Medical Health Articles

Lowering Your Blood Pressure by Lowering Your Salt

Consumer Reports analyzed 37 supermarket staples and found large amounts of sodium in unexpected places — including some foods that don’t necessarily taste salty at all. For example, a cup of Kellogg’s Raisin Bran contains 350 milligrams (mg) of sodium, while a half-cup of Friendship 1% low-fat cottage cheese has 360 mg. And a single Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain White Bagel is loaded with 440 mg. Consumer Reports advises consumers to check food labels for sodium content. These types of sodium surprises present challenges for people charged with cooking for the holidays.

If you are diabetic then> Blood Pressure, Diabetes Symptoms and Care

In the shops there are many foods that advertise ‘reduced salt’ or ‘no salt’ as alternatives to regular brands. However, it is important to still check all food labels when shopping as it may be deceptive. It is best to stay away from ‘ready meals’, since as well as containing high levels of salt they are also likely to include other foods that are not healthy for diabetics.

The best way to keep track of your salt intake is to cook food from scratch yourself. You can use certain recipes that are specially adapted for diabetics and will include lower levels of salt, making them a generally healthier option. This may seem like a daunting task but you should know that salt does not need to be cut out completely, and is in fact an important part of our diet. Specially adapted diabetic recipes will take a lot of the worry out of cooking by working out salt levels for you. As a general rule, a teaspoon of salt is the recommended daily intake level.

A few tips you can remember when cooking is that there are certain foods that are naturally more salty than others, for example canned tuna, soy sauce and so on. Many of these you could cut from your diet completely and find special diabetic recipes that do not use such salty ingredients.

At first, cooking specially adapted low salt recipes may affect the flavour of your meals, yet in time you will become used to the lack of salt on your food. In the end it is definitely a worthwhile endeavour to cut salt from your meals, and it is not as hard as you may think when you find adapted diabetic recipes.

If your looking for diabetic recipes you can sign up to our free diabetic newsletter, receive free diabetic recipes each and every week.

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Giving The Gift Of Health This Holiday Season

A bottle of cologne, a new pair of pajamas or a video game are all quick and easy gifts to buy and wrap for the upcoming holiday season. But this year, why not give something more healthy and beneficial to a loved> Family Health Articles

Caroline R. Richardson, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, offers some guidance for buying healthy gifts that may be leaner on your body as well as on your wallet.

“This is the time of the year that people fear the most; food is everywhere and most of it is not good for you,” says Richardson. Many people also find it difficult to stay physically active during the colder winter months. In addition, she says, it can be a very stressful time for a lot of people, and the prospect of having to buy presents for many people only adds to the stress.

Some kinds of gifts that help reduce stress or help recipients remain healthy include nutritious foods, things that help people stay physically active and gifts that reduce peoples’ stress levels. Richardson says there are many options for gifts in all three categories.

Healthy Foods

Richardson says her favorite healthy gift to give is olive oil and vinegar. These items help people get their daily vegetable intake because a good olive oil and vinegar dressing make salads and other foods much tastier, she notes. It can also be paired with homemade bread for dipping. Another inexpensive option that can help people stick to a healthy diet is a soup mix. Soup mixes are easy to create at home by using rice, beans and a variety of spices.

Physical Activity Gifts

According to Richardson, “the least expensive form of physical activity that is accessible to everyone, to children, to adults, to older people, is walking. It doesn’t require much equipment and can be done just about anywhere.”

Richardson suggests some gifts that will help people stick with a walking program, such as comfortable walking shoes and sweat-wicking socks. These are critical for maintaining a walking program but can be a bit expensive, so a gift certificate could help toward the gift recipient’s purchase.

Pedometers — devices that count the number of steps someone has taken — are a good option because they allow people to track their physical activity and are also relatively inexpensive.

Another idea is to sign someone up to receive e-mails from walking.about.com with free weekly walking tips. Walking.about.com is a good place to find reviews for all kinds of walking products including good walking shoes, socks and pedometers, Richardson says. For a little more money, you can give a one-year membership to a Web-based walking program such as Walkingspree.com or Sportbrain.com; Web-based services that offer a pedometer to track steps, diet-tracking features, graphs and feedback on your progress; and individualized e-mail coaching for a healthy lifestyle.

