Latest news with #MichaelSnyder
Time of India
9 hours ago
- Health
- Time of India
Stanford scientists reveal simple dinner hack to stay slim and it starts with what you eat first
The Experiment That Cracked the Code You Might Also Like: No supplements needed: Longevity doctor shares the one daily nutrient that could add years to your life Not Just for Diabetics—A Smart Move for Everyone The Science Behind the Sequence You Might Also Like: 89 kg weight loss without crash diets or overtraining: Woman shares 5 lifestyle changes you can start today A Small Change, Big Impact In a surprising twist to the ongoing battle against weight gain and blood sugar spikes, Stanford University scientists have found a simple, meal-timing trick that could help you stay slim—without cutting out your favorite foods. The secret? Not avoiding carbs altogether, but delaying to a report from the Daily Mail, in a new study published in Nature Medicine, researchers revealed that eating fiber or protein-rich foods like vegetables or eggs before carbohydrates may significantly blunt the blood sugar spikes typically triggered by carb-heavy meals. These spikes, often followed by crashes, lead to hunger pangs that drive overeating—especially of calorie-laden Michael Snyder, who led the study, explains, 'It's not just what's on your plate—it's the order in which you eat it. Think of it as hacking your metabolism by simply reordering your dinner.'The team studied 55 volunteers, many of whom showed signs of pre-diabetes, a condition that increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. On three separate occasions, participants consumed a carb-heavy meal of rice after consuming one of three different food types: a fiber supplement, egg whites (protein), or crème fraîche (fat).Continuous glucose monitors tracked how each dietary combination affected their blood sugar. The results? Eating fiber or egg whites before rice lowered the post-meal blood sugar surge. Eating fat didn't reduce the spike, but interestingly, it did delay the benefits were more pronounced in people with typical blood sugar levels than those with pre-diabetes, the findings highlight an easy and actionable dietary shift for nearly everyone—especially in a world where carbohydrate-rich foods like rice, pasta, and potatoes dominate many recommendation is simple but powerful: Eat your salad or protein before your French are quickly converted into glucose in the blood, fueling the body but also potentially triggering weight gain and metabolic issues when consumed in excess or too quickly absorbed. When you lead your meal with fiber or protein, it slows the digestive process and the absorption of glucose—keeping you fuller longer and your blood sugar more small shift can mean the difference between powering through the day or crashing mid-afternoon and reaching for a 'food order' method doesn't require special diets, supplements, or giving up beloved meals. Just eat your vegetables, eggs, or protein-rich foods first—and let the carbs come you're trying to manage weight, improve energy, or guard against diabetes, this research offers a surprisingly simple way to shift the balance in your favor—one bite at a time.
Hans India
3 days ago
- Health
- Hans India
Study shows how blood sugar response to carbs can signal prediabetes risk
New Delhi: Blood sugar responses after food, especially carbohydrates, may indicate metabolic health status as well as signal the risk of prediabetes, according to a study. Researchers from Stanford University in the US explained that the differences in blood sugar response patterns among individuals were associated with specific metabolic conditions such as insulin resistance or beta cell dysfunction -- both can lead to diabetes. The findings, published in Nature Medicine, suggest that this variability in blood sugar response could lead to personalised prevention and treatment strategies for prediabetes and diabetes. "This study suggests that not only are there subtypes within prediabetes, but also that your subtype could determine the foods you should and should not eat," said Michael Snyder, Professor in Genetics at Stanford Medicine. In the study, 55 participants without a history of Type 2 diabetes underwent metabolic testing for insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction. The participants were also subjected to multi-omics profiling, which included tests for triglyceride levels, metabolites in the plasma of the blood, measures of liver function, and gut microbiome data. Just under half of the participants, 26 in total, had prediabetes. The results showed that many participants had a blood glucose spike after eating rice or grapes, regardless of their metabolic health status. The blood glucose responses to foods containing the highest amounts of resistant starch -- potatoes and pasta -- varied depending on the participants' metabolic dysfunction. Participants whose blood sugar spiked after eating bread were more likely to have hypertension