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New Research Shows How Sugary Drinks Are Probably Harming Children As Young As 2 To 5 Years Old…

18 Apr

Earlier this year, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a ban that would stop restaurants, delis, movie theaters, food carts, and stadiums from selling certain sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces as a way to help combat obesity in the city. As you can imagine, there was enormous public and political backlash.

Eventually, an appeals court ruled against the proposed ban just before it could go into effect, citing that it was an overreach of executive power. While it may not be Mayor Bloomberg’s place to tell you or your children not to drink sugary drinks, research has tightly linked sugar-sweet beverage consumption to weight gain among older children. But what about younger children?

New research published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, studied 9,600 children from birth to age five. The

researchers found correlations between sugary drink consumption by children as young as two years old and weight gain in later years. The drinks examined in the study were sodas, sports drinks, and any other sugar-added beverages or juice drinks that were not 100 percent juice.

Because of the study’s size and length of follow- up, many experts believe the information to be very valuable.

According to Dr. Dyan Hes, Medical Director of Gramercy Pediatrics in Manhattan, who has been lobbying for public policies like soda taxes that would make these drinks less attractive to families, “It’s a fantastic study because we need more evidence… We know that sugar-sweetened beverages are the greatest contributor to increased obesity in young children because they’re cheap. It shows that by giving your children sugar-sweetened beverages

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by age two, you’ve already set up habits that are very hard to break.”

Here’s what is really important about this study: The study did not find that two year olds who drank at least one sugar-sweetened drink to be any heavier than other two year olds. But, drinking just one sugary drink per day did set those toddlers up for weight gain in the near future. In fact, the children who drank at least one sugary drink per day were already heavier by the age of five.

According to Scientific America: In fact, they were 1.43 times more likely to be obese than preschoolers who consumed sugary drinks less than daily, even after accounting for other factors that could influence weight gain. Mark DeBoer, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Virginia, says the findings support the hypothesis that regular consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has a cumulative effect over time. “We were struck by this data that even at a very young age, the sugar- sweetened beverages contribute to weight gain… and we wanted to put this information out for pediatricians and for families to help them make healthier choices for their children.”

Why Do Sugary Drinks Cause So Much Weight Gain?

The answer to that question is most likely two- fold. First, is simple caloric intake.

Sugary drinks are full of “empty calories.” In other words, they contain very little (if any) nutritional value but are high in calories. These calories, because they are liquid, do not make you feel full. So someone drinking all these empty calories will still need to eat solid food to feel full, increasing the total amount of calories consumed in a day. The second reason is how your body chemically reacts to sugar. These types of drinks are usually loaded with fructose. Fructose can be harmful to your body by setting up the conditions for not only obesity, but also diabetes.

This “junk sugar” unstabilizes blood sugar levels and makes your pancreas work overtime. Your pancreas is the organ responsible for secreting the hormone insulin so the sugar in your blood stream can be absorbed by cells. After years of sugar consumption, the pancreas may “wear out” and an individual could become a type 2 diabetic.

Many type 2 diabetics start taking insulin injections when the better solution for many may to manage their blood sugar levels may simply be proper diet and exercise. However, the best solution is to prevent the condition altogether by limiting consumption of bad sugar, such as sugary drinks (along with a proper diet and regular, moderate exercise).

Here Is Something Disturbing…

A UCLA study published in the Journal of Physiology is the first to show how a steady diet high in fructose can damage your memory and learning. Researchers investigated the effects of high-fructose syrup. It’s similar to high-fructose corn syrup, a cheap sweetener six times sweeter than cane sugar which is used in most soft drinks, processed foods, condiments, and even many baby foods.

They fed rats a fructose solution instead of clean drinking water for six weeks. Then, they tested their ability to remember the way out of a maze.

The results were quite shocking. The rats fed fructose syrup struggled to negotiate the maze, demonstrating significant impairment in their cognitive abilities. They were slower and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity. Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting the rats’ ability to think clearly and recall the route they’d learned six weeks earlier.

Additionally, the fructose-fed rats showed signs of resistance to insulin, a hormone that controls your blood sugar and synaptic function in your brain.

Researchers concluded that a high-fructose diet negatively affects the way the brain functions. According to Dr. Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a Professor of Neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a Professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science, “Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think… Eating a high-fructose diet over the long-term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information.”

