Are egg yolks good or bad for your health?

egg received a bad reputation with regard to cardiovascular health, as one large egg contains approximately 187 milligrams of cholesterol.

California stores of the supermarket chain unveiled a brand new product called Beyond Eggs – artificial eggs made with ground-up peas, sorghum and other plant ingredients.

 

According to Hampton Creak, the company that created the product, the main motivation behind the chicken-less egg was to provide a plant-based alternative for developing countries, in order to help increase their food supply.  And as global demand for eggs continues to increase, the manufacturers claim that more land and water are being used to raise chickens, therefore they wanted to find a way of reducing the environmental footprint created by egg production.

 

While the chicken-less egg was mostly created to address international food shortage concerns, the product is also potentially appealing to vegans, who don’t eat any animal-based products, and other consumers who are concerned that eggs are too high in cholesterol.

 

But are these concerns actually valid?  The nutritional value of the egg and its yolk has been debated by nutritionists for years.  Originally, the egg received a bad reputation with regard to cardiovascular health, as one large egg contains approximately 187 milligrams of cholesterol.

 

However, most research has shown that cholesterol found in foods isn’t fully to blame for increased LDL cholesterol in the body.

 

“Eggs are an animal product, and they do contain cholesterol,” Lisa Cimperman, a registered dietician for UH Case Medical Center, told FoxNews.com.  “But actually, cholesterol in foods doesn’t affect our blood cholesterol as much as saturated fat does.  Cholesterol in food, in general you do want to avoid, but it’s not necessarily the main culprit of high cholesterol.”

 

Compared to other animal products, the average egg actually contains relatively low amounts of saturated fats – approximately 1.6 grams per egg yolk.  Additionally, various studies from the Harvard School of Public Health and the British Nutrition Foundation have found that eggs have clinically insignificant effects on blood cholesterol, and are not associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

 

Regardless, many consumers are still concerned over the yolk’s fatty content, so rather than eat the full egg, they often eat the egg’s albumin – more commonly referred to as the egg white.  Since egg whites are considered pure protein, this dietary decision isn’t a bad move.  However, some dieticians argue it’s important to consume both the egg’s fat and protein, as the combination can have positive health benefits when it comes to blood sugar.

 

“You want the fat, because it not only satiates you, but also slows the absorption of your food,” Laura Cipullo a registered dietician in New York City, told FoxNews.com.  “So you stay fuller longer, and it won’t increase blood sugar.  A lot of people have toast with just egg whites, but it’s giving them a quicker rise in their blood sugar. But if you have the yolk with it or a different form of fat like avocado, your blood sugar won’t rise as quickly, because it takes longer to break (the food) down.”

 

Of course, all fat must be consumed in moderation, which is why many dieticians recommend eating only a few egg yolks each week.  And for patients with a history of vascular disease, keeping track of the eggs they eat each week is critical to their health.  A recent study from the National Institutes of Health found that patients with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease should limit their cholesterol intake from foods to about 200 milligrams a day.

 

“What I typically recommend for individuals who I see who have had heart disease or have high cholesterol, I recommend they eat no more than three egg yolks per week and then as much of the egg white as they want,” Cimperman said.  “Being conscious of the quantity they’re eating can be helpful.”

 

Despite their fat and cholesterol content, egg yolks are good source of vitamin A and iron, along with a host of other nutrients.

 

“Eggs, in general, are also good sources of B vitamin, thiamine is one example, and selenium, which is an antioxidant,” Cimperman said.  “And folate is a good vitamin, particularly for pregnant women.”

 

Cimperman noted that although eggs contain many health properties, egg preparation is critical, since the way an egg is made can completely alter its nutritional value. An egg fried in butter, for example, will wreak more havoc on a person’s blood cholesterol than a hardboiled egg.

 

But as long as consumers are conscientious about how many eggs they consume and the way they’re consuming them, they shouldn’t be overly concerned about their cardiovascular health.

 

“Even if you’re eating something like a nut – that also has saturated fat in it,” Cipullo said. “You have to look at the benefits, and the benefits of eggs providing overall protein and vitamins and being easy to eat, that outweighs the fact that it has a few grams of saturated fat.”

