The Latest Trend: Fewer Beverage Calories But Still A Soda per Day

Americans of all ages are sipping fewer calories from sugary sodas, energy drinks and other sweet beverages compared to over a decade ago, but we are still drinking the equivalent of about a can of soda per day on average, according to a new study.canstockphoto13083076

Those calories — about 150 of them — are important for cancer prevention because AICR’s expert report and its updates found that sugary drinks lead to weight gain. And excess body fat links to increased risk of seven cancers.

The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Study researchers used data from approximately 51,000 kids, teens and adults that made up a representative sample of the US population. In a large government study, participants reported everything they drank (and ate) during a 24-hour period.

When the researchers looked at sugary beverage consumption between 1999 and 2010, they found a drop in the amount of calories both youths and adults were drinking. The 2 to 19 year olds were drinking on average 155 calories per day, which is 68 fewer calories than in the 1999-2000 survey. Adults were consuming an average of 151 calories each day, a drop of 45 calories compared to twelve years earlier. Continue reading


New Analysis: Lifting Weights Helps Survivors

Dumbbell-SP005620_7_300wWhen you read about the health benefits of exercise for cancer survivors it’s common to lump all exercise together. After all, there’s no bad form of exercise.

A new review of the research now suggests that lifting weights, sit-ups and other forms of resistance exercises can help survivors both during and after treatment gain muscle strength, reduce body fat, and improve fatigue.

The improved effects seen with arm strength and body fat were most pronounced in survivors who engaged in low to moderate intensity exercises compared to those of higher intensity.

Doing resistance exercises at least two times per week led to survivors able to increase the amount of weight lifted, on average, 34 pounds (15.5 kilograms) for legs and 16 pounds (7.3 kilograms) for arms.

The study was published in the early online issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Continue reading


Study: Shopping Hungry? Shopping Unhealthy

If you’re stomach is rumbling with hunger a new study now gives you a solid reason to put off that grocery trip, suggesting you might buy the same amount of food but you’ll come away with more unhealthy items.iStock_000016308603_ExtraSmall

The study was published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Research already suggests that hunger can affect food purchases, but study researchers wanted to see what happens to the types of foods people buy after skipping a meal or other short-term fasts.

The researchers delved into our shopping habits with two tests: One in a laboratory and the other a supermarket. In the lab study, 68 participants of all ages were asked not to eat for five hours before they went to the session. Half of the participants in the sessions could eat as many crackers as they wanted until they no longer were hungry. The other half remained hungry. All the participants were then asked to shop in an online grocery store. Continue reading