Blackberry: Health News

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Senin, 03 Oktober 2011

Milk Wonder

Have a cup of milk, siguraduhing maligamgam ito.

Ibabad dito ang inyong mga kamay sa loob ng five minutes upang maging matibay ang inyong mga kuko at ma-hydrate ang skin.

Loaded ang gatas ng lactic acid, isang natural alpha hydroxyl acid na banayad na nag-e-exfoliate ng dead skin. Mataas din ito sa calcium na bagay sa fragile nails.

[ Source: Abante Online ]

Hand Massge

Hindi kailangang magpunta sa spa o salon para maka-experience ng hand massage.

Kahit sa bahay o kahit saan you can massage your hands.

To stimulate circulation, rub your palm over the back of the hand and then repeat with the other hand.

Ang movement na ito ay pwedeng gawin kung hinuhugasan ang inyong mga kamay. It does not only stimulate circulation, it also warms the hands.

[ source: Abante Online ]

Moisturizing

Mahalaga ang moisturizer sa ating balat. Kapag wala nito, hindi napapanatiling supple at smooth ang skin.

Kapag exposed ang skin sa mainit na weather nasisira ang texture nito.

Maglagay ng moisturizer regularly sa mukha:

Using the tips of the fingers, dot moisturising cream lightly all over the face.

Press the fingers of both hands into the center of the forehead and work the cream slowly outwards.

I-pat ang cream nang banayad sa paligid ng mga mata.

Huwag ding kalimutang lagyan ng cream ang jawline, chin and mouth with the middle fingers of both hands.

Massage the cream over the throat with alternating hands, using upward strokes from collar-bone to chin.

[source: Abante Online ]

Cutting Down on Alcohol may Strengthen your Immune System

A new study reveals that heavy drinking can worsen the effects of illness and weaken your immune system against viruses.

To see how alcohol affects resistance to infection, Gyongyi Szabo of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester and colleagues exposed infection fighting white blood cells to chemicals that mimic viruses and bacteria. “Half of the cells were also soused in the levels of alcohol that a person might have in their blood after quaffing four or five alcoholic drinks daily for a week,” wrote British scientific magazine New Scientist on the study.

The findings revealed that alcohol weakened the white blood cells defenses, with researchers noting that heavy drinking can lower your immunity to a range of serious viruses, including Hepatitis C and HIV.

Szabo, who next hopes to see how alcohol affects flu vaccines, warns that heavy drinkers should beware of the damage they may be causing to their immune systems.

The research was published on September 29 in BioMed Central’s open access journal BMC Immunology.

Researchers at the University of Santiago of Compostela in Spain revealed earlier this year that students who drank heavily more than five alcoholic drinks for men and four for women on one occasion scored lower on a verbal learning test than students who didn’t binge drink.

Heavy drinking, long known as a cause of liver damage, is also linked to heart disease, according to a ten-year study in Northern Ireland and France published last year by the British Medical Journal.

What is a safe level of drinking? The NIAAA cites that for most adults, drinking up to two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women causes few if any problems. One drink equals one 12-ounce (355 ml) bottle of beer, one 5-ounce (150 ml) glass of wine, or 1.5 ounces ((40-50 ml) of 80-proof distilled spirits.

[ Via: Yahoo News ]

Daily Aspirin Tied to Risk of Vision Loss

Seniors who take aspirin daily are twice as likely to have late stage macular degeneration, an age-related loss of vision, than people who never take the pain reliever, a new European study reports.

The data do not show that aspirin causes vision loss. But the findings are of concern if aspirin somehow exacerbates the eye disorder, researchers say, given how many seniors take it daily for heart disease.

“For people who have age-related macular degeneration, it probably isn’t wise to recommend taking aspirin,” said William Christen of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who was not involved in this study.

Researchers led by Dr. Paulus de Jong at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and Academic Medical Center collected health and lifestyle information from nearly 4,700 people over age 65.
The study, published in the journal Ophthalmology, included Norwegian, Estonian, British, French, Italian, Greek and Spanish seniors.

Of the 839 people who took aspirin each day, 36 had an advanced form of the disease called wet macular degeneration.

This equates to about four out of every 100 daily aspirin users.
In comparison, roughly two out of every 100 people who took aspirin less frequently had the same type of macular degeneration.

The wet form of the eye condition, caused by leaking blood vessels in the eye, leads to vision loss in the center of the eye’s field of vision.

The dry form of macular degeneration is more common and less severe, although people still suffer visual impairment.

Together, wet and dry macular degeneration make up the leading causes of vision loss among people over age 60, afflicting millions of Americans.

The researchers found that aspirin use was not tied to the dry form, nor to earlier stages of the disease.

