GI News—October 2012

• Dr Alan Barclay on single nutrient fad diets and why they can be high GI; 
• Discovering rice’ s GI gene; 
• The benefits of switching to a low GI diet in pregnancy;
• Prof Jennie Brand-Miller on pregnancy and optimal weight gain;
• Emma Stirling with the scoop on herbs;
• Three low GI recipes to enjoy.

‘Whether hot or cold, strong or weak, black or green, sweet or smoky, oolong or pekoe, with milk or lemon, bag or leaf, tea is the universal drink of countless millions.’ We asked Glenn Cardwell to bring us up to date on some recent studies and the benefits of taking a tea or coffee break while Nicole Senior busts the myth that a cup or tea or coffee will be dehydrating.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD
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Food for Thought

Tea and coffee break.
‘Whether hot or cold, strong or weak, black or green, sweet or smoky, oolong or pekoe, with milk or lemon, bag or leaf, tea is the universal drink of countless millions.’ – Tea: A global history, Reaktion Books. We asked Glenn Cardwell to bring us up to date on recent studies and the benefits of taking a tea or coffee break. The following piece, reproduced with permission, first appeared on Glenn’s blog.


Glenn Cardwell

‘Humans have enjoyed tea and coffee for quite some time. Coffee was being drunk in Europe in the mid-17th century, while tea was supposedly consumed by the Chinese 4500 years ago, although this strongly disputed as the first mention of tea in a Chinese text was only 2000 years ago. Tea arrived in Europe around the same time as coffee.

The news is good I have said good things about tea and coffee over the years because I prefer a positive food story rather than the scare stories enjoyed by others. It is always comforting to have science on your side. A recent meta-analysis crunched all the research papers between 1966–2011, which included 140,000 coffee drinkers and came to the conclusion: “Moderate coffee consumption is inversely associated with the risk of heart failure, with the largest inverse association observed for consumption of 4 servings per day.” And it didn't matter whether you’re a boy or a girl. With 4 cups of coffee a day there was a 11% lower risk of heart failure. Any benefit was negated once you reached 10 cups a day. The analysis took account of body weight, alcohol consumption and smoking, as is always the way in making sense of research.

And then it gets better Some scientists who live just down the road from me at the University of Western Australia took a look at both tea and coffee and the potential risk of heart disease. They too were positive about a lower risk of heart disease in tea and coffee consumers after reviewing the published evidence. Tea seemed to improve the normal functioning of the arterial walls, lower triglycerides, inhibit inflammation and LDL-cholesterol oxidation (the latter two significantly contribute to atherosclerosis) and even lower the risk of stroke. Both tea and coffee are associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. The association seems to be strongest with coffee, possibly due to the chlorogenic acids in coffee.

How much tea and coffee? Difficult to say precisely, but there is general agreement that 3–5 cups a day is having a useful effect on your health. They did emphasise that your genes could be playing an important role, meaning we can’t say that everyone will benefit from tea and coffee. For example, those with the polymorphism CYP1A2 in the P450 enzyme (that's laboratory clever people talk I think) are slow caffeine metabolisers, and actually have a higher risk of a heart attack with caffeinated drinks. All the same, it sounds very encouraging to me.

Is there a “yes, but”? Isn’t there always? Generally, the studies rely on self-reported tea and coffee consumption and only one point in time. If you believe that tea and coffee are “bad” then you will probably fib about how much you guzzle, and often people just plain “forget” how much they drink and therefore under-report. Or they may have changed drinking habits over time depending upon what they read in the paper. Association is not necessarily cause and effect. It could also be that the folk enjoying a brew three or four or five times a day might also eat more vegetables, watch only documentaries, cook proper meals, help their neighbours, give to charity, walk the dog and hug the kids. Nevertheless, when the numbers are given a thorough massage, it looks like moderate tea and coffee drinkers come out ahead in the health stakes,


1939 poster from the Empire Marketing Board

What does it all mean? If you drink tea or coffee, feel very comfortable with the habit. All the evidence suggests that up to 5 cups a day is fine and may even be a generous leg-up for your health. I suspect that even – 8 cups a day is OK. Twenty cups? I’m not so sure. Maybe worth considering a cut back. No-one is certain what specific compounds in tea and coffee are responsible for their proposed protection. There are many biologically active compounds, both known and unknown, in tea and coffee. Between you and me, 6 cups of tea a day find their way down my throat. They are big cups and I ain’t worried in the slightest. Hopefully, before I die, science will reveal why tea helped me live to 105.’

What’s New?

Using the GI in pregnancy.
‘In the long run, excessive weight gain in pregnancy has contributed to the current epidemic of obesity in women and children,’ says Prof Jennie Brand-Miller in her new book, The Bump to Baby Low GI Eating Plan (Hachette Australia). ‘A woman who gains too much during pregnancy gives birth to an overweight daughter, who in turn is more likely to be an overweight child and young adult, who is then more likely to gain excessive weight during her first pregnancy and give birth to a child with excess fat, and the cycle repeats itself.’ In this issue, we report on two recent studies suggesting long-term benefits of mum-to-be switching to a low GI diet.

1) A diet with a high GL increases the risk of excessive weight gain during pregnancy and post partum weight retention according to the Danish study in the British Journal of Nutrition. ‘The associations varied with the mother’s pre-pregnancy weight, and were more pronounced among the overweight and obese women. Even though only a modest effect on birth weight was observed, attention should be paid to the fact that the quality of carbohydrate in the diet may affect the birth outcome,’ the authors concluded.

2) Women who switch to a low GI diet during pregnancy are 20% less likely to experience excessive weight gain concludes the British Medical Journal. ‘This type of excessive weight gain during pregnancy is associated with an increased need for delivery by Caesarean section, a higher likelihood of post pregnancy weight retention, and a higher predisposition to obesity in later life,’ according to lead author, Fionnuala McAuliffe, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University College Dublin School of Medicine. The study found that the 400 mums-to-be who changed their eating habits to the low GI diet gained an average amount of 12.2 kg during pregnancy, while the remaining participants put on an average weight of 13.7 kg.

