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Delicious food pics can instigate hunger
Looking at pictures of appetizing food can make you hungry, according to a new study.
Max Planck researchers’ have documented a study on healthy young men that proves that the amount of the neurosecretory protein hormone ghrelin in the blood increases as a result of visual stimulation through images of food.
As a main regulator, ghrelin controls both eating behaviour and the physical processes involved in food metabolism.
These results show that, in addition to the physiological mechanisms for maintaining the body’s energy status, environmental factors also have a specific influence on food consumption.
Thus, the pervasive presence of appetising food in the media could contribute to weight increase.
Exposure to sunlight can cut risk of mental problems
A study has suggested that exposure to sunlight, which emanates vitamin D can lower risk of mental health problems on children.
According to scientists, kids with low levels of vitamin D are more likely to suffer from depression. Those with the highest levels of the ‘”sunshine vitamin” have a 10 per cent lower risk of developing the mental health problem.
The findings come from the Children of the 90s research project run by the University of Bristol, the Daily Mail reported.
The study looked at vitamin D levels in more than 2,700 children when they were aged nine and 13.
Those with the lowest levels of vitamin D were more likely to show signs of depression.
Children with higher levels were also more likely to show a decline in depressive symptoms in their teenage years.
Grapes may help prevent age-related blindness
Eating grapes may slow or help prevent the onset of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a debilitating condition affecting millions of elderly people worldwide, say researchers.
The antioxidant actions of grapes are believed to be responsible for these protective effects.
A new study compared the impact of an antioxidant-rich diet on vision using mice prone to developing retinal damage in old age in much the same way as humans do.
Mice either received a grape-enriched diet, a diet with added lutein, or a normal diet.
The result showed that the grape-enriched diet protected against oxidative damage of the retina and prevented blindness in those mice consuming grapes. While lutein was also effective, grapes were found to offer significantly more protection.
“The protective effect of the grapes in this study was remarkable, offering a benefit for vision at old age even if grapes were consumed only at young age,” said Silvia Finnemann, PhD, principal investigator, Department of Biological Sciences, Fordham University in New York.
Dr. Finnemann noted that results from her study suggest that age-related vision loss is a result of cumulative, oxidative damage over time.
