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Health File
New Delhi, 18 August 2009
Key To Good Health
CHECK OUT ANIMALS’ EATING
HABITS
By Suraj Saraf
People in modern society are growing more and more health
conscious and there is extensive research going on the world-over about what we
should eat to keep healthy, trim, alive and kicking. However, little attention is
being paid to how to eat.
A related study by two American zoologists on how wild
animals eat is interesting and may be highlighted here because the two stress
that humans should follow similar habits. The two, Dr. William Karest and R.
Fritz Walther underscore that wild animals are rarely fat and lazy as they have
to hunt for their food and eat only when they are hungry. It is only when
animals become domesticated that they fall into bad eating habits and pile on
unnecessary and unhealthy pounds.
Most wild animals eat early in the day. Then they have
plenty of time during the remaining daylight hours to work off all their excess
calories. Humans, especially, tend to reverse this pattern, say these zoologists.
They add that in modern society most of us barely eat first thing in the
morning and do not have much for lunch either. But, we more than make up for it
late at night. However, at the end of the day our bodies cannot digest the food
properly and while we are asleep, it is a definite tendency for this food to
turn into fat.
Moreover, animals eat a high-fibre diet. This goes both for
vegetarian and meat-eating creatures. Grazing animals eat lots of grass and
weeds all day long. This keeps them feeling full, but never makes them fat.
One of the remarkable aspects of animals’ eating habits is
the way in which carnivorous animals tend to demolish the whole carcass of
their prey including fur, feathers and bones. Wild animals do not eat and drink
at the same time. They chew their food slowly which means they feel full on
less of it, emphasise the zoologists.
Another analogous study published in American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition underpins there are advantages to frequent feeding. One is of
spreading out our food intake during the day which helps to equalize the body’s
biochemistry. Also, by reducing the risk of the appetite running riot, regular
ingestion can help quell a tendency to over eat.
Clearly, this study by the British scientists had attempted
to add to our understanding of how the pattern of eating may affect our
physiology. The results of their research suggest that when it comes to the
impact eating has on our health, time can be the essence. The study assessed
the effect of two eating patterns in a group of overweight women. This enabled
the researchers to assess what advantages, if any, regularity in food intake
has over chaotic consumption.
The participants undertook a test that measured the ability
of food to stimulate the body’s metabolism (known as the thermogenic effect of
food or Tef). A regular eating pattern brought a significant boost to the Tef.
In addition, participants reported eating less when eating consistently. It is
not uncommon for slimmers to skip the odd meal.
But the findings of this study suggest that those planning
to shed pounds would be best advised not to skip their lunch, or any other
meal. More regularised eating was also associated with lower levels of low
density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. LDL is believed to raise the risk of
heart diseases and stroke. In addition, consistency in eating pattern led to
reduction in amount of insulin secreted in response to food.
This has important implications because lower levels of
insulin in the long term should protect against such conditions as obesity,
diabetes and heart disease. The researchers added that they were not of the opinion
that meal times should be strictly adhered to but some regularity in eating
patterns does seem to be one of the keys to good health. For those wishing to
optimise their well-being through dietary means, consistency is the order of
the day, underpinned the study.
While emphasizing meal habits of wild animals above, it was
pointed out by the zoologists that these animals take their meals early morning
and then work off their calories during daylight hunting for food. The
underlying idea has been supported by another study stressing that people who
can not sit still have an inborn behaviour that keeps them slim even if they
overeat a little. Tests on slim and overweight people who described themselves
as ‘couch potatoes’ showed that the main difference between the two groups was
how long they sat still, said this study led by James Levine of the Mayo Clinic
in Rochester, Minnesota.
“Our study shows that the calories that people burn in their
everyday activities are far more important in obesity that we previously
imagined.” The study was conducted on two groups of normal and obese men and
women. It found that obese people spent two extra hours a day on an average sitting
still compared to the lean volunteers. This difference accounted for about 350
calories a day, enough to add 4.5 kgs a year.
Interestingly, the study also added that the tendency to
fidget may be genetic or it may be learned at an early age. “The idea is that there
is either a ‘get-up-to-go’ gene or there is a gene that sends you into your
chair. I am actually of the belief that what happens in childhood is absolutely
the key,” said Dr. Levine.
In addition, “an answer may be to encourage plenty of
physical activity early on in life. With two-third of the US population
overweight and other countries catching up, someone needs to figure something
out,” he said. “Perhaps we need to think about how schools are run and the fact
that kids always want to run and we tell them not to.”
The connection between diet and genes has been touched upon
in another significant study which highlights that people who over eat might
ruin their grandchildren’s health as a person’s diet could influence
generations. Although diet does not change genes, it could affect future generations,
says a study by Swedish researchers. It found that grand-children of well-fed
people were found four times as likely to die from diabetes while kids of men
who suffered famine were less likely to die from heart disease.
“It’s a big leap to say that such effects are passed to
future generations. But, I have a gut feeling that it is right,” said Eugene
Albrecht, who studies foetal growth in the Maryland
University in Baltimore. A father’s nutrition could change
the activity of genes in sperm, rather than the genetic code itself, he suggested.
Indeed, all these studies should be food for thought for most of us. --- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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