If you think purchasing a salad bowl or pasta dish from your local supermarket for lunch is doing your diet any favours, think again. Research carried out by Consensus Action on Salt and Health suggests that they contain worryingly high levels of salt. A survey carried out last year showed that some of these salads contained as much salt as is found to be contained in a Big Mac.

The findings in this study are not dissimilar. Only 6 out of a whopping 270 of these convenient ‘healthy foods’ contain less salt than a packet of Walkers ready salted crisps. One in ten salads/ pasta salads contains over 2.1g of salt; more than is found in a Big Mac.

Of all of the high street cafes selling what they reckon to be fresh, healthy food, EAT is the worst offender. Their crayfish and noodle salad is said to contain a massive 3.51g of salt. Marks and Spencer’s salads are up there with the saltiest of salad vendors.

The Food Standards Agency recommends an adult intake of no more than 6g of salt per day (1tsp) to rule out risk of stroke, heart disease and abnormal blood pressure due to excess of salt in the diet.

Professor Graham McGregor states that for every gram of salt removed from our diet, it is estimated that 6,000 deaths caused by these heart related illnesses could be prevented. He goes on to say that this would then save approximately £1.5 billion per year in healthcare costs.

Pret a Manger’s salads are the healthiest with all of their food meeting the standards of the Food Standards Agency yet they continually endeavour to reduce the amount of salt in their products without taking away from the taste of their food.

It is only a matter of time before the other high street companies catch up but until then be aware of your daily salt intake. All of the ingredients will be printed on the packaging.

The British Medical Journal has reported that operations for gastric banding and bypasses have increased in numbers from 238 in the year 2000 to 2,543 operations in 2007. There are a number of different types of operations that people can have to help them lose weight, known collectively as bariatric surgery. Each works by restricting the amount of nutrients that can be digested in the intestine. Gastric banding involves surgically placing a band around the stomach to reduce its size and a gastric bypass sends food to another sack created by surgeons. A third method is not used very often and this involves the removal of part of the stomach. There is another technique called gastric ballooning, where a surgical balloon is inflated in the stomach to reduce its size.

Researchers from Imperial College London discovered that 75% of the operations were carried out using keyhole techniques and that there seemed to be low risk involved with this type of surgery considering the results and the increase in patients seeking this type of operation.

Between the years 2000 and 2008 there have been 6, 953 bariatric operations carried out by the NHS in the UK and the researchers suggest that primary care trusts should be encouraged to pay for it as it is a viable way of treating morbidly obese patients. Imperial College tells us that it also reduces the effects of other illnesses associated with obesity, such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

Peter Sedman, a bariatric surgeon, claims that whatever money is put into these surgeries by the NHS will help prevent problems that would otherwise be out of control in years to come. Chrissie Palmer from the British Obesity Surgery Patients Association, states that despite advice from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, these operations are not available in certain areas around the UK. She explains that public opinion remains a little negative regarding surgery for the morbidly obese, despite the preparation and commitment required.

NICE recommends that although these surgeries are beneficial, they should only be a last resort and that individual trusts should commission various services to meet the needs of their community.

It has started raining again and it has become a little cooler however, a month off going to the gym or breaking your healthy diet to comfort binge will affect your body and produce long lasting results. Dr Torbjorn Lindstrom from the faculty of health sciences at the University of Linkoping, and his team of Swedish researchers discovered that shorter periods of overeating will have longer term effects.

The current issue of Nutrition and Metabolism details their research methods. They took 18 individuals of the same age and all of a normal weight including 12 men and six women. All were placed on a minimum daily exercise routine which did not allow them to take more than 5,000 steps per day. To put this into perspective, generally people who are concerned about their fitness aim to take 10,000 steps per day. The average person wearing a pedometer while going about their daily activities may note that they are walking on average 4,000 and 6,000 steps per day not including sport. You can double this number by doing approximately half an hour to forty minutes of walking outside your daily routine.

The participants also had to increase their daily intake of calories by 70%, bringing their consumption to 5750 calories per day. In order to consume this number of calories, one would have to eat something like 8 meals per day at approximately 700 calories per meal. These individuals put on 14 pounds in one month. Another group of the same age and of normal weights did not change their diet or physical activity.

After 6 months, the group that increased their calorific intake lost 10 pounds on average but after one year they noticed that they still had a 3 pound gain of fat mass. This weight remained despite returning to their low calorie diets and physically active lifestyles.