In order for children to stay healthy, they must be active, Richardson notes. It’s relatively easy helping kids stay active without breaking the bank. Simple items such as waterproof gloves or a pair of winter boots allow kids to get outside and become active while having fun in the winter weather.

Even some video games have moved away from the sedentary nature of earlier games. If you are buying a gift for someone who loves video games, consider helping them turn their addiction into a healthy pursuit. Video games that encourage physical activity with activity tracking, coaching and feedback are available for many gaming systems. The new Apple Wii Fit program and Dance Dance Revolution are two examples of games that will get kids off the couch, Richardson says.

Gifts to reduce stress

Due to the poor economy and high stress levels, holiday gift ideas that will help people reduce their stress levels are a great idea and can be done relatively inexpensively, Richardson says. Simple things that can help reduce stress levels include a gift of tea or some soothing, relaxing music.

Richardson also suggests that “one of the best ways to reduce stress is to help others, and there’s going to be plenty of people this winter that need help. It’s a great thing to do alone, as well as involving the family, to volunteer at an activity or charity this upcoming holiday season.

Instead of giving a child a toy, search for a kid-friendly volunteering opportunity in your community and do it with a child, work with a child to find a charity that he or she would like to support and send a donation in the child’s name, or donate gifts to a shelter for homeless kids. “You may get some grumbling up front, but kids remember these kinds of activities long after all the plastic toys have broken,” notes Richardson.

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Children Will Get Fit If It's Fun

An independent study at the University of Cumbria found that nine in every ten youngsters want to play video games at the same time as exercising. The games reduce the boredom of exercise.

Fifty children aged 11 and 12 were asked to use exercise equipment combined with video games provided by a company called Gamercize.

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Child Health and Safety

The children could play their games only while they maintained movement on the fitness machines. If they stopped exercising, the games paused.

Researcher Jack Tyson said: “The results of this study show that 90% of children like combining video games with exercise.

“Only one in five of these children was achieving the recommended one hour a day of moderate physical activity, while three-quarters of them played video games for more than one hour a day.”

Today, the National Obesity Forum hailed the findings.

Clinical director Dr David Haslam said: “Physical inactivity in children is a major cause of the obesity epidemic, and Gamercize provides an innovative solution, reducing sedentary behaviour, whilst maintaining enjoyment, making it a popular and appealing remedy. This study begins to show that by providing more novel opportunities, it is possible to increase a child’s activity in a painless and effective way.”

Tam Fry, the Forum’s board member for children and the Honorary Chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, added: “Ideally children should be running around fields and expending energy naturally, but a lot of children are unable to do this so active gaming brings about energy balance. The key to all this is that children must have fun and the value of Gamercize is that children have a great time using it.”

Gamercize equipment has proved popular in schools and homes worldwide.

Derbyshire Sport introduced Gamercize equipment into schools this year.

Steve Smith, the schools sports partnership development manager, said: “We have found Gamercize equipment appeals to all children, helping us to provide additional physical activity in our primary and secondary schools. Gamercize has proved both popular with children and is extremely flexible for PE teachers and school sport competition managers alike.”

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Make Sure Children Have Supervision During Holidays

As the holiday season begins, the Georgia Department of Human Resources wants to remind parents not to allow a time meant for family to turn into an opportunity for family tragedy. Make sure your children have proper supervision at all times. Know where your children are and what they are doing.

At this time of year, families are busier than ever with work, holiday events and shopping. Possibilities increase of children being left unsupervised at home or even forgotten by busy parents rushing from> Child Health and Safety

In Georgia, child maltreatment can include children who are left unsupervised for long periods of time. Like most states, Georgia does not have regulations or laws to determine when a child is considered old enough to be left unsupervised or to supervise other children. However, there are state guidelines administered through the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) to evaluate situations and determine if a child neglect investigation is warranted. DFCS encourages parents to use sound judgment and assess the maturity and responsibility of their children before deciding whether to leave them home alone.

The most important consideration is whether a child is old enough and responsible enough to be left alone in a manner that ensures a healthy and safe environment. Georgia’s guidelines for leaving a child without adult supervision include the following :

* Children under 8 years old should never be left alone, even for short periods of time.