Commenting on the overall GI of the women’s diet in the BMJ study Dr Alan Barclay points out that the women only achieved a mean daily average GI of 56 (down from 57.3 at baseline) and the difference in GI between the control and intervention groups was small – 1.7 units. ‘I believe an overall low GI diet should have an average dietary GI of around 45. There’s pretty compelling evidence from population health studies and clinical trials around the world that for long-term health and wellbeing this is the sort of figure we should aim for. It’s not as hard as it sounds to achieve this (around a fifth of the world’s population do). Choose less processed food most of the time and take the “this for that” option, that is you simply substitute healthy low GI carbs for high GI ones when shopping, cooking and eating out’.

Discovering rice’s GI gene.
As we have explained in GI News over the years, the GI of rice (brown or white; black or red) depends on its amylose content– a kind of starch that resists gelatinisation. When you cook rice, millions of microscopic cracks in the grains let water penetrate right to the middle of the grain, allowing the starch granules to swell and become fully ‘gelatinised’, thus very easy to digest. Greater gelatinisation of starch means a higher GI. Some varieties of rice have lots of amylose; others much less. There’s no easy way to tell. Neither the colour nor the length of the grain is a guide to the GI.

A research team from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and CSIRO's Food Futures Flagship has now published a study in Rice which analysed 235 varieties of rice from around the world. They found that the GI ranged from 48 to 92 in the varieties they looked at. Importantly, they also identified the key gene that determines the GI of rice – a very useful achievement which offers rice breeders the opportunity to develop low or lower GI varieties.

Check out our Rice salad with fennel, orange and chickpeas (from the Forks Over Knives -- The Cookbook in the GI News Kitchen.

Do nonnutritive sweeteners really help you lose weight?
The sugar veto for people with diabetes or wanting to lose weight has helped create a huge market for alternative sweeteners from Aspartame (Equal/Nutrasweet) to stevia. Nonnutritive sweeteners provide few calories (kilojoules), carbs or any other nutrient. Typically they are hundreds of times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar), so you only need a minute amount. However, so that you can use them in a similar way to sugar (eg by the teaspoon), the manufacturer usually adds a bulking agent such as maltodextrin.



Nonnutritive sweeteners have virtually no effect on blood glucose levels and can help you cut back on your calories if you use them to replace equivalent amounts of sugar or honey etc. Their major drawback is that they aren’t as versatile as sugar and honey (and other nutritive sweeteners) because they tend not to be heat stable, they don’t brown or caramelise and they don’t add texture or bulk to food when used in baking. Gram for gram, they also tend to be much more expensive than their counterparts.

Reviewing the evidence, a Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association in Diabetes Care concludes that ‘when used judiciously, nonnutritive sweeteners could facilitate reductions in added sugars intake, thereby resulting in decreased total energy and weight loss/weight control, and promoting beneficial effects on related metabolic parameters. However, these potential benefits will not be fully realized if there is a compensatory increase in energy intake from other sources.’ They make the additional point that ‘At this time, there are insufficient data to determine conclusively whether the use of nonnutritive sweeteners to displace caloric sweeteners in beverages and foods reduces added sugars or carbohydrate intakes, or benefits appetite, energy balance, body weight, or cardiometabolic risk factors. There are some data to suggest that nonnutritive sweeteners may be used in a structured diet to replace sources of added sugars and that this substitution may result in modest energy intake reductions and weight loss.’

Nuts and olive oil for health.



Spanish researchers Prof Jordi Salas Salvado and Dr Emilio Ros presented the results of the long-term PREDIMED diet study (PREvencion con DIeta MEDiterranea – Prevention with the Mediterranean Diet) at the International Congress of Dietetics in Sydney. This comprehensive review of the Mediterranean diet is now in its ninth and final year. Nearly 7400 older adults at risk of cardiovascular disease, but with no symptoms, were randomly assigned to one of three diets (followed for five years on average). The three diets were:

• Mediterranean diet enriched with 30g (1oz) of mixed nuts per day (15g walnuts, 7.5g almonds, 7.5g hazelnuts)
• Mediterranean Diet enriched with virgin olive oil – 1 litre (4 cups) per family per week or 50ml (a little over 1½ fl oz) per day per study participant
• Low fat control diet – avoidance of plant and animal fats.

While the final five-year cardiovascular results are due later this year, the results to date report that a Mediterranean diet enriched with a 30g (1oz) handful of mixed nuts a day can:

• reduce the risk of diabetes by 52%
• reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome by nearly 14%
• reduce blood glucose levels, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the LDL:HDL cholesterol ratio
• improve biomarkers of inflammation
• reduce obesity measures, such as BMI and waist circumference.

‘Our nine years of research has overwhelmingly demonstrated healthy diets rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids provide long-term protection from health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity,’ says Prof Salas Salvado. ‘It’s time for people to forget the low fat hype and embrace good fats. We know there is a fear of weight gain surrounding foods high in good fats, like nuts, but this is absolutely unfounded. There are approximately 30 clinical trials that have demonstrated the beneficial effect of consuming nuts on diabetes, cholesterol etc, and none of these have observed any negative effect on weight. We recommend 30g (1oz) of nuts a day, which is around a handful, as this is the amount we have consistently demonstrated is beneficial for heart disease risk factors.’ For a summary on PREDIMED visit www.nutsforlife.com.au.

Get the Scoop with Emma Stirling

The scoop on herbs.


Emma Stirling APD

Do you love culinary herbs as much as we do? Basil, rosemary, parsley, coriander/cilantro, chives and more you’ll find them popping up all over our GI News recipes. They don’t factor directly in GI, but the growing health story has us skipping back down the garden path for more.

Getting to the roots of good health We don’t test herbs for GI – they get a 0 – as the amounts consumed are just too low in carbohydrate counts to affect blood sugar levels. And even though many herbs are high in vitamin C, you’re not going to get anywhere close to your daily needs with say a parsley garnish on a bowl of soup. Unless you’re into eating a bowl of tabouleh every day, an orange just seems a whole lot easier source of vitamin C. But is that the only way to assess the health benefits of herbs?