Are You Getting Enough Sleep? How Not Getting The Proper Amount of Sleep For YOU Can Cause Health and Relationship Problems, and More…

11 Apr

For many, there is no bigger pain in the entire world than the sound of their alarm clock rousing them from a beautiful, deep slumber.

Do you get up or hit the snooze button? Are you lazy if you slept eight hours and don’t get up? Well, perhaps not. New research shows that your desire for more sleep may not come from laziness at all. It may be genetic. More on that in a moment, but first, how much sleep do you really need?

The amount of sleep your body needs is the amount that results in you feeling fully rested and alert. According to a report by ABC News, if you find yourself sleeping in on weekends, then your body may be catching up on lost sleep time. On one hand, some researchers recommend trying to sleep more during the week to balance out your sleep schedule so you sleep the same number of hours on weekends. A short 25-minute nap in the afternoon can help make up for a sleep deficit during the week. On the other hand, Dr. W. Christopher Winter, medical director of the Martha Jefferson Hospital Sleep Medicine Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, thinks there’s no harm in sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday morning to make up lost time.

But, that may not be such a good idea for some people. We’ll cover that later too…

How Many Hours of Sleep Do You Need?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends adults sleep 7-9 hours per night, teenagers sleep 8.5-9.5 hours per night, and children (ages 5-10 years old) sleep 10-11 hours per night. A review of 16 long-term studies published in the journal Sleep found that both short sleepers (under 7 hours) and long sleepers (over 9 hours) lived shorter lives than those who slept 7-9 hours per night. This may be the basis for the CDC’s 7-9 hour recommendation.

Inadequate sleep can negatively affect your heart, lungs, kidneys, appetite, metabolism, immune system, reaction time, mood, and brain function. People who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes (and all the health problems associated with that disease) because inadequate sleep affects insulin sensitivity.

A study of 24,000 Japanese women found those who slept less than six hours a night were more likely to develop breast cancer while a study by Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland found men who slept less than six hours a night were at a higher risk for potentially cancerous colorectal polyps.

Another study found lack of sleep might cause relationship problems. This research from the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) found that couples fight more and are less healthy after a bad night’s sleep. “For the first time, to our knowledge, we can see the process of how the nature, degree, and resolution of conflict are negatively impacted by poor sleep,” said Dr. Serena Chen, a Professor of Psychology at UCB.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you sleep less than seven hours a night but you feel rested and alert when you wake up, that may be fine too. In fact, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco discovered individuals with a mutation to the DEC2 gene can function well on five or six hours a night, with no apparent adverse effects.

Oversleeping May Be Just As
Bad As Not Getting Enough Sleep! Interestingly enough, sleeping over nine hours a night

can lead to many of the same problems as sleeping too little. Long sleepers are at risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, back pain, depression, and heart disease. If you tend to wake up before your alarm clock and you feel rested, get up and start your day. Forcing yourself to sleep in may do you more harm than good.

If it’s true that some people may genetically need less sleep, then the opposite is likely true as well: some of us may be genetically predisposed to needing more sleep than the “average” person. So, if you need more than nine hours of sleep to feel rested and alert, that may be okay.

Irregular Sleep Patterns May Be A Problem Too!

People with irregular work schedules (that, in turn, lead to irregular sleep patterns) may also experience health problems. One study recently found that females working shift patterns are associated with an increase risk of menstrual disruption and subfertility. The study collected data on 119,345 women from 1969 – 2013 and found that those working shifts (alternating shifts, evenings and nights) had a 33% higher rate of menstrual disruption than those working regular hours, and an 80% increased rate of subfertility.

In a nutshell, you must get the proper amount of sleep to be healthy. One of the biggest things we can take from this study is that the proper amount of sleep is individual. It is not “8 hours.” We are all different, and you must figure out what the proper amount of sleep is for you.

We all know people who can sleep five hours and wake up with a full charge. Five hours might be optimal for them, and that is awesome. However, you might need eight, nine, or even more.

