Girls Protected By Hormones During Adolescence, Study Suggests

HealthDay News, by Ed Edelson (Apr. 21, 2008) — The first signs that men are at higher risk of heart disease than women appear during the adolescent years, according a new study that tracked boys and girls through their teens.

This is not what we would have predicted," said Dr. Antoinette Moran, chief of pediatric endocrinology and diabetes at the University of Minnesota Children's Hospital, and lead author of the report in the April 22 issue of Circulation. "Because boys lose fat and gain muscle in adolescence, while girls add body fat.

At the start, 11-year-old boys and girls were similar in body composition, blood pressure and blood levels of lipids (fats). As expected, the percentage of body fat decreased in the boys and increased in the girls over the adolescent years.

Yet the study of the 507 Minneapolis school children found that between the ages of 11 and 19, levels of triglycerides, a type of blood fat associated with cardiovascular disease, increased in the boys and dropped in the girls. Levels of HDL cholesterol, the "good" kind that helps keep arteries clear, went down in boys but rose in girls.

Blood pressure increased in both, but significantly more in boys. And insulin resistance, a marker of cardiovascular risk, which was lower in boys at age 11, rose until the 19-year-old men were more resistant than the women.

But excess weight is of major importance in both sexes, Moran said. "Being overweight or obese can cancel out these relationships and cause increased cardiovascular risk for males and females," she said. "Any protection that the young women had was wiped out by obesity.

A recent study found that more than a third of children and adolescents in the United States are overweight or obese.

The study points toward the importance of hormonal factors in cardiovascular disease risk, Moran explained. "We knew that women had extra protection from cardiovascular disease, and we knew it disappeared after menopause," she said. "This adds further weight to the role of hormones by looking at the other end of the age spectrum.

One possible lesson of the study is that it is never too early to start protective measures against heart disease, said Dr. Stephen R. Daniels, chairman of the department of pediatrics at the University of Colorado.

Studies have used autopsies of young people who died in accidents to show that by the late teens, the kind of lesions we know cause heart attacks and strokes are in the process of developing," Daniels said. "So, in some ways, our best opportunity to prevent heart disease is to look at children and adolescents and start the preventive process early.

Fighting obesity in the years before adulthood is essential, he said. "Some changes that occur may be due to what is built into the difference between the sexes," he said. "But if you add overweight and obesity, you can increase risk through that mechanism.

More information
Facts about childhood obesity are available from the U.S. Surgeon General.

Source: Antoinette Moran, M.D., chief, pediatric endocrinology and diabetes, University of Minnesota Children's Hospital, Milwaukee; Stephen R. Daniels, M.D., chairman, pediatrics, University of Colorado, Denver; April 22, 2008, Circulation

August Snack Ideas

Even if you work out hard, you still need to eat well to see results. Follow these nutrition tips and snack ideas to help stay in shape.

Be good in the grocery store.
Tomatoes, seafood, skinless white-meat poultry, eggs, lean beef, and skim or low-fat dairy products are great things to throw in your cart. Buy whole grain bread and pasta. Also load up on produce since all veggies- except avocados- are fat-free. Berries and grapes help fulfill your suggested daily fruit intake, as well as help fight cancer and heart disease.

Eat less but more often.
Eating six small meals throughout the day is much better for you than eating three large ones. It will keep you energized and also help digest your food more easily.

For more nutrition tips, check out the article "10 Tips for Easy Weight Loss," written by Gloria Tsang, Registered Dietitian and founder of the largest nutrition network, www.HealthCastle.com.


Here are some healthy snack suggestions. The best part? Each snack is under 200 calories.

• 1/2 large bagel with apple butter, jam, and/or 1-2 Tbsp fat-free cream cheese

• 1 large plain rice cake with 1 Tbsp peanut butter and jelly

• a slice angel food cake topped with 1/2 cup strawberries and fat-free Cool Whip

• 1 soft flour tortilla with 1 oz melted reduced-fat cheese

• 3/4 cup bran-flake cereal with 1 cup skim milk and 1/4 cup blueberries

• 1 cup fresh vegetables with 1/4 cup dip: (low-fat sour cream mixed with a packet of dry Ranch salad dressing)

• 1 cup 60% reduced-fat Chex Mix

• 1 oz reduced-fat spread on 4 whole wheat crackers

• 10 baked tortilla chips with 4 Tbsp fat-free bean dip and salsa

How Exercise Changes Structure And Function Of Heart

ScienceDaily (Apr. 23, 2008) — For the first time researchers are beginning to understand exactly how various forms of exercise impact the heart. Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators, in collaboration with the Harvard University Health Services, have found that 90 days of vigorous athletic training produces significant changes in cardiac structure and function and that the type of change varies with the type of exercise performed.