Two and a half years later, the gain in fat mass on the same individuals was even greater. The average gain was approximately 7 pounds. This was not the case for those who had kept their original dietary habits. They remained the same weight.

The results show that a brief period of binge eating and cutting out recommended levels of physical activity simultaneously, can actually change the composition of the body and make it more difficult to get rid of the weight gained.

New Zealand is still facing swine flu deaths as the number of infections climb. 15 deaths have now been recorded and have been linked to the pandemic H1N1 virus.  Director of public health, Marc Jacobs said that effects of H1N1 were continuing and that numbers affected were dependent on geographic region.

The New Zealand Ministry of Health today confirmed that 11 of the deaths were due to swine flu. 5 deaths were reported since Monday in the Auckland and Waitemata health regions. 3 more patients died with confirmed H1N1. Waitemata confirmed the death of 2 males with the H1N1 virus. Both men had underlying health conditions.

The numbers affected do however seem to be declining in certain regions for example the North Island where most of the infections had been occurring. This year so far there have been 583 patients hospitalized in New Zealand with confirmed pandemic influenza type H1N1 and 13 people are in hospital presently with confirmed H1N1.

Like the UK, whilst there have been deaths in New Zealand related to Swine Flu, the overall number are really not significant when compared with the normal death rete associated with seasonal flu.

Virginia Tech researchers have discovered a safe and successful way of losing extra pounds while maintaining a low calorie diet. They suggest that drinking an 8 ounce glasses of water before each meal will cause fewer calories to be consumed.

The study was carried out for 12 weeks on two groups of overweight people whose ages ranged between 55 and 75 years. One group did not drink water prior to their meals but were also on a low calorie diet. At the end of the 12 weeks, the group not drinking water succeeded in losing 11 pounds whereas the water drinking group lost 15.5 pounds by the end. Unfortunately, the same method of weight loss cannot be used for those aged between 18 and 35 as within this age group water is not so easily retained and goes straight through the stomach.

The researchers had thought that by drinking the 2 glasses of water before the meal, the participants would compensate for the reduced calorie intake at another stage during the day but this was not the case. One year later, it also proved to be a successful way of keeping the weight off over a period of time. These dieters kept on losing weight.

Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina Nutrition Obesity Research Centre, pleased with the results, whose past research has shown that those who drink more water drink and less sugary/ calorific drinks and eat more fruits and vegetables thus have an overall lower calorie consumption than those who do not drink as much water. Americans drink a staggering 300 calories more per day drinking sugary drinks than they did 30 years ago. They are one of the worst perpetuators in the junk calorie consumption league table but we Brits are not far behind.

New figures have been released by the Health Protection Agency today reporting on the UK population’s sexual health of 2009 and the focus seems to be primarily on those aged between 15 and 24, with women coming out as the most affected. In addition, there is an even greater risk than before regarding gonorrhoea and its growing resistance to current treatments.

Since 2008, 12,000 more cases of sexually transmitted infections than last year were reported giving us a total of 482,696 cases reported in UK sexual health clinics in 2009. It follows that two thirds of the STIs in women were represented by those under the age of 25. In the case of chlamydia, women under 25 make up 88% of those infected. For gonorrhoea, 73% of the women infected were under 25 and 66% of women infected with genital warts were of this age group also.

With men, the results are similar in that over half of the infections were contracted by men under the age of 25. For gonorrhoea, 41% of the infections were from men of this age group and in the case of genital warts, 47% of men of this age were represented. Furthermore, a massive 69% of the men infected with chlamydia were below 25. Last year, of the men and women in this age group who had contracted an infection, one in ten of them contracted an infection within a year after their treatments.

There is a huge focus here on the under 25s however, they have been targeted by the NHS for special attention so we would be staggered if there were not more under 25s presenting for testing so this obviously means that a higher proportion of the total figure will be comprised of people in this age category. Educating the middle aged is hugely important as STIs are on the rise in that group as well. With higher divorce rates and couples breaking up after years together, it is possible that in their new sexual relationships, that they are not practising safe sex and are just as responsible for the spreading of these infections.

Unprotected sex and ignorance regarding STIs is not only increasing the volume of people infected, it is now possible that we will not be able to treat certain infections in the future. The HPA report confirms an increase in drug resistance in the treatment for gonorrhoea. This is already one of the most common STIs and it is on the rise, having increased by 6% between 2008 and 2009. Overall, there were massive increases in the numbers contracting STIs with chlamydia having increased by 7% and genital herpes by 5%.

