Health A-Z

Peanut allergies: ‘Roasted worse than raw nuts’

Roasted peanuts are more likely to trigger an allergic reaction than raw peanuts, according to an Oxford University study, involving mice. Scientists say chemical changes caused by dry roasting processes may prime the body’s immune system – sparking future allergic reactions. But much more work is needed before humans should consider swapping roasted nuts for raw ones, they say.

Roasted peanuts are more likely to trigger an allergic reaction than raw peanuts, according to an Oxford University study, involving mice.

The research appears in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Fatal reactions

Mice were exposed to peanut proteins through the skin or the stomach. Animals given the dry roasted samples had a much stronger immune response – the body’s way of fighting things that appear foreign to it – than mice given the raw versions. In humans, immune responses vary. Some can be mild, causing rashes for example, but others can be extremely dangerous, leading to swelling of the mouth and breathing difficulties.

Scientists say it is likely to be the high temperatures used to roast nuts that are responsible for the chemical changes that, in turn, prompt the allergic reactions. Prof Quentin Sattentau, who led the research, said: “This is the first time, to our knowledge, that a potential trigger for peanut allergy has been directly shown.”

And researchers believe the findings may explain the lower allergy rates in East Asian populations where boiled, raw or fried nuts are a more common part of the diet than roasted ones. But they warn that much more work is needed before doctors make any specific dietary recommendations.

Chemical changes
Prof Sattentau said: “We know that children in families with other allergies are more likely to develop peanut allergy. “However our research is at an early stage and we think that it would be premature to avoid roasted peanuts and their products until further work has been carried out to confirm this result.”

Scientists are now exploring methods to get rid of the particular chemical changes that may be responsible for kick-starting the immune system. According to NHS Choices, nut allergies, including peanuts, are relatively common in both school-aged children and adults. And peanuts are one of the most common causes of fatal allergic reactions to food.

People with peanut allergies are advised to avoid them and many carry auto-injector pens to reduce the severity of any reactions that do occur.

Source: bbc news

E-cigarettes won’t help cancer patients kick the butt’

E-cigarettes may do more harm than good to cancer patients as researchers have found that those using e-cigarettes (in addition to traditional cigarettes) are equally or less likely to quit smoking traditional cigarettes than non-users. Cancer patients using e-cigarettes are more nicotine-dependent, the findings showed.

E-cigarettes won't help cancer patients kick the butt'

“Consistent with recent observations of increased e-cigarette use in the general population, our findings illustrate that e-cigarette use among tobacco-dependent cancer patients has increased within the past two years,” said co-researcher Jamie Ostroff from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the US.

To examine available clinical data about e-cigarette use and cessation among cancer patients, the researchers studied 1,074 cancer patients who smoked and were enrolled between 2012 and 2013 in a tobacco treatment programme within a comprehensive cancer centre in the US. The researchers observed a three-fold increase in e-cigarette use from 2012 to 2013.

At enrolment stage, e-cigarette users were more nicotine dependent than non-users, had more prior quit attempts, and were more likely to be diagnosed with lung or head and neck cancers. At follow-up stage, e-cigarette users were just as likely as non-users to be smoking. Seven day abstinence rates were 44.4 percent versus 43.1 percent for e-cigarette users and non-users, respectively.

The study appeared online in the journal Cancer

Source: business standard

Drinking water contaminated by excreted drugs a growing concern

If we’re taking it, we’re also drinking it: painkillers, blood thinners, hormones, chemotherapy agents, even cocaine and amphetamines. Whatever goes into us, also comes out of us, through our own biological effluent, every time we flush the toilet. The excreted drugs pass right through most sewage treatment processes and end up in rivers and lakes, and then in our drinking water.

Drinking water contaminated by excreted drugs a growing concern

A Canadian study quietly released last month reported record-breaking levels of three pharmaceuticals in river water in southwestern Ontario. Although the chemicals — the diabetic drug metformin, the acid reflux drug ranitidine, and the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide — ?are measured in nanograms per litre, and are extremely low, the levels detected have never been found before in North America.

When Health Canada sampled tap water across Canada, researchers found what they expected to find, traces of drugs in drinking water that comes from rivers and lakes, although that report has not yet been published.  Concern about drugs in the Great Lakes, Minnesota rivers

Last year, a group of researchers detected drugs in the Great Lakes at levels high enough to be “of environmental concern,” according to a study that found traces of acetaminophen, codeine, antibiotics, hormones, steroids, and anti-epileptic compounds, and dozens of other chemicals. Also last year, another group concluded that they’d found evidence of a “global environmental issue” after discovering widespread neuro-active compounds, including antidepressants, anti-seizure compounds, and mood stabilizers, in 24 Minnesota rivers.