“I don’t think that’s surprising,” Christen told Reuters Health. “I think the effects of aspirin may be different in the early stages of age-related macular degeneration than in the late stages.”

Aspirin is often taken to prevent cardiovascular disease, and Paulus told Reuters Health there has been controversy over the link between cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration.

Paulus wrote in an email that his team “analyzed as meticulously as possible” whether cardiovascular disease might have influenced the results, and still found that aspirin users regardless of their heart health are at a greater risk of the more serious type of vision loss.
While it’s a good idea to caution people that aspirin might have a deleterious role in macular degeneration, “a healthy eye with full visual capacities is of no use in a dead body,” Paulus said.

In other words, for people with cardiovascular disease who take aspirin to prevent the condition from worsening, the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks to visual health.

Paulus said larger studies that follow people over time and document their aspirin use and vision will help resolve aspirin’s role in macular degeneration.

Iba pang Gamit ng Asukal sa Bahay

Ang asukal ay hindi lamang ginagamit sa pagkain.Ang mga sumusunod ay mga paraan kung paano pa magagamit ang asukal sa bahay.

Ang asukal ay may kakayahang makapagpaputi ng tinatawag na “skin discoloration”. Upang pumuti ang mga ito, maglagay ng 1/2 tsp ng asukal sa isang tasang puno ng lemon juice. Ipahid ito sa likod ng kamay o sa mukha. Iwanan ito ng ilang minuto at banlawan. Ang kombinasyon ng maaligasgas na asukal at ang natural na “bleaching agent” ng mga citrus na prutas ay unti-unting makakapagpawala ng mga “dark spots” na makakapagpanumbalik ng “youthful glow” ng iyong balat.

Nakakatulong ang asukal makapaglinis ng tagyawat magdamag. Kung ikaw ay may tagyawat, ihalo ang 1 tsp ng asukal at ilang patak ng tubig sa isang platito upang makagawa ng paste. Ilagay ang paste upang matakpan ang buong tagyawat. Iwanan ito magdamag. Ang “sucrose” sa asukal ay nakakapagpigil ng pagdami ng bacteria upang mabawasan ang pamumula ng tagyawat.

Ang asukal ay nagbibigay ginhawa sa masakit na paso sa dila. Kung ikaw ay napaso sa pag-inom ng mainit o pagkain ng mainit, maglagay ng asukal sa iyong dila. Ang pagkatunaw ng ng asukal ay magreresulta sa pagre-release ng utak ng “endorphins” o mga “feel-good” hormones na makakapagpagaan ng pakiramdam.

Pumatay ng ipis gamit ang asukal. Ihalo ang magkasindaming asukal at baking powder. Ang asukal ang makakapag-attract ng ipis at baking powder naman ang nakakamatay ng ipis.

Minggu, 02 Oktober 2011

Middle Aged Women Happier with Moderate Exercise

Middle-aged women encouraged to exercise at moderate intensity were much happier and more likely to continue working out than peers who exercised more intensely, according to a study.

Researchers led by Steriani Elavsky of Penn State University in Pennsylvania recruited 255 women between 40 and 60 years old to do either moderate or vigorous exercise, then followed the volunteers to monitor their reactions.

Overall, women who did moderate exercise were about twice as likely to feel energized and confident they could do more exercise in the future, and more of them also showed decreased feelings of sadness and anxiety than the vigorous exercise group.

“Exercise makes you feel better but it is going to be more pleasant when performed at moderate intensity as compared to vigorous, especially when you have been previously inactive or may be overweight,” Elavsky told Reuters Health.

They were activities “that would allow you to talk in short sentences while you are doing them, but would not allow you to sing,” she added.

Middle-aged women are among the least active and their level of physical activity declines with age. Understanding whether exercise of different intensities has different effects on mood and whether these predict overall physical activity in midlife women is an important question to address, Elavsky added.

Elavsky and colleagues at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey studied the 255 women, who were not on hormone therapy and who kept a daily diary of activities and feelings for two weeks. She presented their findings at the North American Menopause Society meeting in Washington D.C.

At the beginning of the study, the women completed two bouts of moderate or vigorous exercise. The vigorous workout involved exercising on a treadmill to the point where they could no longer tolerate the intensity, and moderate exercise involved a 30-minute session, also on a treadmill, at a pace the women selected for themselves but could be considered moderate.

All women also wore an accelerometer, a small device the size of a match box, to track their energy expenditure and their time spent in activities of different intensities.

The study found that moderate intensity exercise caused more women to report later that they were in a better mood and to have greater feelings of energy, psychological wellbeing and “self-efficacy.”

Moderate physical activity was also much better in these terms for obese and out of shape women, Elavsky said.

