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Hair serves as proof on the chronic stress and heart attack
Research conducted by Dr. Gideon Koren and Stan Van Uum of the University of Western Ontario, show that hair serve as biological market that can show chronic stress and heart attacks of individuals.
Researchers found that hair provides a time line on the anxieties that takes toll on a person’s heart. Life stresses like marital, financial and job problems were linked to increase risk of having cardiovascular disease like heat attack.
Koren and Uum noted that a person’s hair can provide an accurate assessment on the level of stress that a person experience prior to an acute health event like heart attack.
They did their study on 56 male adults who were admitted to Meir Medical Center in Kfar-Saba and who suffered hear attacks, while the control group comprising of 56 male patients were hospitalized for other health reasons than heart attack. They examined their hair samples and they found that first group had higher hair cortisol levels compared to the control group.
Based on the data gathered, they concluded that hair cortisol content is the strongest predictor of heart attack.
source: seepress
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How to Improve Your Brain IQ and Memory?
Increase your IQ level by engaging in activities that will enhance one’s mental age such as reading and practicing, solving puzzles, learning to perform a new task, learning a different language and reading stimulating books.
You can improve your brain IQ, by:
You should read and read some more, this can help you to improve your IQ.
You should drop your stereotypes about learning, you should not stop learning even if you are old.
You should try to use your opposite hand in writing, because this can help you to stimulate the other side of your brain.
Try to practice sudoku and crosswords.
You should do logic and lateral thinking puzzles; this can help your brain to think outside the box and can solve in different ways.
Learn something new and different things, once in every 3 month.
You take a weekly IQ test and you should record your result.
To improve your memory:
You should eat well and eat right
You should exercise your brain such as playing puzzle or sudoku
You should exercise daily
You should reduce your stress
Sleep well.
Foods which contain vitamin E, folic acid, vitamin C, alpha-lipoic acid and Inositol can also help boost IQ. Avoid too much fat, eat food rich in antioxidants and brain food such as broccoli, salmon, peas, avocados and among others.
source: mdinfo
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Cockroach Brains May Be a Source of Antibiotics: Research
Cockroach brains may be a source of new antibiotics capable of killing deadly drug-resistant bacteria, according to research that suggests the germ-spreading pests may be good for something after all.
Insects such as cockroaches have a defense mechanism against bacteria, a “logical” development from living in unhygienic conditions, research from the U.K.’s University of Nottingham showed. Tissues from the brains and nervous systems of cockroaches and locusts killed more than 90 percent of MRSA and E. coli without damaging human cells, scientists said.
Research has shown cockroaches to spread germs linked to allergic reactions and asthma in the home and drug-resistant bacteria in hospitals. Invasive MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a hospital-acquired infection that sickens about 90,000 people and kills 15,000 in the U.S. every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
“Insects often live in unsanitary and unhygienic environments where they encounter many different types of bacteria,” Simon Lee, a postgraduate researcher who led the study, said in a statement yesterday. “It is therefore logical that they have developed ways of protecting themselves against micro-organisms.”
The researchers identified nine molecules in the tissues capable of killing bacteria, and are testing their potency against emerging superbugs such as Acinetobacter. Infections caused by the bacteria, commonly found in soil and water, typically occur in intensive-care units and health-care facilities with very ill patients, according to the CDC.
E. coli can cause diarrhea and may lead to urinary tract infections and pneumonia, the agency said.
The study was presented at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting in Nottingham, England.
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Sports along with healthy diet blocks high blood pressure naturally
High blood pressure is a significant factor in cardiovascular disease such as stroke or heart attack.
Sport can reduce the risk because, along with a healthy diet and moderate alcohol consumption, non-drug therapy includes vigorous physical activity, according to Sven Fikenzer from the German Highschool of Health Management in Saarbrucken. “Between 30 and 60 minutes of sporting activity a day can be very effective.”
“A medical study here in Germany has shown that a quarter of all Germans between 20- and 30-years-old are affected by high blood pressure. In many cases they are not even aware of this,” says Fikenzer. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, sport endurance can significantly reduce blood pressure levels. Among the best sports are cycling, low impact aerobics, jogging and walking.
If a parent or grandparent has had high blood pressure, your risk of contracting the condition is higher. Fikenzer advises getting your blood pressure checked one or two times a year if this is the case.
If you have high blood pressure and you are receiving the correct drug therapy, there is no need to avoid engaging in sport. However, if you are taking beta blockers you should get a physical performance check-up from a cardiologist or sports doctor.
source: hindu
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Men 'suffer memory issues with age' compare to women
Men are more likely than women to suffer problems with memory and thinking as they age, research has shown.
