Why Your Bottled Water Contains Four Different Ingredients

Water you buy in the store is not just hydrogen and oxygen. Here’s why food producers add all those extra ingredients.

Next time you reach for a bottle of water on store shelves, take a look at the ingredient list. You’re likely to find that it includes more than just water.

Popular bottled water brand Dasani, for example, lists magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride, and salt alongside purified water on its Nutrition Facts label. SmartWater contains calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, and potassium bicarbonate. Nestle Pure Life’s list includes calcium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, and magnesium sulfate. And these are just a few brands. Bottled water companies are purifying water, but then they’re adding extra ingredients back.

Why Your Bottled Water Contains Four Different Ingredients

None of this should be cause for health concerns, says Marion Nestle, professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and professor of Sociology at New York University. The additives being put into water are those naturally found in water and the quantities of these additives are likely too small to be of much significance. “If you had pure water by itself, it doesn’t taste have any taste,” says Bob Mahler, Soil Science and Water Quality professor at the University of Idaho. “So companies that sell bottled water will put in calcium, magnesium or maybe a little bit of salt.”

Taste tests have revealed that many people find distilled water to taste flat as opposed to spring waters, which can taste a bit sweet. Minerals offer a “slightly salty or bitter flavors,” which is likely why low mineral soft waters have a more appealing taste

Many of the ingredients that are added to bottled water occur naturally in tap water and in our daily diets. Potassium chloride, for example, is a chemical compound that is often used as a supplement for potassium, which benefits heart health and aids normal muscular and digestive functions. Magnesium chloride, magnesium sulfate, and calcium chloride are all inorganic salts.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that Americans reduce current levels of sodium intake by 2,300 mg per day, so you would have to drink a lot of water to make much of a difference, Nestle says. The typical amount of sodium in water averages at around 17 mg per liter.

But just because additives are generally naturally occurring ingredients doesn’t mean that consumers shouldn’t look at labels. If labels show calories, that means sugars have been added. Some bottled waters can be high in sodium, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends only drinking water that contains 20 mg of sodium per liter or less.

The best choice that many water consumers can make may be to just stick to drinking tap water. “To the extent that tap water is clean and free of harmful contaminants,” says Nestle, “it beats everything in taste and cost.

Source: TIME

Top five health benefits of eucalyptus oil

Eucalyptus oil has many properties that make it an attractive solution for many health ills. However, it was not always so popular. Until recently, many people did not know much about its use as an aromatherapy. Today, though, the use of eucalyptus oil continues to grow as more about it becomes known. There are too many uses for this oil to name them all, so the following are the top five ways to use this oil to obtain the maximum health benefits.

Top five health benefits of eucalyptus oil

Repel insects

Many people will instantly recognize the strong, but pleasant, scent of eucalyptus oil, as it continues to gain in popularity as a natural method to keep an area free of irritating and biting pests. Depending on the user, the oil can either be mixed with some type of cream and applied to the skin to keep insects, such as flies and mosquitoes, from biting or it can be used as a mist in a vaporizer to keep pests at bay.

Stop skin infections

Due to its powerful antibacterial properties, eucalyptus oil can be used as a successful means of halting skin infections. The University of Maryland Medical Center published a paper that cited the benefits of cineole, the strongest compound contained in eucalyptus oil, to treat wounds.

Antiseptic qualities

The cineole contained within eucalyptus also has powerful antiseptic qualities that make it an ideal addition to toothpastes, mouthwashes and other dental hygiene products. Cineole kills those bacteria that cause bad breath. In addition to that useful attribute, the Journal of Periodontology published a study which detailed how effective cineole is at keeping the mouth healthy. Cineole helps reduce the amount of plaque that builds up on the teeth and gums, reduces the bleeding of the gums and helps maintain the overall health of the mouth.

Respiratory illnesses

For a number of years, eucalyptus oil has been used as a remedy for colds and other respiratory illnesses. Popular as an additive to steam machines and vaporizers, this essential oil has also been directly used as a method to clear a stuffy nose. Because eucalyptus oil is antibacterial, it has been shown to be effective at wiping out the bacteria that causes respiratory illnesses. Additionally, when used with a vaporizer, the misting oil has been shown to be excellent as a decongestant and at clearing blocked-up noses.

Make the immune system stronger

BMC Immunology published a study which found that using eucalyptus oil strengthens the macrophages, the cells whose job it is to kill infections. In addition, the study showed that the oil helped the body produce its own protective mechanism. There are also some promising data emerging that point to eucalyptus oil as being effective at inhibiting the progression of diabetes. More research is needed in this area, though.

