Health Medicare Tips

Fatty foods may cause cocaine-like addiction

2010-03-28T21:38:00.000-07:00

Cheesecake and other fatty foods overload the pleasure centers in the brain

(Health.com) -- Scientists have finally confirmed what the rest of us have suspected for years: Bacon, cheesecake, and other delicious yet fattening foods may be addictive.

A new study in rats suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. When rats consume these foods in great enough quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction, the study found.

Doing drugs such as cocaine and eating too much junk food both gradually overload the so-called pleasure centers in the brain, according to Paul J. Kenny, Ph.D., an associate professor of molecular therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute, in Jupiter, Florida. Eventually the pleasure centers "crash," and achieving the same pleasure--or even just feeling normal--requires increasing amounts of the drug or food, says Kenny, the lead author of the study.

"People know intuitively that there's more to [overeating] than just willpower," he says. "There's a system in the brain that's been turned on or over-activated, and that's driving [overeating] at some subconscious level."

In the study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Kenny and his co-author studied three groups of lab rats for 40 days. One of the groups was fed regular rat food. A second was fed bacon, sausage, cheesecake, frosting, and other fattening, high-calorie foods--but only for one hour each day. The third group was allowed to pig out on the unhealthy foods for up to 23 hours a day.

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Not surprisingly, the rats that gorged themselves on the human food quickly became obese. But their brains also changed. By monitoring implanted brain electrodes, the researchers found that the rats in the third group gradually developed a tolerance to the pleasure the food gave them and had to eat more to experience a high.

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They began to eat compulsively, to the point where they continued to do so in the face of pain. When the researchers applied an electric shock to the rats' feet in the presence of the food, the rats in the first two groups were frightened away from eating. But the obese rats were not. "Their attention was solely focused on consuming food," says Kenny.

In previous studies, rats have exhibited similar brain changes when given unlimited access to cocaine or heroin. And rats have similarly ignored punishment to continue consuming cocaine, the researchers note.

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The fact that junk food could provoke this response isn't entirely surprising, says Dr.Gene-Jack Wang, M.D., the chair of the medical department at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, in Upton, New York.

"We make our food very similar to cocaine now," he says.

Coca leaves have been used since ancient times, he points out, but people learned to purify or alter cocaine to deliver it more efficiently to their brains (by injecting or smoking it, for instance). This made the drug more addictive.

According to Wang, food has evolved in a similar way. "We purify our food," he says. "Our ancestors ate whole grains, but we're eating white bread. American Indians ate corn; we eat corn syrup."

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The ingredients in purified modern food cause people to "eat unconsciously and unnecessarily," and will also prompt an animal to "eat like a drug abuser [uses drugs]," says Wang.

The neurotransmitter dopamine appears to be responsible for the behavior of the overeating rats, according to the study. Dopamine is involved in the brain's pleasure (or reward) centers, and it also plays a role in reinforcing behavior. "It tells the brain something has happened and you should learn from what just happened," says Kenny.

Overeating caused the levels of a certain dopamine receptor in the brains of the obese rats to drop, the study found. In humans, low levels of the same receptors have been associated with drug addiction and obesity, and may be genetic, Kenny says.

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However, that doesn't mean that everyone born with lower dopamine receptor levels is destined to become an addict or to overeat. As Wang points out, environmental factors, and not just genes, are involved in both behaviors.

Wang also cautions that applying the results of animal studies to humans can be tricky. For instance, he says, in studies of weight-loss drugs, rats have lost as much as 30 percent of their weight, but humans on the same drug have lost less than 5 percent of their weight. "You can't mimic completely human behavior, but [animal studies] can give you a clue about what can happen in humans," Wang says.

Although he acknowledges that his research may not directly translate to humans, Kenny says the findings shed light on the brain mechanisms that drive overeating and could even lead to new treatments for obesity.

"If we could develop therapeutics for drug addiction, those same drugs may be good for obesity as well," he says.

Tips on Living With HIV

2010-03-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

Imagine that are diagnosed with the HIV virus, the first thing you have to do is to keep your emotions in check: calm down. This is not going to be the death of you yet! There are several millions of people afflicted with this deadly virus but still lead normal and healthy lives due to the abundance of medicines available in the market which may not necessarily cure the disease but will definitely contain the virus. The secret here is self- motivation and that can make you live your life completely.

Your relations and associates are the ones that you should be looking to for support at this juncture and they will definitely help calm you down. Consulting with a social worker or a counselor will keep away depression. There is a wealth of information available online that will get you closer to people suffering from this disease and you can share experiences with each other. Regular health check ups to determine the body’s immunity levels should also be done by a qualified doctor. And finally remember that; you should come to terms to the fact that you are infected.

It’s important that you understand how the HIV virus multiplies inside your body and its effect on the immune system. The Viral load test tells you how much of the virus you have at present in your body and the CD4 test tells you how strong your protective system is. It’s important that you know both of them

Always understand that HIV is NOT infectious. Casual contact like sharing utensils, embracing or shaking hands will not spread the disease and this is what your relations and friends need to understand. HIV spreads only through sex, allotment of infected needles and breastfeeding. Do not work your self up just because you are suffering with the disease rather focus on your health. Regular health check-ups is important as the body’s immunity system is gullible to an array of diseases. Avoiding smoking and drinking will also help you handle HIV better. There are many medicines available in the market that can stem the HIV virus starting to increase in your body and your doctor would be the best guide to help you out in this.

Voluntary organizations can also provide you with a wealth of information that will get you closer to people suffering with this disease and this can also be a source of comfort to you. Latest advances in Medicine have actually increased the life span of an HIV patient by ten years or more since the inception of the virus. Some of these individuals, with the help of medicines are leading normal and healthy lives just like any ordinary human being. SO, DON’T give up hope, worrying will never help you, rather learn to accept the situation. Remember that you have to tae care of your own health and no one can do that for you; do visit your doctor regularly. It’s your life so don’t despair, live it king-sized, you will in all probability outlive your expectation.

China launches campaign to break sex taboos

2009-02-21T02:18:00.000-08:00

BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Sunday launched a national sex education campaign aimed at breaking traditional taboos and getting more people to seek treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and infertility.

Just seven percent of women and slightly more than eight percent of men seek immediate medical help for sexual problems, while more a third of people never seek help, said one of the campaign's advisors.

"These numbers are shocking," Xia Enlan, head of the obstetrics and gynaecology department of the Capital University of Sciences' Fuxing Hospital, told a news conference.

"The numbers who get medical attention for sexual problems are extremely small," she added. "This delays treatment for some very serious diseases."

The campaign, called "The sunshine project to care for gender health," will feature posters, competitions and sponsorship of an international sex toy fair in Beijing, organisers said, in a bid to breach "painful topics" of sex.

It will be fronted by Hong Kong starlet Yvonne Yung and her husband Will Liu, who will be the campaign's "image ambassadors."

"Sexual health is an important part of family life and good for helping build a harmonious society," said Cui Yandi of the China Woman and Child Development Centre, one of the programme's main sponsors.

China reported a one-fifth rise in syphilis last year, with a total of 257,474 cases, according to the Health Ministry, though gonorrhoea cases dropped by a tenth.

HIV/AIDS in China is also now mainly sexually transmitted. In the past, most infections were caused by intravenous drug use.

By the end of 2007, China had an estimated 700,000 people infected with HIV, up from an earlier estimate of 650,000, but is believed to have many unreported cases.

While the government has rolled out a television campaign to promote condom use, a major move for a country where talking about sex is problematic for many people, Xia said traditional shyness about discussing sex remains a huge issue.

"It's taboo. The influence of feudalistic thinking has been around for many years. People are not very open," she told Reuters.

"People need to talk about it now that the economy has been growing so fast and we're becoming more and more open," Xia said.

"The traditional way of thinking has not been broken," she added. "We need more publicity, and to talk about these issues in the open. That's why we need this campaign."

Fish oil prevents cholesterol

2009-02-06T04:09:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON: Scientists at Columbia University Medical Center have found yet another reason why eating fish can be beneficial.

Dr. Richard J. Deckelbaum, Director of the Columbia Institute of Human Nutrition, has found that a diet rich in fish oils can prevent the accumulation of fat in the aorta, the main artery leaving the heart.

The researcher says that the beneficial actions of fish oil, which block cholesterol build-up in arteries, are even found at high fat intakes. Fish are generally rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to provide many health benefits, such as helping to prevent mental illness and delaying some of the disabilities associated with aging.

Eating tuna, sardines, salmon and other so-called cold water fish seems to protect people against clogged arteries. Omega-3 fatty acids are also known to lower triglycerides, a type of fat often found in the bloodstream.

The current study was carried out in three separate populations of mice--one was fed a balanced diet, one a diet resembling a "Western" diet high in saturated fat, and a third was fed a high fish fat diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

The researchers observed that the fatty acids contained in fish oil markedly inhibit the entry of "bad" cholesterol (LDL) into arteries, and, consequently, much less cholesterol collects in these vessels. According to them, this is related to the ability of those fatty acids to markedly decrease lipoprotein lipase, a molecule that traps LDL in the arterial wall.

The research team say that their finding may help improve the scientific understanding of omega-3 fatty acids' benefits on heart health. Dr. Deckelbaum says that people can obtain these health benefits by increasing fish intake, or by using supplements that contain the "long-chain" fatty acids, EPA and DHA, which are found in cold water fish.

The research was published by the American Heart Association's Arteriolosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.

Fat cells help weight reduction

2009-02-06T04:08:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON: Georgia State University researchers have discovered that fat cells in the body work in the same fashion as a thermostat regulates temperature inside a house—giving feedback to the brain to regulate the process of fat burning.

C. Kay Song and Tim Bartness, who conducted this study in collaboration with Gary J. Schwartz of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, say that their work may help advance the scientific understanding of how weight is shed. The researchers found that during the process of burning fat, known as lipolysis, fat cells use sensory nerves to feed information to the brain.

The team revealed that they used viruses to trace communications in the nerves of Siberian hamsters, and found that the brain uses part of the nervous system used to regulate body functions, called the sympathetic nervous system, to in turn communicate back to the cells to initiate, continue or stop the fat burning depending upon the information the brain receives from the fat.

"The brain can trigger lipid burning by fat cells and through these sensory nerves, the fat cell can give the brain feedback. This is a really important concept in biology, as it can regulate the process of lipolysis much like how a thermostat regulates temperature in your house, using input from the air and output to a furnace or heating unit," Bartness said.

"The presence and function of the sensory nerves has been completely ignored and the areas in the brain that receive this sensory information were unknown until we did these studies," he added.

When the body has a low amount of a carbohydrate called glycogen, which acts as fuel for lipolysis, the body starts this process to release energy stored in fats. Finally, nerves that are part of the sympathetic nervous system, a chemical called nor epinephrine are released to trigger the breakdown of fat.

Bartness says that sensory nerves later inform the brain about the status of the lipolysis, communicating whether too much or too little energy has been released – and the activity of the sympathetic nerves can be adjusted accordingly.

"If you're doing a moderate amount of exercise or even if it has been a fairly long interval since you last ate, you will use up all or most of the available glycogen, necessitating the break down fat to yield sufficient energy. But you don't want to break down more than you need. So, this would be a way to stop the sympathetic nervous system from triggering the release of too much lipid energy from fat," he said.

According to the researchers, though this communication process is known to play a role in the short-term burning of fat, it has yet to be determined whether this process is involved with the long-term issues of burning fat – important in understanding obesity and why some people burn fat more readily than others.

"It could be that sensory nerves have a dual function. In addition to the moment-to-moment lipolysis process, they might also have a longer term function. It's complicated, and it might be a different subset of the sensory nerves performing the long-term monitoring of fat reserves," he said.

Teen brains still budding

2009-02-06T03:37:00.000-08:00

LONDON: Are you clueless as to why your teenage kid ignores home rules? Well, British scientists have got the answer: their brain's ability to adopt the viewpoint of others is still budding.

Dubbed as the theory of mind, the ability to infer another's perspective - emotional, intellectual, or visual -boosts with age.

