Health A-Z

11 Foods for Healthy Bones

Build a strong structure
When it comes to building strong bones, there are two key nutrients: calcium and vitamin D. Calcium supports your bones and teeth structure, while vitamin D improves calcium absorption and bone growth.

These nutrients are important early in life, but they may also help as you age. If you develop osteoporosis, a disease characterized by brittle and breaking bones, getting plenty of calcium and vitamin D may slow the disease and prevent fractures.

Adults up to age 50 should get 1,000 milligrams of calcium and 200 international units (IUs) of vitamin D a day. Adults over 50 should get 1,200 milligrams of calcium and 400 to 600 IU of vitamin D. Get these nutrients by trying these 11 foods for healthy bones.

Yogurt
Most people get their vitamin D through exposure to sunlight, but certain foods, like yogurt, are fortified with vitamin D.

One cup of yogurt can be a creamy way to get your daily calcium. Stonyfield Farms makes a fat-free plain yogurt that contains 30% of your calcium and 20% of your vitamin D for the day. And though we love the protein-packed Greek yogurts, these varieties tend to contain less calcium and little, if any, vitamin D

Milk
There’s a reason milk is the poster child for calcium. Eight ounces of fat-free milk will cost you 90 calories, but provide you with 30% of your daily dose of calcium. Choose a brand fortified with vitamin D to get double the benefits.

Can’t get three glasses a day? Try blending milk into a smoothie or sauce.

Cheese
Just because cheese is full of calcium doesn’t mean you need to eat it in excess (packing on the pounds won’t help your joints!). Just 1.5 ounces (think a set of dice) of cheddar cheese contains more than 30% of your daily value of calcium, so enjoy in moderation.

Most cheeses contain a small amount of vitamin D, but not enough to put a large dent in your daily needs.

Sardines
These tiny fish, often found in cans, have surprisingly high levels of both vitamin D and calcium. Though they may look a bit odd, they have a savory taste that can be delicious in pastas and salads.

Eggs
Though eggs only contain 6% of your daily vitamin D, they’re a quick and easy way to get it. Just don’t opt for egg whites—they may cut calories, but the vitamin D is in the yolk.

Salmon
Salmon is known for having plenty of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, but a 3-ounce piece of sockeye salmon contains more than 100% of your vitamin D. So eat up for your heart and your bones.

Spinach
Don’t eat dairy products? Spinach will be your new favorite way to get calcium. One cup of cooked spinach contains almost 25% of your daily calcium, plus fiber, iron, and vitamin A.

Fortified cereal
Certain cereals—like Kashi U Black Currants and Walnuts, Total Whole Grain, and Wheaties—contain up to 25% of your daily vitamin D. When you don’t have time to cook salmon or get out in the sun, cereals can be a tasty way to get your vitamin D.

Tuna
Tuna, another fatty fish, is a good source of vitamin D. Three ounces of canned tuna contains 154 IU, or about 39% of your daily dose of the sunshine vitamin. Try these low-cal Tuna-Melt Tacos as a way to sneak in vitamin D and calcium.

Collard greens
Like spinach, this leafy green often enjoyed south of the Mason-Dixon line is full of calcium. One cup of cooked collards contains more than 25% of your daily calcium. Plus you can easily sneak it into your favorite foods, like this über-healthy frittata.

Orange juice
A glass of fresh-squeezed OJ doesn’t have calcium or vitamin D, but it’s often fortified to contain these nutrients. Try Tropicana’s Calcium + Vitamin D to get a boost of these essentials.

Also, studies have shown that the ascorbic acid in OJ may help with calcium absorption, so you may be more likely to get the benefits of this fortified drink.

Source: health

Honey Could Be The Next Antibiotic:

From sea bacteria to veterinary pain medications, scientists have been looking everywhere for a solution to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. But a new study finds that the solution may be right inside their kitchen cabinets. Honey, which has already shown some promise in treating wounds, may also be useful for fighting infections.

