Researchers studied football players, linemen in particular, to determine whether they have greater high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high fasting blood-glucose levels — risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. The study was presented recently at the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology in San Diego
According to the London Daily Mail, an Oxford University study found that after just nine days, rats fed a high-fat diet made errors on a maze test and could only run 50 percent as far as rodents that ate regular, low-fat food.
Professor Kieran Clarke, who headed up the research team, told the Daily Mail the short-term results of a high-fat diet were “startling.”
Fat has a far-reaching effect on performance.
Nutritionist Elizabeth Somer, author of “Eat Your Way to Happiness,” says eating high-fat snacks and meals means that your system has to divert blood away from the brain and toward the tummy to digest it all.
“It makes a person dumb since it reduces the amount of oxygen that can get to the brain tissues,” Somer says.
If it takes only days for fat to make you dumber, experts say it would take about a month for a switch to a lower-fat diet to get you feeling sharper again.
Obesity isn’t the only negative side effect of excessive television watching. A new study from the American College of Sports Medicine suggests that young adults who tune in to two hours or more of TV per day have poor muscular fitness.
Researchers Niko Paalanne and Tuija Tammelin of Finland studied more than 870 Finnish young men and women around 19 years of age. Subjects’ muscular fitness was measured using trunk rotation, trunk flexion, press strength and jumping height. Those who watched the most television – at least two hours per day – performed significantly worse in the tests. “One of the most startling findings in our research was that about half of the young adults studied were watching TV at least two hours per day,” Paalanne said. “That equates to nearly 15 hours per week – time that could be spent doing healthy, productive activities.” The problem may be further magnified for American adults who, according to Nielsen ratings, watch approximately 142 hours of television per month on average, equating to more than four hours per day. Another significant finding in the Finnish study was that young adults with high levels of TV viewing time had low levels of muscular fitness regardless of their overall physical activity level. “To our knowledge, our study is the first to report such an association,” Tammelin said. “More research needs to be done to further investigate this correlation. It’s possible that some young adults are doing basic levels of aerobic physical activity but leaving out the important strength training element.” ACSM recommends strength training twice per week, in addition to at least 150 minutes per week of aerobic activity, easily achieved in 30-minute segments five days per week. Source
It’s more proof that what you eat and drink affects health, researchers say
(HealthDay News) — A diet high in salt or artificially sweetened drinks increases the risk of kidney function decline, two studies show.
“There are currently limited data on the role of diet in kidney disease,” researcher Dr. Julie Lin, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said in a news release. “While more study is needed, our research suggests that higher sodium and artificially sweetened soda intake are associated with greater rate of decline in kidney function.”
The first study looked at diet and kidney function decline in more than 3,000 women enrolled in the national Nurses’ Health Study. The researchers found that “in women with well-preserved kidney function, higher dietary sodium intake was associated with greater kidney function decline, which is consistent with experimental animal data that high sodium intake promotes progressive kidney disease.”
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The second study looked at the association between sugar- and artificially-sweetened beverages and kidney function decline in the same group of women. The researchers found an association between two or more servings per day of artificially sweetened soda and a two-fold increased risk of faster kidney function decline. There was no connection between sugar-sweetened beverages and kidney function decline.
The association between artificially sweetened beverages and kidney function decline persisted after Lin and colleague Dr. Gary Curhan accounted for other factors, such as age, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, physical activity, caloric intake and cardiovascular disease.
Further study is needed to better understand how artificial sweeteners influence kidney function decline, the researchers said.
The studies were to be presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology, in San Diego.
More information
The U.S. National Kidney Disease Education Program offers tips on how to keep your kidneys healthy.
SOURCE: American Society of Nephrology, news release, Oct. 31, 2009
The living organism cannot exist without light. Only in the presence of light do the plants accomplish photosynthesis and the human body synthesize the Vitamin D, essential component for the calcium retention in the bones.
The light not only that sustains life but it can also heal.
The recent studies have shown that the depression, especially the one related to the cold season, can be treated by daily exposure to the white light.
The light therapy is administrated usually through a certain device called light box, a metallic structure containing a tube of fluorescent light put behind a screen.
The dosage of light exposure is calculated by measuring the intensity and the length of the exposure. Most of the studies monitoring to the light therapy, recommend an exposure of two to six hours a day. At a certain level the intensity of light is reversed as proportion to the time of exposure.
The light therapy used for treating depression is best applied very early in the morning after the patient has woken up. Under no circumstances should it be performed before going to bed because it is known to cause insomnia.
The younger persons are the ones responding the best to the light. Also the light therapy has a higher efficiency rate in the somnolence and large appetite treatment or in the case a person gains weight with no reason.
What herbs can be used for pain management? According to Pain Management and Migraine Relief the natural remedies can work, but it is critical to use great caution with this approach. While the topic of the article is migraines, other forms of pain can be treated with herbs, especially when inflammation is the cause of the discomfort.
Pain relieving herbs can be very effective in treating discomfort that stems from inflammation. Chronic inflammation is the core of the pain associated with a number of conditions. The good news is that the discomfort can be alleviated using natural methods including:
• Dietary interventions
• Avoiding toxins
• Stop smoking
• Increase exercise
• Reduce stress
Herbal supplements can also play a natural role in pain management as long as the strategy is used in conjunction with treatments specified by a physician. In addition, each supplement should be approved by a doctor, including its dosage.
Conditions that have pain associated with inflammation include:
• Arthritis
• Tendonitis
• Neck pain
• Back pain
• Osteoarthritis
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• TMJ
• Traumatic injury
• Tendonitis
• Autoimmune disorders
Seven excellent choices in herbal remedies for pain relief top the list. Each has anti-inflammatory characteristics that can alleviate pain.
• Boswellia is a natural inflammatory that comes from a resin collected from frankincense tree bark.
• Bromelain is a digestive enzyme that is found in the stems of pineapples. The enzyme is effective in reducing inflammation-causing hormones known as prostaglandins. The enzyme can help to heal connective tissues and muscles.
• Curcumin is a naturally occurring element found in turmeric. This anti-inflammatory can reduce levels of cytokines, inflammatory proteins.
• Devil’s Claw has an ominous name but it can alleviate pain. The plant is native to the southern region of Africa. It contains iridoid glycosides that are believed to help reduce pain associated with digestive problems and arthritis.
• Ginger is a very popular herb, well known for its pungent aroma and distinctive taste. This anti-inflammatory is as effective, if not more effective, in treating pain than many manufactured pain relievers.
• White Willow Bark contains elements that are similar to aspirin. This natural painkiller has proved to be effective in treating joint and hip pain.
• Yucca was used by Native Americans for a number of conditions. The plant contains saponins that are anti-inflammatory in nature.
The herbs used for pain management are effective as complements to a medical treatment plan provided by a physician. It is critical to make sure that these components are not used exclusively. They are not cures for any medical condition and they can interfere with many medications. Always talk to your doctor when considering augmenting your pain management treatments with herbal remedies.
Biofield therapies, which claim to use subtle energy to stimulate the body’s healing process, are promising complementary interventions for reducing the intensity of pain in a number of conditions, reducing anxiety for hospitalized patients and reducing agitated behaviors in dementia, over and above what standard treatments can achieve. However, longer-term effects are less clear. Dr. Shamini Jain, from the UCLA Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research, and Dr.