To reach the conclusion, the researchers made kids watch two puppets - Sally and Anne - play with a marble, then put the marble back in a box. Anne "left" and Sally grabbed the marble, played with it, and then returned the marble instead to a bag.

Where will Anne first search for the marble, the researchers asked the children as part of the study.

"Before four, kids say she's going to look in the bag, but after four they know she has a false belief," New Scientist quoted Iroise Dumontheil, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London, UK, who led the new study.

However, Dumontheil said, brain scans suggest that a teenage mind toils harder when inferring the outlook of others, compared with adults. And a brain region implicated in theory of mind, the medial prefrontal cortex, continues to develop through adolescence, the scientist added.

To see if there is a behavioural consequence of these biological changes, she and colleagues tested children, adolescents, and adults on their ability to infer the spatial perspective of another person in a simple computer game.

Volunteers- 179 females ranging in age from 7 to 27 - saw a bookshelf with a variety of different sized balls and other objects on four different rows. Few of the objects sit in front of opaque backgrounds, obscured to someone standing on the other side of the shelf, while some sit in front of a see-through background.

Participants were asked to adopt the perspective of a man standing on the other side of the shelf and move the small ball to the left, using a mouse. In a typical test, a golf ball and tennis ball are both visible to the participant, but the golf ball is obscured from the point of view of the observer.
The correct response, then, is to move the tennis ball.

Kids under the age of 10 moved the wrong ball in about three-quarters of trials. Children aged 10 through 13 scored marginally better, and teens answered wrong on two-thirds of trials. Adults, however, did better than 50-50, on average.

Added salt increases hypertension

2009-02-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON: Health experts are urging people to avoid food with high salt content because it may lead to health problems like hypertension and strokes.

Dr. Ken Flegel, Dr. Peter Magner and the CMAJ editorial team write that added salt in diets is unnecessary. They insist that customers must be vigilant, read food labels, and demand low salt food in stores and restaurants.

"Of the estimated one billion people living with hypertension, about 30 per cent can attribute it to excess salt intake," write the authors. According to them, populations, such as the Yanomami Indians in South America, with very low levels of salt intake do not have hypertension.

In contrast, Japan, with a salt intake of 15 g per person, has high rates of hypertension and the highest stroke rates in the industrialized world. The authors recommend a maximum daily intake of 2.8 g for active young people, and 2.2 for older adults.

"The correct default should be no added salt in food we purchase, leaving those who still wish to do so free to indulge at their own risk," they conclude.

Love does improve with age, claims researcher

2009-02-01T10:37:00.001-08:00

WELLINGTON: Love can last forever, claims an Otago University professor, who found that adoration consistently improves with age.

According to Amanda Barusch, who teaches social work and community development, twilight love brings lifestyle changes.

To reach the 'eternal' conclusion, the professor investigated love and romance among baby boomers aged over 50.

Professor Barusch found that the people she surveyed "consistently reported that love improved with age," the Salt Lake City Tribune reported.

She found a wide range of romantic experience when she interviewed 91 people aged 51 to 97 - most of them widowed, but also including married couples and divorcees.

The researcher kept looking for a natural "cliff" when romantic experiences became consistently different but didn't find one. Flexibility was prompted by intimations of mortality: some older women had no reservations about initiating relationships with younger men, even if they were raised with a different set of cultural mores, the researcher found.

Salty soups 'up cancer risk'

2009-01-31T03:57:00.000-08:00

LONDON: People who regularly eat soup could be raising their risk of stomach cancer, warns a new study.

According to Dr Rachel Thompson, science programme manager for the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), servings of some well-known brands contained half the recommended daily limit of salt intake.

She claimed that soups are one of the "worst culprits" for hidden salt, and recommended people make their own low-salt versions.

Salt is known to increase blood pressure and the risk of stroke and heart disease, but scientists also believe it is a cause of stomach cancer.

Apart from watching the salt content in soups, Thompson said that, another way to keep salt levels down was to reduce intake of salt-preserved foods, such as hams and sausages, as well as pizza, some ready meals and breakfast cereals.

The recommended intake of salt for adults is no more than 6g a day, although people currently consume an average of 8.6g daily, reports the Daily Express.

Dr Thompson said: "Soups are one of the worst culprits for hidden salt. Some brands of soup have as much as half the recommended daily intake per serving.

"Fresh vegetable-based soups tend to have less salt than tinned cream-based soups that include bacon or ham, but even some of the healthier brands of vegetable soups still contain over a third of our recommended daily intake. This is why it's so important for people to always check the labels of products."

Cows with names produce more milk:

2009-01-28T04:18:00.000-08:00

LONDON: Bizarre it may seem, but a new study has suggested that cows with names can produce more milk than those who are not named.

Researchers at Newcastle University have carried out the study and found that naming cows as well as treating them as individuals can help in increasing their milk production, the 'Anthrozoos' journal reported.

Lead researcher Dr Catherine Douglas said: "Placing more importance on knowing the individual animals and calling them by name can significantly increase milk production. Just as people respond better to the personal touch, cows also feel happier and more relaxed if given one-to-one attention.

"Many farmers dote on their cows and have long thought that such interaction helps, but it has never really been tested. The statistics were significantly different for those cows with name, there's nothing else which could explain it."

In their study involving 516 dairy farmers in Britain, the researchers looked at interaction between people and cows, and found that those animals with names had an average higher milk yield of 258 litres, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

The study also found milk yield to be lower on farms where cattle were herded as a group. Nearly two thirds — 60 per cent — of UK farmers said they "knew all the cows in the herd" and 48 per cent agreed that positive human contact was more likely to produce cows with a good milking temperament.

Almost 10 per cent said that a fear of humans resulted in a poor milking temperament, the study revealed.

Dr Douglas said: "Our data suggests that on the whole United Kingdom dairy farmers regard their cows as intelligent beings capable of experiencing a range of emotions. May be people can be less selfconscious and not worry about chatting to their cows."

Air bags, seats belts best protection against spine fractures

2009-01-25T06:10:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON: A new study has unearthed compelling evidence that combination of air bags and seat belts affords the best protection against spine fractures sustained in motor vehicle crashes.

This research project examined the records of more than 20,000 crash victims aged 16 and older admitted to Wisconsin hospitals after car or truck crashes from 1994 to 2002.

In 2007, there were over six million motor vehicle accidents in the US. Nearly 2.5 million of those accident victims were injured and more than 41,000 lost their lives.

"Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of spinal cord injury (SCI) in the United States for people aged 65 and younger and spine fractures are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality," said Marjorie C. Wang, of
Medical College of Wisconsin and co-author of the study.

A spine fracture is a break in one or more of the bones of the spine (vertebrae in the back or neck). Spine fractures can lead to a complete SCI, which may result in some degree of paralysis or even death. Of the 2,530 patients with spine factures analyzed in this study, 64 died in hospital.

Wang and her team analyzed the data and correlated the incidence of spine fractures with air bag and seat belt usage. Of the 29,860 motor vehicle crash hospital admissions, a data group of 20,276 drivers and front seat passengers was analyzed.

This group met the following criteria: drivers or front seat passengers age 16 or older with complete air bag/seat belt data who were not ejected from the vehicle. Key research findings include:

--Use of a seat belt and an air bag together was associated with a decreased risk of a spine fracture, including more severe fractures.

-- Only 14 percent of the drivers and front seat occupants involved in Wisconsin motor vehicle crashes between 1994 and 2002 were protected by the combination of air bags and seat belts, although this number increased from 1994 to 2002.

-- An alarming 38 percent of these crash victims were not wearing seat belts.

-- There were 2,530 spine fractures (12.5 percent) identified among the 20,276 hospital admissions: 1,067 cervical fractures, 565 thoracic fractures, and 1,034 lumbosacral fractures.

-- Use of an air bag alone was associated with an increased risk of a severe thoracic spine fracture, said a Wisconsin release.

"I commend Dr. Wang and her group for performing this extensive, labour-intensive study of motor vehicle crash victims. This research offers an invaluable assessment of air bags and seat belts to safety measures that when used together show evidence of decreasing the risk of these traumatic and often devastating injuries," said Charles H. Tator, a neurosurgeon at the University of Toronto.

These findings will appear in the February issue of Journal of Neurosurgery.

Want the Big O? Be fit

2009-01-25T06:02:00.000-08:00

Fit ladies don’t just have a healthy lifestyle, they also have greater number of orgasms, claims a

Being fit boosts your chances of orgasm (Getty images)

new study.

According to the study, women who regularly do pelvic floor exercises increase their chances of climaxing. In the study, about 82 per cent of women who were shown how to do the programmes reported a vastly improved sex life within four weeks.

And 92 per cent admitted wanting to be shown the routines, according to a poll of 2,000 women. “These exercises will improve and rekindle millions of relationships,” The Sun quoted a spokesman for the survey as sa

Drug to defeat feared bioterror virus

2008-11-25T09:53:00.000-08:00

PARIS: An experimental drug tested on lab animals has shown remarkable success in tackling two viruses, including a close cousin to a feared bioterror pathogen, a study said.

The drug, bavituximab, takes a novel tack in confronting viruses, which are notorious for mutations that evade or resist conventional pharmaceutical molecules. Instead of confronting the intruder head-on, bavituximab waits until the virus has infected the cell.

At that point, a fatty molecule called phosphatidylserine, which is normally positioned on the cell wall’s internal surface, flips to the outside of the cell.

Bavituximab then latches onto the phosphatidylserine, sending a red flag to the body’s immune system to dispatch white blood cells to destroy the infected cell. In a study in Nature Medicine, bavituximab was put through its paces among guinea pigs infected with Pichinde virus — a close relative of the Lassa fever virus, considered a potential bioterror weapon by the Pentagon.

Animals that had not been inoculated with bavituximab were all killed; those who had received the injection had a 50% survival rate. By giving the bavituximab group an additional injection with a standard anti-virus drug called ribavirin, the survival rate rose to 63%. The drug also provided 100% protection amongst mice exposed to a virus called cytomegalovirus, whereas only 25% of untreated animals survived.

Co-author Philip Thorpe, a professor of pharmacology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Texas, said the findings were exciting, for they raised the prospect of a “completely new class” of anti-viral drugs that may also sidestep the problem of mutation. “By targeting a property of the host cell rather than the virus itself, anti-PS [phosphatidylserine] antibodies have the potential to treat a range of viral infections,” he said.

Oceans 'turning acidic quickly'

2008-11-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON: In a new research, scientists at the University of Chicago, US, have documented that oceans are growing acidic faster than previously thought.

In addition, they have found that the increasing acidity correlates with increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).

"Of the variables the study examined that are linked to changes in ocean acidity, only atmospheric carbon dioxide exhibited a corresponding steady change," said J. Timothy Wootton, the lead author of the study and Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago.

The increasingly acidic water harms certain sea animals and could reduce the ocean's ability to absorb carbon dioxide, according to the researchers.

Scientists have long predicted that higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide would make the ocean more acidic.

Nevertheless, empirical evidence of growing acidity has been limited.

The new study is based on 24,519 measurements of ocean pH spanning eight years, which represents the first detailed dataset on variations of coastal pH at a temperate latitude, where the world's most productive fisheries live.

"The acidity increased more than 10 times faster than had been predicted by climate change models and other studies," Wootton said.

"This increase will have a severe impact on marine food webs and suggests that ocean acidification may be a more urgent issue than previously thought, at least in some areas of the ocean," he added.

The ocean plays a significant role in global carbon cycles. When atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in water it forms carbonic acid, increasing the acidity of the ocean.

During the day, carbon dioxide levels in the ocean fall because photosynthesis takes it out of the water, but at night, levels increase again.

The study documented this daily pattern, as well as a steady increase in acidity over time.

"Many sea creatures have shells or skeletons made of calcium carbonate, which the acid can dissolve," said Catherine Pfister, associate professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago and a co-author of the study.

"Therefore, the increased acidity of the ocean could interfere with many critical ocean processes such as coral reef building or shellfish harvesting," she added.