Source: Natural news

Turn off TV when kids aren’t watching, advise researchers

Researchers at the University of Iowa say children’s social and emotional development is enhanced in the absence of a television playing in the background while they’re doing something else, like playing a game or interacting with friends and family.

After looking into the impact of television on young children’s cognitive development, they also suggest that non-educational programming should be avoided.

Turn off TV when kids aren't watching, advise researchers

“Kids are going to learn from whatever you put in front of them,” says Deborah Linebarger, associate professor in education at the UI and the lead author on the study, published online in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics.

“So what kinds of messages, what kinds of things do you want them to learn? That would be the kinds of media you’d purposefully expose them to.”

In the study, researchers employed data from a US survey of 1,150 families with children between two and eight years old.

Taking into account demographics and parenting styles when assessing what affects children’s success, the team found an association between media content and executive function, a term used to describe general cognitive regulation. Specifically, they found that educational television increased executive function.

As for background TV, they found that it can divert a child’s attention from play and learning.

“Children whose parents create a home environment that is loving and nurturing and where rules and expectations are the same from one time to another are better able to control their behavior, display more empathy, and do better academically,” says Linebarger.

Source: ctv

The Best Home Remedies For Sinus Infection

Runny nose, facial pain, difficulties breathing, headaches and fatigue were marking days as of late. The reasons stretch from air pollution, stress (the omnipresent cause of uncountable health problems) and weather changes, to a lowered immune system contracting a viral or bacterial infection.

Sometimes a lifestyle change is required to eliminate the substances and factors that cause the infection, such as not using chemical cleaning products or starting to meditate. how to get rid of the nuisance. The antibiotics work (with side effects) only if the cause is bacterial, but not if it’s viral.

home remedy for sinus

Garlic, honey and apple cider vinegar – the three natural remedies are found to be the cure to almost everything.

how these wonderful products can help you cure uncomfortable, repetitive, tiring, suffocating, embarrassing (I’m sure I left out some unpleasant descriptive adjectives, but you get the idea) sinus infections.

Inhalation with garlic

If the infection is not fully blown yet, inhalations should be your first course of action to alleviate discomfort. Boil a pot of water and then add minced fresh garlic to it (3 to 4 cloves should do). Get yourself comfy, cover your head and pot with a towel and start inhaling. It might be uncomfortable at first, but it will help. The steam alone is an amazing decongestant and helps to clear the breathing pathways. When you add other healing ingredients, the positive effects multiply. Garlic is an extremely potent natural antibiotic, and is antiviral and antifungal. see also my article how to make garlic syrup for chest infections.

Inhalation with apple cider vinegar

Instead of fresh garlic, you can also use apple cider vinegar. A 1:1 proportion with steaming water will create a powerful mix. Apple cider vinegar thins the annoying mucus.

Inhalation with essential oils

Some swear by adding tea tree oil (a few drops will suffice), as the oil is another strong natural antibiotic and antifungal. By inhaling it, you deliver the antibiotic directly to your suffering nasal membranes. Also eucalyptus essential oil helps clear nasal and chest congestion caused by colds and sinus infections, so you can use it instead or with tea tree essential oil

Add honey

Make sure to only use raw honey. If filtered (often done for appearances’ sake), the honey loses most of its healing properties. We really have our priorities wrong these days! Raw honey is a magnificent antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal bee creation, and boosts the immune system. Followers of Ayurvedic medicine suggest starting the day with honey water. You simply mix a teaspoon of honey into a glass of warm (not hot!) water. Your body is then geared to start the day. Now, for maximum therapeutic kick to get over a tenacious sinus infection, you can try out this combination:

  • – a glass of warm water
  • – 1 teaspoon of honey
  • – 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
  • – 3 cloves of minced raw garlic

Mix well and drink to your sinuses’ health!

Or, if the abundance of tastes (or garlic breath), slightly scare you, just try mixing apple cider vinegar and raw honey, and consuming that 3 times a day. Two tablespoons of vinegar and 1 teaspoon of honey will send your sinusitis packing.

Neti Pot

One of the most popular treatments using a salt and water solution to flush out the nasal passages is the neti pot. This is a small ceramic pot that you fill with a mixture of 1 pint of lukewarm water with 1 teaspoon of salt. You need to use previously boiled water to prepare the solution. Don’t use tap water.

Once you’ve filled the neti pot, tilt your head over the sink at about a 45 degree angle. Place the spout into your top nostril, and gently pour the saline water into that nostril. The saline water will flow through your nasal cavity and out the other nostril. Blow your nose to get rid of any remaining water, then refill the neti pot and repeat the process on the other side.

