BEST DIET : LOSE WEIGHT WITH BEST TRICK

The largest study to date on the effects of eating omega-3 fatty acids confirm that foods high in the fats can preserve memory and cognitive functions only in people without diabetes.

Health experts hold up the Mediterranean diet as likely the best way to eat to stay healthy into old age. High in fruits and vegetables, as well as grains and oils low in saturated fats, the diet is linked to lower risk of heart attacks, stroke, childhood asthma and cancer.

(MORE: It’s the Olive Oil: Mediterranean Diet Lowers Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke)

A study from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Athens, Greece now shows that people around age 64 who primarily ate a Mediterranean diet, which is high in omega-3 fatty acids, may also have a lower risk of memory loss.

Because there are no pharmaceutical cures or treatments for memory loss or dementia, the researchers say such lifestyle behaviors that can slow or prevent cognitive decline are important strategies for keeping the brain sharp.

The 17,478 African-American and Caucasian men and women were part of the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, and they answered questions about their dietary habits, including how well they stuck to the principles of the Mediterranean diet and avoided red meats and dairy products. The volunteers also agreed to take tests to measure their memory and cognitive abilities over an average of four years.

Seven percent of the study participants developed cognitive impairments during the study period of about four years. Among the healthy participants, those who most consistently ate a Mediterranean diet were 13% less likely to develop memory and thinking problems.

(MORE: Mediterranean Diet Linked to Lower Child-Asthma Risk)

The same benefit did not apply, however, to the 17% of people with diabetes; among those with diabetes, people who followed the Mediterranean diet were 30% more likely to show signs of cognitive impairments during the study than those who didn’t follow the diet. Among non-diabetics, the participants who ate more olive oil, omega-3 fatty acids and avoided red meats, dairy and cheese were 19% less likely to have cognitive problems by the end of the study than those who ate more of these foods. That suggests that diabetes may affect brain function via different routes not influenced by omega-3 fatty acids or other dietary nutrients.

“Diet is an important modifiable activity that could help in preserving cognitive functioning in late life,” said study author Dr. Georgios Tsivgoulis, with the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Athens, Greece in a statement. “However, it is only one of several important lifestyle activities that might play a role in late-life mental functioning. Exercise, avoiding obesity, not smoking cigarettes and taking medications for conditions like diabetes and hypertension are also important.”

The results showed no significant difference in rates of cognitive decline between African-Americans and Caucasians, although the researchers had hypothesized that African-Americans might benefit more from omega-3 fatty acids since they have a higher overall rates of hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and stroke, all of which are risk factors that should put them at greater risk of developing dementia and memory problems.

It’s possible, however, that the scientists did not see any benefits from the Mediterranean diet by race because the effects of dietary habits, such as the fact that certain populations eat fewer fruits and vegetables overall, might override any potential benefits of the Mediterranean diet. Rates of diabetes also tend to be higher in African-American groups, and that could also negate any positive influences the Mediterranean diet had in protecting cognitive functions.

The study is published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

This Thanksgiving, have your mashed potatoes and eat them too.

That advice, surprisingly, doesn’t come from you grandmother but from more dieticians and nutritionists who are actually helping people to maintain healthy weights. Yes, in addition to the usual roll-out of “How to Slim-down Your Thanksgiving” and tips on how to avoid packing on the pounds, some health experts are advising that we go a little easier on ourselves over the holidays. They’re certainly not recommending that you scarf up everything you see, but the key to keeping cravings and temptations in check may be to give in to some — in moderation.

That advice is based on some solid research. Studies show, for example, that when you put certain foods on a do-not-eat list, people end up wanting, and eating them more, and actually gaining weight. A 2012 study by researchers at Tel Aviv University found that dieters who ate a pastry every day lost more weight than dieters who avoided them completely. While both groups of dieters were on a low-calorie diet, the pastry group ate a cookie, slice of cake, doughnut or piece of chocolate every morning. Although by the end of the 16 week study, both groups had lost an average of 33 lbs, the group who treated themselves to dessert every morning went on to lose another 15 lbs on average, and reported feeling less hunger and cravings during that time. And researchers from the University of British Columbia reported that when people are told certain foods or objects are forbidden, the brain concentrates on them more than usual.