In February, Environment Canada officials told a Senate committee hearing that more than 165 individual pharmaceuticals and personal care products have been identified in water samples, as of this year. Two things are happening. New technology is making it easier to detect trace amounts of these pharmaceutical chemicals. And people are taking more and more drugs.

“With aging boomers, the amounts of pharmaceuticals which are being consumed are going up between 10 and 15% a year, here in North America,” said environmental toxicologist Chris Metcalfe of Trent University in Peterborough, Ont. “So we can view this as a developing problem that will probably get worse, in terms of the amount of pharmaceuticals we can expect being discharged into the environment.”

The issue of drugs in the drinking water first made headlines more than a decade ago, and some people were shocked to learn that the drugs they swallowed didn’t magically disappear. Discover Magazine ranked “Drinking Water Drugged’ one of the top 10 science stories of 2002.

‘Intersex’ fish

The immediate concern was for fish swimming in this pharmaceutical soup. And over the last decade, scientists have proven the drugs are creating “intersex” fish, with males developing eggs in their testes, putting the survival of some species in jeopardy.  But scientists still don’t know if these pharmaceuticals are affecting human health. That’s because almost no one studies this, primarily because most experts assume the risk is minimal.

That risk assessment is based on the following assumption: Taking a single compound, the experts believe the trace amounts found in water are so low compared to a therapeutic dose, that someone would have to drink tonnes of water to ingest enough of a chemical to cause a biological effect.

“The amounts that are found in drinking water are far lower than the amounts that you might take if you were prescribed a drug, for instance,” said Metcalfe. “They’re very low in concentration, on the other hand, we have to be concerned because there’s a mixture of these drugs we’re being exposed to in drinking water and so that’s some cause for concern.”

No one knows whether that cocktail of biologically active compounds, consumed at low levels over a lifetime, is a human health risk.

Source: cbc

5 Reasons to Eat Healthier That Have Nothing to Do With Your Weight

While many clients come to me to slim down, in the long run, nearly all find themselves feeling far more motivated by the numerous benefits of healthy eating outside of shedding pounds and inches.

5 Reasons to Eat Healthier That Have Nothing to Do With Your Weight

For example, a new study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology found that young adults who eat more fruits and veggies experience greater “flourishing,” meaning they’re happier, more positive, creative, and curious. I absolutely see these effects among the people I counsel, regardless of age, and it’s this overall enhanced sense of well being that keeps most of them going strong.

Here are five more meaningful benefits of eating well that have absolutely nothing to do with your size or shape.

Better mood

Like the study I referenced above, another from New Zealand has tied a higher produce intake to mood. In the study, nearly 300 young adults completed daily food diaries for three consecutive weeks, along with psychological and mood-related ratings. Scientists found that a higher intake of fruits and veggies resulted in more energy, calm, and greater feelings of overall happiness. They also noted that the effects were seen not only on the days more produce was consumed, but also throughout the following day.

Another study, published in the journal Social Indicators Research, which tracked the eating habits of 80,000 adults, found that downing more servings of fruits and veggies boosted mental well being, with the magic number for happiness being seven daily servings (think half of each meal).

Sounder sleep

Numerous studies have tied better sleep to improvements in overall wellness, and more and more research indicates that eating the right foods can help. Scientists from Taiwan found that when men and women who struggled with sleep disturbances ate two kiwis one hour before bed over a four-week period they fell asleep 35% faster, slept more soundly, and snoozed 13% longer.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and University of Rochester have also found tart cherry juice to be an effective elixir for sleep. In their study, volunteers sipped either one ounce of tart cherry juice or a placebo daily for a week. The cherry drinkers experienced a 25-minute increase in sleep quantity, and a 5-6% boost in sleep efficiency, a measure of overall sleep quality. Not surprisingly, other foods that have been tied to better sleep are all of the good-for-you variety, including fish, whole grains, nuts, and dark leafy greens. In other words, better diet, better slumber.

Better workouts

As a sports nutritionist, I’m always on the lookout for research about foods that enhance athletic performance, and in recent years several healthy foods have been shown to either build muscle, boost recovery, or improve endurance. For example, a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that gulping 16 ounces of organic beetroot juice daily for six days helped male athletes cycle for up to 16% longer compared to a placebo, an effect the researchers say isn’t achievable through training.

