Health News

The surprising health benefits of potatoes

potato-plant

Regular white potatoes are one of the most controversial vegetables from a health perspective. Like many nightshade vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, potatoes are often associated with adverse reactions and can be difficult to find in high-quality form. That they’re the main ingredient in countless junk food products, such as French fries, doesn’t exactly bolster their public reputation either.

In reality, however, organic potatoes grown in good soil and prepared properly (i.e. boiled or baked, not microwaved or fried) contain a surprising number of health benefits. The fact that certain populations throughout history, notably the rural populations of Ireland in the 19th century, could almost single-handedly survive on them is a testament to this fact. This article takes a closer look at those benefits.

Rich in disease-fighting vitamin C

Potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C. In fact, the Spanish explorers who brought them to Europe from South America in the early 16th century kept potatoes aboard their vessels to prevent scurvy. A large boiled potato contains approximately 37 percent of our recommended daily intake (RDI) of vitamin C, while a large baked potato contains 48 percent of our RDI. Vitamin C is, of course, an essential antioxidant with anti-aging and disease-fighting properties. Long-term consumption of vitamin C-rich foods has been shown to prevent cancer, improve skin and hair quality, and tackle most known viruses.

High concentrations of phytochemicals

Most people tend to associate phytochemicals with colorful or leafy green vegetables, and potatoes, being a rather bland shade of yellow, really don’t look like they could contain much of them. According to the American plant geneticist Roy Navarre, however, nothing could be further from the truth. After scrutinizing over 100 types of commercially-available potato, his team managed to discover over 60 different kinds of health-boosting phytochemicals and vitamins within them including chlorogenic acid, numerous phenolics (such as flavonoids) and kukoamines. Kukoamines were a particularly shocking find since these natural chemicals, which are known to reduce blood pressure, were believed to be unique to the Chinese superfruit, goji berries.

Great natural sources of iodine

Baked potatoes are the best land-based sources of iodine. In fact, just one medium-sized baked potato consumed with skin (which is where most of the iodine is concentrated) contains 40 percent of our RDI of this essential trace mineral. Iodine is most commonly found in sea-based foods (such as seaweed and fish) and is responsible for regulating the thyroid gland, which in turn regulates the metabolism. Sadly, iodine deficiencies are rampant in today’s society due to the mineral-depleting effects of ongoing soil erosion, making easily-available sources of it, like potatoes, something to treasure.

Dense in nutrients

Potatoes also supply us with high amounts of vitamin B6 (an important cell builder), potassium (helps to regulate water balance), soluble and insoluble fiber (flushes toxins from the colon and promotes regularity) and the essential macromineral magnesium, which is one of the most commonly-reported mineral deficiencies in the United States. Magnesium is known as the “relaxation” mineral because a deficiency in it invokes stress-related symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia, restless leg syndrome and irritability.

Note: Despite their benefits, potatoes are still starchy carbohydrates and have a high glycemic index load for a vegetable. For those worried about blood sugar spikes but still want to eat potatoes, adding some high-quality oil or butter to the meal can help mitigate this. The fats in these foods prevent the potatoes from being metabolized too quickly. In fact, potatoes with extra virgin olive oil is a staple meal in several Mediterranean countries, and one is unlikely to find a healthier people.
Source: natural news

Cinnamon levels up from common spice to ‘super’ health food

Cinnamon

A team of scientists elevated the prized spice, cinnamon, from its culinary applications to a loftier stratum as a promising molecular weapon for combating chronic diseases. Researchers from various fields, including Kiram Panickar, Heping Cao, Bolin Qin and Richard A. Anderson, collaborated in making this significant breakthrough. The results revived ancient interest in the therapeutic benefits of common cinnamon, Cinnamomum verum or Cinnamomum zeylanicum, also known as the “true cinnamon,” to modern genomic medicine. Compounds found in cinnamon revealed multiple utility in terms of enhancing the effects of insulin, its antioxidant function, efficacy against inflammation, and its neuroprotective benefits.