Rates of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were found to be 1.5 times higher in men than in women.
MCI involves a level of mental decline beyond that which can be explained by normal ageing. It is often associated with Alzheimer's disease later in life.
Scientists conducting the study tested the memory and thinking skills of more than 2,000 people aged 70 to 89 in Minnesota, US.
They found almost 14% of participants had MCI, 10% were suffering from dementia, and 76% had normal mental faculties.
A total of 19% of men had MCI compared with 14% of women.
Lead researcher Dr Ronald Petersen, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said: "This is the first study conducted among community-dwelling persons to find a higher prevalence of MCI in men.
"The finding that the frequency of MCI is greater in men was unexpected, since the frequency of Alzheimer's disease is actually greater in women. It warrants further study.
"If these results are confirmed in other studies, it may suggest that factors related to gender play a role in the disease. For example, men may experience cognitive decline earlier in life but more gradually, whereas women may transition from normal memory directly to dementia at a later age but more quickly."
Combined rates of MCI and dementia at 22% highlighted the public health impact of these conditions, said the researchers writing in the journal Neurology.
source: Press Association
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Spas promote sleep health
IN OUR fast-paced world, we try to squeeze in too much in a day that we lose sight of the importance of getting enough sleep. Healthy sleep is just as important as good nutrition and exercise that is essential to our well-being for optimal daily performance both mentally and physically.
Lack of sleep is a major health concern, it can adversely affect the brain and cognitive function. Other effects of sleep deprivation include migraines, chronic pains and the obvious tie-in to obesity as chronic sleepiness makes rigorous physical activities unlikely. Not to mention being cranky and irritable.
We all assume that sleeping just comes naturally. Not so for many.
According to the survey published by Spa Finder: 80 percent of the people surveyed have trouble sleeping; Only 20 percent said they get eight hours of sleep; 27 percent, six hours or less; and 12 percent, five hours or less.
It is disturbing to note that 52 percent of the respondents even use prescribed and/or over-the-counter sleeping pills.
When asked to name the primary reason for their sleep problems, the largest bloc of respondents cited stress. Among other reasons are poor sleep habits and busy schedule.
Spa to go
Dr. Russell Sanna, Ph. D, executive director of Harvard Medical School’s Division of Sleep Medicine, commends Susie Ellis, president of Spa Finder, a United States-based marketing and media company, together with the spa industry for focusing on the sleep health issue.
With so many people yearning to learn how to sleep well, the spa has become a place to go. The offerings range from sleep-inducing massages to New Age options like dream analysis and sleep yoga at Connecticut’s Mayflower Inn to insomnia relief programs at Chiva Som destination spa in Hua Hin Thailand that offers two sleep programs.
The “Informaltional” program addresses minor sleeping problems and includes in-depth education, organic supplements, sleep hygiene and relaxation programs. The more comprehensive Natural Insomniac Treatment program (part of the spa’s anti-aging focus) includes a three-month melatonin to restore sleep-awake cycle. TCM and acupuncture are also offered for sleep improvement.
Even hotel spas are actively promoting sleep health for their guests both during their stay and when they return home with soothing aromatherapy, feather beds, meditation/breathing CDs and other in-room offerings.
Day spas, on the other hand, are providing post-treatment relaxation rooms for clients to catch that much needed 20-minute nap after a massage session.
As spas move toward health and wellness and away from the idea of just pampering, expect sleep therapy to become not just a trend but something that’s here to stay.
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Antioxidant-Rich Diet Aids Heart Health
Obesity has become a problem that many in the United States say has become an epidemic. The number of individuals who are significantly overweight has grown exponentially, causing many to call for improved efforts to address the situation.
Some health experts say that a diet rich in antioxidants, similar to what is commonly known as the Mediterranean diet, may provide heart health benefits that could lessen the burden of the growing obesity epidemic on nation’s healthcare system.
"All research suggests that the healthiest diet is the traditional Mediterranean diet," Tricia M. Sinek, manager of the Community Cancer Program at the Franciscan Health System in Washington, told the Tacoma News Tribune.
"Every state in the United States reports that 30 percent of their population is obese."
She added that she recommends this diet — which is rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts and fish — to patients who are concerned about their weight or who have gained an unhealthy amount of fat.
Studies from the U.S. Agriculture Research Service have shown that carotenoids — a type of antioxidant commonly found in plants associated with the Mediterranean diet — may play a significant role in heart health.
source: personalliberty
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Plaque Caused By Bacteria Can Trigger Heart Attack
London, A bacteria that causes plaque can escape from mouth into the bloodstream and increase the risk of heart attack, according to a new study which emphasizes the need for regular brushing and flossing.
