New River's Health News-Monday, January 11th

Another week begins, and with the holidays behind us, time to settle into our 2016 groove. Hopefully there will be some tidbits today that help you get the year rolling in the right direction. We'll start today with this link, which concerns a recently published study that, surprise! , found a link between drinking sugary drinks daily and an increase in abdominal, or "visceral" fat. This comes as no surprise, but reminds me of article I linked a few weeks ago, that found that increased abdominal fat correlates with increased death risk more than merely being overweight. It's a simple fix to cut out these types of drinks, and the rewards are great! In other news, the 2015 Dietary guidelines have been released by the U.S Department of Agriculture! (just in time, right? couldn't they have called them the 2016 guidelines?) This article breaks down the different recommendations, as there are guidelines for an "American" diet, a Mediterranean diet, as well as a vegetarian diet. So there are some options! Moving on, there was another recently completed study regarding vegetarianism and life expectancy. This article details a study that looked at the diets of 10,000 people in at least their 40's, over a 17 year period. They found no difference in mortality rate for the 3 groups in the study, which were vegetarians, those who ate meat 5 or more times a week, and those who ate meat less than 5 times weekly. The difference they did find was in cause of death, as those who ate a vegetarian diet were less likely to die from some types of cancer. Next up, we discuss what constitutes a healthy diet on here frequently, and apparently U.S News and World Report puts out an annual ranking of the best diets. DASH(dietary approaches to stop hypertension)  won for the 6th straight year! Other high-ranking diets include the MIND diet, as well as a Fertility diet, which is good not only for expectant mothers, but also for diabetics! And our last article of the day, which involves a study that looked at the differences in the "gut health" of babies related to the method in which they were delivered. Apparently, vaginal delivery impacts the microflora, and, in turn the overall heatlh of babies more than previously thought. Although the health benefits of breast-feeding have long been touted, according to this study, delivering your baby vaginally versus cesarean may have an even greater impact! Interesting findings, given that your "gut health" affects your immune system and brain function, not just your gastrointestinal health! Well that's it for today, folks! R.I.P, David Bowie, and be healthy. my friends!