Cinnamon polyphenol extract (CPE) regulates a number of genes and exerts a significant influence on the metabolism of glucose. Various studies conducted on human subjects afflicted with metabolic syndrome, polycystic ovary syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus also showed the beneficial effects of whole cinnamon and its aqueous extract on the glucose, insulin, lipid profile and anti-oxidant status of the patients.

Experts also posited possible effects of cinnamon compounds on body composition, lean body mass and inflammatory response.

Cinnamon Extract Helps against Dyslipedemia

Patients with metabolic syndrome develop resistance to insulin action, which in turn causes dyslipedemia or abnormal level of lipids in the blood. In most cases, the problem is hyperlipedemia. Cinnamon presents a good potential in lowering lipid levels in both animal and human subjects.

Cinnamon Extract Lowers Systolic Blood Pressure

Agents that are typically employed as an intervention for insulin resistance and/or lower circulating insulin concentration in the blood also tend to lower blood pressure. Such agents include nutrients, nutritional supplements, and drugs. Research conducted on spontaneously hypertensive rats fed with sucrose-containing diet showed that elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP) is lowered when the rats were given dietary cinnamon. This presents a promising development highlighting the efficacy of cinnamon not only for sucrose-induced high SBP but also for hypertension caused by genetic factors.

Molecular Targets

Based on the aforementioned link between chronic diseases and genetic influences, research is now pursuing genomic targets for therapy. Quantitative research on polymerase chain reaction was performed to examine the effects of aqueous cinnamon extract on the expression of genes coding for the glucose transporter (GLUT) and anti-inflammatory tristetrapolin (TTP) families, components of the insulin signal transduction pathway, etc. So far, there are tell-tale signs that the medical hypotheses on selected targets are leaning towards positive results.

Age-Old Super Spice

From its basic ancient uses as treatment for toothache, anti-halitosis or bad breath, medication for the nasty common cold and digestion aid, cinnamon has gone quite a long way. Recent studies also showed that even just the smell of cinnamon or chewing cinnamon gum improves brain function from memory to visual-motor speed, recognition, and attention and focus.
Source: natural news

4G/LTE mobile network poses greater chronic health risks

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If you’re one of the people who has suspected cell phones/cell towers were bad news, get ready for the latest affront to our health: The 4G/LTE network. This is the latest scheme cooked up by the greedy telecommunications industry. It promises much faster bandwidth than the previous 3G incarnation, thereby providing lightning-fast mobile internet on your mobile phone or device (great for watching YouTube/Hulu). Unfortunately, there is a major downside to 4G technology (and all wireless technology that emits radiation for that matter), and it comes as a cost to our health and well-being.

Putting profits over people

The problem with many new, potentially dangerous technologies (such as tech/devices that output radiation of any kind) is that companies can make record profits off of them while the public remains ignorant of long-term chronic health risks. Corporations are obviously reluctant in these situations, as they know that researching side effects and informing the public will hurt their profit margins. That is why we’re not told anything negative about new technologies, only how great they are and how much better they are going to make our lives (How did I possibly live without this before?!?!).

The problem with 4G/LTE: The contrived need to have internet access with us at all times

As the internet age has evolved, cellular phones and devices have evolved along with it. Cell phones used to be for making calls on the go. Eventually, text messaging came onto the scene, and that was the new craze. Now, 4G mobile internet and mobile video streaming is the new novelty. Unfortunately, the bandwidth required for mobile internet and video streaming on a cellular device is greater than what can be provided over older, conventional 2G/3G cell phone tower networks. So for 4G, there have been many new high-powered cell towers erected around the world, with little thought about the adverse effects that the addition of more radiation-emitting technology will cause.