Glowing skin

Healthy eating really does give you a natural glow. At least that’s what University of Nottingham scientists found when their study concluded that photographs of people who ate more produce were rated as more attractive than those with suntans. Another from the University of St. Andrews found that people who upped their intake of fruits and veggies by roughly three more daily portions for six weeks were rated as more attractive than those with lower produce intakes. The lesson: you really are what you eat—both inside and out!

Improved brain function

For some time the Mediterranean diet has been considered the gold standard for optimal health. Cornerstones of this eating plan include a eating lots of veggies and fruits, along with fish, beans, whole grains, extra virgin olive oil, avocado, nuts and seeds, a moderate amount of wine—and a low intake of fatty meats, dairy products, refined grains, and sugar. A recent study from the National Institutes found that people who consistently adhere to a Mediterranean-like diet were less likely to have brain infarcts, small areas of dead tissue in the brain linked to cognitive problems.

Researchers also found that over 6 years, Mediterranean diet eaters were 36% less likely to have brain damage than those who least closely followed this eating pattern. This backs other research supported by the National Institute on Aging, which found that close adherence to a Mediterranean diet resulted in a 28% lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment with aging, and a 48% lower risk of progressing from cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: time health land

Sleep deprivation during adolescence can lead to obesity

Teens who think sleep is overrated should guess again, according to a recent study conducted at Columbia University in New York that suggests sleep deprivation during adolescence could lead to obesity.

Sleep deprivation during adolescence can lead to obesity

The research team concluded that 16-year-olds who log less than six hours of sleep per night have a 20 percent increase in their risk of becoming obese by age 21 when compared to those who slept eight hours per night.

“Lack of sleep in your teenage years can stack the deck against you for obesity later in life,” says Shakira F. Suglia, ScD, assistant professor of Epidemiology at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. “Once you’re an obese adult, it is much harder to lose weight and keep it off.”

Suglia and her colleagues are the first to study the long-term effects of sleep deprivation in the teenage years and their results could be some of the strongest evidence to come indicating a risk for elevated body mass index.

The research team collected their data from 10,000 Americans aged 16 to 21 who were participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, interacting with them during home visits in 1995 and 2001 to survey their height and weight.

Almost one fifth of the 16-year-olds reported sleeping less than six hours per night, and by age 21, this group was 20 per cent more likely to be obese than peers who reported eight hours of sleep per night.
Researchers say lack of physical activity contributed to participants’ obesity but did not account for the relationship between the obesity and sleep deprivation.

Although they had expected to find a difference between boys and girls and how their bodies responded to sleeplessness, none were found pertaining to obesity.

“The message for parents is to make sure their teenagers get more than eight hours a night,” says Suglia. “A good night’s sleep does more than help them stay alert in school. It helps them grow into healthy adults.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend nine to ten hours of sleep for teenagers.

The study was published in Journal of Pediatrics.

source: ctv news

Why is banana healthy?

Bananas are natural repositories of energy.
Bananas are rich in many beneficial ingredients that help us stay fit, but also to prevent the occurrence of lots of diseases.
It’s a great meal to start the day. If you eat a banana in the morning with a glass of milk and a piece of whole-grain bread, it will give us enough energy to start a new day.

Why is banana healthy

But energy is not the only thing that we get from bananas. They help us to stay in good shape. They also contain a lot of vitamin B6, which strengthens the natural immune system. Banana delivers instant energy. Studies have shown that consuming just two bananas a day provides enough power for 90 minutes of hard work.

Bananas are a good source of magnesium. Magnesium plays a very important role in the binding of calcium in bones and muscle relaxation. He also participates in the regulation of heart rate and lowers blood cholesterol. Regulates bowel operation, especially in cases of constipation.Magnesium reduces the risk of miscarriage and premature birth.

Bananas are a natural cure for anxiety and depression.
Bananas contain large amounts of vitamin B, which calms the nervous system. Vitamin B6, which is found in this fruit regulates the level of sugar in the blood, which affects mood. The banana helps with depression. Tryptophan, which is located in the banana, is a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, which is responsible for good mood.

Bananas are a natural cure for heart disease and high blood pressure.
Bananas are full of potassium, so it is great for lowering blood pressure. Potassium is a mineral that helps normalize the heart rate, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates the amount of water in the body.

Banana is rich in potassium and low in salt, making it perfect remedy for those who have high blood pressure. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate speeds up, and the level of potassium decreases. The balance can be restored with the banana.
Banana is a natural remedy for anemia.