If you’re the type who has trouble getting restful sleep, here are some tips:

  • Regular exercise is often advised to improve sleep. Some experts recommend you try exercising earlier in the day, others think the evening before bed is a better idea. See what works best for you. Stress and anxiety can affect sleep and exercise has been shown to help relieve stress and anxiety, even if you don’t really want to work out.
  • Eating before bed may trigger acid reflux or an upset stomach that can hinder sleep. However, consuming a relaxing food or beverage (like a warm glass of milk) may help you fall asleep.
  • Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and smoking before bed as they can disrupt sleep patterns.
  • Take a hot bath, shower, or sauna before bed. This will raise your body temperature and cooling off facilitates sleep. The temperature drop from getting out of the bath signals to your body that “it’s time for bed.” On the same note, keep the room cool. Lower temperatures help with sleep.
  • Get out of bed. If you are having trouble falling asleep, get up and do something else. Don’t linger in bed and fret about not being able to fall asleep because it could develop into an even bigger sleeping problem.
  • Turn off the lights. Complete darkness (or as close to it as possible) is best. Even the tiniest bit of light in the room can disrupt your internal clock and your pineal gland’s production of melatonin and serotonin. Cover your windows with blackout shades or drapes.
  • Consider a “sound machine.” Listen to the sound of white noise or nature sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to drown out upsetting background noise and soothe you to sleep.
  • Try to sleep a consistent number of hours each night. While it may be okay to catch up on sleep during the weekends, if you can’t sleep Sunday night because you slept in on Sunday morning, that can be a problem.
  • Increase your melatonin. If you can’t increase levels naturally with exposure to bright sunlight in the daytime and absolute complete darkness at night, consider supplementation.

    Last but not least, health conditions like back pain or neck pain can interfere with a good night’s sleep so make sure to get adjusted regularly to help keep your body functioning optimally so you can sleep restfully.

Medical Research Sheds Light On Hunger and Risk… Never Make Decisions Hungry!

6 Apr

Have you heard of the term, hangry? Even if you haven’t, I can almost guarantee you’ve experienced it. According to the Urban Dictionary, the definition of

hangry is: “When you are so hungry your lack of food causes you to become angry.”

Here is hangry used in a sentence: The service in this place stinks! I ordered my food over an hour ago. I’m starving and starting to get really hangry!

Come on. You can admit it…

You’ve Been Hangry!

We all have, and hangry is not a good place to be. Well, now research is showing how being hungry affects our decision making.

According to an article published by the Max Planck Society, hunger affects not only decision making, but also the perception of risk.

According to the article, “Hungry people are often difficult to deal with. A good meal can affect more than our mood, it can also influence our willingness to take risks. This phenomenon is also apparent across a very diverse range of species in the animal kingdom. Experiments conducted on the fruit fly, Drosophila, by scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried have shown that hunger not only modifies behavior, but also changes pathways in the brain.”

Studies show that animals are willing to take much more risk depending on how hungry they are. For example, an animal will only hunt dangerous prey

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when hungry. If they are not hungry, they will try their luck getting a meal in a less hazardous way.

That seems pretty obvious, but here’s something that is NOT obvious… and even a little surprising. One study found that hungry humans took significantly more financial risk than their well-fed colleagues.

One obvious lesson here is…

Never Make Financial Decisions When You’re Hungry!

Of course, make sure your financial advisor and stock brokers are also well fed. Maybe call them and make sure they have a good breakfast before they start their work day! ☺

On a more serious note, it is obvious that blood chemistry is seriously affected by what and when you eat. Your blood chemistry is extremely important when it comes to both your physical and mental health.

Hangry may seem funny, but when you are hungry, your body is not functioning optimally.

Your muscles and brain are not getting the nutrients they need. Bad decisions and risk taking are just the tip of the iceberg. Not giving your body the nutrients it needs when it needs them can affect every organ and cell in your body.

Understand this: If you want to GAIN WEIGHT, being “hangry” is one of the best ways to do it.

Why? Because weight loss is best accomplished when you keep your blood sugar levels stabilized. This can be accomplished by eating small portions of the correct foods multiple times throughout the day. Often times, eating five or more small meals is ideal.

If you have reached the point when you feel hunger, then you are falling behind. Hunger means your blood sugar levels have already dropped. (Becoming “hangry” is a whole different level!)

But this does not mean you should eat as much as you want whenever you want.