or high blood pressure. The comparison of the blood glucose responses to potatoes versus grapes was associated with insulin resistance, suggesting that this ratio could serve as a real-world biomarker for insulin resistance in the future. "Such a biomarker would be useful because insulin resistance is amenable to lifestyle and medication interventions that can reduce the risk for diabetes in high-risk individuals. At present there is no easy way to diagnose it in the clinic," said Tracey McLaughlin, professor of endocrinology at the varsity. The researchers also found that eating fibre or protein before the rice lowered the glucose spike, and eating fat before the rice delayed the peak of the spike. However, these changes in blood glucose response occurred only in the metabolically healthy participants who were insulin-sensitive or had normal beta cell function, said the team calling for further research.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Stanford scientists discover intriguing dinner hack that can help keep you thin
Eating eggs and vegetables before chips could help you stay thin, research from US scientists suggests. Experts from Stanford University tested if eating a dose of fibre, protein or fat before carbohydrates could reduce or delay blood sugar spikes. Such spikes have been linked to obesity, as fluctuating blood sugar makes you more likely to suffer hunger pangs and therefore snack on calorific foods in between meals. But the experts found this process could be interrupted by changing not what people eat, but in what order. In the experiment, scientists took 55 volunteers, about half of which had signs of pre-diabetes, a precursor to type 2 diabetes that involves higher-than-normal blood sugar levels. They then gave each participant a meal consisting of rice on three separate occasions while they wore devices to measure blood sugar levels called continuous glucose monitors. Ten minutes before each meal participants were given either a fibre supplement, protein in the form of boiled egg whites, or dairy fat from crème fraîche. Analysing the results, they found eating fibre or the egg protein first lowered the blood sugar spike that came from the energy-dense rice. Eating fat before the carbohydrates didn't lower the blood sugar spike but did delay it from happening. This suggests that eating fibre-rich foods like vegetables, and proteins like eggs before tucking into carbohydrates could prevent rocketing blood sugar that leads to a hunger-inducing crash. Professor Michael Snyder, an expert in genetics author of the study, said diners should try to eat their meals in a specific order. 'Eating carbohydrates later in a meal is still a good idea even though it has not yet been sorted out whether it is best to eat protein, fat or fibre before carbohydrates,' he said. 'Eat your salad or hamburger before your French fries.' The researchers also noted that the impact of fibre, protein and fat on blood sugar levels was less significant among participants with signs of pre-diabetes. The authors said this was an area in need of further research. Carbohydrates, a group that includes rice, potatoes, bread and pasta, are energy dense foods that are quickly converted to sugar in our blood, giving us the resources we need to function. The NHS says carbohydrates should make up about a third of a person's daily diet. Officials urge people to eat wholegrain varieties like brown bread or potatoes with the skin on as these come with higher levels of fibre and nutrients, and can slow the release of sugar in our bloodstream, maintaining fullness. Almost 6million Britons have diabetes, of which 90 per cent is type 2, but charities estimate 1.2million are living with the disease undiagnosed. While nationally, an estimated eight per cent of the population of England has the disease, this rises to over one in 10 people in some parts of the country. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body doesn't make enough insulin or the insulin it makes doesn't work properly. Insulin is a hormone critical to controlling blood sugar levels. Having high blood sugar levels over time can cause heart attacks and strokes, as well as problems with the eyes, kidneys and feet. Sufferers may need to overhaul their diet, take daily medication and have regular check-ups. Symptoms of the condition, which is diagnosed with a blood test, include excessive thirst, tiredness and needing to urinate more often. But many people have no signs.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Wants to Revive the Timber Industry—but Shot Himself in the Foot