Vigorous exercisers showed smaller benefits to mood, and those who were overweight or had symptoms of illness reported “significant decreases in calmness” after the exercise bouts.

Examples of moderate intensity exercise include brisk walking, ballroom and line dancing, biking on level ground or with few hills, canoeing, general gardening including raking, trimming shrubs, sports such as baseball, softball, volleyball, tennis (doubles) and water aerobics.

Elavsky added she hopes her study will reaffirm to women that exercise can be a powerful way to enhance their wellbeing, and that they don’t have to go all out with their level of exertion.

“The effects we observed were large and moderate intensity is sufficient, in fact it is optimal,” she said.

“We also hope that clinicians will realize the importance of considering the proper exercise intensity when making recommendations about exercise.

(source: Manila Bulletin)

Coconut Juice

For more than 6 years now this column has been promoting our very own coconut products including but not limited to virgin coconut oil (VCO), coconut sugar, coconut flour, and coconut juice more popularly known as coconut water.

Coconut water or coconut juice is simply the clear watery liquid found inside a fresh coconut. Coconut water is not the same as coconut milk. The latter is obtained by extracting the juice out of coconut milk. Coconut milk is thick and creamy while the coconut juice/coconut water is clear and watery.

I have been drinking coconut water/coconut juice blended with coconut milk every morning for the past 5 years or so. It’s a fantastic beverage, full of fantastic nutrients. Fantastic taste, too… especially the coconut water/coconut juice coming from the green young coconuts. Coconut water/coconut juice does not only possess anti-aging properties but fights cancer, helps balance blood sugar, reduces risk of heart disease, aids in kidney functions and dissolves kidney stones and wards off other diseases as well as it enhances our immunity system.

Let me share with you an interesting story narrated in the book Coconut Water for health and healing by Dr. Bruce Fife:

“More recently I ran across an interesting incident which dramatically illustrates the potential benefit coconut water may have in treating cataract.

“We discovered this by accident while on a cruise ship (years ago). A few of us were on an island day trip and wanted to get off the beaten tourist’s path so we hired a bus and driver to take us to the opposite side of the island (only 10 of us on that big bus). A man and his wife were taking the cruise as a sort last hoorah before her scheduled cataract surgery, we later found out.

Anyway, there was a beautiful beach with coconuts laying everywhere and we got thirsty, but there was no drinking water. So we decided to open up some coconut to quench our dry throats. We found a local with a big machete and through sign language we convinced him to open coconuts for us. The woman with the cataracts got splashed in one eye by the coconut juice, and it burned a bit.

We were all digging through everything we had for something to relieve her eye ‘injury.’ All we came up with was one moist washcloth. Her husband wiped her eye and placed the washcloth over it. About 10 minutes later she announced we should head back to the ship. We did. The next morning at breakfast she said that her eye was much better and that she could see very well.

We examined her eye closely and could not see any signs of the cataract, which was quite obvious the day before. She said she wished she had gotten splashed in both eyes. Then the idea dawned on us to ‘splash’ her other eye. We did that very day as soon as we got ashore and also repeated the other eye too. This time we were prepared.

We went to the local market, grabbed a coconut, opened it, and strained it through a washcloth into a plastic cup, dribbled the juice into both eyes, placed a warm washcloth over both eyes, waited 10 minutes, and the rest is history. She went to her MD upon returning stateside – no cataracts and no surgery!

“What is it in coconut water that may have an effect on cataracts? Coconut water contains antioxidants as well as magnesium, potassium and other minerals and enzymes which may un-denature or relax the lens proteins, allowing them to realign and become transparent again.”

Coconut water/coconut juice has been called the ‘fluid of life.’ Not many know that coconut water/coconut juice has been used as an intravenous solution. During World War II, coconut water/coconut juice were used as IV solutions when the commercial IV solutions were not available.

By the way, the coconut tree from where coconut water/coconut juice comes from grows on about 11.6 million hectares in eighty-six (86) countries. With a total production of forty-nine (49) billion nuts. Coconut tree is a tropical crop that is widely distributed in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific region.

The shares of coconut growing countries are as follows: Indonesia (25.7%); Philippines (23.2%); India (23%); Sri Lanka (4.4%); and others (23.7%). In the Philippines sixty-eight (68) out of the seventy-nine (79) provinces are coconut-growing areas.

Finally, should you wish to know more about coconut water/coconut juice and other coconut products as well, please read the 550-page book titled Coconut Philippines; size 9×12; containing 1,300 colored pictures and illustrations authored by Lalaine Villafuerte-Abonal, the only Philippine exporter of coconut sugar, syrup and vinegar that are certified organic by the US-DA (Department of Agriculture).

