The order in which you consume food during a meal can affect your blood sugar level, according to researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

Previous studies had suggested eating protein before carbohydrates might be a simple way to lower glucose levels, so the team wanted to see if this held true for a typical meal in a western diet, which usually includes protein, vegetables, fat and carbohydrates.

The team studied 11 people diagnosed with obesity and type 2 diabetes, who were also taking a glucose regulating medication. The patients were given the same meals and after each week, were asked to eat them in a different order. Overall, blood glucose levels were checked once in the morning - 12 hours after their last meal of the day, as well as 30, 60 and 120 minutes after eating the meal. For the first week of the study, patients were asked to eat the bread and juice at the start of the meal and then consume the protein vegetables and fat food groups 15 minutes later. The second week, the patients were asked to reverse the order, eating the other food groups first and the carbs and juice after 15 minutes.

Researchers found that at the 30, 60 and 120-minute checks, glucose levels were respectively, 29 percent, 37 percent, and 17 percent lower when protein and vegetables were eaten before carbs. Insulin levels were also found to be “significantly lower” when carbs were eaten last. Although this was a small-scale study, researchers believe these results may help clinicians offer their patients different ways to eat meals instead of restricting certain food groups. The study was published in the journal, Diabetes Care. 

Sourced from: Medical News Today, Eat protein before carbohydrates to lower post-meal glucose

Women who have a very steady heart rate may have more difficulty in becoming sexually aroused, suggests a a study at the University of Texas at Austin.

To conduct their study, the researchers looked a group of 72 women from ages 18 to 39 and had them watch a three-minute film on a neutral subject while hooked up to an electrocardiogram (ECG) machine that monitored their heart rates. The researchers calculated the women’s resting heart rate variability (HRV)–differences in the amount of time between consecutive heartbeats–and categorized them as having low, average or above-average resting HRVs based on established ranges. Then they had the women fill out a standard questionnaire related to sexual function.

The results showed that of 72 participants, 29 percent were considered sexually dysfunctional, based on their answers to the questions. The researchers found that the lower a woman’s resting HRV was during the film, the more likely it was that her sexual function score fell in the dysfunctional range.

The researchers note that people with a low HRV may have a more dominant sympathetic nervous system, which can mean a more easily activated “flight or fight” response, whereas others with a high HRV may experience a more restful, relaxed state. If the results of the new study are confirmed, HRV could become the first recognized physiological marker of sexual dysfunction and arousal disorder in women.

NEXT: Quality of Stroke Treatment Depends on Where You Live

Sourced from: Live Science, Women’s Sexual Readiness Tied to Heart Rate

A new study published in the journal Pain suggests that web-based pain management tutorials may help chronic pain patients deal with their symptoms better and ultimately decrease their visits to the doctor.

Researchers at Macquarie University in New South Wales recruited 490 patients online who had seen a doctor to assess their pain within the past three months, had no psychotic illnesses or severe depression and had regular access to a computer and the internet. Participants were then divided into one of three treatment groups to receive the web-based tutorials–one which had regular contact with clinicians during the study, another with optional contact with providers and a third with no contact. During that time, people in the treatment groups also had five web-based lessons that focused on pain management using cognitive behavior therapy techniques.

The results at the end of eight weeks showed that patients in the treatment groups had average reductions of at least 18 percent in disability, 32 percent for anxiety, 36 percent for depression and 12 percent in typical pain levels. These improvements were sustained or even improved after three months, and there were no significant differences between the intervention groups based on how much contact people had with clinicians.

The researchers noted several limitations of the study, one being that it didn’t examine what therapies people received in the control group, so the team doesn’t know if people in that group would have recovered without any treatment.

NEXT: Women’s Sexual Arousal Tied to Heart Rate

Sourced from: Reuters, Online tools can help manage pain

New research published in the July issue of Stroke suggests that emergency stroke treatment in the United States is wildly inconsistent, leaving many people unnecessarily disabled with long recoveries. The study found that only 4.2 percent of more than 844,000 stroke victims received the drug called tPA, or another urgent stroke treatment. If given in the first hours after a stroke, tPA and other treatments can restore blood flow in the brain and prevent the damage that causes stroke-related disability and drives up the long-term cost of caring for stroke survivors.

To conduct their study, the team looked at Medicare participants who had strokes in each of the nation’s 3,436 different hospital markets between 2007 and 2010. They found that in one-fifth of these regions, no patients received the clot-busting drug, tPA. Two of the best performing cities were Stanford, CT and Asheville, NC, where 14 percent of patients received the drug.

The team notes that variation in tPA use did track to lower average levels of education and income and in areas of higher unemployment. However, the top 20 areas for tPA use are scattered across the country, in urban and rural areas, rich and poor ones.

The researchers calculated that if all regions achieved the same rates of tPA use as the Stanford region, more than 92,800 people would get treated, and 8,078 people would survive their stroke disability-free. Even if all regions doubled their current tPA use, 7,206 people would be spared disability.

Sourced from: Science Daily, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150626125725.htm