LONDON: Drinking coffee may stimulate the body's own fat-fighting defences, which could be the key to tackling obesity and diabetes, a study claims. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, is one of the first to be carried out in humans to find components which could have a direct effect on 'brown fat' functions, which plays a key role in how quickly we can burn calories as energy.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT), also known as brown fat, is one of two types of fat found in humans and other mammals, said researchers from the University of Nottingham in the UK.
Initially only attributed to babies and hibernating mammals, it was discovered in recent years that adults can have brown fat too.
Its main function is to generate body heat by burning calories, opposed to white fat, which is a result of storing excess calories.
People with a lower body mass index (BMI) therefore have a higher amount of brown fat.
Cut Sugar, Lose Body Fat & Quit Smoking: Lifestyle Habits To Ditch Diabetes
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Tackling Diabetes
16 Feb, 2019
Diabetes is among the fastest growing health issues today in India.The rising prevalence of diabetes is primarily driven by a combination of various factors such as rapid urbanisation, sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy diets, tobacco use, and even increased life expectancy.Although there are certain factors one can't change such as your genes, age or past behaviours, but there are many actions one can take to reduce the risk of diabetes.Dr Varsha Khatry, Head - Medical and Scientific Affair at Roche Diabetes Care India shares some easy ways to not only reduce the risk of diabetes, but also prevent it.
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Lose The Excess Body Fat
16 Feb, 2019
One of the primary reasons for diabetes is body weight. Being overweight is a big risk factor for diabetes.
According to studies by WHO, every kilogram of weight loss reduces the risk of diabetes risk by 16 per cent. Moving toward a healthy weight helps control blood sugars.
Your doctor, a dietitian and a fitness trainer can get you started on a plan that will work for you.
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Cut Sugar And Refined Carbs From Your Diet
16 Feb, 2019
Eating sugary foods and refined carbs can put individuals at risk of developing diabetes. The human body rapidly breaks these foods down into small sugar molecules, which are absorbed into your bloodstream. The resulting rise in blood sugar stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin, a hormone that helps sugar get out of the bloodstream and into the body's cells. The body's cells are resistant to insulin's action, so sugar remains high in the blood when it comes to patients with the condition of prediabetes. To compensate, the pancreas produce more insulin, attempting to bring blood sugar down to a healthy level.
Over time, this can lead to progressively higher blood sugar and insulin levels, until the condition eventually turns into Type 2 diabetes. Replacing sugar or refined carbs with foods that have less of an effect on blood sugar may help reduce your risk of diabetes.
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Stress Management
16 Feb, 2019
Stress affects people with diabetes, including Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. When you have diabetes, stress can affect your blood glucose level. Managing stress with diabetes is just another way to work on managing your blood glucose level.
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Alcohol Intake And Smoking
16 Feb, 2019
Unhealthy habits such as smoking and drinking too much alcohol can make diabetes and its complications worse. Too much alcohol may cause chronic inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis), which can impair its ability to secrete insulin and potentially lead to diabetes. Moreover, smoking is bad for health whether one is diabetic or not. Smokers are twice as likely to develop diabetes as non-smokers. Smoking increases the risk for all diabetes-related health problems, such as kidney disease, nerve damage, and leg and foot infections.
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"Brown fat works in a different way to other fat in your body and produces heat by burning sugar and fat, often in response to cold," said Professor Michael Symonds, from the University of Nottingham.
"Increasing its activity improves blood sugar control as well as improving blood lipid levels and the extra calories burnt help with weight loss. However, until now, no one has found an acceptable way to stimulate its activity in humans," said Symonds.
"This is the first study in humans to show that something like a cup of coffee can have a direct effect on our brown fat functions.
"The potential implications of our results are pretty big, as obesity is a major health concern for society and we also have a growing diabetes epidemic and brown fat could potentially be part of the solution in tackling them," he said.
The team started with a series of stem cell studies to see if caffeine would stimulate brown fat.
Brown fat works in a different way to other fat in your body, and produces heat by burning sugar and fat. Once they had found the right dose, they then moved on to humans to see if the results were similar.
The team used a thermal imaging technique, which they had previously pioneered, to trace the body's brown fat reserves. The non-invasive technique helps the team to locate brown fat and assess its capacity to produce heat.
"From our previous work, we knew that brown fat is mainly located in the neck region, so we were able to image someone straight after they had a drink to see if the brown fat got hotter," said Symonds.
"The results were positive and we now need to ascertain that caffeine as one of the ingredients in the coffee is acting as the stimulus or if there's another component helping with the activation of brown fat. We are currently looking at caffeine supplements to test whether the effect is similar.
"Once we have confirmed which component is responsible for this, it could potentially be used as part of a weight management regime or as part of glucose regulation programme to help prevent diabetes," he said.
Want To Keep Diabetes Away? Eat Walnuts, Apples, Carrots
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Foods For Diabetics
14 Nov, 2018
While being active, staying hydrated, and checking blood glucose levels can work wonders, it is important to stick to a dietary plan that will ward off diabetes in the long run.
A recent study showed that antioxidant-rich walnuts can nearly halve the risk of developing Type-2 diabetes.
For patients, the ideal diabetic diet plan would be to have 1200-1600 calories per day. It is recommended that diabetics should eat good carbs, fats, and healthy proteins, but in small portions.
Doctors and dieticians share ultimate list of foods you must consume to stay healthy.
Also read: The comprehensive diabetes guide
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Nuts & Seeds
3 Jul, 2018
After news of walnuts as you new superfood to keep diabetes away, it's time to look at the other superhero nuts and seeds. They have protective effects for people with diabetes. Flaxseeds/linseeds, almonds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, macadamia nuts, pistachios, cashew nuts, chia seeds, etc are the best nuts and seeds for diabetics as they reduce and regulate the insulin levels in the body.
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Eggs
3 Jul, 2018
They are a good source of high biological value protein. Eggs have good cholesterol, also called as High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), which is good for heart health. Studies have shown that it improves insulin sensitivity. They give satiety and improve blood sugar levels.
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Turmeric
3 Jul, 2018
It has an active compound called curcumin which has shown to improve sugar, promote cardiovascular health, and protect against kidney diseases.
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Wild Salmon and Omega-3 Fatty Acid Fish
3 Jul, 2018
Salmon have excellent amount of Omega-3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA) which is good for diabetics. The patients need good fat in their diet, and fish reduce inflammation and coronary risks which are common in diabetes.