The answer is to eat the right foods, at the right times, in the right portions.

Portion size is a BIG problem for most people. But, believe it or not, you can be “tricked” into eating or drinking more (or less) than you think you are.

Here is how: You’ve heard the statement, “Everything is relative.” Well, relative is a HUGE factor when it comes to how much you decide to eat.

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There is something called the Delboef illusion. This illusion occurs when people misjudge the size of identical circles when they are surrounded by larger circles of different sizes.

For example, people will think a circle is smaller if the circle surrounding it is huge and vice versa.

Researchers found that the same illusion applies to plates we eat our food on.

When the same portion of food is served on a very large plate, it seems like less food than when it is served on a small plate.

According to an article published by the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, “For example, in a study conducted at a health and fitness camp, campers who were given larger bowls served and consumed 16% more cereal than those given smaller bowls. Despite the fact that those campers were eating more, their estimates of their cereal consumption were 7% lower than the estimates of the group eating from the smaller bowls. This suggests that not only could large dinnerware cause us to serve and eat more, it can do so without us noticing and trick us into believing we have eaten less.”

The Cornell article also revealed how we can use this optical illusion to our favor. Here is how: Serve the vegetables and healthy foods many people do not like on large plates. The large plate will make the portion look small and easier to eat. On the contrary, serve bad foods, like desserts, on small plates to make the serving size look bigger.

Important news from the American Heart Association… Dogs Help Fight Heart Disease? Studies Show Five Ways Pets Improve Your Health.

1 Apr

This month, there is good news and bad news. But, if you know how to look at it, even the bad news is good news. So, it

will be called “good news” and “better news.” First, the “good news.”

Everyone knows that being overweight is a health risk, but few understand how bad the risks actually are. Well, new research published April 29, 2013 in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) studied 6,502 men and what they found was astounding. These men were tracked for 33 years, from the age of 22 until 55. All were born in the same year: 1955.

Results: 48% of those classified as obese at the age of 22 were diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, blood clots in the legs or lungs, or had died before reaching age 55.

They were eight times more likely to develop diabetes as their normal weight peers, and four times more likely to get a potentially fatal blood clot (venous thromboembolism). They were also more than twice as likely to develop high blood pressure, have had a heart attack, or to have died.

The study concluded: “In this cohort of young men, obesity was strongly associated with adverse cardio metabolic events before 55 years of age, including venous thromboembolism. Compared with those of normal weight, young, obese men had an absolute risk increase for Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular morbidity or premature death of almost 30%.”

How Is This “Good News?”

Simple. Many people like to blame bad genes for their poor health. While we are a product of our genes, in MOST cases, we are not nearly as limited as most people may think.

The fact of the matter is, many, many, major diseases (like heart disease and diabetes) have more to do with actively keeping yourself healthy than your genes do.

Actively keeping yourself healthy means eating right, exercising, and reducing stress. Properly taking care of these three things can add a lot of years to a lot of lives. Not only that, it can add a lot of GOOD, PROSPEROUS, and HEALTHY years to a lot of lives.

Clearly, There Is A BIG Difference Between Being Alive and Living

It all starts with making the decision to do the right thing and then taking massive action… immediately.

Don’t “diet” starting next Monday. Make the decision to change your life habits for the rest of your life starting RIGHT NOW.

Now is the time. Throw out all the junk food. If you need nutritional help, call our office. Chiropractors have extensive training in nutrition and exercise. The chiropractic lifestyle is about achieving total health.

So, step away from the junk food. Clearly, a little effort now goes a long way.

Now For Some Of The “Better News”

I know you didn’t step away from the junk food just yet, so here’s something else that may help you achieve some great health benefits…

According to the American Heart Association, having a pet (particularly a dog), may reduce your risk of heart disease.

The statement was published online in the association’s journal Circulation: “Pet ownership, particularly dog ownership, is probably associated with a decreased risk of heart disease”, said Glenn N. Levine, M.D., Professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and chair of the committee that wrote the statement, after reviewing previous studies on the influence of pets.

The reason is unknown, but it is theorized that dog owners may engage in more physical activities, like walking.

In a study of more than 5,200 adults, dog owners engaged in more walking and physical activity than non-dog owners, and were 54 percent more likely to get the recommended level of physical activity.

