting styles, parent-child attachment relationships and feeding practices all have been found to be reliable indicators of children's food consumption, eating behaviours and risks for obesity.

“Although the causes of obesity are complex, families have significant influence on children's dietary habits and weight and should be involved in planning healthy living campaigns and efforts to curb food marketing that targets children,” said Barbara H Fiese from the University of Illinois.

"The family system plays an important role in understanding childhood obesity -- not as a source of blame but as part of a larger ecology that may support or derail children's health," the researchers stated in the paper published in the journal Family Relations.

Family communication is key to the developmental processes that promote or disrupt healthy eating habits, physical activity and internal cues to satiety, they noted.​

London, April 13 (IANS) If you drink five-six cups of coffee daily, here come some good news. According to researchers, increase in coffee consumption can provide protective effect against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Daily dose of coffee can check non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by reducing permeability of the gut, the team reported after conducting the research on mice.

They found that a daily dose of coffee (equivalent to six cups of espresso coffee for humans) improved several key markers of the disease in mice who were fed a high-fat diet. 

The mice also gained less weight than others fed the same diet without the dose of caffeine.

“Previous studies have confirmed how coffee can reverse the damage of NAFLD but this is the first to demonstrate that it can influence the permeability of the intestine,” said Vincenzo Lembo from the University of Napoli, Italy.

The results also show that coffee can reverse NAFLD-related problems such as ballooning degeneration, a form of liver cell degeneration.

The scientists showed how coffee protects against NAFLD by raising levels of a protein called Zonulin (ZO)-1 which lessens the permeability of the gut. 

Experts believe that increased gut permeability contributes to liver injury and worsens NAFLD. 

People suffering from NAFLD can develop scarring of the liver - also known as fibrosis - which can progress to a potentially life threatening condition known as cirrhosis.

The results suggest that coffee supplementation could cause variations in the intestinal tight junctions which regulate the permeability of the intestine.

“The study offers insights that can help future research into and understanding of the therapeutic role coffee can play in combating NAFLD,” added professor Laurent Castera, secretary general of The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL).

The findings were presented at the International Liver Congress 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, recently.​

New York, April 13 (IANS) Not just youngsters, senior citizens are turning out to be Facebook's fastest growing community, say researchers including an Indian-origin team member, suggesting that the elderly are joining Facebook for the same reasons that prompted teenagers to join it over a decade ago.

According to S Shyam Sundar, professor at Pennsylvania State University, older adults who are motivated by social bonding and curiosity tend to use Facebook as a form of social surveillance. 

"Surveillance is the idea that you're checking out what people are up to. This is something that many older adults do. They want to see how their kids are doing and, especially, what their grand children are doing," said Sundar.

Earlier studies suggest a positive relationship between bonding and bridging social capital and Facebook use among college students. 

"Our study extends this finding to senior citizens," added Eun Hwa Jung, mass communication researcher at Penn State.

The researchers found that the desire to stay connected to family and keep in touch with old friends or social bonding was the best predictor of Facebook adoption and use, followed closely by the desire to find and communicate with like-minded people or social bridging.

Curiosity is another motivation for senior Facebook users, Jung added.

The study, published in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour, found that senior citizens were not motivated to actively participate on Facebook when family and friends prod them to use the website.

"When senior citizens respond to requests to join Facebook, that tends to be a negative predictor of use," Sundar said. "In other words, they are not intrinsically motivated to participate when someone else requests that they join."

Older adults also tend to use Facebook features that their younger counterparts favour.

According to the findings, seniors visited Facebook 2.46 times a day and stayed on it for a little over 35 minutes each day.

"This isn't just a fast-growing market, but also a lucrative one. Older adults have much more disposable income than teens and college students and would be more desirable for advertising," Sundar noted. 

The team suggests that designers of social media sites should emphasise on simple and convenient interface tools to attract older adult users. 

​New York, April 14 (IANS) Love to binge on burgers, pizzas and French fries? Beware, as consuming fast food can expose you to higher levels of potentially harmful chemicals known as phthalates, which are used in food packaging, warns a new study.