 

Read more : Fox News/health

Women advised to have babies before turning 35

Experts have suggested that women should aim to have children before turning 35.

During British Science Festival in Newcastle, a panel of doctors said that a woman should aim to start her family before the age of 35, as fertility declines sharply after this point, the Scotsman reported.

Experts warned that many women wrongly believe that procedures such as IVF could prolong fertility, saying that there was no way of reversing declining fertility.

Mary Herbert, professor in reproductive biology at the University of Newcastle, advised all women to think about family planning in the context of not just preventing pregnancy but also in the context of having their babies at a time when they still have their reproductive fitness.

The experts said that women are born with a pool of one to two million eggs that shrinks until, at the menopause, the eggs effectively run out.

However, it was also noted that is not only the number but the quality of eggs that is reduced by the passing years.

 

52 test positive for swine flu in Indore in 2013

With one more person testing positive for swine flu at a local hospital, the total number of those infected by the H1N1 virus in the city has reached 52 this year.

Health officials said laboratory examination of swab samples of a 50-year-old man from Sonkutch in neighbouring Dewas district confirmed that he had swine flu.

The patient is undergoing treatment for the last one week in a hospital and his condition is steadily improving, officials added.

Tea made from mamala tree may help fight AIDS

The prostratin compound shows both preventing HIV from infecting human cells and awakening dormant HIV viruses that are hiding inside human

A compound found in a medicinal tea brewed from the bark of a tree could help fight AIDS, scientists have found.

The tea used by tribal healers on the South Pacific island of Samoa to treat hepatitis contains the compound prostratin, extracted from the bark of the mamala tree.

Scientists have found a way to isolate the compound and synthesise it so it is 100 times more potent.
The new version of prostratin shows promise in laboratory tests for both preventing HIV from infecting human cells and awakening dormant HIV viruses that are hiding inside human latently infected cells.

Latent HIV cell reservoirs are untouchable by today`s antiviral medicines. Antiviral medicines reduce active virus levels in patients` blood and keep patients healthy.
But when patients stop the medication, the hibernating HIV in reservoirs awakens to resupply active virus. Prostratin flushes HIV out of its cellular sanctuaries so that antiviral drugs can attack and hopefully eradicate the HIV from the body.

Speaking at the American Chemical Society`s meeting in Indianapolis, Paul A Wender from Stanford University described efficient new ways of making prostratin.
Wender and colleagues first developed a way to make the tea ingredient, prostratin, in large amounts from readily available ingredients.

He described how that initial synthesis broke down a major barrier to probing prostratin`s antiviral effects. Until then, scientists had to extract prostratin from the bark of the Samoan mamala tree, and only tiny and variable amounts were so obtained.

Samoa is where another scientist, Paul Cox, in 1987 heard a native healer praise mamala bark tea as a remedy for viral hepatitis. It led scientists at the National Cancer Institute to analyse the bark and identify prostratin as a key ingredient.
Wender`s synthesis of prostratin opened the door to research on the substance and enabled his team to change prostratin`s architecture.

“We now have made synthetic variants of prostratin, called analogs, that are 100 times more potent than the natural product,” Wender said.

Wender`s group also synthesised bryostatin, a substance that occurs naturally in sea creatures called bryozoans, and appears even more effective for AIDS and have applications for Alzheimer`s disease and cancer.

“Bryostatin has shown great promise in laboratory experiments as the basis for development of potentially transformative medicines for cancer, Alzheimer`s disease and the eradication of HIV/AIDS,” Wender said.

Researchers have designed simpler and more readily synthesised analogs of bryostatin which are up to 1,000-fold more potent in flushing HIV out of its hiding places than prostratin.

Source Zee News/health

Multiple sclerosis originates in different part of brain

The proteins in the CSF of the new MS patients suggested physiological disruptions not only in the white matter of the brain where the myelin damage eventually shows up.

A physician has said that the reason behind the slow progress in researchers` quest for the cause of multiple sclerosis is that most of the research has targeted the wrong part of the brain.

