After menopause, many women experience weight gain, which increases the risk of developing metabolic conditions. For women with type 2 diabetes, weight loss and glucose management can become extremely difficult to manage. Researchers found that both CLA and safflower oil proved particularly beneficial to postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes.

CLA, conjugated linoleic acid, is an unsaturated fatty acid found primarily in meat and dairy products of cows, goats and sheep. CLA has been known to help people wishing to build muscle, lose weight and prevent heart disease.

Safflower oil is a plant-based oil similar to sunflower oil that is used in cooking oils, salad dressings and some margarines. Safflower oil, SAF, is a colorless and flavorless source of omega-6 fatty acids, and has been known to promote healthier skin and hair, reduce cholesterol and boost the immune system.

Thirty-five women completed a 36-week study comparing the effects of CLA and safflower oil on weight and body mass. Each supplement was consumed for sixteen weeks. Participants took roughly two teaspoons of either oil daily.

CLA began to cut body fat and reduce BMI after just eight weeks. “This magnitude of reduction has not been reported in an intervention that used a linoleic acid-rich oil,” wrote lead authors Martha Belury and Leigh Norris, both from the Department of Human Nutrition at OSU.

Safflower oil, originally meant for baseline comparison, yielded exciting changes of its own. Safflower oil reduced trunk mass and increased lean muscle mass, resulting in an average loss of 6.3 percent of body fat. It also reduced insulin resistance and fasting blood glucose levels.

“I never would have imagined such a finding,” Belury says. “This study is the first to show that such a modest amount of linoleic acid-rich oil may have a profound effect on body composition in women."

Belury and associates are pleased with the results of their study, and hope to explore the effects further. They believe that CLA and safflower oil show great promise in weight and glucose management for women with type 2 diabetes.

“It is possible that further reductions in BMI are achievable with a longer length of supplementation,” the authors wrote. “The use of lower doses of CLA over longer durations of intervention may prove to be an effective weight-loss aid."

The study appears online in The Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

A new study shows that women tend to have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men: on average, 50% more bacterial species than men have. And both men and women tend to have many more types of bacteria on their hands than previously thought.

The study, published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found more than 4,700 different bacteria species – most of which are harmless to people – on the palms of 51 college student participants. A typical student’s hand had around 150 different species of bacteria living on it. Only five species were found on the hands of all 51 participants. Interestingly, the right and left hand of an individual shared an average of only 17% of the same bacteria types.

Researchers aren’t sure why women seem to carry a greater variety of bacteria than men, but they speculate that it might have something to do with differences in the acidity of the skin between men and women. Men generally have more acidic skin than women, which may provide a less hospitable environment for some bacteria. Other possible explanations include differences between men and women in sweat and oil gland production, differing use of moisturizer or cosmetics, variations in skin thickness, or hormonal effects.

The study also showed the diversity of bacteria on individual hands was not significantly affected by regular hand washing. However, the study did not examine total numbers of bacteria, only the number of different bacterial species present.

To minimize risk your risk of disease, the researchers still recommend washing your hands regularly with antibacterial soap, as these cleansers seem to preferentially target potentially harmful bacterial species. If you have further questions about bacterial infections, ask the experts at Healia Health Communities.

_{Photo: Janice Haney Carr, CDC}

Many of us remember to apply sunscreen while in the sun, but do we remember hats and sunglasses? July is UV Safety Month and the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) wants to remind people to protect their eyes as much as they protect their skin.