Tips for Healthy Life

Again: Beware of Sleep disorders

2009-06-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Poor quality sleep - whether from insomnia, sleep fragmentation, or nightmares - is associated with increased risk of death, according to several presentations this week in Seattle at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
One study, conducted at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania, suggests that insomnia may be as hazardous as obstructive sleep apnea.
"Insomnia with objective short sleep duration is associated with an activation of the stress system, i.e., higher secretion of cortisol and increased risk of high blood pressure," said lead author Dr. Alexandros Vgontzas. He and his associates examined the effects of insomnia that persisted for at least 1 year and objective short sleep duration on mortality.
linkto

Airway Exercise May Heal Snorring

2009-05-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Snorring: get correct routine exercise to fix it!
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Exercises involving the tongue and soft palate may reduce the severity and symptoms in patients with moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), sleep specialists report in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

OSA is a condition in which the throat muscles collapse during sleep, preventing oxygen from getting to the lungs. These episodes, called "apnea," are followed by loud snoring and labored breathing. The sleeper is eventually aroused from deep sleep as he struggles to breath. This all results in overall poor sleep quality, followed by daytime drowsiness.

A recent study showed that playing the didgeridoo to train the upper airway muscles "significantly ameliorated OSA syndrome severity and associated symptoms," according to principal investigator Dr. Geraldo Lorenzi-Filho and associates at the University of Sao Paulo Medical School in Brazil. A didgeridoo is a wind instrument used by Australian Aborigines consisting of a long thick hollowed-out wooden pipe that makes a deep reverberating sound.

With this in mind, the researchers chose a set of isometric and isotonic exercises for the tongue and soft palate area (oropharyngeal area) derived from speech therapy training that involved suction, swallowing, chewing, breathing and speech. In a clinical trial, 31 patients were randomly assigned to the exercise regimen (to be performed for 30 minutes each day for 3 months), or to a sham "deep breathing" therapy.

Read more

Smoking to Reduce Weight: No Kidding?

2009-05-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

I don't want to promote smoking. I had heard that rumours that smoking can reduce weight. I started smoking 10 years ago, but it never give me ideal weight. Once I was very satisfied to my shape, it is due to diet and very much exercise. But at least, finally I know that the rumours have background.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Offering clues to why smokers often gain weight after quitting, a new study suggests that smoking enhances the activity of a gene that helps break down body fat.
Researchers found that compared with non-smokers, a group of healthy smokers showed greater activity in a gene called AZGP1 in cell samples taken from their airways.
Because the gene is thought to be important in breaking down fat and controlling weight, the findings point to one possible reason that smokers tend to weigh less than non-smokers -- and why people often put on pounds after quitting.

Read more

Regarding high levels of lead in blood

2009-04-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older women with high levels of lead in their blood are likely to die sooner -- particularly from heart disease -- than their counterparts with low lead levels, new research indicates.
Those with lead concentrations above 8 micrograms per deciliter of blood were 59 percent more likely to die of any cause, and three times more likely to die of heart disease, than women with lower blood lead levels.
Results of the most recent US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2001-2002) indicate that average blood lead levels have declined sharply -- relative to earlier surveys -- to 1.45 micrograms per deciliter.
read more

Caution with multivitamins

2009-04-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More than 30 percent of multivitamins tested recently by ConsumerLab.com contained significantly more or less of an ingredient than claimed, or were contaminated with lead, the company reports.
ConsumerLab.com, based in White Plains, New York, is privately held and provides consumer information and independent evaluations of products that affect health and nutrition. According to the company, it is neither owned by nor has a financial interest in any companies that make, distribute or sell consumer products.
Several multivitamin products tested, including three for children, exceeded tolerable upper limits established by the Institute of Medicine for ingredients such as vitamin A, folic acid, niacin and zinc, according to the report posted on http://www.consumerlab.com/.

The waist size influence a person's risk of heart failure

2009-04-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Both body mass index (BMI) and waist size influence a person's risk of being hospitalized with heart failure or dying of the condition, new research shows.
"This study reinforces the importance of maintaining a healthy body weight through diet and exercise," Dr. Emily B. Levitan of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, a researcher on the study, told Reuters Health.
In heart failure, the organ becomes too weak to pump blood efficiently through a person's body, leading to fatigue, swelling of the legs, and difficulty breathing. Heart failure is the top cause of hospitalization among Americans 65 and older, Levitan and her colleagues note in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.
Read more

Go to Nicotine replacement

2009-04-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

LONDON (Reuters) - Nicotine replacement therapy can help smokers quit even when they do not think they are ready, researchers reported on Friday.
Smokers who do not yet want to quit but are prepared to reduce their smoking are twice as likely to stop in the long term if they use nicotine replacements to help them cut down gradually, the University of Birmingham team reported.
"Until now experts have advised people not to reduce their smoking but to quit abruptly," Paul Aveyard, one of the researchers, said in a telephone interview. "The worry has been that advising reduction will somehow deter people from the better alternative, which is stopping right now," he added.
The team reviewed seven trials involving nearly 3,000 people. Overall, 6.75 percent of those using some type of nicotine replacement were able to go six months without smoking -- twice as many as those who were given placebos.
Studies suggest half of those who manage six months without smoking will maintain it for the rest of their lives.
Aveyard said the review also looked into the safety of smoking while using nicotine replacements, something which had previously been advised against, and found there was no suggestion of any serious health problems.
read more

Omega 3 Diet Reduce Cancer Risk

2009-04-02T06:36:00.000-07:00

LONDON (Reuters) - An omega 3 fatty acid found in fish oils reduced the size of tumors in mice and made a chemotherapy drug more potent while limiting its harmful effects, Egyptian researchers reported on Thursday.
The findings, published in publisher BioMed Central's peer-reviewed Cell Division journal, add to evidence showing a range of health benefits from eating the fatty acids found in foods such as salmon.
A.M. El-Mowafy and colleagues from Mansoura University in Egypt looked at how an omega 3 fatty acid called docosahexanoic acid, or DHA, affected solid tumors growing in mice and how well it interacted with the chemotherapy drug cisplatin.
In March, U.S. researchers showed that a diet high in omega 3 fatty acids -- the kind found in fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring and sardines -- protected against advanced prostate cancer even in men more at risk of the disease.
Read more

Sleep problems may lead to Suicide

2009-04-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

LONDON (Reuters) - People who suffer chronic sleep problems are more likely to think about suicide or actually try to kill themselves, researchers said on Wednesday.
The more types of sleep disturbances a person had -- such as waking up too early, difficulty falling asleep or lying awake at night -- upped the odds of suicidal thoughts, planning a suicide, or attempting it, researchers told a conference.
"People with two or more sleep symptoms were 2.6 times more likely to report a suicide attempt than those without any insomnia complaints," Marcin Wojnar, a researcher at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the Medical University of Poland, who led the study, said in a statement.
"This has implications for public health as the presence of sleep problems should alert doctors to assess such patients for a heightened risk of suicide even if they don't have a psychiatric condition."
According to the World Health Organization, some 877,000 people worldwide kill themselves each year. For every suicide death, anywhere from 10 to 40 attempts are made, the U.N. agency estimates.
Readmore

Germy Mouth May not be Dentist business Alone

2009-04-01T07:05:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People with the germiest mouths are the most likely to have heart attacks, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.
A study that compared heart attack victims to healthy volunteers found the heart patients had higher numbers of bacteria in their mouths, the researchers said.
Their findings add to a growing body of evidence linking oral hygiene with overall health.
Oelisoa Andriankaja and colleagues at the University at Buffalo in New York were trying to find if any particular species of bacteria might be causing heart attacks.
Their tests on 386 men and women who had suffered heart attacks and 840 people free of heart trouble showed two types -- Tannerella forsynthesis and Prevotella intermedia -- were more common among the heart attack patients.
Read more

Risk of Heart Attack is more on Women in Living with Parents Marriage

2009-03-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

It's for women, not men. After reading this reports, many wives will go to their husband with ultimatum, to leave the parents or ...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women, but not men, who live in households with a spouse, children, and parents have double the risk for a coronary event, such as a heart attack or need for heart surgery, as women who live only with a spouse, according to research from Japan.
Stress may play a role in this increased risk, as about a quarter of the women living in a three-generation household or living with a spouse and parent reported high stress. Fewer women were highly stressed when they lived alone, with a spouse, or with a spouse and child, Professor H. Iso and colleagues report in the journal Heart.

However, among the women, those living in three-generation households had twice the risk for heart-related events as women living only with a spouse. Moreover, women living with spouses and parents had triple the risk for heart problems compared with women living only with a spouse.

Read more

Trigger for Migraine

2009-03-26T01:31:00.000-07:00

March 11 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists believe they may have found the biological trigger to a particular type of migraine headache.
In the March 12 issue of Neuron, an Italian university study on mice found that increased levels of the neurotransmitter glutamate in the brain appear to kick off a cortical spreading depression (CSD), a phenomenon that causes migraine sufferers to experience a visual disturbance known as migraine aura. The mice in the study had a gene mutation that has been shown to make people more susceptible to familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM), a subtype of severe migraine accompanied by the aura.
Brain imaging has previously shown that strong neuronal depolarization creeps across the cerebral cortex during CSD, initially increasing electrical signals in the brain, then suppressing neural activity for an extended period of time. Researchers have suspected CSD may flip on certain switches that start a migraine headache.
The researchers from the University of Padova, led by senior author Daniela Pietrobon, found that calcium influx and subsequent glutamate release at cortical pyramidal cell synapses were greater in mice with the FHM mutation. When the release of glutamate -- the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain -- was decreased to normal levels, the mice did not experience aura-inducing CSD.

Study: A Heart Disease Risk Person is also a Cancer High Risk

2009-03-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

Now, avoid heart disease, you may get free from cancer risk as well.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A protein that signals inflammation and heart disease may also show that a person has a high risk of cancer, researchers said on Friday.
People with high levels of C-reactive protein or CRP, already being studied for its links to heart disease, had a 30 percent higher risk of cancer, Danish researchers found. And cancer patients with the highest CRP levels were 80 percent more likely to die early, they found.
Five years after cancer diagnosis, 40 percent of patients with high CRP levels were alive, compared with 70 percent of patients with low CRP levels.
read more

Green Leaf Vegetables Reduces Cancer Risk

2009-03-20T23:10:00.000-07:00

Beside the fact in this study that it is significant to men than women(?), we must take that consistently vegetables may lower colorectal cancer.

Our study, consistent with findings from the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort Study (observed that vegetable intake was related to lower risk of colorectal cancer for men but not for women. This gender difference may be partially explained by differential reporting errors. Studies have found that healthful attitudes, beliefs, and dietary habits were more strongly correlated with vegetable intake among women than among men and that women overreported foods perceived as healthy. Misreporting of fruit and vegetable intakes by women in our study would have led to exposure misclassification, resulting in an attenuated association.

In this large, prospective cohort study with 2,972 incident colorectal cancer cases and extensive information on diet and other colorectal cancer risk factors, the researcher observed that vegetable intake was associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer for men but not for women. The association was stronger among individuals with very low intakes of fruits and vegetables, suggesting a certain minimum amount of daily fruit and vegetable consumption to avoid increased risk of colorectal cancer. Among subgroups of vegetables, green leafy vegetable intake was inversely associated with risk of colorectal cancer for men.

Obesity: Again, blame it to the genes

2009-03-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have found a gene responsible for turning a plate of pasta into fat, offering new clues about how the body metabolizes carbohydrates and how they contribute to obesity.
The gene, called DNA-PK, appears to regulate the process in the liver that turns carbohydrates into fat, the University of California, Berkeley team reported on Thursday in the journal Cell.
"We hope that this research will one day help people eat bread, pasta and rice and not worry about getting fat," Roger Wong, a graduate student who worked on the study, said in a statement.
When they bred mice with a disabled version of this gene, the mice stayed slim even when fed the equivalent of an all-you-can-eat pasta buffet.
Read more

Purified Water is Bad for Our Health?

2009-03-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well, actually I don't know if it is real. But the person who says it is an MD and logically acceptable. Do I have to take care of what I drink as well (as a matter of fact, my fresh water drink), while a lot of notice on food security already? Fresh water should be good for our health.

Reverse osmosis or purified water is free of dissolved minerals and, because of this, has the special property of being able to actively absorb toxic substances from the body and eliminate them. Studies validate the benefits of drinking purified water when one is seeking to cleanse or detoxify the system for short periods of time (a few weeks at a time).

The more purified water a person drinks, the higher the body acidity becomes. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Purified" water, being essentially mineral-free, is very aggressive, in that it tends to dissolve substances with which it is in contact.

There is a correlation between the consumption of soft water (purified water is extremely soft) and the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Cells, tissues and organs do not like to be dipped in acid and will do anything to buffer this acidity including the removal of minerals from the skeleton and the manufacture of bicarbonate in the blood.

Full Article

Source

Genes determine cancer risk of smokers?

2009-03-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Certain changes in a gene called ADAM33 can determine whether a smoker is likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or not, new research indicates.
Only about a quarter of long-term smokers develop COPD, the authors note. ADAM33 has been shown in previous studies to be associated with asthma and overreactive airways. This relationship, however, has not been studied in tobacco smokers who are susceptible to COPD.
In the new study, the research team looked for small genetic changes or "polymorphisms" in ADAM33 in 880 long-term heavy smokers.
Two hundred eighty-seven of the study subjects had COPD and 311 did not. All of them were older than age 50 years and all had been smoking at least a pack of cigarettes each day for 20 years. Ninety-seven percent of the subjects were male.
Read more

Green Tea for gum health

2009-03-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A cup of green tea per day may help keep gum disease at bay, a new study suggests.Researchers found that among middle-aged Japanese, the odds of having gum disease declined as the men's intake of green tea rose.
For each daily cup they drank, the risk of having signs of gum disease -- including receding, easily bleeding gums -- inched downward, the researchers report in the Journal of Periodontology.
The findings do not mean, however, that green tea is a substitute for seeing the dentist. The relationship between green tea and lower odds of gum disease was fairly weak, Dr. Yoshihiro Shimazaki, one of the researchers on the study, told Reuters Health.