Nature’s flavour enhancer Nutritionists have often talked up herbs as nature’s flavour enhancers. With pungent aromatics they allow you to dial up the flavour and curb added salt and fat. Like rubbing roasted garlic on meat instead of adding gravy or combining dill and lemon juice on grilled fish, instead of a dollop of tartare sauce. But surely there is more, I hear you ask?

Growing stronger In more recent years the health benefits of culinary herbs have been under closer study. In fact a 2006 supplement to the Medical Journal of Australia titled Health benefits of herbs and spices: the past, present, the future called for culinary herbs to have greater prominence in our government food group recommendations. And the 2008 update to the Oldway’s Mediterranean Diet Pyramid saw the new inclusion of herbs and spices. Why? When you dig a little deeper and look at the phytochemicals in herbs, the grass may turn out to be a little greener. It seems that studies on the antioxidant capacity of culinary herbs show that they may have higher levels than medicinal herbs plus fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, adding phytonutrient rich herbs to other foods, like basil to a tomato salad, may enhance the overall antioxidant capacity of the carrier foods.

Fire up the grill? Everybody loves a barbie, but in more recent times concerns have been raised about the potentially cancer causing compounds that are formed when meat is grilled at high temperatures. However, in one study when meat was rubbed with antioxidant extracts of common herbs like rosemary, basil, oregano and thyme, the levels of harmful compounds known as heterocyclic amines (HA) were reduced. This effect was thought to be due to the powerful antioxidants in herbs soaking up these HA free radicals. So snip those herbs into salads and mix up that marinade, salsa or herb crust when you get set to BBQ. There’s no better place to start than with my Scoop Nutrition recipe for Kitchen Garden Salsa Verde.




Emma Stirling is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and health writer with over ten years experience writing for major publications. She is editor of The Scoop on Nutrition – a blog by expert dietitians. Check it out for hot news bites and a healthy serve of what’s in flavour.

In the GI News Kitchen

American dietitian and author of Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Johanna Burani, shares favourite recipes with a low or moderate GI from her Italian kitchen. For more information, check out Johanna's website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is photosbysergio.com.



Spaghetti with parsley sauce.
No Italian household is ever without fresh parsley. It grows in the family vegetable garden or potted on a sunny terrace. Even in the dead of winter a vibrant bunch is kept at the ready in the refrigerated crisper. This simple sauce can be used with pasta, barley or rice, on crostini, in omelets, with chicken or fish. Your imagination is your only limitation. Here I’ve paired it with spaghetti. The recipe makes 1 cup sauce, but you only use ¼ cup for the 2 pasta portions served here so you have leftovers for another meal or two. Serves 2.

1 bunch fresh parsley, leaves only
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2–4 large cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
½ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
120g/4 oz spaghetti



Wash and pat dry the parsley leaves. Finely chop and set aside.
Combine the olive oil, garlic, salt and lemon juice in a medium-sized jar. Tighten the lid and shake to mix well. Add in the parsley and cheese, tighten the lid and shake again.
Cook the pasta according to package instructions until al dente. Drain the pasta and add ¼ cup of the sauce. Mix well and serve.

Per serve
Energy: 1696kJ/404cals; Protein 10g; Fat 21g (includes 4g saturated fat and 6mg cholesterol); Available carbohydrate 44g; Fibre 2g

Cut back on the food bills and enjoy fresh-tasting, easily prepared, seasonal, satisfying and delicious low or moderate GI meals that don’t compromise on quality and flavour one little bit with our Money Saving Meals including these recipes from The Modern Vegetarian by Maria Elia published by Kyle Books, London and from Forks Over Knives – The Cookbook by Del Sroufe published by The Experiment.

Spiced caramelised onion and beetroot bulgar pilau.
In this delicious recipe from Maria Elia’s The Modern Vegetarian, the earthiness and sweetness of beetroot blend perfectly with these spices and the bulgar and pine nuts add a unique texture. You could even try adapting it by sprinkling with pomegranates or a little pomegranate molasses. Serves 4.

3 raw beetroots
175g (6oz) bulgar
3 tbsp olive oil
3 onions, finely sliced
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
pinch of chilli powder
1½ cups boiling water
pinch of sea salt
40g (about 1½ oz) toasted pine nuts
3 tbsp chopped mint
1 lemon



Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas Mark 5.
Wash and scrub the beetroots, wrap in foil and roast until tender, about 30–50 minutes (depending on the size of the beetroot). Leave to cool, then peel and dice.
Tip the bulgar into a fine sieve and wash under cold water to remove excess starch.
Heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the onions and cook over a medium heat until caramelised, about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the cumin seeds, cinnamon, garlic and chilli powder and cook for a further minute. Add the diced beetroot, bulgar and boiling water, then cover and simmer for 15–20 minutes, until the water has been absorbed. Season with sea salt, stir through the pine nuts, mint and a squeeze of lemon and serve hot or at room temperature.

Per serve
Energy 220kJ/ 400cals; 22g fat (includes saturated fat 2.5g); 10g fibre; 8g protein; 38g available carbohydrate



Recipe and image extracted with permission from The Modern Vegetarian by Maria Elia © (2012), $27.99, published by Kyle Books, London.

Rice salad with fennel, orange and chickpeas.
The mild anise-like flavor of fennel is well balanced by the citrus in this hearty salad. GI News tip: We saved time and made this with microwave brown basmati rice and a can of chickpeas. Delicious, and super quick. Serves 6.

1½ cups brown basmati rice (or 2½ cups cooked rice)
2 cups cooked chickpeas or one 15oz (420g) can, drained and rinsed
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and diced
1 orange, zested, peeled and segmented (zist and segments reserved)
¼ cup plus 2 tbsp (30ml) white wine vinegar
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup finely chopped parsley


Photo copyright Cara Howe.

Rinse the rice under cold water and drain. Add to a pot with 3 cups cold water. Bring to the boil over a high heat, reduce the heat to medium and cook, covered, for 45–50 minutes or until the rice is tender.
Combine the chickpeas, fennel and orange zest and segments, white wine vinegar, crushed red pepper flakes and parsley in a large bowl while the rice cooks, and mix well. When the rice is cooked, fluff it up, add to the bowl and mix well.

