Research Collected: July 2015

high-frutose corn syrup, walking in nature, vagus nerve and Parkinson’s, soybean oil promoting obesity and diabetes, overdiagnosis of breast cancer, difficulty of losing fat

A dose-response study of consuming high-fructose corn syrup–sweetened beverages on lipid/lipoprotein risk factors for cardiovascular disease in young adults

“Consuming beverages containing 10%, 17.5%, or 25% [energy requirements (Ereq)] from [high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)] produced dose-dependent increases in circulating lipid/lipoprotein risk factors for [cardiovascular disease (CVD)] and uric acid within 2 wk. These results provide mechanistic support for the epidemiologic evidence that the risk of cardiovascular mortality is positively associated with consumption of increasing amounts of added sugars.”

Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation

“Through a controlled experiment, we investigated whether nature experience would influence rumination (repetitive thought focused on negative aspects of the self), a known risk factor for mental illness. Participants who went on a 90-min walk through a natural environment reported lower levels of rumination and showed reduced neural activity in an area of the brain linked to risk for mental illness compared with those who walked through an urban environment.”

Vagotomy and Subsequent Risk of Parkinson’s Disease

“Parkinson’s disease (PD) may be caused by an enteric neurotropic pathogen entering the brain through the vagal nerve, a process that may take over 20 years… Full truncal vagotomy is associated with a decreased risk for subsequent PD, suggesting that the vagal nerve may be critically involved in the pathogenesis of PD.”

Soybean Oil Is More Obesogenic and Diabetogenic than Coconut Oil and Fructose in Mouse: Potential Role for the Liver

“Here, we designed a series of four isocaloric diets (HFD, SO-HFD, F-HFD, F-SO-HFD) to investigate the effects of saturated versus unsaturated fat, as well as fructose, on obesity and diabetes. C57/BL6 male mice fed a diet moderately high in fat from coconut oil and soybean oil (SO-HFD, 40% kcal total fat) showed statistically significant increases in weight gain, adiposity, diabetes, glucose intolerance and insulin resistance compared to mice on a diet consisting primarily of coconut oil (HFD)… our results indicate that in mice a diet high in soybean oil is more detrimental to metabolic health than a diet high in fructose or coconut oil.”

Probability of an Obese Person Attaining Normal Body Weight: Cohort Study Using Electronic Health Records

“In simple obesity (body mass index = 30.0–34.9 kg/m2), the annual probability of attaining normal weight was 1 in 210 for men and 1 in 124 for women, increasing to 1 in 1290 for men and 1 in 677 for women with morbid obesity (body mass index = 40.0–44.9 kg/m2). The annual probability of achieving a 5% weight reduction was 1 in 8 for men and 1 in 7 for women with morbid obesity.”

Breast Cancer Screening, Incidence, and Mortality Across US Counties

“Across US counties, there was a positive correlation between the extent of screening and breast cancer incidence… but not with breast cancer mortality… An absolute increase of 10 percentage points in the extent of screening was accompanied by 16% more breast cancer diagnoses… but no significant change in breast cancer deaths… these findings suggest widespread overdiagnosis.”

Community-Acquired Pneumonia Requiring Hospitalization among U.S. Adults

“Among 2259 patients who had radiographic evidence of pneumonia and specimens available for both bacterial and viral testing, a pathogen was detected in 853 (38%): one or more viruses in 530 (23%), bacteria in 247 (11%), bacterial and viral pathogens in 59 (3%), and a fungal or mycobacterial pathogen in 17 (1%).”

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