Dieters often disregard the calories contained in alcohol

It may come too late for the millions of people around the world who have over-indulged during Christmas and New Year celebrations, however those watching their weight may be grossly underestimating the impact that alcohol can have on their waistlines and dieters are best to banish the booze if they want to shed the pounds.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) claim that one of the biggest mistakes when dieting is forgetting the hundreds of ‘hidden’ calories within alcoholic drinks and that alcohol is only second to fat in regards to calorie content. Fat contains 9kcal/g, whilst alcohol has 7kcal/g. Even protein and carbohydrates only contain 4kcal/g, whilst fibre contains 2kcal/g.

Due to the fact so many of us are not paying attention to our alcohol calorie intake, the WCRF have now made an online calorie-counter available that lists the calorie content in various commonly consumed alcoholic drinks. Therefore, people are able see how many calories they are taking in and also roughly how much exercise would be required to burn off these ‘empty’ calories that offer no nutritional value.

For instance, just drinking one large glass of wine means you are taking in a whopping 178 calories and this is the equivalent of eating two chocolate digestive biscuits. However, it gets worse – it would take half an hour of brisk walking to burn-off that one glass of wine. Another popular tipple, especially in men, is a pint of lager. This drink though contains an incredible 250 calories. This is roughly the same as three chocolate digestive biscuits and would need 53 minutes of brisk walking to burn this off!

Being overweight or obese is the biggest risk of cancer after smoking, and in reducing alcoholic drinks, people will be more able to lose weight and thus reduce their cancer risk. In fact, it is estimated that even drinking just one pint of beer daily increases a person’s risk of bowel and liver cancer by approximately a fifth. In the UK alone, over 20,000 cases of cancer each year are attributed to alcohol.

Kate Mendoza, head of health information at WCRF, commented: “The calories in alcoholic drinks account for a significant proportion of a drinker’s calorie consumption while providing little, if any, nutritional benefit. Cutting down on drinking can have a big effect on weight loss or maintaining a healthy weight. Recent reports have shown that people are unaware of calories in drinks and don’t include them when calculating their daily consumption. This is important from a cancer perspective because, after smoking, being overweight or obese is the biggest risk factor. There is also strong scientific evidence that alcohol itself is a cancer risk factor, possibly through damaging our DNA, in cancers of the breast, bowel, mouth, oesophagus and liver.”

As we begin 2013, many of the UK will beginning their New Year’s Resolutions, which usually include stopping smoking as we discussed just a few days ago. Another popular resolution is to lose weight. Cancer Research-led research however found that nearly four out of 10 people ditch their New Year’s resolutions within a fortnight and only one in 11 manages to keep their resolution to half a year.

If you want to lose weight it would be recommended to drastically limit your alcoholic drinks in addition to eating healthy.  This healthier lifestyle will be highly effective in conjunction with a medically proven weight loss aid such as XLS-Medical, Alli, or the prescription medication Xenical.  All three weight loss aids are available today from Medical Specialists at incredibly low prices.

Traffic light test could provide early diagnosis of liver disease

A new traffic light test could help doctors diagnose liver disease earlier in high risk populations. The Southampton Traffic Light (STL) test, developed by Dr Nick Sheron and colleagues, at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, combines several different tests and clinical markers.

It is estimated one in five adults inEngland, some 10 million people regularly exceed Government advice on safe drinking. However because liver disease develops without symptoms, many people have no idea they have liver failure until it is too late.

The Department of Health states, “Men should not drink more than three to four units of alcohol a day and women should not regularly drink more than two to three units a day.”

The Royal College of Physicians also advises no more than 21 units per week for men and 14 units per week for women. An average pint of beer or lager contains roughly two units of alcohol. A small 125ml glass of ordinary strength wine has one and a half units, while a 25ml shot of a 40 per cent spirit has one unit.

The Southampton Traffic Light test combines different tests and indicators, to give a score showing the likelihood of a patient developing a problem. The researchers said, “The test can diagnose liver disease much earlier, enabling those at risk to change their drinking habits, which could save their lives.”

