36 Jan/Feb 2018 oxygenmag.com.au
You’ve probably heard
“sugar is sugar” before
and might assume all
sugars are pretty much
the same. But a new study
suggests that the type of
sugar we eat matters in
terms of heart disease risk
and metabolic function.
When researchers fed rats
glucose, the sugar the body
naturally makes when it
breaks down carbs, they
fared better than rats fed
fructose, the sugar in fruit
and fruit juice. The rats fed
fructose consumed fewer
calories than the glucose
group yet gained more
weight. The fructose group
also showed more markers
for heart disease and liver
damage than the glucose
group. “Healthy arteries are
able to contract or relax in
response to several sub-
stances that our body pro-
duces,” explains Dr Marta
Alegret, professor of phar-
macology and therapeutic
chemistry at the University
of Barcelona and one of the
authors of the study. “The
relaxation of the arteries in
rats that received a fructose
supplement was impaired,
which suggests a potential
adverse effect on cardio-
vascular health.” Fructose
also might interfere with
insulin signalling, which
could lead to insulin resis-
tance and eventually type
2 diabetes. More research
is needed, but it wouldn’t
hurt to keep an eye on your
fructose consumption, Dr
Alegret says.Aire measures levels of the types of carbs that can cause gas when users breathe into it, and a food-tracking
feature helps them to map (and avoid) foods that could be causing bloating, constipation, diarrhea and
abdominal pain. Based on technology gastroenterologists have used for years, Aire's arrival on the consumer
market is imminent, with the first orders due to arrive just in time for Christmas (available via foodmarble.com).All sugar is
not created
equally
That’s how many adults
have ‘masked’ hyperten-
sion, or blood pressure
that is normal at the
doctor’s office but ele-
vated at home,
concluded the authors
of a study published in
Circulation. Because this
undetected condition
raises the risk for heart
disease, organ damage
and stroke, the authors
call for better screening
and updated guidelines
for better determining
high blood pressure.1 in 8
Open your eyes
Women who play soccer tend to suffer more
concussions than their male counterparts, a
discrepancy often attributed to men’s gener-
ally larger size and stronger neck muscles. But
the researchers’ guess that the higher rate of
concussions in women could be because of their
greater tendency to close their eyes when head-
ing the ball turned out to be correct, the study
suggests. Looking at photos of 170 female and
170 male soccer players, the researchers found
that 90.6 per cent of the women closed their eyes
when heading the ball compared to 79 per cent
of the men, according to the paper published
online in the journal Medical Hypotheses. Vision
training in which players learn
‘eye discipline’ to help them
be more aware of the ball
and other players when
balls are headed can help
reduce concussions, the
authors wrote.Tummy
trouble?
There’s an
app for that.Thrive HEALTH
By Virginia Pelley