4G/LTE handset “smart” antennas

4G designers needed to increase bandwidth receiving capability in 4G handsets/devices, so they developed “smart antennas” – a series of 4 antennas in a single phone handset. This is like the equivalent of having four cell phones in one device rather than one (tumor, anyone?). The mobile telecom industry is fully aware of the potential carcinogenic effect of their products, but instead of searching for ways to reduce the potential threat to public health, they are multiplying it. This is just plain unethical business practice.

Radiation overload and wireless plankton

Over the last 10 years, physicians have noticed a continuous increase in the number of people with chronic complaints. Doctors have taken blood draws or saliva from patients, and determined in 2012 that one in three patients has radiation overload. In 2002, only one patient in 30 were radiation stressed. In 300 patients with chronic health complaints, 138 of them were caused by radiation (from wireless internet or cell phone tech). These numbers have gotten worse with 3G and ubiquitous Wi-Fi hot spots around the world. How bad are these numbers going to get with the 4G/LTE network?

Plankton were used in experiments to test the adverse properties of wireless signals in lab tests. In these experiments, the wireless-exposed plankton died or were deformed within several days of chronic exposure. With Wi-Fi it took 96 hours, 3G took 72 hours, and with 4G the plankton died within 48 hours. Since all living organisms ultimately escape the effects that unnatural radiation has on them, we must ask ourselves this: If wireless radiation is killing or deforming plankton, what is it doing to us?

Source: natural news

‘Breast Milk Banks’ Gain in Popularity

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A wave of new nonprofit breast milk banks are opening across North America, driven by research that has promoted the use of donated mother’s milk for healthy babies.

Five new milk banks are expected to open this year in the United States and Canada, joining four that opened in 2013 and bringing the total number of nonprofit milk banks up to 22, said Kim Updegrove, president of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America.

“There’s an amazing resurgence of milk banks in North America,” Updegrove said. “Every healthy lactating mother has the ability to save another baby’s life if she is willing to go through a screening process and donate her milk through a nonprofit milk bank.”

She said breast milk contains important nutrients, immune-system antibodies and growth factors that all contribute to a baby’s health, particularly babies who are vulnerable because they are premature or underweight.
“It’s now irrefutable that in absence of mom’s own milk, donor milk increases survival rate and improves development of vulnerable infants,” she said.

The milk banks are proliferating in response to mounting medical research that has shown donated breast milk can nurture babies just as well as their mother’s own milk, Updegrove said.

Pediatricians hope that mothers will see the milk banks as a better, safer alternative to the growing practice of online breast milk sharing, said Dr. Susan Landers, a neonatologist in Austin, Texas, who sits on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ section on breast-feeding.

Breast milk banks screen all donors, running tests to make sure they are not carrying an infectious disease that could be passed on through their milk, Landers said. In addition, the collected milk is pasteurized before being frozen and passed out to hospitals and families on a doctor’s prescription.

Updegrove’s group acts as a professional organization for the network of milk banks, laying out guidelines and certifying new banks as they come online.

“The AAP likes that set up,” Landers said. “We like the milk to be pasteurized. We want the donor mothers to be screened. We want doctors to know it’s a sterile product and prescribe it when donor milk is needed.”

By comparison, there are no safety precautions in place for milk shared through online sites. A recent study found that nearly three-quarters of 101 breast milk samples purchased through a milk-sharing website contained bacteria that could make a baby sick — including three batches that tested positive for salmonella.

Women who buy milk from these websites “don’t know who’s got hepatitis B and who’s HIV-positive and who’s got germs in their milk, and none of it’s pasteurized,” Landers said. The AAP is weighing a policy statement that would discourage mothers from participating in these online swapping sites.

The idea of breast milk banking is not a new one. Back in the early 1980s, a network of 30 milk banks stretched across the United States, with another 20 in Canada.

But the HIV/AIDS health crisis of the 1980s, along with a surge in hepatitis cases, led to the shuttering of nearly all the breast milk banks, Updegrove said. At the lowest point, only one breast milk bank — in San Jose, Calif. — remained open.

