A new study shows that people who shed at least 5% of their initial body weight during a weight loss competition were likely to be on the same teams. Those who said their teammates played a large role in their weight loss were more likely to lose a significant amount of weight.

The findings appear in Obesity.

Shows like The Biggest Loser often have team-, family-, or couples-based competitions that harness the power of peer influence when it comes to weight loss.

"People around us affect our health behaviors," says researcher Tricia Leahey, PhD. She is with The Miriam Hospital's Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center and is an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, R.I.

This is true for healthy and unhealthy behaviors. "It could be quite beneficial if a bunch of friends that choose to lose weight make healthy food choices together, and hold each other accountable to those choices," she says.

Team members can motivate one another to stay the course. "If someone is doing really well, it could influence the whole group," Leahey says.

The findings are based on the results of the 2009 Shape Up Rhode Island campaign, a 12-week statewide, online weight loss competition. Participants competed against other teams for weight loss, physical activity, and the number of steps taken. The weight loss arm included 3,330 overweight or obese people on 987 teams. The teams had between five and 11 members.

Smoking causes the body to turn against its own helpful bacteria, leaving smokers more vulnerable to disease, says an Indian-origin scientist.

They revealed that the mouth of a smoker is much more susceptible to invasion by harmful bacteria.

As a group, smokers suffer from higher rates of oral diseases -- especially gum disease -- than do nonsmokers, which is a challenge for dentists, according to Purnima Kumar, assistant professor of periodontology at Ohio State University.

"The smoker's mouth kicks out the good bacteria, and the pathogens are called in. So they're allowed to proliferate much more quickly than they would in a non-smoking environment," said Kumar

The results suggest that dentists may have to offer more aggressive treatment for smokers and would have good reason to suggest quitting smoking, Kumar said.

"A few hours after you're born, bacteria start forming communities called biofilms in your mouth. Your body learns to live with them, because for most people, healthy biofilms keep the bad bacteria away," stated Kumar.
She likens a healthy biofilm to a lush, green lawn of grass. "When you change the dynamics of what goes into the lawn, like too much water or too little fertilizer, you get some of the grass dying, and weeds moving in," she said.

For smokers, the "weeds" are problem bacteria known to cause disease.

In a new study, Kumar's team looked at how these bacterial ecosystems regrow after being wiped away. For 15 healthy nonsmokers and 15 healthy smokers, the researchers took samples of oral biofilms one, two, four and seven days after professional cleaning.
The researchers were looking for two things when they swabbed subjects' gums. First, they wanted to see which bacteria were present by analyzing DNA signatures found in dental plaque. They also monitored whether the subjects' bodies were treating the bacteria as a threat. If so, the swab would show higher levels of cytokines, compounds the body produces to fight infection.

The team found that for nonsmokers, bacterial communities regain a similar balance of species to the communities that were scraped away during cleaning. Disease-associated bacteria are largely absent, and low levels of cytokines show that the body is not treating the helpful biofilms as a threat.

"By contrast," said Kumar, "smokers start getting colonized by pathogens-bacteria that we know are harmful-within 24 hours. It takes longer for smokers to form a stable microbial community, and when they do, it's a pathogen-rich community."

Smokers also have higher levels of cytokines, indicating that the body is mounting defenses against infection. Clinically, this immune response takes the form of red, swollen gums-called gingivitis-that can lead to the irreversible bone loss of periodontitis.

In smokers, however, the body is not just trying to fight off harmful bacteria. The types of cytokines in smokers' gum swabs showed the researchers that smokers' bodies were treating even healthy bacteria as threatening.

Although they do not yet understand the mechanisms behind these results, Kumar and her team suspect that smoking is confusing the normal communication that goes on between healthy bacterial communities and their human hosts.

Practically speaking, these findings have clear implications for patient care, according to Kumar.

High school students seem to do better in studies when they have seven hours of sleep, rather than nine recommended by federal guidelines, a study reveals.

"We're not talking about sleep deprivation, the data simply says that seven hours is optimal at that age," said study co-author Eric Eide from Brigham Young University (BYU). The new study, led by Eide and BYU economics professor Mark Showalter, is the first in a series where they examine sleep and its impact on our health and education.

Surprisingly, the current federal guidelines are based on studies where teens were simply told to keep sleeping until they felt satisfied, said a university statement. "If you used that same approach for a guideline on how much people should eat, you would put them in a well-stocked pantry and just watch how much they ate until they felt satisfied," Showalter said. "Somehow that doesn't seem right," he added.

Analysing data from a representative sample of 1,724 primary and secondary school students across the country, they found a strong relationship between the hours of sleep youths got and how they fared on standardised tests.

"We don't look at it just from a 'your kid might be sleeping too much' perspective. From the other end, if a kid is only getting 5.5 hours of sleep a night because he's overscheduled, he would perform better if he got 90 minutes more each night," Eide said.

The size of the effect on test scores depends on a number of factors, but an 80-minute shift toward the optimum is comparable to the child's parents completing about one more year of schooling.

Few of us need too much encouragement when it comes to heading off to the curry house.

But scientists have come up with one of the best excuses ever: a spicy ingredient in curry could be an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

Tests on fruit flies with a nervous disorder similar to the neurodegenerative illness found those given curcumin - the key chemical in turmeric used in everything from mild Kormas to the hottest Vindaloos - lived 75 per cent longer.

Alzheimer's is linked to the build up of knots of protein in the brain called amyloid plaques, damaging the wiring in brain cells.

