Health

A year-long study involving young adults has compared those who engaged in either tai chi or brisk walking or no exercise. Those who practiced tai chi had a significantly higher number of CD 34+ cells compared with those in the other groups. CD 34+ cells are markers for blood stem cells involved in cell self-renewal, differentiation and proliferation. The findings suggest tai chi may prompt vasodilation and increase blood flow.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-05/ctco-ctc052814.php

Data from the very large U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), involving 23,168 people, has found a significant association between low dietary fiber intake and risk of metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular inflammation, and obesity.

Dietary fiber intake was also consistently below recommended intake levels: 38g per day for men aged 19-50 years, 30g per day for men 50 and over, 25g for women aged 19-50 years, and 21g per day for women over 50. Mean dietary fiber intake was only 16.2g per day across all groups.

A study involving 12 rhesus macaques, of whom some were given access to alcohol, has found that those who drank moderately showed enhanced responses to a smallpox vaccine (compared with the control group of monkeys who drank sugar water), indicating a bolstered immune system, while heavy drinkers showed greatly diminished vaccine responses.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-12/ohs-sma121713.php

A mouse study suggests that resveratrol—a compound abundant in red wine—may moderate some of a high-fat diet’s negative effects on the immune system.

http://www.futurity.org/can-resveratrol-balance-fatty-diet/

A review of research from 1957 to the present has concluded that a whole diet approach, and specifically Mediterranean-style diets, has more evidence for reducing cardiovascular risk than strategies that focus exclusively on reduced dietary fat.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-02/ehs-ssw020514.php

A Swedish study has found that those who ate poor breakfasts as year 9 students had a higher incidence of metabolic syndrome 27 years later, compared with those who ate more substantial breakfasts.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-01/uu-pbi012914.php

A British study analyzing data from 7,011 adults who participated in two Health and Lifestyle Surveys, has found that a new method of measuring obesity, A Body Shape Index (ABSI), is a more effective predictor of mortality than Body Mass Index (BMI). You can find an online calculator at http://www-ce.ccny.cuny.edu/nir/sw/absi-calculator.html.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-02/ccon-nss022414.php

A study involving 39 young adult men and women of normal weight, who ate 750 extra calories in the form of muffins every day for seven weeks, found that those whose muffins were made with palm oil built significantly more fat and less muscle than those whose muffins were made with sunflower oil. Moreover, the palm oil group developed the fat in more dangerous places  — in the liver and abdomen. The groups gained the same amount of weight.

A study in which 23 healthy volunteers ate half a kilo of strawberries every day for a month has found that their levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides reduced significantly.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-02/f-sf-slc022514.php

"Sprouted" garlic — old garlic bulbs with bright green shoots emerging from the cloves — have been found to have even more heart-healthy antioxidant activity than fresh garlic.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-02/acs-dto022614.php