The basic explanation of how the Neti pot works is that it thins mucus and helps flush it out of the nasal passages. People suffering from daily sinus symptoms found relief from using the neti pot on a daily basis. Once the symptoms subsided, you can reduce it to three times a week.

Elderberry Infusion

The elderberry is a bush that can reach to a great height with small white flowers and dark purple sweet-sour fruit. You can also make an infusion from the flowers of the elderberry plant, which has been shown to prevent inflammation and infection in the respiratory system and is effective against winter ailments including sinusitis. Use 1 heaped teaspoon of dried flowers per 1 cup of boiling water. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes. Allow tea to cool, strain the tea and drink.

If you consume these beautiful gifts of nature regularly, your immune system bolstered, there is a fighting chance the sinus infection will stay clear of you for the foreseeable future

Source: healthy and natural world

Slow walking speed may be early dementia sign

There may be a new way to diagnose early signs of dementia: a walking speed and memory test. In a study published in Neurology, researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center in New York developed a test to screen the speed of someone’s walking, combined with their cognitive complaints. They believe this test could help diagnose motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR), thought to be an early sign of dementia.

Slow walking speed may be early dementia sign

In 22 studies from 17 countries involving 26,802 healthy adults ages 60 and older, researchers found that one in 10 exhibited MCR signs— meaning a slow gait of less than 1 meter per second in addition to cognitive complaints. The scientists followed up with 4,812 of the participants over a 12-year period. People who had MCR indicators were found to be twice as likely to develop dementia compared to those who did not exhibit MCR signs.

The test may help people prevent the development of dementia by motivating them to adopt healthier lifestyles and get more exercise if they know they’re at a higher risk. Also, the test could help doctors uncover other possible medical reasons for someone’s MCR, such as hypertension or high cholesterol.

The researchers noted that further research is needed to analyze a connection between MCR and dementia risk.

Source: health central

Running 5 Minutes a Day Could Add Years to Your Life

Running 5 Minutes a Day Could Add Years to Your Life

According to a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, running 5 minutes per day can reduce an individual’s risk of premature death by about 3 years. Researchers found that people who ran less than an hour per week also saw an increase in lifespan, not just a decrease in risk of premature death. The study took place over the course of 15 years, testing participants ranging in age from 18-100.

Separate research found that running more than 20 miles per week could take years off an individual’s life, providing further evidence that less can be more with regard to exercise. According to that research, individuals who exhibit consistent but moderate workout patterns are likely to live the longest

Source; Time

Boy with rare heart disease gets new life

Boy with rare heart disease gets new life

Fourteen-month-old Zubair, who had a rare heart disease since he was in the womb, received the perfect gift on Eid as doctors at a city hospital operated successfully on him.

Zubair’s father, Mohammad Rushid, who lives in a mosque in Saharanpur on a daily rent of Rs 100, came here a month ago for the boy’s treatment.

After knocking on several doors, the family got succour at BLK Super Speciality Hospital. “Zubair had a condition called patent ductus arteriosus, which every one has in the womb. It’s a bypass for lungs, which are not functional in the utero. The track is supposed to close days after birth. In Zubair’s case, it had not closed, allowing oxygen-rich blood from the aorta to mix with oxygen-poor blood from the pulmonary artery,” said Dr Vikas Kohli, director and HOD,B LK Children’s Heart Institute.

“We conducted a procedure similar to angioplasty, where a wire was passed into the heart from the groin area and the PDA was crossed. Over this, a catheter (a plastic tube like the ball pen refill but much longer) was passed over the wire to close the opening,” the doctor said.

He added that the procedure was carried out with general anesthesia so that the patient can get up immediately after the procedure and take a feed early after the procedure.

PDA, doctors say, occurs in about 8 out of every 1,000 premature babies, compared with 2 out of every 1,000 full-term babies.

Source: The Times of India

A blood test for suicide?

Alterations to a single gene could predict risk of suicide attempt

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered a chemical alteration in a single human gene linked to stress reactions that, if confirmed in larger studies, could give doctors a simple blood test to reliably predict a person’s risk of attempting suicide.

The discovery, described online in The American Journal of Psychiatry, suggests that changes in a gene involved in the function of the brain’s response to stress hormones plays a significant role in turning what might otherwise be an unremarkable reaction to the strain of everyday life into suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

A blood test for suicide

“Suicide is a major preventable public health problem, but we have been stymied in our prevention efforts because we have no consistent way to predict those who are at increased risk of killing themselves,” says study leader Zachary Kaminsky, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “With a test like ours, we may be able to stem suicide rates by identifying those people and intervening early enough to head off a catastrophe.”

