Trying to lose weight? Better keep eating chocolate!

  1. Research found 86 per cent of slimmers who ate their favourite treats during diet lost weight
  2. Survey proves diets ‘centred around food elimination’ are more likely to fail
  3. Other research found eating chocolate could also help you live longer

It seems dieters have got it all wrong – cutting out chocolate is likely to make you put on weight rather than lose it, according to a survey.

In fact, the poll found that 86 per cent of slimmers who carried on enjoying their favourite treats successfully lost weight.

And of the 2,100 men and women questioned, those who lost the most weight had – in 91 per cent of cases – continued to eat the same amount of chocolate they normally ate before going on a weight-loss plan.

Janet Aylott, a nutrition scientist with online calorie-counting plan Nutracheck, commissioned the YouGov survey, which is published today.

She said: ‘Extensive research has proven that diets centred around food elimination are much more likely to fail.

‘The key is to take a more relaxed approach and to have a little of what you like.’

Previous research has shown that dieters who completely eliminate treats such as chocolate, wine and biscuits are often more likely to put on weight as they ‘compensate’ by eating more of other foods.

One study even showed that as many as 65 per cent of those who give up all treats actually end up ballooning in weight.

And there’s more good news for chocoholics, as separate research has also suggested that eating chocolate may help you live longer.

A Harvard University team studied 8,000 men for 65 years and found that those who ate modest amounts of chocolate up to three times a month lived almost a year longer than those who ate none.

 

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

 

Top five tips for relieving muscle pain naturally

Chronic pain is complex. Research over the past 25 years has shown that pain is influenced by emotional and social factors. These need to be addressed along with the physical causes of pain. Chronic stress is one factor that contributes to chronic pain. The good news is that you can get natural pain relief by making relaxation exercises a part of your pain-management plan.

The Body’s Response to Stress

To understand how natural pain relief works, it’s important to understand how stress affects your body. Pain and stress have a similar effect on the body: your heart rate and blood pressure rise, breathing becomes fast and shallow, and your muscles tighten.

You can actually feel your body’s response when you’re faced with a sudden, stressful event, such as fearing that a car is about to hit you. The car misses you and, in time, your system returns to normal. You relax.

With chronic stress, such as worrying about health or finances, feeling stuck in a bad job or marriage, or fearing that something bad will happen, the nervous system keeps the body on alert. This takes a big toll on your body. Levels of stress hormones increase, and muscles remain in a nearly constant state of tension.

Chronic stress hurts.

Here’s just one example: Studies that measure site-specific muscle tension in patients with chronic back pain have shown that simply thinking or talking about a stressful event dramatically increases tension in back muscles.

Relaxation Techniques for Natural Pain Relief

Relaxation exercises calm your mind, reduce stress hormones in your blood, relax your muscles, and elevate your sense of well-being. Using them regularly can lead to long-term changes in your body to counteract the harmful effects of stress.

Don’t get stressed trying to pick the “right” relaxation technique for natural pain relief. Choose whatever relaxes you: music, prayer, gardening, going for a walk, talking with a friend on the phone. Here are some other techniques you might try:

  1. Foursquare breathing. Breathe deeply, so that your abdomen expands and contracts like a balloon with each breath. Inhale to a count of four, hold for a count of four, exhale to a count of four, then hold to a count of four. Repeat for ten cycles.
  2. Guided imagery. Breathe slowly and deeply. For example, imagine a tranquil scene in which you feel comfortable, safe, and relaxed. Include colors, sounds, smells, and your feelings. Do five to ten minutes each day.
  3. Self-talk. Change how you think about your pain and yourself. For example, change “Pain prevents me from keeping house the way I used to — I’m a failure” to “No one will die if the house isn’t perfect. I can get a lot done by breaking down tasks into baby steps.”
  4. Hypnosis. Hypnotherapists can induce hypnosis and implant suggestions, such as, “You’re going to sleep soundly tonight.” Audiotape the session so that you can repeat it at home.
  5. Mindfulness meditation. Sit or lie quietly and notice your breathing without controlling it. If pain or thoughts interfere, simply notice them without trying to push them away. Think of them as a cloud passing over; then return to observing your breath. Do this for about 20 minutes.

Source: http://www.webmd.com

New Ebola treatment may offer hope for cure

Canadian researchers said Wednesday they have developed an antibody treatment that may be able to prevent death from Ebola virus even when given three full days after infection.