Aside from the fact that her exporting entity is Kosher Certified and Carbon Neutral Certified.
Yes, our coconut products are gaining tremendous international interests nowadays as the world gets more health conscious.

(source: Manila Bulletin)

Colds and Stomach Bugs Not Tied to Cerebral Palsy

Despite concerns that a mother’s infections during pregnancy may raise her baby’s risk of cerebral palsy, common colds and stomach flu were not tied to the birth defect in a new study.

Other more serious infections, and factors like a woman’s history of miscarriage or family history of cerebral palsy, were associated with increased risk to babies, Dr. Michael E.
O’Callaghan of the University of Adelaide, Australia, one of the study authors told Reuters Health. “There’s an increased chance but it’s still low.”

In particular, severe maternal infections in the second half of pregnancy were linked to higher risk for babies. So were preterm birth, growth restrictions inside the uterus and being a twin or part of a larger set of multiples.

Each year about 10,000 babies born in the United States will develop cerebral palsy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cerebral palsy describes a number of disorders of the developing brain that affect body movement, posture and balance. It occurs during fetal development, or during or right after birth, and its cause is unknown.

Published in Obstetrics and Gynecology, the study by O’Callaghan and his colleagues looked at 587 people with cerebral palsy and 1,154 without the disorder.

The researchers found that maternal infections like chicken pox and cytomegalovirus an infection that causes serious symptoms in newborns were significantly associated with cerebral palsy, especially when they happened in the second half of pregnancy. Those types of infections occurred during pregnancy in the mothers of 41 percent of people with cerebral palsy compared to 31 percent who didn’t have the condition.

When researchers looked at mothers’ upper respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, however, they found no significant difference between people with cerebral palsy and those without it.

Upper respiratory infections occurred in the mothers of about 9.5 percent of people with cerebral palsy, for instance, and 8.5 percent of those without the condition.

Certain infections during pregnancy can affect the fetus, sometimes causing inflammation in or around the brain that could disrupt brain development.

“There’s not a great deal of new information presented in this study but it is from a large population, which was then honed down to a small sample,” said Dr. Bruce Young, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the NYU Langone Medical Center, who was not involved in the research.

The study was based on records and maternal questionnaires, which Young points out may be biased. “People sometimes don’t remember,” he said. “That’s a big problem with this type of study.”

The report does offer further evidence that premature deliveries, low birth weight, family history and infections are common risks associated with cerebral palsy, he noted.

“It’s reassuring that there are factors associated with cerebral palsy that can be identified,” said Young. “Some of them, like premature births, can be addressed. We’re coming up with new treatments to prevent preterm births. That’s optimistic for pregnant women.”

Timing also played a role in the impact of more serious infections. Later in pregnancy, a mother’s fever, or her infection with chicken pox virus, staphylococcus or streptococcus bacteria, and various wound or urinary tract infections, all raised babies’ cerebral palsy risk by four to five times.

“I would not exclude infections during the first half of pregnancy based on this paper,” Young told Reuters Health. “If a pregnant woman thinks she has an infection at anytime during the pregnancy, she should consult with her doctor promptly.”

“If you have a fever, it should be lowered because that is the best way to protect your fetus as well as yourself,” he said.

(source: Manila Bulletin)

Diabetes Again Linked to Colon Cancer Risk

A new research review confirms that people with diabetes have a somewhat increased risk of colon cancer but the reasons for the connection, and what should be done about it, remain unclear.

Combining the results of 14 international studies, researchers found that overall, people with diabetes were 38 percent more likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer than those who were diabetes free.

There was also a 20 percent increase in the risk of rectal cancer, though that appeared to be confined to men.

The findings, reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, do not prove that diabetes directly contributes to colon cancer in some people.

The results come from observational studies in which people with diabetes were found to have a higher risk of colon cancer than those without diabetes. In most of the studies, the researchers adjusted for at least some factors that might explain the link like older age, obesity and smoking and the diabetes-cancer connection remained.

However, there could still be other explanations.

“I think we can make the statement that diabetes is consistently associated with colorectal cancer,” Dr. Edward Giovannucci of the Harvard School of Public Health, who was not involved the study, told Reuters Health in an email.

“The cause and effect aspect is a bit difficult to consider since diabetes is such a complex disease,” said Giovannucci, who studies the underlying causes of colon cancer.

He said it seems likely that some aspect of diabetes contributes to colon cancer, but it’s not certain what.

One theory is that hormones are involved.

People with diabetes tend to have high levels of the blood sugar regulating hormone insulin, as well as related hormones called insulin like growth factors. Those hormones cause cells to grow and spread, and that may include cancer cells.

Whatever the mechanism, if diabetes does contribute to colon cancer, it’s not clear what the implications would be.

