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Women who drink wine in moderation stay slim, says study

Posted by admin March 8, 2010 Leave a Review

red wine

Women can enjoy a tipple and stay slim, according to a study that shows moderate drinkers gain less weight than teetotallers.

Women who drank red wine gained the least, but the results held for other wines, beers and spirits.

Although alcohol contains calories, the US researchers believe the women may have substituted it for other food.

Their work in the Archives of Internal Medicine followed over 19,000 women over 13 years.

The women recruited into the study were aged 39 or over and of normal weight at the time they joined.

"It would be a mistake to think that drinking alcohol helps you loose weight"

Catherine Collins, British Dietetic Association

Over the next 13 years, on average, they gained weight progressively.

Those who drank no alcohol gained the most weight, and there was an inverse relationship between weight gain and alcohol consumption.

Even after accounting for lifestyle, dietary factors and things like smoking and exercise, the study found those who drank the least gained the most weight.

Moderate drinking was classed as drinking up to about two 150ml glasses of wine a day.

Although the study did not include men, the authors believe the findings may not apply to men.

The women in the study who drank appeared to substitute alcohol for other food, meaning their overall calorie intake did not go up that much.

They say men who drink might not do this.

Alcohol and food calories compared

Also the way men and women break down alcohol in their liver may differ, which help might explain why women do not pile on the pounds.

But British researchers cautioned that people should be wary of concluding they can shed pounds by drinking more.

Catherine Collins, dietician and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, said: "It would be a mistake to think that drinking alcohol helps you loose weight."

She rejected the notion that the calories in alcohol don't contribute to weight gain.

"We know that alcohol calories do count. For binge drinkers, for example, alcohol can have a major impact on weight."

She pointed out that the study was based on women who were normal weight when they were recruited.

"These are quite an unusual group, who were likely to be mindful of keeping their body healthy," she said.

"Most women would have gained a few extra pounds by the age of 39.

"To be of normal weight by that age is quite a feat in itself.

"So findings about weight gain among this group may not be translate to others."

She said another limitation of the research was that it did not report how much snack food the participants ate.

"It may be that those who had wine as their treat ate less chocolate and snacks," she said.

Filed under: Accounting, Actors, Health and Fitness, Lifestyle Tags: article, association, british, drank-the-least, health, HIV, participants, time

Akon Supports Wyclef And His Yele Haiti Organization

Posted by admin January 15, 2010 Leave a Review

'At the end of the day, you know where his heart is,' Akon says.
By Jayson Rodriguez

Akon
Photo: Larry Marano/ Getty Images

Akon and Wyclef are not only musical brothers-in-arms, but the two international superstars also share a passion for humanitarianism as well. The Senegalese crooner has lent his time and money to efforts in Africa and beyond.

On Friday (January 15), Akon rallied his support around 'Clef and the former Fugees frontman's Yele Haiti organization.

"A lot of times, things like [critiques of Wyclef's organization] are really irrelevant," Akon told MTV News. "Because it's obvious he's trying to do good. Especially for Haiti, his loyalty to Haiti, you can't really question. In the beginning his foundation was in the start-up stages and he had to get the team together, he had to find the right staff and crew that could actually handle those things. He had a lot on his plate. Naturally, of course, when you have a lot on your plate, you're an entertainer and you're moving around performing and doing humanitarian acts through the world, it's gonna be hard to keep an eye on everything with your foundation. Some things are gonna slip through the cracks. But I don't think that's fair to put him under the gun for things like that because at the end of the day, you know where his heart is."

According to a report by the Smoking Gun, the Yele Haiti organization's accounting practices have hardly been meticulous. The nonprofit was incorporated 12 years ago but only began filing tax returns in August, documents obtained by the site show. In addition, some of the monies may have been directed to companies that Wyclef also has interests in, such as a for-profit production outlet based in Haiti.

So far, Wyclef has helped to raise $2 million in aid through his organization via text-message contributions. He's rallied support around his cause through multiple TV appearances and a steady stream of Twitter dispatches from Haiti. Wyclef is also scheduled to host a telethon on January 22, partnering with actor George Clooney and a host of outlets including MTV Networks.

"I know how much passion and love he has for his country and that's why he does so much for Haiti in general," Akon said. "And I can understand it — I feel his pain in all aspects because if it happened in Senegal, I'd be in the same position. So that's why we do whatever we can and assist him in whatever it is, including him and everyone else, they all need help. I think we should put our hands in that same pot and try to find a way to stir that soup [together]."

Akon applauded Wyclef for his instant outreach, which included the hip-hop star flying to the earthquake-ravaged country right away.

'Clef spoke with Fox News while he was in Port-au-Prince and he described the scene as an "apocalypse." His sister Melky Jean spoke to MTV News on Thursday and echoed her brother's comments.

"The reality here at the airport has nothing to do with what's going on on the ground right now," Wyclef said. "We spent the day picking up dead bodies — all day that's what we did. There's so much bodies in the streets that the morgues are filled up, the cemeteries are filled up. So we participated in picking up the bodies and finding a place that we could put the bodies."

Learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see Think MTV. Join George Clooney and Wyclef Jean for MTV's "Hope for Haiti" telethon, airing commercial-free Friday, January 22, at 8 p.m. ET.