The health and health behaviours of Australian metropolitan nurses

The health and health behaviours of Australian metropolitan nurses

Health workforce Nursing Nutrition Obesity

Nurses make up the largest component of the health workforce and provide the majority of patient care. Most health education is delivered by nurses, who also serve as healthy living and behavioural role models.The aims of this study published in BMC Nursing, were to investigate nurses’ overall health and the presence of chronic disease; to describe nurses’ health-related behaviours and to compare them to those of the general population, with both groups matched by age and gender.
The study found there  are early ‘warning signs’ concerning the health status of nurses. Despite perceiving current good health, support is required for nurses to prevent future chronic disease, particularly in the areas of nutrition and alcohol intake.
 Perry, Lin,  Gallagher, Robyn  and Christine Duffield . (2015) The health and health behaviours of Australian metropolitan nurses: an exploratory study. BMC Nursing, 14:45

Healthy eating pyramid

Healthy eating pyramid

Diet Nutrition

Nutrition Australia has launched its Healthy Eating Pyramid as a simple visual guide to the types of foods Australians should eat for good health.  It's based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines (2013) for 19-50 year olds.

The bottom of the pyramid includes plant-based foods: vegetables and legumes, fruits and grains, and the guidelines suggest 70% of what we eat should come from this layer.  The middle layer includes dairy foods and alternatives as well as lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds.  The top layer has healthy fats (not saturated or trans fats).

Nutrition advice from bariatric surgeon

Nutrition advice from bariatric surgeon

Diet Nutrition Obesity Wellbeing

Dr Garth Davis is a Fellow of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and manages a weight management clinic in Houston, Texas. Our Misplaced Obsession With Protein & High Fat, Low Carb Diets* is a podcast where he discusses his own improved health and weight since adopting a plant-based diet, and presents evidence to support plant-based diets as being the most healthy way to improve longevity and wellbeing.  Davis delivers his message clearly and with conviction.

*Please note, this podcast may not work on every browser. Try an alternative if you have problems.  

Recommendations for prevention of weight gain

Recommendations for prevention of weight gain

Diabetes Nutrition Obesity

This guideline, "Recommendations for prevention of weight gain and use of behavioural and pharmacological interventions to manage overweight and obesity in adults in primary care", has recently been published by the  Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. The objective of the guideline was to provide evidence-based recommendations for structured interventions aimed at preventing weight gain in adults of normal weight. And to also provide recommendations for behavioural and pharmacologic interventions for weight loss to manage overweight and obesity in adults, including those at risk of type 2 diabetes.

Read the guideline here.

The role of emulsifiers in chronic disease risk

The role of emulsifiers in chronic disease risk

Chronic Disease Diet Nutrition

wikipedia.com

A recent article in The Conversation, by nutrition and dietetics experts Melinda Coughlan and Nicole Kellow, looks at the results of a recent study on mice which found that emulsifiers have the potential to damage the intestinal barrier, leading to inflammation and increasing our risk of chronic disease. 

Food additives and chronic disease risk: what role do emulsifiers play? is a very readable explanation of the effects of emulsifiers on the digestive system and connections with metabolic disease.  The authors are clear that the study (published in Nature Immunology) was only on mice and the results may not transfer to humans, but they conclude with the sensible advice, "these studies drive home the importance of cooking using fresh ingredients and avoiding or minimising the use of processed foods".

Diet and diabetes

Diet and diabetes

Diabetes Diet Nutrition

An article recently published in the Australian Family Physician, Diet and diabetes, provides current evidence regarding the differing diets in diabetes prevention and management once type 2 diabetes arises. Various diets are examined, and possible complications such as hypoglycaemia are considered.

The authors maintain that diets should incorporate weight maintenance or loss, along with increases in physical activity in order to optimise the metabolic effects of dietary advice. "Using a structured, team-care approach supports pragmatic and sustainable individualised plans, while incorporating current evidence-based dietary approaches."

Deed, G., et al. (2015). Diet and diabetes.  Australian Family Physician 44(5): 288-292. 

Statins and diabetes

Statins and diabetes

Diabetes Drug therapy Heart disease Nutrition

As a cholesterol-lowering medication, statins have been proven to be effective at reducing cardiovascular risk, if it is significantly raised.  Rethinking Statins, a program on ABC Radio National's Health Report, discusses emerging suspicions that statins may actually increase the risk of developing diabetes.

Norman Swan interviewed Naveed Sattar, Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Glasgow.  Sattar and his colleagues looked at a range of randomised clinical trials and related the risk of diabetes in those who were given a statin versus a placebo.  They found that if you take any statin your risk for diabetes increases about 10% to 12%. For those on a higher dose of statin, the risk increases another 10% to 15%.

But Sattar cautions against people stopping taking statins, "We can use this new evidence in a positive way. When patients are prescribed statins, we would suggest to them that the statin might protect their heart but that doesn't necessarily mean that they can forego lifestyle changes. And in fact, the fact the statins increase diabetes risk ever so slightly suggests that actually they have more reason to take lifestyle seriously and not less."

Listen online, or read the transcript, at the link above.