Researchers at the University of Bristol and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), have found that if not kept in check the oral bacteria, called Streptococcus, can easily enter into the bloodstream.
"Poor dental hygiene can lead to bleeding gums, providing bacteria with an escape route into the bloodstream, where they can initiate blood clots leading to heart disease," said Professor Howard Jenkinson from the University of Bristol.
Once let loose in the bloodstream, the bugs can use a protein on their surface, called PadA, as a weapon to force platelets in the blood to bind together and form clots.
Inducing blood clots is a selfish trick used by bacteria, Professor Jenkinson told the Society for General Microbiology''s autumn meeting in Nottingham.
He said: "When the platelets clump together they completely encase the bacteria. This provides a protective cover not only from the immune system, but also from antibiotics that might be used to treat infection."
"Unfortunately, as well as helping out the bacteria, platelet clumping can cause small blood clots, growths on the heart valves (endocarditis), or inflammation of blood vessels that can block the blood supply to the heart and brain."
The research, Professor Jenkinson said, highlights a very important public health message.
"People need to be aware that as well keeping a check on their diet, blood pressure, cholesterol and fitness levels, they also need to maintain good dental hygiene to minimize their risk of heart problems," he said.
The researchers are now using a brand-new blood flow model, developed by Dr Steve Kerrigan at the RCSI, School of Pharmacy, Dublin, that mimics conditions in the human circulatory system.
"We are currently investigating how the platelet-activating function of PadA can be blocked. This could eventually lead to new treatments for cardiovascular disease which is the biggest killer in the developed world," Professor Jenkinson added.
source: in.msn
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Meditation can induce long-lasting changes in brain function
Richard Davidson believes mental exercise will be as important as physical exercise by 2050.
Richard Davidson, one of the world's top brain scientists, believes mental exercise, specifically meditation, can literally change our minds.
Our data shows mental practice can induce long-lasting changes in the brain, " said Davidson, professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
His startling scientific research on the impact of meditation on brain function has implications that go beyond the physical.
Buddhist monks believe mental attributes and positive emotions such as compassion, loving, kindness and empathy are skills that can be cultivated.
And science is beginning to back that up.
Davidson started meditating in 1974, when he was a PhD student at Harvard. Back then, meditation was seen as a somewhat faddish eastern import right up there with the dashiki and the Jesus sandal.
"The culture at the time was not so receptive," Davidson said, "nor were the scientific methods so well-developed."
It was when he met the Dalai Lama in 1992 that he "decided to come out of the closet with my interest in meditation."
He became excited about the possibility of applying rigorous scientific study to the practice of meditation.
"I made a commitment to do my best to take the tools we have so well honed in studying fear and anxiety and apply them to kindness and compassion."
Davidson began an ongoing study of the brains of Buddhist monks, the so- called "Olympians" of meditation, each of whom had accomplished at least 10,000 hours of meditation.
"The work was framed within the research on neuro-plasticity, the understanding that the brain is built to change in response to experience," Davidson said.
Just as an injured brain can adapt by mapping out new neuron pathways to accomplish tasks, "brain circuits (for) regulation of emotion and attention are malleable by the environment and are potential targets of training," he said.
Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imagery (fMRI), Davidson showed that compassion meditation, even in short-term practitioners, induced significant changes in patterns of functional activity in the brain.
"The most important thing is hard-nosed evidence," Davidson said. "We were able to measure the results through experiments we did."
Davidson, who has published his findings on meditation in the world's most prestigious science journals, believes that even the so-called "happiness set- point" of a person's brain can be altered for the better.
The potential applications include non-pharmacological interventions or supplemental treatment for depression, as well as behavioral and stress- related issues.
Davidson hopes to convince educators to include meditation training as part of core curriculum in Grades K-12.
"It's very clear that disruptive behaviour - bullying, ADD - dramatically affect learning and have led to progressive declines in North American institutes," he said.
Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, also began meditating while in college and is a proponent of mindfulness, a form of secular meditation.
Goleman said in an interview: "Mindfulness seems to strengthen an array of neurons in the left prefrontal cortex, which inhibits the stress reaction driven by the amygdala, that triggers the cascade of stress hormones in the fight or flight response."
Regular practice is key. "It's exactly like building up a muscle. What you begin to notice as you strengthen it is the absence of the negative state."
By cultivating the mindfulness muscle, Goleman believes we will develop greater emotional intelligence. We can become more self-aware, better at handling distressing emotions, and more empathetic, a combination that creates greater social effectiveness.
"Meditation is both calming and focusing, which are two essential elements for well-being," Goleman said.
