MONDAY, Dec. 17 (HealthDay News) -- A brisk 30-minute walk most days of the week is enough to undo metabolic syndrome, a health condition that can lead to heart disease, diabetes and stroke, a new study suggests.

"What we found was a modest amount of moderate intensity exercise was very effective in improving metabolic syndrome risk," said study author Johanna L. Johnson, a clinical researcher at Duke University Medical Center's department of medicine.

At the start of the study, 41 percent of the 171 participants had metabolic syndrome; at the end, just 27 percent did. The study was published in the Dec. 15 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.

About one-quarter of all U.S. adults have metabolic syndrome, a collection of risk factors that can eventually set you up for more serious health problems. While some experts debate the validity of considering metabolic syndrome a disease unto itself, the risk factors are potentially dangerous. They include a large waist circumference; high blood pressure; high levels of triglycerides; low levels of good (HDL) cholesterol; and high blood sugar. If you have three or more of the five risk factors, you have metabolic syndrome.

Johnson and her colleagues looked at the effects of different amounts and intensities of exercise.

The researchers assigned the 171 men and women to one of four groups. One was a control group, whose members continued to be sedentary. The other three groups included:

• A low amount/moderate intensity group. They did brisk walking three to five days a week, aiming for about 11 miles, and typically putting in about three hours a week.
• A low amount/vigorous intensity group. They did the same 11 or so miles but at a jogging pace, so they ended up getting about two hours of exercise a week.
• A high amount/vigorous intensity group. They jogged at a vigorous pace about 17 miles a week, putting in about three hours.

What was a bit surprising, Johnson said, was the benefits conferred to each group.

"What we found was that modest amounts of moderate intensity exercise [the low/moderate group] were very effective in improving metabolic syndrome," she said. Those who exercised the most, jogging 17 miles a week, gained a bit more benefit in terms of lowered metabolic syndrome scores, she said.

Those in the low amount/vigorous intensity group didn't improve their scores as much as those who did less-intense exercise for a longer period of time, the low amount/moderate intensity group.

Moderate intensity activity every day, or almost every day, may be better for metabolic syndrome risk reduction than more vigorous activity a few days a week, the researchers suggested.

All three groups of exercisers did have a reduction in their waistline circumference. Waist circumferences above 34.6 inches in women and 40.2 in men are a risk factor for metabolic syndrome, the researchers said.

The high amount/vigorous intensity group had the best reduction in body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height). It went from an average of 29.2 to 28.4. A BMI of 30 and higher is termed obese.

So, the bottom line for middle-age, sedentary, overweight people? "If you tell them to go out for a brisk walk 30 minutes on most days of the week, they are highly likely to improve health and metabolic syndrome risk," Johnson said.

The new research confirms advice on exercise from the American College of Sports Medicine and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she added.

"It confirms that exercise is beneficial," said Kerry Stewart, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who also has done research on the topic.

"It confirms the benefit of exercise for reducing metabolic syndrome and all the risk factors that make up metabolic syndrome," he said. The surprise, he agreed, was that moderate activity may be enough.

More information

To learn more about metabolic syndrome, visit the American Heart Association  .

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Computer-generated phone call reminders are an effective, low-cost method to encourage sedentary adults to exercise, a new Stanford University School of Medicine study suggests.

The yearlong study of 218 people over the age of 55 found that regular phone reminders by either health educators or an automated computer system were equally good at nudging the participants into a regular 150-minute per week exercise regimen.

"This is the first study to directly compare the efficacy of a physical activity program delivered by a computer versus humans and found them to work similarly well," study author Abby King, a professor of health research and policy and a senior investigator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, said in a prepared statement. "Theoretically, [computer reminders] could be delivered to anybody around the country, or around the world, and could save time and money."

At the start of this study, 80 percent to 85 percent of the participants said they would prefer or need a live human voice to prompt them to exercise. The results showed that wasn't true. After six months, the group receiving calls from people and the group receiving computer calls were doing the same amount of exercise. After one year, there was little difference between the two groups -- 157 minutes per week for those who received computer calls and 178 minutes a week for those who received human voice calls.

A control group that received no reminder calls averaged 118 minutes of exercise a week.

The study was published in the current issue of Health Psychology.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about physical activity.

