'My four-year-old daughter is my feeder': Shocking confession of world's fattest mother

By DEBORAH ARTHURS

Twisted: 50st Donna Simpson says she would never achieve her record-breaking weight goal without the help of her four-year-old daughter Jacqueline


She holds the dubious honour of being the Guinness Book Of Records' fattest woman ever to give birth, requiring a team of 30 medics to deliver her daughter during a high-risk Caesarean birth.

Now, four years on, Donna Simpson has gained a further 12st and, staggeringly, continues to eat as she attempts to reach 72st and land a second record as the world's most obese woman.

And after splitting from long-term partner and feeder Philippe Gouamba, the 50st mother is relying on her four year-old daughter Jacqueline to bring her food to help her reach her goal.


Denial: Donna, who has to eat 15,000 calories a day minimum to reach her 72st target, says her daughter is unaffected: 'She loves salad and plays sports'


The single mother-of-two, who eats over 15,000 calories a day to sustain her weight gain, struggles to get around and enlists the help of Jacqueline to buy and prepare food.

She told Closer magazine: She helps me cook and comes shopping. I use a scooter to get around the store and she runs ahead to get my favourite foods.

'Anyone who says I'm setting a bad example should shut their mouth - they don't know how much I love her.'


Big business: Donna's high calorie diet costs her £500 a week - funded by a website she has set up for 'fat admirers' who pay to look at photos of her eating


And Donna, who struggles to walk and suffers high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes, says that Jacqueline adores her large stomach.

'She's my little angel,' she says.

In contrast to her mother, Donna says Jacqueline eats healthily. 'She loves salad and plays sports,' she insists.

Donna pays for her £500 weekly shopping bill with profits from a website she has set up for 'fat admirers' who pay to look at photographs of her eating.

She has 7,000 fans and makes £60,000 a year.


source: dailymail

Read More

Why a steak for pregnant mothers could stop babies crying

By STEPHANIE DARRALL

Mothers-to-be who boost their intake of vitamin B12, found in steak, during the first three months of pregnancy are up to eight times more likely to have babies who cry less, researchers suggest


Mothers-to-be who boost their intake of a vitamin found in steak during the first three months of pregnancy are up to eight times more likely to have babies who cry less, researchers suggest.

The B12 vitamin occurs naturally in red meat, fish and dairy products and is already known to help the development of the brain and nervous system in unborn children.

It also helps prevent dementia, heart disease and even fertility problems later in life.

Now the latest findings by researchers suggest pregnant women who consume only low levels of B12 may have babies whose nervous systems have not fully developed.

They say it means a hormone in the brain which lulls babies to sleep may not be released properly, causing infants to cry for longer periods of the day.

The study, published in the journal Early Human Development, involved nearly 3,000 pregnant women.

Each had a blood test during their first pre-natal appointment at three months, which measured the amount of B12 in their blood.

Once their babies were born, they recorded how often they cried, and for how long.

The researchers found that those women whose test results showed they had the least B12 were up to eight times more likely to give birth to a child who cried for prolonged periods than those who had the most.

On average, five per cent of mothers lacking B12 had a distressed baby while just over one per cent of women with the most B12 reported their baby cried excessively.

The researchers, from the Public Health Service in the Netherlands, concluded: 'This study provides first evidence for an early nutritional origin in infant crying behaviour.

source: dailymail

Read More

Tuna sandwiches 'could help prevent sight loss in old age'

By JENNY HOPE

Tuna salad: Omega-3 fatty acids were found to protect against age-related macular degeneration


Tuna sandwiches could help protect your eyesight in old age, say researchers.

Regular consumption of fish – including canned tuna – and other foods containing omega-3 fatty acids can cut the risk of the most common cause of age-related blindness by 42 per cent, a Harvard study has found.

Around 200,000 Britons suffer from age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, each year.

It is the most common cause of sight loss in those over 50 and robs sufferers of their central vision.

A team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston compiled data on 38,000 women who had not been diagnosed with AMD.

