Hong Kong News Network

Is a low-carb diet right for you?

A low-carbohydrate eating pattern (hereinafter referred to as a low-carb diet), as the name suggests, limits daily carbohydrate food intake and reduces the body’s main source of energy (glucose), so that the body can burn fat to a greater extent and achieve the purpose of weight management.

Different low-carb diets have different restrictions on carbohydrate intake. The milder intake ratio reduces the normal recommended carbohydrate intake of 55 to 60% to 20 to 35%. The more extreme ketogenic diet (ketogenic diet) diet) and even reduce the intake to 5 to 10%.

In terms of weight management, the results of a 2022 systematic review pointed out that there was almost no difference in weight loss between participants who implemented a low-carb diet long-term (more than 12 months) and participants who performed a generally healthy eating pattern, and showed that low-carb diets Part of the initial weight loss among participants on the carb diet is a loss of body water. At the same time, a study published in the academic journal “Nutrients” in 2021 showed that most participants were unable to comply with the low-carb diet for a long time. After the persistence weakened, the weight or other health index effects after one year were similar to other diets.

However, if you have type 2 diabetes, the British Dietitians Association (BDA) does point out that reducing carbohydrate intake can be effective in the short term to control weight and improve blood sugar control and cardiovascular disease risk in people with type 2 diabetes. However, the BDA emphasizes that there is currently insufficient evidence to determine the long-term effects of this diet on blood sugar control and its impact on heart health.

Importantly, improperly reducing carbohydrate intake may limit the sources of various nutrients. Some people may even experience symptoms such as constipation, headache, fatigue and hair loss. Therefore, before considering implementing a different dietary pattern, you should first evaluate your physical condition and seek professional advice.

The author is Liu Yantong, executive committee member of the Hong Kong Nutrition Society and nutritionist

2024-04-09 20:29:51

#lowcarb #diet #am730

Vegetables first, then sweets: The glucose goddess’ hacker strategy

Research has found that if you eat vegetables first, then protein and fat, and lastly starch and sugar, peak glucose levels can be reduced by more than 50%.

Glucose Goddess is a phenomenon. Who is the goddess? She introduced herself like this:

「Jessie Inchauspé is a French biochemist and New York Times bestselling author of Glucose Revolution and The Glucose Goddess Method. She is on a mission to translate cutting-edge science into easy tips to help people improve their physical and mental health. Her work centers around the startling discovery about the essential role of blood sugar in every aspect of our lives, and the surprising hacks to optimize it. Jessie is the founder of the wildly popular Instagram account @GlucoseGoddess, where she teaches over two million people about transformative food habits. She holds a BSc in mathematics from King’s College, London, and an MSc in biochemistry from Georgetown University.」

The goddess is self-proclaimed (online name is Ling Jie). Biochemists don’t need to take a card test (economists don’t take a card test). Only New York Times best-selling authors can withstand the test of the market (and 3.7 million IG followers, a rare grape). The best-selling book “Glucose Revolution” by the Glucose Goddess proposes ten hacks that nutritionists may not understand: (1) Eat in the correct order; (2) Eat vegetables first; (3) Stop counting calories; (4) Breakfast is not sweet; (5) Sugar is the same; (6) I would rather eat desserts than sweet snacks; (7) Vinegar; (8) Eat first and eat later; (9) If you eat snacks, don’t eat sweet ones ; (10) When ingesting carbohydrates, add protein, fat or fiber. The goddess of glucose is surrounded by grapes, but I can easily understand it. Calling yourself a biochemist after graduating with a master’s degree in biochemistry is a greater crime than calling yourself a goddess. Recently, Anti-Spike Formula, a dietary supplement that lowers blood sugar, has been launched. “Cutting leeks” may be the lowest criticism from haters.

Economists look at the goddess of glucose. The effect of “correct eating order” is supported by certain scientific evidence. Early studies include “Eating order diet reduced the postprandial glucose and glycated hemoglobin levels in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes” published in 2010. The study found “Vegetables before carbohydrate” can help reduce the spike in glucose in the body after eating. Scientists who criticize the goddess generally point out that the study sample is too small and not representative enough, and it may not be effective when applied widely. However, similar experiments have been replicated again and again over the past decade or so. More importantly, it is easier to form a habit by following the “correct eating order”, and it also encourages eating more vegetables in disguise. Moreover, because of the order, it is not easy to eat more when you are almost full when you eat sweets. As long as you refuse to increase your calorie intake lazily because of this, why bother trying the “correct eating order”? The long-term health benefits of reducing glucose spikes through this hack have yet to be proven.