Herpes drug inhibits HIV replication

2008-11-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON: Anti-herpes drug acyclovir can slow down HIV infection by targeting an enzyme, but is also instrumental in the emergence of multi-drug
resistant HIV variants.

HIV and herpes (HSV) are two of the most common sexually transmitted diseases worldwide, and individuals frequently become infected with both.

In such cases, the two viruses interact with each other; the presence of HIV often results in more frequent HSV lesion outbreaks, while HSV can speed up the progression of HIV to AIDS.

Considering their interaction, recent studies showing that acyclovir treatment could reduce HIV viral load in co-infected patients were not surprising, and attributed to an indirect effect of HSV suppression.

However, Moira McMahon and colleagues at Johns Hopkins decided to look whether the effects on HIV might be direct.

They used a sensitive infection assay of white blood cells and found that acyclovir can directly inhibit HIV replication, the medical school said in a statement. The drug specifically targeted RT, the key HIV enzyme that converts the virus' RNA into DNA so it can be replicated.

However, acyclovir treatment had some unexpected results; five days after initial infection, a mutant version of HIV (V75I) appeared in the cells, and within 94 days spread to comprise over 90 percent of the viral population.

The V75I strain is part of the resistance pathway to many drugs, including the commonly used RT inhibitors. What this means, the authors note, is that acyclovir could be a great model for designing future HIV treatments, but also could be a risky drug if given to HSV patients co-infected with HIV by potentially promoting cross-resistance to current treatments.

Migraine reduces breast cancer risk

2008-11-07T10:04:00.001-08:00

CHICAGO: In a puzzling twist, women who have a history of migraine headaches are far less likely to develop breast cancer than other women, US
researchers said on Thursday.

The study is the first to look at the relationship between breast cancer and migraine and its findings may point to new ways of reducing a woman’s breast cancer risk, they said. “We found that, overall, women who had a history of migraine had a 30% lower risk of breast cancer compared to women who did not have a history of such headaches,” said Christopher Li of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Li said the reduction in risk was for the most common types of breast cancers — those driven by hormones. Hormones also play a role in migraine.

Brain tissue created from stem cells

2008-11-07T09:58:00.000-08:00

TOKYO: Japanese researchers said on Thursday they had created functioning human brain tissue from stem cells, a world first that has raised new
hopes for the treatment of disease.

Stem cells taken from human embryos have been used to form tissues of the cerebral cortex, the supreme control tower of the brain, according to experts at the government-backed research institute Riken. The tissues self-organised into four distinct zones very similar to the structure seen in human foetuses, and conducted neuro-activity such as transmitting electrical signals.

Research on stem cells is seen as having the potential to save lives by helping to find cures for diseases such as cancer and diabetes or to replace damaged cells, tissues and organs. The team’s previous studies showed stem cells differentiated into distinct cells but until now they had never organised into functioning tissues.

“In regenerative therapy, only a limited number of diseases can be cured with simple cell transplants. Transplanting tissues could raise hopes for greater functional recovery,” the institute said. “Cultivated tissues are still insufficient and too small to be used to treat stroke patients. But study of in-vitro cultivation of more mature cortex tissues, such as those with six zones like in the adult human brain, will be stepped up,” it said. The tissues could also serve as “a mini organ” for studying the causes of Alzheimer’s disease, it said.

Embryonic stem cells are harvested by destroying a viable embryo, a process that some find unacceptable. Riken said cortex tissues were also obtained from “induced pluripotent stem cells,” which are similar to embryonic stem cells but artificially induced.

Joblessness can lead to depression

2008-11-03T22:43:00.000-08:00

Being unemployed can have long-term and possibly permanent psychological effects, including low self esteem, depression and anxiety, on an Depression (Getty Images)
individual, according to a new study.

The research team led by Arthur H. Goldsmith, the Jackson T. Stephens Professor of Economics at Washington and Lee University said that as the period of unemployment increases the effects often become chronic. “In the first phase of unemployment, people have a benign ignorance and think it will turn out fine, that they are not going to be emotionally damaged by this, because they’ll just go out and get a job,” said Goldsmith.

Approximately half of unemployed people do find a job in about five weeks, but he stresses that, “even by five weeks you can see the changes. They begin to question themselves: ‘Why was I selected to be unemployed?’ ‘Were my skills lacking?’ ‘Is there something about me that’s problematic?’

And so begins the erosion of self esteem, which is such a very important part of our psychological well being. He said that in addition to a diminished sense of self, those exposed to a few months of unemployment begin to exhibit higher levels of anxiety, depression, and lack of sleep.

And if the period of unemployed exceeds six to nine months or longer, the psychological effects often become chronic and have a long lasting effect.

“Looking at longer periods of unemployment, say four to six months, we see statistically significant evidence of people becoming more externally focused and feeling helpless,” he said.

“What’s really interesting is that this compromised sense of self becomes hardens and is better described as a permanent scar rather than a blemish.

“Even when people become employed again, the adverse impact of unemployment on psychological well-being lingers,” he added.

The researchers identified two different types of individuals: Those with an internal locus, who feel that they influence the things that happen to them, and those with an external locus, who believe that they don’t have much control over their lives and that events just happen to them.

An important distinction between people with these differencing mind-sets is that person’s with a more internal locus tend to be more motivated, since they see a tight connection between actions they take and life outcomes. More highly educated people are the most vulnerable to the psychological ravages of unemployment because they tend to be more internally focused.

“So when these people become unemployed they tend to attribute this to personal shortcomings which fosters helplessness and a compromised view of self,” said Goldsmith.

Sexy TV shows drive teen pregnancy

2008-11-03T22:42:00.000-08:00

CHICAGO: Exposure to some forms of entertainment is a corrupting influence on children, leading teens who watch sexy programs into early pregnancies
and children who play violent videogames to adopt aggressive behaviour, researchers said on Monday.

Researchers at the RAND research organization said their three-year study was the first to link viewing of racy television programming with risky sexual behaviour by teens.

"Our findings suggest that television may play a significant role in the high rates of teenage pregnancy in the United States," said Anita Chandra, a behavioural scientist who led the research at RAND, a non-profit research organization.

"We're not saying we're establishing causation, but we are saying this is one factor that we were able to prospectively link to the teen pregnancy outcome," Chandra said in a phone interview.

The researchers recruited adolescents aged 12 to 17 and surveyed them three times between 2001 and 2004, asking about television viewing habits, sexual behaviour and pregnancy.

In findings that covered 718 teenagers, there were 91 pregnancies. The top 10th of adolescents who watched the most sexy programming were at double the risk of becoming pregnant or causing a pregnancy compared to the 10th who watched the fewest such programs, according to the study published in the journal Paediatrics.

The study focused on 23 free and cable television programs popular among teenagers including situation comedies, dramas, reality programs and animated shows. Comedies had the most sexual content and reality programs the least.

"The television content we see very rarely highlights the negative aspects of sex or the risks and responsibilities," Chandra said. "So if teens are getting any information about sex they're rarely getting information about pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases."

Teen pregnancy rates in the United States have declined sharply since 1991 but remain high compared to other industrialized nations. Nearly 1 million girls aged 15 to 19 years old become pregnant yearly, or about 20% of sexually active females in that age group. Most of the pregnancies were unplanned, the report said.
Young mothers are more likely to quit school, require public assistance and live in poverty, it said. "Television is just one part of a teenager's media diet that helps to influence their behaviour. We should also look at the roles that magazines, the Internet and music play in teens' reproductive health," Chandra said, acknowledging still other factors can influence teen sex habits.

Foot massage to control errant kids

2008-11-03T22:41:00.000-08:00

LONDON: Teachers may now spare the rod without the risk of spoiling schoolchildren, for foot and head messages may help them control bad behaviour
among kids.

A London-based company, Bud-Umbrella, is gearing up to test the alternative therapy in 60 primary and 14 secondary schools to see whether or not it can actually improve unruly children's behaviour.

Though there is little evidence that such a treatment can improve behaviour, Lambeth Council in south London is said to have decided to spend £90,000 next year on reflexology in the schools. Bud-Umbrella's official website says that reflexology may be beneficial in a number of ways.

"It can calm aggressive feelings, improve listening skills, concentration and focus. It can relieve anxiety and stress, and improve confidence and self esteem," the Telegraph quoted the website as saying.

Lambeth Labour councillor Paul McGlone said: "It's incredibly important that we address young people's behavioural problems and we make no apologies for using different and innovative methods but this obviously won't replace more traditional ways of dealing with anti-social behaviour. We need to deal with the root causes of young people's behavioural problems and nip them in the bud - prevention is better than cure." However, everyone is not gaga about the initiative.

'Water monster' on brink of extinction

2008-11-03T22:40:00.000-08:00

MEXICO CITY: Beneath the tourist gondolas in the remains of a great Aztec lake lives a creature that resembles a monster — and a Muppet — with its
slimy tail, plumage-like gills and mouth that curls into an odd smile.

The axolotl, also known as the "water monster" and the "Mexican walking fish," was a key part of Aztec legend and diet. Against all odds, it survived until now amid Mexico City's urban sprawl in the polluted canals of Lake Xochimilco, now a Venice-style destination for revellers poled along by Mexican gondoliers, or trajineros, in brightly painted party boats.

But scientists are racing to save the foot-long salamander from extinction, a victim of the draining of its lake habitat and deteriorating water quality. In what may be the final blow, nonnative fish introduced into the canals are eating its lunch — and its babies.

The long-standing International Union for Conservation of Nature includes the axolotl on its annual Red List of threatened species, while researchers say it could disappear in just five years. Some are pushing for a series of axolotl sanctuaries in canals cleared of invasive species, while others are considering repopulating Xochimilco with axolotls bred in captivity.

"If the axolotl disappears, it would not only be a great loss to biodiversity but to Mexican culture, and would reflect the degeneration of a once-great lake system," says Luis Zambrano, a biologist.

Brain slows at 40, starts body decline

2008-11-03T22:38:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON: The brain may explain why people slow down as they get older, starting at age 40.

How fast you can throw a ball or run or swerve a steering wheel depends on how speedily brain cells fire off commands to muscles. Fast firing depends on good insulation for your brain's wiring.

Now new US research suggests that in middle age, even healthy people begin to lose some of that insulation in a motor-control part of the brain - at the same rate that their speed subtly slows.

That helps explain why "it's hard to be a world-class athlete after 40," concludes George Bartzokis, a neurologist at University of California, Los Angeles, who led the work.

And while that may sound depressing, keep reading. The research points to yet another reason to stay physically and mentally active: An exercised brain may spot fraying insulation quicker and signal for repair cells to get to work.

To Bartzokis, the brain is like the Internet. Speedy movement depends on bandwidth, which in the brain is myelin, a special sheet of fat that coats nerve fibres.

Healthy myelin - good thick insulation wound tightly around those nerve fibres - allows prompt conduction of the electrical signals the brain uses to send commands. Higher-frequency electrical discharges, known as "actional potentials," speed movement - any movement, from a basketball rebound to a finger tap.

Consider someone like Michael Jordan. "The circuitry that made him a great basketball player was probably myelinated better than most other mortals," Bartzokis notes.

But while myelin builds up during adolescence, when does production slow enough that we fall behind in the race to repair fraying, older insulation?

Stretching before exercise can be bad

2008-11-03T22:30:00.000-08:00

LONDON: Stretching before exercise can be bad for individuals, warn scientists, who found that the integral part of any athlete's warm-up routine
can actually weaken muscles.

It has long been believed that the habit of holding a stretch for 20 to 30 seconds, known as static stretching, is beneficial for priming muscles.

But now, in a new research, scientists from the University of Nevada Las Vegas say this should no longer be encouraged.

Their findings highlight that the two common pre-running stretches - for the hamstrings and quadriceps - may actually reduce performance by weakening muscles in the leg.

"Developing flexibility is important for reducing sports injury, but the time to stretch is after, not before, performance," the Telegraph quoted Kinesiology professor Bill Holcomb, who authored the report, as saying.

