Top 5 Health and Fitness "Truths" That Bit the Dust in 2010

Not every year has destroyed or at least shaken so many myths about health and fitness as 2010. There were at least five major developments that should cause us to reflect on what we do to stay healthy.

Here are my top 5 Dust Biters

1. Saturated fat not linked to heart disease

This is a momentous announcement as it undoes what we have been told for nearly 50 years, that fat is bad. Here is the quote from Leslie Beck, the nutrition columnist, who I greatly do not admire. She has written hundreds of articles over the last few years touting a low fat diet. Here is what she had to say this week.

"For decades, the view that eating too much saturated fat - found in meat and high fat dairy products increases the risk of heart disease, has been the driving force behind the recommendation to eat a low fat diet. But given the evidence presented this year, our thinking on diet and heart disease may shift."

Earth to Leslie, get a grip, start doing research. There is a new thing out there called the internet. It's really cool. You can learn stuff. You may have discovered that this is not new thinking at all, that it has been there amongst serious researchers all the time. It was the marketing departments of food companies and the low fat diet cabal that have been touting this nonsense for years.

She goes on to comment that a review of 21 separate studies show no difference in heart attack rates between those on high fat or low fat diets. No means no. In fact the authors point out that switching from refined carbs (Doritos and Coke anyone) to high fat products will improve your chances of avoiding heart attacks.

A trillion dollars of misleading ads gone in a puff of smoke.

Lest you think that this was the only Oscar for natural saturated fasts, you are mistaken.


2: Full fat dairy might protect against diabetes

According to researchers, a natural substance found mostly in full fat dairy products seems to protect against the disease. The substance, trans-palmitoleic acid, (yes I said a trans fat, another myth it appears), cut the risk of type 2 diabetes by 60% in those with the highest levels. In other words, with those who ate the most full fat dairy. Time to throw away that yummy no fat yogurt and toss on the butter. I hate to say this, but maybe the French were right after all.



3: Heavy weights not necessary for building muscle mass during weight training

Recently published results from McMaster University in Hamilton, which suggest you can build muscle just as well – or perhaps even better –with light weights have been greeted with "surprise".

"There are plenty of people who just don’t believe it,” admits kinesiology professor Stuart Phillips, the senior author of the paper, which appeared in the journal PLoS ONE.

So what's the catch. The key isn't the weight or the reps, its reaching the point of failure or total fatigue - "I can't do another rep."

Dr. Phillips and his colleagues, led by PhD student Nicholas Burd, performed a series of blood tests and muscle biopsies before and after the workouts to measure the rate of muscle-protein synthesis – essentially, how quickly new muscle was growing at the molecular level.

The results were clear: The two groups that lifted to failure had roughly similar rates of muscle-protein synthesis, and both were higher than the group that didn’t lift to failure. In fact, 24 hours later, the rate of synthesis for one type of muscle protein was significantly higher in the light-weights group than the heavy-weights group.

Higher protein synthesis is not the same as bigger biceps, however. Dr. Phillips hopes these initial conclusions will be confirmed by the results of a full-scale training study, in which volunteers lifted light or heavy weights and had their muscle and strength gains measured over time. The results of that study are currently being analyzed.

This new training paradigm could be important for many groups: older adults, people recovering from injuries or illness, as well as anyone who’s intimidated by going to the gym, since lighter weights are more easily deployed at home.

“It’s a very generally applicable mechanism,” Dr. Phillips says. “And I think it’s easier for most people to swallow.”

It’s not just a question of comfort. As you get older, your joints become more susceptible to injury and your capacity to heal connective tissue, tendons and ligaments decreases. A lifting program based on lighter weights could allow people to fight age-related muscle loss without the injury risk associated with heavier weights.

Of course, lifting to “failure” isn’t easy, whether the weight is heavy or light. Fortunately, while reaching failure may be necessary to squeeze the absolute maximum out of your workout, you can probably get most of the benefits just by coming close.

“It should be a hard effort,” Dr. Phillips says. “At the end, if you’d score it an eight or nine out of 10, then we honestly believe you’re going to get the adaptation.”

Hans and Franz should be worried. "I'm going to pump you up with girly weights" is just not going to cut it.


4: Dehydration can limit endurance or maybe not

A group of South African soldiers were sent on a gruelling 14.6 km march and were shown to have lost on average 1.3kg of weight though they did not ingest anything other than air. However, isotope measurements showed that the amount of water in their bodies increased by .53 kg. So Holmes, where did this extra water come from?

Turns out that the body has hidden stores of water that is released by the burning of carbs and fats. We have been told that weighing yourself before and after exercise is the only way to know whether you took in enough fluid or not. Turns out this may not be the case as the research shows that burning one gram of carbs releases 3 grams of water.

The folks at the Gatorade Research Institute were quick to dispute the study. I wonder why. It probably comes back to drink when you are thirsty OR do what works.


5: Barefoot running, who is crazy here?

This one has caught fire since the release of the lovely book "Born to Run". So what's the deal. To paraphrase our own Dr. Penner, who you going to bet on, thousands of years of evolution or another marketing department. A few of us Stellars have tried the less is more shoes like the Nike Free's and generally I would say we are converted. While I could barely run a few 400's in my Frees at the beginning, with time this has worked up to the low 20ks. My other shoes feel heavy and pillowy now. I cannot tell where the ground is. Interesting for me, my step daughter Daniella has now caught the craze and tells me her shin splints, a chronic condition for her, are disappearing.

So what's the truth? My guess is our feet are wonderfully engineered and the less we get in the way of of them, the probably the better. However, most of us have years of "unconditioning" on our feet, so go easy if you want to go this way.

Have a great New Years everyone.