Breast milk banks began to reestablish themselves in North America as the value of human milk for struggling infants became more apparent and new protocols were established to ensure the safety of banked milk, she said.

These efforts were sent into overdrive by a 2012 policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics supporting the use of donor milk for at-risk newborns.

Before that policy, the AAP had said that all premature babies should be fed their own mother’s milk.

But the new policy broadened that recommendation, saying that when mother’s milk is not available, then premature and low-birth-weight babies should be fed donated breast milk. “That was a big difference,” Landers said.
One of the nation’s newest nonprofit milk banks, the Northwest Mothers Milk Bank in Portland, Ore., has succeeded well beyond its expectations since it opened in July 2013.

Organizers had projected that they would screen 40 mothers to become milk donors by the end of 2013, executive director Lesley Mondeaux said. They ended up screening 122 donors in that time, and another 79 so far this year.

One of the milk bank’s donors, Dr. Emily Puterbaugh, volunteered because she’s a pediatrician who had seen the benefits of breast milk for struggling babies.

“I had an oversupply,” said Puterbaugh, 33, of Portland’s Multnomah Village area. “Realizing I was going to have more milk than I needed for my baby, the first thing I thought of was the milk bank. I figured some of this milk could be used for other babies in need.”

Source: web md

Almost half of homeless men had traumatic brain injury

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Almost half of all homeless men who took part in a study by St. Michael’s Hospital had suffered at least one traumatic brain injury in their life and 87 per cent of those injuries occurred before the men lost their homes.

While assaults were a major cause of those traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, (60 per cent) many were caused by potentially non-violent mechanisms such as sports and recreation (44 per cent) and motor vehicle collisions and falls (42 per cent).

The study, led by Dr. Jane Topolovec-Vranic, a clinical researcher in the hospital’s Neuroscience Research Program, was published today in the journal CMAJ Open.

Dr. Topolovec-Vranic said it’s important for health care providers and others who work with homeless people to be aware of any history of TBI because of the links between such injuries and mental health issues, substance abuse, seizures and general poorer physical health.
The fact that so many homeless men suffered a TBI before losing their home suggests such injuries could be a risk factor for becoming homeless, she said. That makes it even more important to monitor young people who suffer TBIs such as concussions for health and behavioural changes, she said.

Dr. Topolovec-Vranic looked at data on 111 homeless men aged 27 to 81 years old who were recruited from a downtown Toronto men’s shelter. She found that 45 per cent of these men had experienced a traumatic brain injury, and of these, 70 per cent were injured during childhood or teenage years and 87 per cent experienced an injury before becoming homeless.

In men under age 40, falls from drug/alcohol blackouts were the most common cause of traumatic brain injury while assault was the most common in men over 40 years old.

Recognition that a TBI sustained in childhood or early teenage years could predispose someone to homelessness may challenge some assumptions that homelessness is a conscious choice made by these individuals, or just the result of their addictions or mental illness, said Dr. Topolovec-Vranic.
This study received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation.

Separately, a recent study by Dr. Stephen Hwang of the hospital’s Centre for Research on Inner City Health, found the number of people who are homeless or vulnerably housed and who have also suffered a TBI may be as high as 61 per cent — seven times higher than the general population.
Dr. Hwang’s study, published in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, is one of the largest studies to date investigating TBI in homeless populations. The findings come from the Health and Housing in Transition Study, which tracks the health and housing status of homeless and vulnerably housed people in Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa.

source: Science daily

Scientists discover exact mechanism for how broccoli and crucifers fight cancers

broccoli

Researchers fed a special cultivar of broccoli, a combination of wild and commercially available broccoli that contains high levels of glucoraphanin, to nineteen volunteers each week for three months. They compared the first group to two other groups eating the same diet, except one consumed commercially available broccoli and the third ate none of the crucifer. The team observed that those eating the glucoraphanin-rich vegetable showed signs of an improved metabolism.

