Roman Byst
Mon, Sep-24-07, 06:15
"The cereal killer threatening your liver", Daily Mail,
September 21, 2007, Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li-
ve/articles/health/dietfitness.html?in_article_id=482979&in_p-
age_id=1798
A breakfast of cereal and white toast could raise the risk of
a potentially deadly liver disease, research suggests.
Scientists have shown that diets rich in rapidly-digested
carbohydrates raise the risk of fatty liver, a condition that
can lead to liver failure and death.
Such foods are classed as having a high glycaemic index, or
GI, and include white bread, white rice and highly-processed
breakfast cereals.
Already known to expand the waistline, research now suggests
they may cause fatty liver - in which large globules of fat
collect in the liver, causing it to swell and raising the risk
of it failing.
In experiments carried out at the Children's Hospital in
Boston, scientists looked at how mice fared when fed either a
high or low GI diet.
Examples of low GI foods are beans, vegetables, unprocessed
grains and wholemeal bread.
Special K and All Bran fall into this category. Weetabix and
untoasted muesli have a moderate GI.
After six months on their diets, the mice weighed the same.
But those on the high GI diet had twice the normal amount
of fat in their bodies, blood and livers, the journal
Obesity reports.
It is thought that the sharp rise in sugar levels associated
with eating high GI foods drives up the production of the
hormone insulin, which tells the body to make and store fat.
Researcher Dr David Ludwig said that fatty liver is becoming
increasingly common among children and is a "dangerous
epidemic".
September 21, 2007, Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li-
ve/articles/health/dietfitness.html?in_article_id=482979&in_p-
age_id=1798
A breakfast of cereal and white toast could raise the risk of
a potentially deadly liver disease, research suggests.
Scientists have shown that diets rich in rapidly-digested
carbohydrates raise the risk of fatty liver, a condition that
can lead to liver failure and death.
Such foods are classed as having a high glycaemic index, or
GI, and include white bread, white rice and highly-processed
breakfast cereals.
Already known to expand the waistline, research now suggests
they may cause fatty liver - in which large globules of fat
collect in the liver, causing it to swell and raising the risk
of it failing.
In experiments carried out at the Children's Hospital in
Boston, scientists looked at how mice fared when fed either a
high or low GI diet.
Examples of low GI foods are beans, vegetables, unprocessed
grains and wholemeal bread.
Special K and All Bran fall into this category. Weetabix and
untoasted muesli have a moderate GI.
After six months on their diets, the mice weighed the same.
But those on the high GI diet had twice the normal amount
of fat in their bodies, blood and livers, the journal
Obesity reports.
It is thought that the sharp rise in sugar levels associated
with eating high GI foods drives up the production of the
hormone insulin, which tells the body to make and store fat.
Researcher Dr David Ludwig said that fatty liver is becoming
increasingly common among children and is a "dangerous
epidemic".