Steven Schutzer, a physician and scientist at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, attacked the problem from a different direction. He is one of the first scientists to analyze patients` cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by taking full advantage of a combination of technologies called proteomics and high-resolution mass spectrometry.

He said that proteins present in the clear liquid that bathes the central nervous system can be a window to physical changes that accompany neurological disease and the latest mass spectrometry techniques allow us to see them as never before.

In this study, Schutzer used that novel approach to compare the cerebrospinal fluid of newly diagnosed MS patients with that of longer term patients, as well as fluid taken from people with no signs of neurological disease.

What Schutzer found startled one of his co-investigators, Patricia K. Coyle of Stony Brook University in New York, one of the leading MS clinicians and researchers in the country.

The proteins in the CSF of the new MS patients suggested physiological disruptions not only in the white matter of the brain where the myelin damage eventually shows up.

They also pointed to substantial disruptions in the gray matter, a different part of the brain that contains the axons and dendrites and synapses that transfer signals between nerves.

The new findings have been published in the journal PLOS ONE.

 Source: Zee News

Not all obese women are at childbirth risk!

“Healthy” obese women, who have given birth to a baby before, are at lesser risk than first-time mums of normal weight, according to a new study.

But a new study by Oxford University shows the risks are not the same for all obese women.

Lead researcher Dr Jennifer Hollowell of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University, said that the increased risk was fairly modest for obese women who did not have conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes or a previous caesarean section, and the risks were quite low if the woman had given birth previously.

She said that they found that around half of very obese women giving birth in obstetric units have medical problems or pregnancy complications when admitted.

Hollowell asserted that their study focused on women who were obese but otherwise healthy when they went into labour, and some of them had much lower risks than might have been expected.

The Oxford University researchers point out that, among healthy women with a straightforward pregnancy, childbirth risks are influenced more by whether someone is a first-time mum than whether they are obese.

They found that the chances of first-time mums of normal weight having medical interventions or complications during childbirth are greater than for `very obese` but otherwise healthy women having a second or subsequent child. The findings are published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

The findings have been published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Source: Zee news

 

Top 5 super foods to boost your immunity

5 super foods that you should indulge in to bolster your immunity and see if you can feel healthier all year.

They say ‘an apple a day, keeps the doctor away’, but, trust us, it takes more than just an apple to recharge one’s immune system. One can ensure that one’s body runs slickly by just eating food rich in nutrients which in turn will help one fight against those whacky flues and other seasonal diseases.

Here is your guide to 5 super foods that you should indulge in to bolster your immunity and see if you can feel healthier all year.

Yogurt: Yogurt contains important minerals like potassium, calcium, protein and B vitamins. Most important of all it contains bacteria which helps in absorption of nutrients in the intestines and stabilises the immune system. Yogurt is also good for the skin. It has excellent anti-fungal properties.

Green Tea: The presence of polyphenols and flavonoids in green tea boosts the immune system to make the human body stronger in fighting various infections. It is also an excellent source of Vitamin C and thus helps keep common cold and flu away.

Beetroot: Drinking a glass of beetroot juice daily actually aids blood flow to the brain and halts age-related ailments like dementia. Also, the purplish-red root detoxifies the liver and cures diseases of the digestive system.

Garlic: Garlic is one of the most commonly used spices in cooking because of its aroma and the enticing flavour it adds to food, but it has some impressive health benefits too. It has antiseptic, anti-fungal and nutritive properties, which help fight against bacteria and several infections.

Green vegetables: Green leafy vegetables like broccoli, spinach, lettuce, salad leaves act as great antioxidants and are a good source of Vitamin C that prevents fine lines. For this reason these are highly beneficial for the body. They also contain lycopene and beta-carotene which help block UV rays to thwart ageing. Not only do they help keep the body weight under control but also help fight toxins and keeps all kind of diseases at bay.

 Source: Zee News

Chinese boy whose eyes were gouged out is getting implants

A 6-year-old Chinese boy whose eyes were gouged out by an attacker is receiving implants at a hospital in southern China after a Hong Kong eye doctor volunteered his service.

The implants are a precursor to fitting Guo Bin — known as Bin Bin — with prosthetic eyes that will look and move more like normal eyes, but which do not restore vision.