The scientists determined that a compound commonly found in crucifers, known as sulforaphane, improved the chemical reactions inside mitochondria, the power source for our cellular machinery. The study found that glucoraphanin helped ‘retune’ metabolic processes in the cells that get disrupted as we age. Lead author, Dr. Richard Mithen commented, “We think this provides some evidence as to why people who eat diets rich in broccoli may keep in good health… mitochondria are really, really important, and when they start to go wrong it leads to many of the diseases of aging.”

The nutritionists performing the study recommend eating broccoli two to three times a week. Other health-promoting members of the cruciferous vegetable family include Brussels sprouts, kale and cauliflower. Dr. Mithen concluded “We think it is significant because it shows in humans a measurable effect on our metabolism, which is central to our overall health and could explain the diverse range of beneficial effects many observational dietary studies have shown previously.” It is important to note that while this study used a specially concentrated type of broccoli to produce the stated results, consumption of commercially available broccoli and crucifers have been shown to exhibit similar anti-cancer properties when eaten over a longer period of time

Source: Natural news

Kidney health: Symptoms of Cyst on Kidney

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PKD describes kidney cyst grows and increases, causing kidney damage and declined kidney function. In addition, many other symptoms like anemia, swelling and high blood pressure can appear. Then, if cyst grows to 10 cm, what symptoms will occur?

1. High blood pressure
Due to increase and growth of cyst, kidney and other parts in body can be suppressed, especially blood vessels. In this way, pressure in blood vessels can be enhanced, leading to high blood pressure. The bigger and more kidney cyst is , the higher blood pressure is. As for 10 cm cyst, it is very large, causing high blood pressure for patients.

2. Pain in back
Due to big cyst in kidney area, tissues or organs surrounded by cyst can be affected and damaged, resulting in pain in back.

3. Blood in the urine
Just as balloon is very easy to break when it is big enough, 10 cm cyst can be very pone to rupture, too. If it happens, bleeding can appear. In this case, these blood can flow away through urine, forming blood in urine.

4. High creatinine level
As is known, creatinine level is an indicator of kidney function. The more serious kidney function is, the higher creatinine level is. As 10 cm cyst is very big to damage kidney, kidney function can be affected. In this way, kidney can’t remove much creatinine from body, leading to high creatinine level.

Patients with 10 cm cyst on kidney are very likely to have the above symptoms. If you are a patients with PKD with the above symptoms, it means that your cyst grows very largely, and it is very necessary for you to get timely and effective treatment. Any question, or want to know more information, contact us freely any time. We are very pleased that we can give you some effective suggestions.

Source: Kidney therapy

Blue Pill May Boost Risk of Deadly Skin Cancer, Study Finds

Men who use Viagra to get a boost in the bedroom could find that the little blue pill also increases the risk of developing melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, a preliminary study finds.

Researchers found that men who took sildenafil, best known as Viagra, were about 84 percent more likely to develop melanoma than men who didn’t take the drug.

Because it’s just one early study, no one is suggesting that men stop taking Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction, said Dr. Abrar Qureshi, professor and chair of the dermatology department in the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University.

“But people who are on the medication and who have a high risk for developing melanoma may consider touching base with their primary care providers,” said Qureshi, co-author of the study of nearly 26,000 men published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Viagra may increase the risk of melanoma because it affects the same genetic pathway that allows the skin cancer to become more invasive, Qureshi said. Those who took the drug weren’t at higher risk of other, less-dangerous skin cancers, such as basal cell or squamous cell cancers.

About 76,100 new melanoma cases are expected to be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2014, and about 9,710 people will die, including about 6,470 men.

Qureshi and colleagues at several sites in the U.S. and China analyzed data about Viagra use and skin cancer from the Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study, a long-term study of male doctors and other health care workers.