Pet ownership may be associated with lower levels of cholesterol, blood pressure, and obesity. Pets may also have a positive effect on stress.

More research needs to be done, but it looks like owning a pet, particularly a dog, is probably good for your health.

Exercise Lowers Risk Of Breast Cancer

Past research has shown that exercise can lower a woman’s risk of breast cancer. Now, new research has a possible explanation…

According to data published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, changes in estrogen breakdown, or metabolism, may be one of the mechanisms by which aerobic exercise lowers a woman’s breast cancer risk.

According to the American Association for Cancer Research, “Observational studies suggest physical activity lowers breast cancer risk, but there are no clinical studies that explain the mechanism behind this,” said Mindy S. Kurzer, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota in Saint Paul. “Ours is the first study to show that aerobic exercise influences the way our bodies break down estrogens to produce more of the ‘good’ metabolites that lower breast cancer risk.”

Not only is exercise good for heart health and diabetes, it is also good for reducing the risk of breast cancer. But you should not look at exercise, eating right, and stress reduction as a treatment for any disease or condition. Instead, know that you are helping your body function as close to its optimum potential as you possibly can.

When you do that, barring any serious genetic defect or accident, you will most likely live a long and healthy life.

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Research Shows Torn Knee Ligaments Heal Without Surgery – Does Your Body Relieve Back Pain The Same Way?

24 Mar

If you suffer with low back pain, you are about to discover some very important information about potential causes and treatments.  But first, researchers have discovered something very important you should know about “anterior cruciate ligament” (ACL) injuries…

The ACL is one of the major supporting ligaments of the knee.  You may or may not know, but one of the most feared injuries an athlete (or anyone else) can suffer from is a torn ACL.

When it is torn, the knee is usually left unstable.  In other words, the ACL ligament helps keep the bones of the knee joint together.  When there is a tear, the bones can actually separate or dislocate.  This can happen when an athlete or person lands from a jump, tries to stop or attempts to change directions suddenly.  Sometimes, the knee will just “give out” without warning while simply walking.

When a knee is injured, an MRI is often used to help diagnose the problem.  If the MRI shows a torn ACL, it has been common practice for most doctors to recommend surgery to replace the ACL with either a cadaver ACL or one made from the person’s own patellar tendon, or Hamstring tendon. 

This is MAJOR surgery with extensive and lengthy rehabilitation.  Even an athlete in his or her physical prime may not be able to resume their sport for a minimum of six months.

Surgery for a torn ACL has been the common treatment because it was believed that once an ACL was torn, it could not heal.  Now researchers say this is not true.

In fact, in a study that appeared online before its publication in the journal Knee Surgery Sports Traumatology Arthroscopy, researchers at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York found that surgery shouldn’t be the first option for some cases. They found solid evidence that the ACL can, in fact, heal itself WITHOUT surgery.  

According to Robert Marx, MD, an orthopedic surgeon in the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), “Some patients who tear their ACL while skiing can get away without surgery.  Their ligament heals by itself, they will have stable knees, and they will be able to do whatever they want, including skiing. It is a huge deal to avoid surgery.” 

Dr. Marx also stated that patients who tear their ACL during recreational skiing should not rush into surgery.  They should wait 6-12 weeks and be re-evaluated unless there is another obvious reason for surgery.

The study found two orthopedic tests that should be performed by a skilled physician to determine if the patient will need surgery or if the ACL can heal without it.

These two tests are “Lachman” and “pivot shift test.”  These tests assess the integrity of the ACL, and if these two tests are negative, a good outcome and normal knee anterior laxity at more than 2 years after the injury is expected… without surgery.

A quick and important side note about this study:  It was performed on recreational Alpine skiers.  Researchers noted that ACL tears from skiing are often less traumatic than other sports.  For example, the level of knee injury can be much greater in football or soccer.

This does not mean that an ACL tear from these sports cannot heal without surgery; it means THIS PARTICULAR STUDY ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.  Of course, not all ACL tears in football, soccer, and similar sports are super traumatic.  The answer is to have your knee examined by a qualified and skilled physician who is up-to-date on the research and will assess your knee and give you the best recommendation for your individual case.

What Does All This Have To Do With Back Pain?