Per serve
Energy 1170 kJ/ 280cals; 2.7g fat (includes saturated fat 0.5g); 7g fibre; 9g protein; 51g available carbohydrate

 
Forks Over Knives: The Cookbook published by The Experiment is available from bookshops and online. With over 300 recipes for plant-based eating throughout the year, it is companion to the hit documentary and the New York Times Number 1 best seller Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health.

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Nicole Senior

Myth: Tea and coffee are dehydrating.
Everyone assumes that caffeine-containing beverages such as tea and coffee dehydrate, but it’s an urban legend. Seriously high amounts of caffeine are needed before you lose more water than you drink in your cup of tea or coffee. Even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make (and drink), you would still have a net gain of fluid. So the good news is that enjoying tea and coffee in moderation does contribute to your daily fluid quota. Dehydration is more likely if caffeine is taken in tablet form.



What’s moderation? For tea it’s around 3–4 cups a day. For coffee it’s around 2–3 cups of brewed coffee; if you have high blood pressure, cut that back to 1–2 cups. The key thing with coffee is to resist temptation to upsize. Use a regular cup and order regular-sized servings. If you make your own, use the single shot function on your espresso machine. Pregnant women and older children should try to stick to one to two cups of weak coffee or tea a day.

With tea and coffee watch the extras – the milk, sugar and biscuits or cake! Opt for low-fat milk and if you need the drink sweetened, add a little sugar, gradually using less – you may find you even prefer it without after a while.

Key info Tea and coffee are a source of essential fluids, as well as protective antioxidants that help look after heart and blood vessels. They are also social drinks that bring us together and
help us take time out. It makes sense to avoid caffeine drinks at night if you have trouble sleeping.

Long story short For good health you should drink plenty of water, but tea and coffee (in moderation) do count toward your total daily fluid intake. Water is essentially replacing fluid. Tea and coffee replace fluids and contain antioxidants, so they’ve got two things going for them.

Nicole Senior is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist and author of Food Myths available in bookshops and online and from www.greatideas.net.au

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay

A diet of unintended consequences.
Whatever your health problem (being overweight/obese, or having type 2 diabetes or heart disease), what many fad diet solutions have in common, is advising you to severely limit or completely avoid the nutrient that is supposedly responsible for it.

Turning the clock back, carbohydrate was THE nutrient to avoid in the 1970s. In the 1980s and 90s, however, carbs lost the limelight as fats were fast-tracked to front position as THE dietary demon. Carbs in general made a brief comeback in the early years of the 21st century before THE problem (‘toxic’) nutrient of our time message zoomed in on sugars in general, and fructose in particular.

The problem with this One-Nutrient-At-A-Time approach, as I have discussed previously in GI News, is that we don’t eat single nutrients – we eat foods, that are usually a part of meals, and the meals we eat are at the very least partly determined by our social and cultural background. And this is why most people find it hard to stick to fad diets for prolonged periods of time – there are too many pressures from family, friends, and the societies we live in to consume a wide variety of foods. Enter our modern, high-tech food industry. They saw an opportunity and took it, creating low carb or low fat versions of our favourite foods when we asked for them.

The low fat boom The boom in low fat foods began in 1980s and continues today. We can choose low fat variants of everything from potato crisps to salad dressings. We can now have our proverbial cake and eat it. And because these were supposedly healthier versions of our favourite foods we could stick with this ‘diet’. We all know the consequences: rates of overweight/obesity and related conditions continued to rise.

The low carb boom When carbohydrate was subsequently re-anointed as THE problem nutrient to avoid at all costs, food industry again rode to our rescue producing low carb versions of breakfast cereals, pasta, cakes, cookies and more. Here at the GI Symbol Program, we measured the GI of several of these low carb alternatives and we were deeply concerned that they had values that were much higher than the regular counterparts, so much so that the glycemic load (or impact) was essentially the same: the lower carb content was counter-balanced by the higher GI. There were no net health benefits. Rates of overweight/obesity/type 2 diabetes continued to rise … and these foods didn’t help anyone manage their BGLs either.

The low sugar boom will be on your supermarket shelves soon Business is business. The food industry is now in the process of adapting our favourite foods to make them lower in sugars because it knows (through market research) that’s what their customers now believe is THE problem nutrient. The technology is there – most sugars can be relatively easily replaced by oligosaccharides and starches – perhaps with a non-nutritive sweetener like aspartame, sucralose or stevia thrown in to replace the lost sweetness. The net result will likely be of little nutritional benefit, however, as these oligosaccharides and starches are usually as equally refined, devoid of nutrients (other than kilojoules) and have a higher GI than the sugars they replaced. Like their low carb predecessors, they will likely be of no real health benefit. Based on the events of the past few decades, it’s highly likely that these ‘all new’ sugar free varieties will continue to contribute to the global obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemic just like their low fat and low carbohydrate predecessors. History has the strange tendency of repeating itself.

It’s time to stop the nutrient blame game - to stop ‘going on a diet’, and to start to focus on healthy eating patterns like the (higher fat, moderate carb) Mediterranean diet or (low fat, high carb) Japanese (traditional Okinawan) diet. Principles from these tried-and-true dietary patterns like eating minimally refined vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, lean meats/fish, yoghurt and other fermented dairy products, and oils (olive/peanut) can be adapted to suit most people’s personal, familial and cultural backgrounds. Nutrients are by definition essential – it’s how we eat them (and how many of them we put on our plates) that ultimately counts.

The GI Symbol, making healthy low GI choices easy choices



For more information about the GI Symbol Program
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)
Phone: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Email: alan.barclay@gisymbol.com
Website: www.gisymbol.com

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.


I am 3 months pregnant. Should I monitor my weight? I don’t want to be left with ‘difficult-to-budge pounds after my baby is born. Well, not for too long!
As a routine part of care, your obstetric care providers will keep an eye on your weight gain but most will steer away from discussing it for fear of causing your embarrassment or needless anxiety. Of course, women often discuss the subject among themselves, especially if it’s faster and greater than they expected. Many will tell you that even after the birth they retained a few kilos, and found them difficult to budge.