* Children between the ages of 9 and 12, based on level of maturity, can be left home alone for brief periods of time.

* Children 13 and older can generally be left as babysitters, with the exception of children in foster care. However, it is not recommended that 13-year-olds baby sit infants, small children or children requiring special attention due to medical conditions.

* Children 15 and older can be left home alone overnight, depending on their level of maturity.

Other safety guidelines for children include:

* Don’t leave a child responsible for food preparation that involves the stove.

* Even with children who are old enough to be left alone, make a safety plan that includes 911 and rehearse it with your child. Also arrange for neighbors or friends to check in with your child during the time he or she is unsupervised.

* Always make sure you know where your small child is. Double check your vehicle when you leave it. Check your driveway before backing your vehicle into the street.

* Do not leave your small child unattended in shopping malls or other public places, including gas stations, even for a moment.

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Consumers Warned Of Lead Hazard From 'Mood Chain' Anklets, Necklaces

Health Canada is advising consumers that excessively high levels of lead have been found in Mood Chain jewellery pieces. Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects.

This series of jewellery contains necklaces and anklets with charms that change colour with changes in temperature.

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Family Health Articles

Approximately 12,000 pieces of the jewellery were sold from 2007 until November 2008 at various dollar and discount stores within Canada. Consumers should immediately take these items away from children’s reach. The jewellery may be disposed of in normal household waste.

The high lead content of these items was detected when the anklets were sampled as part of Health Canada’s cyclical enforcement survey for children’s jewellery. Health Canada has not received any reports of illness or incidents related to the use of this jewellery.

Product Description

The necklaces are mounted on an opaque insert within a clear plastic package. There is a multi-coloured sticker marked “MOOD CHAIN” at the top of the outer packaging. Anklets are similarly packaged, but mounted on an opaque insert shaped like a foot. No country of origin, manufacturer or importer information is listed on the packaging.

The charms identified for this advisory include (but may not be limited to) the following designs:

* Moon and star
* Dolphin
* Elephant
* Square
* Lock
* Butterfly
* Heart
* Fish
* Dragonfly

Lead is a toxic metal which can have harmful effects on the behaviour and development of children even at very low levels of exposure. It is illegal under the Hazardous Products Act to import, advertise or sell jewellery items intended mainly for children under 15 which contain more than 600 mg/kg total lead and 90 mg/kg migratable lead.

There is no lead exposure risk associated with using these items for their intended purpose, but anyone sucking, chewing, or swallowing these items would be exposed to high levels of lead. If a child has been observed sucking or chewing on the necklaces or anklets, and you suspect that lead poisoning may have occurred, contact your family physician who can order a simple blood test to measure the child’s blood lead level. If you notice or suspect that a child has swallowed a leaded item, contact your local poison control centre immediately.

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Physicians Consider Ending Vaccinations Because Of Low Reimbursements

About> Child Health and Safety

A separate survey of 76 physicians in five states found significant disparities between costs and reimbursement rates. The survey examined the costs of the vaccines and storage but it did not look at administrative fees, staff time or vaccinations paid for by the federal government. For example, for one recommended infant vaccine, one in 10 physicians lost money while others profited nearly $40 per dose, and for a pneumococcal disease vaccine, per-dose difference ranged between a $40 profit and an $11 loss. Gary Freed of the University of Michigan, a co-author of both studies, said, “Many physicians really weren’t aware they were getting reimbursed so little.”

However, the AP/Inquirer reports that most pediatricians likely will continue providing the vaccines. According to the AP/Inquirer, the studies show that overall about 11% of physicians have seriously considered ending vaccinations for privately insured patients, compared with 21% of family physicians and 5% of pediatricians. Pediatrician Herschel Lessin said, “For us to give up vaccines would hurt our core business because that’s why kids come in.”

Experts say there is no evidence that large numbers of physicians have stopped giving vaccines because of financial problems, but health officials are concerned that as physicians face increasing economic pressures and more parents forgo vaccinations for children, larger outbreaks of certain diseases, such as measles, could occur in the future. Lance Rodewald of CDC said the two studies are “a very important wake-up call” (Stobbe, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/1).

Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, and sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork.org/email . The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. ? 2007 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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Molecule Shuts Down Food Intake, Turns On Siesta Mode

Researchers have identified a molecule that tells your brain your stomach is full—signaling that it’s time to say no to a second piece of pumpkin pie and push back from the Thanksgiving table.

In studies with mice and rats, researchers have found that a chemical messenger called NAPE is made in the small intestine after the animals ate a greasy meal. After eating, NAPE—N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine, a mouthful in itself—enters the blood and travels to the brain, where it quashes hunger signals. Rats treated with extra NAPE for five days ate less and lost weight, hinting that studying NAPE could help researchers design better appetite suppressants or obesity drugs.

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Food and Health

Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Gerald Shulman at Yale School of Medicine led the research team, which reported its findings in the issue of the journal Cell. Shulman’s research group is well known for its work on understanding how insulin resistance develops and leads to diabetes. In the course of that research, his team developed a sensitive system to identify and measure lipids in tissue samples. After seeing the power of that system in his diabetes research, Shulman was eager to see if it might also be applied to understanding obesity.

Some 300 million adults worldwide are severely overweight and at risk for life-threatening illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. But obesity is difficult to treat. “We do not have good medical therapies for obesity,” Shulman says, noting that the small number of diet drugs on the market now come with intolerable side effects and have only modest impacts on weight. “It’s very important to find other targets that might affect food intake.”

Despite many years studying the physiology of appetite and hunger, researchers still do not have a clear picture of how the brain keeps tabs on fat consumption. Fat is effective at satisfying hunger, so Shulman and his colleagues at Yale and the University of Cincinnati decided to see if they could find out whether the brain senses lipid intake directly. If they could learn how that happens, they suspected, their findings might point toward a new treatment for obesity.

The team used Shulman’s lipid analysis system to investigate what happens to fat that enters the blood after ingesting a high-fat meal. The scientists reasoned that the fat derivatives that enter the bloodstream might themselves serve as messengers to signal the brain that the body has been fed. They used this approach to compare the lipids present in blood plasma from rats that had fasted or eaten, and they zeroed in on NAPE.

They found only low levels of NAPE in the blood of rats that had fasted for 12 hours. The level of NAPE shot up 40 to 50 percent in animals that had dined on high-fat chow. Furthermore, NAPE didn’t increase in rodents that ate only protein or carbohydrate, suggesting that NAPE levels reflect the amount of fat eaten in a meal.

The researchers found that when they injected synthetic NAPE into the abdominal cavity or blood, the rodents’ appetites diminished substantially. The more NAPE they received, the less food they ate. “It’s really quite effective,” Shulman says. “At the highest doses, it keeps the animals from eating for up to 12 hours.” At a low dose—comparable to the spike in NAPE that occurs naturally after a meal—the rodents still ate 25 percent less than controls. They even acted full, going into “siesta mode” as if they had just eaten, Shulman says, noting that additional tests confirmed that the animals were only lethargic, not ill or incapacitated.

When the researchers delivered tiny amounts of NAPE directly into the brain, it had the same effect as a larger dose delivered to the blood. This suggests that the compound communicates directly with the brain, Shulman says.

Indeed, they found that NAPE injected into the blood did cross the blood-brain barrier and was concentrated in the hypothalamus, a specific region of the brain that governs hunger. There, they found that NAPE calmed neurons that stimulate appetite. The team made those conclusions after inspecting brain samples that had been stained to reveal the cells in which NAPE was active. “Most appetite regulation is hypothalamic, so we were excited that [NAPE] was working centrally,” Shulman says. “That suggests [NAPE] is involved in the gut-brain axis. It’s a way the gut communicates to the brain that there’s energy coming in and you need to shut down food intake.”

The team next wanted to know if NAPE would stay effective with longer-term treatment, so they outfitted 22 rats with vests that allowed them to move freely in their cages while they hooked up to an IV that dispensed NAPE. The vests permitted the rats to eat, sleep, and rest while still receiving infusions of NAPE. Over five days, control rats continued to gain weight normally, but NAPE-treated rats ate less and lost ten percent of their body weight—while appearing otherwise well and healthy.