Other studies have found that this stretching decreases muscle strength by as much as 30 per cent. Stretching one leg's muscles can also reduce strength in the other leg as the central nervous system can rebel against the movements.

The correct warm up, according to experts, should do two things - loosen muscles and tendons to increase the range of motion of various joints, and warm up the body.

To raise the body's temperature, a warm-up should begin with aerobic activity, and researchers recommend light jogging.

Sexy TV shows drive teen pregnancy

2008-11-03T11:24:00.000-08:00

Heavy women have more sex

2008-11-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

Those who think women scoring more on the weighing scale do not score much when it comes to sexual behaviour, certainly need a reality check, for a Fat ladies have more sex

new study has revealed that fat ladies have more sex than females with "normal weight”.

Oregon and Hawaiian researchers have found that a woman''s weight does not seem to affect sexual behaviour.

Led by Dr. Bliss Kaneshiro, an assistant professor at the School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii, and Oregon State University professor Marie Harvey, the study was based on data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth that looked at sexual behaviour of more than 7,000 women.

In earlier studies it was Kaneshiro observed that obese and overweight women have a higher risk of unintended pregnancy than do normal weight women.

Thus, Kaneshiro studied the relationship between body mass index and sexual behavior, including sexual orientation, age at first intercourse, number of partners, and frequency of intercourse.

"Our analysis demonstrated that obese and overweight women do not differ significantly in some of the objective measures of sexual behavior compared to women of normal weight. This study indicates that all women deserve diligence in counseling on unintended pregnancy and STD prevention, regardless of body mass index," said Kaneshiro.

The study ruled out the widely held stereotypes that overweight and obese women are not as sexually active as other women, as the researchers concluded that it’s the opposite that is true.

"I was glad to see that the stereotype that you have to be slender to have sex is just that, a stereotype," said Harvey.

The data revealed that overweight women were more likely to report having sexual intercourse with a man, even when she controlled for age, race and type of residence.

In fact, 92 percent of overweight women reported having a history of sexual intercourse with a man, as compared to 87 percent of women with a normal body mass index.

"These results were unexpected and we don't really know why this is the case," said Kaneshiro.

Kaneshiro's study was awarded first prize at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists'' annual meeting this year.

Erectile dysfunction: A cue to heart attack

2008-10-25T06:12:00.000-07:00

Erectile dysfunction is the best predictor of cardiovascular risk in men, according to an expert.

Erectile dysfunction gives early warning of a heart attack (Getty Images)Dr Geoffrey Hackett from the Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham says that erectile dysfunction gives a two to three year early warning of a heart attack.

However, the link between erectile dysfunction and the risk of heart disease is being ignored by doctors, adds Hackett. It is well known that erectile dysfunction – a symptom of vascular disease in the smaller arteries – doubles the risk of heart disease, a risk equivalent to being a moderate smoker or having an immediate family history of heart disease. Erectile dysfunction in type 2 diabetes has been shown to be a better predictor of the risk of heart disease than high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

However, despite this considerable evidence erectile dysfunction is still treated as a recreational or ‘lifestyle issue’ rather than a predictor of a serious health problem, says Hackett.

He says that the British government has pledged to reduce the death rate from coronary heart disease and stroke and related diseases in people under 75 by at least 40 percent by 2010, yet there is no screening for erectile dysfunction in patients with diabetes or heart disease.

"Continuing to ignore these issues on the basis that cardiologists feel uncomfortable mentioning the word 'erection' to their patients or that they may have to deal with the management of a positive response, is no longer acceptable and possibly, based on current evidence, clinically negligent," Bmj.com quoted him, as saying.

How to de-stress your sex-life

2008-10-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

Do you feel that stress is squeezing the fun out of your bedroom life?

How to make your life stress-free (Getty Images)If yes, then you can bring back the action, courtesy tips provided by sex educator and relationship expert Dr. Yvonne Kristin Fulbright.

According to the expert, many couples become frustrated, even panicky, when their sex lives go to the wayside during stressful times. When it comes to the factor that governs a person's sex life, it's personality, reports Fox News. Fulbright says that how an individual's sex life fares depends on whether he tries to get closer to his partner in tragic times or wants to be totally alone and if he's the withdrawing sorts, then it can create misunderstandings in the relationship.

In order to avoid any such misunderstandings and still keep sex life full of fun and passion, Fulbright has suggested that couples need to establish a common ground and mutual understanding during stressful times. Also, they should make an effort to stay connected during life's highs and lows, because if they don't, it could lead to dire consequences.

And in case, sex is not on mind and also the time to be spent in the sack is less, then a person can try the following:

1. Showing appreciation for one another. Giving compliments, for example, is a simple way of expressing affection and letting your partner know that he or she is still being noticed and loved. 2. Talking daily. Chat during dinner or at bedtime. Conversations foster bonding by providing support. It's also important for couples to check in with each other, showing concern and care for one another's well-being with simple statements like, "Tell me about your day." 3. Staying positive . Bite your tongue if you're about to complain. Stressful situations are hard enough to deal with. Don't add to it if you can avoid doing so. 4. Believing in your future together. Stressful times can make lovers doubt their ability to stay together for the long haul. Insecurity issues that arise can only make matters more difficult. Making plans is one way to indicate that you're feeling secure about your future. 5. Helping each other with responsibilities . Approaching tasks with a team effort provides a greater sense of being in ‘this’ together. 6. Balancing ‘alone time’ and ‘together time.’

Create a sensual atmosphere, for example, soothing scents, dim lights, delicious food, and relaxing music to help you unwind. 7. Getting creative in how you'll be intimate . Redefine your definition of sexual intimacy when needed; try a simple body massage. Not to forget, lovers should make it a point to give in to one another's requests for intimacy whenever possible, as it might just prove to be a big stress-buster. In fact, sex has many physical and emotional benefits, which may help in boosting your desire for more sex and emotional intimacy.

Sex can easily take your mind off of your worries. Also, patience is the key to get your sex life back on track. One should make sure that your relationship, in general, doesn't get neglected.

A lot can actually happen over coffee

2008-10-25T05:49:00.001-07:00

A lot can happen over a cup of hot coffee, say researchers, who have found that people judged others to be more generous and caring if they had

A lot can happen over a cup of hot coffee. (Getty Images)just held a warm drink in their hand. The study led by Yale University psychologists suggests that simply handling a hot cup of coffee can change one's attitude toward a stranger. "The basic scientific implication is about exploring the link between the physical world and the psychological world," said CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Lawrence E. Williams. "'
It's at the same time subtle and very powerful, a repeated association of physical warmth that is learned over a lifetime," he added. Psychologists have long noted the importance of warm physical contact with caregivers in developing healthy relationships as adults. Williams and John A. Bargh, a professor of psychology at Yale and co-author, decided to test the impact of warmth on the perceptions of adults. During the study, the researchers casually asked that the undergraduate test subjects briefly hold either a warm cup of coffee or iced coffee as they wrote down information.

The subjects were then given a packet of information about an individual, and asked to assess his or her personality traits. The participants assessed the person as significantly "warmer" if they had previously held the warm cup of coffee rather than the iced cup of coffee. In a second study, they showed people are more likely to give something to others if they had just held something warm, and more likely take something for themselves if they held something cold.

The participants held heated or frozen therapeutic packs as part of a product evaluation study, and were then were told they could receive a gift certificate for a friend or a gift for themselves. Those who held the hot pack were more likely to ask for the gift certificate, while those who held the frozen pack tended to keep the gift.

"It appears that the effect of physical temperature is not just on how we see others, it affects our own behaviour as well," said Bargh. "Physical warmth can make us see others as warmer people, but also cause us to be warmer – more generous and trusting – as well," he added.

Combat depression, the spiritual way

2008-10-25T05:46:00.000-07:00

Those who simply pray or meditate are more likely to keep depression at bay, compared to the people who frequently visit church and offer religiousKeep depression at bay (Getty images)
services, suggest a new study.

The new research led by Temple University researchers has revealed that a person''s religiousness – also called religiosity – can offer insight into their risk for depression. In the study involving 918 participants, lead researcher Joanna Maselko, Sc.D., characterized the religiosity in three domains.

Religious service attendance, which refers to being involved with a church; religious well-being, which refers to the quality of a person''s relationship with a higher power; and existential well-being, which refers to a person''s sense of meaning and their purpose in life. They found that those who attended religious services were 30 percent less likely to have had depression in their lifetime.

Maselko said that involvement in the church provides the opportunity for community interaction, which could help forge attachments to others, an important factor in preventing depression. On the other hand, those who had high levels of existential well-being were 70 percent less likely to have had depression than those who had low levels of existential well-being.

The group with higher levels of religious well-being were 1.5 times more likely to have had depression than those with lower levels of religious well-being. "People with high levels of existential well-being tend to have a good base, which makes them very centred emotionally," said Maselko.

"People who don''t have those things are at greater risk for depression, and those same people might also turn to religion to cope." She said that those with higher levels of existential-well being have a strong sense of their place in the world. The study is published on-line this month in Psychological Medicine.

Diating & Weight Loss Blog

2008-08-24T03:00:00.001-07:00

Dieting & Weight Loss:

Do pine nuts help control appetite?
We need specific fatty acids in our diets to be healthy but now a very small new study is suggesting specific fats maybe able to manage our hunger more efficiently. Remember this isn’t a quick fix here (it probably won't erase emotional hunger) but the company suggests it may help curb our appetite and get the edge we need to lose weight.

According to this small study, (and by the way, pine nuts are really seeds, not nuts) "these fatty acids found in Korean pine nuts can initiate the release of an appetite-suppressing hormone called cholecystokinin (CCK) in lab studies," write the researchers. They tried to verify this effect in people with capsules containing a concentrated form of the oil (pinolenic acid) in a product called Pinno Thin. The studies indicate positive results although obviously more long term double blind, third party scientific studies still need to be initiated.
Before you run off to the health food store to buy these capsules (or just the nuts) you might consider consuming them as part of your daily fat allowance because that's how they should be counted in your food diary when you record them in your Pantry. (Note: one tablespoon of pine nuts is equal to about one fat serving and about 50 calories.)
Readers have you tried this supplement and if you have, how has it worked? A few people I know have tried it with favorable results. I would make sure you purchase it from a reputable company if you do decide to try it.

How to Determine a Food Sensitivity and Lose Weight
Yesterday I discussed how gluten in wheat could be a weight loss obstacle. Remember there are numerous other foods that you could also be sensitive to. Common offenders are milk, soy, various nuts, chocolate (sorry ladies), eggs, and seafood.
So how do you know if you are sensitive to a specific food or not? Try doing a simple pulse test:
· Do this test only when you are relaxed and not stressed out.Take it after you have been sitting quietly for ten minutes. Determine your normal pulse rate on your wrist. Count the number of beats in a minute. Count your pulse rate for 6 seconds, then multiply by 10. This is your pulse rate, per minute.
· Consume only the suspected food.
· Wait 15-20 minutes still sitting down quietly. Take your pulse again in the same manner.
If your pulse has increased OR decreased by ten points or so, it's possible you are sensitive or intolerant to the food tested.
If you are sensitive to a particular food do not consume it for at least three months. Reintroduce it again after that time and see if you have any reaction. If you decide to resume eating the food regularly, remember to rotate it every three days so you don't become sensitive to it again.
A medical test you could have performed is the Elis a test which is based more on food sensitivities than actual allergies and may be more accurate. A food elimination test can also be done on your own might even be more accurate although it is challenging and time consuming to do. (Use Nutrition Data's Better Choices plan for alternative food selection.)

Could Wheat be a Weight Loss Obstacle?
Why does losing weight have to be such a mystery at times? So often a person may be doing absolutely all the right things and yet he/she just isn't losing weight.Unfortunately there are many reasons why weight management can be challenging. But one over looked reason could be a food intolerance. One of the biggest offenders involves gluten, found in wheat, and it's typically eaten numerous times a day, every day, which makes the problem worse. Rye, barley, and oats also contain gluten which is the offending nutrient found in these grains. Some problems that typically occur are numerous intestinal conditions like irritable bowel, bloating, flatulence (these should not be considered normal responses to food), numerous other unexplained symptoms, and yes, even impeded weight loss. Food intolerances may interfere with your weight management because they may cause physiological responses within the immune system which cause cravings and other problems, all of which make it even more challenging to lose weight. Tomorrow I'll tell you what you can do.