The findings, published in the journal PLoS One, could help explain why rates of dementia are much lower among the elderly in India than in their Western peers.

Previous research has found Alzheimer's affects just one per cent of people over the age of 65 living in some Indian villages.

Drugs with similar properties to curcumin could potentially be used as preventative treatments.

In the study Professor Per Hammarstrom and colleagues also found five groups of fruit flies genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer's-type symptoms manipulations maintained their mobility longer when given curcumin.

The scientists saw no decrease of amyloid in the brain or eyes of the insects.

Curcumin did not dissolve the plaque, but accelerated the formation of nerve fibres by reducing the amount of their precursor forms, known as oligomers, from which they were formed.

Prof Hammarstrom, of Linkoping University in Sweden, said: 'The results confirm our belief that it is the oligomers that are most harmful to the nerve cells.'

Several theories have been established about how oligomers can instigate the disease process.

According to one hypothesis they become trapped at nerve junctions inhibiting impulse signals. Others claim they destroy brain cells by puncturing membrane.

Curcumin is extracted from the root of turmeric and has been used as medicine for thousands of years. It aids digestion, helps fight infection and guards against heart attacks.

More recently it has been tested against pain, thrombosis and cancer.

Some people were troubled that even after she was diagnosed, she continued to cook high-fat, high-sugar, high-calorie recipes on her TV show - foods that people with the disease are advised to consume infrequently. Deen said she eats such foods only in moderation.

Meanwhile, Alec Baldwin told Entertainment Tonight he lost 30 pounds since being diagnosed with prediabetes in May. He says he gave up sugar, which was a real "killer" for him.

So what's the best diet for people with diabetes? There is no one diet, whether it's a Mediterranean, low-carb or low-fat diet, that is consistently better at helping people manage diabetes, says Stephanie Dunbar, director of nutrition and medical affairs for the American Diabetes Association. She is one of the authors of a new review of the research on diabetes diets published in February's Diabetes Care.

"People need to do what works for them. There are people who do well on a lower-fat diet and others who do well on a lower-carb diet." One thing that helps in keeping blood sugar under control is losing weight, even as little as 5% to 10% of body weight, Dunbar says.
Don't expect perfection

People with diabetes need to be counseled by a capable registered dietitian who can tailor their meal plan to their taste, says Ann Albright, director of the diabetes division for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "If you give someone a list that says they have to eat this or that, and those are not foods they like, then they won't be successful, and they'll end up eating in secrecy." They need to make healthy choices most of the time, but an occasional indulgence is OK, she says. "That's one of the big burdens that people carry. Many say, 'I can't be perfect, so why try at all?' "

Almost 26 million adults and children, about 8.3% of the U.S. population, have diabetes, the CDC says. There are two major forms of diabetes: type 1 and 2. Type 2 accounts for more than 90% of cases. Factors that increase the risk of type 2 include a family history, obesity, inactivity and age.

In people with diabetes, the body does not make enough of the hormone insulin, or it does not use it properly. Insulin helps glucose (sugar) get into cells, where it is used for energy. If there's an insulin problem, sugar builds up in the blood, damaging nerves and blood vessels.

Symptoms include thirst, hunger, fatigue, blurry vision, healing problems and frequent urination. Complications can include heart attacks, blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage and amputations.

Lots of healthy choices

The diabetes association gives general guidance on carbohydrates, advising people to try to get about 45 to 60 grams at a meal, Dunbar says. "Some people may need more or less. About 45 grams allows someone to follow the diabetes plate method; we call it create your plate. It calls for half the plate to be non-starchy veggies, a fourth plate whole grains and a fourth plate protein."

People with the disease can eat from a wide range of healthy choices, says Geralyn Spollett, president of health care and education for the diabetes association and associate director of the Yale Diabetes Center. "It's really a balancing game of trying to eat healthy foods but still enjoy many of the things that they love."

But the diet shouldn't include a lot of sweets, Spollett says. "We stress reduced intake from concentrated sweets because they cause a spike in glucose, and that makes it difficult to manage your diabetes. We usually say to avoid things like soda and ginger ale and only to occasionally drink juice, because even though it has vitamins, it tends to cause blood sugar to skyrocket."

People with diabetes can have a sweet occasionally if they do it properly, Spollett says. "If someone is using insulin, they can calculate how much insulin they would need to reduce the spike in blood sugar caused by a sweet food. They can keep their blood glucose fairly even."

If they have type 2 diabetes and are not on insulin, they don't have that flexibility and need to be more conscious of how many sweet foods they eat, she says.

Fruit contains natural sugar fructose, so it can raise blood glucose, but it is a good source of vitamins and minerals and people should include it in their diet, Spollett says. Some find that the berries do not raise their glucose levels as much and will eat them, she says.

Even if you are taking medications for diabetes, making healthy food choices is important, Albright says.

Some people with diabetes appear to have a greater reaction to the foods they eat, she says. They have much more difficulty managing their blood sugar (A1C), blood pressure and cholesterol than others, she says.

But if people with diabetes keep their A1C level at 7% or less (an average glucose of 150-170 mg/dl), it can help reduce the risk of complications, Spollett says. "Unless people are eating in a way that is diabetes-friendly, it's very difficult to control their blood sugars."

Still, diabetes is a progressive disease, no matter how perfectly you live, Spollett says. "What people want to hear is that there is a cure, and we hope someday there will be, but in the meantime, people with diabetes need to do the best they can to keep their glucose in a healthy range."