2024-03-27 20:29:44

#Vegetables #sweets #Hacks #Glucose #Goddess #am730

Lumbar spine surgery risks

For low back pain, some people prefer surgery directly, while others rely on mild conservative treatments. There is no right or wrong method, only whether it is suitable or not. Choosing an appropriate treatment method requires, in addition to objective and comprehensive assessment, the elimination of biases and the correction of some misunderstandings.

There are many clinical treatment methods at present, including conservative treatment, surgical treatment and minimally invasive treatment. For more serious cases, surgical treatment is the last option, but it is not necessarily the most effective method. Whether to have surgery or not should be considered based on the patient’s condition.

When lumbar spine disease develops into a condition that requires surgery, it must be very serious. Many of them are patients who have been diagnosed with lumbar spinal stenosis or lumbar disc herniation. After a period of conservative treatment, they are ineffective, but they are worried that the surgical effect will not be satisfactory. , and may also bring new sequelae. There are risks in any surgery. Which risks should doctors and patients pay more attention to? How high will the risk be? What is the probability of it happening?

Lumbar spine disease mainly affects the cauda equina nerve or nerve root. Central disc herniation mainly compresses the cauda equina nerve, while unilateral disc herniation compresses the nerve root on one side. The purpose of surgery is to relieve these compressive factors. Surgery to remove the tissue that compresses the nerve roots has the risk of damaging the nerves in the process. Nerve roots that have been compressed for a long time will deviate from their original positions, making them difficult to identify during surgery and prone to accidental injury. Some nerve roots may be damaged due to traction due to excessive compression when removing the pressure-causing object in front of them. The longer a patient’s disease lasts, the more difficult the surgery will be, and the greater the risk of nerve root damage during surgery.

Another relatively large postoperative risk in orthopedic surgery comes from the materials of steel nails and steel rods. Many patients use internal fixation for surgery. After discectomy, the most widely used method is to use a nail-rod system to fix the unstable vertebral body. As the bone implanted to replace the removed intervertebral disc grows, the new bone will wrap around the nail and rod system, which is called “fusion.” After fusion, the purpose of surgical reinforcement is achieved. If the bone growth rate is slow and the fusion of the new bone and the nail rod system is not ideal, the nail rod alone will undergo fatigue fracture after bearing weight for a long time, causing new problems. Patients with osteoporosis have a lower bone healing capacity, so they need to be cautious when choosing fusion surgery.

2024-03-11 20:29:52

#Lumbar #Spine #Surgery #Risks #am730

Can excessive pursuit of perfection cause emotional illness?

Johnson (pseudonym) worked in a bank after graduation. Because of his hard work, he was promoted to supervisor earlier. Although he was happy, he found that his new position had to take care of more and more areas and he was under increasing pressure. He expects perfection in everything. Even if he works overtime until late at night every day, the pile of documents is still increasing. Johnson originally had high morale, but found that he was gradually tired of work. No matter how comforted by the people around him, his low mood still could not get better. I couldn’t sleep at night and felt even more powerless.

After his girlfriend persuaded him, he finally made up his mind to seek treatment from a psychiatrist. The result was that he was suffering from depression. “Doctor, I just want to do a good job. Is it wrong to pursue perfection?” a frustrated Johnson asked.

From a doctor’s point of view, the pursuit of perfection is a character expression, and there is no right or wrong. However, if you force yourself to be “zero-flawed” in everything, continued mental pressure will cause an imbalance in the level of neurotransmitters in the brain. , which interferes with the brain’s ability to regulate emotions, leading to symptoms of depression.

Depression can be divided into severe depression, mild depression, and manic depression based on the symptoms and severity of the patient. Patients, like Johnson, may suffer from long-term low mood, loss of interest in daily hobbies, frequent insomnia, easy fatigue, and loss of motivation. .

Doctors can arrange different treatment modes based on the patient’s cause and severity, including psychological treatment (such as cognitive behavioral therapy) and drug treatment. Severe cases may require Electro-Convulsive Therapy or Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. Magnetic brain stimulation therapy aims to stimulate the brain. Because it only uses high-frequency magnetism, it does not require anesthesia, does not damage brain nerves, and has no side effects of amnesia. Compared with cerebral concussion (8 to 12 times), the number of treatments is more (20 to 40 times), and the effectiveness is slightly lower (about 70%). However, after weighing the pros and cons, the advantages still outweigh the disadvantages, especially It only takes one week for brain magnetic stimulation to take effect, which is much faster than the three weeks it takes for drugs to take effect.

Of course, some cases still need to be combined with drugs to obtain the desired effect. Patients with metal in the brain, pacemakers, or a history of encephalitis must also use it with caution.
The author is a psychiatrist

2024-03-07 20:30:42

#excessive #pursuit #perfection #emotional #illness #am730