Palm Beach Research Center now offers its patients a free Prescription Drug Card.
they can be redeemed at all local Pharmacies for instant savings up to 75% on name brand & generic prescription drugs
Prescription Drug Card information located here

Eating Chocolate makes you thin?

March 26, 2012 — A recent study showed that frequent chocolate consumption was associated with lower body mass index (BMI), even when adjusting for calorie intake, saturated fat intake, and mood.

Beatrice A. Golomb, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues described their findings in a research letter published in the March 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The authors used data from 1018 patients already being screened for inclusion in a widely sampling clinical study evaluating noncardiac effects of statin medications. Of the 1018 participants, 1017 answered the question, "How many times a week do you consume chocolate?" BMI was calculated for 972 participants (95.6%); and 975 (95.8%) answered the validated Fred Hutchinson Food Frequency Questionnaire.

The investigators performed analyses with and without adjustment for calorie intake, saturated fat (satfat) intake, and mood. Fruit and vegetable intake was not associated with chocolate consumption (β, 0.004; P = .55), but satfat intake was significantly related to both chocolate consumption (β, 0.035; P < .001) and higher BMI.

The amount of chocolate consumed was examined, in addition to the frequency of chocolate consumption. Activity (number of times in a 7-day period the participant engaged in vigorous activity for at least 20 minutes) and mood (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale [CES-D]) were also examined.

The relationship between chocolate consumption frequency and BMI was calculated in unadjusted models, in models adjusted for age and sex, and in models adjusted for activity, satfats, and mood.

Study participants consumed chocolate a mean 2.0 (SD, 2.5) times per week and exercised 3.6 (SD, 3.0) times per week. Frequency of chocolate consumption was associated with greater intake of calories and satfats and higher CES-D scores (P < .001 for each of these 3 associations); these all related positively to BMI. Chocolate consumption frequency was not associated with greater activity (P = .41), but it was associated with lower BMI (unadjusted P = .01). This association remained with and without adjustment for age and sex, as well as for calories, satfats, and depression.

Although chocolate consumption frequency was associated with lower BMI, the amount of chocolate consumed was not (eg, per medium chocolate serving or 1 oz [28 g], β, 0.00057 and P = .97, in an age- and sex-adjusted model).

"The connection of higher chocolate consumption frequency to lower BMI is opposite to associations presumed based on calories alone, but concordant with a growing body of literature suggesting that the character — as well as the quantity — of calories has an impact on [metabolic syndrome (MetS)] factors," write the authors.

They further explain that as chocolate products are frequently high in sugar and fat, they are often assumed to contribute to an increased BMI. The authors note that this may still be true in some cases.

"[O]ur findings — that more frequent chocolate intake is linked to lower BMI — are intriguing," write the authors. "They accord with other findings suggesting that diet composition, as well as calorie number, may influence BMI. They comport with reported benefits of chocolate to other elements of MetS," the authors write, noting that a randomized trial studying the metabolic benefits of chocolate in humans may be warranted.

This study was funded by a grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, and was supported by the University of California, San Diego, General Clinical Research Center. The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

After 18 years in one location, Palm Beach Research Center will be moving down the street to a new office!

Fish Oil is good or is a myth?

Fish has long been a staple of healthy eating, since it’s packed with omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants that can help protect against heart disease and cancer. In fact, experts are so convinced of the benefits of the omega-3s in fish that health officials recently recommended Americans eat more of it — about 8 ounces, or two to three servings, of fish a week — in its latest revision of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. But what about fish oil capsules? Doctors have also believed that taking omega-3s as supplements can offer a similar protective benefit to the heart. But a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine throws the theory into doubt: according to the analysis of 14 controlled trials in which nearly 20,500 patients with a history of heart disease were randomly assigned to take omega-3 supplements or placebo, those taking the fatty acid pills had about the same rates of heart disease, death from heart attacks, congestive heart failure and stroke as those on placebo. To date, the studies on omega-3 fatty acids and recurrent heart problems have been contradictory: some have shown that heart patients taking omega-3 supplements had a lower risk of heart attack and heart-related death than those not taking them, but others have shown no such benefit. The difference may have to do with some of the earlier studies were set up, says one of the current study’s co-authors, Seung-Kwon Myung from Seoul National University. In some trials, the participants knew they were taking omega-3 supplements, and they might have hada bias toward seeing a benefit because of this knowledge. (Myung did not include these types of unblinded trials in his analysis.) “I think the beneficial effects of omega-3 supplementation shown in those trials are not reliable,” says Myung. Still, Myung’s findings don’t necessarily mean that omega-3s — the study looked at the fatty acids EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) — are useless when it comes to preventive health. Indeed, the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that both heart patients and those who don’t yet have heart disease eat fatty fish at least two times a week, and if they can’t consume that much fish, then to boost their omega-3 intake with supplements. According to the AHA, studies show that omega-3 fatty acids can decrease the risk of abnormal heartbeats, keep triglyceride levels down and inhibit the build up of atherosclerotic plaques in the heart’s blood vessels. It’s possible, says Myung, that natural sources of omega-3 fatty acids may be more potent than supplements. “I recommend heart patients (as well as healthy people) not to take omega-3 fatty acid supplements because there is no evidence of those beneficial effects against cardiovascular disease,” he says. “However, I recommend at least two servings per week of fish because it has been reported that fish consumption has the preventive effect for cardiovascular disease based on the previous observational studies.” It’s also possible that Myung and his colleagues failed to see a strong positive effect from omega-3 supplements among people with pre-existing heart disease because these patients may need a higher level of omega-3s to see benefit. The researchers looked at a range of doses of EPA and DHA, but perhaps a scarred, damaged heart that has survived a heart attack or angina is affected differently by omega-3 fatty acids than an intact and healthy heart. As Harvard researchers Drs. Frank Hu and JoAnn Manson also point out in a commentary accompanying the new study, it’s possible too that drugs like statins may mask the benefit from fish oils because the medications are so much more powerful. That may also explain why older trials have tended to show a fish oil benefit, while newer ones have not. Either way, there’s no downside to eating more fish, which happens to be a good source of protein that’s far lower in saturated fat than red meat. So while it may not help heart patients avoid another heart event, it probably won’t hurt them either.

57% of people turn to the internet to research health concerns before turning to their Doctor, Spouse, Parent, or Friends....

Palm Beach Research Logo

We love, love, love our patients. We will be rolling out SEVERAL programs that say, "Thank you." As always: we never take money from our patients, we always PAY our patients.