Author Archives: mmehrabi

New research done by Vera Mazurak, PhD, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada explains how consumption of fish oil will prevent weight loss and muscle loss in patients who undergo chemotherapy. Chemotherapy, being a chemical treatment that will kill cancerous cells shows to decrease a persons muscle and weight. Researchers show that cancer patients that undergo chemotherapy are most vulnerable to these reactions. This may lead to fatigue, a decreased quality of life, an inability to receive necessary treatments, and shorter survival (Blackwell 2011).

This study compared 2 groups one who consumed the fish oil (16 people) and those who were cured from chemotherapy without taking fish oil (24 people). This test was done on a 10 week duration where muscle and fat were measured in blood samples for data collection. Results showed that patients who took the fish oil maintained similar weight after chemotherapy, whereas the patients who did not consume fish oil lost 2.3kg in body weight.

The phenomenon behind the fish oil is due to its chemical reactions. The eicosapentaenoic acid (fish oil) concentration increase in the blood following fish oil supplementation had the greatest gains in muscle (Blackwell 2011). Therefore, patients who receive chemotherapy by consumption of 2 grams of fish oil per day can prevent the muscle and weight loss associated with it.

For further reading visit science daily news for direct link:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110228090202.htm

An Article posted on ScienceDaily is very interesting as it goes into talking about women who have eating disorders. There is a study conducted at the University of Haifa in Israel. There is the comparison of women who suffer from anorexia and bulimia to two different groups of women; women who had no eating disorders but were overweight, and women  who had no eating disorders and were normal weight. A research conducted was for 76 women to ”complete two standardized questionnaires for screening eating disorders and were then asked to draw themselves” (Guez et al 2010).

The results were correlating as women who suffered from anorexia and bulimia drew their respective body parts differently. As stated in the ScienceDaily the following results were obtained

”

• The neck: women suffering from anorexia or bulimia tended to draw a larger neck, a disconnected neck or no neck at all;
• The mouth: this feature was more emphasized in drawings by women suffering from anorexia or bulimia;
• The thighs: women with eating disorders drew wider thighs than the other groups in the study;
• The feet: women with eating disorders tended to draw pictures without feet or with disconnected feet.

This allowed researchers to summarize that women with anorexia and bulimia ” tended to omit breasts from their drawings, drew less defined body lines and smaller figures relative to the page size” (Guez et al 2010).

Here is an image of the women drawings.

For more information go to the direct link

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110214102124.htm