Dietician's Blog

Fasting Does Not Increase Endurance

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:45:48 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin Some people think (incorrectly) that fasting before a race or competition will increase their endurance. Fasting weakens and tires you. How long you can exercise a muscle depends on how much sugar, called glycogen, you can store in that muscle and how long you can keep it [...]

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - a new explanation

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:44:37 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin Sixty-seven percent of 101 patients diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) were found to be infected with a retrovirus called XMRV (Science, published online October 8, 2009). One hundred percent of those with CFS who subsequently developed lymphomas or leukemias were infected with the XMRV virus. If [...]

The Potassium Deficiency Myth

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:22:18 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin Sports drink promoters have convinced many athletes that they need special drinks to replace potassium during exercise. A recent study of female soccer players confirms that this is a myth (International Journal of Sports Medicine, June 2009). When body levels of potassium are low, the kidneys and [...]

Preventing Muscle Cramps

admin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:17:03 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin Most older textbooks explain that muscle cramps are caused by lack of water (dehydration) and lack of salt. However, studies on endurance athletes show that athletes who cramp do not have less body water or sodium than those who do not cramp (British Journal of Sports Medicine, [...]

New Rules for Sunscreens

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:05:06 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin If you use sunscreens, be sure to reapply them frequently. Many sunscreens contain the filters octylmethoxycinnamate, benzophenone-3 or octocrylene, which reflect ultra violet rays away from your skin to protect it only when they are on the surface of the skin. However, when these sunscreens are absorbed [...]

Large Thighs are Good

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:14:58 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin Large thighs appear to confer health benefits, not risks. A study reported this month shows that people who have small thigh muscles, independent of how much fat they have in their bellies, are at increased risk for premature death, particularly from heart attacks (British Medical Journal, September [...]

CRP Better Predictor of Heart Attacks than Cholesterol

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:13:04 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin Blood tests for cholesterol and C-reactive protein (CRP) both help to measure heart attack risk, but CRP may be more important. CRP measures inflammation which indicates an overactive immunity, while cholesterol measures a type of fat in your blood. Having a high CRP blood test increases your [...]

Osteoarthritis: Treat with Exercise

admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:49:50 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin A review article from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver shows that exercise does not increase the rate of knee damage in people with osteoarthritis, and usually reduces knee pain and disability (Canadian Family Physician, September 2009). If you develop pain in your knee that was not [...]

Preventing Loss of Muscle Strength with Aging

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:22:59 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin As you age, you lose muscle size and strength much faster than you lose endurance or coordination. Researchers at the University of Nottingham in England show that a major cause of loss of muscle is that aging prevents muscles from responding to insulin and that exercising helps [...]

What Causes Prostate Cancer?

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:53:00 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin We don’t know what causes prostate cancer, but a study from Harvard School of Public Health shows an association between the common sexually transmitted infection, Trichomonas vaginalis, and risk of the type of prostate cancer that kills (Journal of the National Cancer Institute, September 9, 2009). Researchers [...]

Use Lactate Threshold instead of Maximum Heart Rate

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:43:57 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin My report on the unreliable Maximum Heart Rate formula brought many questions on how heart rate SHOULD be used for training. Competitive athletes often use a guide called lactate threshold (LT). When you exercise, your muscles require oxygen to convert food to energy. If you exercise so [...]

NSAIDs Interfere with Proper Training

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:42:52 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin Ibuprofen and other NSAIDs (Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs - Motrin, Advil, Alleve and so forth), taken before or after exercise, interfere with the benefits of training for fitness and athletic competition because they delay healing of damaged muscles (British Journal of Sports Medicine, August 2009). You train [...]

Three Foods That May Help Lower High Blood Pressure

Life Extension — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:12:31 +0000

High blood pressure has been nicknamed the silent epidemic because of its far-reaching consequences. Today, nearly one of every three adults has hypertension. It is the 13th largest cause of death in the United States. What's needed is an innovative nutritional approach. And here it is...

Your Appendix is Not Useless

admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:50:49 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin You may have had your appendix removed because doctors believed that it was a useless vestigial organ. Now researchers have found that it serves as a storage tank for healthful germs that live in your intestines. These good bacteria help to break down food so you can [...]

Tennis Elbow: New Treatment

admin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:29:01 +0000

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin Physical therapists at the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma in New York City report that eccentric exercises offer a simple and effective cure for tennis elbow (July 2009 annual meeting of the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine). The researchers prescribed standard physical therapy [...]