Other studies in mice have found that when the animals were only enticed with the occasional bit of sugar, then deprived of it, they were more likely to overindulge in sugar once it was brought back into their diet.

“Holiday asceticism makes no sense, because it ruins the holiday and is too little, too late anyway,” says Dr. David Katz, the director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center and author of the new book Disease Proof: The Remarkable Truth About What Makes Us Well. Watching everyone else dig into the feast is going to be tough if you insist on sitting it out. “The problem is when we deprive ourselves of foods that we love, it makes us want them more. Then, when we finally do have them, we overeat them. We lose the ability to control how much we eat of those foods,” says Keri Gans, a registered dietitian and author of The Small Change Diet.

But the key to this approach is maintaining a balance between what you eat with physical activity to burn off the added calories. “I, for one, will be enjoying a feast on Thanksgiving,” says Katz. “Of course, I will also spend a lot of time hiking, biking and playing football with my family and friends over the holiday weekend.”

So go ahead and substitute the sour cream with fat-free Greek yogurt if you like, or skip the mashed potatoes. But don’t feel so bad if you don’t. If you’re watching your portions, and not overloading your plate with gravy, it’s okay to have the higher calorie staples over the holidays.

“My whole thing about the holidays is that I am not big on making every dish a low-calorie dish. I’m not against it, but I feel like people should really look at a holiday as just a day. They should be able to enjoy the foods that are served. And just not over do it,” says Gans. “What I always encourage is that people enjoy the foods that they love and they learn to watch the portion size. I find if they don’t eliminate it, and still include it, when they do it eat it, they can be satisfied with the smaller portion.”

Katz says that overeating high calorie, fatty or sugary foods consistently makes the body only want more. So dipping into them every once in a while may actually help to minimize cravings and release you from a dependence on decadence. “The real defense of health resides with taking good care of yourself routinely, year round. If you do that, you can certainly afford a bit of indulgence at holiday time and,  it’s likely even your indulgence will be fairly salutary,” says Katz.

And if you do overdo it this holiday season, just start fresh the next day. “I recommend, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. [People] should forget about feeling guilty and they should get right back on track. That is the most important thing they should do. They should not all of a sudden get a diet mentality because that won’t work. They need to leave it behind,” says Gans.

Not worrying about what you can eat, and what you shouldn’t eat can also divert your attention away from food, and that can lead to a healthier relationship with your diet as well. The holidays are about spending time with friends and family, and food is part of that enjoyment — not obsessing about what’s on the table.

One of the most peculiar findings in obesity research is that exercise — even if vigorous and regular — doesn’t reliably lead to weight loss. The reason, as I wrote last year, has to do less with physiology than psychology: people who exercise tend to reward themselves with desserts and snacks that they would never consume otherwise. Exercise helps you stay fit, but it also makes you hungry, so it usually doesn’t turn fat people into thin people. Call it the paradox of the gym.

A new paper just published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology offers another weight-loss conundrum: if you show people a plate of unhealthy food — say, a burger and fries — and then add some steamed broccoli to the same plate, most people will say the second plate holds fewer calories, even though it demonstrably has more food on it. The author of the new paper, Alexander Chernev of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, calls this “The Dieter’s Paradox.” (More on Time.com: See a special report on overcoming obesity)

Chernev begins his paper with a great question: Why, after 20 years of public outcry about obesity — federal, state, and local government spending on weight-loss programs; widespread media coverage of what is routinely called the obesity “epidemic”; the opening of tens of thousands of new gyms since the 1980s — why, after all this, do we keep getting fatter?

One reason, according to Chernev, is that people think that if they eat an apple, they are entitled to eat a pack of potato chips. “People behave as though healthy foods have halos,” he writes. “Because healthier meals are perceived to be less likely to promote weight gain, people erroneously assume that adding a healthy item to a meal decreases its potential to promote weight gain.”