Dr. Adrianne Ross is a Vancouver mindfulness and meditation leader who first turned to the practice when she experienced a serious illness.
She has practiced meditation in different forms for more than 30 years, studied with mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn and taught the practice for more than a decade.
"The mindfulness program is for people who aren't sure they're interested in Buddhism, but want to learn to meditate," Ross said.
"It helps you to be able to live more fully and more effectively, so you're causing less harm to yourself and the people around you and you're happier."
Mindfulness can be practiced while driving, or standing in line at the bank, Ross said, but it is not a panacea.
"Some people have depression that comes back. Some of us have the chemistry or life experience that make (difficult) thoughts come, but it can help us work with the thoughts," Ross said.
"Some people have severe illness. It won't make the illness go away, but helps them live a full life.
Ross has seen patients become happier and more accepting, in spite of difficult circumstances.
It begins with "learning to be with the breath," Ross said. Bringing focus to the breath and body. You don't try to eliminate your thoughts, but focus with "loving kindness" and watch your habitual thoughts - the ones that might hijack you emotionally.
"You learn to recognize my mind is really spinning right now, you're aware of what it's doing, you're not lost in what's happening. Then if your mind is not going in a useful direction you have a choice."
Davidson, who still meditates regularly, said he doesn't measure his own brain systematically. He doesn't have to. "My practice has given me a kind of equanimity and balance," he said.
"It may be a period of time, but by 2050 I believe mental exercise will be understood as being as important as physical exercise."
Vancouver Sun
SOURCE: canada.com
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Snoring may signal some dire consequences
While spouses of rafter-rattling snorers may occasionally think murderous thoughts, snoring is seldom fatal.
But when snoring is a sign of sleep apnea, a condition that causes breathing to be interrupted repeatedly during the night due to airway obstructions, it can signal some dire consequences.
Researchers are certain that obesity is a major contributor to sleep apnea, but studies have also found that the condition leads to high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and diabetes, among other problems.
A report in the journal Diabetes Care in June noted that out of 306 obese patients with type 2 diabetes, testing found that 87 percent of them also had obstructive sleep apnea, although most of them did not know it.
More than half of those tested stopped breathing between 16 and 20 times per hour (moderate apnea) or more than 30 times an hour (severe).
But the sleep-obesity loop is even more complicated. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, studying more than 200 people with sleep-related breathing disorders, found that as their conditions worsened, they actually burned more calories when they were at rest.
This is not the way nature intended. We're supposed to burn fewer calories when resting. It's estimated that some 12 million Americans have sleep apnea.
Even a temporary onset of apnea, which often occurs in pregnant women, can cause problems.
About 4 percent of pregnant women develop gestational diabetes, in which a woman without previously diagnosed diabetes develops high blood-sugar levels during pregnancy.
Half of nearly 300 participants with sleep apnea and diabetes went into a group behavioral weight-loss program that included portion-controlled diets and prescribed 175 minutes of exercise a week. The control group got three lectures on diabetes management, diet and physical activity over the yearlong study.
Other research shows that sleep disruption can also set the brain up for disease. A mouse study reported last week by the Washington University School of Medicine found that chronic sleep deprivation makes the brain plaques that characterize Alzheimer's disease appear earlier and more often.
Medical professionals treating Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative illnesses have long noted that many patients experience disturbed sleep. But until recently, it was thought that sleep disruption was more a byproduct of disease than a contributor.
And scientists at the University of California, San Diego, showed that treating sleep apnea in patients with Alzheimer's actually seemed to improve cognitive function.
Specifically, putting patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's and sleep apnea on a machine that delivers pressurized air into the lungs during sleep over six weeks resulted in improved verbal learning and mental processing.
While the mouse study indicates that sleep disruption may actually accelerate the disease process, the California scientists said the improvements they registered could simply be the result of improved oxygen levels in the brain and a clearer mind as a result of getting a better night's sleep.
Earlier studies in adults with sleep apnea, but no dementia, have also shown improvements in mental function after receiving the pressurized air therapy.
source: newschief
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Is Your Digestive System Making You Sick?
There might be something wrong with your inner tube, and it could be making you sick and fat.
You may not even realize you have a problem ... but if you have health concerns of any kind or you are overweight, your inner tube could be the root cause.
Of course, I'm not talking about a beach toy. I mean the inner tube of life -- your digestive system!
It is likely that you suffer from (or have suffered from) some type of digestive disorder -- irritable bowel syndrome, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, reflux, gas, and other things too gross to mention in print.
And you are not alone. More than 100 million Americans have digestive problems.