In a way, it makes sense. If honey can help treat wounds and prevent infection on the outside, then it could probably fight infections on the inside too. “The unique property of honey lies in its ability to fight infection on multiple levels, making it more difficult for bacteria to develop resistance,” said study leader Dr. Susan M. Meschwitz,. Her findings were presented recently at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Council.

Honey commits a multi-pronged attack on bacteria, as it uses hydrogen peroxide, acidity, osmotic effect, high sugar concentration, and polyphenols to kill bacterial cells. Together, these antibacterial properties make it difficult for the bacteria to adapt. Osmotic effect works particularly well due to honey’s high sugar concentration, which sucks water out of the bacterial cells, dehydrating them, and leading to death.

Honey also inhibits a bacterial cell’s ability to communicate with other bacterial cells, known as quorum sensing. This renders them unable to form communities, and therefore unable to attack in large numbers, where they would normally be stronger. Meanwhile, polyphenols, or antioxidants, such as caffeic acid, p-coumaric, and ellagic acid contain antimicrobial properties. “We have separated and identified the various antioxidant polyphenol compounds,” Meschwitz said in the release. “In our antibacterial studies, we have been testing honey’s activity against E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.”

Bacterial resistance, Meschwitz says, occurs when bacteria adapt to the antibiotics that are supposed to inhibit their growth processes. As their DNA adapts, they become immune to the antibiotic’s effect, and therefore become even more dangerous. It has been said that if we continue using antibiotics unsparingly, previously eradicated diseases will come back and wreak havoc. In an effort to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, which occurs in doctor’s offices as well as industrial farms, both the health care community and the nation’s regulators have been taking action, and calling for reduced use.

source: Medical daily

 

Illegal Ripening of Fruits Exposes Millions of Kenyans to Cancer

Dr. Mahesh Zagade, Food Commissioner, Maharashtra state, Food and Drug Administration, India

In an investigation in Kenya and India, writer Kiprotich Koros, discovers how corrupt businessmen use cancer-causing chemicals to ripen fruits. Officials now warn millions of people risk early grave by eating fruits laced with these chemicals.

An investigations in the past one month has unearthed rampant use of calcium carbide – an artificial ripening agent – by unscrupulous traders and supermarkets in Nairobi and Mombasa.

The chemical is used to hasten ripening of bananas, mangoes and apples for sale to millions of Kenyans. The chemical uniformly ripens fruits making them desirable to customers.

Samples taken from three leading supermarkets and groceries in Nairobi and Mombasa tested positive for the poisonous chemical used for welding and for making plastics.

Wholesale traders in big fruit markets in Gikomba, Nairobi, Marikiti and Kongowea in Mombasa are using the chemical secretly.

Fruit adulterated with calcium carbide may also be finding their way to Kenya from other parts of the world as there are no laws governing its use. The Pesticide Product Control Board (PPCB), Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), Government Chemist and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) are unable to test for the chemical as they did not have the necessary equipment or protocols.

Despite the serious health risks it poses, it is not listed by the Pesticides Control Products Board (PCPB) as a banned substance.

Some of the mangoes, bananas, oranges and apples in the Kenyan market are imported from Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Egypt and as a far as India where calcium carbide use is rampant.

This raises major public health concerns with the steep rise of cancer cases in the country over the past few years.

Cancer is the third killer disease in Kenya. According to the Nairobi Cancer Registry, 38,544 new cancer cases were diagnosed in 2012 with 26,941 deaths occuring in the same year.

Source: All Africa

5 Surprising Health Benefits of Beer

Find out why having an occasional brew can be great for your health.

How a Brew Can Be Good For You
There might be nothing more relaxing than a brewski after long day of work or at a weekend gathering with family and friends. And when temperatures soar, pouring a tall, cold one can provide satisfying relief from the heat. But these days, drinking a beer a day isn’t just a way chill out or serve as a social lubricator. Research shows that moderate drinkers, whether it’s beer or another alcoholic beverage such as red wine may actually live longer than heavy drinkers and non-drinkers. The key word is moderation – that means one drink a day for women and one or two for men . So when you sit down for a pint this St. Patrick’s Day, remember these five reasons why this tipple is helping your health.

