You are here: Home / Archives for Health

Turn Veggie, Prevent Chronic Diseases

March 19, 2011 by ·

Well planned vegetarian diets are healthy and nutritious for all age groups and help prevent heart diseases, cancer, obesity and diabetes.

Winston Craig, professor of nutrition and wellness at Andrews University, and Reed Mangels, nutrition advisor at the Vegetarian Resource Group , Baltimore, conducted the study on behalf of the American Dietetic Association (ADA).

Vegetarian diets are often associated with health advantages, including lower blood cholesterol levels, lower risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure levels and lower risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes.

“Vegetarian diets tend to be lower in saturated fat and cholesterol and have higher levels of dietary fibre, magnesium and potassium, vitamins C and E, folate, carotenoids, flavonoids,” the study said.

These nutritional differences may explain some of the health advantages of those following a varied, balanced vegetarian diet, said an ADA release. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Disease, Food, Health, Research & Study ·

Humans Beware: Dog kisses Can Lead To Diseases

February 8, 2011 by ·

They give you joy. They give you loyalty. They give you sloppy kisses.

But before you allow Fido or Fluffy to climb into bed with you at night, as an increasing number of Americans are doing, know that they can also give you something else: zoonoses.

A University of California-Davis veterinary professor has penned an article for a scientific journal showing that people who allow their pets to lick them, give them “kisses” or sleep with them are at risk for a variety of diseases known as zoonoses. The conditions can range from the mundane to the life-threatening.

Bruno Chomel and his co-author, Ben Sun, emphasize that pets provide many health benefits, including stress relief, and they stop short of recommending that people abstain from smooching their pooches. But in reviewing reports from several countries, they argue that such interactions carry some risk, particularly among infants and people whose immune systems have been weakened by disease, chemotherapy or other medicines. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Disease, Health, Pets ·

Coffee ‘Can Cure Hangover’

January 18, 2011 by ·

Scientists have finally confirmed what many suffering drinkers have long suspected — a cup of hot coffee is the best cure for a hangover.

A new study has revealed that drinking a cup of hot coffee in the morning, along with an aspirin, can help one get over a hangover and the traditional morning-after boost is better than modern alternatives like organic honey or raw egg.

In fact, according to the scientists, the caffeine in coffee and anti-inflammatory ingredients of aspirin combat the alcohol, the ‘Daily Express’ reported.

For the study, a team, led by Philadelphia researcher Michael Oshinsky, induced headaches in laboratory rats using small amounts of ethanol or pure alcohol. The animals then had doses of caffeine and anti-inflammatories which cleared pain.

“None of the commonly cited cures for hangovers could have caused this response,” Oshinsky was quoted as telling the ‘New Scientist’. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Beverage, Health ·

Six Months Of Breastfeeding Alone Could Harm Babies, Scientists Now Say

January 14, 2011 by ·

To the outrage of breastfeeding campaigners and probably the utter confusion of most women with small babies, scientists today advocate rewriting the rulebook to drop the current guidance that says mothers should breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of their child’s life.

It was 2001 when the World Health Organisation announced that exclusive breastfeeding for six months was best for babies. In 2003 the then Labour minister Hazel Blears adopted the recommendation for the UK.

But today, in the British Medical Journal, doctors from several leading child health institutes say the evidence for the WHO guidance was never there – and that failing to start weaning babies on to solids before six months could be harmful.

Mary Fewtrell, from the childhood nutrition research centre at the University College London Institute of Child Health, said probably no babies had been harmed, as few mothers in the UK manage to stick to six [Read more...]

Filed Under: Health, Medical Research & Study ·

Abstinence, Heavy Drinking, Binge Drinking Associated With Increased Risk Of Cognitive Impairment

January 11, 2011 by ·

According to new study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease

Previous research regarding the association between alcohol consumption and dementia or cognitive impairment in later life suggests that mild to moderate alcohol consumption might be protective of dementia. However, most of the research has been conducted on subjects already rather elderly at the start of the follow-up. A new study published in the December issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease addresses this problem with a follow-up of more than two decades.

The study, conducted at the University of Turku, University of Helsinki and National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland based on subjects from the Finnish Twin Cohort, shows that midlife alcohol consumption is related to the risk of dementia assessed some 20 years later. The study indicates that both abstainers and subjects consuming large amounts of alcohol have a greater risk for cognitive impairment than light drinkers. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Disease, Health, Research & Study ·

Climate Change Reveals Disease As National Security Threat

January 10, 2011 by ·

One of the most worrisome national security threats of climate change is the spread of disease, among both people and animals, U.S. intelligence and health officials say.

But more than a decade after such concerns were first raised by U.S. intelligence agencies, significant gaps remain in the health surveillance and response network — not just in developing nations, but in the United States as well, according to those officials and a review of federal documents and reports.

And those gaps, they say, undermine the ability of the U.S. and world health officials to respond to disease outbreaks before they become national security threats.

“We’re way behind the ball on this,” said Josh Michaud, who has worked at the Defense Department’s National Center for Medical Intelligence and its Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System. “It’s a collective action problem.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate Change, Disease, Health ·

Tomatoes found to contain nutrient which prevents vascular diseases

January 7, 2011 by ·

They are the most widely produced fruit in the world and now scientists in Japan have discovered that tomatoes contain a nutrient which could tackle the onset of vascular diseases. The research, published in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, reveals that an extracted compound, 9-oxo-octadecadienoic, has anti-dyslipidemic affects.

The team led by Dr Teruo Kawada, from Kyoto University and supported by the Research and Development Program for New Bio-industry Initiatives, Japan, focused their research on extracts which tackle dyslipidemia, a condition which is caused by an abnormal amount of lipids, such as cholesterol or fat, in the blood stream.

“Dyslipidemia itself usually causes no symptoms,” said Kawada, “however; it can lead to symptomatic vascular diseases, such as arteriosclerosis and cirrhosis. In order to prevent these diseases it is important to prevent an increased build up of lipids.”

Tomato is already known to contain many compounds beneficial to health. In this study the team analyzed 9-oxo-octadecadienoic acid, to test its potential anti-dyslipidemia properties. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Disease, Health ·