While their experience is common, we want to assure you that weight gain during pregnancy is under your control and, indeed, it’s good practice for you to monitor it yourself, so that you gain the ideal, or optimal, amount. OK, so what’s ideal? The optimal amount of weight gain over pregnancy is one that results in a ‘desirable pregnancy outcome’. That means a healthy baby, born at full term (about 40 weeks, or 9 months + 1 week gestation) with a birth weight of 3–4 kilograms or 6 to 9 pounds (I have rounded the conversions for easy reading) In women from affluent countries like Australia and New Zealand, who start pregnancy weighing between 60 and 65 kilograms (132 to 143 pounds), the average weight gain over pregnancy is about 13 kilograms (28 pounds) and the average infant birth weight is 3.4 kilograms (7½ pounds). But these are averages only. You’ll be pleased to hear that there’s a range of weight gains that are considered ideal. The desired amount depends to a large extent on your pre-pregnant weight. For a woman who is underweight, a higher weight gain is desirable, while an overweight mum should gain less.

US Institute of Medicine guidelines for pregnancy weight gain (2009)
Your ideal total weight gain in kilograms
BMI less than 18.5 at the start of your pregnancy (underweight) – 13 to 18 kilos
BMI 18.5–24.9 at the start of your pregnancy (normal weight) – 11 to 16 kilos
BMI 25–29.9 at the start of your pregnancy (overweight) – 7 to 11 kilos
BMI 30 or more at the start of your pregnancy (obese) – 5 to 9 kilos

Your ideal total weight gain in pounds
BMI less than 18.5 at the start of your pregnancy (underweight) – 28 to 40 pounds
BMI 18.5–24.9 at the start of your pregnancy (normal weight) – 25 to 35 pounds
BMI 25–29.9 at the start of your pregnancy (overweight) – 15 to 25 pounds
BMI 30 or more at the start of your pregnancy (obese) – 11 to 20 pounds

Weight gain in pregnancy is an excellent predictor of the baby’s weight at birth. This, in turn, predicts how well your baby copes in the first days and months of life. That’s the reason for the proud tradition of announcing not only the baby’s sex but its birth weight as well. Like many things in life, however, there is a happy medium. If you gain too little, it can mean a small baby who has been born too lean with little body fat. Small babies, defined as those born weighing less than 2.5 kilograms (about 5 pounds), have a higher chance of having poor outcomes during and after birth. Paradoxically, they are more likely to become overweight as adults and have a great risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. On the other hand, a baby that grows too big or too fast also has poor outcomes. Excessive weight gain during pregnancy and high birth weight (greater than 4 kilograms/9 pounds) are both linked to complications at birth, such as emergency Caesarean delivery, physical injury and post-partum haemorrhage. Just as importantly, excess weight gain also predicts the future health of both mother and baby.

This is an edited extract from my new book (with Dr Kate Marsh and Prof Robert Moses), The Bump to Baby Low GI Eating Plan for Conception, Pregnancy and Beyond (Hachette Australia). You can visit us HERE.

We are delighted to let GI News readers know that a US edition is on the way. The publisher is Matthew Lore of The Experiment. Matthew has published many of our books in the past and we are very happy to be working with him on this. We will keep you posted re publication details.



GI testing by an accredited laboratory
North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
20 Victoria Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario M5C 298 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson
Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web www.glycemicindex.com

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TV Diary Dates 1st October - 7th October 2012

Monday 1^st October

 2.05am   Bright Young Things   Sky Movies Indie

5.25pm   Tree Fu Tom (S1 E4) So Long Greenhorns    CBeebies

Tuesday 2^nd October

 5.25pm   Tree Fu Tom (S1 E5) Hide And Squeak    CBeebies

Wednesday 3^rd October

 5.25pm   Tree Fu Tom (S1 E6) Wishful Thinking   CBeebies

6.50pm   CBeebies Bedtime Stories – How High Is The Sky   CBeebies

Thursday 4^th October

 2.10am   Comedy World Cup (S1 E3) – Host   4Seven

5.25pm   Tree Fu Tom (S1 E7) Zigzoo’s Robot   CBeebies

6.55pm   St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold   Film4

7.55pm   St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold   Film4+1

Friday 5^th October

 1.10am   Comedy World Cup (S1 E3) – Host   4Seven

9.30am   Fright Night   Sky Movies SciFi & Horror

11.40am   Bright Young Things   Sky Movies Indie

5.25pm   Tree Fu Tom (S1 E8) With Friends Like These   CBeebies

7.10pm   Fright Night   Sky Movies SciFi & Horror

9.00pm   Comedy World Cup (S1 E3) – Host   4Seven

Saturday 6^th October

 8.00pm   NEW EPISODE   Comedy World Cup (S1 E4) – Host   Channel 4

9.00pm   Comedy World Cup (S1 E4) – Host   Channel 4+1

Sunday 7^th October

 1.15am   Comedy World Cup (S1 E4) – Host   4Seven

Thanks to www.dt-forum.com

Comedy World Cup Episode 3 Screen Caps

You can download over 400 caps of David Tennant hosting episode 3 of Comedy World Cup here.
There will be repeats of the episode across 4's network this week, including one at 9pm on 4Seven on Friday night.

Screen Caps From Doctor Who In The US

Last night  BBC America aired its one hour special Doctor Who In The US, which explored the visits that the Time Lord has made to America over the last 49 years of the programme's history. One of the contributors was David Tennant, whose version of the Doctor saw off the Daleks as they attempted to invade New York.

 Thanks to Eidesg on DT Forum we have some brilliant screencaps from David's interview sections:

Thanks to www.dt-forum.com 

Peter Davison's Gallifrey One Videos

Peter Davison has uploaded two fantastic videos that he made for the Gallifrey One fan convention in 2010 and 2011. David Tennant features in both videos.
You can follow Peter on Twitter here.

Peter Davison's 2010 message to Gallifrey One from Peter Davison on Vimeo.




