Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
New Weight Loss Strategy Says Fatty Snacks Actually Good
Aired January 15, 2003 - 08:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It says right here that the next diet advice we are giving may sound a bit nutty. A new weight loss strategy says that fatty snacks are actually good.
Can nuts actually make you thinner? Good question. The skinny from Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Atlanta.
Good morning, Sanjay. What gives here?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Well, I'll tell you, there is a new monster out there when it comes to diets. People are saying that unsaturated fats are good, carbs are bad. People have been hearing that for quite some time now, and nuts are taking center stage as a result of that. Peanuts, incidentally, Bill, are legumes, not nuts, but nevertheless, they are high in fat and calories, which made people skeptical of them when talking about diets, but they do appear to cause a thinning effect, according to a lot of research now.
The primary reason is that they make you feel full, satiety. They give you fullness, and therefore, you stick to your diet better, don't eat as much.
So hopefully, they'll replace that airplane pretzels with nuts sometime soon as well.
HEMMER: You think so? I don't think it will taste any better, though.
How do you measure the fat? What do you look for, especially on the female side?
GUPTA: An interesting study that came out talking about fat, talking specifically about intra-abdominal fat, Bill, sort of interesting. We talk about fat that people can actually see. But intra-abdominal fat is actually the fat that's inside the abdomen, not always something that you can see.
And in women, a new study looking at 173 postmenopausal sedentary overweight women, they tried to figure out how to get rid of it.
Let's talk about why intra-abdominal fat is bad, first of all. We know that fat is bad. Intra-abdominal fat appears to have significant health concerns -- Heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, type II diabetes, certain forms of cancer. Again, this is the fact that's actually inside your abdomen. What these researchers did, is they said, it will be exercise, moderate intensity exercise. It's going to be better in terms of reducing this, or simple things like yoga, stretching, and what they found, in fact, was that the moderate intensity exercise. You can see the study findings there, they're all 6.9 percent of your intra-abdominal fat, significant weight loss, and significant total body fat loss.
Bill, the bottom line, the point here, is that if a woman is exercising, and she's exercising moderately, really trying to do a good job, not seeing a significant change in her body shape, she may, in fact, still be doing her body a world of good by getting rid of this hidden intra-abdominal fat -- Bill.
HEMMER: Is there a way to measure it? I mean, if you're a woman at home and you fit this category at home, what do you do look for?
GUPTA: People talk about the apple-shaped bodies and the pear- shaped bodies. In a nutshell, when a woman loses her estrogen supply, because she goes through menopause, fat starts to rise. So you develop more of the apple shape sort of body. Before menopause, women tend to have a pear-shaped body, accumulating fat around the hips and the thighs, that area.
It's really hard to tell actually about this intra-abdominal fat. The only way to really tell for sure is get a CAT scan or an MRI. But it's that apple-shaped body. Again, the fat around the abdomen, that is more associated with intra-abdominal fat.
HEMMER: Let's talk about us quickly. What about the men?
GUPTA: Yes, we're not immune either. It does apply. And intra- abdominal fat is a particular problem in men as well. This particularly study looked at women. I read an interesting statistic about this, Bill. If you're trying to keep off your intra-abdominal fat, if you're trying to fit into those clothes every year, what you need to be doing if you're a runner is actually increasing your weekly running by about 1.4 miles per week. So at 30 years old, if you're running 10 miles per week, when you're 40 years old, if you want to keep the same body shape, you need to be running 24 miles per week. It gets harder and harder, Bill, no question.
HEMMER: That It does. Thank you, Sanjay. Good to see you again. Dr. Sanjay Gupta in our House Call today.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 15, 2003 - 08:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It says right here that the next diet advice we are giving may sound a bit nutty. A new weight loss strategy says that fatty snacks are actually good.
Can nuts actually make you thinner? Good question. The skinny from Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Atlanta.
Good morning, Sanjay. What gives here?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Well, I'll tell you, there is a new monster out there when it comes to diets. People are saying that unsaturated fats are good, carbs are bad. People have been hearing that for quite some time now, and nuts are taking center stage as a result of that. Peanuts, incidentally, Bill, are legumes, not nuts, but nevertheless, they are high in fat and calories, which made people skeptical of them when talking about diets, but they do appear to cause a thinning effect, according to a lot of research now.
The primary reason is that they make you feel full, satiety. They give you fullness, and therefore, you stick to your diet better, don't eat as much.
So hopefully, they'll replace that airplane pretzels with nuts sometime soon as well.
HEMMER: You think so? I don't think it will taste any better, though.
How do you measure the fat? What do you look for, especially on the female side?
GUPTA: An interesting study that came out talking about fat, talking specifically about intra-abdominal fat, Bill, sort of interesting. We talk about fat that people can actually see. But intra-abdominal fat is actually the fat that's inside the abdomen, not always something that you can see.
And in women, a new study looking at 173 postmenopausal sedentary overweight women, they tried to figure out how to get rid of it.
Let's talk about why intra-abdominal fat is bad, first of all. We know that fat is bad. Intra-abdominal fat appears to have significant health concerns -- Heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, type II diabetes, certain forms of cancer. Again, this is the fact that's actually inside your abdomen. What these researchers did, is they said, it will be exercise, moderate intensity exercise. It's going to be better in terms of reducing this, or simple things like yoga, stretching, and what they found, in fact, was that the moderate intensity exercise. You can see the study findings there, they're all 6.9 percent of your intra-abdominal fat, significant weight loss, and significant total body fat loss.
Bill, the bottom line, the point here, is that if a woman is exercising, and she's exercising moderately, really trying to do a good job, not seeing a significant change in her body shape, she may, in fact, still be doing her body a world of good by getting rid of this hidden intra-abdominal fat -- Bill.
HEMMER: Is there a way to measure it? I mean, if you're a woman at home and you fit this category at home, what do you do look for?
GUPTA: People talk about the apple-shaped bodies and the pear- shaped bodies. In a nutshell, when a woman loses her estrogen supply, because she goes through menopause, fat starts to rise. So you develop more of the apple shape sort of body. Before menopause, women tend to have a pear-shaped body, accumulating fat around the hips and the thighs, that area.
It's really hard to tell actually about this intra-abdominal fat. The only way to really tell for sure is get a CAT scan or an MRI. But it's that apple-shaped body. Again, the fat around the abdomen, that is more associated with intra-abdominal fat.
HEMMER: Let's talk about us quickly. What about the men?
GUPTA: Yes, we're not immune either. It does apply. And intra- abdominal fat is a particular problem in men as well. This particularly study looked at women. I read an interesting statistic about this, Bill. If you're trying to keep off your intra-abdominal fat, if you're trying to fit into those clothes every year, what you need to be doing if you're a runner is actually increasing your weekly running by about 1.4 miles per week. So at 30 years old, if you're running 10 miles per week, when you're 40 years old, if you want to keep the same body shape, you need to be running 24 miles per week. It gets harder and harder, Bill, no question.
HEMMER: That It does. Thank you, Sanjay. Good to see you again. Dr. Sanjay Gupta in our House Call today.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
