76374 Conocer cómo vivían, cómo estaban organizados y cuáles eran sus hábitos alimenticios es el proyecto de investigación de excelencia financiado por la Junta de Andalucía que lidera Fernando Molina González, Catedrático de Prehistoria de la Universidad de Granada. Bajo el título Dieta y movilidad de las poblaciones de la prehistoria reciente de Andalucía. Estudio de la jerarquización social a partir del registro funerario, su objetivo es claro: trabajar con el registro funerario de las poblaciones de la Edad de Bronce en el sur de la Península. Para ello, se han realizado muchas excavaciones arqueológicas en las provincias de Granada, Almería, Jaén e incluso Ciudad Real que han proporcionado un material excelente para poder desarrollar un trabajo de este tipo.
Para Fernando Molina, lo que pretende hacer el grupo que coordina es «estudiar todo el proceso de jerarquización social en la Edad del Bronce. De hecho, hay un proceso de desarrollo de las élites con la aparición de auténticas aristocracias en los asentamientos que estudiamos. Tenemos un registro arqueológico muy importante procedente de nuestras propias excavaciones realizadas desde los años 80. Pretendemos analizar cómo se establece la jerarquización social y cómo se desarrollan las élites hasta formar una sociedad muy jerarquizada en la que la guerra es un mecanismo social importante para promover una sociedad cada vez más compleja».
Para realizar este estudio, el Grupo de Estudios de la Prehistoria Reciente de Andalucía (Gepran) formado por una veintena de profesores y doctores que es el que coordina el Catedrático de la Universidad de Granada (UGR), tiene dos vías. Por un lado, el estudio de los conceptos ideológicos de estas sociedades a partir de todos los elementos que están relacionados con el ritual funerario. Así, estudiarán los ajuares funerarios que son muy distintos según la posición social que tenía cada grupo de la población dentro de un mismo asentamiento. «Nos hemos encontrado con una serie de elementos que pueden considerarse como símbolos de riqueza y poder político. Así, la espada y la alabarda en la cultura del Argar marcan el nivel y la pertenencia a aristocracias que gobiernan los territorios políticos», destaca Molina González.
La segunda vía para analizar la jerarquización ha avanzado mucho en los últimos tiempos gracias a la antropología y a los análisis químicos sobre isótopos estables de carbono, nitrógeno y oxígeno. Esto permite, en palabras de Fernando Molina, «obtener una información bastante precisa de la dieta y el consumo de alimentos a partir del estudio de los esqueletos que aparecen en las tumbas. Al mismo tiempo, con estas técnicas se pueden estudiar quienes han comido suficiente y quienes han pasado hambre o han tenido problemas de salud».
En este campo las técnicas avanzadas son muy importantes y pueden permitir analizar la ficha médica de cada uno de los esqueletos de una manera excepcional. «Le podemos hacer prácticamente una ficha con las patologías que han sufrido, el nivel de esfuerzo que han desarrollado ya que hay marcas en los músculos en las inserciones con los huesos donde se ve ese esfuerzo si es continuo o no», resalta el coordinador. Además, los isótopos estables que analizan permiten conocer además el paisaje en el que vivían estos grupos sociales.
Las variables para estudiar las diferencias sociales son la dieta, la salud o enfermedad, los esfuerzos realizados, el acceso a los bienes de consumo u otros elementos como los símbolos de poder y por último, la circulación tanto de personas como de los rebaños de animales.
El proyecto, que tiene una duración de cuatro años, cuenta con varios yacimientos de gran envergadura que han dado una buena cantidad de sepulturas que están siendo investigadas. Es el caso del yacimiento de Castellón Alto en Galera, la Cuesta del Negro en Purullena o el Cerro de la Encina en Monachil, todos ellos en Granada, así como la Motilla del Azuer, en Daimiel (Ciudad Real).
En las técnicas que se emplean colabora activamente el laboratorio de Antropología Física de la Universidad de Granada, así como el laboratorio de Isotopía del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) de Granada. Ambas entidades realizan de manera sistemática el estudio isotópico de todos los esqueletos que se han localizado en los yacimientos que han sido excavados.
La investigación ya lleva un año en marcha y entre los datos curiosos que ha descubierto destaca el poder documentar el proceso de aridez tan importante que sufrió el sur de la Península Ibérica durante la Edad del Bronce. Aridez que llevó a que en algunos puntos como La Mancha se comenzaran a construir pozos, siendo la primera vez en la que se explotan las aguas subterráneas ante la necesidad de agua.