Two of the top five selling drugs in America are for digestive problems, and they cost us billions and billions of dollars.
There are more than 200 over-the-counter (OTC) remedies for digestive disorders, many of which can create additional digestive problems.
Visits for intestinal disorders are among the most common reasons for trips to primary care physicians.
And that's not even the worst news.
Most of us (including most doctors) do not recognize or know that digestive problems wreak havoc in the entire body, leading to allergies, arthritis, autoimmune disease, rashes, acne, chronic fatigue, mood disorders, autism, dementia, cancer, and more.
So having a healthy gut means more than simply being free of annoyances like bloating or heartburn! It is absolutely central to your health. It is connected to EVERYTHING that happens in your body.
That's why I almost always start helping people treat chronic health problems by fixing their gut, which is what I want to help you do today.
Today , you will learn how you can find out if you have a problem with your gut (though many of you won't need me to tell you -- your gut will speak for itself!), and I will give you 7 simple steps you can take today to heal your inner tube of life.
Fixing your digestion is the 4th key of the 7 Keys to UltraWellness or functional medicine, and it is absolutely essential that you heal this critical system in your body if you want to achieve optimum health.
Why your gut is so important? Let me explain ...
How Your Gut Keeps You Healthy or Makes You Ill
The health of your gut determines what nutrients are absorbed and what toxins, allergens, and microbes are kept out. It is directly linked to the health of your whole body.
Intestinal health could be defined as the optimal digestion, absorption, and assimilation of food. But that is a big job that depends on many other factors.
Let's look at a few of them ...
First, there are bugs in your gut that form a diverse and interdependent ecosystem like a rainforest. In fact, there are 500 species and 3 pounds of bacteria in your gut which form a HUGE chemical factory that helps you digest your food, regulate hormones, excrete toxins, and produce vitamins and other healing compounds that keep your gut and your body healthy.
This ecosystem of friendly bacteria must be in balance for you to be healthy.
Too many of the wrong bacteria, like parasites and yeasts, or not enough of the good ones, like Lactobacillus or Bifidobacteria, can seriously damage your health.
So keeping a healthy balance of bugs in your intestines is one factor to good gut health.
Second, there is your gut-immune system. Your entire immune system -- and the rest of your body -- is protected from the toxic environment in your gut by a lining that is only ONE cell-thick layer. If spread out, this lining would take up a surface area the size of a tennis court, and the entire thing is covered by a sewer!
If that barrier is damaged, you can become allergic to foods you may normally be able to digest perfectly well, you will get sick, your immune system will become overactive, and it will begin producing inflammation throughout your body.
Filtering out the good molecules from the bad molecules and protecting your immune system is yet another important factor in gut health.
Third, there is your second brain -- your gut's nervous system. Did you know your gut, actually contains MORE neurotransmitters than your brain? In fact, the gut has a brain of its own. It is called the "enteric nervous system" and it is a very sophisticated piece of your biology that is wired to your brain in intricate ways.
Messages constantly travel back and forth between your gut-brain and your head-brain, and when those messages are interfered with in any way your health will suffer.
Fourth, your gut also has to get rid of all the toxins produced as byproducts of your metabolism, which your liver dumps into bile. If things get backed up when you are constipated, you will become toxic and your health will suffer.
And last but not least, your gut must break down all the food you eat into its individual components, separate out the vitamins and minerals, and shuttle everything across the one cell-thick layer mentioned above so it can get into your bloodstream and nourish your body and brain.
Your gut has quite a lot to manage. Even in perfect world it is hard to keep all of this in balance. But in our modern world there are endless insults that can knock our digestive systems off balance; it is that much more difficult to maintain excellent digestive health.
How to Know if Your Gut is Out of Balance
To fix your digestion, you first need to understand what is sending your gut out of balance in the first place. The list is short:
• Our low-fiber, high-sugar, processed, nutrient-poor, high-calorie diet, which causes all the wrong bacteria and yeast to grow in our gut and damages the delicate ecosystem in your intestines
• Overuse of medications that damage the gut or block normal digestive function -- things like acid blockers (Prilosec, Nexium, etc.), anti-inflammatory medication (aspirin, Advil, and Aleve), and overuse of antibiotics, steroids, and hormones
• Undetected gluten intolerance, celiac disease or low grade food allergies to foods such as dairy, eggs, or corn.
• Chronic low-grade infections or gut imbalances with overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine, yeast overgrowth, parasites, or even more serious gut infections
• Toxins like mercury and mold toxins, which damage the gut
• Lack of adequate digestive enzyme function, which can come from acid-blocking medication use, or zinc deficiency
• Stress, which can alter the gut nervous system, cause a leaky gut, and change the normal bacteria in the gut
What happens then is obvious. You get sick.