Champagne Has Benefits for your Brain Cells Health

2009-03-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

According to research published in the April 18 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Champagne may help protect the brain against injuries incurred during a stroke and other ailments, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
According to the report, which is a collaboration between researchers at the University of Reading in England and the Università degli studi di Cagliari, located in Monserrato, Italy, drinking Champagne responsibly may benefit one's health because previous research has shown the sparkling wine contains high amounts of polyphenols.
"There has been much recent interest in the potential of plant-derived polyphenols to protect against neuronal injury," wrote the study's authors. In previous research, they said, regular, moderate consumption of red wine has also been shown to help slow down premature aging and improve circulation.
Polyphenols are known antioxidants, which are believed to help prevent cell death due to oxidative stress. Though polyphenols are found in greater abundance in red wines, mainly due to longer exposure to the grape seeds and skins during the winemaking process, past studies have found Champagne to contain high amounts of other types of phenolic compounds, such as tyrosol and caffeic acid.
In order to test if the polyphenols found in Champagne are similarly beneficial to those in red wines, the scientists prepared extracts from blanc de blancs Champagnes (made with Chardonnay only) and blanc de noir Champagnes (made exclusively from Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier). After confirming that the extracts contained measurable levels of the aforementioned polyphenols, the scientist prepared several samples of cortical neuron cells from mice.
Some of the cells were left alone to serve as a control group, while the others were pretreated with the Champagne extracts. Once the nerve cells were observed to be firing, the scientists simulated a stroke by exposing the cells to a compound called peroxynitrite, a reactive compound formed in the brain during inflammatory conditions.
The scientists monitored the way the brain cells reacted to the presence of the peroxynitrite, and found that "pretreatment with Champagne wine extracts resulted in significant protection against neurotoxicity." The blanc de noir extract offered the greater protection because of the red-wine component, the authors wrote, though they pointed out that the amounts of polyphenols in Champagne vary greatly from "variety, vintage and a wide range of environmental factors."
The scientists believe the Champagne extracts protected neuron cells in several ways, noting that in the sample with the highest concentration of sparkling wine, brain-cell function was completely restored over time. The researchers added that caffeic acid and tyrosol may help to regulate the cells' response to injury with their anti-inflammatory properties. The compounds also act as cellular-level mops, essentially cleaning up and removing harmful chemicals from the body.
The scientists also wrote that there is evidence that dietary polyphenols can cross the "blood-brain barrier," which would suggest that the above molecular behavior has the potential to act in the same way, within the human central nervous system, if consumed.
"At this stage it is too early to say whether drinking Champagne may have a beneficial effect on brain aging," said Spencer, as it remains to be seen if the wine would have a similar effect on human brain cells as it did on those of mice. "However, we are about to begin a new human investigation where we will attempt to address this. Hopefully we will be able to shed more light on the potential beneficial effects of Champagne on human health in the future," he said.
Read more

Green Tea Drinkers have lower cancer risk

2009-03-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who get plenty of mushrooms and green tea in their diets may have a lower risk of developing breast cancer, new study findings suggest
The study, of more than 2,000 Chinese women, found that the more fresh and dried mushrooms the women ate, the lower was their breast cancer risk.
The risk was lower still among those who also drank green tea everyday.
It's known that the rate of breast cancer in China is four- to five- times lower than rates typically seen in developed countries -- though the rate has been climbing over the past few decades in the most affluent parts of China.
Drink Green Tea is worthed.
Read more

Saliva may reveal your health condition

2009-02-27T08:05:00.000-08:00

LONDON (Reuters) - Bacteria found in people's spit does not vary much around the world, a surprising finding that could provide insights into how diet and cultural factors affect human health, researchers said on Thursday.
Because the human body harbors 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells, scientists are trying to understand more about the bacteria we carry.
The human mouth is a major gateway for bacteria into the body and it contains a diverse array of microbial species. Yet scientists know little about this diversity and how it relates to diet, environment, health and disease, they added.
The saliva microbiome does not vary substantially around the world," Stoneking said in a statement. "Which seems surprising given the large diversity in diet and other cultural factors that could influence the human salivary microbiome."
read more

15 minutes Sprint is good to prevent diabetes

2009-02-17T08:09:00.000-08:00

A few minutes of intense exercise a week is just as good as a half-hour of moderate physical activity a day for reducing a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes -- and may actually be even more effective, new research hints.
"It is possible to gain significant health benefits from only 7.5 minutes of exercise each week -- if that is all that you find the time to do," Dr. James A. Timmons of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, one of the researchers on the study, told Reuters Health.
Timmons and his team found that young sedentary men who did just 15 minutes of all-out sprinting on an exercise bike spread out over two weeks substantially improved their ability to metabolize glucose (sugar). Traditional aerobic exercise programs can boost sensitivity to the key blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin. The high-intensity program did this too, but it also directly reduced the men's blood sugar levels -- something that standard exercise programs have not been shown to do.
Based on the findings, Timmons told Reuters Health, people should try for four to six 30-second bouts of intense exercise, such as cycling or running up stairs, twice a week. While this is appropriate for people 20 to 40 years old who are in good health but not fit, he added, people with diabetes or heart disease should gradually increase their activity under a doctor's supervision.
Read more

Gambler? Blame it To the Genes!

2009-02-11T06:57:00.000-08:00

Reuters reports that genes important for mood and risk-taking likely played a clear role, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.
They found surprisingly clear-cut links between two genes and the willingness of people to gamble with money.
The study, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, supports others that point to brain chemicals and their roles in financial risk-taking.
The genes involve dopamine, a brain chemical known as a neurotransmitter linked with movement and risk-taking, and serotonin, a neurotransmitter important in controlling mood.
People with the "high-risk" version of the dopamine gene tended to invest in risky but potentially lucrative propositions, while those with the "high anxiety" version of serotonin managed their money more carefully, Camelia Kuhnen and Joan Chiao of Northwestern University in Chicago reported.

Aspirin may avoid colon cancer

2009-02-11T06:55:00.000-08:00

Taking aspirin daily may cut one's chances of developing the polyps that can lead to colorectal cancer, giving people at high risk for the disease a useful preventive tool, researchers said on Tuesday.
Colon and rectal cancer kills about 630,000 people a year worldwide, and researchers are eager to find ways for people to lower their risk -- particularly those with a history of precancerous polyps, also called adenomas.
Bernard Cole of the University of Vermont and colleagues combined data from four studies involving 2,698 people from the United States, Canada, Britain, Denmark and France to see if daily aspirin prevented recurrence of these polyps.
The people who took aspirin were 28 percent less likely to develop advanced adenomas than those taking a placebo and 17 percent less likely to develop any adenoma.
Read more

Drink coffee is related to dementia

2009-02-03T08:12:00.001-08:00

By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In more good news for coffee lovers, a new study suggests that middle-aged adults who regularly drink a cup of java may have a lower risk of developing dementia later in life.
Whether coffee itself deserves the credit is not yet clear, but researchers say the findings at least suggest that coffee drinkers can enjoy that morning cup "in good conscience."
The study found that among 1,400 Finnish adults followed for 20 years, those who drank three to five cups of coffee per day in middle-age were two-thirds less likely than non-drinkers to develop dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.
The findings, reported in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, add to a string of studies finding that coffee drinkers have lower risks of several diseases, including Parkinson's disease, certain cancers and diabetes.

Stroke: Well known Risk With New Prove

2009-01-12T06:59:00.000-08:00

Smokers whose family members have had a type of bleeding stroke are six times more likely to suffer the same fate than people without these risk factors, according to a new study.
The stroke type known as an "aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage" -- essentially a burst blood vessel in the brain -- runs in families, note Dr. Daniel Woo and others in the medical journal Neurology, and they wanted to see if smoking added to the hereditary risk.
Their study, funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, compared 339 patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage with 1016 "controls" without the condition, matched by age, race and gender
Read more

A Story about Obese in USA

2009-01-11T09:01:00.000-08:00

The number of obese American adults outweighs the number of those who are merely overweight, according to the latest statistics from the federal government.
Numbers posted by the National Center for Health Statistics show that more than 34 percent of Americans are obese, compared to 32.7 percent who are overweight. It said just under 6 percent are "extremely" obese.
Obesity and overweight are calculated using a formula called body mass index. BMI is equal to weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. Someone with a BMI of 25 to 29 is classified as overweight, 30 to 40 counts as obese and people with BMIs of 40 or more are morbidly obese.
Being overweight or obese raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, arthritis and other conditions.
Read more

Playing Computer Game may Heal Trauma

2009-01-09T08:11:00.000-08:00

Playing Tetris immediately after traumatic events appears to reduce flashbacks that plague sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a British study. The question is, can the traumatic victims be lead to tetris? It still needs care and love from people for the first aid.
The preliminary findings could lead to new treatments to prevent or cut flashbacks that are a hallmark of the condition, also known as PTSD, Oxford University researchers said.
"This is only a first step in showing that this might be a viable approach to preventing post traumatic stress disorder," Emily Holmes, a psychologist who led the study, said.
"This was a pure science experiment about how the mind works from which we can try to understand the bigger picture," Holmes said in a statement.
The game involves manipulating shapes composed of square blocks that fall down the screen to create a horizontal line of blocks without gaps. When a line is created it disappears.
The researchers believe that recognizing the shapes and moving the coloucoloredred building blocks around in the computer game competes with the visions of trauma retained in the sensory part of the brain.

See, it is to "forget" the trauma, not heal it for the first place.

Read more

EATING LATE AND GAINING WEIGHT: just a myth

2008-12-22T07:54:00.000-08:00

Putting on pounds in the festive period almost seems inevitable but to avoid unwanted weight gain it has been suggested that people avoid eating late at night.
The idea is that you cannot burn off the calories if you are asleep.
But this is not supported by the evidence.
A Swedish study found that obese women were more likely to eat at night, but they also ate more in general.
In another study of more than 2,500 patients, eating at night was not associated with weight gain but eating more than three meals a day was.
Ultimately, taking in more calories makes you gain weight whenever you eat them, the researchers said.

Circumcision Avoid AIDS and HPV

2008-12-18T07:13:00.000-08:00

Three studies published on Wednesday add to evidence that circumcision can protect men from the deadly AIDS virus and the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

First, Dr. Bertran Auvert of the University of Versailles in France and colleagues in South Africa tested more than 1,200 men visiting a clinic in South Africa,
They found under 15 percent of the circumcised men and 22 percent of the uncircumcised men were infected with the human papilloma virus, or HPV, which is the main cause of cervical cancer and genital warts.
"This finding explains why women with circumcised partners are at a lower risk of cervical cancer than other women," they wrote in their report.
Second, Oregon Health & Science University study conclude that the circumcised men were about half as likely to have HPV as uncircumcised men, after adjustment for other differences between the two groups.
In the third report, Lee Warner of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and colleagues tested African-American men in Baltimore and found 10 percent of those at high risk of infection with HIV who were circumcised had the virus, compared to 22 percent of those who were not.
Read more

USA people: the best informed about food and enjoy it the least

2008-12-13T06:34:00.000-08:00

If you’re a well-informed, health-conscious New Yorker who has put on some unwanted pounds in the past year, it might not be entirely your fault. Here’s a possible alibi: The health halo made you do it.
I offer this alibi after an experiment on New Yorkers that I conducted with Pierre Chandon, a Frenchman who has been studying what researchers call the American obesity paradox. Why, as Americans have paid more and more attention to eating healthily, have we kept getting fatter and fatter?
Dr. Chandon’s answer, derived from laboratory experiments as well as field work at Subway and McDonald’s restaurants, is that Americans have been seduced into overeating by the so-called health halo associated with certain foods and restaurants. His research made me wonder if New Yorkers were particularly vulnerable to this problem, and I asked him to help me investigate.
Something which is interesting is the comment in the last paragraphs in the article:
More generally, Dr. Chandon advises American consumers, food companies and public officials to spend less time obsessing about “good” versus “bad” food.
“Being French, I don’t have any problem with people enjoying lots of foods,” he said.
“Europeans obsess less about nutrition but know what a reasonable portion size is and when they have had too much food, so they’re not as biased by food and diet fads and are healthier. Too many Americans believe that to lose weight, what you eat matters more than how much you eat. It’s the country where people are the best informed about food and enjoy it the least.”