The findings, published in the U.S. journal Science Translational Medicine, suggested that it may be possible to develop a cure for Ebola even after the virus can be detected in the blood and disease symptoms have become apparent.

Although rare, Ebola virus is considered one of the most if not the most aggressive virus known to date in part because of its rapidity to kill, which can be within one week from exposure or three to four days from when the first symptoms become apparent. This leaves very little time for any treatment to act and save a sick individual.

“For this reason, such a treatment has been considered by many to be closer to the domain of science fiction than contemporary scientific research,” lead author Qiu Xiangguo at the Public Health Agency of Canada told Xinhua.

In their study, the researchers gave Ebola-infected monkeys a treatment made of three specific antibodies in combination with interferon alpha, a molecule that is produced naturally by the body to fight viruses.

The antibodies are “like three little but powerful missiles” that target three different outer regions of the virus, Qiu said. Once in contact with the virus external coat, these antibodies interfere with the virus lifecycle and reduce the ability of the virus to reproduce. At the same time, the interferon alpha boosts the defenses of the infected individual by stimulating a natural but rapid and robust anti-viral response, she said.

The combination of antibody and interferon therapy was 75 percent and 100 percent protective in cynomolgus and rhesus monkeys when given three days post-infection. About half of the cynomolgus monkeys were protected at four days post-infection in cases where only interferon alpha was given earlier, one day post- infection, Qiu said.

“Although we were very optimistic we were not expecting to see 100 percent survival in Ebola-infected non-human primates when treated only three days before they succumb to the disease on average,” Qiu said.

“This study shows that what seemed impossible to many, i.e. to develop a cure capable of stopping Ebola virus on its track only a few days before death, has now been made and proven efficacious in conditions that are at least as serious if not more severe than what has been observed and described in humans,” she added.

The researchers said they have tentatively scheduled a phase I safety trial, slated for the end of 2014 or early 2015, to test the combination therapy in humans

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com

Being happy does lower your blood pressure

A new research has found that a synthetic gene module controlled by the happiness hormone dopamine produces an agent that lowers blood pressure.

This finding opens up new avenues for therapies that are remote-controlled via the subconscious.

The endogenous hormone dopamine triggers feelings of happiness.

While its release is induced, among other things, by the “feel-good” classics sex, drugs or food, the brain does not content itself with a kick; it remembers the state of happiness and keeps wanting to achieve it again. Dopamine enables us to make the “right” decisions in order to experience even more moments of happiness.

Now, a team of researchers headed by ETH-Zurich professor Martin Fussenegger from the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) in Basel has discovered a way to use the body’s dopamine system therapeutically.

The researchers have created a new genetic module that can be controlled via dopamine.

The feel-good messenger molecule activates the module depending on the dosage. In response to an increase in the dopamine level in the blood, the module produces the desired active agent.

The module consists of several biological components of the human organism, which are interconnected to form a synthetic signalling cascade. Dopamine receptors are found at the beginning of the cascade as sensors. A particular agent is produced as an end product: either a model protein called SEAP or ANP, a powerful vasodilator lowering blood pressure.

Based on the experiments, the researchers were able to demonstrate that dopamine is not only formed in the brain in corresponding feel-good situations, but also in nerves in the vegetative system, the so-called sympathetic nervous system, which are closely knit around blood vessels

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Why chronic itching can be so excruciating?

For those who have suffered through sleepless nights due to uncontrollable itching know that not all itching is the same.

A new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis explains why.

Working in mice, the scientists have shown that chronic itching, which can occur in many medical conditions, from eczema and psoriasis to kidney failure and liver disease, is different from the fleeting urge to scratch a mosquito bite.

That’s because chronic itching appears to incorporate more than just the nerve cells, or neurons, that normally transmit itch signals.

The researchers found that in chronic itching, neurons that send itch signals also co-opt pain neurons to intensify the itch sensation.

The new discovery may lead to more effective treatments for chronic itching that target activity in neurons involved in both pain and itch.

“In normal itching, there’s a fixed pathway that transmits the itch signal,” senior investigator Zhou-Feng Chen, PhD, who directs Washington University’s Center for the Study of Itch, said.

“But with chronic itching, many neurons can be turned into itch neurons, including those that typically transmit pain signals. That helps explain why chronic itch ing can be so excruciating,” he said.

 

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Sleep: very important to maintain healthy lifestyle

Three new studies have shown that in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it is important for adults to seek treatment for a sleep illness and aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night.