But what's important to understand is that many diseases that seem to be totally unrelated to the gut -- such as eczema or psoriasis or arthritis -- are actually CAUSED by gut problems. By focusing on the gut, you can get better. Here is an example ...
Can Eczema Start in the Gut?
Allison, one of my patients who suffered from eczema -- a weepy, red, oozing, scaly, itchy rash -- all over her body is perfect example of what can happen when your gut is out of balance and the extraordinary level of healing that can occur when you fix your digestion.
This woman, who saw doctor after doctor, put salves, lotions, and potions on her skin and gave her steroids and antibiotics. But none of them ever addressed the underlying cause of her problem.
Allison was 57 years old and had been suffering from severe, unrelenting eczema for eight years. She ate a high-sugar diet and had a history of frequent vaginal yeast infections.
When I saw her, I checked her gut and found she had a leaky gut -- that one-cell thick lining in her intestines was breached and wasn't working properly. She had developed 24 IgG food allergies, and her stool had no healthy bacteria and an overgrowth of yeast from years of taking antibiotics. She also had very high blood levels of antibodies against yeast.
So I helped her heal her gut. I asked her to stop eating the foods she reacted to, told her to stop feeding the yeast in her gastrointestinal tract by cutting out sugar and refined carbohydrates (which they thrive on), and killed the yeast in her gut with antifungal medications and herbs. Then I helped her rebuild her ecosystem of healthy bacteria with probiotics and provided here with healing gut nutrients that allowed her intestinal lining to resume its normal function.
The result?
Her eczema disappeared for the first time in eight years -- and it stayed away!
You can experience the same thing Allison did. You may be able to heal from many of your chronic symptoms simply by fixing your digestion. Here is how you do it.
7 Steps to Optimal Digestive Health
To heal your inner tube of life you simply need to:
1. Eat whole unprocessed foods. Make sure to include plenty of fiber from foods like vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.
2. Eliminate food allergies. If you think you have food sensitivities, try an elimination diet. Cut out gluten, dairy, yeast, corn, soy, and eggs for a week or two and see how your gut feels and what happens to your other symptoms.
3. Treat any infections or overgrowth of bugs -- Parasites, small bowel bacteria, and yeasts can all inhibit proper gut function. You must treat these infections if you want to heal.
4. Replenish your digestive enzymes. When you don't have enough digestive enzymes in your gut, you can't properly covert the foods you eat into the raw materials necessary to run your body and brain. Take broad-spectrum digestive enzymes with your food to solve the problem.
5. Rebuild your rain forest of friendly bacteria. Take probiotic supplements. They will help you rebuild the healthy bacteria so essential to good gut health.
6. Get good fat. Take extra omega-3 supplements, which help cool inflammation in the gut.
7. Heal your gut lining. Use gut-healing nutrients such as glutamine and zinc to repair the lining in your gut so it can resume its normal function.
Fixing your digestion may take some time, but it can be done. And it is absolutely essential if you want to achieve vibrant health. So work on your inner tube of life using the steps above and watch as your symptoms (and those extra pounds) disappear.
Did you realize how important your gut is to your overall health?
What steps have you taken to fix your digestion? How have they worked?
Why do you think the pharmaceutical industry develops and actively advertises drugs that are known to inhibit proper gut function and thus compromise health?
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, M.D.
source: huffingtonpost
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Sugar guidelines to fight obesity - AHA
Once the scourge of mostly dentists, sugar is taking a beating on a much larger scale these days, as public health and nutrition experts - along with politicians - take up the fight against what some are calling the single largest source of the country's collective weight problem.
It's impossible to blame sugar entirely for the obesity epidemic, most scientists agree, but there's no doubt that sugar consumption has increased along with Americans' waistlines.
"The average American caloric intake has increased by about 150 to 300 (daily) calories in the last 30 years. That's huge. And it's coming from processed foods, half of it from sugared beverages," said Candice Wong, a UCSF cardiovascular epidemiologist and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association. "We have a long battle ahead of us."
Mayor Gavin Newsom recently joined the battle when he proposed last month that San Francisco become the first city in the United States to charge a fee to retailers that sell sugary beverages. And in August the American Heart Association for the first time suggested specific limits on the amount of sugar people should eat and drink.
The obesity epidemic is almost definitely due to a variety of factors, such as portion sizes and a lack of exercise. But the assault on sugar is based on multiple studies that show a correlation between sugar consumption and obesity - both on an individual level and on a national scale.