73202 High-protein diets, such as the Dukan diet, are currently a popular alternative to the traditional calorie-counting forms of dieting. But scientists at the University of Granada in Spain have shown through tests in rats that a high-protein diet increases the risk of kidney stones and other renal diseases.
Dr. Pierre Dukan’s high-protein diet has received a boost in popularity in recent years, due to reports that the diet helped the Duchess of Cambridge get thin enough to fit into her wedding dress and allegedly restored the postpartum figure of Jennifer Lopez.
In Dukan’s native France, approximately 2 million people are believed to follow the diet.
But the diet has been controversial. The British Dietary Association ranked the diet at number 1 in their annual rundown of diets to avoid in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
They point out that even Dr. Dukan himself – who was banned from practicing as a GP in France in 2013 – has warned of health issues associated with the diet, including lack of energy, constipation, vitamin and mineral deficiencies and bad breath.
In 2012, Medical News Today reported on a study finding that four-fifths of Dukan followers had put all their lost weight back on within 36 months. This kind of of body weight fluctuation can put dieters at increased risk of hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.
What did the new study find?
In the new study, the scientists fed 10 rats a diet with a 45% protein level, while a control group of another 10 rats were fed a diet of normal protein levels. The rats were placed on their respective diets for 12 weeks – the equivalent of 9 years in human terms.
woman measuring her waist
Anyone on a high-protein diet should exercise regularly and make sure to eat enough fruit and vegetables.
Over the 12 weeks, rats on the high-protein diet lost 10% of their body weight. But the weight of the kidneys in these rats increased by 22%, the capillaries filtering blood to the kidneys increased in size by 13%, and the collagen around the capillaries by 32%.
The citrate levels in the rats’ urine was 88% lower and their urinary pH was 15% more acidic.
A low amount of citrate in the urine and swollen kidneys are risk factors for kidney stone formation. High urinary pH is also a symptom of kidney failure and kidney tubular acidosis, among other conditions.
What does this mean for humans?
Medical News Today spoke to Dr. Virginia A. Aparicio, one of the study’s authors. Dr. Aparicio said that «when experimental designs are done in rats, despite their great physiological and metabolic similarity to humans, all results should be taken with caution.»
«Studies developed in humans have also observed very similar results in plasma and urine to what we observed in rats. However, the important thing is not to alarm the population. We just showed a less favorable renal profile, which could bring long-term renal complications in some individuals most prone to or at increased risk of renal disease.»
«Eating large amounts of fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of kidney stones forming,» advises Dr. Aparicio. «Probably due to their high potassium and magnesium content, which compensates for the acidity of the high-protein diet.»
Aparicio also recommends that anyone on a high-protein diet should exercise regularly to increase active tissue, which will reduce the «rebound» effect of putting on weight once the diet is completed.
73202 High-protein diets, such as the Dukan diet, are currently a popular alternative to the traditional calorie-counting forms of dieting. But scientists at the University of Granada in Spain have shown through tests in rats that a high-protein diet increases the risk of kidney stones and other renal diseases.
Dr. Pierre Dukan’s high-protein diet has received a boost in popularity in recent years, due to reports that the diet helped the Duchess of Cambridge get thin enough to fit into her wedding dress and allegedly restored the postpartum figure of Jennifer Lopez.
In Dukan’s native France, approximately 2 million people are believed to follow the diet.
But the diet has been controversial. The British Dietary Association ranked the diet at number 1 in their annual rundown of diets to avoid in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
They point out that even Dr. Dukan himself – who was banned from practicing as a GP in France in 2013 – has warned of health issues associated with the diet, including lack of energy, constipation, vitamin and mineral deficiencies and bad breath.
In 2012, Medical News Today reported on a study finding that four-fifths of Dukan followers had put all their lost weight back on within 36 months. This kind of of body weight fluctuation can put dieters at increased risk of hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.
What did the new study find?
In the new study, the scientists fed 10 rats a diet with a 45% protein level, while a control group of another 10 rats were fed a diet of normal protein levels. The rats were placed on their respective diets for 12 weeks – the equivalent of 9 years in human terms.
woman measuring her waist
Anyone on a high-protein diet should exercise regularly and make sure to eat enough fruit and vegetables.
Over the 12 weeks, rats on the high-protein diet lost 10% of their body weight. But the weight of the kidneys in these rats increased by 22%, the capillaries filtering blood to the kidneys increased in size by 13%, and the collagen around the capillaries by 32%.
The citrate levels in the rats’ urine was 88% lower and their urinary pH was 15% more acidic.
