Coca-Cola turns to baobab in new low calorie soft drink brand

Coca-Cola turns to baobab in new low calorie soft drink brand. Coca-Cola has launched a soft drink which counts baobab extract among its ingredients: a beverage that could be rolled out globally in the future. Read more

Diet Dash game uses brain training to help you lose weight.

The app turns dieting into a game to make it easier to make healthy food choices.Losing weight can often be a struggle, and is rarely fun, but that could be about to change. Researchers from Drexel University are developing a gaming app they think could help people "control unhealthy eating habits and ultimately lose weight". The app, which would be in the form of a computer game, is designed to improve inhibitory control - the part of the brain that "stops you from giving into unhealthy cravings". The game, DietDash, requires participants to tell researchers which types of unhealthy foods they are most likely to binge on. The game will then be customized to their diet; if someone lists cookies as their favourite treat, for example, cookies will appear in the game. Players are then asked to press certain keys to respond to different types of foods, including healthy and unhealthy foods. "As the player's inhibitory control improves, the game speed increases". People are expected to play the game for eight minutes a day for six weeks. Another app will attempt to intelligently detect patterns in a person's eating habits. "When users are likely to slip from their dietary plans, the app provides tailored strategies to put them back on track," researchers said. "Millions of people are trying to lose weight, and they are going about it in a reasonable way - by trying to reduce calories," said Evan Forman, who will be leading the study. "But you're going to slip from your diet plan. That pretty much happens to everyone. You could say the secret of helping people actually lose weight is preventing these lapses, so we concentrated on how to best do that." "The study is really the first to attempt to train people for weeks in a row," Forman said. "We think this can translate to real-world behaviours, because just like any task, it improves with practice." The university is now seeking participants to trial the app. Contributed by Wired.

WATER,YOU AND YOUR HEALTH.

A study by the University of Birmingham indicates that,If you drink two glasses of water before one or two meals a day, can it help you to lose weight faster?.This saves a lot of money on diet drugs,diet foods and weight loss programmes. The research selected 80 obese adults in their fifties for a three month study. The method used was to give all participants advice on how they might lose weight and how to go about it using diet and exercise. Then, half the group were asked to load up by drinking about a pint or two glasses of water before one or two meals a day. They were also checked to see if they were really doing so by regularly measuring their urine output! The other half group were just told to imagine they were full before they sat down to eat. The results showed that both groups lost weight. But those who were drinking water before all meals had reduced their weight by 4.3kg (9.48 lbs) over the 12 weeks. They also lost 2.7 pounds more than the “full stomach thinkers”, who, interestingly enough were working out and exercising more than their water-drinking colleagues. The water drinkers were eating less which probably helped them a lot. More studies need to be done with larger and more diverse ethnic groups and ages for a broader picture. The conclusion off the research is that drinking a glass or 2 of water before your main meal helps you lose weight. Start the water challenge today.#Water for life project.

INCREASE FIBER INTAKE TO REDUCE BLOOD PRESSURE.

Diet plays a role in disease prevention and control of diseases,hence a lot of food combination have emerged to help achieve a healthy status. A lot of researches and studies has shown the importance of various food combinations to treat/prevent life threatening diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease e.t.c. A recent study shows how increasing fiber intake can reduce blood pressure; http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Up-fibre-intake-to-lower-blood-pressure-2000-strong-study