Big breakfast 'aids weight loss': study

RESEARCH has highlighted an unlikely way to stay slim - the Big Breakfast diet.

Tucking into lots of calories at the start of the day can actually assist weight loss, a study has shown.

But, as they say, there's no such thing as a free lunch. For the diet to work, a heavy breakfast must be balanced by a light dinner.

Scientists studied 93 obese women who were split into two groups and given carefully structured meals.

Both groups ate 1,400 calories daily for 12 weeks, but with opposite patterns of consumption.

One consumed half their total calorie allowance at breakfast time. Breakfast consisted of 700 calories, lunch 500 and dinner just 200.

The other group consumed 200 calories at breakfast, 500 at lunch and 700 at the end of the day.

After 12 weeks women in the "big breakfast" group had each lost an average of 17.8 pounds (8.07 kg) and three inches (7.5cm) off their waistlines.

In comparison, women in the "big dinner" group lost 7.3 pounds (3.31 kg) and 1.4 inches (3.5cm) off their waists.

The big breakfast group also experienced significant reductions in blood levels of insulin, glucose and triglyceride fats.

Triglycerides, which contribute to heart disease, fell by more than a third in the big breakfast group but increased by 14.6 per cent in the "big dinner" group.

The researchers, led by Dr Daniela Jakubowicz, from Tel Aviv University in Israel, wrote in the journal Obesity: "Our results demonstrate that high-calorie breakfast shows increased compliance and is more beneficial than high-calorie dinner for weight loss, insulin sensitivity, and hunger suppression.

"Our study indicates that avoidance of large meals in the evening may be particularly beneficial in improving glucose and lipid (fat) profiles and may lead to reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases."

The study was confined to obese women showing symptoms of metabolic syndrome, a condition that can lead to diabetes.

Further research is needed to see if a "big breakfast" eating pattern benefits other people.

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Study shows how sleep loss makes you fat

SCIENTISTS say they have found evidence that a lack of sleep causes changes in brain activity that lead to people feeling hungrier and craving more fattening foods.

Researchers have long pointed to a correlation between a steep rise in obesity in industrialised nations and a decline in sleep duration.

A causal link was suspected, but science has not been able to explain the mechanism, until now.

A team from the University of California said they used MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans to spot changes in the brain activity of sleep-deprived test subjects.

"These findings provide an explanatory brain mechanism by which insufficient sleep may lead to the development/maintenance of obesity," they wrote in the journal Nature Communications.

Twenty-three participants had their heads scanned twice; once after a full night of sleep and once after being deprived their shut-eye for a night - their brain activity measured the next day as they selected items and portion sizes from pictures of 80 different food types.

Among the fatigued individuals, the researchers noted impaired activity in regions of the cortex that evaluate appetite and satiation.

Simultaneously, there was a boost in areas associated with craving.

"An additionally interesting finding was that high calorie foods became more desirable to the sleep deprived participants," said study co-author Matthew Walker of the psychology department at the University of California in Berkeley.

"These findings of impaired brain activity in regions that control good judgment and decision making together with amplified activity in more reward-related brain regions fit well with, and potentially explain, the link between sleep loss, weight gain and obesity," he told AFP by email.

"Our findings indicate that (to) regularly obtain sufficient amounts of sleep may be an important factor promoting weight control, achieved by priming the brain mechanisms governing appropriate food choices."

According to the World Health Organisation, more than 1.4 billion adults aged 20 and older were overweight in 2008 - a figure that had nearly doubled since 1980.

More than a third of adults were overweight in 2008, and 11 per cent obese, and at least 2.8 million adults die every year as a result.

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Bombings kill 12 in Baghdad: officials

A SERIES of bombings hit the Iraqi capital has killed at least 12 people, officials say.

The four car bombs and three roadside bombs on Tuesday also wounded more than 40 people.

Iraq is struggling to contain the worst violence to hit the country since 2008 when it was emerging from a bloody sectarian conflict.

Security forces have launched major operations targeting militants in multiple provinces including Baghdad.

A car bomb and a roadside bomb each exploded in three different areas of the capital, while another car bomb hit a fourth.

Violence has increased markedly this year, especially since an April 23 security operation at a Sunni anti-government protest site that sparked clashes in which dozens died.

Protests erupted in Sunni-majority areas in late 2012, amid widespread discontent among Sunnis who accuse the Shi'ite-led government of marginalising and targeting their community.

Experts say Sunni anger is the main cause of the spike in violence this year.

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Bush has surgery on blocked artery

FORMER US president George W Bush has undergone surgery to clear a blocked artery in his heart but plans to resume his normal schedule this week, his office says.

Doctors detected the problem during a routine check up on Monday on the 67-year-old ex-president and successfully implanted a device called a stent to unblock his artery in an operation carried out in Texas, the office said.

"President Bush is in high spirits, eager to return home tomorrow and resume his normal schedule on Thursday," the office said in a statement on Tuesday.

Bush, the nation's 43rd president as he served from 2001 to 2009, lives in Dallas.

Son of former president George HW Bush, his two terms in office were largely shaped by the September 11, 2001 suicide airliner attacks by al-Qaeda and their aftermath.

After leaving office and retiring to Dallas, he has for the most part kept out of public view and policy debates for the past five years.

There was no immediate comment from the White House on Bush's surgery.

Campaigning for the presidency in 2008, President Barack Obama lashed out repeatedly at the war-torn legacy of the Bush years.

But Obama spoke kindly of Bush when the Bush presidential library opened in Dallas in April, praising what he called the Republican's strength and determination in serving the country.