Menopause and Weight Gain - 2
Yesterday I started discussing menopause and weight gain. Today I want to elaborate on the impact of xenoestrogens and how they may affect hormone imbalance and weight.
Avoid xenoestrogen influences. These are man-made chemicals, usually derived from petrochemical agents contributing to hormonal pollutants in our water and food supply that strongly mimic estrogen in a toxic way to our bodies.
For example, cooking in any kind of plastic containers, and drinking from water bottles made from plastic that have been in the hot sun are just a few examples of xenoestrogens. The plastic leeches into your water and you consume the water and the xenoestrogens.
What can happen is a hormone imbalance with female hormones. Remember balance doesn’t necessarily mean you are too low on estrogen. It's about the delicate balance between all the hormones. Estrogen may be adequate but if progesterone is even lower there is not a balance. When there is an imbalance it's going to make things difficult both physiologically and emotionally for a woman to lose weight. Our bodies physiologically hold onto weight in menopause (estrogen is stored in our fat cells). This is Mother Nature's way of holding onto estrogen which usually drops during this time period. Moods may be unpleasantly altered if there is a hormone imbalance adding even more vulnerability to emotional eating.
Tomorrow I will discuss the blood sugar issue and how that complicates weight management with menopausal women.

Menopause and Weight Gain - 1
Many women approaching menopause or the early stages of perimenopause struggle even more so with weight gain. As if the hot flashes aren't enough! Some of the obvious basics for healthy eating still hold true and are possibly even more important in this phase of life because of the aging process and how it slows down many of our basic systems in our bodies.
Focus on eating whole, nutrient dense foods as much as possible and avoid processed food. Our digestive systems aren’t as strong so we need to supply our bodies with easily digestible, nutrient dense foods. In general strive for a slightly higher lean protein eating plan (helpful for blood sugar issues that are a must in menopause) balanced with healthy fats (for making the correct hormones), unrefined whole grain carbs, and plenty of fruits and vegetables specific to your correct calorie range. Use ND's free Daily Needs Calculator and the Better Choices food plan. Over eating (especially processed foods) taxes the liver and makes hormone balance even more challenging. Adequate amounts of pure water and consistent exercise are obvious essentials.
Be moderate with sugary foods, "white” refined foods, fruit juices/sodas/diet sodas, caffeine, and alcohol. Alcohol especially disrupts hormone balance and intensifies hot flashes. Refined carbs also contribute to more of the same. Avoid all artificial sweeteners, MSG, and high fructose corn syrup. They all may increase appetite and frequently contribute to weight gain. If you consume animal products make sure they are organic as they contain many synthetic hormones which may disrupt hormone balance.
Tomorrow I'll discuss xenoestrogens and the impact they have on our hormone balance. And you younger ladies, know that these suggestions are applicable for PMS issues as well.

Stealth Diet Saboteurs
The other day I mentioned deceptions promoted by the food manufacturing industries in order to sell us "diet'' foods. Today I will tell you specifically what you want to avoid in processed foods if you consume them. They may make it harder for you to lose weight!If you do consume any processed food avoid/limit:
Monosodium glutamate – This additive may cause neuron damage, but it may also be contributing to your weight. I've even heard rumor that it is actually used to fatten rats in clinical studies.
Artificial sweeteners - Most may raise insulin just like sugar. Some of them may cause neurological problems and other medical issues that mimic MS symptoms. Most studies indicate they don’t help us lose weight. (I certainly don't see obesity rates going down.) Mentally they seem to give people permission to indulge on other goodies because they are saving calories by using them. (I suggest stevia as a true natural sweetener without the calories.)
High fructose corn syrup – this innocent looking food additive is truly a stealth food. It lurks in everything and particularly in processed foods. Some studies indicate that it interferes with our appetite hormones. Who needs that?
Tomorrow I'll cover other stealth diet saboteurs.

Weight Loss, Diabetes, and Alzheimer's Disease
As if the current health conditions around diabetes aren't bad enough here's one more good reason to eat well, keep your weight down and watch for hypoglycemia and diabetes symptoms.
"Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown Medical School have discovered that insulin and its related proteins are produced in the brain, and that reduced levels of both are linked to Alzheimer's disease. The findings are reported in the March issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, published by IOS Press."
So how do we reduce our risk of this horrible disease? Here are just a few things you can do:
Choose a nutritious whole food diet, particularly keeping your fresh vegetable intake high.
Include foods high in folate.
Lose unneeded weight and eat healthfully.
Watch your overall consumption of carbohydrates and simple sugars.
Get regular exercise.
Avoid and remove sources of mercury from your diet.
Avoid aluminum (get rid of aluminum cookware and eliminate deodorants with aluminum in particular).
Challenge your mind frequently.

Food Cravings and Addictions
One more issue I would like to cover on cravings has to do with the idea that it is an "addiction." I mentioned on a previous blog that giving up a specific food item may elicit a "drug like" response such as moodiness, shakiness, etc. We cannot afford to let ourselves become a "victim" around our eating habits either. By this I mean remember that bad eating habits are not a genetic or medical issue in and of themselves. Every single day we make conscious choices about what we put into our bodies. By making healthy food choices we can reduce sugar consumption without suffering any ill effects.
Remember that many sugar cravings in particular, are frequently every bit a psychological issue as they are physiological. Many readers readily admitted this is as a problem. I've written numerous blogs on emotional eating that speak to this problem.
So the bottom line is, if a food has an addictive calling to you that is problematic (stemming from either a physical or emotional source) you probably should not be consuming it at all. In fact one of my favorite sayings is, "when in doubt, don't."

Metabolic Typing, Weight Loss, and Cravings
Awhile back a reader responded to one of my cravings blogs with his answer to this issue. It was a "metabolic diet." The one that I am aware of is The Metabolic Typing Diet by William Wolcott and Trish Fahey.
While one food plan may work for one type of person it may not produce the same results for another. No mystery here. We are all unique beings. Researcher Roger Williams puts it this way: We are biochemically different based on the body's autonomic nervous system, which has to do with energy utilization. The Metabolic Typing Diet outlines a specific macrobalance balance (fats, carbs and proteins) for an individual. In other words, are you a protein type, carbo type or a mixed type? Which of these runs your engine the best? It also suggests specific foods a person should include or avoid. All of this is based on an in-depth written questionnaire. In theory it actually sounds good but with so many other variables to weight management I'm doubtful this is the one cure all, although it might be helpful as part of the solution.
Over the past 20 years I have heard of very few people utilizing this plan although I know a few that have done well with it. Are there many readers out there that have been successful doing this plan? Please share your experiences with us.

The Many Faces of Cravings - 5
Today I will continue discussing those pesky cravings. I don’t think many people are aware that they just might have to do with food sensitivities. We know about allergies but food sensitivities or food intolerances are slightly different. They are much more insidious because a "reaction" (bloating is the most common sign) can show up in as little as 15 minutes or as long as three days after an offending food is consumed! This makes them extremely difficult to pinpoint.
What happens is that you consume the offending food and your immune system starts to think that it is a foreign particle that needs to be eliminated. So it starts to fight. This is when a seemingly normal food turns into an allergen. We crave this food because while our body is trying to detoxify our system our brain releases neurotransmitters called endorphins to help sooth the "discomfort" of the food reaction.
So what do you do? • Keep a food diary to determine what specific foods cause a problem for you.• Do an elimination diet. It's very inconvenient and time consuming but it is probably the most accurate method to target your food sensitivity (and of course the craving for a specific food). • Avoid repetitious eating and rotate your food choices every three days. (Keep several options conveniently available in ND's free Pantry so you always have something different to choose from.)• Try a pulse test with a suspected food.
Get rid of the offending foods and you just might get rid of the cravings!

The Many Faces of Cravings - 4
Yesterday I discussed food "addiction" which was initially mentioned by a reader in response to a previous blog. Even though these cravings feel like a real drug addiction they may be more directly related to actual blood sugar disturbances rather than just the food item itself.
A simple sugary item like a cookie, breaks down very quickly in the body, immediately giving a person a quick insulin response. Many people say the minute they eat a specific food like a sweet, they have to have more of it and are simply unable to stop eating it. This certainly may feel like an addiction but it could be due to the food itself (as in an allergy or food sensitivity) or it could be a sugar reaction (or even both).
On the other hand, when a person consumes a complex carbohydrate, it may have less of an impact on blood sugar. Complex carbohydrates take longer to break down in the body because they have fiber and nutrients. Consequently blood sugar levels don't usually spike as high or as abruptly. Be aware though, some people do react to any starchy carbohydrate with a blood sugar spike/craving. For those people I would suggest they combine their foods as suggested in my blog, Cut the Food Cravings with Food – 1 and they might want to check their blood sugar sensitivity as well. As a reality check on all this It's always a good idea to record your food using ND's free Pantry to see what you are doing.
Tomorrow I will discuss food cravings due to food allergies or sensitivities.

The Many Faces of Cravings - 3
Today we are continuing on with the Many Faces of Cravings, - 3. One previous reader mentioned a possible genetic correlation of "addiction" that may contribute to cravings. Sugar and other very refined "white" flour items can act similarly in the way a person may be "driven" to consume them like an addict does a drug. This probably occurs because of the overproduction of insulin that occurs when someone is consuming simple sugar. Refined sugar requires very little digestion so it gets into the blood stream very quickly and abruptly.
Sugar directly affects brain chemistry. It produces tryptophan which in turn converts into serotonin for the brain, making us feel relaxed and calm, especially when stressed or anxious. People do become addicted to tranquilizers so why couldn't sugar and refined foods be perceived as addictive substances? I see numerous people get headaches and become irritable and shaky when they need a sugar "high." These are signs of withdrawal, commonly seen in addicts.
For some people avoidance of specific foods may be the best option. We are all different and have to know our own limitations with specific foods.
Still more to come on the issue of cravings tomorrow.

Weight Loss for Diabetics
Doctors tell their diabetic patients to lose weight to help control a diabetic condition. Yet many diabetic medications actually cause weight gain!
Apparently there is an injectable medication (for type 2 diabetes) that can help with blood sugar and still allow a patient to lose weight. In fact the medication Exenatide is under investigation as a weight loss agent due to its weight loss side effects. It's in the newest class of drugs, "incretin," but do take heed, its long term safety is still probably unknown.
In the meantime I still generally push regular exercise, focus on eating healthy foods, and adjust carbohydrate intake, especially the processed forms. Usually a total of 50%-55% carb intake is adequate for most people with irregular blood sugar issues, although a diabetic may vary dramatically in how he responds to any given eating plan.

Processed Food And Weight Loss Results
An acquaintance of mine asked me why eating whole fresh food is so important. There are just so many reasons why fresh is best. I referred her initially to ND's link on food processing to get the full scope of what cooking alone does to the nutrient value of food.
In terms of weight loss I also personally feel that when foods contain other numerous additives and artificial preservatives the liver is too busy taking care of all this to worry about fat metabolism. All this work may also be using up precious nutrients that are in the diet. Additionally many processed foods lack fiber. Fiber fills and contributes to our health as well. And with my 20 plus years of experience helping people lose weight, I've found those who "eat cleaner" generally have better weight loss results, have more energy, look better and feel better. And they seem to keep their weight off.

Be Aware of Blood Sugar Imbalances
Diabetes and obesity are epidemic and frequently related to being overweight and/or unhealthy eating. Hypoglycemia is actually low blood sugar but it frequently occurs years before the onset of prediabetes or diabetes. My caution to you is to catch the signs and symptoms of these conditions early and do something before you get the diagnosis for diabetes, a disease that can literally be a slow and miserable death if left uncontrolled. These conditions can be regulated adequately by making a strong commitment to eat right and adopt a healthy lifestyle.
I want to alert you to some of the common signs that may be a precursor to both hypoglycemia and diabetes. Utilize this web site and take the quiz to see if you are experiencing some of the symptoms. Now use ND's great web site and Tools to help you get healthy!