Banana is rich in iron and stimulates the formation of hemoglobin in the blood.With that banans helps people with anemia, and potassium aids the concetration and memory.

Banana is a natural remedy for gastritis and stomach ulcers.
Banana is the only fresh fruit which can be consumed by people with chronic diseases of the digestive system without any risk. On the contrary, the banana is helpful to improve the performance of the intestine, reduces gastric acid, thus protecting the stomach lining from damage.

Source: secretly healthy

A healing therapy: Food for soul, music

How about a prescription for ear soothing music to fight and overcome stress and diseases? Sounds great isn’t it? Welcome to the world of music therapy. No matter if you have just had a break-up or have started with a new relationship, music is one element that fits in every situation of life. Then why not use it as a healing therapy?

A healing therapy Food for soul, music

Victor Hugo has rightly said: “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent”. Whether you accept it or not, music affects our daily life, as every human being responds to it.

An amalgamation of psychology and counselling, music can act as a healing therapy to cure several conditions like depression, personality issues, autism, cancer etc. In India, music has long been associated with healing as it is believed that some ‘ragas’ have a therapeutic effect. Be it the soothing melody of a flute, harmonium or guitar, music

can instantly put anyone in a good mood. But different kind of music works for different people and for different medical conditions. Here are a few health benefits of how music is food for your soul and health:

Decreases anxiety and stress

Research suggets that listening to religious music or the sound of the flute is associated with a decrease in anxiety levels and stress thereby providing a sense of control over an individual’s life.

Reduces pain

Want to relieve pain or beat stress? Face the music. You heard it right. Researchers believe that listening to music could help combat pain, relieve stress and even beat depression as it instantly uplifts your mood.

Helps lower blood pressure

Studies have shown that listening to peaceful music by closing your eyes and getting soaked in the world of sound can help you feel calm and relaxed and therby lowering blood pressure levels.

Good for heart health

Listening to music for half an hour is not just soothing for ears, but also good for the heart as good vibrations from the soothing music regulates heart rhythm along with slow and relaxed breathing and brain pattern.

Eases migraine and headaches

Music acts as a natural remedy that can help you get some instant relief from headache and migraine as it soothes the nerves of the brain providing relief.

Boosts immunity

It has been found that listening to good music actually sends a message to our brain to secrete positive and good hormones which boosts our immunity.

Improves concentration and memory

Have you ever noticed that we learn the lyrics of songs early but find it hard to remember other important things. This is so because music activates the brain instantly and helps in retention of information and improved concentration.

Source: zee news

Exercise boosts tumour-fighting ability of chemotherapy

Study after study has proven it true: exercise is good for you. But new research from University of Pennsylvania scientists suggests that exercise may have an added benefit for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Exercise boosts tumour-fighting ability of chemotherapy

Their work, performed in a mouse model of melanoma, found that combining exercise with chemotherapy shrunk tumors more than chemotherapy alone.
Joseph Libonati, an associate professor in the School of Nursing and director of the Laboratory of Innovative and Translational Nursing Research, was the senior author on the study, which appears in the American Journal of Physiology. His collaborators included Penn Nursing’s Geetha Muthukumaran, Dennis Ding and Akinyemi Bajulaiye plus Kathleen Sturgeon, Keri Schadler, Nicholas J. Thomas, Victor Ferrari and Sandra Ryeom of Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine.

Exercise has long been recommended to cancer patients for its physical and psychological benefits. Libonati and colleagues were particularly interested in testing whether exercise could protect against the negative cardiac-related side effects of the common cancer drug doxorubicin. Though effective at treating a variety of types of cancer, doxorubicin has is known to damage heart cells, which could lead to heart failure in the long-term.

“The immediate concern for these patients is, of course, the cancer, and they’ll do whatever it takes to get rid of it,” Libonati said. “But then when you get over that hump you have to deal with the long-term elevated risk of cardiovascular disease.”

Previous studies had shown that an exercise regime prior to receiving chemotherapy could protect heart cells from the toxic effects of doxorubicin, but few had looked to see whether an exercise regimen during chemotherapy could be beneficial.

To do so, Libonati’s team set up an experiment with four groups of mice. All were given an injection of melanoma cells in the scruffs of their neck. During the next two weeks, two of the groups received doxorubicin in two doses while the other two groups received placebo injections. Mice in one of the treated groups and one of the placebo groups were put on exercise regimens, walking 45 minutes five days a week on mouse-sized treadmills, while the rest of the mice remained sedentary.