Cost of Junk Food

2008-12-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

The organization’s dieticians reviewed so-called value menus at five of the largest fast food chains in the nation, awarding points for such unhealthy characteristics as sodium, fat and low-fiber content.
Jack in the Box’s junior bacon cheeseburger topped the list as the worst offender. The burger costs just one dollar but is packed with 23 grams of fat, including 8 grams of saturated fat, 55 milligrams of cholesterol and 860 milligrams of sodium and just one gram of fiber.
The Cancer Project is affiliated with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which aggressively promotes a low-fat, vegetarian diet. The organization’s list was spurred in part by a concern that during tough economic times, more people will resort to eating inexpensive fast foods, said Krista Haynes, a dietitian with the project.
read more

Heart rates may show obesity and diabetes symptoms

2008-12-12T08:04:00.000-08:00

High resting heart rates may be linked to the development of obesity and diabetes, a Japanese study shows.
Heart rate is regulated by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), a network of neurons in the body operating without conscious thought. It is also believed to affect the large intestine, blood vessels, pupil dilation, perspiration and blood pressure.
In an article published in the American Journal of Hypertension, researchers in Japan said people with resting heart rates of over 80 beats per minute had higher odds of developing insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular problems.
Compared to those with heart rates of under 60, those who had rates of more than 80 were 1.34 times more likely to be obese, 1.2 times more likely to develop insulin resistance and 4.39 times more likely to end up diabetic.
read more

Money is the god of motivation, also in diet

2008-12-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Losing weight is easier when there is money on the line, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.They said weight-loss programs that reward people with money -- and remind them of the cash they stand to lose if they fail -- provided a powerful incentive to lose weight compared with more conventional approaches.Everything is more effective if shown the money to it.

Still, money is the god of motivation., because the study says that it is highly effective at producing short-term weight loss, but when the money stopped flowing, the weight begin to creep back on

The benefit of cabbage

2008-12-10T06:31:00.000-08:00

Cabbage is a very economical vegetable that is easy to find in any supermarket and it gives you a huge nutritional bang for your buck. This humble food has always been a mainstay for the poor and in cold climates people of all classes have relied on it to feed themselves through many a winter.

Cabbage is “the most important [vegetable] in the world from the point of view of nutritional benefits and cancer-fighting ability.” Cabbage possesses phytochemicals including sulforaphane, which studies suggest protects the body against cancer-causing free radicals, and indoles, which help metabolize estrogens. It’s also an excellent source of vitamins K and C, and a very good source of dietary fiber, vitamin B6, folate, manganese and Omega 3 fatty acids.

Sodium Diet: Not only salty foods

2008-12-07T22:12:00.000-08:00

We have to give more attention to our sodium diet. We may have reduced our salty foods, but, according to an analysis of supermarket products by a consumer group, some sweet snacks, breakfast foods and low-fat foods contain high levels of sodium even though they may not taste salty.
Salt increases the risk of developing high blood pressure and related cardiovascular problems, and federal dietary guidelines recommend limiting salt intake to 2,300 milligrams a day. The average American consumes 2,900 to 4,300 milligrams of natrium/sodium a day. It has been too much, actually.
The American Medical Association has estimated that 150,000 lives could be saved each year if Americans cut their salt intake in half, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer watchdog group, has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to regulate salt in foods.
Read more

Only 65% Americans do sufficient aerobic activities

2008-12-06T07:42:00.000-08:00

Many Americans are failing to meet the minimum recommendations for exercise, although confusing guidelines are making it difficult to assess, researchers reported on Thursday.
"Additional efforts are needed to further increase physical activity," they concluded in the CDC's weekly report on death and disease.
Under guidelines released by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department in October, the minimum recommended aerobic physical activity is 150 minutes -- two and a half hours -- a week of moderate activity such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes a week of vigorous activity such as running.
Just under 65 percent of adults reached that goal, the CDC said.
I don't know about European and Asian countries. In developing country, if it is only 150 hrs a week, may be the people do more.
Read the news

Sick of your job? Health Study: It's common

2008-12-05T08:44:00.000-08:00

Sick of your job? Or you think your work makes you unheathy? You're not alone. It's common, actually.

The online survey, by global recruitment firm Kelly Services, polled about 115,000 people in 33 countries in Europe, Asia and the Pacific and North America this year.

On average, 19 percent of respondents globally said their job was adversely affecting their health, with an additional 13 percent saying their work was so stressful it was making it hard for them to sleep at night.
REad the news

Study: Junk Foods Lead to Alzheimer?

2008-12-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

A study show how a diet rich in fat, sugar and cholesterol could increase the risk of the most common type of alzheimer.
They come from a series of published papers by a researcher at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet, which show that mice fed junk food for nine months showed signs of developing the abnormal brain tangles strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease, a Swedish researcher said on Friday.
It is now suspected that a high intake of fat and cholesterol in combination with genetic factors ... can adversely affect several brain substances, which can be a contributory factor in the development of Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's disease is incurable and is the most common form of dementia among older people. It affects the regions of the brain involving thought, memory and language.
While the most advanced drugs have focused on removing clumps of beta amyloid protein that forms plaques in the brain, researchers are also now looking at therapies to address the toxic tangles caused by an abnormal build-up of the protein tau.
"All in all, the results give some indication of how Alzheimer's can be prevented, but more research in this field needs to be done before proper advice can be passed on to the general public," she said.

Acupuncture works better than chronic headaches drugs

2008-12-02T07:56:00.000-08:00

Acupuncture works better than drugs like aspirin to reduce the severity and frequency of chronic headaches, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
A review of studies involving nearly 4,000 patients with migraine, tension headache and other forms of chronic headache showed that that 62 percent of the acupuncture patients reported headache relief compared to 45 percent of people taking medications, the team at Duke University found.
Writing in Anesthesia and Analgesia, they said 53 percent of patients given true acupuncture were helped, compared to 45 percent receiving sham therapy involving needles inserted in non-medical positions.
Other studies have shown that acupuncture helped alleviate pain in patients who had surgery for head and neck cancer, can relieve hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms and can reduce chemotherapy-induced nausea.

Read the news

Testosterone Therapy: No Use!

2008-11-30T06:46:00.000-08:00

Healthy older men who given large doses of testosterone show increases in muscle mass and power will result nothing in physical function, a new study shows.
This was likely because the men in the current study were "unusually fit for their age," Dr. Thomas W. Storer of Boston University School of Medicine and colleagues say, meaning that the strength and muscle they gained didn't affect their already-excellent physical function.
Future investigations of testosterone therapy should be conducted in people who do have functional limitations, the researchers say, "so that there is room for demonstrable improvement in function with increased muscle strength."
Giving men extra testosterone can build muscle, but studies investigating its effects on performance and function have had mixed results, Storer and his team note in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Individual Response to Diet is Related to Four Genes

2008-11-28T17:25:00.000-08:00

The reports fro REUTERS highlight the necesity of treating every one individually in seeing response to diet and decease. The hope is, the future is brighter because the science make one step ahead.
Four genetic variations appear to determine the speed at which people burn up food, researchers said on Thursday, a finding that could one day see doctors offer their patients more individual care.
Differences in metabolism can make some people more susceptible to diseases such as diabetes and explain why response to diet, exercise and drugs to treat certain conditions varies from person to person.
Knowing right away how a person's body will break down molecules in the blood that build up muscle and cells and provide energy could lead to better care, said Karsten Suhre, a researcher at the Helmholtz Center in Munich.
Read the news

HEALTHY LIFE: EAT FISH

2008-11-27T04:23:00.001-08:00

Eating fish at least twice a week may reduce the incidence of kidney disease in patients with diabetes, according to findings from a large British study. It is a little bit shocking because commonly diabetics are advised to limit dietary protein to delay the progression of kidney disease.
Recent observations suggest that the benefit to the kidneys may have to do with "the protein source rather than quantity," the investigators note in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.

Read Reuters

Alzheimer is Related to Body Weight and Sexes!

2008-11-24T07:06:00.000-08:00

First, I was shock to read it. Alzheimer has something to do with weight? Actually, indeed. And it's different for men an women? According to the research, yes! Changes of weight?
Reuters says that women who are heavy in their middle years are at greater risk of Alzheimer's disease, especially if they have large waists. However, for men, being underweight during that period of life actually increases the likelihood of developing the degenerative brain disease, researchers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Weight loss could signal underlying disease processes related to the development of Alzheimer's disease, the team suggest, noting that other researchers have found that people with mild cognitive impairment who lose weight or are underweight are more likely to develop Alzheimer's.
There also appear to be close relationships between fat- and appetite-regulating hormones and brain function, the researchers add, while both excess fat and decline in mental function have been linked to inflammation.
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, November 15, 2008.
Read more

Tips to Keep Alzheimer Away

2008-11-21T08:59:00.000-08:00

Edythe London, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of California, Los Angeles speaks for CNN that there are at least five ways to keep alzheimer away.
1. Antioxidants
London makes sure her mother takes vitamins A, C, and E. They're antioxidants, which prevent cell damage and are believed by some to slow down diseases of aging. "There are studies that suggest antioxidants might prevent dementia," she says.
2. Fish oil supplements
Dr. Gary Small, director of the UCLA Center on Aging, says aging brains show signs of inflammation, and fish oil has anti-inflammatory properties.
3. Phosphatidylserine supplements
Phosphatidylserine is a lipid found naturally in the body. Small says he's not 100 percent convinced these supplements will help stave off dementia, but they're worth a try. "If I start having memory problems when I get older, I'll give them a trial run and see if they help," says Small, author of the new book "iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind."
4. Curry
Small, who's 57, says that as he gets older, he might also try eating more foods with curry in them. "Some studies in Singapore show that those who ate curry once a week had better memory scores," he said.
5. Cross-training your brain
"Our brains can be made stronger through exercise," says Andrew Carle, assistant professor of in the department of health administration and policy at George Mason University. "In the same way physical exercise can delay many of the effects of aging on the body, there's some evidence cognitive exercise can at least delay the onset of Alzheimer's."

Happy or Unhappy People: See Their TV hours

2008-11-19T23:06:00.000-08:00

NY Times begin his news with a statement that happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers — but they don’t spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds.
Is it correct? Don't people who watch TV happyh with their programs? Although people who describe themselves as happy enjoy watching television, it turns out to be the single activity they engage in less often than unhappy people, said John Robinson, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland and the author of the study, which appeared in the journal Social Indicators Research. TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less.
It's not like avoiding tv to be haappy, but if you want to a kind of know whether someone including you happy, just see their TV hours.

Good Exercise and Less Sleep is a Bad Combination for Cancer Risk

2008-11-18T07:17:00.000-08:00

Please see carefully this research : those who slept less than seven hours nightly had a 47 percent higher risk of cancer than those who got more sleep among the physically active women, the researchers reported at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
What does it mean? It means if you have enough exercise, you will get away from cancer. But if you are less sleep, which means seven and hal hours a day--according to a research, your exercise is not useful for you, in the term of cancer risk.
The study involving around 6 thousands women in Maryland confirmed previous findings that people who do regular physical activity are less likely to develop cancer.
But when the researchers looked at the women ages 18 to 65 who were in the upper half in terms of the amount of physical exercise they got per week, they found that sleep appeared to play an important role in cancer risk.
Sleep experts say chronic sleep loss is associated with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cardiovascular disease, depression, cigarette smoking and excessive drinking.

Family History Breat Cancer is Related to the Disease

2008-11-18T06:59:00.000-08:00

If you are a woman with a family history of breast cancer but who test negative for two genetic mutations commonly linked to it, you still have a very high risk of developing the disease, according Canadian researchers said on Monday.
Reuters report that these women are fourty percent risk to develop breast cancer than the average woman, according to researchers led by Dr. Steven Narod of the University of Toronto.
"I think we were surprised that it was that high. But certainly at that level of risk, one would think about preventive measures," Narod, who presented the findings at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
The women came from families with a history of breast cancer -- either two or more cases of breast cancer among close relatives under age 50 or at least three cases among close relatives of any age. Narod said it had been unclear exactly what risk breast cancer posed to women in these circumstances.
Read more
Also Read Breast Cancer Preventive

Liver Cancer is Related to Diabetes?

2008-11-15T05:51:00.000-08:00

Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have a significantly higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) compared to the common population, according to findings from a case-control study conducted in Italy.
The association of type (DM2) ... with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been long suspected.
It should be a warning from the type 2 Diabetee, although the reports also add:
"However, the temporal relationship between onset of diabetes and development of HCC, and the clinical and metabolic characteristics of patients with DM2 and HCC have not been well examined," said Dr. Valter Donadon, at Pordenone Hospital, and co-authors note in the October 7 issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology.
Read Reuters reports

Chronic Pain ? You may be Depressed

2008-11-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

The brains of individuals with major depressive disorder appear to react more strongly when anticipating pain and also display altered functioning of the neural network that modifies pain sensitivity, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Recurring or chronic pain occurs in more than 75 percent of patients with depression, and between 30 percent and 60 percent of patients with chronic pain report symptoms of depression Compared with the controls, patients with depression showed increased activation in certain areas of their brain—including the right amygdala—during the anticipation of painful stimuli. They also displayed increased activation in the right amygdala and decreased activation in other areas, including those responsible for pain modulation (adjusting sensitivity to pain), during the painful experience.

The First Victim of Economic Crisis: Women

2008-11-13T08:29:00.000-08:00

Mr. Obama introduced Mrs. Obama as "the rock of our family". The women are indeed. The holy stone of families. How if the economy turn down and turmoil? They are the first one who will stress out.
Stocks are tumbling, the U.S. economy may be in recession, and don't even look at your 401K. It's little wonder some people are stressed out, but women may be bearing the brunt of it.
In a recent survey, women expressed more fear about the economic situation than men and reported more physical and psychological effects because of related stress.
Read more in Reuters

Risk of Stroke with Non Fasting Triglyceride

2008-11-12T05:57:00.000-08:00

Reuters report a study from Copenhagen City Heart Study high levels of triglycerides, a fatty molecule found in the blood, detected while a person is not fasting, are associated with an increased risk of stroke.
Most studies examining this topic have focused only on triglyceride levels taken during fasting. The possibility of a link with nonfasting triglyceride levels is supported by two recent studies showing a direct relationship between these levels and the risks of heart attack and death.
The result suggest that elevated levels of nonfasting triglycerides could be considered together with elevated levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol for prediction of cardiovascular risk.
Read more

Sleep at least seven and half hours per day!