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Fatal building explosion in Argentina

A POWERFUL blast has ripped through a 10-storey building in Argentina's third largest city, leaving at least one person dead and 15 injured.

Firefighters said apparently a furnace in the downtown apartment building in Rosario exploded on Tuesday, setting the property ablaze and shattering windows in other buildings.

The blast wiped away the front of the edifice, leaving the insides of people's homes and gutted balconies visible from the street below.

Scenes of panic abounded as sirens wailed and people ran through the streets or gawked at the ruined structure, some of them crying.

Rosario's top health official, Leonardo Caruana, said one person had been killed and 15 others injured.

The deceased was a 21-year-old woman who lived in the building, a medical source told AFP.

Mayor Monica Fein said 17 ambulances were on the scene to help people burned in the fire, which she said stemmed from a gas leak.

As it was not immediately possible to cut off the gas supply to the building, people within a radius of two kilometres of it had been evacuated.

"The shock wave was tremendous," the superintendent of a building 200 metres from the site of the explosion, told the TV station C5N.

The blast sent flames roaring through the building, as fire truck sirens sounded and traffic clogged the city centre.

Windows shattered in buildings in a radius of several hundred metres from the site.

Rosario is home to 1.1 million people and is located 300 kilometres north of Buenos Aires. It is Argentina's main port for farm exports.

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Belfast mayor jostled by loyalist mob

BELFAST'S Lord Mayor has been forced to flee an official engagement after being mobbed by loyalists.

Sinn Fein's Mairtin O Muilleoir, 53, required a police escort to evade angry protesters at the re-opening of a park in the staunchly unionist Woodvale area in the north of the city.

The high-profile businessman and city councillor claimed he was kicked and punched during the altercation.

Police said nine of their officers were injured during the incident, although none required hospital treatment.

O Muilleoir did go to hospital after the incident, where he was treated for bruising and given pain relief medication, but later resumed his official duties.

Community tensions are high in Woodvale after a summer that has already seen serious loyalist rioting over a decision to prevent Orangemen parading past the nearby nationalist Ardoyne area.

Loyalists have accused Sinn Fein of waging a cultural war against their community.

O Muilleoir accused the protesters of "hijacking" a community event, insisting they were a "small minority" that did not represent the people in the Woodvale/Shankill area.

"When the lord mayor gets invites there must be no 'no go' areas in Belfast," he said.

"I want to be mayor for all the people.

"We just have to keep going building a peace and not be dragged back. I do not think what happened is representative of the people of the Shankill.

"My message for the people who kicked and punched me is: I will not be giving in to violence, or giving in to yesterday's men."

O Muilleoir was heckled as he arrived at the event, which was subsequently cut short.

The main trouble flared as he left the venue.

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European stocks lower on US stimulus fears

EUROPEAN stocks finished lower on Tuesday as Wall Street took a beating from a drop in the US trade deficit which fuelled fears the Federal Reserve's stimulus program may soon be wound up, dealers said.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares slipped 0.23 per cent to end at 6,604.21 points, weighed down also by heavyweight miners retreated in value, which offset news of a strong rebound for British manufacturing.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 lost 1.17 per cent to 8,299.73 points despite the release of official data showing that German industrial orders had risen by 3.8 per cent in June.

In Paris, the CAC 40 finished 0.43 per cent lower at 4,032.57 points.

"Despite the economic backdrop continuing to brighten, investors appear reluctant to drive share prices significantly higher, on the basis of uncertainty about the timing or otherwise of continued central bank stimulus measures," said CMC Markets UK analyst Michael Hewson.

The euro climbed to $1.3306 from $1.3255 late in New York on Monday. The dollar eased to 98.16 yen from 98.22 yen.

Sterling retreated against the European single currency, coming in at 86.77 pence against a euro, while it advanced to $1.5371 from $1.5352 on Monday.

Britain's manufacturing output rebounded with a bang in June, official data showed, providing further evidence of the country's broad-based economic recovery.

Output jumped 1.9 per cent in June from May, when it had fallen by 0.7 per cent, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

Traders also digested further earnings updates, which along with improving European and US economic data, have helped to lift stock markets over the past month.

The DAX and CAC indices have each rallied by about 8.0 per cent in value since the start of July.

On Tuesday, shares in InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) jumped 6.4 per cent to 2,030 pence after the company announced a 25-per cent increase in first-half net profits thanks to a strong showing by its American operations.

Profit after tax jumped to $US340 million ($A381.98 million) in the six months to the end of June compared with net earnings of $US271 million in the first half of 2012, said the company that owns the InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotel chains.

IHG added that it would pay shareholders a special dividend totalling $US350 million.

In France, shares in Credit Agricole fell 0.93 per cent to 7.77 euros in an overall lower market despite the bank, free of big millstones in Greece and Italy, having said its second-quarter net profit jumped to 696 million euros compared with 111 million euros in the same period of last year.

US stocks traded lower in the face of fresh data showing an improving US trade balance - seen as more evidence that the Federal Reserve's $US85 billion a month stimulus program could be scaled back in the coming months.

In noon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.68 per cent to 15,506.53 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.59 per cent to 1,697.06, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite shed 0.77 per cent to 3,664.43.

The Commerce Department's trade data for June showed a narrowing trade deficit, which analysts said points to a likely upward revision to the growth estimate for the quarter, and firm growth in the current quarter.

Asian stock markets closed mixed on Tuesday as investor concerns lingered over a potential tapering of US monetary stimulus, analysts said.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, the price of gold slipped to $1,280.50 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1,304.75 on Monday.

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