One study of 2,240 adults is the first to examine the link between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and mortality in Asians.

Results showed that all-cause mortality risk was 2.5 times higher and cardiovascular mortality risk was more than 4 times higher among people with severe OSA.

Another study of 2,673 patients in Australia found that untreated OSA is associated with an increased risk of motor vehicle crashes in very sleepy men as well as near-misses in men and women.

Participants with untreated OSA reported crashes at a rate three times higher than the general community.

That last study examined the relationship between sleep duration and self-rated health in Korean adults.

Results showed that short sleep duration of 5 hours or less per day and long sleep duration of 9 hours or more per day was associated with poor self-rated health.

All three of the studies are published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com

New blood test can diagnose lung, prostate cancer

Scientists have developed a simple new blood test that can detect early-stage lung and prostate cancers as well as their recurrence.

Serum-free fatty acids and their metabolites in the blood can be used as screening biomarkers to help diagnose early stages of cancer and identify the probability of recovery and recurrence after tumour removal, researchers found.

“While cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide, diagnosis at the early stages of cancer remains challenging,” said Jinbo Liu, researcher at Cleveland Clinic, and lead study author.

“In this study, we identified compounds that appear to be new screening biomarkers in cancer diagnosis and prognosis,” Liu added.

The study looked at blood samples from 55 patients with lung cancer and 40 patients with prostate cancer and compared them to blood samples of people without cancer.

In a second phase of the study, blood was examined preoperatively from 24 patients scheduled for curative lung cancer surgery and again at six and 24 hours after the surgery.

The cancer patients had one- to six-times greater concentrations of serum-free fatty acids and their metabolites (the biomarker) in their blood than patients without cancer.

In the second phase, the serum-free fatty acid concentrations decreased by three to 10 times within 24 hours after tumour removal surgery.

While there is a blood test for prostate cancer, the prostate-specific antigen test, or PSA, has a high false-positive rate that results in many unnecessary biopsies and complications, according to Liu.

The test developed in this study could be a helpful additional blood test for prostate cancer.

“This is an exciting first step to having an uncomplicated way to detect early stages of lung, prostate and perhaps other cancers,” said Daniel I Sessler, chair of the Outcomes Research Department at Cleveland Clinic.

“It could also be used to measure the success of tumour resection surgery, immediately after surgery and long-term for recurrence screening,” Sessler added.

The study was presented at a meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) in San Francisco

Source: Zeenews

Can your achy knees really predict the weather?

Scientists have not found a conclusive link between weather and body pain, Beck writes, but a leading theory suggests that the falling barometric pressure preceding a storm alters the pressure inside joints.

“Think of a balloon that has as much air pressure on the outside pushing in as on the inside pushing out,” Harvard’s Robert Jamison says, adding that as the outside pressure drops, the balloon—or joint—expands, pressing against surrounding nerves and other tissues.

“That’s probably the effect that people are feeling, particularly if those nerves are irritated in the first place,” Jamison says, adding that research has shown that changes in barometric pressure has been linked to everything from tooth aches and scar pain to pelvic pain and fibromyalgia.

Patience White—vice president of the Arthritis Foundation and George Washington University rheumatologist—notes that arthritis is “more common in people with some sort of effusion” or a buildup of fluid in or around a joint. She adds that not every arthritic patient experiences such weather-related pain.

Still, “there are certain days where practically every patient complains of increased pain,” says Aviva Wolff, an occupational therapist at the Hospital for Special Surgery.  “The more dramatic the weather change, the more obvious it is,” she adds.

Such pain is so common that the Weather Channel and AccuWeather have “ache” and “pain” indexes for the nation, based on barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind.

Not just joint pain

The link between weather and pain is not limited to arthritis and storms, according to research released in September in the International Journal of Biometerology and presented at the European Society of Cardiology.

According to the research, cold weather may raise the risk of stroke, heart attack, and sudden cardiac death, including:

  • A 7% increase in risk of heart attack for every 18-degree drop in temperature; and
  • A 1.2% increase in sudden cardiac death for every 1.8-degree drop in temperature.

Other researchers believe that the cold-related increased heart risk may be due to thickening blood and constricting blood vessels, Beck writes. Some researchers maintain that there is no link between weather and physical pain.

Is it all in my head?