2008-11-11T06:16:00.000-08:00

Get enough Sleep! It keeps you away from from heart attack! It's what the researchers team lead by Kazuo Eguchi, M.D., Ph.D., at Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
Sleeping less than seven and a half hours per day may be associated with future risk of heart disease, according to a report in the November 10 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In addition, a combination of little sleep and overnight elevated blood pressure appears to be associated with an increased risk of the disease.
Read more
Also the recommended blog about healthy heart

Bad Odor is Brought to Our Bad Dreams

2008-11-08T07:20:00.000-08:00

German researchers have found that sleepers exposed to an unpleasant smell will have negative dreams. The opposite is also true. When subjects were exposed to the smell of roses, their dreams were predominantly positive. These olfactory observers used rotten eggs in their study, but we are sure that a stinky gym sock, left perched on the pillow of your enemy, would work just as well. While we’re fairly certain that the researchers didn’t plan to have their findings used in this manner, there are always unintended (and sometimes dastardly) consequences of scientific breakthroughs.
You may be laugh, but, it is true that good smell can boost your mood instantly. Wonder why you dreamed being chased by snake, beside your boyfriend's armpit? LOL
Read more

Women with migraines are 30% Less Breast Cancer

2008-11-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

Reuters report that women who have a history of migraine headaches are far less likely to develop breast cancer than other women, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
The study is the first to look at the relationship between breast cancer and migraines and its findings may point to new ways of reducing a woman's breast cancer risk, they said. They found women who had reported a clinical diagnosis of migraine had a 30 percent reduced risk of developing hormonally sensitive breast cancers.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide, with an estimated 465,000 deaths annually, according to the American Cancer Society.
Read more

Is Your Boyfriend a Narcissist?

2008-11-05T06:21:00.001-08:00

The new study found that narcissists are more likely to philander and dump their partners than people who view closeness and commitment as the most important parts of a relationship, said Ilan Shrira, a UF visiting psychologist.
Narcissists have a heightened sense of sexuality, but they tend to view sex very differently than other people do. They see sexuality more in terms of power, influence and as something daring, in contrast to people with low narcissistic qualities who associated sex more with caring and love. As a result, narcissists tend to go through a string of short-term relationships that don’t last long and are usually devoid of much intimacy.
Even when they’re in a relationship, they always seem to be on the lookout for other partners and searching for a better deal, whether that’s because of their heightened sexuality or because they think multiple partners enhance their self-image isn’t entirely clear.
Although narcissism and sexuality have been linked since the psychoanalytic writings of Freud, researchers have paid little attention to the connection, he said.
Typically, males are more narcissistic than females, who are known to place greater priority than men on personal relationships. Narcissists tend not to value relationships unless it’s for self-serving purposes,” he said.Narcissists often make a good first impression because of strong social skills that make them appear charming, and sometimes even empathetic, but this is usually only a ploy to attract attention. Once you get to know these people, you realize they’re very self-focused and are always bringing the conversation back to themselves.
In this research, Shrira collaborated with Joshua D. Foster, a University of South Alabama social psychologist, and W. Keith Campbell, a University of Georgia social psychologist and author of the 2005 book “When You Love a Man Who Loves Himself.”
Read more

Depression is Related to Chronic Pain

2008-11-04T08:36:00.000-08:00

Reuters reported that scientists have found clues in the brains of people with major depression that might help explain why so many depressed people also battle chronic pain, according to a U.S. study published on Monday.
Brain imaging showed people with depression had more activity in brain regions involved in emotions when they anticipated or experienced pain, the researchers found.
More than three quarters of depressed people have recurring or chronic pain, while 30 percent to 60 percent of people with chronic pain report symptoms of depression, the researchers wrote in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Read More

41% Women Says that Chocolate is Better than Sex

2008-10-31T08:25:00.000-07:00

Reuters said that among women, 36 percent considered chocolate as comforting and 41 percent said it brought them more pleasure than sex. Women are a bunch of mystery, aren't they? Men, who were in majority felt that nothing better than sex wouldn't understand it.
Studies show that a vast majority of people see chocolate -- mainly produced by international giants such as Swiss-based Nestle, Britain's Cadbury or U.S. Kraft Foods -- as one of their most regular sources of pleasure.
Research has demonstrated that when a person eats chocolate, the body releases dopamine, a chemical in the brain's reward centers that sends signals of pleasure.
Read More

Benefits of Walking : a Study

2008-10-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

Adding my post about walking planning for health, and an idea of walking to work, comparing running to walking, now I want to add some benefits of walking.
As a matter of face, University of Copenhagen researchers asked 10 volunteers to reduce their steps from an average of 10,500 per day to 1,300 (10,000, or roughly 5 miles, is considered ideal. The participants’ belly-fat levels increased by 7 percent after just two weeks of cutting back. Study authors say that skipping the gym doesn’t cause obesity; being sedentary is the real issue. “
It is nice to know that you can get the benefits of exercise by keeping physically busy and just walking. So next time take the stairs instead of the elevator or park your car a little further away and walk-the benefits really do add up.
So, what do you wait for. Start today. Or perhaps you need to read that exercise is one important element for happy life?
Read more

Eat Grapes: It may lower your blood pressure

2008-10-29T07:46:00.000-07:00

Reuters released a report about a findings, published in the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences, that grapes might help people with high blood pressure. It was a sponsored research by California grapes producers. tested to some lab rats.

"The inevitable downhill sequence to hypertension and heart failure was changed by the addition of grape powder to a high-salt diet," Dr. Steven Bolling, the head of University of Michigan lab. He thought that flavonoids, beneficial chemicals found in grapes, green tea, cocoa and tomatoes, could be having an effect on blood pressure. Flavonoids have been shown in other studies to have heart-health benefits.

The California Table Grape Commission provided financial support for the study and supplied the grape powder. Other sponsors included the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can lead to heart attack, heart failure, stroke and kidney failure.
Read more

The Immediate Cause of Death

2008-10-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

The NYTIMES Blog published a "funny" story about the death certificate titled The Immediate Cause of Death.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading causes of death among those ages 65 and over are, in descending order, heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, influenza, kidney disease, accidents and infection.
Maybe so. But that’s because people are not allowed to die of old age — at least, old age cannot be listed as the cause of death on the official documents, according to both the C.D.C. and the World Health Organization, repositories of the world’s mortality statistics.
Why on earth, a single disease should be judge for a cause of death with others looked as a minor elements. But we never allow a man or woman dies of old age.
Neither should “infirmity” or “senescence” appear as a cause of death, according to the C.D.C. handbook on how properly to fill out a death certificate. Why? These words “have little value for public health or medical research,” the agency says. Plus, “Age is recorded elsewhere on the [death] certificate.”
Read More

Eat Quickly, and Get Overweight Risk Three Times

2008-10-22T07:06:00.000-07:00

Reuters wrote a reporrt that those who eat quickly until full are three times more likely to be overweight, a problem exacerbated by the availability of fast food and the decline of orderly dining habits, Japanese researchers said on Wednesday.
The findings, published in the British Medical Journal, highlight how eating styles, and not just what or how much is eaten, can contribute to an obesity epidemic fueled by the spread of Western-style affluence in many parts of the world.
Hiroyasu Iso and colleagues at Osaka University asked more 3,000 Japanese volunteers aged 30 to 69 about their eating. Those who said they ate until full and ate quickly were three times more likely to be fat than people in the "not eating until full and not eating quickly" group, the researchers found.
The conclusion of this result can be that parents should encourage their kids to eat slowly and in calm surroundings. Now you know it, huh ..
Read more

Junk Foods raise heart attack by 35 percents

2008-10-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

Reuters reported a research on Monday October, 25 that diets heavy in fried foods, salty snacks and meat account for about 35 percent of heart attacks globally.
Their study of 52 countries showed that people who ate a diet based on meat, eggs and junk food were more likely to have heart attacks, while those who ate more fruits and vegetables had a lower risk.
The study supports previous findings that show junk food and animal fats can cause heart disease, and especially heart attacks.
People who ate more fruits and vegetables had a 30 percent lower risk of heart attack compared to people who ate little or none of these foods, they found. Vice versa, People eating a high loads of fried and salty snack diet had a 35 percent greater risk of heart attack compared to people who consumed little or no fried foods and meat.
Read more

Exercise as an important element for happiness

2008-10-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

No, it is not if you have enough exercise you will be healthy. I mean, nothing wrong with that. But there is a direct impact from exercise to your happiness and cheering mood.
Doctors from Nottingham Trent University suggest the chemical phenylethylamine could play a part. Phenylethylamine is a naturally produced chemical that has been linked to the regulation of physical energy, mood and attention. An enzyme changes the chemical into phenylacetic acid. There is evidence that levels of both substances are low in the biological fluids of depressed patients.
Read more in this article

Financial Crisis = Loss Jobs = Heart Attack

2008-10-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

It is very sad to imagine worse financial crisis. The crisis leads to an extensive unemployment globally. In this journal, it is known that job losses increase the heart attack prevalence. Be healthy, it is more valuable than your lost job.

Losing your job late in your career doubles the chance of suffering a heart attack or stroke, a study says. Yale University researchers studied 4,301 people aged 51 to 61 who were working in 1992, the research, printed in the Occupational and Environmental Medicinejournal claimed. Of the sample group over 10 years, there were 23 heart attacks and 13 strokes among the group of 582 who were forced out of a job.

Lead researcher Dr William Gallo said: "For many individuals, late career job loss is an exceptionally stressful experience, with the potential for provoking numerous undesirable outcomes. I don't think it is necessarily because of the age, but rather related to the problems people over 50 have finding jobs of equivalent standard because of the ageism in the workplace.
"Based on our results, the true costs of unemployment exceed the obvious economic costs and include substantial health consequences as well."

In total, 202 had heart attacks and 140 had strokes from all the groups studied, which included those who had lost their jobs involuntarily, retired, taken a temporary break from work or were still employed. Once risk factors such as diabetes, smoking, obesity and high blood pressure were taken into account, the risk of the involuntary job loss group having a heart attack after losing their job was 2.5% and a stroke 2.4%.

Read more

The Pains Come from Office Jobs

2008-10-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

The New York Times reported pains that came from office job.

Persistent pain from repetitive strain injury occurs most frequently among workers who do heavy manual handling tasks.
Neck, shoulder, hand or arm pain can develop in computer users, but the connection between keyboard typing and carpal tunnel syndrome remains controversial.
Companies often report that ergonomic workplace measures lead to fewer days lost from work, though researchers are still seeking rigorous scientific proof that these interventions are effective.

In America, each year, more than 100,000 new cases of upper-extremity ailments are reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Problems are especially common among those who do heavy or frequent manual handling and lifting tasks, whether in manufacturing, construction, meatpacking or nursing care. Not to mention, the pain come from compute tasking, including eye troubles.

Please be balance between your official work and physical exercise. It lift up your productivity at work.

Suicide crisis

2008-10-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

The report from Reuters bothers our humanity feelings. Let's pray to God, if you believe in Him.
"If people start losing their jobs and unemployment rates rise, it would be even more serious," said Paul Yip, director of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Center for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong.
"People who are unemployed are six to 30 times more likely to kill themselves," he said.
He pointed from Japan and Hongkong example
In Japan, the number of suicides leapt to 32,863 in 1998, compared with 24,391 in 1997 -- a development blamed on a rising tide of bankruptcies after Japan's economic bubble burst.
It has stayed over 30,000 a year since then. Studies have shown suicide in Japan is strongly linked to unemployment.
Suicide figures in Hong Kong rose 50 percent from 12 per every 100,000 people in 1997, when the Asian financial crisis hit, to 18 per 100,000 in 2003, the year of the SARS epidemic.

Bad News for The Overweight

2008-10-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

If you feel difficult to obtain less weight, even when you feel to have lost your calories--which means enough to be hungrie all the time, you have a bad news from the researcher.
It is said by New York Times article, that it is not just as easy as we normally calculate. To loose 2 kilograms is not the same as 20 days doing daily 100 grams fat burning exercise.

First, it’s difficult for an individual to hold calorie intake to a precise amount from day to day.

Second, scientists recently have come to understand that the brain exerts astonishing control over body composition and how much individuals eat. “There are physiological mechanisms that keep us from losing weight,” said Dr. Matthew W. Gilman, the director of the obesity prevention program at Harvard Medical School/Pilgrim Health Care.

Scientists now believe that each individual has a genetically determined weight range spanning perhaps 15 kilograms. If you have outreach the range, your body will slow the metabolism. If you go down that level, your brain will tell your stomach to get hungrier and eat more.

The body’s determination to maintain its composition is why a person can skip a meal, or even fast for short periods, without losing weight. It’s also why burning an extra 100 calories a day will not alter the verdict on the bathroom scales. Struggling against the brain’s innate calorie counters, even strong-willed dieters make up for calories lost on one day with a few extra bites on the next. And they never realize it. “The system operates with 99.6 percent precision,” said Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, an obesity researcher at Rockefeller University.

Thinner or Fat Health Condition Stereotype is not Always Correct

2008-10-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

In common conversation and stereotypes, fat people (both overweights and obeses) are judged by less healthy people than the thinner, while the research said it was not fully correct. The research find, based on national health data collected from 5,440 adults, that weight often is not a reliable barometer for health. In addition to looking at height and weight, the study, published this week in The Archives of Internal Medicine, tracked blood pressure, “good” cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar and an inflammatory marker called c-reactive protein, all of which are viewed as indicators of cardiovascular health.

The facts are :
- 24% of thin people are in unhealthy levels for at least two of the risk factors
- half (50%) of the overweighteds are fit, also 33% among the obese.