Information on their eating habits, including their intake of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, was collected and their eye health tracked over ten years.

During this time, 235 cases of AMD were reported.

The researchers found that women who consumed the most fish oils had a 38 per cent lower risk of developing AMD compared with those who ate the least.

And consuming one or more servings of fish a week was linked to a 42 per cent lower risk of sight loss compared with eating one serving a month.


Bread alert: Tinned tuna has less fish oil than fresh tuna but is more regularly eaten in sandwiches


Study leader Dr William Christen said: 'The lower risk appeared to be due primarily to consumption of canned tuna fish and dark-meat fish.'

Although tinned tuna does not contain as much fish oil as fresh tuna, the finding is significant because it is so widely eaten in sandwiches. The study will be published in the June issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology medical journal.


source: dailymail

Read More

Alert on overweight children as obese show signs of heart disease at 15

By JENNY HOPE

Unhealthy food is driving the rise in obesity


Fat children are showing signs of heart disease at the age of 15, researchers warn.
A study has revealed that being overweight throughout adolescence sows the seeds of ill-health for decades to come.

It is the first to investigate the link between body mass index (BMI), waist size and fat mass of pre-teen children and subsequent heart risk factors in late adolescence.

The findings show that children who have a high BMI at the age of nine and stay fat are more likely to have high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood insulin levels – all risk

factors for heart disease– by the time they reach 15.

However, children who achieve a healthy weight are able to lower their risk, says a report online in the British Medical Journal.

The study of 5,235 children, led by Professor Debbie Lawlor from the University of Bristol, is part of a bigger research project which has tracked the health of more than 14,000 children since birth.

The researchers assessed the BMI, waist circumference, and fat mass of children between the ages of nine and 12.

BMI is a score based on an individual’s weight and height, although for children, the age and sex has to be taken into account because boys have less natural fat than girls.


The study looked at how Body Mass Index in children affected future health. Here a child is measured by a doctor (file photo)


When the children reached the ages of 15 and 16 their blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and insulin levels were tested.

The results showed that a high BMI between the ages of nine and 12 was associated with signs of heart disease at 15-16, even when the analysis was adjusted for a wide range of other factors.

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said: ‘There are now alarming signs of hardening of the arteries among obese youngsters.

He said if a public health White Paper due to be published next week does not address the problem then it will be ‘found grossly wanting’.

Cathy Ross, of the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘It’s reassuring to see evidence that shows making changes to your lifestyle reduces your risk of heart disease, whatever your age.

‘Overweight children who successfully tackle their weight problem by the time they reach adolescence appear to be able to reduce their risk of heart disease, which is positive news.

‘However, we must work to prevent them becoming overweight in the first place as many obese children don’t achieve a healthy weight.

‘Helping youngsters to understand lifestyle messages can be very challenging but making sure they balance healthy eating with regular physical activity is vital.’


source : dailymail

Read More

The trick to keeping weight off for good? Eat as much as you like - and don't count the calories

By JENNY HOPE

You are what you eat: According to the new study, the quality of certain foods is just as significant as quantity when it comes to losing weight


Calorie counting is off the menu for slimmers who want to shed the pounds for good.

According to the world’s largest diet study, the best way to lose weight is to eat as much as you like... as long as you choose the correct foods, which include cold pasta, meat and nuts.

Overweight children also get slimmer when their parents stick to high-protein, low-carb cooking, researchers claim.

A £12million study concluded that the calorie-counting methods Britons have favoured for two decades are wrong, and the best way to stay slim is to eat unlimited amounts of the right foods.

They tested five diets and found that the most effective was a high-protein, low Glycaemic Index regime, which includes lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, pulses and nuts.

It is based on carbohydrates with a low GI, such as wholegrain bread, porridge and brown rice. These break down slowly during digestion, making dieters feel fuller for longer and stabilising blood sugar levels.

Cooled and cold foods also take longer to digest so have a lower GI, while cold pasta contains more resistant starch that delays digestion.