It is so easy to get tested these days so there is really no excuse. If you click through to our Sexual Health page, there are details on how to order a test online, with results from the laboratory in as little as 24 hours.>

More obesity news and this time it is not about suppressing our hunger with medical treatments but actually about what we feed ourselves that may be the answer to beating obesity. Researchers are investigating the effects of certain types of fibre found in particular vegetables and how they help suppress hunger.

Most will be happy to hear that the fibres in question are found in asparagus, artichoke, garlic and chicory – so nothing too vile-tasting! These fermentable carbohydrates in these vegetables activate hormones in the gut which suppress appetite. Due to their ability to produce additional sensitivity to insulin, the fermentable carbohydrates have a positive effect on glucose levels. Finding out more about how these foods affect our bodies may help us to prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes according to Nicola Guess of Imperial College. The carbohydrates will be given to the participants of the study in the form of a daily supplement.

Dr. Iain Frame of Diabetes UK, states that although it is unlikely that any one preventative measure will be successful, the research being carried out at Imperial College is important and that they may result in innovative ways of preventing Type 2 diabetes.

Bremelanotide is a research compound that we have written about many times in the past. Research has been carried out for some time on its use in the treatment of sexual dysfunction and the latest studies were discontinued in 2008 due to vastly increased blood pressure levels amongst those taking the drug. However, Palatin Technologies (the pharmaceutical company behind bremelanotide) has just boasted positive Phase 1 results. They say that they have eliminated the problem of the increase in the level of blood pressure by having the bremelanotide administered subcutaneously. This method of application presents consistent blood plasma levels without changing the blood pressure levels. Not only may these results get bremelanotide further down the regulatory route to a license, but Erectile Dysfunction is not the only condition that is treatable in this way. As of yet there is no FDA approved treatment for Female Sexual Dysfunction(with Intrinsa only licensed in the EU), but Palatin thinks it may have a chance with bremelanotide.

Palatin will meet with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) towards the end of 2010 to discuss the next phase of bremelanotide’s trials. In this phase, Palatin hope to test bremelanotide as a treatment on its own and also as a drug which will work alongside a PDE-5 inhibitor (such as Viagra, Cialis or Levitra). The PDE-5 inhibitor family of medications is not successful for all men who suffer from erectile dysfunction, so combining both or even a new mono-therapy may make for some promising results.

Over 25% of men with ED do not respond to oral treatments currently available, such as Viagra. The CEO of Palatin explains that this is another reason why the future of bremelanotide is important for the likes of these men who don’t have another option. As it stands, what will not come with this treatment is the convenience of administering it orally. Subcutaneous application might inhibit the popularity of the treatment but if it means that men who otherwise have no other option may finally be able to treat their condition, perhaps convenience will not be the primary concern.

In a recent issue of Hypertension, an interesting paper has been published on the relationship between being antagonistic and having thicker arteries resulting in an increased risk for stroke and heart related illnesses. Apparently, the nicer you are and the more relaxed and trusting you are, clearer your arteries will be.

The 3 year study was carried out by researchers from the US and Italy on approximately 5,000 Sardinians. They wanted to find out how antagonism related to arterial thickening. The average age of the group was 42 but the group ranged from those aged 14-94 with over half of the group comprising of females.

At the outset, the group took a personality test which measured types and levels of agreeableness, including trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty and tender mindedness. They suggest that there is a relationship between having these traits and less risk for heart attack and stroke than those who do not possess these positive attributes. Well, we cannot change overnight but if it means that we can improve our cardiovascular health, maybe it is worth getting some rose tinted specs.

The scientists of The Institute of Food research have made progress concerning the breakdown of certain fats and satiety. They believe to have found a synergy to break down fat thus allowing paving the way for the possibility of finding ways to slow down the process by which we digest fat and even to create food structures that will make us feel full. Dr Peter Wilde from The Institute of Food Research explains that most of the fat found in processed food is presented in the form of emulsions like ice creams, mayonnaise and yoghurts. Using the knowledge we have of our bodies and how they break down these fats, future research can help us discover how to make fats which break down at a slower rate.

By slowing the digestion of fats, the fatty acids then reach the ileum where they can stimulate hormones that induce satiety. Scientists at The Institute of Food Research are experimenting with the use of protein layers to stabilise the emulsions. The results showed that a normally stable whey protein gets broken down only partially whereas when a surfactant is introduced to the emulsion, the protein layer is broken down more substantially, opening the way for enzymes to break down the fat.

The Institute of Food Research is the only institution carrying out studies on the digestion of emulsions and how they may induce satiety.