Heart Health and Beer
If you drink dark beer, you’re in luck. Beer, especially of the dark variety, is a source of soluble fiber because of the barley from which beer is made. Fiber helps lower LDL or “bad” blood cholesterol. And beer increases your HDL or “good” cholesterol, which helps reduce coronary heart disease risk. Beer alone won’t help your cholesterol: Darker beers can have up to 3.5 grams of soluble fiber, but you’ll need about 5 grams a day to lower LDL by 5 percent. As an added benefit, the hops and malt provide heart-healthy antioxidants. Keep in mind that the heart health benefits are mainly seen in middle-aged men and women. Drinking in your 30s won’t help prevent a heart attack in your 50s. Find out how drinking affects your RealAge.

Avoid the Beer Belly
Too many brewskis contribute to the proverbial pot belly, but drinking just one a day can actually help by stemming inflammation that contributes to obesity, according to Michael Roizen, MD. The bitter compounds from hops activate substances (called PPARs) that have an anti-inflammatory effect.

Raise a Glass to Your Kidneys
Compounds in hops, which are used to make beer, slow the release of calcium in bones, which contributes to kidney stones in men. Have a glass a day to help keep painful kidney stones away.

Try a Beer Bath to Soothe Skin
Bet you didn’t know that beer is a natural remedy for your skin. Adding two cups of beer to a warm bath can actually help with psoriasis and other skin conditions thanks to the hops, according to Mehmet Oz, MD . Light some candles, pour your favorite brew and relax with these extra suds, but also note that drinking beer has been linked to psoriasis flare-ups.
Boost Your Bone Health With a Brew
Keep your bones strong with a cold one. The bone-building secret in beer is silicon, a chemical that stimulates collagen production. What’s collagen got to do with it? Collagen is a protein that increases the density in your bones and keeps joints more flexible. Drink hoppy beers or ones with malted barley to get the biggest bone benefits and help prevent osteoporosis.
Source: Yahoo shine

 

Which expired foods are okay to eat?

Grocery shoppers beware: It’s likely that a few of the items in your cart should have been removed from the shelves because they were past the expiration date.

But chances are you won’t know that because in most states expiration dates aren’t required, and where dating is mandatory it is inconsistent and confusing.

And that’s just for the highly perishable items like poultry and dairy products. You may need a guidebook to decipher the expiration code on a can of beans, but according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, no such book exists.

Community volunteers working with the University of Southern California found that the problem is particularly acute in lower income, inner city areas, where they found at least one expired product on every third visit to the market.
And on 18 percent of their visits to the store, they found at least three expired poultry, beef and dairy items.

Researcher: Expired Food ‘More Widespread Than I Had Thought’

But they also found expired items when they visited stores far beyond their neighborhoods, including other states and the posh suburbs along the beaches to the west of Los Angeles.

“It’s an issue that is more widely distributed than I had thought,” LaVonna Lewis, a professor in USC’s school of policy, planning and development, said in an interview.

For the past decade Lewis has been working with about 90 volunteers from the non-profit Community Health Councils, Inc., in a program designed to get local people involved in monitoring food suppliers in their area.

The volunteers have found that South Central Los Angeles, which is predominately black, is served mostly by smaller mom and pop stores and fast food restaurants in sharp contrast to the wealthier areas to the west.

But five supermarket chains also have a smattering of stores in the poorer part of town, and when the volunteers turned their attention to those stores they were in for a surprise.

Are Expired Foods Harmful?

Expired foods were found on nearly half the visits to some of those supermarkets, which have not been named because the researchers are still compiling the data for publication in a journal.

But this isn’t limited to minority communities in southern California. Inspectors from Westchester County’s Department of Consumer Protection found hundreds of expired items when they visited stores in that New York county earlier this year, and some of the items had been expired for more than 31 days. And that, according to health officials there, could be dangerous.

Is it a big deal? Yes, and no.

