Memory Deterioration

Obesity is a major problem in many western countries, especially countries such as the United States. But as the days go by, more and more Malaysians are adapted to the sedentary lifestyles which are not encouraged by many nutrition practitioners. As a results, the number of obese Malaysians are on the rise too.

GTF consumers would very much understand that obesity is one of the metabolic syndromes which could bring human excruciating bad consequences. Simply put, obesity is a friend of diabetes, inflammation and also other related cardiovascular diseases. Such fact has placed obesity as one of the most dangerous aspect as far as human health is concerned.

Recently, there was a new research from Northwestern Medicine pointed out that the more an older woman weighs, the worse her memory. Such phenomenon is even more pronounced in women who carry excess weight around their hips (pear shaped) rather than those who carry excess weight around their waists (apple shaped).

According to the lead author Diana Kerwin, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine in Northwestern Medicine, the added weight in women definitely has detrimental effects in cognition and memory. The trend of such happens with every point increase in a woman's BMI, her memory score drops by one point, by using a 100-point memory test called the Modified Mini-Mental Status Examination.

Circadian Rhythm

Circadian rhythm is a very important aspect in our lives. Having to mention circadian rhythm, we need to understand what a circadian clock is. Circadian clock affects the daily rhythms of many physiological processes in our body daily.

Assuming a healthy person who always follow his or her daily routine, the correct or well-arranged circadian clock should be as follows:

2:00AM - Deepest sleep
4:30AM - Lowest body temperature
6:45AM - Sharpest blood pressure rise
7:30AM - Melatonin secretion stops
8:30AM - Bowel movement likely
10:00AM - High alertness
2:30PM - Best coordination
3:30PM - Fastest reaction time
5:00PM - Greatest cardiovascular efficiency and muscle strength
6:30PM - Highest blood pressure
7:00PM - Highest body temperature
9:00PM - Melatonin secretion starts
10:30PM - Bowel movements suppressed

The circadian clock above shows what we should normally do in our daily routine. This is really important as any disruption of our circadian rhythm could affect us greatly sometimes. At times, individuals could feel restless and unnatural if the usual circadian rhythm is not followed.

What is more, there is a newest study which concerns about circadian rhythm, where certain disruption could lead to diabetes occurrence. According to Dr. Takahashi, he pointed out that the disruption of daily clock may contribute to diabetes by impairing the pancreas' ability to deliver insulin. As you may know, when the secretion of insulin by pancreas is disrupted, the blood sugar level could increase, and thus causing diabetes.

Neck Circumference

Ever since decades ago, many parents are using a typical method when choosing shorts and pants for their children. What they normally do, is to measure the neck circumference of their children before making their final decision and choose the shorts and pants of their choices. Such method appears to be quite accurate when fitting room is not available.

Chinese, typically, are doing that for years now. But it seems like, currently, an August print issue, researchers had tested just the usefulness of such method in measuring the neck circumference of children in order to identify whether or not they are related to any high BMI symptoms.

What the researchers did was taking measurements of more than 1,000 children whom were aged from 6 to 8 years in age. Through such measuring method, the researchers found that neck circumference can correctly identify the children whether or not they are being overweight or obese. For instance, a 6 year old boy with a neck circumference which is greater than 11.2 inches is said to have 3.6 times more likely to be overweight or obese than a peer below such measured level.