Researcher Professor Arne Astrup, of the University of Copenhagen, claimed the findings could ‘finally solve the obesity riddle’. He said: ‘For many years we have been giving people in Europe the wrong advice about how to lose weight and avoid becoming obese.

'Calorie counting hasn’t worked and may have made the problem worse because it didn’t distinguish between different types of food.

‘The new diet composition is much more effective at helping people maintain a healthy weight. It contains a slightly higher protein content and low GI foods, and you can eat as much as you want.’

The six-month Danish study involved 772 European families, comprising 938 adults and 827 children, The New England Journal of Medicine reports.


The overweight and obese adults followed a traditional 800 calorie-a-day meal plan for eight weeks, losing an average of 24lb. They were then allocated to one of five diets to see which was most effective at keeping the weight off.

The options were a low-protein, high GI diet; a low-protein, low GI diet; a high-protein, low GI diet; a high-protein, high GI diet; and a control group with no special instructions about GI foods. In the low-protein diets, protein comprised 13 per cent of energy consumed, while in the high-protein diets, it represented 25 per cent.

High GI foods are those scoring 70 or more on the Glycaemic Index – a scale of zero to 100 representing how quickly glucose is released into the bloodstream after eating.

Low GI foods are those with a value of 55 or less.

The participants were given access to free foods suiting their diet plan from a university supermarket, with barcodes to ensure they were sticking to the appropriate meals.

Those on the high-protein, low GI diet gained the least weight, while those following the low-protein, high GI diet put on the most – an average of 3.5lb.

Children also benefited, even though they never specifically went on a diet. By the end of the study, the proportion who were overweight had fallen from almost half to 39 per cent.

Researcher Dr Susan Jebb, head of nutrition and health research at the Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research Centre, said: ‘It’s essentially a low fat diet, with a modest increase in protein that seems to make people feel fuller longer.

‘The low GI foods give added value. If there is a single message to the public, it’s about eating quality carbohydrates – not all carbs are the same.’


source: dailymail

Read More

Study shows two glasses of tomato juice a day helps beat bone disease

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Healthy: Scientists say tomato juice can ward off osteoporosis


Two glasses of tomato juice a day strengthens bones and can ward off osteoporosis, say scientists.

The key ingredient is thought to be lycopene, the antioxidant already credited with cutting the risk of prostate cancer in men and protecting against heart disease.
Osteoporosis affects around three million people in the UK.

Researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada asked 60 post-menopausal women, aged 50 to 60, to cut out all tomato products from their diet for a month.

This led to a significant increase in blood levels of N-telopeptide, a chemical released into the bloodstream when bone is being broken down.

Then, for four months, the women were given a daily dose of standard tomato juice containing 15mg of lycopene, an enriched version with 35mg of lycopene, lycopene capsules or dummy capsules.

This led to a significant drop in levels of N-telopeptide in women drinking either type of juice or taking the capsules. But there was no benefit in women taking the dummy capsules.

Standard supermarket juice was just as good as the lycopene-enriched one, said researchers.

Two glasses a day of tomato juice containing 15mg of lycopene could be enough to strengthen brittle bones, the journal Osteoporosis International reported.


source: dailymail

Read More

Drinking beetroot juice boosts healthy brains in older adults by increasing blood flow

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Beetroot juice increases blood flow to the frontal lobes - the areas of the brain commonly associated with degeneration that leads to dementia


Drinking beetroot juice increases blood flow to the brain, according to researchers - a finding that holds great promise for combating the progression of dementia.

Scientists from Wake Forest University in the U.S were investigating the effects of nitrates found in the dark red vegetable.

Lead reseracher Professor Daniel Kim-Shapiro, said: 'There have been several very high-profile studies showing that drinking beetroot juice can lower blood pressure, but we wanted to show that drinking beet juice also increases perfusion, or blood flow, to the brain.

'There are areas in the brain that become poorly perfused as you age, and that's believed to be associated with dementia and poor cognition.'