After comparing the pain reports of 18 rheumatoid-arthritis patients with local weather conditions for a year, Stanford psychologist Amos Tversky came up with a different theory. “People’s beliefs about arthritis pain and the weather may tell more about the workings of the mind than of the body,” he said.

Research has found that even slight changes in the weather can aggravate sensory nerve cells that relay pain signals to the brain. Some health experts believe the phenomenon explains why some people with neuropathic pain and phantom-limb pain also report weather-related flare-ups

Source: http://www.advisory.com

7 easy steps to family meal planning

Busy parents are always on the lookout for ways to simplify their lives and spend more quality time with their families. Dinner is often the most stressful meal of the day, but taking some time to plan out meals for the week can save you time and money, and keep nutritious food on the table for your family

Here are seven simple steps to quick and easy meal planning.

1. Find new recipes. Meal planning can easily become a fun family activity. Choose some of your favorite cookbooks and involve everyone in choosing new dishes. Keep the recipes simple, and use only one new recipe per meal and keep everything else as simple as possible. Finding recipes that will yield leftovers that can be used in other meals also cuts down on time, like using roast chicken leftovers for simple chicken tacos later on in the week.

2. Make a shopping list. Look through your pantry and fridge first to make sure you don’t buy anything you already have. A shopping list categorized by section will help cut down on time spent at the grocery store, and will ensure you don’t forget things.

3. Prep in advance. Go through the list of meals that you’ve chosen for the week and choose a day to prepare as much as possible. This can also be turned into a family event with everyone tackling a different chore. Onions, garlic, and herbs can be chopped and measured in advance and kept in the freezer until needed and vegetables can be cleaned and prepped as well. Making casseroles and seasoning protein in advance is a good option for freezing and keeping for later in the week.

4. Invest in a slow cooker. This allows for easy prep on nights you have less time than usual. Use some of the ingredients you prepped in advance and put them directly from the freezer into the slow cooker for an easy meal.

5. Cook once, eats twice. Cooking enough for two nights can cut your work in half. Double the amount you would normally have, eat it on Monday night and again on Wednesday night. This can be done with any part of the meal, whether it’s the main dish or a side dish. If you’re seasoning a protein, it can also be doubled and half of it can be frozen for the following week.

6. Think outside the box. Not every night has to look like a traditional dinner. Instead, incorporate easy options such as a salad and sandwiches or even traditional breakfast options like scrambled eggs and whole wheat pancakes, accompanied by a fruit-and-vegetable smoothie.

7. Designate a leftover or going out night. Choose one night per week that involves having a buffet of all the leftovers. Proteins can be tossed into a salad and extra vegetables can be made into a soup. If you don’t want to give up going out for mid-week dinner, designate a day and know where you’re going so you don’t end up at the drive-through window.

Over time, the menu-planning process will become second nature and by saving your menu plans and shopping list, you can easily rotate them and save even more time. With a little planning and teamwork, dinner can go from being a headache to being a time to bond with the family over a nutritious meal

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Bacon Lowers Sperm Counts, Study Shows

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that men who eat lots of processed meat like bacon and sausage have lower sperm quality than men who don’t. Men who have a diet heavy in fish have better sperm and more of it.

Men should back away from the bacon if they want to make babies.

New research from the Harvard School of Public Health shows men who eat lots of processed meats have poorer quality sperm than those who don’t. Men whose diets include fish — especially white fish like cod or halibut — had the highest level of quality sperm, according to the study, presented Monday in Boston, at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s annual meeting.

“What brought up our concern is how meat is produced in the United States,” Dr. Jorge Chavarro, one of the researchers, told the Daily News. “Many beef producers give cattle natural or synthetic hormones to stimulate growth, a few days or weeks before the animals are killed. We wanted to examine how these hormones might affect people who consume them.”

Researchers analyzed more than 350 semen samples from 156 men who visited a local fertility center and answered questions about their diet. They found that eating processed red meat has a negative effect on “sperm morphology” — the size and shape of sperm’s cell structures. Having abnormal sperm can contribute to infertility.

Men who eat just one slice of bacon or sausage link a day have 30% fewer normal sperm than men who don’t, according to the study.

Eating white fish had a positive effect on sperm shape, while eating dark meat fish like salmon and tuna upped sperm count.

Researchers explained that it’s been known that healthy diets contribute to healthy sperm.

Previous studies have linked dairy products and carbohydrate-heavy diets with sperm decline.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/bacon-bad-sperm-study-article-1.1487256#ixzz2hx9YgC7h