Days before new tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China took effect earlier this month, President Trump issued two executive orders. One bemoaned America's status as a net importer of lumber, ordering the secretary of commerce to investigate the 'national security risks' of importing lumber and what would be needed for domestic production to fulfill all domestic demand. The other decried 'onerous Federal policies' that have hampered the industry, directing the government to speed the approval of forestry projects on federal land and find ways to minimize the effect of the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act. Boosting logging is controversial from several angles. But as with many industries Trump claims to champion, there's also a second question here: Is the administration's theory of the industry's decline—and prescription for its revival—actually accurate? Trump's tariffs and executive orders seem to assume that foreign competition and lack of lands to log are the primary things hampering U.S. timber production. But when I talked to experts familiar with the industry's history, they painted a more complicated picture. There are some potential upsides to boosting domestic timber production—even on the environmental front. But the U.S. timber industry's struggles aren't as simple as the president seems to think, and some of his policies could even hurt the industry he claims to be helping. Access to prime logging land '[is] really not the main factor holding things back,' said Michael Snyder, the former commissioner of Vermont Forests, Parks, and Recreation, who now consults on forestry and forest policy with Greenfire Enterprises. 'Sure, increased supply of raw material … would seem on the surface to be helpful, but [it's] not if you don't have a workforce—that includes loggers, truckers in particular; if you don't have receiving primary processing facilities, basic sawmills, secondary manufacturing facilities, retailers, and all of those elements of any value chain in the forest economy, which are all in distress right now pretty much everywhere.' Sawmills closing has been a problem for decades, and might not be an easy trend to reverse. 'In Vermont, we've lost 158 mills since 2000, and I think last year we already lost seven major mills,' said Snyder. 'There's not one single factor that led to the decrease in both jobs as well as harvests,' said University of Oregon historian Steven Beda, who focuses on the history of the U.S. timber industry. Environmental backlash in the 1980s definitely had an effect in terms of limiting access to federal lands, he said. But also, the broader economic problems of the 1970s hit the industry hard, and over time traditional logging states like Oregon, Washington, and Idaho began to 'pivot' from natural resource extraction 'towards more of a high-tech economy,' said Beda, 'so there's less of an incentive for politicians to support the timber industry. Then you also have capital flight—a lot of the timber companies realizing that they can be more profitable operating in the South,' in part because of lower rates of unionization there. Both international competition and regional competition, he said, have played a role in reducing the size of the Northwest timber industry, which is the one Trump primarily seems to be targeting with his executive orders, since that's where most of the federal forest land is located. If the goal is to resurrect the pre-1980s Northwest timber industry, Beda said, that might be tough, because 'both the workforce and the sawmills kind of stabilized and readjusted to the harvest rates that took shape after the end of the spotted owl conflict,' referring to the environmental backlash and endangered species advocacy that closed off many federal lands to logging. Neither Beda nor Snyder see themselves as anti-timber. 'I'm actually someone who believes that the Forest Service lands should be open to more logging,' said Beda. Snyder is a long-time advocate for people to value forestry more and take it seriously. 'People realize they need plumbers and are willing to pay for it,' he said. 'People don't realize how much wood and wood products they use in their daily lives, from floors and cabinets to textiles and food additives and paper. They think we just need to leave forests alone. I don't know where we're going to get these materials. Plastics, concrete, and steel are far worse. So if not wood, what, and if not here, where?' But both pointed to a serious problem with the Trump administration's approach. It 'just doesn't add up,' said Snyder, pointing to the administration's massive cuts across the Forest Service. 'We're going to get more wood off federal land but get rid of thousands of federal employees who actually do that work? It's absurd.' Beda agreed. 'You can't do both. You can't cut Forest Service staff and say you want more logging on Forest Service lands. You need people to administer the contracts, put together the budgeting, all the zillion pieces that are part of public lands logging.… When you actually go back and look to the peak, the Forest Service harvests, at least in Oregon, peaked in the early 1980s, and that not coincidentally is also when the Forest Service had the largest budget and the largest staff.' Tariffs could also hurt the industry long before they help because of the cross-border nature of wood processing. As the tariffs on Canada took effect, Snyder said, he heard from loggers in Vermont that their exports to the sawmills on the Canadian border immediately cratered. 