Weight Loss Nutrition Friend
I call fiber the misunderstood carbohydrate because usually it is just touted for, well, constipation issues. But I'm here to set the record straight. It goes so far beyond that.
Understand that fiber is basically the non-digestible part of a plant. It is the cell wall of a plant, whether it is from broccoli or the skin on a potato. What's important, is what it actually does while going through your digestive tract.
If you are losing weight remember that fiber "fills." From a hunger perspective it satisfies hunger and can slow down digestion releasing glucose more evenly. This helps stabilize blood sugar levels more effectively, which in turn curbs appetite, cravings, and may even promote a better mood. If you consistently consume highly refined white flour and sugar products (void of both fiber and nutrients) they are quickly absorbed into the blood stream and cause blood sugar highs and lows.And I'm not done yet. Fiber also dilutes, inactivates, and binds cholesterol, bile acids, potential carcinogens, and other toxic substances in the bowel. (Note: when you are losing weight there are more toxins being eliminated by the body.) The action of fiber helps inhibit the absorption of these toxins into the bloodstream, and reduces their contact time with the bowel wall. This could explain why people on high fiber diets have less colon cancer, heart disease, cholesterol problems and gallstones.
So remember fiber is your friend for both weight loss and health.

Medications that May Intefere with Weight loss
Some medications can cause you to gain weight, or keep you from losing it, says Ken Fujioka, MD, medical director of the Scripps Clinic Nutrition and Metabolism Research Center in San Diego. The following specific medications may cause some real challenges with losing weight:
• Some medications used to treat type 2 diabetes • Antipsychotic or schizophrenia medications • Beta-blockers (prescribed for high blood pressure, and some heart conditions) • Antidepressants • Hormone replacement therapy • Birth control pills • Corticosteroids • Antiepileptics taken to control seizures
You may have one of the above conditions but don't just abruptly decide to go off any medication on your own. Openly talk to your doctor first and discuss alternatives and impress upon him/her your desire to lose weight. In fact if you are trying to lose weight discuss this when you are first diagnosed with a condition before he/she prescribes the medication. Another option is to check with a pharmacist who knows medications.
Also make sure you are following your current diet to the letter before you decide it is actually the medication that may be interfering with your weight loss efforts. Use ND's Daily Needs Calculator to determine the amount of calories you should be consuming to lose weight. Then weigh and measure your food intake so it is truly accurate. Check my blog from April 30 to ensure you are following your plan adequately with the other weight loss essentials. You can't blame the medicines for not losing weight if you are not really following your plan.

"I Can't Lose Weight!"
You are following a sensible diet. You are even working with a qualified nutritionist who validates everything you are doing. Yet, the scale refuses to budge. So where do you go from here?
Occasionally there are real medical issues as to why some people do not lose weight. According to Peter LePort MD, here are a few conditions that may prevent weight loss:
Cushing's syndrome is when the adrenal glands produce too much cortisol. Signs are usually when there is a fat build up in the face, upper back and abdomen.
Hypothyroid or low thyroid is when your metabolism is just plain slow. Many hypothyroid individuals go undetected even when blood results show low to normal levels. This can occur even when a person is on thyroid medication.
Polycystic ovary syndrome is hormone imbalance characterized by irregular bleeding, acne, excessive facial hair, thinning hair, infertility issues, and weight gain not caused by over eating.
Insulin resistance or hyperinsulinemia (high insulin) is when insulin is not getting into the cells for energy.
Many women struggle with weight at specific times in their lives when there is a hormonal shift going on in their bodies. Typical times include puberty, during pregnancy and menopause.
Just make sure you are honest with yourself and that you are in fact doing all the right things to lose weight before putting yourself through any expensive testing.

Fats May Promote Weight Loss
Yesterday I cited a study that promotes monounsaturated fats as a key to controlling dangerous belly fat. But be careful with how much fat you are consuming. All fats are calorie dense. I actually had a client that was having a half a cup of processed peanuts several times a day thinking he was going to lose weight by including more monounsaturated fats. But think about this, four ounces of peanuts would be equal to 656 calories and 56 grams of fat, about 11 servings of fat at one sitting! Ideally he should have had about 10 whole (in the shell) peanuts for a small snack, worth one serving of fat.
So what are other sources of monounsaturated fats and how do they measure up?• 1/8 of an avocado is a fat serving.• Unprocessed nuts like seven almonds, six cashews, four pecans halves, and one tablespoon of pine nuts are each equal to one serving of fat.• One teaspoon of olive oil or five olives is equal to a serving of fat.• One tablespoon of organic peanut butter (buyer beware: commercial brands frequently include trans fats/hydrogenated fats) is equal to about two servings of fat (about 100 calories) and one teaspoon of peanut oil is equal to one serving of fat.• One tablespoon of unprocessed sesame seeds is a serving of fat.
And yes, Canola oil may be a monounsaturated fat but there is a lot of controversy around it being a genetically modified oil so I personally would avoid it or limit the use of it.
The lesson here is to consume small amounts of monounsaturated fats and then limit the unhealthier saturated and trans fats. You might also use ND's free Daily Needs Calculator to determine the total calories you need for the day to lose weight.

Is there Hope for Curing Belly Fat?
It finally looks like we have some hope on the horizon for those with belly fat. A new, cutting-edge study published in Diabetes Care in July 2007 and conducted by scientists at Reina Sofía University Hospital in Córdoba, Spain, placed a group of overweight people on 4-week diets containing the same number of calories but with different ratios of carbohydrate and fat. "The plan rich in monounsaturated fats prevented the accumulation of both types of belly fat—without additional exercise." It appears that the monounsaturated fat is the real key to the plan.

Prevention Magazine did another study of their own with good results and wrote another weight loss book utilizing the monounsaturated fats in a new diet plan. It also touched on some good solid eating advice.
Just remember these are just a few small short term studies. And even though these studies suggest consuming healthy fats, too much fat in anyone's diet will not promote weight loss if there's simply too many calories from them (or other sources). Tomorrow I'll go over these various kinds of monounsaturated fats and give you some specific serving sizes and calorie measures of fats.

Still More on the Belly Fat Factor
I don’t think it's a surprise anymore that belly fat is just bad for your health, whether it's related to heart disease, diabetes, or anything else. A study done throughHarvard University, Brigham, and Women's hospital in Boston with over 44,000 women, maintains, "those women who measure over 35 inches (in their waists) or greater had an 80% higher chance of premature death compared with women whose waists measured 28 inches or smaller." That's huge in my opinion. Even more alarming was that this belly fat still poses a health risk when women are at a normal weight. Richard Bergman, an obesity researcher said men probably face the same risk. So men, you aren’t off the hook either.

The bottom line is whether your concern is for weight management or health, it still pays to watch your actual waist measurement and don’t get complacent just because you are at a normal weight. There are a lot of women at a normal weight that still carry too much weight in their middle.

Negative Calorie Foods
Last week a blogger brought up an old diet theory that's been around since the 90's. It's based on the premise of "negative calorie" foods. It goes like this: your body burns calories just through the mechanical and chemical process of digesting your food. Since some foods actually contain fewer calories than the actual digestion process requires, it therefore takes more calories to burn the food than the food contained. The result will be weight loss. Theoretically eating these kinds of foods can help you lose weight quickly.

A good example of this is: Celery contains about 7 calories a stalk. Your body needs about 30 calories digesting it. So you end up with some "negative calories." It does sounds good. You can seemingly eat your way to weight loss! But remember you still need to burn more total calories than you take in to lose weight. (Use ND's free Daily Needs Calculator to determine this.) This should be taken into account of course but I'm not sure if this is regarded as a pertinent factor in the food plan supporting the negative calorie diet.

One problem as I see it, is that there is no real scientific studies that I know of (or few are available) to really validate this theory. Dr. Neal Barnard is the author of a popular book called the Negative Calorie Diet. Other health authorities don’t seem to give it much creditability. It seems somewhat of a limited eating plan but at least many of the suggestions are fruits and vegetables which most Americans are really lacking in. Maybe if you are eating more fruits and vegetables to actually replace higher calorie foods this plan could work.
The bottom line is to lose a pound of fat every week you need to create a calorie deficit of 500 calories a day (or 3500 calories a week). In my opinion, a more optimum way to accomplish this is to eat less and exercise more.
Have any of our readers been successful on this plan?

H20 Ohhhhhhh!
Yesterday I emphasized the importance of water for losing weight. So why exactly is this liquid so magic? During weight reduction the body has more waste to get rid of. Water helps the kidneys to flush out the waste. The kidneys cannot function properly without enough of this precious fluid. If the kidneys are overworked (by not having enough water) some of their work is shifted to the liver. Our liver is the main organ for metabolizing fat, so by drinking more water, indirectly you will help the liver to function at full throttle and help you lose weight more efficiently.

Additionally drinking adequate amounts of water reduces appetite. That's always a plus when you are losing weight. Frequently thirst is interpreted as hunger, so try some "Adam's ale" first before you decide to eat something.

Water is the best diuretic. The more you drink of this pure liquid the less excess salt you will retain. Consequently, the less water retention you will have and the better the scale looks!

Last but not least, a large percentage of our body is made from water. Every function in our body relies on water. So, metabolically, everything runs more efficiently when there is sufficient water. This magic elixir supports over all metabolism.
Tomorrow I will cover part three on the basics of losing weight.

How to Lose Weight - 2
Yesterday I discussed the importance of calculating how many calories you need to lose at least a pound of fat every week. Today I want to emphasize an underrated factor in weight loss. This weight loss factor is simply drinking enough plain pure water!

Most health officials suggest drinking eight glasses of water (eight ounces each) a day to lose weight and for general good health. Other liquids simply do not count. Keep in mind that individual water requirements vary according to size, age, activity and the temperature of your environment. Ideally most overweight people should consume even more than the suggested eight glasses of water.

Tomorrow I'll discuss WHY water consumption is so important for the actual weight loss process before I go to Part 3 on how to lose weight.
Continue reading "How to Lose Weight - 2" »

Belly Fat and Dementia
Everything you read seems to be related to the infamous belly fat. There's already the link between diabetes, stroke, heart disease and the roll around the middle. (Don't forget your genes can play a part in how you carry your weight too.) Then there's stress, and menopause/hormonal issues (what I fondly call the "men-o-pot"). Since it all started with "syndrome X" it's obvious that blood sugar imbalances play a significant part in all this, which in turn relates to how, when, and what we eat.

So guess what, now another new study relates dementia with belly fat. In fact "a Kaiser Permanente study comparing people with different levels of belly fat showed that those who had the most belly fat were 145 percent more likely to develop dementia compared with people with the least amount of belly fat!" What are your thoughts on excess weight and belly fat?

Once again, the moral of the story is that we need to lose weight. No pressure here, right? - even if we've tried to lose weight and failed a million times. (It personally took me years to lose my excess 30 pounds and keep it off.) Tomorrow I'll get into some core basics about weight loss that dieters continue to ignore and may explain why they don’t lose weight.

Fish Oil and Weight Loss
Research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that daily doses of six grams of oil containing omega-3 fatty acids, combined with moderate exercise like walking/running for 45 minutes, can result in significant weight loss. It does sound somewhat promising but it's also a lot of fish oil to consume every day, either in pill form or real fish, despite the numerous health benefits. If you decide to try this make sure it's only wild salmon, not the farm raised variety due to all the contaminants possibly contained in farm raised fish. I also would not do this very long to avoid exposure to excess mercury that could still be ingested with that much fish. (Check to make sure which sources of fish contain the highest levels of mercury.) I would think this food plan would get boring real fast too if you you ate the fish exclusively. If you take the supplements make sure you consume only high quality fish oil to avoid the same issues of mercury and food contaminants.

And, oh, don’t forget to do the 45 minutes walking at least three times a week as that is a rather important part in the study. Tell your doctor what you are doing to avoid medicine contraindications.