Phthalates belong to a class of industrial chemicals used to make food packaging materials, tubing for dairy products, and other items used in the production of fast food.

The findings showed that people who ate the most fast food had phthalate levels in their urine that was 24 percent to 40 percent higher than those who rarely ate junk food.

"Our findings raise concerns because phthalates have been linked to a number of serious health problems in children and adults," said lead author Ami Zota, assistant professor at George Washington University in US.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, analysed the effect of two phthalates di(2-ethylexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and diisononyl phthalate (DiNP) in use despite concerns that they leach out of products and get into the human body.

Exposure to these chemicals can damage the reproductive system and may even lead to infertility, the authors warned.

They also discovered that grain and meat items were the most significant contributors to phthalate exposure.

The grain category contained a wide variety of items including bread, cake, pizza, burritos, rice dishes and noodles.

The team looked at data on 8,877 participants who had answered detailed questions about their diet in the past 24 hours, including consumption of fast food.

They also took urinary samples that could be tested for the breakdown products of two specific phthalates -- DEHP and DiNP.

In addition, the researchers also looked for exposure to another chemical found in plastic food packaging -- Bisphenol A or BPA.

Exposure to BPA can lead to health and behaviour problems, especially for young children, but the study found no association between total fast food intake and BPA.

However, the result so revealed that people who ate fast food meat products had higher levels of BPA than people who reported no fast food consumption​

​Seoul, April 10 (IANS) Are you a self-obsessed person and love to click selfies? Korean researchers have found that narcissist are more likely to show selfie-posting behaviour on social networking sites such as Facebook as well as evince great interest in the feedback they receive.

A narcissistic personality is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others.

"Across all social media technologies, narcissists (as compared to non-narcissists) tend to engage in more self-enhancement strategies in hopes of gaining admiration," said Brenda K. Wiederhold from Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium.

According to researchers, the involvement in comments received to their own selfies and their interest in other people's selfies did not; however mean that they were more likely to provide feedback.

The authors describe the link between degree of narcissism and self-promotion through selfies published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour, and Social Networking.

Individuals with a higher degree of narcissism have a more favourable attitude towards the act of posting selfies, said Jung-Ah Lee and Yongjun Sung from Korea University found

"However, since narcissism does not completely explain selfie posting, future studies are needed to uncover additional psychological or social factors that influence selfie posting behaviour," Wiederhold added.​

​Toronto, April 10 (IANS) Cancerous tumour cells expand in the human body by feeding on "bad cholesterols" found in the lipid metabolism, finds a new research.

Tumour cells grow as a result of scavenging on very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) -- commonly known as "bad cholesterol" -- in the body.

The findings of the clinical trials showed that minimising the liver's production of LDL would deprive a tumour from its constant supply and therefore reduce its possibility of growth.

Tumours not only use lipids as "building blocks" to grow, but they can regulate their host's lipid metabolism to increase production of these lipids.

The "bad cholesterol" binds to LDL receptors in the liver, the organ in charge of degrading it and excreting it from the organism as bile.

"Cancer cells need lipids to grow. They can make their own lipids or get more from the host because these cells grow so fast," explains Richard Lehner, professor at University of Alberta in Canada.

Proteins are identified as one of the key factors for this process, which may cause a decrease in the amount of LDL receptors to excrete the cholesterol.

The tumour affects these proteins to reduce clearance of cholesterol from the blood, leaving the LDL for cancer to feed off of it.

The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, explores mechanisms that can be used to reduce the malignant cells' growth.

Should these potential clinical trials prove to be effective, we could be facing an improved way to help cancer patients: eliminating the tumour, while preventing it from growing at the same time, the researchers concluded.​

Beijing, April 11 (IANS) With obesity on the rise across the country, China has issued its first medical guideline to help overweight people get lighter.

According to the China International Exchange and Promotive Association for Medical and Health Care, the guideline, issued on Sunday, covers the principles and methods that should be adopted to help people lose weight and keep it off. 

It was developed over nearly a year through the collective efforts of nearly 100 doctors and nutritionists, the China Daily reported on Monday.