THURSDAY, Dec. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Your local farmer's market might hold the key to cancer prevention, since new research shows that black raspberries, broccoli sprouts and some raw vegetables reduce the risk of esophageal and bladder cancers.

Data from three studies on the subject was presented Thursday at the American Association for Cancer Research's Sixth Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention, in Philadelphia.

Fruits and vegetables have long been known to help reduce the risk of certain cancers. Based on prior research, the American Cancer Society recommends eating five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.

In the first study, Ohio State University researchers found black raspberries may protect against esophageal cancer by reducing the oxidative stress that results from Barrett's esophagus, a precancerous condition usually caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease. The esophagus is a long tube that connects the throat to the stomach. Reflux disease causes stomach acid to continually splash back up into the esophagus.

"Specifically in the case of Barrett's patients, reflux of the stomach and bile acid contribute to ongoing oxidative damage. Thus, our hypothesis is that feeding a food that is high in potential protective constituents, such as antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and other phytochemicals, may help restore the oxidative balance," lead researcher Laura Kresty said.

People with Barrett's esophagus typically are 30 to 40 times more likely to develop esophageal cancer, which has a poor five-year survival rate of 15 percent.

The team gave 32 grams to 45 grams of black raspberries daily for six months to 20 patients with Barrett's esophagus. They analyzed changes in blood, urine and tissue before, during and after the treatment, and found lower levels of some of the chemical markers of oxidative stress in both urine and tissue samples.

Black raspberries previously have been shown to reduce the risk of oral, esophageal and colon cancer in animal models, according to the researchers, who called for further study in humans.

Dietitian Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, a professor of behavioral science at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas in Houston, said she would feel comfortable advising people with Barrett's to eat black raspberries. "It couldn't hurt," she said, but added that further studies need to find out if the berries really do prevent cancer.

In other research presented at the meeting, broccoli sprouts and cruciferous vegetables both showed promise in the fight against bladder cancer, according to two separate teams from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.

Using a rat model, a team lead by Dr. Yuesheng Zhang, a professor of oncology, demonstrated that a broccoli sprout extract reduced bladder cancer in rats by 70 percent.

"Our present study shows that broccoli sprout extracts fed to rats in the diet inhibits bladder cancer development induced by a carcinogen. We don't yet know if the extracts inhibit the growth of a existing bladder cancer," said Zhang, who explained that broccoli sprouts are a rich source of a well-known cancer preventive agent known as sulforaphane.

"We next plan to find out if broccoli sprout extracts can fight bladder cancer in humans," Zhang noted.

A second team at the institute found that people who ate three or more servings of raw, cruciferous vegetables per month reduced their risk of bladder cancer by 40 percent. Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.

The team analyzed the dietary habits of 275 people with early bladder cancer and 825 people who were cancer-free. The researchers specifically asked how many servings of raw or cooked cruciferous vegetables they ate before their diagnosis and whether they smoked.

Analysis of the data showed that the more raw, cruciferous vegetables people ate, the lower their risk of bladder cancer. In comparison to people who smoked and ate fewer than three servings of raw vegetables a day, nonsmokers eating at least three servings of cruciferous vegetables daily were 73 percent less likely to develop bladder cancer.

"In our study, we do find intake of raw cruciferous vegetables showed risk reduction of bladder cancer in smokers, and even the heavier smokers," said lead researcher Li Tang.

The researchers stressed that the benefits are derived from raw cruciferous vegetables, giving cole slaw the edge over cabbage soup when it comes to cancer prevention.

"This confirms that there are a variety of compounds within fruits and vegetables that contribute to reducing the risk of cancer. Research like these studies contribute to our knowledge about what the impact of specific nutrients may be on specific types of cancer," said Colleen Doyle, director of nutrition and physical activity for the American Cancer Society. "Cooking leaches out some nutrients but makes others more absorbable. Until we know more in this regard, the bottom-line message for consumers is eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, raw and/or lightly cooked. Focus on those with the most color, since, in general, fruit and vegetables with the most color have the most cancer-fighting antioxidants and phytochemicals."

"Surveys we've done indicate many people don't think they have control over their cancer risk, but studies clearly indicate they do. For the majority of people who don't smoke, watching their weight, being more active and eating a healthy diet are the most important ways to reduce cancer risk," Doyle said.

More information

To learn how diet and physical activity can help prevent cancer, visit the American Cancer Society  .