Diabetes and Unhealthy Eating
A few weeks ago the San Jose Mercury News in California stated that the diabetes epidemic is "costing the country over $100 billion annually prompting a major push by medical companies in the Silicon Valley to combat it." The problem was that diabetic patients need more consumer friendly equipment to monitor blood sugar. This may be true but the article misses some major points.

There was not one single word mentioning how diet, managing weight, and a healthy lifestyle can prevent diabetes (Type 2) in the first place. This is not a disease where one just catches it like a virus or bacteria. We acquire diabetes usually after many years of not eating and exercising properly. Type 2 diabetes is highly preventable.
The paper also said "advocacy groups have lobbied for more federal money to study the ailment." What more is there to study? This is not brain surgery we are looking at. How about advocating that our federal dollars have doctors enlist the support of qualified nutritionists to help people understand the real application of healthy eating habits? And while we are at it maybe we need to get rid of all the advertising on TV encouraging us to consume excess amounts of all that unhealthy food that contributes to diabetes.

Tired all the Time and Gaining Weight?
It's been estimated that an under active thyroid condition affects one in five women. Typically the TSH or thyroid stimulating hormone is tested to determine hypothyroidism. A low thyroid is medically determined usually in a blood test but in many situations it can actually fall at the low end of normal which ideally should send you and your doctor a red flag. This may be a warning that levels aren't quite where they should be, indicating a "gray" area, and possibly indicating low thyroid activity.

Typical symptoms of low thyroid include: -Gaining weight without any apparent reason especially when your eating and exercise habits have remained the same.-Intolerance to cold (especially if everyone else in the room is warm); or experiencing cold hands and feet -A change in your mood and/or energy level lasting more than several months-Unexplained muscle pain-Gray hair before the age of 30-Fertility problems-High cholesterol-Low immunity-A morning basal temperature reading between 97.6 and 98.2
So if your lab test falls into this subclinical level, take your basal morning temperature for several days (starting on the second day of your cycle) and discuss your symptoms to your doctor. Sometimes correcting a sluggish thyroid can make a big difference in how you lose weight and what your energy level is like.

Diatting & Weight Information

2008-08-24T02:25:00.000-07:00

Sodium, Blood Pressure, and Weight Loss
Most dieters know to watch out for fats and sugars but people often neglect to think about the sodium content of foods. Low-fat or low-carb foods that are pitched to dieters as "healthier" options may be extremely high in sodium, which could lead to health problems. High sodium intake has been linked to high blood pressure and heart disease. So, while we obviously need to look at fat and carbs, we need to check sodium levels as well.
Most health authorities suggest limiting sodium to between 1,500 and 2,400 milligrams a day. (The body only needs about 400 to 800 milligrams of sodium a day.) Yet most Americans eat closer to 3,500 milligrams a day. A single meal at a fast food joint can easily contain well over 1,000 milligrams of sodium.

It's fine to have a fast food choice occasionally, but daily fast food consumption can certainly cause problems, especially for those with high blood pressure or those who are overweight. Once again, it's all about moderation. (See also my recent post on healthier choices at fast food restaurants.)

The Power of Probiotics
There is a lot of talk these days of probiotics and how they can help the digestive tract. The company Dannon is marketing their yogurt "Activia" for the benefits of the probiotics, such as bifidus regularis.

Not only do probiotics help with digestion, but they help with a number of other functions as well. They are useful for preventing the overgrowth of yeast and other pathogens, and they help to synthesize vitamin K.
Lactobacillus Acidophilus is a common probiotic found in foods, as well as supplements. It is well known for aiding in the digestion of proteins, it has antifungal properties, helps to reduce blood cholesterol levels, and enhances the absorption of nutrients.

Foods that contain probiotics are cheese, kefir, miso, sauerkraut, tempeh, umeboshi and yogurt. If you are taking probiotics in a supplement form, then make sure to take them on an empty stomach. Also, if you are taking antibiotics, then do not take probiotics simultaneously.

Modified Fasting: a good weight control strategy?
People fast for many reasons: as a religious observance or spiritual ritual, as a political protest, in preparation for medical procedures, or as an occasional health practice. And studies have confirmed that short-term fasting can have a number of health benefits.

Yet fasting for the purposes of losing weight is not generally seen as a good idea.
But a series of new studies, summarized in the U.S. News and World Report, suggest that there may be a legitimate role for modified fasting as a weight loss tool. Read more on the Nutrition Data Blog.

Fiber and Weight Loss
To put it nicely, when we think of fiber we think of balancing out irregularity. It actually does a whole lot more, although I am sure you are more interested in it as how it relates to helping you lose weight, right?
Continue reading "Fiber and Weight Loss" »

Trans fats may be more fattening than other types of fat

Most nutritionists will tell you that controlling calorie intake is the key to losing weight (or avoiding weight gain.) But a new animal study indicates that some calories are far more fattening than others!

A six-year study at Wake Forest University, (just published in the journal Obesity) found that monkeys fed a diet high in trans fats gained more weight, particularly around the belly, than monkeys who ate a diet with the equivalent amount of monounsaturated fat. Note: Both groups of monkeys ate the same number of calories and the same amount of fat. Yet one group got fat and the other didn't.
Continue reading "Trans fats may be more fattening than other types of fat" »

Chocolate Cravings - Part 1
Last week a reader wanted to understand chocolate cravings. Chocolate cravings are associated with brain chemicals that affect mood, addiction, and emotions. People frequently consume this treat to feel better in some way, especially when feeling depressed, stressed, and anxious.
Continue reading "Chocolate Cravings - Part 1" »

Is dieting hopeless? Monica takes on a "skeptic"

In a recent post, I offered some advice to a reader who wrote to ask how many calories she should eat if she wanted to lose weight. I recommended that she aim to create a calorie deficit of about 7,000 calories per week (by reducing caloric intake AND increasing physical activity), which would lead to losing approximately two pounds a week.

Over the weekend, a reader ("Skeptic") posted a detailed critique of my post, charging that it was an "oversimplification" of metabolism and containing "a lot of inaccurate information." (You can read his entire comment on the original post.)

Input from readers is always welcome, and often adds valuable information to the dialogue. And I completely agree with Skeptic on some points. Fuel metabolism is complex, and we often simplify things in order to make the ideas easier to work with. For example, the equation "cut or burn 3500 calories to lose one pound" is a simplified (but still useful) approximation.
But several of Skeptic's points are worthy of further discussion.
Continue reading "Is dieting hopeless? Monica takes on a "skeptic" " »

No such thing as bad carbs?
If you find it difficult to say no to so-called "bad' carbs like white bread, potatoes, and sweets, Dr. Glenn Gaesser has good news for you! Having analyzed hundreds of studies on the effects of carbs and weight gain, Dr. Gaesser has concluded that high-carbohydrate or high-glycemic diets don't lead to weight gain. (Read more about the glycemic index on our Gycemic Index topic page.)

According to Dr. Gaesser, author of It's the Calories, Not the Carbs, people who eat high carbohydrate diets tend to be thinner and healthier than people who don't. Furthermore, he says, high glycemic foods are not necessarily unhealthy and do not impede weight loss efforts.

Of course, this runs contrary to the current dietary dogma, which holds that excessive consumption of high glycemic carbohydrates (foods that cause a quick, sharp rise in blood sugar) can increase your risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Most nutritionists also advise dieters to emphasize low-glycemic (or "good") carbohydrates for better appetite control.

Pregnancy Information

2008-08-17T22:42:00.000-07:00

Pregnancy symptoms differ from woman to woman and pregnancy to pregnancy; however, one of the most significant pregnancy symptoms is a delayed or missed menstrual cycle. Understanding the signs and symptoms of pregnancy is important because each symptom may be related to something other than pregnancy. Some women experience signs or symptoms of pregnancy within a week of conception. For other women, pregnancy symptoms may develop over a few weeks or may not be present at all. Below is a listing of some of the most common pregnancy signs symptoms. If you have been sexually active and experiencing any of the following symptoms it is important to take a pregnancy test.
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Implantation Bleeding:
Implantation bleeding can be one of the earliest pregnancy symptoms. About 6-12 days after conception, the embryo implants itself into the uterine wall. Some women will experience spotting as well as some cramping.
Other Explanations: Actual menstruation, altered menstruation, changes in birth control pill, infection, or abrasion from intercourse.
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Delay/Difference in Menstruation:
A delayed or missed menstruation is the most common pregnancy symptom leading a woman to test for pregnancy. When you become pregnant, your next period should be missed. Many women can bleed while they are pregnant, but typically the bleeding will be shorter or lighter than a normal period.
Other Explanations: Excessive weight gain/loss, fatigue, hormonal problems, tension, stress, ceasing to take the birth control pill, or breast-feeding.
Swollen/Tender Breasts:
Swollen or tender breasts is a pregnancy symptom which may begin as early as 1-2 weeks after conception. Women may notice changes in their breasts; they may be tender to the touch, sore, or swollen.
Other Explanations: Hormonal imbalance, birth control pills, impending menstruation (PMS) can also cause your breasts to be swollen or tender.
Fatigue/Tiredness:
Feeling fatigued or more tired is a pregnancy symptom which can also start as early as the first week after conception.
Other Explanations: Stress, exhaustion, depression, common cold or flu, or other illnesses can also leave you feeling tired or fatigued.
Nausea/Morning Sickness:
This well-known pregnancy symptom will often show up between 2-8 weeks after conception. Some women are fortunate to not deal with morning sickness at all, while others will feel nauseous throughout most of their pregnancy.
Other Explanations: Food poisoning, stress, or other stomach disorders can also cause you to feel queasy.
Backaches:
Lower backaches may be a symptom that occurs early in pregnancy; however, it is common to experience a dull backache throughout an entire pregnancy.
Other Explanations: Impending menstruation, stress, other back problems, and physical or mental strains.
Headaches:
The sudden rise of hormones in your body can cause you to have headaches early in pregnancy.
Other Explanations: Dehydration, caffeine withdrawal, impending menstruation, eye strain, or other ailments can be the source of frequent or chronic headaches.
Frequent Urination:
Around 6-8 weeks after conception, you may find yourself making a few extra trips to the bathroom.
Other Explanations: Urinary tract infection, diabetes, increasing liquid intake, or taking excessive diuretics.
Darkening of Areolas:
If you are pregnant, the skin around your nipples may get darker.
Other Explanations: Hormonal imbalance unrelated to pregnancy or may be a leftover effect from a previous pregnancy.
Food Cravings:
While you may not have a strong desire to eat pickles and ice cream, many women will feel cravings for certain foods when they are pregnant. This can last throughout your entire pregnancy.
Other Explanations: Poor diet, lack of a certain nutrient, stress, depression, or impending menstruation.

How Do I Know if I'm Pregnant?
The first indication that a woman might be pregnant is often a missed menstrual period. Home pregnancy test kits are available in most drug stores and many supermarkets and can help determine if you are pregnant. Sometimes, however, these tests might not be able to detect pregnancy if performed on the first day of a missed period.
An article in the October 10, 2001, issue of JAMA discusses the use of pregnancy testing in the first week after a missed period.

How Home Pregnancy Tests Work?
Home pregnancy test kits involve placing urine on a prepared chemical strip. It usually takes one or two minutes for the strip to show the result. The strip tests for a hormone that is produced during pregnancy, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). The test will only be positive (indicating you are pregnant) if you have enough hCG in your system when you do the testing. Depending on your menstrual cycle and how early you are in your pregnancy, a home test kit can show a negative result (indicating you are not pregnant) even though you may actually be pregnant.