The new data are believed to be the first time researchers have documented the unreliability of body size as an indicator for overall health. This article doesn't want to say, hei, pile and stock the fats on your body, it is still healthy. Or, should I worry about my weight, while the health is regardless my shape. You can see from the facts, 24% thin people are in unhealthy level, and increased to 50% in the overweighted and 67% of the obese.

In my opinion, it is a warning for those who have better (which means less than overweighted or obesed), it doesn't make you healthy automatically. Or it can mean, "good food, routine exercise and live healthy living is a must for everybody, without exception."

read more.

Some facts to avoid softdrink

2008-10-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

My friend wrote things you could get from taking soft drink. It is very informative. What I believe, soft drink is as not dangerous as "hard drink" (alcohol). It is the unawareness makes it sometime even more dangerous.
For more detail discussion, I suggest you come to that very good site, in this page I just give you the brief description, so that you have some picture why you'd better take fresh water.
Obesity:
It makes your fats. No nutrition. Soft drinks are mainly composed of filtered H2O, artificial additives and refined sugar. Refined sugar means weight. Tooth Decay:If you think it's sugar, you are wrong. Not only sugar,there's the acid in soda pop. Acid begins to dissolve tooth enamel in only 20 minutes.
Effect of Caffeine:
Caffeine is usual. It is contained in a cup of java. Don't forget that it carbonized in soft drink. It is absorbed instantly to our body. Please imagine bad effects of coffeine, and carbonized drink will give you a maximum effect than all kind of drink.
Bone risks
There are also studies showing that cola drinks may lead to a decrease in bone density in women. Again, it is due to the acid. Malnutrition: Some people who are addicted to soft drinks deprive themselves from food until they become victims of malnutrition. Effect on Gastro-Intestinal System: The pH of soft drink ranges from 2.5-3.4 which generates a highly acidic environment in the stomach. The stomach can do up to pH 2.0, but for sensitive stomach, make sure you have health insurance for some days in hospital (believe me I have one friend who suffer it just because of one cup of cola drink)
Effect on Kidneys:
Soft drinks remove Calcium from the body (the phosporic acid do that), causing an excess amount of Calcium that tend to be deposited in kidney, resulting in nephrolithiasis (kidney stones).
Effect on Skin: Acidic blood affects the action of glutathione, which is an antioxidant enzyme. In addition, these drinks lack vitamins and minerals. By taking these drinks, people cut their intake of fresh juices, milk and even water and deprive themselves from essential vitamins and minerals that are mandatory for skin. Thus, the skin becomes more prone to wrinkles and aging.

My suggestion is, do drink fresh water. If you think the points upthere is intolerable, enemy, please imagine that drinking water effects can be listed in the same manner but work in our side.

Good luck!

Tips for Freezing Food

2008-10-04T06:35:00.000-07:00

Following my previous tips at warming chicken, the next reports from REUTERS may be useful.
Basic Food Storage Tips

1. Keep appliances at the proper temperatures.

2. Make sure you are checking your appliances temps regularly and that they fall in the desired range.
Refrigerator temperature should be at or below 40° F (4° C)
Freezer temperature should be 0° F (-18° C).

3. Check storage directions on labels.

4. Most people think that only dairy or meats need to be kept cold, but don’t forget about condiments (i.e. mayo and ketchup) because most of these need to be placed in the fridge after opening. If in doubt that you haven’t stored an item properly, it’s usually best to throw it out. Don’t chance it, you could get really sick!

4. Perishables need to be placed in the fridge or freezer right away. Stick to the “two-hour rule”.

5. Foods should not be left out at room temperature for any longer than two hours, or if the air temperature is above 90° F, it’s recommended to only have the food out for one hour. This rule applies to all food, even take-out!

6. Don’t crowd the refrigerator or freezer. When putting food away, it is important to leave space for air to circulate.

7. Use ready-to-eat foods as soon as possible. Refrigerated ready-to-eat foods (i.e. lunch meats) need to be eaten as soon as possible. This is because the longer they’re stored in the fridge, the more likely bacterium that causes food borne illness can grow.

8. Keep an eye on your food, throw out spoiled food. If it looks or smells different and suspicious don’t take a chance, go ahead and throw it out

I don't edit them, the tips are very important. I don't like to say it, but I just know it too.

Tips for Cooking Chicken

2008-10-04T06:17:00.000-07:00

Do you know how hot should be to cook chicken or poultry products? In a public health alert, U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said all poultry products should be cooked to a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius) and the best way to do that was with a food thermometer.
Any problem so that the agency put that to public alert? The answer is yes. It is salmonella contamination.
According to Reuters, the U.S. government on OCtober 3rd urged consumers to follow package cooking instructions after 32 people in 12 states got Salmonella poisoning after eating frozen stuffed chicken entrees that were raw but breaded.
Although many of the chicken dishes had instructions identifying the product as uncooked, people who got sick did not follow those instructions and reportedly used microwaves to prepare the entrees.

Post-antibiotic Era:Shoud We Jump into?

2008-09-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

The overuse of antibiotics is well know for its responsibility of antibiotics resistant disease widespread. WHO Director Gro Harlem Brundtland said: "Antibiotics were one of the most significant discoveries of the 20th century. Unless we act to protect these medical miracles, we could be heading for a post-antibiotic age in which many medical and surgical advances could be undermined by the risk of incurable infection."
Results from the US National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, conducted between 1989 and 1999, showed that 73% of patients with sore throats received antibiotic prescriptions. However, antibiotics are only helpful in about 10% of cases, in which sore throats are caused by bacterial "strep" infection. Most sore throats are due to viruses, against which antibiotics have no effect. "

Positive eating, not fats avoiding

2008-09-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

Following my posting about fats, I want to add that the most important in diet success is positive eating. Do not focus on your fats consuming! There are the reports of it.

In 2007 the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported on a study of 97 obese women, all of whom were avoiding high-fat foods. Half the women were instructed to increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables. By the end of a year, the women who were focused on adding vegetables lost an average of 17 pounds, 20 percent more than the women who were just paying attention to fat consumption.

See, it is about better eating habbit, not about fats only. There are good fats and bad fats, but don' t ever try to bribe bad fats. No, deal with both, but do not focus your diet on them.

Soy-rich diet benefits for stroke patients

2008-09-24T06:05:00.000-07:00

Reuters released a news about the benefit of soy rich diet. The complete articles are here.

It is relieving because in my country, Indonesia, soy bean is our day to day food. You know tempe, a "synthetic meat" made of fermented soy bean. It is become the symbol of poor people, together with tofu brought by chinese people. In my childhood, I eat tempe and tofu about 7 days a week for almost 365 days without boring. The problem is, when our economy grows, we are like other people are very consuming junk food and meat.

The report says that isoflavone, a chemical found in soybeans, chickpeas, legumes and clovers, can improve artery function in stroke patients, a study in Hong Kong has found.
Published online in the European Heart Journal, it is the first investigation into the effects of isoflavone supplement on the brachial artery, which is the main artery in the arm.

Researchers found that after 12 weeks of isoflavone supplement, at a dose of 80 milligrams a day, there was improved blood flow in that artery, which is especially important in patients who have suffered ischaemic stroke -- which is caused by blood clots or other obstructions.

However, the researchers said it was too early to make clinical recommendations about the use of isoflavone supplements for stroke patients.

Fats are healthy if you know the tips

2008-09-23T08:43:00.001-07:00

TORONTO (Reuters Life) - It takes a contrarian to defend the goodness of fat at a time when obesity has turned into a global epidemic.
In her new cookbook, "Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes," chef, food stylist and writer Jennifer McLagan challenges medical studies that have linked diet to heart disease.

You can read the complete stories here

What I know, fats is bad in certain amount. In less or acceptable amounts it make our selves cozy while still healthy. But if we do not take animal fats at all, the vegetarian that I know lives healthily over years. Like you say:

McLagan insists animal fats are not only essential to cooking delicious food, but -- in moderation -- are more easily digested than the alternatives and have other health benefits, like boosting the immune system and lowering bad cholesterol.

Lowering bad cholesterol? Interesting.

There's one very very good article about this subject, about good or bad fats.

What we can consider very good points in her book are:

For good cooking, animal fats are not only the elements for good cooking
Fat is a nutrition that is needed by our body.
The recipes and tips of course

Tips for Cozy Healthy Meal for Your Summer

2008-09-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

The article teach us something. We can think better living if we know the tips. Picnics against the opportunity for being healthier? Not really. Picnic vs better picnic

Summer may bring to mind outdoor picnics with hot dogs and chips, but a Purdue University expert says the season also provides the perfect opportunity to plan delicious, healthy meals.

"I think it's almost easier for people to eat healthfully during the warmer months than it is at any other time of year," says Laura Palmer, a Cooperative Extension Service specialist in foods and nutrition and a registered dietitian. "The abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, combined with the chance to grill foods, offers many tasty alternatives to the high-fat foods we might associate with summer."

Palmer offers the following suggestions for making the most of summer with foods that are both appetizing and nutritious:

-- Be meat savvy. Choose lean cuts of beef, including round, sirloin and loin cuts. Tenderize the meat to increase flavor and texture without adding fat. Marinate in salsa, low-calorie salad dressing, wine or citrus juices.

"Grilled chicken breasts, turkey tenders and lamb kabobs also make great alternatives to high-sodium hot dogs and hamburgers," Palmer says.

-- Aim for variety. Kick up the health factor of grilling with vegetables and fruits. Cooking vegetables on the grill adds flavor. Make kabobs with fruit and grill on low heat until the fruit is hot and slightly golden. These healthy snacks also make consuming the recommended daily fruit and vegetable intake simple.

-- Don't forget to stay hydrated. Summer heat can cause dehydration. "Water is the best option when temperatures soar, but you can add slices of lemons or strawberries for natural flavor," Palmer says.

-- Make eating healthy a priority this summer by focusing on simple snacks that don't take much prep work. Keep fresh berries in the refrigerator to add to salads, yogurt and ice creams. Wash fresh green beans to dip in yogurt or low-fat cottage cheese. Keep healthy extras, like lettuce and tomatoes, in your produce bin. Try homemade popsicles by freezing 100 percent juice. Cut up raw vegetables to serve with low-fat dips.

"Fruit smoothies are a snap to make. Just toss some fresh fruit, yogurt and milk in your blender," Palmer says. "Your options for healthy summer eating are limited only by your imagination."

The Department of Foods and Nutrition is part of Purdue's College of Consumer and Family Sciences. More than 250 undergraduate and 50 graduate students are enrolled in the program.

Purdue University
Engineering Administration Bldg, 400 Centennial Mall Dr.
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2016
United States
http://www.purdue.edu

Exercise vs Alzheimer

2008-09-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

Report from ABC News.
Exercise is good not only for your mcuscle, but have long time effect to your memory. It fights alzheimer!

West Australian research team says it has proved for the first time that 20 minutes of activity each day can improve memory function.

The team from the West Australian Centre for Health and Ageing carried out an 18 month trial using two control groups with an average age in the late 60s.

One group did on average twenty minutes more physical activity a day, mainly vigorous walking, and it was this group that performed better on tests for memory and other cognitive functioning.

The Director for the WA Centre for Health and Ageing, Leon Flicker, says the increase was small but significant.

"The improvement in memory functioning was a little over a point on one of the scales that we use," he said.

"To put it in perspective, this is actually more than the effect of some of the drugs that have been trialed in the past which, overall, have been found to be ineffective."

Professor Flicker says the people who took part had some memory complaints but none were suffering from dementia.

He says more research needs to be done and this will look at what sort of exercise is best and whether it can help those suffering from dementia.

"What we've shown is that a moderate increase in physical activity produces a moderate increase in the brain's functioning, but whether a lot more activity would continue to have even greater effect, we really can't say at this stage," he said.

Two sides of Junk Food

2008-09-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

I think it's not a good point of junk food. It just shows you how dangerous it is. It can manipulate you to take it as medicine pill to relieve your stress. It does. But it kill you slowly.

It is from ABC news that says junk food may lower stress according to research , by national medical reporter Sophie Scott

Good for what ails you? Junk food like burgers could make you less stressed, new research suggests (AFP)

New Australian research has found that eating foods high in fat and sugar reduces anxiety levels. But while it might make you feel calmer, that does not mean it is good for you.

Our increasing reliance on junk food is one of the reasons behind Australia's growing waistlines.

But it seems there might be a scientific reason why people turn to high fat and high sugar foods when they are stressed.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales gave young rats who had been taken away from their mothers a diet of either junk food or healthy food.

Professor Margaret Morris from the University of New South Wales says they noticed a difference in the animals' behaviour.

"What we found was that the animals that had the junk diet were much less anxious than those that who ate the junk food, so what we think is that animals are using junk food to relax themselves," she said.

Animals given the low fat diet had double the stress levels of the junk food eaters.

And while it might seem quite a leap from mice to humans, researchers say brain pathways controlling appetite are similar in both species.

"People do use food in this way as a kind of a medication to soothe themselves," Professor Morris said.

Overseas studies have shown that people who like junk food tend to choose sweet foods and chocolate when stressed.

"Individuals who enjoy eating certain types of food will seek out that type of food for comfort eating following an unpleasant or stressful experience, and that's a remarkable finding," Professor Andrew Lawrence from the Howard Florey Institute said.

The findings might also explain why many people fail when they go on diets.

Researchers will now look at whether exercise can be as good as junk food at relieving stress.