After the two-week trial, the researchers examined the animals’ hearts using echocardiogram and tissue analysis. As expected, doxorubicin was found to reduce the heart’s function and size and increased fibrosis — a damaging thickening of tissue. Mice that exercised were not protected from this damage.

“We looked, and the exercise didn’t do anything to the heart — it didn’t worsen it, it didn’t help it,” Libonati said. “But the tumor data — I find them actually amazing.”

The “amazing” result was that the mice that both received chemotherapy and exercised had significantly smaller tumors after two weeks than mice that only received doxorubicin.

Further studies will investigate exactly how exercise enhances the effect of doxorubicin, but the Penn team believes it could be in part because exercise increases blood flow to the tumor, bringing with it more of the drug in the bloodstream.

“If exercise helps in this way, you could potentially use a smaller dose of the drug and get fewer side effects,” Libonati said.

Gaining a clearer understanding of the many ways that exercise affects various systems of the body could also pave the way for developing drugs that mimic the effects of exercise.

“People don’t take a drug and then sit down all day,” Libonati says. “Something as simple as moving affects how drugs are metabolized. We’re only just beginning to understand the complexities.”

Source: science daily

Ebola threat to world peace and security, launches mission to combat disease

In an unprecedented action, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council has declared the Ebola virus disease “a threat to international peace and security” while Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the formation of an emergency mission to fight the deadly disease.

Ebola threat to world peace and security, launches mission to combat disease

The Council, which usually deals with international conflicts, took on the disease ravaging three countries in West Africa, and approved a resolution Thursday sponsored by 131 countries “determining that the unprecedented extent of the Ebola outbreak in Africa constitute a threat to international peace and security”. Underlining the international concern over the disease with no vaccine available and cures rare, it was the largest number of sponsors ever for a resolution in the Security Council.

The Council president, US Ambassador Samantha Power, said this was the Council’s first emergency meeting on a public health issue.

Ban announced at the Council meeting the formation of the new organisation to take on the disease on a battle-footing.

“To be known as the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, or UNMEER,” he said, it “will have five priorities: stopping the outbreak, treating the infected, ensuring essential services, preserving stability and preventing further outbreaks.”

He appealed for international aid for the effort, not only from governments, but also busineses. The UN has estimated that it would need $1 billion over the next six months to deal with the crisis.

Ban also called for ending travel and trade restrictions on three affected countries — Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leon — as these could affect medical personnel going there and delivery of supplies. The Council resolution took up the issue, expressing concern about major airlines and shipping companies introducing travel restrictions to the affected countries.

World Health Organisation head Margaret Chan told the Council that reports Ebola has affected more than 5,500 people and killed over 2,500 killed are “vast underestimates”.

“None of us experienced in containing outbreaks has ever seen, in our lifetimes, an emergency on this scale, with this degree of suffering and with this magnitude of cascading consequences,” she said.

Earlier, at a press briefing, a reporter asked the secretary-general’s spokesman about a potential threat of terrorists using Ebola. The spokesman said it was a matter of concern. “It can also impact the political stability of a country and lack of political stability can breed other problems. So, this is why, I think, the secretary-general
is focused on getting the UN system to work together in the most efficient way possible to stop the virus from spreading and to support national governments.

Source: yahoo news

Five health benefits of rope skipping

Skipping is one of the simplest, easiest and zero-cost workouts. It can be done anytime, anywhere even in the comfort and convenience of your home. Besides being an effective aerobic exercise it is fun too.So grab that rope and give it a shot. The following reasons are sure to motivate you:

Young Woman Preparing to Jump Rope

Major health benefits of jumping rope:

Aids weight loss: Skipping can help you shed up to 450 calories in just 30 minutes.The effort it takes to jump rope for 10 minutes is the equivalent of running a mile in eight minutes. So, you see how effective is skipping rope for losing weight.

Promotes cardio-vascular fitness: Skipping rope leads to better cardio-respiratory improvements, making the heart stronger and allowing it to pump more blood, delivering oxygen and nutrients to your tissues.

Improves muscle tone : Regular skipping improves the muscle tone in the legs and lower body and also in the upper body as your shoulders and arms work the rope.

Fights osteoporosis: Skipping boosts a person’s bone density, helping to keep off osteoporosis.

Improves balance and coordination: Skipping regularly improves body flexibility and also aids your coordination and balance.It also helps you gain better concentration as both sides of your brain remain active while skipping.

Source: zee news