A new study published in The Journal of Nutrition has concluded that adding Omega-3 fatty acids to a low-fat, high-carb diet may improve the health of those with metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a catch-all phrase of sorts for a complex set of risk factors that indicate the potential to run into more serious problems down the road.  Its frequently a precursor to type II diabetes.  The study states that “Fish oil supplements correct many metabolic alterations associated with insulin resistance, including reduced postprandial plasma triglyceride concentration.” See the full article and more information here.

Source: The Journal of Nutrition
Published online ahead of print, doi:10.3945/jn.109.120816
“A Low-Fat, High-Complex Carbohydrate Diet Supplemented with
Long-Chain (n-3) Fatty Acids Alters the Postprandial Lipoprotein Profile
in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome”
Authors: Y. Jimenez-Gomez, C. Marin, P. Perez-Martinez, et al

This is a question that seems to come up every time we get serious about weight loss.  The soda drinker will start to look at the calorie count in a typical 20oz bottle of soda and will realize that the 20 minute treadmill workout is just about balanced by that one soda.  Knowing that most gurus say we shouldn’t drink our calories, we start to think about diet soda as a quick and easy alternative to shave calories but still get the soda fix.  Some of them actually taste not too different from the real thing, and we think we’ve found a solution.
Then, we start to hear about all the negative effects of diet soda.  Do they promote weight gain?  Can they be more harmful that the regular soda?  A quick online search leads to a spirited debate and we’re confused again.
I’m not going to give the definitive answer here, nor am I going to rehash the online debate.  Just google “is diet soda bad” and go from there if you are interested.  But here’s a common sense way to look at it.  Do you want to drink what amounts to a carbonated chemical experiment?  It’s perhaps a harsh way to look at it, but I think it’s true.  Just take a look at the ingredients– water, caramel color, artificial sweetener, phosphoric acid, citric acid, potassium benzoate, natural flavor, and caffeine.  So, colors, chemicals and acid dissolved in water.  The body simply isn’t expecting to deal with this. 
The doctors and other high-IQ types can debate the actual effects– whether getting the sweet without the calories causes your body to them crave sweets, the effect of the acid on your teeth, the long term effect of replacing some molecules in sugar with chlorine and calling it healthy, etc..  But, just a dose of common sense says this stuff can’t be good for us. 

Supplement quality is a big newsmaker these days.  In the USA, the freedom to produce products in the marketplace is always being balanced by the government’s need to ensure safety and quality.  The government body that is charged with ensuring such safety is the Food and Drug Administration. 
The FDA established the requirement that supplement companies comply with current Good Manufacturing Practices a few years ago.  These standards require that controls are in place to ensure supplements are processed “in a consistent manner, and meet quality standards.”  There are a number of provisions related to the design of the manufacturing facilities, operations and quality control, product testing and record keeping. 
My Natural Supplements welcomes the FDA in its role of ensuring safe, effective supplements.  We’d like to repeat the statement offered by our main supplier:  “The laboratories and manufacturing operations that formulate Wellness International Network’s products [such as Biolean, WinOmeg3Complex, and Sure2Endure] are registered and licensed with the FDA as Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) “A Rating” facilities, which are recognized worldwide for the control and management of manufacturing and quality control testing of foods and pharmaceutical products. ” (WIN press kit)

Anyone who is obese or overweight and who starts to work with a doctor begins to learn about their blood sugar, or blood glucose levels, and in some cases begins to track how stable their numbers are.  Doctors tell us that maintaining these levels are an important part of our overall health.  But just what is your blood sugar, and why is it important?
Very simply, doctors measure blood glucose in terms of the glucose density in the blood.  In the USA, that is typically expressed in terms of milligrams per deciliter.  An average man may have 5 liters of blood, so a level of 100 mg/dL would amount to about 5 grams of glucose in the blood.  Given that a typical restaurant sugar pack may have 2.5 to 3g of sugar, this doesn’t sound like much.
However, we are a fickle lot when it comes to the systems our bodies regulate.  After all, a 2% temperature elevation is a fever, a 5% elevation means you are very sick.  So our bodies use hormones to regulate the amount of glucose in our blood.  It rises after a meal and, ideally, is controlled in a tight band of about 80 to 120 mg/dL.  If it gets too low or too high, sickness or disease can result.
Since glucose is a critical source of energy for your cells, having low glucose levels is much worse than high levels, at least in the short term.  Too low blood sugar can lead to disorientation, fatigue, or, in more serious cases, loss of consciousness.  Having too high blood sugar results in your hormones working overtime to control the glucose.  In time, too much of this can result in insulin resistance or diabetes. 
I hope this primer has helped you understand a bit more about the role that blood sugar plays in your body.  Remember to seek the advice of a qualified medical professional if you have any medical concerns.  My Natural Supplements provides this information without intending to offer any medical advice of any kind.