Lewis said that when her volunteers began keeping track of expired foods they were doing so in the expectation that the foods were unsafe.

“But we’ve been talking with some food science people and nutrition people and they are telling us it’s a quality issue not a safety issue, except for infants and pregnant women and people who may have some kind of auto-immune disease,” she said.

That appears to be the consensus among food scientists, although there does not seem to be a lot of research backing it up. The USDA, for example, maintains that an expired product should still be “safe,” but it may not taste as good.

Source: abc news

Simple tips to prevent Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)

A urinary tract infection (UTI) can be defined as an infection involving the kidneys, ureters, bladder, or urethra. While not all urinary tract infections (UTIs) can be prevented, experts suggest one can still reduce the risk by taking certain steps and precautions.

Fluids intake: Drink plenty of water and other liquids, but cut back on caffeine and alcohol, which can irritate the bladder. This will make you urinate frequently, which flushes bacteria from your urinary tract. If the urine appears darker than the usual very pale yellow colour, you should increase the fluid intake.

Cranberry juice has been shown to help prevent urinary tract infections.

Toilet hygiene: Do not hold your urine for a long time, urinate when you have the urge. When you’re done, always wipe from front to back to prevent bacteria from the anus entering the urethra.

Constipation: Try to avoid constipation as it has been linked to increase the chances of getting a UTI. Steps like increasing the amount of fibre in your diets, drinking plenty of water and other natural fluids can help relieve constipation.

Sexual intercourse: Take special precaution when you engage in sexual activity since it may also increase the risk as it can bring bacteria into the bladder area. Practice good hygiene by washing your genitals every day using a mild detergent and before having sex. Make sure that the bladder is emptied after intercourse by drinking plenty of water and other fluids.

Clothing: Avoid wearing tight-fitting undergarments, which is made of non-breathing materials. Instead opt for loose-fitting and cotton materials, which allows a woman’s private part to remain dry preventing from bacteria growth.

Source: Zee news

World Sleep Day: Lack of sleep can cause heart disease

How you sleep is a major determinant of how well your heart functions. A new study carried out on cardiac patients at the Sir Gangaram Hospital here revealed that around 96 percent of patients who have cardiovascular problems have sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea, which is clinically called Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS), is a type of disorder characterized by pauses in breathing or instances of shallow or infrequent breathing during sleep.

“Lack of sleep is directly related to cardiac diseases,” Sanjay Manchanda, head of Sir Gangaram Hospital’s Department of Sleep Medicine, told IANS.

“Quality of sleep is very important. A good night’s sleep prevents heart attacks, diabetes as well as road accidents.”

The study, carried out by the hospital in collaboration with Philips Healthcare, also proves the correlation between lack of sleep and heart ailments.

It said that 58 percent of patients of cardiovascular disorders had severe sleep apnea and an estimated 85 percent of them were not aware that sleep apnea and
cardiovascular diseases were correlated.

Removing some of the myths associated with sleep apnea, the study further said that there is no correlation between weight and extent of sleep apnea.

Even thin patients can develop the disorder.

The severity of sleep apnea in cardiac patients was found to increase with age, the study said.

Sleep apnea involves cessation of airflow for 10 seconds or more during the night due to partial or full collapse of the airway in human beings. The reduced or absent airflow results in high carbon dioxide and low oxygen.

The sufferer is forced to increase his breathing effort against the collapsed airway. This means that the sufferer arouses to a lighter stage of sleep, which
leads to sleep fragmentation and the person wakes up unrefreshed.

Added Manchanda: “It is by far the single most common disorder seen at sleep centres and is responsible for more mortality and morbidity than any other sleep disorder.”

He said though there are many reasons that can lead to sleep apnea like alcohol, smoking and use of sedatives, in some people it is due to the structure of their
throat and the upper part of their body.

Snoring, the doctor said, is just an indication of the condition.

According to J.P.S. Sawhney, chairman of the cardiology department at Sir Gangaram Hospital, sleep apnea as a disease is grossly untreated.