People with diabetes are not advised to get colon cancer screening any more often, or at a younger age, than people without diabetes, said Dr. Hiroki Yuhara, who led the new study while based at the University of California, Berkeley.

And it’s not clear if that advice will change at any time in the future, Yuhara told Reuters Health in an email.

Experts recommend that most people start colon cancer screening at the age of 50, with any of several tests including stool tests that look for hidden blood, or invasive tests like sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy.

People with certain risk factors for colon cancer like inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease or colitis) or a strong family history of the cancer are told to start screening earlier. Diabetes is not currently considered one of those risk factors.

And there’s evidence that the link between diabetes and colon cancer risk may be weakening.

A study published last year by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that among more than 184,000 older Americans followed for 15 years, men with type 2 diabetes were about one quarter more likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer than diabetes free men were.

But that increase in risk was modest and, the researchers said, smaller than past studies had suggested.

What’s more, there was no similar increase seen among women with type 2 diabetes. (The study was not included in the current analysis, which considered studies published from the 1990s through 2009, from the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan.)

The ACS researchers speculated that the findings might reflect better diabetes control among Americans and women, in particular in recent years. A separate government study had shown that U.S. women with diabetes improved their long-term blood sugar control between 1999 and 2004.
In theory, better blood sugar control would mean lower insulin levels, which might affect colon cancer risk.

But that’s speculation. For now, Giovannucci recommended that people focus on maintaining a healthy weight and getting regular exercise: Obesity is a risk factor for both diabetes and colon cancer.

According to Yuhara, people with diabetes should be aware of the link to colon cancer risk, and follow their doctors’ advice on screening for the cancer.

It’s estimated that just over 101,000 Americans will be diagnosed with colon cancer in 2011, while almost 40,000 will be told they have rectal cancer, according to the ACS. The average American has about a 1 in 20 lifetime chance of developing either cancer.

(source: Manila Bulletin)

Coffee Linked with Lower Depression Risk in Women

Women who drink four cups of coffee a day are 20 percent less likely to become depressed than women who rarely drink coffee, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Caffeine is the most frequently used central nervous system stimulant in the world, and coffee consumption accounts for about 80 percent of caffeine use.

Drinking coffee offers a boost of energy and a lift in well being, said Alberto Ascherio of Harvard School of Public Health.

“This short-term effect is what drives the consumption of caffeine,” said Ascherio, whose study appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

“Here we are looking at long-term chronic use of caffeinated coffee,” Ascherio said in a telephone interview.

His team studied more than 50,000 women enrolled in a health study of nurses. The women had an average age of 63, and none were depressed when they enrolled in the study.

Ascherio’s team measured coffee consumption based on data on the women for 14 years dating back to 1976. They then classified the women according to how much coffee they drank and followed them for an additional 10 years.

“We found that those women who regularly drink four or more cups of coffee a day have 20 percent lower risk of developing depression than those who rarely or never drink coffee,” Ascherio said.

The team focused specifically on coffee, but they had similar findings when they looked at overall caffeine consumption, including caffeinated soft drinks and chocolate. They found that women who were in the top fifth of caffeine consumption had a 20 percent lower risk of depression than women in the bottom fifth.

The team built a two-year gap or latency period between when they measured caffeine consumption and their assessment for depression to make sure they were not just capturing women who were too depressed to be regular coffee drinkers.

Ascherio said there have been very few studies that look at the long-term effects of coffee consumption. One smaller study in Finland showed men who drank a lot of coffee were less likely to commit suicide.

And Ascherio’s own team has shown that drinking a lot of coffee may be protective against Parkinson’s disease in both men and women.

He said it is not yet clear how coffee might protect against depression, but there are some hints.

Animal studies have shown that caffeine protects against certain neurotoxins. And brain receptors that respond to caffeine are concentrated in the basal ganglia, an area that is important for both depression and Parkinson’s disease.

Ascherio said low-dose, chronic stimulation of these receptors may make them more efficient.
He stressed that the study does not prove that coffee lowers depression risk — only that it might be protective against depression in some way.

And many more studies will be needed to show whether coffee can be used to prevent depression, Ascherio said.

(source: Manila Bulletin)
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Rabu, 28 September 2011

Prevent Cataract with Vitamin C

EYE ailments like cataract are no longer associated with old age.

Although the development of this disease is gradual and goes with the normal aging process, it can occur rapidly to people with unhealthy lifestyle.

Seniors develop cataracts but there are instances of young people getting cataracts due to excessive ultraviolet-light exposure, diabetes, smoking, or the use of certain medications, such as oral, topical, or inhaled steroids.