How To Be Sure?
If you are late for your period and are using a home pregnancy test kit, wait seven to 10 days before trying the test. Many test kits recommend testing "as early as the first day of the missed period," but testing early may lead to an inaccurate result.
If you tested yourself seven to 10 days after the first missed period and your result was negative, wait a few more days; if your period does not start, try the test again.
Your doctor can perform a simple blood test by drawing blood from your arm and testing the levels of hCG in your blood to see if you are pregnant. Such blood tests are more accurate because they can detect lower levels of hCG than home pregnancy test kits.
If your home pregnancy test results are positive, be sure to make an appointment with your doctor right away. He or she may perform tests to verify your pregnancy and begin your prenatal care.
Possible Causes of a Missed Period
Pregnancy is the most common cause of a missed period.
Birth control pills — some women who use this form of contraception may not have periods. When you stop taking birth control pills, it can also lead to three to six months of missed or abnormal periods.
Breastfeeding can cause missed periods, but you may still get pregnant without periods when you are breastfeeding.
Certain medications can cause changes in your menstrual cycle. Check with your physician about changes if you are taking a new medication.
Some illnesses can postpone your period; it will usually resume its normal cycle when you are healthy.
Malnutrition and low body weight (possible results of poor eating habits) can cause disruptions in your cycle.
Excessive exercise can disrupt the production of hormones in your body and stop menstruation.
As menopause approaches, periods become irregular and eventually stop.
See your doctor to evaluate changes in your menstrual cycle.

Brest Cancer Information

2008-08-16T00:29:00.000-07:00

Is this topic for you?
This topic is for people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time. If you are looking for information on breast cancer that has spread or come back after treatment, see the topic Breast Cancer, Metastatic or Recurrent.
Related Articles
Breast Cancer, Metastatic or Recurrent - Topic Overview
Breast Cancer - Treatment Overview
» More overview Articles
What is breast cancer?
Breast cancer occurs when abnormal cells grow out of control in one or both breasts. They can invade nearby tissues and form a mass, called a malignant tumor. The cancer cells can spread (metastasize) to the lymph nodes and other parts of the body.
Breast cancer is many women’s worst fear. But experts have made great progress in treating cancer. If it is found early, breast cancer can often be cured, and it is not always necessary to remove the breast.
What causes breast cancer?
Doctors do not know exactly what causes breast cancer. But some things are known to increase the chance that you will get it. These are called risk factors. The main risk factors for breast cancer include:1
Aging. Breast cancer is much more common in older women than in younger women. Your breast cancer risk increases as you age.2
Family history of breast cancer. You have a higher risk if a close family member, especially your mother or sister, has had breast cancer.
Female hormones. Using hormone therapy after menopause raises your risk. This includes estrogen-progestin and estrogen-testosterone.1, 3 Using estrogen by itself may slightly raise breast cancer risk.1 And your risk is slightly higher if you started your period before age 12 or started menopause after age 55. The years when you have a menstrual cycle are your high-estrogen years. Experts think that the longer you have higher estrogen, the more risk you have for breast cancer.4
Gene changes. Women who inherit certain genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2 are more likely to have breast cancer.
Some other things are known to increase your risk, such as having extra body fat, being inactive, or drinking alcohol (these lead to higher levels of estrogen in the body).4, 5
But many women who have risk factors do not get breast cancer. And many women who get breast cancer do not have any known risk factors.
What are the symptoms?
Breast cancer can cause:
A change in the way the breast feels. The most common symptom is a painless lump or thickening in the breast or underarm.
A change in the way the breast looks. The skin on the breast may dimple or look like an orange peel. There may be a change in the size or shape of the breast.
A change in the nipple. It may turn in. The skin around it may look scaly.
A clear or bloody fluid that comes out of the nipple.
See your doctor right away if you notice any of these changes.
Many people think that only women get breast cancer. But about 1 in every 100 cases of breast cancer occurs in men. So any man who has a breast lump should be checked.6, 7
How is breast cancer diagnosed?
During a regular physical exam, your doctor can check your breasts to look for lumps or changes. Depending on your age and risk factors, the doctor may advise you to have a mammogram, which is an X-ray of the breast. A mammogram can often find a lump that is too small to be felt. Sometimes a woman finds a lump during a breast self-exam.
If you or your doctor finds a lump or other change, the doctor will want to take a sample of the cells in your breast. This is called a biopsy. Sometimes the doctor will put a needle into the lump to take out some fluid or tissue (needle biopsy). In other cases, a surgeon may take out the whole lump through a small cut in your breast. The results of the biopsy help your doctor know if you have cancer and what type of cancer it is.
You may have other tests to find out the stage of the cancer. The stage is a way for doctors to describe how far the cancer has spread. Your treatment choices will be based partly on the type and stage of the cancer.
How is it treated?
Most people who have breast cancer have surgery to remove the cancer. The surgeon may also take out some or all of the lymph nodes under your arm to find out if the cancer has spread to this area. After surgery, you may have radiation therapy to destroy cancer cells. You may also get chemotherapy or hormone therapy. These are powerful medicines that travel through your body to kill cancer cells. You might have radiation, chemotherapy, or hormone therapy before surgery to help shrink the cancer.
Depending on the stage of your cancer, you may have a choice of:
Surgery to remove just the cancer from the breast (breast-conserving surgery, or lumpectomy). You will need to have several weeks of radiation after surgery.
Surgery to remove the breast (mastectomy). If you choose mastectomy, you can have an operation to make a new breast. This is called breast reconstruction. Sometimes radiation is not needed after a mastectomy.
In years past, having breast cancer meant that you would have to have your breast removed. In many cases, this is no longer true. Studies now show that for early-stage breast cancer, breast-conserving surgery followed by radiation therapy is as good as mastectomy.1
You and your doctor will decide which mix of treatments is right for you based on many factors. These include facts about your cancer as well as your family history, other health problems, and your feelings about keeping your breast. Learn all you can about breast cancer and its treatment so you can make the choices that are right for you.
Treatments for breast cancer can cause side effects. Your doctor can let you know what problems to expect and help you find ways to manage them.
Finding out that you have breast cancer can cause a range of feelings, from sadness and fear to anger and despair. If your emotions are making it hard for you to move ahead, be sure to tell your doctor. You may be able to get counseling or find a support group. Talking with other people who have faced the same choices can be a big help.
Can breast cancer be prevented?
You cannot control some things that put you at risk for breast cancer, such as your sex and age. But you can change others. To stay as healthy as you can:
Eat a healthy diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Be active. Try to get 30 minutes of exercise at least 5 days a week.
Stay at a healthy weight. Getting regular exercise and watching what you eat can help.
If you drink alcohol, limit the amount. After menopause, even having one drink a day or less may increase the risk for breast cancer.
Still, there is no sure way to prevent breast cancer, so it is very important to have regular exams and mammograms. Discuss your risk factors with your doctor to find out how often you should have a mammogram.
If you have a strong family history of breast cancer, ask your doctor about genetic testing. A blood test can check for changes in the BRCA genes that may increase your chance of getting breast cancer.

Help a child with Thalassemia right now

2008-08-15T22:05:00.001-07:00

The purpose of this website is to provide information which will result in improved quality of life and survival to thalassemia patients and their families. In order to accomplish this,the website addresses information necessary for patients, families, health providers and interested community members.
Elliott Vichinsky, MDDirector, Hematology/OncologyChildren's Hospital & Research Center at Oakland

Thalassemia is the most common, inherited single gene disorder in the world. Early comprehensive treatment has changed thalassemia from a fatal pediatric disease to one in which patients live productive lives throughout adulthood. Advances in treatment are exciting, resulting in the potential for cure and improved quality of life. However, many patients never receive the information needed to make educated decisions about treatment. Many ethnic groups are unaware of their genetic risk of thalassemia and do not receive genetic counseling or pre-natal diagnosis. Others have heard of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis as a technique to achieve a healthy newborn, but do not have access to objective medical information of its risks and benefits. Thousands of patients receive medical care outside of specialized thalassemia centers. These patients and providers need information concerning recommendations for comprehensive screening tests, access to new research protocols and treatment including transfusion therapy, new chelation therapy, stem-cell transplantation, hormone replacement, heart disease, osteoporosis and hepatitis. Quality of life for families and patients can be excellent with a future including employment, marriage and children. To achieve this, families and providers need information concerning psychological wellness, cultural issues and counseling for family planning and marriage. In summary, this site should provide the family and providers with necessary information to make informed decisions and achieve optimal quality of life. It is our hope that by providing electronic education about the disease, we can raise awareness, encourage people to get tested for trait, and spread knowledge about comprehensive treatment to the global community.

Thalassemia Patient & Research Fund:

There are many different ways you can help in the ongoing fight against Thalassemia. The Northern California Comprehensive Thalassemia Center needs your support to help fund the Thalassemia Patient Fund which have been set up to help pay for patient expenses that become major difficulties over the long term such as transportation costs for families who live in rural areas, desferal supplies, pumps, medications not covered by insurance, parking vouchers and other costs. The fund also provides access to more expensive new therapies for low-income families, and finances patient participation in new research programs. Due to language and cultural barriers, part of the patient fund also pay for professional interpreters and translation of medical literature into languages such as Chinese, Vietnamese, Lao, Cambodian, Hmong, and Tagalog and other educational materials to target these high at risk population.Financial contributions and fund-raising by organizations is greatly needed and appreciated. Please act now to support the Thalassemia Patient Fund. It is through your support that we are able to provide quality comprehensive care to our patients to improve their quality of life. Many thanks to our supporters!To make an online donation, please visit http://www.chofoundation.org/donate/index.html. Please be sure to select 'Thalassemia Patient & Research Fund' in the pull-down menu, as the designation for your donation.
You can also send a check to:
Thalassemia Patient & Research FundChildren's Hospital Foundation747 Fifty Second

StreetOakland,

CA 94609(510) 428-3814

Tax ID # 94-3315514

Heart Diseases Tips

2008-08-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

Heart Diseases:
Also called: Cardiac disease
If you're like most people, you think that heart disease is a problem for other folks. But heart disease is the number one killer in the U.S. It is also a major cause of disability. There are many different forms of heart disease. The most common cause of heart disease is narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries, the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart itself. This is called coronary artery disease and happens slowly over time. It's the major reason people have heart attacks.
Other kinds of heart problems may happen to the valves in the heart, or the heart may not pump well and cause heart failure. Some people are born with heart disease.
You can help reduce your risk of heart disease by taking steps to control factors that put you at greater risk:
Control your blood pressure
Lower your cholesterol
Don't smoke
Get enough exercise.

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Quality care in heart diseases
Star Health ReportWhile thinking about the public hospital set-ups in Bangladesh, a common scenario comes to the mind where poor healthcare facilitates are being provided with very limited resources. Most often, the ailing people have to learn that some better treatment options are not available due to the shortage or unavailability of equipment as well as skilled manpower. The condition pushes the affordable class in the private set-up leaving the poor with no answer.

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MONDAY, July 14 (HealthDay News) -- Maintaining proper blood sugar levels after heart surgery is essential, whether one is or isn't a diabetic, a new study shows.
The British report, published in Circulation, shows that poor blood sugar control in post-heart surgery patients is linked to a fourfold increase in death and major complications, such as heart attack, neurological, kidney, lung and gastrointestinal injury.

The research, involving 9,000 heart surgery patients, was conducted by a team at the University of Bristol in the U.K. More than half of the patients who developed moderate to poor blood sugar control after surgery were not thought to be diabetic, the researchers found.
Diabetes has long been tied to post-heart surgery problem. Many advances in operative and intensive care techniques for diabetic heart patients have been implemented in recent years.
"Currently, the absence of recognized guidelines is creating confusion on how to face the challenge of clinical conditions other than diabetes leading to derangement of glucose metabolism. The lack of rigorous research in this field does not help," lead researcher Raimondo Ascione, reader and consultant in Cardiac Surgery at the Bristol Heart Institute, said in a news release issued by the university.

He called for doctors to issue strict protocols to actively manage blood sugar in all patients admitted for major surgery.

Peter Weissberg is medical director of the British Heart Foundation, which co-funded the study. In the same news release, he noted that, "while previous research has shown blood sugar levels have an important impact on the outcome of patients suffering a heart attack, this study shows for the first time the same may also be true for patients undergoing heart surgery.
"This research provides the basis for further, in depth studies to try to understand how better sugar control can help save more lives during and after heart surger," he said.HealthDay