Peter Davison's original video message to Gallifrey One 2011 from Peter Davison on Vimeo.

Catch Up With Comedy World Cup Episode 3

Thanks to Channel 4's You Tube account you can watch David Tennant host the third show in the Comedy World Cup series that sees Johnny Vegas, Josh Widdicombe and Mick Miller pit their wits against Phill Jupitus, Roisin Conaty and Barry Cryer here.
The show is also available on 4OD.

If you're not in the UK visit Londonphile's Tumblr here to download the show.

Watch A Sneak Peek Of The Spies Of Warsaw

BBC America have uploaded a 15 second glimpse of the new David Tennant drama The Spies Of Warsaw.
The series will come to American screens in January, after it has made its debut on BBC Four in the UK. So far, the BBC have not given any indication of when they will show The Spies Of Warsaw.

The drama, adapted from the novel of the same name by Alan Furst, was filmed as two 90-minute episodes; however BBC America have previously said that they will be screening it in four parts.

Watch the trailer here:

About the show:

BBC America is co-producing a new mini-series for Dramaville, “Spies of Warsaw,” based on Alan Furst’s acclaimed novel and adapted by Emmy-winning writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. “Doctor Who” star David Tennant and Janet Montgomery (“Black Swan,” “Entourage”) are cast in this thrilling spy story set in Poland, Paris, London and Berlin in the years leading up to the Second World War.

In the mini-series, French and German intelligence operatives are locked in a life-and-death struggle in the espionage arena. At the French embassy, a decorated war hero of the 1914 war, Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier (Tennant), is sucked into a world of abduction, betrayal and international intrigue from the diplomatic salons to the back alleys of Warsaw. Mercier simultaneously finds himself in a passionate love affair with Anna (Montgomery), a Parisian lawyer for the League of Nations. Their complicated love affair intensifies as German tanks drive through the Black Forest.

“Spies of Warsaw” combines historical, intelligent narratives, interlaced with flawed and compelling characters. The cast includes Anton Lesser (Dramaville’s “The Hour”) as Doctor Lapp, Richard Lintern (Dramaville’s “White Heat”) as Colonel Lessard, Nicholas Blane (‘”The Tudors”) as Papa Heininger, Julian Harries (“EastEnders”) as Duff Cooper, and many more!

The production begins shooting on location in Poland in May 2012. The series is executive produced by Richard Fell for Fresh Pictures production, and Jamie Laurenson for the BBC, co-produced by BBC America, Apple Film for TV Poland in association with ARTE FRANCE and BBC Worldwide.

Romas chased from camp by Marseille residents

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9574080/Romas-chased-from-camp-by-Marseille-residents.html

Police arrived at the scene to keep the locals and the Roma apart as the Roma left on Thursday evening with their caravans and vehicles, but some of the locals returned later to set fire to any belongings left behind.

The locals, who blamed the Roma for burglaries in the area that had happened since their arrival a few days earlier, had warned authorities that if they were not evicted they would do it themselves.

“It’s no surprise this has happened,” said Caroline Godard of Rencontres Tsiganes, a group set up to help Roma. “There is a climate of tension that is being fanned. We are moving towards a war between the poor.”

The Marseille branch of France’s Human Rights League (LDH) said that although there was no violence and noone was injured in Thursday’s incidents, “one can fear the worst” for the future.

Tree Fu Tom DVD Artwork Revealed

Check out the artwork for the very first Tree Fu Tom DVD. The DVD, called Tree Fu Tom: Tree Fu Go! will be released on Monday 22nd October and will contain seven episodes of the fantastic kids' animated show.

Since its launch earlier this year the show has risen to become the top rated on CBeebies in 2012. Co-produced by CBeebies and Fremantle Media Enterprises and animated by Blue-Zoo from an original idea by producer Daniel Bays, it features the voices of David Tennant and Sophie Aldred as best friends Tom and Twigs. The show encourages children to join in the actions that Tom uses to call up Big World Magic using movements that have been developed to promote coordination development, particularly aimed at children who have developmental movement disorders such as dyspraxia.

The DVD is available as a standard pack and as a limited edition featuring a collectable Tom toy. It is available to pre-order now from this link.

The Politician's Husband To Launch At MIPCOM 2012

Mentorn International’s new drama, The Politician’s Husband, starring David Tennant and Emily Watson, will be one of the must-see properties at MIPCOM 2012 next month.

The production company will include the three part drama among the titles that Managing Director David Leach and sales executives are presenting to the international market at the event that takes place in Cannes from 8^th – 11^th October. This follows the news that BBC Worldwide will also be offering The Spies Of Warsaw to international broadcasters.

Mentorn International on The Politician’s Husband

The Politician's Husband is a drama exploring what happens in a political marriage when the wife becomes more successful than her husband.

Aiden Hoynes, a senior Cabinet Minister, is happily married to Freya, a junior Minister who has consistently put her own career ambitions on hold for the sake of Aiden's career and their family.

When Aiden's career path to the top echelons comes to an abrupt halt, the power balance within his marriage is irrevocably shifted as he witnesses his wife's political career soar.

In his desperation to cling to power, Aiden risks destroying everything he holds most dear.

The drama is written by Paula Milne and directed by Simon Cellan Jones, and will be seen on BBC Two early next year.

MIPCOM, held every year in Cannes, is the world's leading content market for creating, co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment across all platforms. It is attended by worldwide entertainment distributors who aim to launch and sell programmes and expand them to new platforms.

Mentorn also ran a small ad for The Politician’s Husband in some press and we have a scan of the promo shot featuring David Tennant and Emily Watson. We’ll bring you a better quality copy as soon as we can, but in the meantime:

Accelerated Warming in the Arctic

Why is warming in the Arctic accelerating and where will this lead to?

Where does the extra heat go? 

Global warming is causing Earth to heat up. As shown on the image below, by Nuccitelli et al., most heat goes into the oceans.

Warming of water in the Arctic Ocean

White arrows mark ice drift directions. Red arrows mark
the transport path of warm Atlantic water entering the
Arctic where it submerges under the cold, ice-covered
surface layer.  Robert Spielhagen (IFM-GEOMAR, Kiel)

Global warming is heating up the oceans big time. As above image shows, the global ocean heat content has been rising for many years.

