medical news

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.

 

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

FDA receives 89 reports of illness from Chobani yogurt

 The Food and Drug Administration reports at least 89 people have reported getting sick after eating Chobani Greek yogurt manufactured in Twin Falls, Idaho.

FDA spokeswoman Tamara Ward told The Times-News on Monday that some have described nausea and cramps.

No link has been confirmed between the illnesses and the yogurt. However, Ward says the FDA is working with Chobani to hasten its voluntary recall.

Chobani last week told grocery stores to destroy 35 varieties of yogurt reported to have been contaminated by a mold associated with dairy products. The affected yogurt cups have the code 16-012 and expiration dates between Sept. 11 and Oct. 7.

Health officials have said the yogurt is not a public health threat, but the company said last week the “mold can act as an opportunistic pathogen for those with compromised immune systems.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/10/fda-receives-8-reports-illness-from-chobani-yogurt/#ixzz2eYvVt6qM

Learning and memory disorders could soon become history

 Researchers have created new, specific memories by direct manipulation of the brain that could help understand and potentially resolve learning and memory disorders.

Research led by senior author Norman M. Weinberger, a research professor of neurobiology and behaviour at UC Irvine, and colleagues has shown that specific memories can be made by directly altering brain cells in the cerebral cortex, which produces the predicted specific memory.

The researchers say this is the first evidence that memories can be created by direct cortical manipulation.

During the research, Weinberger and colleagues played a specific tone to test rodents then stimulated the nucleus basalis deep within their brains, releasing acetylcholine (ACh), a chemical involved in memory formation. This procedure increased the number of brain cells responding to the specific tone.

The following day, the scientists played many sounds to the animals and found that their respiration spiked when they recognized the particular tone, showing that specific memory content was created by brain changes directly induced during the experiment. Created memories have the same features as natural memories including long-term retention.

The study has been published in Neuroscience.

Autoimmune diseases may soon become history

An immunologist has said that with some prompting, the protein STING can turn down the immune response or even block its attack on healthy body constituents like collagen, insulin and the protective covering of neurons – targets of the debilitating diseases.

Medical College of Georgia researchers saw STING’s critical role play out after they injected into the bloodstream submicroscopic DNA nanoparticles, engineered carriers for delivering drugs or genes into cells.

They learned that the magic is in STING, which recognizes the molecule that senses the DNA then prompts release of IDO, or indoleomine 2,3-dioxyegenase.

Dr. Andrew L. Mellor, immunologist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University said that the fact that STING is actually part of the DNA-sensing pathway tells us something we did not know before.

DNA nanoparticles apparently look to the body a lot like the debris that results when dying cells release DNA from their nucleus.

Researchers already knew there was a link between STING and immunity: the food-borne bacterium listeria releases cyclic dinucleotides to activate STING in cells it has infected.

When MCG researchers put the STING stimulus into the bloodstream, it results in suppression. Other scientists have generated the exact opposite effect by injecting STING stimulating reagents under the skin.

In the bloodstream, there are a lot of immune cells called phagocytes that ingest the submicroscopic particles that wind up in the fluid portion of the cell, called the cytoplasm, where most cellular activity happens.

There, sensors detect the DNA and trigger signaling that leads to expression of IDO. In this complex interplay, STING appears essential to recognizing the molecule that recognizes the DNA.

The study has been published in the Journal of Immunology.

Copper can destroy highly infectious norovirus

      Copper and copper alloys can rapidly           destroy norovirus – the highly-                       infectious sickness bug, scientists have       discovered.

Worldwide, norovirus is responsible             for more than 267 million cases of                 acute gastroenteritis every year,                     researchers said.

The virus, for which there is no specific treatment or vaccine, can be contracted from contaminated food or water, person-to-person contact, and contact with contaminated surfaces, meaning surfaces made from copper could effectively shut down one avenue of infection.

The study, which was designed to simulate fingertip-touch contamination of surfaces, showed norovirus was rapidly destroyed on copper and its alloys, with those containing more than 60 per cent copper proving particularly effective.

Copper alloys have previously been shown to be effective antimicrobial surfaces against a range of bacteria and fungi.

The research reported rapid inactivation of murine norovirus on alloys, containing over 60 per cent copper, at room temperature but no reduction of infectivity on stainless steel dry surfaces in simulated wet fomite and dry touch contamination.

The rate of inactivation was initially very rapid and proportional to the copper content of alloy tested. Viral inactivation was not as rapid on brass as previously observed for bacteria but copper-nickel alloy was very effective.

One of the targets of copper toxicity was the viral genome and a reduced number of the gene for a viral encoded protein, VPg (viral-protein-genome-linked), which is essential for infectivity, was observed following contact with copper and brass dry surfaces.