He said its correlation with cardiac disease has not been understood by the public as yet.

However, the doctors said that the condition is easily treatable.

Surgical intervention or a machine called C-Pap which ensures trouble-free breathing during the night, can easily help patients.

The C-Pap, one of the most common treatments, derives its name from the application of “continuous positive airway pressure” (or forcing air) through a patient’s nose to prevent limp throat muscles from closing off the airway.

The price of the machines, which have several variants, range between Rs. 35,000 and Rs. 90,000.

Source: Daiji world

New drug can lower salt intake without any dietary changes

Sodium: An important dietary element that the body needs to function. But too much of the chemical can potentially be deadly.

Given current diet trends, a significant majority of Americans consume too much sodium from their food, contributing to an overall increase in cardiovascular disease and poor kidney function. But soon, a new drug may be able to solve this growing problem – by lowering an individual’s salt absorption without affecting his or her diet.

The medication could potentially help the millions of Americans who suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD) and hypertension, but who have a hard time adhering to a low-sodium diet.

Developed by researchers at drug manufacturer Ardelyx, the drug, tenapanor, works by blocking a membrane transporter called NH3, which is responsible for most of the reuptake of sodium in the body. By inhibiting this protein, the majority of sodium is prevented from seeping into the bloodstream and instead remains in the gut.

“It’s a small molecule that’s been designed to remain within the gut, acting on this transporter that is expressed in the mucosa in the GI (gastrointestinal) tract,” lead researcher Dominique Charmot, co-founder and chief scientific officer at Ardelyx, told FoxNews.com. “And in doing so, what it does is divert sodium from going into the blood to going into the stool. So that increases sodium in the stool and avoids building up too much sodium in the body.”

According to Charmot, current medications to control sodium include diuretics and antihypertensive drugs, which either increase water excretion or control high blood pressure. However, these drugs require patients to adhere to a diet very low in sodium – a feat that can be difficult given the high prevalence of the chemical in typical American diets. But since tenapanor remains in the gut, the drug can remove the sodium while patients continue to eat their normal diet.

To test the effectiveness of tenapanor, Charmot and lead study author Andrew Spencer, senior director for research and development at Ardelyx, administered the drug to rats that had fractions of their kidneys removed, in order to emulate patients with CKD. They also continued feeding the rats a high-sodium diet to see how it interfered with the drug’s success.

“What we’ve shown in this rat model is it protects against hypertension and hypertrophy (an increase in volume) of the heart; and it protects against further damage of the kidney, which is shown by the presence of protein in the urine,” Charmot said.

Additionally, tenapanor was given to patients with CKD in a phase 1 proof of concept study. After taking the medication, patients showed an increase of sodium in their stools and no presence of the drug was detected in their bloodstreams – proving the drug adhered to its design and function.

Charmot and his team hope that their drug will benefit many in the United States, especially given Americans’ widespread consumption of sodium on a daily basis. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend people should limit their sodium to less than 2,300 milligrams a day, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the average American eats more than 3,300 milligrams daily. In fact, the CDC found that more than 90 percent of Americans over the age of 2 eat too much sodium.

Experts believe these dietary trends have contributed to the rising incidence of chronic diseases in the United States. The CDC states that 26 million Americans suffer from CKD and approximately 67 million people have high blood pressure – equating to 1 in 3 U.S. citizens.

And the sodium-related health problems don’t simply stop there, according to Charmot.

“A new body of science is emerging which tells us that sodium, independent of blood pressure, is bad. There’s a lot of animal data showing salt can induce scar tissue in the kidneys and in the vasculature – something that’s seen, for example, by the thickness of the arteries.”

Because of sodium’s potential to contribute to so many diseases, the researchers believe tenapanor can help many individuals stay healthy while enjoying a normal dietary routine.

“It’s fair to say that asking patients to maintain a low-sodium diet is very hard to do,” Charmot said. “…Most of the food additives contain sodium; people who eat in restaurants cannot control sodium; plus, food is bland without sodium. Also there’s a risk if you go too low in sodium, you also diminish nutrient composition which is needed for you to thrive. So we believe this drug can help patients comply with a more normal diet.”