A personal assistant to Dr. Dennis Lam Shun-Chiu said the surgery started Tuesday afternoon at Lam’s private hospital in Shenzhen.

Police in the boy’s home province of Shanxi say they suspect his aunt gouged out his eyes, but have not identified a motive for last month’s attack. The woman has since committed suicide.

Ho said Bin Bin and his family travelled to Shenzhen on Sunday.

 

Skipping Whooping Cough Vaccine Boosts Disease Risk

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According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, more than 41,000 cases of whooping cough, or pertussis, were reported in the United States in 2012. Infants and children between the ages of 7 and 10 are the two age groups with the highest incidence of the disease. The majority of pertussis deaths occur among infants that are younger than 3 months of age due to barriers such as health care or parental refusal of the DTaP vaccination.

While doctors recommend children from 2 months to 6 years old to receive their five DTaP shots — a combination vaccination that protects kids against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis — a significant percentage of kids skip or receive the shots late. Nearly half of children diagnosed with pertussis are found to be under vaccinated, according to a new study.

Findings published online in the journal JAMA Pediatrics revealed that children who skip their whooping cough shots or get them late have a high risk of developing the disease. Researchers conducted a matched case-control study of 72 children (3 to 36 months of age) born between 2004 and 2008 and who were diagnosed with pertussis, and 288 healthy children of similar age who did not catch the disease.

The researchers evaluated how many children in each group received their whooping cough shots on time, and how many children were under vaccinated. Jason Glanz, Ph.D., researcher of the study and senior scientist at Kaiser Permanente Colorado, and his colleagues defined under vaccination for the DTaP vaccine as missing or delaying one or more of the first four doses by the recommended age, says Medpage Today.

Nearly half — 47 percent — of the children diagnosed with pertussis were found to be under vaccinated, compared with 22 percent of healthy children in the study. The researchers believed that 36 percent of pertussis cases among children belonging to this age group could have been prevented with a one-time pertussis vaccination. “Under vaccination is an increasing trend that potentially places children and their communities at an increased risk for serious infectious disease,” wrote the authors of the study.

Under vaccination of whooping cough was attributed to barriers such as health care and parents choosing not to have their children vaccinated. Approximately 30 percent of kids who were diagnosed with pertussis were under vaccinated due to parental refusal. Parents’ failure to get their children vaccinated on time can contribute to a widespread outbreak of whooping cough in the U.S.

Currently, whooping cough has hit Texas the hardest with nearly 2,000 reported cases and two deaths this year, reports Discovery.com. The state could possibly have more cases than what has been reported in the last 50 years.

Severe obesity’ rising in US youth

About 5 percent of U.S. children and teens are “severely obese,” and the numbers are rising, according to a new statement from the American Heart Association.

Recent data suggesting that the rate of childhood obesity has started to level off, “a worrisome trend has emerged in the form of severe pediatric obesity,” the researchers wrote in their study published today in the journal Circulation.

“Severe obesity in young people has grave health consequences,” said study author Aaron Kelly, a researcher at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. “It’s a much more serious childhood disease than obesity.”

Severely obese children have higher rates of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular issues at younger ages, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and early signs of atherosclerosis – a disease that clogs the arteries

Treating children and teens with of severe obesity is challenging, the researchers said. Many treatments that are commonly used with some success in overweight and obese children, such as lifestyle changes, are less effective in those with severe obesity.

The researchers recommended using a standard definition for severe obesity in youth; they define children over age 2 as severely obese if they have a body mass index (BMI) at least 20 percent higher than 95 percent of other children of the same age and gender. The researchers also said any child with a BMI of 35 or higher should be considered severely obese.

Based on this definition, a 7-year-old girl of average height weighing 75 pounds, or a 13-year-old boy of average height weighing 160 pounds, would be defined as severely obese.

Most experts recommend treating severely obese children first with the least intensive treatment options such as lifestyle changes, the researchers said. More intensive treatments such as medication and potentially surgery should be considered after other treatments have failed.

Increased funding will be needed for research into whether new medications and other treatments, including surgery, are safe and effective in treating children with severe obesity, the researchers said.