A lot, actually.  There are two very big take home messages from the information above.

First, doctors are not always right.  The best doctors use the best and most current research in an attempt to give the patient the best recommendations and treatments possible.

That is, of course, limited to the current research.  No matter what some people think, science (and research) is not magic.  It does not have all the answers, especially when it comes to the complexities of the human body.

The ability of the ACL to heal itself is a great example, but it is not the only one.

The body is truly amazing, and one of the most amazing things is its incomprehensible ability to heal itself.

Often, this means doing less, not more. This is one of the most difficult things for injured or sick people to understand.

When sick or injured, many people believe something must be done or the more treatment, the better.  In reality, in many cases, the less the doctor does and the quicker he or she gets out of the way, the better.

This Is Often The Best Option For Back And Neck Pain

Many Chiropractors are proud that their treatments help back and neck pain.  This, however, is not true.  If you understand how the body works and its amazing ability to heal itself, you will also understand that the reason why some Chiropractors have so much success with back and neck pain is because they simply do as little as possible and then get out of the way and let the body do its magic.

They understand that their “treatments” do not get rid of pain.  Their “treatments” simply remove a roadblock or roadblocks the body had to healing itself.

That’s why they will recommend the LEAST treatments possible and re-evaluate.  Their goal is to get you out of pain and out of their office as fast as possible… not commit you to huge and expensive treatment plans that last months or even years.

Of course, some patients have more serious causes of back or neck pain and need more care.  Every case is individual and should be approached that way.  But the results can be incredible if your Chiropractor simply removes the roadblock, steps aside, and lets the REAL healer take over.

Study Finds Headaches Associated With Back Pain

A German study published in the Dec. 28, 2012 issue of Pain has found an association between both chronic migraine and chronic tension-type headaches with low back pain.

According to the study, the odds of having frequent low back pain were between 13.7 and 18.3 times higher in all chronic headache types when compared to those with no headaches.  In other words, the odds of having low back pain are much higher if you have chronic migraine or chronic tension-type headaches.

Researchers mention nerve pathways as a possible explanation.  But, one must not overlook the possibility of an unbalanced and malfunctioning spine as a possible cause of the headaches.  If this is true, it would explain why so many chiropractors report success treating headaches.

 

What’s Better To Lose Weight: Cardio or Resistance Training?

17 Mar

Here’s an inconvenient truth: Many people do not believe based on facts. They pick a side based on any number of other things (what sounds right to them, a celebrity endorsement, their past experiences, etc.) and then emotionally defend their stance… NO MATTER WHAT.

The examples of this are endless, and not the point of this newsletter. The point IS to separate fact from fiction, which is often much more difficult than one would think.

For example, a new study (done at Duke University Medical Center) is out that compared aerobic training, resistance training, and a combination of the two to determine the optimal mode of exercise for obesity reduction.

Researchers said that few studies have compared the effects of similar amounts of aerobic and resistance training on body mass and fat mass in overweight adults.

The study, published in the December 2012 edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology, started with previously sedentary overweight or obese males and females between the ages of 18-70. 119 completed the study and had collectable data.

There were three groups: Group 1 did resistance training (RT) only 3 days a week, 3 sets a day, 8-12 repetitions/set. Group 2 did aerobic training (AT) only – calorically equivalent to approximately 12 miles/wk at 65-80% peak VO2. Group 3 did aerobic training PLUS resistance training (A T/RT). Aerobic was calorically equivalent to approximately 12 miles/wk at 65-80% peak VO2 Plus Resistant: 3 days/wk, 3 sets/day, 8-12 repetitions/set.

RESULTS: The groups assigned to aerobic training and aerobic plus resistance training lost more weight than those who did resistance training only.

Fat mass and waist circumference significantly decreased in the A T and A T/RT groups, but were not altered in the RT group. However, measures of lean body mass significantly increased in the RT and A T/RT groups, but not in AT group.

Having the benefit of both modes of exercise allowed the A T/RT group to decrease body fat percentage significantly more than either the AT or RT groups, due to decreased fat mass combined with increased lean body mass.

One researcher said that after seeing the results of this study, “it may be time to seriously reconsider the conventional wisdom that resistance training alone can lead to weight and fat loss.”

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