When the call of your sweet tooth gets too strong, turn to dark chocolate as it seems to have interesting side effects! Switzerland, world leader of chocolate eating with 12 kilograms per year per inhabitant, also holds comes first in terms of Nobel prize to population ratio, with 30 Nobel laureates for 10 million inhabitants, after Sweden (but the author…
- 5 November 2015
ADDICTION TO SUGAR IS STRONGER THAN ADDICTION TO COCAINE.
Recent studies on rats have revealed a real addiction to refined sugars, with alterations in the reward circuit similar to those displayed by drug addicts (we refer to addiction in the medical sense of the word, as defined in the mental disorders diagnosis handbook DSM-IV-TR). Even more surprising: among the animals supplied with a choice between drinking sugared water and…
- 4 November 2015
THE INTESTINE IS ALSO CALLED THE ‘SECOND BRAIN’.
The intestine is the seven meters long part of the digestive tract between the stomach and the anus. Made of the small intestine and the large intestine, it serves to the digestion and the assimilation of the nutrients from food, then to the elimination of the useless waste material. But, far from being a simple sewage duct, our intestine constantly…
- 3 November 2015
IT IS VITAL TO KEEP A BALANCE BETWEEN FOOD INTAKE AND EXERCISE.
We store energy as fat within our adipocytes, the cells of the adipose tissue which stocks up and destocks it according to our daily activities. Imagine a round cell with a black nucleus and a body just as round but flexible, and able to expand or contract according to your storage needs. The adipose tissue, or rather the adipose organ,…
- 30 October 2015
WINE IS BOTH GOOD AND BAD FOR OUR HEALTH.
Wine is the best beverage… and the worst! Despite its cardiovascular benefits, due to its richness in antioxidant tannins, red wine is nevertheless an alcoholic beverage – no need to evoke here the well-known hazards linked to alcohol abuse – and a big purveyor of carbohydrates. So, do drink sparingly (one glass per meal), and prefer high-quality tannic red wines.
- 29 October 2015
ELDERLY PEOPLE USE TOO MUCH SALT AND SUGAR.
The brain interacts directly with the taste receptors of the tongue. There are several types of receptors, each dedicated to a specific taste (salty, sweet, fatty, bitter, etc.). Those dedicated to the detection of sugary flavors, the Glut receptors, convey their data directly to the brain through the glossopharyngeal nerve, bypassing the metabolic pathways. Let us point out, on this…
- 28 October 2015
MELON AND PIZZA HAVE THE SAME GLYCEMIC INDEX.
The glycemic index (GI) measures the variation of the blood sugar level (glycemia) after the ingestion of a high-carbohydrate food. The reference food is glucose, with a GI of 100; the glycemic index scale is therefore graduated from 0 to 100. Eating high-IG foods triggers a dramatic surge in the blood glucose concentration, which in turn triggers a large release…
- 28 October 2015
THE BRAIN NEEDS PLEASURE.
The brain permanently swings between necessity and pleasure. This is the whole issue of the relationship between two key areas called the arcuate nucleus and the nucleus accumbens. The former, which is located in the hypothalamus, is part of the brain stem, i.e. of what is sometimes improperly called “reptilian brain”, the realm of instinct. There sits the need to…
- 27 October 2015
MEN TOO GET FATTY LIVER.
Whereas no one in our media-controlled world can still ignore the noxious effects of junk food on the cardiovascular system, fewer people know that our poor diet habits also endanger our liver. However, some 70 million Americans may suffer from nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), also called NAFLD (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease). NASH is a fast-spreading disease in the Western hemisphere, and…