'Everything from up to a 50 percent price drop to complete shutoffs of deliveries. This is coming when we're about to head into mud season, which is a traditional time for loggers to stay out of the woods 'cause of the vulnerable soft ground,' he said. At the end of the day, 'we should in my view be using more of our own wood, but these are not the buttons and levers to pull and push to get us there,' Snyder said. 'It's going to take an integrated, coherent, comprehensive approach.' He'd like to see the Endangered Species Act protected, serious money put into research on sustainable forestry, how to preserve habitats and water quality, and whether wood products could substitute for things like single-use plastics and carbon-intensive construction materials like concrete. 'The way we invest in high-tech, medical, automotive—we need to have the same kind of approach to the forests of our country and the people who manage and make their living in them,' he said. But 'it's not going to happen with sweeping executive orders and tariffs like this. It's just going to piss everybody off.'That's how many respondents support the U.S. transitioning to 100 percent clean energy by 2050, according to the Climate Opinion Maps that the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication recently published. (Also, 75 percent backed regulating carbon dioxide 'as a pollutant' and 67 percent backed requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a carbon tax—striking numbers given that the Trump administration is moving in the exact opposite direction.)'Our people are hungry': What federal food aid cuts mean in a warming world Ayurella Horn-Muller and Naveena Sadasivam introduce readers to Mark Broyles, a 57-year-old living in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where over 80 percent of residents voted for Donald Trump. Broyles's 'family of four, his mother, and her husband' have been using the food boxes provided by the nonprofit Appalachian Sustainable Development, which 'helps small farmers sell fresh goods to public schools and grocery stores.' But now, due to Trump administration funding cuts, the food box program is gone. Programs benefiting both farmers and food-insecure households are folding across the country. For decades, the USDA has funded several programs that are meant to address the country's rising food-insecurity crisis—a problem that has only worsened as climate change has advanced, the COVID-19 pandemic led to layoffs, and grocery prices have skyrocketed. A network of nonprofit food banks, pantries, and hubs around the country rely extensively on government funding, particularly through the USDA. The Appalachian Sustainable Development is but one of them. The first few months of the Trump administration have plunged the USDA and its network of funding recipients into chaos. The agency has abruptly canceled contracts with farmers and nonprofits, [frozen] funding for other long-running programs even as the courts have mandated that the Trump administration release funding, and fired thousands of employees, who were then temporarily reinstated as a result of a court order. Trump's funding freeze and the USDA's subsequent gutting of local food system programs has left them without a significant portion of their budgets, money they need to feed their communities. Experts say the administration's move to axe these resources leaves the country's first line of defense against the surging demand for hunger relief without enough supply. Read Ayurella Horn-Muller and Naveena Sadasivam's full report at Grist. This article first appeared in Life in a Warming World, a weekly TNR newsletter authored by deputy editor Heather Souvaine Horn. Sign up here.
South China Morning Post
28-02-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
How having fibre in your diet helps prevent cancer as well as keeping you regular
New research from Stanford University in the US state of California shows fibre does far more than keep you regular – it could be a powerful weapon in cancer prevention. Advertisement Yet fewer than 10 per cent of Americans meet their daily needs for this nutrient. The study, published in peer-reviewed journal Nature Metabolism, uncovers how fibre works at the molecular level to help prevent cancer. As fibre moves through the digestive system , it prompts the gut to produce short-chain fatty acids, which can influence cell behaviour and potentially reduce cancer risk. These findings strengthen existing evidence that fibre may protect against multiple cancers , including breast, prostate and pancreatic cancers. Advertisement 'We found a direct link between eating fibre and modulation of gene function that has anticancer effects,' said Dr Michael Snyder, professor of genetics and study co-author.