“The use of antimicrobial surfaces containing copper in clinical and community environments, such as cruise ships and care facilities, could help to reduce the spread of this highly infectious and costly pathogen,” lead author Sarah Warnes, from the Centre for Biological Sciences at the University of Southampton, said.

“Copper alloys, although they provide a constant killing surface, should always be used in conjunction with regular and efficient cleaning and decontamination regimes using non-chelating reagents that could inhibit the copper ion activity,” said Warnes.

“Although the virus was identified over 40 years ago, the lack of methods to assess infectivity has hampered the study of the human pathogen,” Co-author Professor Bill Keevil, from the University`s Institute for Life Sciences, added.

“The virus can remain infectious on solid surfaces and is also resistant to many cleaning solutions. That means it can spread to people who touch these surfaces, causing further infections and maintaining the cycle of infection. Copper surfaces, like door handles and taps, can disrupt the cycle and lower the risk of outbreaks,” Keevil said.

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Cinnamon may help diabetics

Cinnamon, a common kitchen spice, may improve blood sugar levels for patients with type 2 diabetes, new research has found.

In a review study, researchers looked at data collected from 10 randomised control led trials involving 543 patients with type 2 diabetes.

These studies compared people who took cinnamon in a pill form, in doses ranging from 120 milligrammes to 6 grams a day, for a period of four to 18 weeks, to people who did not take cinnamon.

They found that people with type 2 diabetes who took cinnamon supplements had lower fasting plasma glucose levels compared with people who didn`t take them.
The most popular form of the supplement, which was used in six out of 10 trials, was Cinnamomum cassia, which participants were advised to take before, during or after their meals, `LiveScience` reported.

The review also found that cinnamon benefited several important measures of heart health: It reduced total cholesterol, LDL “bad” cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and increased HDL “good” cholesterol.

“When we combined the results of all the trials, we found that in patients with type 2 diabetes, there was a benefit on blood glucose and cholesterol levels,” said study researcher Olivia Phung, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California.

Preliminary studies have suggested that the compound, cinnamaldehydein, is responsible for cinnamon`s health effects.

Researchers suspect this substance may stimulate the release and effect of insulin, providing cinnamon its power to improve blood sugar.

“By enhancing insulin activity, it`s assumed there`d be better control of blood glucose,” Phung told the website.

The researchers have not yet determined the exact dose of cinnamon that may be helpful for people with type 2 diabetes, or the length of time or frequency the supplement should be taken.

The study was published in the journal The Annals of Family Medicine.

India gets WHO praise on polio front, no case in 30 months

WHO today lauded India`s efforts in eradicating polio and said the country has not reported a single case of polio in the last 30 months.

“You did it. For 30 months you have not got a single case of polio,” WHO Director General Margaret Chan said while addressing the meeting of Health Ministers of South-East Asia Region in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee.

She said India achieved the feat even as 194 countries in the world were speculating whether it can interrupt the transmission of polio.

She also urged nations of the region to adopt universal healthcare access for all.
“I want to urge countries in this region. Please continue to champion universal access to healthcare. That is the platform to deliver healthy human capital that is important for sustainable development in the future,” she said.

The WHO DG complimented India`s health-care initiatives in improving the health of its mothers and children and said, “This country is moving in a big way to promote better health to their women and to their children.”

She also lauded the role of Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad saying, “This country is very fortunate to have a minister totally dedicated to health.”

She also expressed concern over the growing incidence of heart disease which saw 9.4 million deaths every year and said high blood pressure has contributed to it.

“The scale of the problem is a challenge,” she said, adding that more than one in three adults across the world are suffering from high blood pressure.

Chan was here to attend the 31st Health Ministers` meeting of South-East Asia region which comprises of almost 1.8 billion people.

 

What leads to caffeine addiction?

Caffeine users can become dependent on or addicted to caffeine and may have difficulty reducing their consumption.

Researchers have now described the prevalence of caffeine dependence, clinically relevant indicators of functional impairment among caffeine users, and the criteria for making a diagnosis of caffeine use disorder.

Steven Meredith and Roland Griffiths, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, MD), Laura Juliano, American University (Washington, DC), and John Hughes, University of Vermont (Burlington), reviewed the published research on caffeine dependence. In the article “Caffeine Use Disorder: A Comprehensive Review and Research Agenda.”

They posed an agenda for future research that would include clinical, epidemiologic, and genetic investigations to lead to a better understanding of the clinical signs and the prevalence of caffeine dependence, as well as the risk factors and best approaches for treating caffeine addiction.

The study is published in Journal of Caffeine Research.