The blood cancer specialist used a spy pen to take pictures of his victims and was jailed for 22 years.

Liquid sugar is easily absorbed, and most of the sugar from sweetened beverages has no nutritional value beyond the sugar content.

The fact that sugary drinks are a major cause of obesity and diabetes came into focus at the recent Cardio Vascular Disease Imbizo in Sandton, Johannesburg.

High cost of healthy food

Speaking at the Imbizo Lynn Moeng Mahlangu, the cluster manager of Health Promotion and Nutrition at the National Department of Health, said that the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages or SSBs has strongly being linked with type 2 diabetes.

“In 2013 the Department of Health developed a strategy to tackle non-communicable diseases, and one of the keys was to reduce sugar intake by 10%,” she said.

Moeng Mahlangu said that South Africa is in the top three countries in Africa when it comes to people living with obesity.

She said one of the reasons for this is the high cost of healthy food.

“People choose unhealthy products because they are cheaper,” said Moeng Mahlangu.

“This is one of the debates we are having, involving other departments like agriculture,” she said.

Negative impact on health

“Our children are consuming 40 to 60 grams of sugar a day. This means their intake is between 100 and 200% more than it should be,” she said.

She said this was a dangerous situation as obese children generally tended to remain obese throughout life, and much of this was due to the consumption of sugary drinks.

According to Professor Karen Sliwa, director of the Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Research in Africa and president-elect of the World Heart Federation, there is overwhelming data to confirm that a very high sugar intake has a negative impact on health.

“It is bad in many ways. It makes us obese, especially when we don’t move enough,” she said.

“You can develop diabetes, high blood pressure, you can develop heart disease or have a stroke,” said Sliwa, adding that these factors can lead to long periods of ill health or early death.

According to Sliwa, implementing a tax on sugar tax is one way of trying to combat this disease, as making SSBs more expensive would drive down consumption.

Fat until you’re old

“By decreasing the amount of sugar in beverages we can address some of those issues,” she said, adding that a sugar tax alone was not enough to address the problem properly.

“Although the sugar beverage tax will hopefully show the same results experienced in other countries where it saw a decrease in obesity, the core issues around poverty still needed to be looked at,” said Sliwa.

She said it was important for government to take the lead and make South Africa one of the first countries in Africa to implement the tax.

Sliwa said that educating the people on healthy living was important.

“Some people don’t know that if you are short of breath it can mean that your heart is failing. People don’t know that there is no cure for diabetes, and that you always have to take your medication,” she said.

Professor Liesl Zuhlke, President of the South African Heart Association said the health of children needed to be made a priority.

“If you are fat at 13 years, its possible that you will stay fat until you are old,” she said, explaining why children needed to be taught to make good choices for themselves. – Health-e News.

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Thabo Molelekwa

You know that a protein-rich diet can help you feel fuller longer, but a recent study published in the journal Molecular Metabolism has narrowed down the best foods for triggering that “I’m full!” feeling – and potentially keeping you from overeating.

In the study, researchers at the University of Warwick set out to examine a specific set of cells in the brain called tanycytes that are located in the centre of the brain region that controls body weight.

What did they find? That, by detecting nutrients in the foods that you eat, tanycytes can actually trigger satiety, explains study author Dr Nicholas Dale, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Warwick.

In the study, Dr Dale’s team added concentrated amounts of the amino acids arginine and lysine into the brain cells of mice. Within 30 seconds, the tanycytes responded to the amino acids.

“We don’t know yet if human tanycytes respond to the same types of amino acids that rodent ones do, but arginine and lysine are essential amino acids for humans as well as rodents, which would lead me to think it’s very likely this would also occur in humans,” Dr Dale says.

Read more: This is when you should eat your lightest and heaviest meals of the day

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and arginine and lysine are critical for healthy muscles, bones, organs and even hormone production.

“There’s loads and loads of evidence to show that elevated amino acids do diminish appetite and give you a feeling of satiety,” Dr Dale says. “What we found was that, through the same taste detectors on the tongue that pick up that ‘umami’ flavour of amino acids, tanycytes can sense amino acids when they reach your blood and your brain, and send signals of fullness into the other parts of the brain that control appetite.”

Read more: 9 things you’re not doing in your kitchen that lead to weight loss

The most filling foods

The human body never makes lysine on its own, and it only sometimes produces arginine, which means you need to get them both primarily through the foods that you eat, explains registered dietician Amy Gorin. They’re both essential for optimum health and healthy weight loss.

What packs both arginine and lysine? Specific protein-rich, filling foods including pork shoulder, beef sirloin steak, chicken, mackerel, avocados, lentils and nuts such as almonds, walnuts and pistachios have the highest concentrations of these two amino acids, indicating that they’ll activate tanycytes – and trigger satiety – the fastest.

Meanwhile, plums and apricots, which contain close to zero protein, are actually rich in arginine and lysine, too.

“One could imagine that instead of blindly going for a protein-rich diet, you could design a diet that is enriched in specific amino acids that are particularly good at activating tanycytes,” says Dr Dale. The result: a fuller stomach and a healthier weight.

Read more: 9 really small diet changes that lead to major weight loss

Your new meal plan

If you’re looking to keep your eating habits in check, strategically add more arginine- and lysine-rich foods to your meals and snacks. Focus on incorporating one source of arginine and lysine to every meal, while making sure that every plate still has a source of whole carbs, protein and healthy fat.

Remember, many arginine- and lysine-rich foods are also brimming with protein, fibre from whole carbs and/or unsaturated fat. So one food might cross off a couple of food groups. For instance, mackerel is rich in arginine, lysine, protein and healthy omega-3 fatty acids, Gorin explains.

Lentils offer muscle-building protein along heart-healthy fibre from whole carbs. And almonds? Well, they’ve got it all going on: protein, fibre and healthy fats. Avocados have that monounsaturated fat thing covered.

Mmm… some avocado toast with some chopped almonds sounds pretty good right about now.

^{This article was originally published on www.womenshealthmag.com}

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Ashley Mateo