To keep cataracts from clouding your vision as you age, store up more on vitamin C and vegetables loaded with powerful antioxidants like bell peppers, broccoli, and oranges.

A recent study showed that people with higher blood levels of vitamin C may have a much lower risk of developing cataracts, while people with low vitamin C may suffer higher rates of the eye condition. Bell peppers, broccoli, and oranges are all super sources of this nutrient.

Nutritional status has also been investigated, but most research to date has been done on cataract prevalence in people who take vitamin C supplements, and most of the results have proved contradictory or inconclusive. But this new study is significant in that it examined cataract risk in relation to intake of vitamin-C-rich foods rather than supplements.

So why not make a few healthy changes to help keep your vision sharper longer? Red bell peppers, broccoli, oranges, cantaloupe, carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash are all great sources of vitamin C. But you should also be a faithful wearer of sunglasses to help reduce your risk. Say no to tobacco. And see your eye doctor regularly for vision screening.

(source: Journal Online)

Can Eating Fish Lower the Risk of Strokes

People who eat fish a few times each week are slightly less likely to suffer a stroke than those who only eat a little or none at all, according to an international analysis.

The omega-3 fatty acids in fish may lower stroke risk through their positive effects on blood pressure and cholesterol, wrote Susanna Larsson and Nicola Orsini of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute in the journal Stroke.

Their analysis was based on 15 studies conducted in the United States, Europe, Japan and China, each of which asked people how frequently they ate fish, then followed them for between four and 30 years to see who suffered a stroke.

“I think overall, fish does provide a beneficial package of nutrients, in particular the omega-3s, that could explain this lower risk,” said Dariush Mozaffarian, a Harvard School of Public Health epidemiologist whose research was included in the analysis.

“A lot of the evidence comes together suggesting that about two to three servings per week is enough to get the benefit.”

Vitamin D, selenium, and certain types of proteins in fish may also have stroke related benefits, he added.

Data for the analysis came from close to 400,000 people aged 30 to 103.

Over anywhere from a few years to a few decades, about 9,400 people had a stroke. Eating three extra servings of fish each week was linked to a six-percent drop in stroke risk, which translates to one fewer stroke among a hundred people eating extra fish over a lifetime.

The people in each study who ate the most fish were 12 percent less likely to have a stroke than those that ate the least.

Mozaffarian’s report separated the effects of different kinds of fish and found that people who ate more fried fish and fish sandwiches, not surprisingly, didn’t get any stroke benefit.
But the research can’t prove that adding more non fried fish to your diet will keep you from having a stroke, Mozaffarian told Reuters Health.

People “could have healthier diets in other ways, people could exercise more, people could have better education that could lead them to see their doctors more,” he added, all of which could decrease their risk of strokes.

Still, most studies have tried to take those other health and nutrition factors into account to isolate the effects of fish as much as possible and they suggest a cause and effect relationship, he said.

It’s likely that people who start out eating no fish or very little probably have the most to gain by putting it on their plate more often.

“You get a lot of bang for your buck when you go from low intake to moderate, a few servings per week,” Mozaffarian said.

After that, the benefit from each extra serving probably goes down.

Fatty fish such as salmon and herring are especially high in omega-3s, The American Heart Association recommends at least two servings of fatty fish in particular each week.

(source: Manila Bulletin)

Selasa, 27 September 2011

Bigger anti-smoking warnings coming by June

An image of anti-smoking crusader Barb Tarbox, who documented her battle with cancer, will be among those featured on cigarette packages in Canada starting in June. U.S. officials announced last year they were considering using Tarbox's image as well. Photograph by: Handout, AFP

OTTAWA — Cigarette packs are about to get a whole lot more jarring in Canada.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, accompanied by the widower and daughter of anti-smoking crusader Barb Tarbox, visited a school in Ottawa on Tuesday to announce that tobacco companies will have to start selling revamped cigarette packages by next June.

Twelve new images will cover 75 per cent of the outside panel of cigarette packages and eight new health messages will appear on the inside in full colour in an attempt to turn off smokers.

A picture of a dying Barb Tarbox, a lifelong smoker who died of lung cancer in 2003 at age 42, will be among the new images on the outside panels.

"This is one story of many in Canada, and the family agreed to help and work with us to get their message to Canadians, and I thank them for their courage and their leadership in trying to reach out to young people," the health minister said Tuesday.

Speaking directly to the Grade 8 students on hand for the announcement, Pat Tarbox said the picture of his late wife is still shocking for their family to see and "it freaks out a lot people." That's the point, he said.

"We're hoping her image will have an impact on a lot of youth and that's really what Barb wanted to do," said Tarbox, whose late wife documented her illness and spoke to schools across the country in the months before her death as part of an anti-smoking campaign.