The Arctic is affected in particular by the Thermohaline Circulation.

Water flowing into the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic Ocean is about 2°C warmer today than it has been for at least 2,000 years, according to a study published in Science. The current of warm water lies 50 metres below the surface, and can reach 6°C in summer — warm compared to Arctic surface waters, which can be -2°C.

At the same time, cold water and sea ice are driven out of the Arctic Ocean, along the edges of Greenland. The net result is a marked increase in the temperature of the water in the Arctic Ocean, especially the top layer of the water which causes the sea ice to melt.


The Arctic radiates comparatively less heat into space 

Cold layers of air close to the surface make it difficult for infrared radiation to go out to space, according to a study published in Science. These layers do warm up, but warming of these layers is directed downwards, thus amplifying warming in the Arctic.


Surface air temperatures in the Arctic are rising rapidly

Anomalies for surface air temperatures are higher in the Arctic than anywhere else on Earth. This is illustrated by the interactive images and text in the box at the bottom of this post.

The increase in temperature anomalies appears to be an exponential rise. This is caused not only by the above-described impacts of cold air close to the surface, but also by feedback effects as further described below.


Feedbacks further accelerate warming in the Arctic

Feedbacks are described in more detail in posts such as Diagram of Doom (image below) and Changes to Polar Vortex affect mile-deep ocean circulation patterns.

One such feedback is albedo change — retreat of Arctic sea ice results in less sunlight being reflected back into space, as further discussed in Albedo Change in the Arctic. Loss of Arctic sea ice is effectively doubling mankind's contribution to global warming. Increased absorption of the sun's rays is the equivalent of about 20 years of additional CO2 being added by man, Professor Peter Wadhams said in a recent BBC article.

One of the most threatening feedbacks is release of methane that are held in the currently frozen seabed. As the seabed warms up, it starts to release methane in what can be rather abrupt ways. Due to methane's high global warming potential, this can further accelerate local warming, triggering further methane releases, in a vicious circle that threatens to spiral into runaway global warming.

Military Archives lecture at NLI

Padraic Kennedy from the Military Archives at Cathal Brugha Barracks will give a talk – An introduction to our sources for military history and recent initiatives – on Tuesday 9 October at the National Library of Ireland.

This is a re-arranged presentation, originally scheduled as part of the Library's 20x20 series of lunchtime talks in August, which were organised by Eneclann and the Ancestor Network.

Time: 7pm.
Venue: Seminar Room, NLI
Cost: Free. No booking required.

More Roscommon records added to RootsIreland

An additional 17,000 birth and death records have been uploaded to RootsIreland.ie.

There is no indication on the website as to whether these are parish registers or civil records, but in view of the term 'birth and death' rather than 'baptism and burial', I'd assume them to be civil.

You can view a list of all the resources held by the County Roscommon Heritage & Genealogy Company here.

Σκόπελος: Διαμαρτύρεται ο δήμος για υποβάθμιση του Δ.Σ. Γλώσσας

Η υποβάθμιση του Δημοτικού Σχολείου Γλώσσας από εξαθέσιο σε πενταθέσιο, δέκα ημέρες μετά την έναρξη της σχολικής χρονιάς, προκαλεί την έντονη αντίδραση της δημοτικής αρχής. Ο δήμαρχος Σκοπέλου Γ. Μιχελής με επιστολή του προς το υπουργείο Παιδείας  επισημαίνει ότι « «έφτασε ένα τηλεφώνημα για να υποβαθμιστεί το σχολείο, ενώ δεν έχουμε «δει», ούτε απόφαση, ούτε σκεπτικό», ενώ διερωτάται αν, ο λόγος ήταν η μη έλευση στο νησί δασκάλας, η οποία ζήτησε και πήρε την τελευταία στιγμή και αφού είχε ανακοινωθεί η απόσπασή της, άδεια εγκυμοσύνης.

Στην επιστολή του ο δήμαρχος επισημαίνει ότι θα περίμενε κανείς, αν το Υπουργείο είχε αποφασίσει την υποβάθμιση του Σχολείου, να είχε προηγηθεί εδώ και καιρό μια συνεννόηση με τις Τοπικές Αρχές, αφού ουσιαστικά έχουν αναλάβει τη λειτουργία των σχολείων. «Αν με αυτόν τον τρόπο εννοείται η εκπαιδευτική πολιτική, εκτιμάται πως θα συντηρηθεί η απομακρυσμένη νησιωτική Ελλάδα σ’ αυτούς τους χαλεπούς καιρούς και επιζητείται συνεργασία Κεντρικής Διοίκησης και Δημοτικών Αρχών, τότε, πολύ φοβούμαι ότι το πρόβλημα της Χώρας μας είναι πολύ μεγαλύτερο από ότι όλοι φανταζόμαστε», τονίζει ο κ. Μιχελής.
Επιστολή Αγοραστού
Να συνεχίσει να λειτουργεί ως 6-θέσιο το Δημοτικό Σχολείο ζητά με επιστολή του προς τον Υπουργό Παιδείας κ. Κωνσταντίνο Αρβανιτόπουλο ο περιφερειάρχης Θεσσαλίας κ. Κώστας Αγοραστός. Όπως τονίζει χαρακτηριστικά, σε μια περίοδο όπου καταγράφεται επιστροφή στον πρωτογενή τομέα, η Ελληνική Πολιτεία πρέπει να διατηρεί δομές, όπως τα σχολεία, που είναι απαραίτητα για να ζήσει ένα νέο ζευγάρι στην περιφέρεια.

ΑΦΙΕΡΩΜΕΝΟ

You are now entering the nonlinearity zone…

By Paul Beckwith

Adapted from a September 28, 2012, post at the Sierra Club Canada blog

Push something and it moves a little. Push it a little more and it moves a little more. This is called a “linearity” response. But sometimes a little push can lead to something totally unexpected! This is called “nonlinearity” and, contrary to what one might think, nonlinearities are inherent in most systems - like our atmosphere, for example. In fact, abrupt and unexpected change happens at some point in most systems - we even have a saying for such unexpected outcomes: a tipping point.