Chernev has found that this misperception is actually stronger among those of us who are more weight-conscious. In an online experiment, he asked 934 people to estimate the caloric content of four meals. Roughly half were shown unhealthy meals: bacon-and-cheese sandwiches; meatball-and-pepperoni cheesesteaks. The other half were shown the same meals with a healthy side item: celery sticks, say, or an apple. (More on Time.com: The ‘Other’ Salt: 5 Foods Rich in Potassium)

Respondents estimated the first meal at 691 calories; they estimated the one with the healthy side item at 648 calories. Those who considered themselves weight-conscious were even worse at estimating the calories, according to the study. “Adding a healthy option decreased the perceived calorie content of the combined meal by an average of 96 calories for weight-conscious individuals but only 26 calories for those less concerned with weight,” Chernev writes. (Health.com: How the Pros Curb Food Cravings)

These findings have major implications for how we conduct weight-loss programs: encouraging people to eat more vegetables may be the wrong strategy. Just as people reward themselves with a muffin after they go to the gym, they will reward themselves for eating some celery with their French fries. A better approach may be to persuade people to stop at certain intervals during meals to ask themselves if they are full. As Chernev writes, “the negative calorie illusion [is] less pronounced when individuals pay attention to the quantity of the combined items instead of focusing on the healthy/unhealthy aspects of the items.”

In other words, eat the cheeseburger if you want it. But don’t think that a side of steamed kale will make it better for you.

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When it comes to preventing cancer, can what you eat make a difference?

Certain foods are high in antioxidants, which mop up the free radicals that contribute to cancer. But in studies it’s been a challenge to tease apart the effects of diet alone on cancer risk, since people who eat foods rich in antioxidants also tend to exercise more and avoid smoking, other factors that are known to lower the chances of developing cancer.

Now, in a small study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research, researchers uncovered more intriguing evidence that diet may influence the cancer process, even before it begins. Among three dozen participants at high risk of developing esophageal cancer in China, it turned out that eating strawberries helped prevent early lesions from developing into tumors. That’s right — strawberries.

Tong Chen, a cancer researcher at Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center, decided to look at strawberries as a cancer-preventer in humans after animal studies showed that the fruit had anti-cancer effects. With plenty of dried fruit supplied by the California Strawberry Commission, which also funded the study, she focused her trial on 36 participants from three provinces in central China that have among the world’s highest rates of esophageal cancer. She gave the volunteers freeze-dried strawberry powder, which was mixed with water into a drink. The freeze-dried form tends to concentrate whatever beneficial properties the fruit might have. (In her animal work, Chen had tested black raspberries as well, but because that fruit isn’t as common in China, the current trial included only strawberries.)

In many cases, esophageal cancer progresses from pre-cancerous growths that are graded as mild, moderate and severe for their likelihood of advancing into malignancy. Among the participants in the new study, 29 saw their lesions revert to a less dangerous state — from mild to ungraded, or from moderate to mild — after six months of consuming the equivalent of two ounces of strawberries a day.

“We are very excited about this result,” Chen says. “I think this study is very important because we found that strawberries may decrease the histological grade of precancerous lesions and also may reduce some cancer-related events including cell proliferation, inflammation and gene [activity].”

She’s quick to point out, however, that gulping down pints of strawberries isn’t the answer to fighting cancer. A larger, more rigorous trial that includes both people at risk of esophageal cancer and healthy, low-risk controls, who are randomly assigned to dosing with strawberries or a placebo, needs to be conducted.

But in the case of a cancer in which half of those with moderate pre-cancerous lesions go on to develop malignant tumors, and 25% of those with mild lesions do, finding ways to halt their march can have a major impact on the incidence of the disease, especially in areas like central China where rates are high. “This shows us that strawberries may be an alternative or work together with other chemopreventive drugs in the prevention of esophageal cancer,” says Chen. And preventing cancer is always preferable to treating it.