Dr Michael Evans talks about the single best thing someone can do for their health and in only 30 minutes a day…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected the application of Qnexa, the third weight loss drug this month to be rejected for the U.S. market. The FDA cited concerns about birth defects and heart problems as their reason for rejecting the application, but have asked the drug manufacturer to supply more safety information. Qnexa is a combination of two existing drug, phenteramine and topiramate (Topamax) and both drugs are available in the U.S. in their single formulations.

Read more about the rejection of Qnexa at the N.Y. Times.

An April 2010 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association details research from Emory University that shows how people that have a higher amount of added sugar in their diet have worse cholesterol profiles that patients that limit the amount of added sugar in their diets.

The research on the effect of added sugar on cholesterol levels looked at over 6000 adults in the US that were part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 through 2006. The study looked at cholesterol levels (HDL, LDL and triglycerides) in men and women when grouped by their intake of added sugars in their diet. The study found that as daily added sugar intake increased, there was a statistically significant decrease in the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol or HDL-C, (typically referred to as the “good” cholesterol) and an increase in the triglyceride levels of both men and women. Only women were also found to have a significant increase in their low-density lipoprotein cholesterol or LDL-C levels (considered the “bad” cholesterol) as seen in the table below.