Over the past three decades, consumption of fructose - a type of sugar naturally found in fruits but also mixed with other sugars and used in a wide variety of processed foods - has more than doubled. In the 1970s, Americans consumed about 9 teaspoons a day of fructose, according to a 2008 study. By the mid-1990s, consumption had risen to 14 teaspoons.
Today, the average American packs away about 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, most of that in the form of fructose, according to the National Cancer Institute. Young people eat and drink the most - teenage boys take in about 34 teaspoons of sugar every day.
All that sugar adds up to a lot of extra calories.
"Most people probably have no idea how much sugar they're taking in," said Jo Ann Hattner, a San Francisco registered dietitian who teaches nutrition courses at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Whether the sugar itself is bad for people is still up for debate. Most nutritionists don't believe sugar is inherently unhealthy; the problem is that sugar has lots of calories and absolutely no nutritional value.
UCSF pediatrician Robert Lustig believes fructose is unhealthy. He said that sugars can affect hormone production in such a way that metabolism is thrown off and the brain is tricked into thinking the body is starved and needs more food, even as the person gains weight.
"A normal person will consume a certain amount of calories a day. You pour sugar on top and they will consume more calories, generating more weight gain and generating more hunger," Lustig said.
The new guidelines from the American Heart Association recommend that most women limit their intake of added sugars to only 100 calories a day and that men take in only 150 calories a day. Added sugars are those that aren't naturally found in foods like fruits and dairy products. For a majority of women, that would be less than one 12-ounce can of soda; men could have the soda plus a chocolate chip cookie.
Newsom is drafting legislation for a soda fee that would be assessed to retail outlets. If such legislation passes, San Francisco would be the first city in the country to essentially tax soda, although at least two states have a soda tax.
Soda may be the biggest culprit in Americans' growing girth, but it's far from the only source of sugar in most people's diet. In fact, nutritionists often complain, sugar shows up in almost every type of processed food - from bread and salad dressing to potato chips and energy drinks.
And it's not always easy for people to find out how much sugar they're eating. Nutritional labels must list grams of sugar, but they don't have to differentiate between naturally occurring sugar and added sugar. Nutritionists say before making a food purchase, it's important that people read the label and find out if something that seems healthy is actually loaded with extra calories from sugar.
Yogurt, for example, always has some sugar in the form of lactose, which comes naturally from milk. But many commercial yogurts have added sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup that can bump up the calories. Shoppers would need to look for the total sugar content on the nutrition label then read the ingredient list to figure out that they're eating a lot of extra sugar.
"The No. 1 thing to do is to educate people on how to read labels. It's very, very tricky and the products are getting more and more sophisticated," Wong said.
Hattner is hopeful that most people can slowly wean themselves off their sugar habits. She suggests people make small behavioral changes - try switching to diet drinks, for example, or drinking half a soda instead of the whole can.
Lustig is less optimistic.
He appreciates attempts like the soda tax and the new American Heart Association guidelines to draw attention to the country's sugar addiction, he said. But until federal authorities take aggressive actions against food manufacturers and control sugar consumption like they control tobacco and alcohol, the country's going to have a hard time shaking the habit and losing weight.
"Sugar is addicting just like drugs of abuse," Lustig said. "If the only food you have access to is laced with sugar, that's like asking a drug addict to stop taking drugs when the food they're eating has drugs in it. The only way to fix this is to remove the sugar sources from the diet in the first place."
Sugar by definition
Naturally occurring sugars: Sugars found naturally in foods.
Simple carbohydrates (also called simple sugars): Carbohydrates that are made up of just one or two units of sugar. Simple carbohydrates include glucose, fructose and lactose.
Complex carbohydrates: Strings of sugar found in foods like starchy vegetables and breads, cereals and rice.
Total sugars: The total grams of sugar, both natural and added, found in a food or beverage. This amount is listed on nutrition labels.
Added sugars: Sugars added to products to make them taste better. These sugars can be natural, such as white sugar or honey, or manufactured, such as high fructose corn syrup.
Major sources of added sugars
12-ounce soda 133 calories from sugar
1 cup canned peaches in syrup 115 calories from sugar
10 jellybeans 78 calories from sugar
6-ounce fruit yogurt 78 calories from sugar
12-ounce fruit punch drink 62 calories from sugar
One-half cup vanilla ice cream 45 calories from sugar
One tablespoon pancake syrup 27 calories from sugar
Chocolate chip cookie 14 calories from sugar
Source: American Heart Association
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Heart Beat Too Fast or Too Slow?
When the heart beats irregularly, it's called Arrhythmia.
In many cases, when the heart beats too fast, too slow or irregularly, there are no obvious warning signs, the University of Virginia Health System says.