They also went on to say, “That while it should not be a substitute for clinical judgment or other tests, it could help GP’s determine the potential severity of liver disease, in high risk patients such as heavy drinkers, those with type 2 diabetes or the obese.”

Dr Nick Sheron, a consultant at Southampton General Hospital who led the study, and who published his work in the British Journal of General Practice, hopes the test will save lives. He said, “We are reliant on general practitioners detecting liver disease in the community, so they can intervene to prevent serious liver problems developing, but so far we haven’t been able to give them the tools they need to do this.”

Nurses could take blood from those doctors recommend to be tested one week, for them to return for the results the next. Like traffic lights, the scores are given in three colours. Red will mean the patient already has liver fibrosis and may have cirrhosis. Amber means there is at least a 50:50 chance of scarring, with a significant possibility of death within five years. In such cases patients should be advised to stop drinking, to reduce their chance of developing further diseases, whilst green means there is no cirrhosis.

It was given to more than 1,000 patients, and their progress carefully followed, in some cases over several years, to assess the ability of the test to predict the onset of liver fibrosis or cirrhosis.

After proving accurate in severe liver disease, it is hoped the test could help GPs accurately assess the potential severity, of liver disease in high risk patients, including heavy drinkers, those with type 2 diabetes, or  people. Dr Sheron said, “It is a powerful tool and a message for people. We find that for most patients this is a pretty good stimulus to stop drinking or at least to cut down to safe levels.”

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said, “One of the challenges of liver disease, which is rising dramatically in this country, is the silent nature of the condition, which is that it is often too late to reverse the damage. This large study from Dr Sheron and colleagues in Southampton may prove really useful for guiding the right patients towards specialist care in a timely way.”

A healthy lifestyle could reduce high blood pressure as effectively as drugs

Whilst we all know that exercising regularly, keeping our weight down, drinking in moderation and eating plenty of vegetables can affect our blood pressure, new research suggests that it can reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure, by two thirds.

The impact of these measures on high blood pressure was much higher than expected, and in some cases could even be just as effective a way to treat sufferers as prescribing drugs. Just walking to work and restricting alcohol to two drinks a day can reduce the risk markedly, according to the study of more than 20,000 people.

Every day there are 350 preventable strokes or heart attacks in the UK caused by high blood pressure. In developed countries the lifetime risk of developing high blood pressure is now 90 per cent, and six million Britons take drugs to control it.

People with hypertension (the medical term for high blood pressure) are already routinely advised to make the lifestyle changes highlighted in the study, but the effect far surpassed expectations. The Finnish study followed 9,637 men and 11,430 women aged 25 to 74, who did not have hypertension.

Their adherence to healthy lifestyle factors was recorded, which included alcohol consumption of less than 50g per week (roughly six units), exercise at least three times per week, daily consumption of vegetables, and normal weight. During a follow-up period covering an average of 16 years, 709 of the men and 890 of the women developed hypertension.

Proffesor Pekka Jousilahti, ofFinland’s National Institute for Health and Welfare said: “The risk of hypertension was only one third among those having all four healthy lifestyle factors, compared with those having none. Even having one to three healthy lifestyle factors reduced the risk of hypertension remarkably.

For example, having two healthy lifestyle factors reduced the risk of hypertension by nearly 50 per cent in men, and by more than 30 per cent in women. Alcohol consumption, physical activity, daily consumption of vegetables and keeping normal weight are the four lifestyle factors that seem to have a remarkable effect on the development of hypertension.

Professor Jousilahti went on to add “people should drink a maximum of one to two drinks of alcohol a day and that even a relatively low amount of exercise was enough to make a difference.”  This was backed up by Professor Gareth Beevers, a trustee of the Blood Pressure Association UK charity, who said: “This study shows a big effect from simple changes in lifestyle. It’s surprising and more than you would expect.”

Professor Jousilahti concluded by saying: “that although participants were healthy at the start of the study, it was likely the findings would also help those who already have high blood pressure. Patients could reduce their blood pressure by modifying the four lifestyle factors alone, or by making these modifications while taking blood pressure-lowering medication.”