"Most of what we know about cardiac changes in athletes and other physically active people comes from 'snapshots,' taken at one specific point in time. What we did in this first-of-a-kind study was to follow athletes over several months to determine how the training process actually causes change to occur," says Aaron Baggish, MD, a fellow in the MGH Cardiology Division and lead author of the study.

To investigate how exercise affects the heart over time, the MGH researchers enrolled two groups of Harvard University student athletes at the beginning of the fall 2006 semester. One group was comprised of endurance athletes -- 20 male and 20 female rowers -- and the other, strength athletes -- 35 male football players. Student athletes were studied while participating their normal team training, with emphasis on how the heart adapts to a typical season of competitive athletics.

Echocardiography studies -- ultrasound examination of the heart's structure and function -- were taken at the beginning and end of the 90-day study period. Participants followed the normal training regimens developed by their coaches and trainers, and weekly training activity was recorded. Endurance training included one- to three-hour sessions of on-water practice or use of indoor rowing equipment. The strength athletes took part in skill-focused drills, exercises designed to improve muscle strength and reaction time, and supervised weight training. Participants also were questioned confidentially about the use of steroids, and any who reported such use were excluded from the study.

At the end of the 90-day study period, both groups had significant overall increases in the size of their hearts. For endurance athletes, the left and right ventricles -- the chambers that send blood into the aorta and to the lungs, respectively -- expanded. In contrast, the heart muscle of the strength athletes tended to thicken, a phenomenon that appeared to be confined to the left ventricle. The most significant functional differences related to the relaxation of the heart muscle between beats -- which increased in the endurance athletes but decreased in strength athletes, while still remaining within normal ranges.

"We were quite surprised by both the magnitude of changes over a relatively short period and by how great the differences were between the two groups of athletes," Baggish says. "The functional differences raise questions about the potential impact of long-term training, which should be followed up in future studies."

While this study looks at young athletes with healthy hearts, the information it provides may someday benefit heart disease patients. "The take-home message is that, just as not all heart disease is equal, not all exercise prescriptions are equal," Baggish explains. "This should start us thinking about whether we should tailor the type of exercise patients should do to their specific type of heart disease. The concept will need to be studied in heart disease patients before we can make any definitive recommendations."

Their study appears in the April Journal of Applied Physiology. Baggish and senior author Malissa J. Wood, MD, of MGH Cardiology note that collaboration with the Harvard University Medical Services, led by Francis Wang, MD, was instrumental in the success of this study. Additional co-authors of the report are Rory Weiner, MD, Jason Elinoff, Francois Tournoux, Michael Picard, MD, and Adolph Hutter, MD, MGH Cardiology; and Arthur Boland, MD, Harvard University Health Services.

Adapted from materials provided by Massachusetts General Hospital.

August Exercise Tips

Here are some tips from our Fitcorp experts on how to look better and feel better.

Less is more.
Make your workouts shorter but more frequent. Working out for 30 minutes per day for five days is recommended over two 75-minute workouts.

Make realistic goals.
Starting your exercise routine with the lofty goal of working out every day never works and is actually discouraged. Four or five times a week is most recommended because it gives your muscles a chance to recover. Start off small with two or three workouts a week, and work your way up. The same goes for food. Give yourself one or two "cheat" days and be self-disciplined the rest of the week.

Get outside.
Fit in a walk everyday- even if it's only for 10 minutes- to negate the central heating, poor ventilation and stress at work. Getting some fresh air will put you in a better mood and even help you sleep better at night.


Be consistent.
If you're trying to get rid of extra pounds, don't let more than two days pass without engaging in some type of exercise. Being consistent with your exercise schedule keeps your metabolism high, helping you burn fat.

Stretch.
Stretching is one of the most important, and most often ignored, aspects of exercising. Be sure to stretch before your workout to warm up your muscles, as well as after your routine. Hold stretches for between 30 and 90 seconds. Always stretch to the point of tension, never to the point of pain, and always remember to breathe. Stretching prevents soreness and injuries, as well as improves your flexibility.

Drink lots of water.
This seems like a no-brainer, but it is crucial to stay hydrated during a workout, especially in the hot summer months. Drink water or a sports drink an hour before your workout, throughout your workout, and after your workout. Water intake depends on many factors, like the duration and intensity of your workout and how much you sweat. As a general rule, we recommend drinking one glass with each meal, one glass between each meal, and extra glasses following exercise.