But you should contact your doctor without delay if you have any of these symptoms:
* Feeling dizzy or lightheaded, or actually fainting.
* Feeling like your heart is fluttering.
* Noticing that your heart has skipped a beat, or feeling an extra beat.
* Feeling tired and weak.
* Being short of breath.
* Having chest pain.
-- Diana Kohnle
source: healthday
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New Mobile Technology Used To Detect Cancer
A hospital in cooperation with a research group here, has conceptualised and launched a health service that uses mobile phones to detect cancer.
The Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre (MSCC) of the Narayana Hrudayalaya, a well-known hospital along with the SANA (a research group at Harvard/MIT), has launched the 'mhealth' that uses mobile phone to detect cancer.
The Head of Department (HOD) of Cancer in the Narayan Hriduyalya, Dr. Moni Abraham, said that usually patients visit specialists with stage four of cancer that is expensive to treat.
However, if cancer is detected early, it can be treated properly and economically, he said.
"By sitting in the building like a major cancer centre we get a lot of patients but they have very advance stage. So, we realise that we have to reach out to people; so that is the basic motive we go out to the people and try to pick up the cancer at its early stage. So, we can provide basic help to the patient.... The cost of treatment, the benefit of treatment will be significant ... than stage four disease," said Dr. Moni Abraham.
The technology that the SANA software has developed includes certain automated questionnaires, which are directed to the patient by a trained health worker.
If most of the questionnaires are answered in the affirmative, the health worker will then take high quality lesion picture using the phone camera. After clicking the picture, the entire data is uploaded on the server for the specialists to take a look and analyse the case.
"This picture can be taken by the mobile phone camera and with the optics of the recent camera the quality of picture is fairly good. So, all most like an expert going to the community and seeing the patient ourselves, so, they (health workers) take a picture then completing all the constituents and taking picture they press a button and with the button they can transfer the entire details through internet," said Dr. Moni Abraham.
It takes only two minute for a cancer specialist to decide whether the person in question is affected with cancer. Dr. Abraham said: The next development will be that the software will be given to telephone vendors to be uploaded in their phones.
By Shweta
source: sify
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Michael Douglas Suffering Stage IV Throat Cancer
Actor Michael Douglas last night stunned a television audience with the announcement that he has "late stage IV throat cancer."
What is this disease? How is it treated? Based on what he's revealed, what do we know about Douglas's treatment and prognosis?
To answer these and other questions, WebMD spoke with two experts:
* Gady Har-El, MD, chairman of the department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital.
* Ted Teknos, MD, co-director of the head and neck disease committee and professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital, Columbus, Ohio.
What is throat cancer?
Surprisingly, doctors don't use the term "throat cancer." Several different kinds of cancer can involve different parts of the throat and mouth.
Michael Douglas says he has a walnut-sized tumor at the base of his tongue. If that's truly where his cancer started, he likely has oropharyngeal cancer.
Oropharyngeal cancer may involve the base of the tongue, the tonsils and surrounding tissues, the soft palate, or the front and back walls of the throat.
Doctors use the term "insidious" to describe base-of-tongue tumors. That's because there is no pain sensation at the base of the tongue, so the tumors can become quite advanced before symptoms appear.
What causes throat cancer?
Another reason to suspect that Douglas's throat cancer is oropharyngeal cancer is his statement that the cancer probably was caused by smoking and drinking.
"Smoking is a major cause of oropharyngeal cancer," Har-El tells WebMD. "Drinking alcohol, as far as the statistics can tells us, is not as bad by itself. But the combination of drinking and smoking is the worst combination."
Although it may account for Douglas's cancer, it does not account for the sudden rise in oropharyngeal cases that doctors are seeing.
"This is a disease that is increasing really at a dramatic rate, particularly in the male population," Teknos says. "Not that long ago, this only made up about 18% of head and neck cancers. Now it makes up a full third and is increasing at a very rapid rate."
What's causing the rise in cases, Teknos says, is a surge in the number of cases caused not by smoking and drinking but by human papillomavirus -- HPV, the sexually transmitted virus best known as a cause of cervical cancer and genital warts.
Teknos says an Ohio State study recently found that people with more than six lifetime oral sex partners have the greatest oropharyngeal cancer risk. It's not yet clear why some people with HPV get this throat cancer while others do not. But it does appear that decades can elapse between HPV infection and the appearance of cancer.
"The infection may happen in a person's 20s and only manifest as cancer in the 40s," he says. "We are doing a lot of research to try to identify what is different in people who get the cancer. Because many are exposed, but only a few get cancer."
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source: webmd
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