Comparing Running vs Walking

2008-09-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

Simply, running is consumes more calories than walking. It makes running is faster in burning fats. But do not immediately choose running as your exercise.
There is one important factor to consider when examining the difference between running and walking, that is the impact of the exercise. Running is generally considered to be a fairly high impact exercise with a great deal of repetitive pounding. This can cause inflammation of the joints including the ankles, knees and hips.
Conversely walking is considered to be a low impact activity and is therefore less harsh on the joints. However, it is the harsher impact of running which makes runners less susceptible to bone loss later in life. Therefore, individuals must carefully consider the effects of impact in deciding whether to pursue running or walking as their primary form of exercise.
Finally, regardless of whether an individual chooses to focus on walking or running for his exercise needs he should purchase equipment which is specific for his chosen sport.

Six Weeks Walking Workout Planning

2008-09-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

One most important rule in healthy living is healthy plan. I get from netdoctor.co.uk six week walking workout. It's just a sample. I'll try it myself.

It's about six-week walking workout panning of exercise.

Warm up and stretches
To warm up, walk more slowly for the first three to five minutes than your aimed-for pace.
Ankle rotations are useful if you have twisted your ankle or they are particularly tight.
After your walk you will need to stretch out, especially your calves and back of thighs (hamstrings).
Calf stretch
Stand about half a metre away from a wall.
Press your hands against the wall for support. They should be at shoulder height and shoulder width apart.
Bend your left knee forward as you take a step back with your right leg, keeping it straight.
With the ball of your foot on the floor, press the right heel down until you feel a gentle stretch in the calf.
Hold for 20-30 seconds.
Repeat on the other side.
Back of thigh stretch
Stand straight.
Put your right heel on the ground or you can use a bench.
Lean forwards from your hips, keeping your tummy lightly pulled in, until you feel a stretch in the back of your right thigh.
Hold for 20-30 seconds.
Repeat on the left side.

Week 1
Goal: to get walking regularly, at a pace that increases the heart rate.
Monday: start with a 15-minute walk at a pace that gets you warm and slightly breathless. Maintain this speed for the rest of the week's walks.
Wednesday: 15 minute walk.
Thursday: 15 minute walk.
Saturday or Sunday: 15 minute walk.If the walk is becoming easier towards the end of the week, increase your overall pace.

Week 2

Goal: to increase your walking times and add some cardiovascular step ups to improve your cardiovascular fitness. This week, focus on your posture and keep your strides long.
Step ups
Stand at the bottom of some stairs.
At your own pace, step up to the first step and down again.
Repeat for one minute.
Monday: start with a 15-minute walk at a pace that gets you warm and slightly breathless. Maintain this speed for the rest of the week's walks.
Wednesday: 15 minute walk.
Thursday: 20 minute walk.
Saturday or Sunday: 20 minute walk. One minute of step ups.

Week 3
Goal: to increase your walking times and improve your cardiovascular fitness by adding sprint walks.Monday
Walk at a moderate pace for 5 minutes. Sprint walk for 30 seconds. Repeat x 4.Wednesday
Walk at a moderate pace for 5 minutes. Sprint walk for 30 seconds. Repeat x 4.
1 minute of step ups.Thursday
Walk at a moderate pace for 4 minutes. Sprint walk for 1 minute. Repeat x 4.
90 seconds of step ups.Saturday or Sunday
20 minute walk. Choose a pretty green space or coastal path for this walk.
90 seconds of step ups - try to increase your speed.

Week 4
Goal: to increase your walking times and build muscular strength by carrying weights.Concentrate on your stride, taking bigger, longer steps as you walk and gently swinging your arms.Monday
Walk at a moderate pace for 3 minutes. Sprint walk for 2 minutes. Repeat x 4.
2 minutes of step ups - now get your arms moving like you are marching. Wednesday Today, carry some small hand weights (about 1-2kg) or a full water bottle in each hand.
Walk at a moderate pace for 4 minutes. Sprint walk for 1 minute. Repeat x 4.
2 minutes of marching step ups.Thursday
Walk at a moderate pace for 3 minutes. Sprint walk for 2 minutes. Repeat x 4.
2 minutes of marching step ups.Saturday or Sunday
Walk at a moderate pace for 4 minutes, carrying your hand weights. Sprint walk for 1 minute. Repeat x 5.
2 minutes of marching step ups - try to increase your speed.

Week 5
Goal: to increase your walking times and add uphill walks. This will involve a bit of planning to find a route with at least one hill.Alternatively, use a treadmill with a hill workout on those days with hill walks.Monday
Walk for 3 minutes. Sprint walk for 2 minutes. Repeat x 5. Make sure you walk uphill for one of these sets.
2.5 minutes of step ups.Wednesday
Carry your hand weights.
Walk for 3 minutes. Sprint walk for 2 minutes. Repeat x 5.
2.5 minutes of step ups.Thursday
Carry your hand weights.
Walk for 3 minutes. Sprint walk for 2 minutes. Repeat x 5. Make sure you walk uphill for one of these sets.
2.5 minutes of step ups.Saturday or Sunday
Walk for 3 minutes. Sprint walk for 2 minutes. Repeat x 6.
2.5 minutes of fast step ups.

Week 6
Goal: to walk for at least 30 minutes comfortably with sprint walks, weights and uphill walks.Monday
Walk for 3 minutes. Sprint walk for 3 minutes. Repeat x 5.
3 minutes of step ups.Wednesday
Carry your hand weights.
Walk for 3 minutes. Sprint walk for 3 minutes. Repeat x 5.
3 minutes of fast step ups. Thursday
Carry your hand weights.
Walk for 3 minutes. Sprint walk for 3 minutes. Repeat x 5. Make sure you walk uphill for one of these sets.
3 minutes of step ups with weights.Saturday or Sunday
Walk for 3 minutes. Sprint walk for 3 minutes. Repeat x 5. Make sure you walk uphill for two of these sets.
Walk for an extra 10 minutes. Push the pace as much as you can, but if you are very breathless, take the last five minutes slowly.
3 minutes of fast step ups with weights.

Alchemists' poison for depression healing

2008-09-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

The full article talks about healing depression without depressant. It is a rather long story. You can read this here. But I wonder about the suffix of the article. Wow, can our 40 years old depression can be pull down to our early years? That's not what the author trying to say, it is the relationship. Good relationship is the alchemist's poison to heal our depression suffering. It can be the tip of next healthy life.

... depression is formed by painful or lacking relationships in early life. It is not your fault, even if you can’t seem to get the various treatments that may have been suggested to you to work. You can’t rid yourself of this pervasive and increasingly common illness alone, or even with the occasional help of a health professional. Ultimately, only by creating lasting, supportive relationships will you finally heal your brain, emotions and body. If you do so, you go far beyond depression, to a happy and purposive life. If your childhood programming says you can’t have these kinds of close connections, or that you’re not worthy of them, it’s lying. You can do this.

This article was published in Wellbeing, September, 2002, entitled "Coming Together: Techniques That Heal Depression."

Cut the sodium

2008-09-11T00:05:00.001-07:00

It is estimated that the average American consumes between 3,000 and 4,000 milligrams of sodium each day, mostly from processed or prepared foods – and not from the salt shaker. Yet, the FDA guidelines set 2,300 mgs as the “safe” upper limit.
And it appears that the FDA just might go an extra step and require food manufacturers to cut their sodium content. The World Health Organization earlier this year called for sodium reduction in all processed foods. And to further add substance to the prediction, a few weeks ago the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Center for Science in the Public Interest actually sat on the same side of the table to discuss just how this could be accomplished.
And quickly.
All indications are that we are quickly approaching the time for a sodium change: one in three adults have high blood pressure, hypertension is a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. The issue is so charged these days, that the American Medical Association predicts that if the sodium levels in processed and restaurant foods was reduced over the next ten years by 50 percent, 150,000 lives per year would be saved.
In 2010 the first of the baby boomers turn 65, and there is little doubt looking at this generation’s current medical condition, that these disease states will most likely increase even further.
Low sodium foods are now widely available in just about every category in the supermarket, but while it might be hip to purchase low fat or fat free foods, “no salt” still seems to carry a health stigma which U.S. shoppers need to get past. The proof is in the pudding: since Finland instituted its mandatory “high salt” label 30 years ago, the advent of strokes decreased significantly, along with a drop of 40 percent in overall sodium consumption.
After all, do we really need 2,460 mgs of sodium in a box of Jell-O Instant Chocolate Pudding that makes 3 one cup servings?
What’s your “take” on sodium?

Achtung! Stress

2008-09-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

Stress and Your Health
Stress is well known as a source of many harmful attack to our body. It is not a direct illness, but the effects can be so direct to our healt. These effects can also affect your health – either with direct physiological damage to your body, or with harmful behavioral effects.

The behavioral effects of stress
The behavioral effects of an over-stressed lifestyle are easy to explain. When under pressure, some people are more likely to drink heavily or smoke, as a way of getting immediate chemical relief from stress. Or, many other ways.
The direct physiological effects of excessive stress are more complex. In some areas they are well understood, while in other areas, they are still subject to debate and further research.

Stress and heart disease
The link between stress and heart disease is well-established. If stress is intense, and stress hormones are not ‘used up’ by physical activity, our raised heart rate and high blood pressure put tension on arteries and cause damage to them. As the body heals this damage, artery walls scar and thicken, which can reduce the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart.

Other effects of stress

Stress has been also been found to damage the immune system, which explains why we catch more colds when we are stressed. It may intensify symptoms in diseases that have an autoimmune component, such as rheumatoid arthritis. It also seems to affect headaches and irritable bowel syndrome, and there are now suggestions of links between stress and cancer.
Stress is also associated with mental health problems and, in particular, anxiety and depression. Here the relationship is fairly clear: the negative thinking that is associated with stress also contributes to these.
The direct effects of stress in other areas of health are still under debate. In some areas (for example in the formation of stomach ulcers) diseases traditionally associated with stress are now attributed to other causes.

Regular exercise can reduce your physiological reaction to stress. It also strengthens your heart and increases the blood supply to it, directly affecting your vulnerability to heart disease.

Take stress seriously! It is another tip of healthy life.

Walk to Work

2008-09-09T06:07:00.000-07:00

"Just an extra 45 minute walk a day can help people control Type 2 diabetes, according to a new study at Newcastle University," said Dr. Trennell from

When I was in college, I walk about two hour a day from my dormitary-campus-getback to save money. My friends said that I was crazy and killing my self. I hope he add this article into his reading. It is healthy, buddy.

Unfortunately, I think it is because I was poor. So when I get some money to ride public vehicles, I do. And then, buying motorcycle and car. And then, train. :)

I will put this into my agenda. When people have "Bike to Work" club, I will fund "Walk to Work". And the worker in Zimbabwe will happily share with me.

Ok now it'd better to read the paper by yourselves.

Now Let's Talk About Weight

2008-09-07T06:41:00.000-07:00

If you're currently at a healthy weight, you're already one step ahead of the game. To stay at a healthy weight, it's worth doing a little planning now.
Or maybe you are overweight but aren't ready to lose weight yet. If this is the case, preventing further weight gain is a worthy goal.
As people age, their body composition gradually shifts — the proportion of muscle decreases and the proportion of fat increases. This shift slows their metabolism, making it easier to gain weight. In addition, some people become less physically active as they get older, increasing the risk of weight gain.
The good news is that weight gain can be prevented by choosing a lifestyle that includes good eating habits and daily physical activity. By avoiding weight gain, you avoid higher risks of many chronic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, and some forms of cancer.

The tips are:
Choosing an Eating Plan to Prevent Weight Gain

Get Moving

Self-monitoring

Ask yourself—Has my activity level changed? Am I eating more than usual?

Don't be afraid of Diabetes

2008-09-06T09:28:00.002-07:00

Before I go to my explanation, why we don't have to worry of diabetes, we have to know first, what is diabetes. I make a resume here. To easily remember it, diabetes type 1 is for defficiency of insulin, diabetes type 2 is due to resistance to insulin, due to fat on your stomach, though it is one theory.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus
is characterized by loss of the insulin-producing, leading to a deficiency of insulin.
There is no known preventive measure which can be taken against type 1 diabetes; it is about 10% of diabetes mellitus cases in North America and Europe (though this varies by geographical location), and is a higher percentage in some other areas. Most affected people are otherwise healthy and of a healthy weight when onset occurs. Sensitivity and responsiveness to insulin are usually normal, especially in the early stages. Type 1 diabetes can affect children or adults but was traditionally termed "juvenile diabetes" because it represents a majority of the diabetes cases in children.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus
It is characterized differently due to insulin resistance or reduced insulin sensitivity, combined with reduced insulin secretion.
In the early stage the predominant abnormality is reduced insulin sensitivity, characterized by elevated levels of insulin in the blood. At this stage hyperglycemia can be reversed by a variety of measures and medications that improve insulin sensitivity or reduce glucose production by the liver. As the disease progresses the impairment of insulin secretion worsens, and therapeutic replacement of insulin often becomes necessary.
There are numerous theories as to the exact cause and mechanism in type 2 diabetes. Central obesity (fat concentrated around the waist in relation to abdominal organs, but not subcutaneous fat) is known to predispose individuals for insulin resistance.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM)
It resembles type 2 diabetes in several respects, involving a combination of relatively inadequate insulin secretion and responsiveness. It occurs in about 2%–5% of all pregnancies and may improve or disappear after delivery. Gestational diabetes is fully treatable but requires careful medical supervision throughout the pregnancy. About 20%–50% of affected women develop type 2 diabetes later in life.