"It's a stark reality of what cancer looks like. If you think smoking is cool, 20 years down the road, you don't look so cool when you're lying in a hospital bed deteriorating," added Tarbox.

Their daughter, Mackenzie, 18, who was nine years old when her mother died and is now a first-year university student, said the image of her mother represents "just what it means to have cancer. I just think that you guys should just never start and if you have, stop. Could you imagine telling your nine-year old daughter that you might not be there for Christmas?' "

Currently, health warnings cover 50 per cent of the outside panel of cigarette packages, but Health Canada research has consistently shown that smokers have dulled to the old graphics, first introduced in 2001.

As part of the new rules, tobacco companies will also have to include four toxic-emission messages for the side panel, along with a national toll-free quit line.

Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society, was on hand to laud the government for showing "global leadership."

He added: "This is a blockbuster in terms of public health because it costs the government virtually nothing to do but it does have an impact in the short and long term."

Initially, the government planned to have the old packs out of the marketplace by next March, but a delay in publishing the final regulations means the industry has another three months to transition.

Aglukkaq committed to the new regulations last December after she signalled in the fall that the file was on hold so the federal government could focus on combating contraband cigarettes.

A month before Aglukkaq made this commitment, Tarbox lamented what he saw as foot-dragging on the part of the federal government after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it was considering using Barb's image on cigarette packages sold in the U.S.

Since then, the U.S. plan to cover the top half, front and back, of cigarette packaging with graphic warnings has been put on hold by a lawsuit filed by tobacco companies. The companies allege the mandated health warnings violate their free speech, given that cigarettes are a legal product but the warnings urge prospective customers not to buy them.

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Cranberry Juice Para sa UTI

May urinary tract infection (UTI) ka ba? Uminom ng cranberry juice. Hindi alam ng mga expert kung paano ito nakakatulong laban sa UTI at kung gaano karami ang dapat inumin. Pero malaking tulong ito sa mga babaeng pabalik-balik ang UTI.

Kung mahilig ka sa cranberry juice, ipagpatuloy ang pag-inom nito, lalo na kung may epekto ito sa UTI mo. Hindi naman ito delikado ngunit maaari kang magkaroon ng sakit ng tiyan o diarrhea. Pero iwasan ang cranberry juice kapag gumagamit ka ng mga blood-thinning drugs tulad ng warfarin.

(source: Abante Online)

Jumat, 23 September 2011

Organic Farming Battles Climate Change

An environment expert is encouraging farmers to switch to organic agriculture as a hedge against climate change.

Dr. Victoria Espaldon, professor and dean of the School of Environmental Management of the University of the Philippines at Los Baños (UPLB-SEM), made the pitch in a seminar held in conjunction with the 7th National Agriculture and Fisheries Technology Forum and Product Exhibition organized by the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR).

Organic agriculture and diversified farming are the antidote to global warming, she said. “It is imperative that the agriculture sector adapt to climate change.”

She also asked farmers not to be overly concerned with eliminating weeds that are actually, structurally and genetically akin to organic fertilizer apart from possessing compounds with anti-cancer properties and characteristics with high pharmaceutical potential.

Espaldon emphasized the significant impact that organic farming and crop diversification could bring to the farming communities.

The best climate change strategies, she said, includes sustainable agriculture and good agricultural practices.

Use climate-ready crops, integrate livestock and non-farm income generating activities, adjust the seasonal calendar, employ climate-resilient postharvest storage and postharvest processing and include climate risks in agricultural planning were some of the suggestions she made.

(source: Manila Bulletin)

Rabu, 21 September 2011

Mga Sapat na Pagkain Para sa Tamang Timbang

Para magkaroon ka ng ideal na timbang, maliban sa pag-eehersisyo, kailangang ma-enjoy ninyo ang pagkain mula sa medium proteins, medium carbohydrates at low fat. Simple lang. masdan ang talaang ito.

Proteins
Ang skimmed milk, tokwa, soya, lentils, at itlog ay pinagkukunan ng magandang protina. Tandaan na nag-lalaman din ito ng maliit na dami ng carbohydrates at fats. Ang protinang nagmumula sa manok, lean meat, at isda ay naglalaman ng maraming fats kaya alalay lamang sa pagkain nito.

Carbohydrates
Iwasan ang simpleng carbohydrates gaya ng nasa sugary products tulad ng ice creams, pastries, cakes, mithai at ibang confectionaries. Ang patatas, kanin, tinapay at cereals ay tinatawag ding simple carbohydrates.

Ang complex carbohydrates gaya ng nasa gulay at prutas ay mainam sa katawan.