A report released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission last year said about 30 percent of people in China aged 18 or older are overweight, an increase of more than 7 percentage points over 2002, and the number of overweight people is increasing faster than in developed countries.

Excessive weight and obesity has been a major contributor to the prevalence of many chronic diseases such as diabetes in China, the commission has said.

Chen Wei, vice-director of the Clinical Nutrition Branch of the Chinese Nutrition Society, said an increasing number of people have sought treatment to reduce weight in recent years, but many methods available in the market are not proper, and some can even harm health.

As a pilot programme, the guideline will be adopted by 39 major public hospitals in 20 cities in China this year, including Peking Union Medical College Hospital, he said. 

"These hospitals will open special clinics for reducing weight," Chen said, adding "They will provide services including updated health records and customised weight-loss plans.​

New York, April 3 (IANS) People living nearby markets, public transport stops and public parks do more physical activity in their neighbourhood and take up 90 minutes more exercise per week, a study has found.

According to researchers, creating healthier cities is an important part of the public health response to the global disease burden of physical inactivity.

The four neighbourhood features, which were most strongly associated with increased physical activity, were -- high residential density, number of intersections, number of public transport stops and number of parks within walking distance.

"Neighbourhoods with high residential density tend to have connected streets, shops and services meaning people will be more likely to walk to their local shops," said lead study author James Sallis from University of California, US.

"Interestingly, distance to nearest transport stop was not associated with higher levels of physical activity, whereas the number of nearby transport stops was," Sallis added in the paper published in the journal The Lancet.

This might mean that with more options, people are more likely to walk further to get to a transport stop that best meets their needs.

The study included 6,822 adults aged 18-66 and mapped out the neighbourhood features from the areas around the participants' houses.

Physical activity was measured by using accelerometers worn around participants' waists for a minimum of four days, recording movement every minute.

On average, participants did 37 minutes per day moderate to vigorous physical activity -- equivalent to brisk walking or more.

The difference in physical activity between participants living in the most and least activity-friendly neighbourhoods ranged from 68-89 minutes per week, representing 45-59 percent of the recommended 150 minutes per week.

Physical inactivity has been linked to diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

"We need interventions to counter the rapidly growly inactivity that urbanisation leads to, by providing environments that change the way we live our daily lives. It is high time that built environments provide the quadruple boost towards health, environment, equity and habitat," Shifalika Goenka from Public Health Foundation of India commented.​

​London, April 4 (IANS) The consumption of a paleolithic-type diet by obese women can help them lose weight and lower their future risk of diabetes and heart disease, says a new research.

A typical Paleolithic diet includes lean meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and berries, with rapeseed, olive oil and avocado as additional fat sources. It excludes dairy products, cereals, added salt and refined fats and sugar.

"Eating a Paleolithic-type diet without calorie restriction significantly improved the fatty acid profile associated with insulin sensitivity, and it reduced abdominal adiposity and body weight in obese postmenopausal women," said lead study author Caroline Blomquist, doctoral student at Umea University, Sweden. 

Also, the diet can improve fatty acid circulation especially in women who are in their postmenopausal phase and is likely to have long term beneficial effects on obesity-related disorders, including reduced risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The findings showed that saturated fatty acids decreased by 19 percent in women who consumed the Paleolithic-type diet.

Further, there was an increase of 47 percent in monounsaturated fatty acids and 71 percent increase was seen in their polyunsaturated fatty acids. 

Specific fatty acids associated with insulin resistance were found to be significantly lower in the women eating the Paleolithic-type foods compared with those on the prudent control diet.

The team conducted their 24-month intervention in 70 obese postmenopausal women with normal fasting plasma glucose levels. 

The women were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Those in the Paleolithic-type-diet group aimed to consume 30 percent of their total energy (E percent - energy percent) in protein, 30 E percent in carbohydrates, and 40 E percent in fats with high-unsaturated fatty acid content. 

In contrast, the women in the prudent control diet group aimed to eat 15 E percent in protein, 30 E percent in fat, and 55 E percent in carbohydrates.

The results were presented at the ENDO 2016, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, in Boston, US.​