Other types
There are several rare causes of diabetes mellitus that do not fit into type 1, type 2, or gestational diabetes; attempts to classify them remain controversial. Some cases of diabetes are caused by the body's tissue receptors not responding to insulin (even when insulin levels are normal, which is what separates it from type 2 diabetes); this form is very uncommon. Genetic mutations (autosomal or mitochondrial) can lead to defects in beta cell function. Abnormal insulin action may also have been genetically determined in some cases. Any disease that causes extensive damage to the pancreas may lead to diabetes
Diseases associated with excessive secretion of insulin-antagonistic hormones can cause diabetes (which is typically resolved once the hormone excess is removed). Many drugs impair insulin secretion and some toxins damage pancreatic beta cells.

Morning Stretching to start our happy days

2008-09-04T05:57:00.000-07:00

Sometime we forget simple though eeasy things. We are trapped in difficult and complicated ways.
Stretching in the morning is easy, simple, make our blood flows to our muscle before doing any exercises and muscular works the whole day.It is a good practice, and if you do it regularly you will get the impact instantly.
Like what I do these days ... wow.

First stretching
1)Sit on the edge of your bed with your feet on the floor.
2)Bend over, reaching your hands toward your feet.
3)Arch your back.
4)Hold for a count of 10.
5)Repeat 5 more times.

No2.
1)Remain seated on the edge of your bed with your feet on the floor.
2)Rotate your neck in a circle, touching your ears to your shoulders.
3)Rotate slowly in a clockwise direction 5 times.
4)Rotate slowly in a counter clockwise direction 5 times.

No3
1)Remain seated on the edge of your bed with your feet on the floor.
2)Shrug your shoulders up to your ears.
3)Repeat 10 more times.

No.4
1)Stand next to your bed.
2)Lace your fingers together.
3)Raise your hands above your head, palms upward.
4)Lift up stretching your rib cage.
5)Hold for a count of 10.
6)Repeat 5 more times.

No.5
1)Remain stading next to your bed.
2)Bend over and touch your fingers to your toes while keeping your knees straight.
3)Hold for a count of 10.
4)Repeat 5 more times.

You are now warmed up and ready to start your day!These exercises can be performed daily to help keep you limber.

You can reach the photo and the origin from http://physicaltherapy.about.com/od/flexibilityexercises/ss/MorningStretch.htm

Climate Warming to our daily happy life

2008-09-03T08:09:00.001-07:00

This is our one and only place where we can not hide...
Now we can not say that consuming energy (even for our own health) doesn't affect our life directly. It only happen in future, and island populations.
NO! It have bigger impact than you think. Be wise yo ..

(AP) Climate warming is allowing disease-causing bacteria, viruses and fungi to move into new areas where they may harm species as diverse as lions and snails, butterflies and humans, a study suggests. Pathogens that have been restricted by seasonal temperatures can invade new areas and find new victims as the climate warms and winters grow milder, researchers say in a study in the journal Science. "Climate change is disrupting natural ecosystems in a way that is making life better for infectious diseases," said Andrew Dobson, a Princeton University researchers and another co-author of the study in Science. "The accumulation of evidence has us extremely worried. We share diseases with some of these species. The risk for humans is going up." Climate changes already are thought to have contributed to an epidemic of avian malaria that wiped out thousands of birds in Hawaii, the spread of an insect-borne pathogen that causes distemper in African lions, and the bleaching of coral reefs attacked by diseases that thrive in warming seas. Humans are also at direct and dramatic risk from such insect-born diseases as malaria, dengue and yellow fever, the researchers said. "In all the discussions about climate change, this has really been kind of left out," said Drew Harvell, a Cornell University marine ecologist and lead author of the study. "Just a one- or two-degree change in temperature can lead to disease outbreaks." Richard S. Ostfeld, a co-author of the study, said, "We're alarmed because in reviewing the research on a variety of different organisms we are seeing strikingly similar patterns of increases in disease spread or incidence with climate warming." Ostfeld is an environmental researcher at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies. In the study, the authors analyzed how warming temperatures already are letting insects and microbes invade areas where they once were barred by severe seasonal chills. They said mosquitoes are moving up mountainsides, spreading disease among animals formerly protected by temperature. They also found some pathogens reproduce more often in warmer temperatures, so there are more germs around to cause infection. Among the possible effects they found: Epidemics of Rift Valley fever, a deadly mosquito-borne disease, rage through northeastern Africa during years of unusual warmth. If the climate becomes permanently warmer and wetter, as some predict, Rift Valley fever epidemics will become frequent. Malaria and yellow fever may become more common as milder winters permit the seasonal survival of more mosquitoes, which carry these diseases. A warmer climate also could enable them to move into areas where the cold once kept them out. In Hawaii, a warming climate has chased the chill from some mountains, letting mosquitos thrive at higher and higher elevations. The bugs have carried with them a type of avian malaria, and the disease has attacked native birds that had no immunity to the disease. "Today there are almost no native birds (in Hawaii) below 4,500 feet," (1,350 meters)(Dobson said in an interview. Coral reefs in many parts of the world are becoming bleached and dying, killed by pathogens that thrive in the warming seas. "Previously many of the waters were slightly below the optimal temperatures for these pathogens," said Ostfeld. "Now the temperatures are right on target. There is a strong link between the warming climate and diseases of corals." Germs that attack oysters also are thriving in the warming waters. Ostfeld said oyster beds as far north as Maine are now being affected by pathogens once barred by a colder sea. An outbreak of distemper killed many lions in Tanzania last year, and the scientists linked that to a climate change that enables flies that carry distemper to invade parts of East Africa. A parasite that kills Monarch butterflies can survive only at warm temperatures, which protected the colorful insect in its northernmost habitats. A warming climate has allowed the parasite to spread. Ostfeld said where the Monarch is rare "it may disappear, and where it is common, it may become less abundant."

Chickenpox can be dangerous for you than for your children

2008-09-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

I got chickenpox. It was not very nice feeling. I don't know, it's just like influenza with itchy spots. What made me surprised was that the fact that the attack to adult body was more severe than to my 2 years daughter. Actually it is. Moreover, the complication happened can threat life too. Fortunately, I am still alive and can write to you. :)
I quote from Wikipedia, but from eMedicine, see ... the complication, if 1:50 is small, it is rarely serious. It depends on your self defend ...
eMedicine
Even today, varicella is not totally benign. One study suggested that nearly 1:50 varicella cases are associated with complications. Among the most serious complications are varicella pneumonia and encephalitis; both are associated with a high mortality rate. In addition, significant concerns have been raised about the association of varicella with severe invasive group A streptococcal disease.

Wikipedia
Chickenpox is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). It generally begins with conjunctival and catarrhal symptoms and then characteristic spots appearing in two or three waves, mainly on the body and head rather than the hands and becoming itchy raw pockmarks, small open sores which heal mostly without scarring.
Chickenpox has a 10-21 day incubation period and is spread easily through aerosolized droplets from the nasopharynx of ill individuals or through direct contact with secretions from the rash. Following primary infection there is usually lifelong protective immunity from further episodes of chickenpox.
Chickenpox is rarely fatal, although it is generally more severe in adults than in children. Pregnant women and those with a suppressed immune system are at highest risk of serious complications. The most common late complication of chicken pox is shingles, caused by reactivation of the varicella zoster virus decades after the initial episode of chickenpox.

Why Alzheimer is uncommon in India?

2008-08-09T01:36:00.004-07:00

In India, Alzheimer's disease is relatively uncommon. People over the age of 65 living in certain rural areas of India have a less than 1 percent (0.84%) chance of developing the disease. In the larger cities and rural areas of India, the risk is just 2.4 percent.

Compare these findings to people over the age of 65 living in the United States. Again, depending on where we are living, our chances of developing Alzheimer's disease range from a little under 5 percent to an astonishing 17 percent.

So what are people who are living in India doing that we aren't doing here in the US to account for these dramatic differences? What are the tip for their healty life against this alzheimer? The answer seems to be curry, that zesty spice and staple of Indian foods. Research has shown that a compound in curry not only prevents changes in the brain that lead to Alzheimer's disease, it actually reverses some of the damage already present.

How can curry prevent these changes in the brain? Isn't that a lot to expect from a spice? Evidently, it's not too much to expect from this spice. Curry comes from the turmeric plant - Curcuma longa is the plant's official name. Curcumin, a plant compound in turmeric, is the source of curry's instantly recognizable bright yellow pigment. When it comes to the scientific research of Curcuma longa, the terms curcumin and turmeric are both used. Both refer to the same thing - turmeric extract.6 There have been more than 1300 studies on turmeric and its health benefits for humans. Research has shown turmeric is able to help the body get rid of cancer-causing toxins. Turmeric also blocks estrogen receptors and enzymes that promote cancer. And it's been found to stop the growth of new blood vessels in cancerous tumors - an important factor in keeping cancer from getting larger and spreading throughout the body.

But one of turmeric's most exciting health benefits is its ability to reduce, prevent, and stop inflammation. While inflammation is a normal and needed response to injury or disease, chronic inflammation can cause damage to tissues. And researchers are now finding inflammation plays a huge role in Alzheimer's disease. I've always heard that Alzheimer's disease was caused by complex growths in the brain called plaques and tangles. How can simple inflammation cause such a devastating disease? You are right. Plaques and tangles are indeed the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. But researchers looking at the brain damage caused by Alzheimer's have always noted the presence of inflammation wherever plaques and tangles form.

In the past, this inflammation was thought to be simply a consequence of Alzheimer's disease. Now scientists believe the inflammation itself starts a chain reaction ultimately contributing to the developement of Alzheimer's disease.11 When cells in the brain are disrupted by inflammation, amyloid, a protein normally found in the brain, begins to act chaotically. This chaos results in the creation of betaamyloid, protein that is toxic to cells in the brain. Sticky deposits of beta-amyloid build up and collect around the cells, making dense clumps or plaques. Because the brain can't break the plaques down or get rid of them, they stay right where they are and slowly accumulate.

Tangles result when long protein fibers that act like scaffolding for brain cells begin to twist and tangle. The cell is damaged and eventually dies. But the tangled proteins remain in the brain even after the dead neuron has been cleared away.

And inflammation might be the culprit causing the long protein fibers to start tangling.The consequence of these abnormalities of protein in the brain is more than the cell death they cause. They also act as roadblocks, interfering with electrochemcial messengers being shot from cell to cell. Therefore, the remaining healthy cells’ activity is diminished as well. Research of identical twins has repeatedly shown that if one twin has Alzheimer's disease, the other has a 60% chance of developing the disease, too. Scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, looked at information from 20,000 twins collected in the 1960s and found 109 pairs of siblings where only one twin had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. When the Swedish researchers analyzed data about the twins' health, they found the twin with Alzheimer's disease almost always had chronic gum disease. While bleeding gums are definitely not the cause of Alzheimer's disease, the inflammation that plays a large part of chronic gum disease may signal an inflammatory process stuck in overdrive.

In fact, the inflammatory process might occur years before the onset of Alzheimer's, and be the result of any number of infections people can contract. That's why current research is searching for ways to protect brain cells from inflammation. And why some countries have low rates of Alzheimer's disease, like India.

Why curry? Couldn't other lifestyle differences account for the low rates of Alzheimer's disease in India? That's a good question. When researchers begin studying a disease, like Alzheimer's, they look for trends to help them determine how and why the disease occurs. For example, we all now know the connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. But, it wasn't until the 1930's that doctors noticed the trend for cigarette smokers to have more lung cancer than people who didn't smoke.17
So it has been with researchers studying Alzheimer's disease. They know Alzheimer's disease has an important connection to inflammation. They also know turmeric reduces inflammation. And when researchers noticed these trends - that people in India eat high amounts of curry from turmeric and have very little Alzheimer's disease - they began to theorize that turmeric might be able to prevent or even treat the illness. And the research they designed around these trends has unequivocally found turmeric to be one common denominator.18-21 What have the turmeric studies shown so far? Simply amazing findings are coming from curry research. Not only does turmeric slow down cancer growth, it's also been found to correct the cystic fibrosis defect in mice, help prevent the onset of alcoholic liver disease, and may slow down other serious brain diseases like multiple sclerosis.22 Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) studying turmeric have found it to be more effective than the drugs currently being investigated for Alzheimer's disease treatment and prevention. The researchers have discovered the actual structure and shape of turmeric allows it to penetrate the blood-brain barrier effectively and bind to beta amyloid.23 Other research findings shows turmeric helps remove betaamyloid that's already built up in the neurons. Turmeric helps maintain healthy brain cellular metabolism, helps the cells repair themselves, and keeps the cells connected to each other.

In other words, turmeric helps brain cells stay healthy. And now the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) is using turmeric in clinical trials and studying the effect of this powerful spice in patients diagnosed with this devastating disease. Clinical trials are the gold standard of medical research. But it's rare in Alzheimer's disease. And it's even more rare when all-natural herbs and spices like turmeric are used in hopes that positive benefits will be discovered. The head of UCLA's research team was recently interviewed and stated that setting out to hopefully prove turmeric's ability to prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease was “tremendously exciting.”

I recently read that one of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) was found to prevent Alzheimer's disease. Is this true? Scientists recently studied ibuprofen, one of the NSAIDs investigated for Alzheimer's Disease Prevention.

Ibuprofen belongs to a family of drugs that includes naproxen, indomethacin, nabumetone, and several others. These drugs are used most often to get rid of headaches, mild arthritis, and other kinds of pain and inflammation.

In the studies, the average dose of ibuprofen was 800mg a day. Patients took the product for two years. While the results suggested that ibuprofen might reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's, ibuprofen's side effects are too harmful to be a valid lifelong prevention aid treatment.

Ibuprofen, like other NSAIDs, can cause gastrointestinal bleeding when used at high dosages over a long period of time. Long term use of ibuprofen can also lead to analgesic nephropathy, a kind of kidney damage caused by NSAIDs. As we discussed earlier, turmeric appears to block and break up brain plaques that cause the disease and helps reverse some of the damage already present. Ibuprofen does not provide any protection against free radical damage. No anti-inflammatory medicine can do this.