For his series of experiments, Kaminsky and his colleagues focused on a genetic mutation in a gene known as SKA2. By looking at brain samples from mentally ill and healthy people, the researchers found that in samples from people who had died by suicide, levels of SKA2 were significantly reduced.
Within this common mutation, they then found in some subjects an epigenetic modification that altered the way the SKA2 gene functioned without changing the gene’s underlying DNA sequence. The modification added chemicals called methyl groups to the gene. Higher levels of methylation were then found in the same study subjects who had killed themselves. The higher levels of methylation among suicide decedents were then replicated in two independent brain cohorts.

In another part of the study, the researchers tested three different sets of blood samples, the largest one involving 325 participants in the Johns Hopkins Center for Prevention Research Study found similar methylation increases at SKA2 in individuals with suicidal thoughts or attempts. They then designed a model analysis that predicted which of the participants were experiencing suicidal thoughts or had attempted suicide with 80 percent certainty. Those with more severe risk of suicide were predicted with 90 percent accuracy. In the youngest data set, they were able to identify with 96 percent accuracy whether or not a participant had attempted suicide, based on blood test results.

The SKA2 gene is expressed in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is involved in inhibiting negative thoughts and controlling impulsive behavior. SKA2 is specifically responsible for chaperoning stress hormone receptors into cells’ nuclei so they can do their job. If there isn’t enough SKA2, or it is altered in some way, the stress hormone receptor is unable to suppress the release of cortisol throughout the brain. Previous research has shown that such cortisol release is abnormal in people who attempt or die by suicide.
Kaminsky says a test based on these findings might best be used to predict future suicide attempts in those who are ill, to restrict lethal means or methods among those a risk, or to make decisions regarding the intensity of intervention approaches.

He says that it might make sense for use in the military to test whether members have the gene mutation that makes them more vulnerable. Those at risk could be more closely monitored when they returned home after deployment. A test could also be useful in a psychiatric emergency room, he says, as part of a suicide risk assessment when doctors try to assess level of suicide risk.
The test could be used in all sorts of safety assessment decisions like the need for hospitalization and closeness of monitoring. Kaminsky says another possible use that needs more study could be to inform treatment decisions, such as whether or not to give certain medications that have been linked with suicidal thoughts.

“We have found a gene that we think could be really important for consistently identifying a range of behaviors from suicidal thoughts to attempts to completions,” Kaminsky says. “We need to study this in a larger sample but we believe that we might be able to monitor the blood to identify those at risk of suicide.”

Along with Kaminsky, other Johns Hopkins researchers involved in the study include Jerry Guintivano; Tori Brown; Alison Newcomer, M.Sc.; Marcus Jones; Olivia Cox; Brion Maher, Ph.D.; William Eaton, Ph.D.; Jennifer Payne, M.D.; and Holly Wilcox, Ph.D.

The research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (1R21MH094771-01), the Center for Mental Health Initiatives, The James Wah Award for Mood Disorders, and The Solomon R. and Rebecca D. Baker Foundation.

Source: science daily

 

Homemade cream that make wonders – get rid of wrinkles in 7 days

Make Natural Wrinkle Cream which will revive your face.
The recipe is simple and miraculous.

Ingredients:

  • – 1 egg yoke,
  • – 2 tablespoons of almond or olive oil,
  • – ½ tablespoon honey,
  • – 2 teaspoons of Vaseline (medical).

Homemade cream that make wonders

Preparation:
Melt the vaseline on steam. When vaseline when fully melted, remove it from the heat and add remaining ingredients. Mix it until you get a smooth mixture. Place the cream in a suitable container and store in refrigerator.

You can use this cream as a daily moisturizer, but is recommended to use it before bed time.
This home cream is an ideal for skin care: moisturizes your skin, evens the complexion, reduces wrinkles and aging.

Natural Wrinkle Cream

  • Suitable for all skin types.
  • Visible results are noticeable after only 7 days of regular use.

Source: secretly healthy

63% of Americans Actively Avoid Soda

The soda craze is going flat–at least, according to a new Gallup poll, which found that almost two-thirds of Americans actively avoid soda in their diet.

avoid soda drinking

While 41% percent of those polled in 2002 said that they try to steer clear of soda, that number has now jumped to 63%. Gallup’s poll shows that generally Americans are making more effort to have healthier diets. More than nine out of ten Americans try to include fruits and vegetables in their diets, and 52% said that they are trying to avoid sugars.

Don’t start pouring one out for the dying soda business just yet, though. A 2012 Gallup poll also found that 48% of Americans drink at least one glass of soda a day

Source: TIME