Shulman and his team are now monitoring NAPE levels in humans, to see if they rise after a meal the same way they do in rodents. They also plan to test NAPE for effects on appetite in non-human primates. If these studies parallel the results they have observed in mice and rats, Shulman says, a clinical trial with NAPE or NAPE-like compounds may be on the horizon.

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FDA Sets Melamine Safety Standard Just In The Nick of Time

Much like the BPA controversy, the FDA is telling us not to worry about melamine content, recently discovered in the popular infant formulas, Nestle, Mead Johnson and Enfamil. A release from the Associated Press filed a request from the FDA, based> Food Safety

No one knows the source of the melamine found in the infant formulas. The same companies that manufacture the formulas also make protein based drink supplements. Melamine is not allowed to be purposefully added to foods, but speculatively has been added to boost the protein content of food in order to pass analysis standards. Now China regulates food safety and milk as Melamine scandal grows.

The FDA is insisting the melamine, at the levels found in the infant formula, are safe. Oddly, Dr. Stephen Sundlof, the FDA’s director of food safety has not been able to tell us why there were no standards previously set. There is no research that backs up the FDA’s choice – 1ppm. It does however mimic the melamine content standards set by Canada, and is just above the levels found recently in the popular infant formulas in the US.

Health Canada set the 1ppm melamine standard after reviewing all of the available data on the health risks of melamine. Their investigation followed the contamination of Chinese infant formula earlier this year resulting in three infant deaths. One part per million now seems convenient enough for our own FDA.

Consumers should look closely at food safety when making dietary choices. Melamine is widely used in the farming industry, and is added to feed and fertilizers, and used in pesticides.

It seems that melamine is the newest addition to dietary toxins. We might remember that ingestion, inhalation, and skin exposure to toxins adds up. Recent research suggests that most of us give little thought to exactly how many toxins we ingest, inhale and put on our bodies on a daily basis. If we were to total up the amounts of harmful substances that surround us daily, we might immediately shift our consumer and lifestyle habits. Read FDA’s advisory on Melamine contamination.

Mothers might want to think strongly about the long-term effects of melamine on the health of their infants, even though the FDA has provided us with a safe standard; just in the nick of time.

Reference: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/melamine.html

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Discussing Prevention For Hair Loss

Some amount of hairloss is inevitable as we age. In fact, an average healthy human being loses a certain amount of hair daily. For most, this lost hair grows back, yet for many the problem starts when the body isn’t capable of hair regrowth.

Then the problem of thinning hair or hair loss starts surfacing. Action should be taken before it’s too late. There are many types of treatments available for hair loss. The safest and cheapest treatments are the herbal and home remedies, and these methods should be tried first before opting for other costlier remedies.

There is no cure for baldness, yet understanding what causes the condition is important. Excess stress, lack of hair care, a dirty scalp, and the lack of nutritious foods can precipitate hair loss. As well, consuming excess amounts of caffeine, sugar, fats and carbonated drinks can cause hair loss.

On the contrary, various forms of exercises that require the body to be bent forwards or backwards will also result in increased blood flow to the scalp, which will promote healthy hair and a healthy scalp. Consuming foods rich with essential nutrients will also promote healthy hair growth.

Home remedies for hair loss are the best options, and they are safe and dirt cheap. They do not have any side effects and don’t cause any damage. And the good news is that there are so many remedies available to stop hair loss, that if one doesn’t work another one might.

One of the methods is to take some fenugreek seeds and soak them in water overnight in a big bowl. Next morning, apply the water to your scalp and wrap the head in a towel.

Let it remain like that for three hours and then shampoo to get rid of the fenugreek smell. Following this routine daily for a month may solve your problem; however, those who catch colds easily shouldn’t try this or stop as soon as they feel that they are about to catch cold.

Another method for hair loss prevention is to apply castor oil to hair roots and scalp before bedtime, yet try to avoid getting castor oil on the rest of your hair. In the morning, shampoo to remove the oil. Continue this process once every week for 7 to 10 weeks. This is one of the many hair loss treatments that may stop hair loss, although it may not work for some people. There is no harm in trying this treatment.

A free gift awaits you at our portal site, where you can enrich your knowledge further about prevention for hair loss. Your comment is much appreciated at our treatment for baldness blog.