If I eat curry will I be protected against Alzheimer's disease? There aren't many foods or recipes I make that require curry, do I need to eat it every day? And how much do I need? If you enjoy Indian cuisine, by all means, enjoy these delicious foods. You'll benefit your brain and your appetite. But you make a good point, American meals rarely contain curry. That's why supplements that contain extracts are suddenly quite popular. In fact, there are numerous turmeric/curcumin supplements on the market today. But like all nutritional supplements, some turmeric supplements are superior to others. You need to read their labels to make sure the turmeric extract you are buying will provide the protection you need. Look for high-potency turmeric extract from turmeric (Curcuma longa) rhizome. And make sure the extract is standardized to contain 90% curcuminoids, the active ingredient in turmeric responsible for the positive research findings.

Conclusion Researchers once thought that preventing for Alzheimer's disease would elude them for decades. In fact, several scientists privately speculated the disease might never be ameliorated. They thought the origin of the disease was too complex and the symptoms of the disease were too profound. That's why the ongoing research on turmeric is so exciting. A safe, natural, and effective way to protect against Alzheimer's disease almost seems too good to be true. But, the nation of India and its low incidence of Alzheimer's disease are proof these are not just fluke findings - making turmeric extract a supplement to remember as a tip for healty life.

Symptoms and complication of Hepatitis B

2008-07-12T07:58:00.001-07:00

For living a health life, it is very helpful to know our enemy. This is one of my serial writing about these enemies.My sister have this virus. My best friend also is positive. More than 30% of global population is infected with this virus. It can be deadly, but many of us can bring it for whole life without knowing the existance.The sysmptoms, from Wikipedia. May this help.

Hepatitis B virus infection may either be acute (self-limiting) or chronic (long-standing). Persons with self-limiting infection clear the infection spontaneously within weeks to months.Children are less likely than adults to clear the infection. More than 95% of people who become infected as adults or older children will stage a full recovery and develop protective immunity to the virus. However, only 5% of newborns that acquire the infection from their mother at birth will clear the infection. Of those infected between the age of one to six, 70% will clear the infection.[5]Acute infection with hepatitis B virus is associated with acute viral hepatitis - an illness that begins with general ill-health, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, body aches, mild fever, dark urine, and then progresses to development of jaundice. It has been noted that itchy skin has been an indication as a possible symptom of all hepatitis virus types. The illness lasts for a few weeks and then gradually improves in most affected people. A few patients may have more severe liver disease (fulminant hepatic failure), and may die as a result of it. The infection may be entirely asymptomatic and may go unrecognized.Chronic infection with Hepatitis B virus may be either asymptomatic or may be associated with a chronic inflammation of the liver (chronic hepatitis), leading to cirrhosis over a period of several years. This type of infection dramatically increases the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer). Chronic carriers are encouraged to avoid consuming alcohol as it increases their risk for cirrhosis and liver cancer. Hepatitis B virus has been linked to the development of Membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN).[6]Hepatitis D infection can only occur with a concomitant infection with Hepatitis B virus because the Hepatitis D virus uses the Hepatitis B virus surface antigen to form a capsid.[7] Co-infection with hepatitis D increases the risk of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.[8] Polyarteritis nodosa is more common in people with hepatitis B infection.

EAT FREQUENTLY, LOWER YOUR CHOLESTEROL

2008-06-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Can you believe this? It's simple. And almost unthinkable before.

Frequent Eating Lowers Cholesterol
December 8, 2001
People who eat frequently have lower blood cholesterol levels than those who eat once or twice a day -- even if they eat more in total, a new study has found.
Despite higher intakes of fat, those who ate six or more times a day had cholesterol levels five per cent lower on average and an associated reduction in coronary heart disease of 10 to 21 per cent. The study of 14,000 people aged 45 to 75 years was carried out in Norfolk, England and involved asking participants how many times a day they ate, including meals, snacks and biscuits. Their concentration of blood fats was then measured and the results adjusted for body mass index and cigarette smoking.
The report's authors suggest that, if their findings were applied population-wide, there could be significant reductions in heart disease. "We need to consider not just what we eat but how often we eat," they write in the British Medical Journal.
Kay-Tee Khaw, professor of clinical gerontology at the University of Cambridge, UK, carried out the research after animal studies showed "gorgers" had higher cholesterol levels than "grazers".
"Animals that gorge have a huge insulin peak after eating, which induces hepatic enzymes that produce cholesterol. The evolutionary reason for this may be that this type of animal expects a famine so needs to store energy as cholesterol," explains Khaw. "We wanted to look at a free-living human population to see if our metabolism worked in the same way," she says.
Khaw says that the best advice remains to eat a healthy diet, but she adds: "People at risk could divide up what they usually eat into several smaller meals -- perhaps eating every two hours."
Sara Stanner, a nutritional scientz

Benefits of honey

2008-06-16T04:42:00.000-07:00

There are many benefits of honey bee. Cool.

Antibacterial and antifungal benefits

These properties of honey are well established. Undiluted honey inhibits the growth of bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, certain gut pathogens and fungi such as Candida albicans. At a concentration of 30-50%, honey has been shown to be superior to certain conventional antibiotics in treating urinary tract infections. The exact mechanism of the anti-microbial effect of honey remains obscure. Low pH, osmotic disruption of pathogens and the
presence of bactericidal substances, collectively called inhibine may all play a part.

Anti-diarrhoeal properties

At a concentration of 40%, honey has a bactericidal effect on various gut bacteria known to cause diarrhoea and dysentery such as Salmonella, Shigella, enteropathogenic E. coli and Vibrio cholera. In one study, honey given with oral rehydration fluid was shown to reduce the duration of bacterial diarrhoea in infants and children.

Wound-healing and anti-inflammatory benefits

Honey is of value in treating burns, infected surgical wounds and decubitus ulcers. Honey is very viscous, enabling it to absorb water from surrounding inflamed tissue. For example, a study in West Africa showed that skin grafting, surgical debridement and even amputation were avoided when local application of honey to wound promoted healing, whereas conventional treatment failed.

In another study, wound healing was accelerated by application of honey in women who had undergone radical vulvectomy for vulval cancer. Also, it has been suggested that honey may be useful in the treatment of chronic, foul smelling ulcers seen in leprosy.

Anti-tussive and expectorant benefits

These anti-cough properties of honey are related to its capacity to dilute bronchial secretions and improve the function of the bronchial epithelium.

Nutritional benefits

Uncontaminated honey is a healthy, easily digestible, natural and energy rich food. It contains carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, enzymes and vitamins. One tablespoon of honey provides 60 calories and contains 11g of carbohydrates, 1mg of calcium, 0.2mg of iron, 0.lmg of vitamin B and 1mg of vitamin C.

Honey is widely available in most communities but its medical potential remains grossly underutilised. Its mode of action remains incompletely understood and the healing properties of honey in other clinical and laboratory situations requires further evaluation.

13 healthy habits

2008-06-15T00:10:00.000-07:00

These tips are better, more listing, more logical, but, harder ....
I am amazed by no. 13 tips. Yes, planning is very important in our daily healthy life. We are not so much financially secured. We have to busy to keep going in this crowded world.
I don't know about tea drinking. Is it really helpful? I will try to find it next time.

13 Healthy Habits to Improve Your Life .By Dulce ZamoraWebMD
Healthy Habit No. 1: Eat Breakfast Every Morning

Healthy Habit No. 2: Add Fish and Omega-3 Fatty Acids to Your Diet
The AHA recommends a serving of fish two times per week.

Healthy Habit No. 3: Get Enough Sleep
"Your body has to have enough time to rest," says Michael Fleming, MD, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). Otherwise, he says you may find yourself feeling cranky and tired.

Healthy Habit No. 4: Make Social Connections
Volunteer. Go to church. Join a club. Whatever you do, do it with people. Communal activities are good for your physical and mental health, according to a study published in the March/April 2004 issue of the American Journal of Health Behavior.

Habit No. 5: Exercise for Better HealthWe already know that physical activity has a bounty of benefits, which makes it so puzzling why so many people just don't do it. According to the CDC, more than 60% of Americans do not get regular exercise.

Healthy Habit No. 6: Practice Good Dental HygieneFlossing your teeth every day could add 6.4 years to your life, according to Michael Roizen, MD, author of RealAge. In his book, Roizen lists flossing as one of the most important daily activities -- along with exercise and quitting smoking -- that could extend life span.

Healthy Habit No. 7: Take Up a Hobby
Look up the word "hobby" in the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and you will find the definition as "a pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation."
Since they are relaxing activities, hobbies are usually enjoyable. Some people find joy in craftwork, bird watching, sports, going to flea markets, walking in the park, or playing cards.

Healthy Habit No. 8: Protect Your Skin
Our skin starts to age as soon as we are born and, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), the best way to protect it and look younger is to stay out of the sun.

Healthy Habit No. 9: Snack the Healthy WayThe ADA recommends five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day as part of a healthy diet. These plant foods can do many things to boost good health, including:

Healthy Habit No. 10: Drink Water and Eat DairyWater and milk are essential fluids for good health, but they can also help with shedding pounds.
Healthy Habit No. 11: Drink Tea

"Decaffeinated tea is better," says Fleming, noting that the caffeinated variety can be dehydrating, and sugary drinks can lead to weight gain.
There is some evidence that tea may help in improving memory, and preventing cavities, cancer, and heart disease. Fleming says, though, that the overall research is still inconclusive.
"There may well be some beneficial effects of tea, particularly the potential antioxidant effect, but we don't have great data on that right now that is that specific."

Healthy Habit No. 12: Take a Daily Walk

Healthy Habit No. 13: Plan

Healty Food (Without Exercise?)

2008-06-13T04:29:00.000-07:00

I have it from somewhere:
The page says things to eat to stay healthy. But it only list about what come into stomach. No exercise at all. Hehehe ... It is a little bit strange, isn't? We need to be healthy, but we just focus on what we eat. We need to move our muscle and blood to have good defense against free radical, viruses, and poor air quality.
We can give our body good exercise without spending much extra time. But, later.... be patient.
You can find ther article here :

1. Drink 8-10 glasses of water per day - and I mean water, not soda, coffee, or even juice. I know, you've heard it before, but people keep saying it for a reason. If you experience joint pain, stomach pain and ulcers, back pain, or low energy, try drinking more water: these are all symptoms of dehydration. Water can also help you lose weight. It has no calories, acts as an appetite suppressant, and can help metabolize your body fat. Studies suggest that you should drink an additional glass of water (above the recommended 8-10) for every 25 pounds over your recommended body weight.
2. Stop drinking coffee. You should try to cut out caffeine completely, but coffee contains additional ingredients that increase you levels of cortisol and insulin, which leads to weight gain. Insulin controls the production of body fat, so the higher your insulin levels, the more fat you will store. Caffeine is a diuretic and will actually cause you to lose necessary water. It can also give you the shakes, lead to anxiety, upset your stomach, and prevent you from getting enough sleep. It may seem impossible to give up your morning cup of coffee, but try replacing it with decaf green tea and you'll be amazed at the improvement in your health and your mood.
3. Stop eating so much sugar. Too much refined sugar makes your insulin levels spike, and insulin, as I said, causes you to store fat. Sugar also attached to collagen (a compound responsible for your skin's elasticity and suppleness), making your skin stiff and saggy. Refined (white) sugar is the worst and you should avoid it at all costs. You can substitute natural sugars like honey and maple syrup, but even these should be used in moderation. You do need some sugar to provide essential fuel to your cells - but get it from fruits and vegetables instead of donuts and candy. Do not use artificial sweeteners in place of sugar - they're at least as bad, if not worse.
4. Eat more natural foods. Junk food may taste good, but the results of eating it don't feel good at all. The benefits of replacing processed foods with natural foods are too numerous to list. Instead of salty snacks like chips or pretzels, eat unsalted nuts and seeds, or raw vegetables. Instead of sugary desserts eat fresh, whole fruit. Eat whole wheat bread and pasta and brown rice instead of their white siblings. You'll get more fiber, less sugar and saturated fats, and all the vitamins and nutrients you need (just remember to eat a variety of fruits and vegetable to ensure you're getting all your vitamins).
5. Try colon cleansing. Years of poor eating habits can leave your colon in pretty bad shape. The average American's diet is 25% junk food, which is extremely difficult to digest and eliminate. The colon is wonderfully designed to control toxins in the body; however, most people's diets are so poor and so highly laced with toxic matter that the colon's purification process can't keep up: it often becomes sluggish and the toxins begin to build up. Toxicity can manifest itself in several ways, including diarrhea (or alternating constipation and diarrhea), breakouts of acne and other skin disorders, excessive fetid perspiration, and bad breath. A colon cleanser like Almighty Cleanse can help expel impurities and fecal matter that build up on your intestinal walls.*
These simple suggestions can help improve both your short-term and your long-term health. Gradually make these changes in your lifestyle, add some light exercise, and you will be amazed how good you look and feel.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
End of quote

Stop Smoking Center

2008-06-10T04:48:00.000-07:00

There's a web site useful for you. Check http://www.stopsmokingcenter.net out.
It contains includes Forum, tools, work book. The tools contains Quit Meter. But, anyway, quit smoking is something should be done from inside. No matter what kinda guru teach you. It can be done by anyone, alone. But, together, sometimes, can make it alotta easier.

Coazy Healthy Life

2008-06-07T02:12:00.000-07:00

We can stay healthy without losing the pleasure. Can we?