A low amount of citrate in the urine and swollen kidneys are risk factors for kidney stone formation. High urinary pH is also a symptom of kidney failure and kidney tubular acidosis, among other conditions.
What does this mean for humans?
Medical News Today spoke to Dr. Virginia A. Aparicio, one of the study’s authors. Dr. Aparicio said that «when experimental designs are done in rats, despite their great physiological and metabolic similarity to humans, all results should be taken with caution.»
«Studies developed in humans have also observed very similar results in plasma and urine to what we observed in rats. However, the important thing is not to alarm the population. We just showed a less favorable renal profile, which could bring long-term renal complications in some individuals most prone to or at increased risk of renal disease.»
«Eating large amounts of fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of kidney stones forming,» advises Dr. Aparicio. «Probably due to their high potassium and magnesium content, which compensates for the acidity of the high-protein diet.»
Aparicio also recommends that anyone on a high-protein diet should exercise regularly to increase active tissue, which will reduce the «rebound» effect of putting on weight once the diet is completed.
69964 High-protein diets, like the popular Dr. Dukan diet, increase the long-term risk of developing kidney disease and have a negative effect on renal urinary and morphological markers.
What’s more, they may promote serious pathologies like nephrolithiasis (calcium kidney stones) because they drastically reduce urinary citrate (an inhibitor of calcium salt crystallization) and urinary pH, and increase urinary calcium (to compensate for the metabolic acidity caused by excess protein).
University of Granada scientists have proved this in an experiment in rats that examined the effects of a high-protein diet on renal urinary, plasma and morphological parameters.
The researchers studied 20 Wistar rats, divided into two groups of 10. The first group were fed a high-protein diet of commercial hydrolyzed protein supplements with a 45% protein level. The control group were fed a normal protein diet. The experiment lasted 12 weeks, which is the equivalent of 9 years in human terms.
10 per cent weight loss
The results showed that the rats on a high-protein diet lost up to 10% of their body weight over the 12 weeks with no improvement in their plasma lipid profile. Moreover, urinary citrate in these rats was 88% lower and urinary pH was 15% more acidic. In the animals fed a high-protein diet, kidney weight increased by 22%, glomerular area—the network of capillaries that filter blood in the kidneys—by 13%, and the mesangium—a collagen structure surrounded by these capillaries—by 32%.
The results of this study lead the principle author, Dr. Virginia A. Aparicio of the University of Granada Department of Physiology, to stress the need to closely monitor anyone on a high-protein diet. The Dukan diet, and others like it, can have serious long-term adverse effects on their health.
She warns that the negative effects of high-protein diets on the kidney also depend on the presence of other nutrients in the diet. «Eating large amounts of fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of kidney stones forming—probably due to their high potassium and magnesium content, which compensates for the acidity of the high-protein diet,» Dr. Aparicio concludes.
69964 High-protein diets, like the popular Dr. Dukan diet, increase the long-term risk of developing kidney disease and have a negative effect on renal urinary and morphological markers.
What’s more, they may promote serious pathologies like nephrolithiasis (calcium kidney stones) because they drastically reduce urinary citrate (an inhibitor of calcium salt crystallization) and urinary pH, and increase urinary calcium (to compensate for the metabolic acidity caused by excess protein).
University of Granada scientists have proved this in an experiment in rats that examined the effects of a high-protein diet on renal urinary, plasma and morphological parameters.
The researchers studied 20 Wistar rats, divided into two groups of 10. The first group were fed a high-protein diet of commercial hydrolyzed protein supplements with a 45% protein level. The control group were fed a normal protein diet. The experiment lasted 12 weeks, which is the equivalent of 9 years in human terms.
10 per cent weight loss
The results showed that the rats on a high-protein diet lost up to 10% of their body weight over the 12 weeks with no improvement in their plasma lipid profile. Moreover, urinary citrate in these rats was 88% lower and urinary pH was 15% more acidic. In the animals fed a high-protein diet, kidney weight increased by 22%, glomerular area—the network of capillaries that filter blood in the kidneys—by 13%, and the mesangium—a collagen structure surrounded by these capillaries—by 32%.
The results of this study lead the principle author, Dr. Virginia A. Aparicio of the University of Granada Department of Physiology, to stress the need to closely monitor anyone on a high-protein diet. The Dukan diet, and others like it, can have serious long-term adverse effects on their health.
She warns that the negative effects of high-protein diets on the kidney also depend on the presence of other nutrients in the diet. «Eating large amounts of fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of kidney stones forming—probably due to their high potassium and magnesium content, which compensates for the acidity of the high-protein diet,» Dr. Aparicio concludes.