Until recently, our atmosphere and oceans behaved like linear systems: incremental dumping of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere caused incremental changes, like rising temperatures and predictable rates of ice melt. But things are now changing unexpectedly fast – nonlinearity is kicking in! We only have to look at the rapidly vanishing arctic icecap for astonishing evidence.

A few years ago, I felt compelled to leave my previous pursuits in Engineering Physics (and chess master) to begin a PhD thesis focusing on abrupt climate change. I felt the planet’s climate was approaching several tipping points and analysis of Paleoclimatology records (tree rings, ice cores, ocean sediment, etc.) may provide evidence on what tipping points – nonlinearities – we might expect to see first (and maybe prevent).



Sadly, I’m late to the game. The rapidly disappearing Arctic icecap is a tipping point in motion. In all likelihood, statistically speaking, it’s gone, history. Within a few years when the ice disappears entirely, for the first time in 3 (or as many as 13) million years, hold on because our weather patterns will be drastically destabilized. Most folks in my field are still reluctant to acknowledge this 800 pound gorilla staring us right in the face.

Image credit: Sam Carana in Methane in the Arctic 

Methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas (105 times more efficient at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over 20 years, see image left) is a product of ancient wetlands, locked in permafrost and ocean sediments for millions of years. Today, warming air and seawater causes methane to be released more quickly. In the ocean off Siberia, methane plumes greater than one kilometre in diameter have been observed. Shocking stuff in my business.

And other tipping points abound. If the melting Arctic icecap isn’t bad enough, how about persistent droughts turning the Amazon rainforest into dry savannah? Much of the forest would burn first, delivering the double whammy of massive carbon emissions and the loss of a vital carbon sink.

Or how about collapsing boreal forest ecosystems. In Canada, drought-stressed trees, not already under attack by mountain pine beetles and emerald ash borers, would surely burn in the new norm of arid heat waves.

Perhaps the Greenland ice sheet will be the ultimate smoking gun. It contains enough water to raise global sea level by seven metres. With melt rates doubling every few years, knowing what I know, I can honestly say I am gravely concerned. Many models predict Greenland’s ice sheet will be ‘ok’ for another 3 centuries, but as I wrote in my last blog, you can officially pitch those models out the window.

Unlike our ancestors, humanity has a shot at stopping this – that is, if we throw everything we have at it. But we need to urgently focus on doing two things: radically reduce carbon emissions and prevent further warming of the Arctic Ocean; and keep as much methane locked underground as possible (we have the technology to do this today).

We have officially entered the realm of unknown-unknowns; the nonlinearity zone.

The question is will politicians reach the tipping point of reason?

Posted with author's permission. Earlier posted at Sierra Club Canada. Paul Beckwith is a PhD student with the laboratory for paleoclimatology and climatology, department of geography, University of Ottawa. 

Vanishing Arctic sea ice is rapidly changing global climate

By Paul Beckwith

Adapted from a September 21, 2012, post at the Sierra Club Canada blog

About 5 million years ago continental drift pushed North and South America together, creating the Isthmus of Panama where the Central American Seaway ocean passage had previously existed. The Pacific and Atlantic were no longer connected, drastically altering global ocean currents and atmospheric circulation patterns. As the Atlantic Gulf Stream strengthened, it carried vast amounts of moisture into the northern regions. The Arctic eventually cooled and it’s estimated sea ice cover has existed continuously in the Arctic Ocean for 3 million years, possibly for as long as 13 million years.

Slow cycling between cold and warm periods occurred on Earth many times due to the planet's changing orbit, tilt, and position relative to the sun. This caused the sea ice to wax and wane in size but it always persisted, never vanishing. Not any longer. The sea ice will disappear for longer and longer periods over the coming years until it is finally gone for good, likely within a decade.

The world will be a different place - just like the world from 3, or even 13, million years ago. No longer will the bright white parasol on the top of the world reflect sunlight and keep the Arctic cool. Dark seawater will absorb light and rapid Arctic warming will quickly decrease temperature gradients between the pole and equator. Jet streams will slow down, meander and change tracks. Storms will change in location, intensity, frequency, and speed and everything that humans know about weather and seasons for growing food will be obsolete. Everything.

Higher global temperatures will cause more evaporation, putting more water vapor into the atmosphere. Condensing into clouds, huge amounts of heat will be released, fueling even larger and more frequent storms.

Throw out the models that project disturbing climate effects in 2100. They're happening now! Already we're seeing rising sea levels from the massive and accelerating Greenland ice melt. The rapid warming of southern oceans is melting and destabilizing Antarctic ice from below, causing enormous chunks to break off (we’ve all seen them on TV). And big increases in Arctic temperatures mean terrestrial permafrost is melting and the now-warmer continental shelf sea floor is releasing increasing amounts of methane gas, a potent climate change gas.

Why is the sea ice getting hammered? Feedback loops. Unknown unknowns

NASA images showing the difference between sea ice cover between 1980 and 2012.

A very rare cyclone churned up the entire Arctic region for over a week in early August, destroying 20% of the ice area by breaking it into tiny chunks, melting it, or spitting it into the Atlantic. Cold fresh surface water from melted sea ice mixed with warm salty water from a 500 metre depth! Totally unexpected. A few more cyclones with similar intensity could have eliminated the entire remaining ice cover. Thankfully that didn't happen. What did happen was Hurricane Leslie tracked northward and passed over Iceland as a large storm. It barely missed the Arctic this time. Had the storm tracked 500 to 600 kilometres westward, Leslie would have churned up the west coast of Greenland and penetrated directly into the Arctic Ocean basin.

We dodged a bullet, at least this year. This luck will surely run out. What can we do about this? How about getting our politicians to listen to climatologists, for starters.

Posted with author's permission. Earlier posted at Sierra Club Canada. Paul Beckwith is a PhD student with the laboratory for paleoclimatology and climatology, department of geography, University of Ottawa.