MONDAY, Dec. 3 (HealthDay News) -- If you want your baby to love fruits and veggies later in life, offer plenty of opportunities to try both as you introduce your infant to solid foods, new research suggests.

And mom, eat plenty of fruits and veggies while you're pregnant and breast-feeding so you'll help to pass on the preference for these healthy foods.

Those are the findings of a new study published in the December issue of Pediatrics.

Repeated exposure to fruits and vegetables in infancy is key, said study senior author Julie Mennella, a biopsychologist and member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. "They need to taste them to learn to like them."

And that face that babies can make the first time they taste a new food? Don't focus on it, Mennella suggested. "Even though they make these grimaces, when you offered the spoon again, the baby kept on eating," she said of her tiny study participants.

That grimace, she suspects, is innate and not a sign the baby hates the food and won't try it again.

For the study, Mennella and her co-author wanted to focus on how babies develop preferences for foods. They observed 45 infants, ranging in age from 4 months to 8 months, who had all been weaned to cereal but had very little experience eating fruits and vegetables. None had eaten green beans and only one had tried peaches, which were the two foods studied.

The infants were divided into two groups: One group got green beans at home for eight consecutive days, while the other got green beans and then peaches at home over the same eight days. The infants were also observed for acceptance of the foods for two days before the home test and two days afterward, at the Monell center.

The researchers also measured how much the babies ate and asked the mothers about their own eating habits during pregnancy and afterward. Twenty of the 45 new mothers were breast-feeding.

During the initial exposure, the babies ate more calories from peaches than green beans -- about 200 calories compared to just 74. And as they ate, most squinted, furrowed their brow or curled their upper lip.

"When we looked at the first time these babies ate green beans and peaches, the breast-fed babies ate more of the peaches [than the formula-fed infants] and made less negative faces when they ate them," Mennella said.

Then the researchers looked at the diet records of the mothers. "These lactating mothers ate more fruits in general," Mennella said. "The most likely reason why the breast-fed babies ate more peaches is, they were already familiar with the flavor."

No differences in green bean preferences were found between infants who were breast-fed or bottle-fed. When Mennella looked at the diet report, she found both formula-feeding and breast-feeding mothers ate fewer green beans than recommended.

After the eight days of initial testing, all the babies ate more green beans. The green bean consumption rose from about 2 ounces per serving to more than 3 ounces.

Why didn't peach consumption rise? "They ate the peaches after the green beans," she said. "So they were full."

So breast-feeding does boost the chance a baby will like a first taste of food, but only if mother ate similar-tasting foods, Mennella said.

Mennella's advice: "Eat the fruits and vegetables you enjoy while you are pregnant and lactating, because your baby is going to be learning about those foods. Whether you are breast-feeding or formula-feeding, once you start introducing a food, make sure you offer your baby opportunities to eat fruits and vegetables. They need to taste them to learn to like them."

Two dietitians said the study results make sense, and add to other research that has arrived at the same conclusion.

"The more variety a breast-feeding mother has in her diet, the more the infant is likely to accept a wide variety of foods," said Lona Sandon, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association and assistant professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. "The flavor of breast milk may change depending on what the mother is eating. The breast-fed infant is then more accustomed to new flavors than a formula-fed infant. This could enhance their likelihood of trying and accepting new foods or flavors."

Other research has also shown that infants are likely to accept a food after it has been offered several times, Sandon said. "So at first if you don't succeed, try, try again," she advised.

Connie Diekman, president of the American Dietetic Association and director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis, said the study results provide practical information for new parents.

"The fact that the best way to develop a taste for something is through multiple taste tests is something most parents don't know. I'd encourage parents to try small amount of new foods, offer with encouragement, and re-offer for at least a week before deciding if the baby likes it or not," she said.

In another study published in the same issue of Pediatrics, researchers found that allergic peanut reactions are occurring at earlier ages. They compared medical data of children treated for peanut allergies at a Duke University clinic between July 2000 and April 2006 with those of a similar population between 1995 and 1997. During the earlier period, the median ages for the first exposure and reaction were 22 and 24 months, respectively. During the later period it was 14 and 18 months, respectively.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children avoid peanut exposure during the first three years of life, especially if there is a family history of allergy.

More information

To learn more about breast-feeding, visit the La Leche League International  .