The average age of men in the study was 65 and about 6 percent had taken Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction. If men had ever used Viagra, the risk of developing melanoma was about double than for those who never used the drug. That finding held true even when the researchers adjusted for a family history of skin cancer, ultraviolet light exposure in the states where the men lived, other kinds of cancer and major illnesses and other factors.

Primary care doctors who treat older men taking Viagra should check their patients for signs of skin cancer, said Dr. June Robinson of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, who wrote an accompanying editorial.

She cautioned that the rate of increase in new melanoma cases in men actually slowed after Viagra entered the market in 1998, raising a “cautionary note” about the impact of sildenafil on melanoma.

“But its role in the biological behavior of melanoma in older men warrants further study,” she said.

Source: NBC news

Measles risk for passengers on Abu Dhabi-Toronto flight

Public health officials in suburban Toronto are warning that passengers on a flight from Abu Dhabi to Toronto’s Pearson airport may be at risk of being infected with measles.

Officials with Peel Public Health says they’re sounding the warning about the Etihad Airways flight 141 on March 25 after they discovered a baby who has tested positive for the disease was aboard.

That infant has already sparked public notices about possible exposure sites at a Brampton multicultural community centre (at 150 Central Parkway), three health clinics and the Brampton Civic Hospital emergency ward.

Health officials say they’re working with the Public Health Agency of Canada to identify passengers on the flight who may need a direct follow-up.

They say anyone aboard who have not had two doses of the measles vaccine or had the disease previously should watch for symptoms up until April 15.

Anyone showing symptoms are advised to call their doctor before visiting a clinic or hospital.

Source: CBC news

Do coffee and tea really dehydrate us?

Every day people around the globe drink 1.6 billion cups of coffee and around twice as many cups of tea.

They enjoy the taste and the fact that the caffeine wakes them up. But when we’re exhorted to drink six or eight glasses of water a day (a disputed figure that I’ve discussed previously), it’s usually emphasised that drinks like coffee and tea don’t count towards your daily liquid total because they’re dehydrating. Or so we’re told. What’s the evidence?

Although tea and coffee contain many different substances the one on which most research focuses is caffeine. Even then there is so little research on the topic, that one of the most frequently mentioned studies was conducted way back in 1928 with a sample of just three people. The three men were studied over the course of two winters. Sometimes they were required to drink four cups of coffee a day; sometimes they drank mainly tea and at other times they abstained or drank water laced with pure caffeine. Meanwhile the volume of their urine was measured regularly. The authors concluded that if the men consumed caffeine-laced water after a two month period of abstinence from both coffee and tea, the volume of their urine increased by 50%, but when they drank coffee regularly again they became inured to its diuretic effects.

Very large doses of caffeine are known to increase the blood flow to the kidneys and to inhibit the absorption of sodium which explains why it could act as a diuretic, dealing with the sodium which hasn’t been absorbed. But the exact mechanism is still a matter of debate.

But when you look at the studies of more realistic quantities of caffeine, the diuretic effect is not nearly so clear. A review of 10 studies by Lawrence Armstrong from the University of Connecticut concluded that caffeine is a mild diuretic at most, with 12 out of 15 comparisons showing that people urinated the same amount, regardless of whether the water they drank contained added caffeine or not.

So why do so many people think they need the loo more often when they’ve been drinking tea or coffee? As the review indicates, most studies give people pure caffeine added to water, rather than cups of actual tea or coffee as you might drink at home. Is there something about the combination of substances contained in coffee and tea that make the difference?

In a rare study where people drank nothing but tea for the 12 hour duration of the trial, there was no difference in hydration levels between them and the people who drank the same quantity of boiled water. When it comes to the consumption of coffee, one study did find a 41% increase in urine, along with a rise in the excretion of sodium and potassium. But these participants had abstained from caffeine before the study, so this doesn’t tell us what would happen in people who are accustomed to drinking coffee.

Source: BBC news