Fats
Kailangan ng fats sa certain essential metabolism. Mahalaga ito para sa balat, buhok, body heat at iba pa. bawas-bawasan ang karne (maging manok o iba pang karne). Iwasan din ang fat dressing at saturated fats gaya ng mayonnaise, butter at iba pang may mantika. Mas iwasan din ang pagkain na niluto sa recycled o gamit nang mantika. Kung kinakailangan, subukang gumamit ng monosaturated fat (in moderation) gaya ng olive, mustard, cannola.

(source: Abante Online)

Selasa, 20 September 2011

Smoking Kills 10 Filipinos Every Hour

Ten Filipinos die every hour from illnesses caused by smoking while the country loses nearly 500 billion pesos (US$11.5 billion) annually from healthcare costs and productivity losses, according to an anti-tobacco group.

HealthJustice Philippines disputed the claims of tobacco companies that increasing taxes on tobacco would hurt tobacco farmers and lead to the loss of livelihood.

“The most important issue is none other than health. The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that tobacco consumption kills 10 Filipinos every hour, due to cancer, stroke, lung and heart diseases brought on by cigarette smoking,” the group said in a statement.

“Even if a person does not smoke, the WHO warns that second-hand smoke causes hundreds of thousands of deaths to non-smokers due to the same smoking-related diseases,” it said.

HealthJustice said the Philippines loses billions of pesos in terms of health and economic costs from smoking.

It cited a 2006 study by the WHO, Department of Health (DOH), University of the Philippines-Manila and the Philippine College of Medical Researchers Foundation showing that the government’s “economic costs, including expenses for health care and costs of productivity losses,” reached 461 billion pesos.

The group said price increases through tax reforms in tobacco products will discourage people from smoking.

It quoted a World Bank study as saying that a 10 percent increase in taxes on tobacco products would lead to a 4 to 8 percent decrease in consumption, thus leading to saving thousands of lives.

“A recent study by economists Filomeno Sta. Ana and Jo-Ann Latuja estimates that at least 870,000 smokers will quit and 310,000 lives can be saved when the needed excise tax reforms, which will significantly increase the price of cigarettes, are implemented,” HealthJustice said.

The tax reforms would also help raise additional revenues for public health, with the Department of Finance estimating that as much as 30 billion pesos to 40 billion pesos additional revenues can be generated annually, it said.

The group said the 2009 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) has estimated that more than 17 million adult Filipinos smoke while a DOH survey showed that Filipino children as young as five years old are already starting to smoke.

“If the current administration falls short of implementing measures to reduce tobacco consumption among its citizens, the health risks and economic losses will certainly become too much to bear in the near future,” the group said.

(source: Yahoo News)

Many Benefits of Yogurt

Studies have shown that yogurt really helps with fat loss, when combined with a calorie reduced diet. Studies at the University of Tennessee have shown that three servings of yogurt a day can help you to lose 22% more weight, 60% more body fat, than a restricted calorie diet. In addition, 80% more abdominal fat was lost in the group with yogurt.

You can add yogurt to your morning cereal; pour it over a bowl of fresh fruit; throw it in the blender, add whatever you want, and make a smoothie; or simply spoon it from its store container and eat it like pudding.

What you may not know is that eating three 6 ounce (the standard single size container) servings of yogurt per day will provide you with about 1100 milligrams of dietary calcium. It will also give you high quality protein without loading up the calorie count. French women have long known that adding one or two servings of yogurt each day to their diets helps them keep their famously slim French profiles.

Other uses for yogurt: facial mask, good in calming acne prone skin, add 1 tsp honey to yogurt, mix, put on face for 15 minutes then rinse.

Yogurt is also a good marinate for chicken. It softens the chicken to make it soft and juicy. After marinating in yogurt, dip in flour coating (flour + salt +pepper+ paprika) then fry.

(source: Abante Online)

Minggu, 18 September 2011

Lunas sa Taghiyawat Gamit ang Kalamansi

Ang kalamansi ay isang epektibong solusyon para sa taghiyawat. Narito ang mga simpleng hakbang para sa mas makinis na mukha gamitvang kalamansi:
Maghilamos ng mukha at maghugas ng mabuti.

Pumiga ng isang kutsaritang kalamansi juice sa isang platito. Kung ito ang unang pagkakataon na gagamit ng kalamansi gumamit ng mas kaunti. Gamit ang bulak, basain ito ng kalamansi juice. Kung ito ay masyadong matapang para sa iyong balat maari mo itong ihalo sa konting tubig. Idampi ang bulak sa iyong taghiyawat.

Iwanan ng magdamag. At maghugas ng mukha kinabukasan.

Pagkatapos itong gawin ng makailang araw sa loob ng dalawang linggo, ang balat mo ay kikinis.

(source: Abante Online)