The research on tenapanor was published online in the journal Science.

Source: health medicine

5 Toothbrush Hygiene Mistakes You’re Probably Making

Did you know 10 billion microbes live on your toothbrush? Did you know toothbrushes are grosser than toilet seats? There are things we can do to make our toothbrushes, well, less gross. Here’s 5 things, that you’re probably doing wrong.

You keep your toothbrush within 6 feet of the toilet.
this is just gross to think about; fecal matter getting on your toothbrush. It can happen! Prevent it by keeping your toothbrush as far away from the toilet in your bathroom as possible!

store it in a plastic holder.
The little plastic tube many people store their toothbrush in is like a petri dish for bacteria, mold. and fungi to grow! Keep your toothbrush out in the open.

microwave it to “disinfect” it
This does nothing but release the carcinogenic chemicals in the plastic that your toothbrush is made of!

You think toothpaste disinfects your toothbrush
That’s a myth; it doesn’t take care of the bacteria on the brush.

Your toothpaste contains too many chemicals
Sodium laurel sulfate is an emulsifier, and can actually irritate your mouth. Many “crazy” chemicals can actually hurt the health of your mouth, so keep it simple.

Source: Blog

7 Healthy reasons to go bananas!

If you thought bananas were just for training monkeys, think again! The health benefits of bananas are so vast and widespread that we wonder why the popular idiom an apple a day, keeps the doctor away was not switched to bananas!!

Banana is a huge source of energy and packs a potent nutritional punch that includes vitamins A, B, C and E along with minerals like potassium, zinc, iron, etc. Read on for some surprising health benefits of eating bananas. We promise you will never look at this fruit in the same way again.

1.Controls blood pressure
Research indicates that potassium keeps blood pressure under control. Bananas, being very rich in potassium and very low in sodium, help regulate blood pressure levels. The fruit not only aids in maintaining water balance in the body but also helps detoxify it thereby shielding you against heart attack and stroke.

2. Improves sex life
Yes, you heard it right! Bananas can actually spice things up in the bedroom! They are known to have aphrodisiac effects that help produce sexual hormones and also improve male libido. The humble fruit also regulates the secretion of serotonin which is responsible for that euphoric feeling during an orgasm.

3. More energy
Need proof of how bananas increase energy? Just watch a tennis player during a break from the game. You will notice more often than not, he’s eating a banana. The combination of natural sugars, balanced with potassium and soluble fiber provide good stable energy. And the best part, bananas contain only about 100 calories. They are a perfect way to satisfy your sweet cravings without compromising on your weight.

4. Smooth bowel movement
Constipated? Eat a banana. Yes, it’s that easy. Bananas have a certain type of fiber that helps assist bowel motility and eases out constipation. Ideally you should get about 14 grams of fiber in your diet for every 1,000 calories you consume. Believe me, it beats using any laxatives that might have chemicals or other synthetic substances! Bananas also help with other bowel problems such as diarrhea.

5. Good for eyes
Bananas have a lot of vitamin A, a fat-soluble vitamin that plays a vital role in protecting your eyes and normal vision. The compounds in bananas preserve the membranes that surround your eyes and are a component of one of the proteins that brings light into your cornea. Adequate daily intake of vitamin A not only slashes your risk of night blindness but is essential for everyday vision. One 6-inch banana has nearly 10 micrograms of vitamin A so adding the fruit to your diet will ensure good eye health.

6. Gives good sleep
Bananas promote sleep. This fruit is known to have a high level of tryptophan which gets converted to serotonin in the brain. This gives a soothing effect to the body which allows a person to sleep well. Bananas are also known to make you more alert and improve your concentration levels.

7. Get glowing skin
Besides having great health advantages when ingested, bananas when used externally are also quite beneficial. They have high moisture content, so are great for dry skin. Add bananas to your beauty regime for smooth, supple and glowing skin naturally.

Source; The med guru