High concentrations of nitrates are found in beetroots, as well as in celery, cabbage and other leafy green vegetables like spinach and some lettuce. When you eat high-nitrate foods, good bacteria in the mouth turn nitrate into nitrite.

Research has found that nitrites can help open up the blood vessels in the body, increasing blood flow and oxygen specifically to places that are lacking oxygen.

However, this was the first study to find it increased blood flow to the brain.
In the study, published in the journal of the Nitric Oxide Society, researchers looked at how dietary nitrates affected 14 adults age 70 and older over a period of four days.

They were assigned to either high-nitrate diets including beetroot juice or low-nitrate menus for the first two days. They had MRI scans each day after breakfast to record the blood flow in each subject's brain.

For the third and fourth days of the study, the researchers switched the diets and repeated the process for each subject.

The MRIs showed that after eating a high-nitrate diet, the older adults had increased blood flow to the white matter of the frontal lobes – the areas of the brain commonly associated with degeneration that leads to dementia and other cognitive conditions.

Co-researcher Professor Gary Miller, said: 'I think these results are consistent and encouraging – that good diet consisting of a lot of fruits and vegetables can contribute to overall good health.'


source: dailymail

Read More

Facing a lifetime of fruit and veg: The girl, 7, who could get brain damage if she eats any protein

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Borsi Batki, 7, risks severe damage to her brain if she eats anything with protein in it


A seven-year-old girl faces brain damage if she eats anything but fruit and vegetables.

Borsi Batki from Coventry is forced to watch as the other children tuck into cakes and biscuits at birthday parties, because she can't eat anything with protein in it.

Due to an extremely rare metabolic condition, almost everything is off the menu except for a protein replacement supplement she has to drink six times a day.

The majority of her lunches and dinners consist of a special pasta in tomato sauce.
Borsi suffers from phenylketonuria (PKU), a metabolic disorder which if undetected leads to problems with brain development, progressive mental retardation, brain damage, and seizures.

Thankfully, Borsi's condition was spotted when she was six days old when a routine test in her native Hungary showed abnormalities in her blood.

Her condition means her body cannot process the amino acid phenylalanine, which is found in most protein-rich foods.

Just one in 15,000 children are born with the condition, which is caused by a genetic mutation.

Her mother Maria, 37, said: 'Pretty much everything is off the menu. She can't eat any meat, normal pasta, bread, fish and yoghurt.

'When she goes to children's parties she finds it hard to watch the other children enjoying cakes and biscuits and sometimes she cries.

'We have to explain to her that she cannot eat those things and she understands, but it's still really difficult for her.

'Easter and Christmas are hard too. There's so many things she's not allowed to eat everywhere you look. '

Borsi lives with her mother Maria and father Zsolt, 37, plus eight-month-old brother Ben and sister Biborka, nine.

The family emigrated from Hungary in August for her father's job as an online communications specialist.

Maria said: 'We try to adapt what we eat as a family, but it would be impossible for us all to stick to Borsi's diet.

'Her special foods taste so different from ours because they don't contain any flour or eggs and her sister won't eat them - she says they are disgusting, which just makes things worse for Borsi.

'We try not to eat much meat and to eat a lot of fruit and veg, but sometimes she prefers not to eat with us because it's too hard for her.

'When it's just me and her I only eat what she eats, but if we are with other families I can't punish them because of her condition.

'How can I tell someone else's child not to eat ice cream in front of her? It's something she will have to experience her whole life and she has to learn to cope.'

Maria added: 'The thing about PKU is that it isn't like diabetes - you don't see the affects straightaway. If Borsi has a meatball or a bite of cake, she will seem fine on the outside.

'But if she carries on the toxins gradually collect in her body, poisoning her brain.

'This is why so many families find it hard to stick to the diet, because they don't see the harm in giving them a little bit here and there.

'Thankfully Borsi is very advanced and mature for her age so she knows very well what she is and isn't allowed to eat.'


source :dailymail

Read More