Sip red wine for healthy heart, brain

Drinking red wine can help protect the heart, and it may boost brain power too.

According to beauty magnate Liz Earle, creator of Liz Earle Beauty Company, drinking red wine in moderation may prevent blood clots and strokes, and hence keep the heart healthy.

The drink can even help in warding off certain cancers including colon and prostate, reports contactmusic.com.

A glass of red wine contains high amounts of antioxidants which not only help our cells fight against free radical damage, but also increase cholesterol levels in a positive way. It also contains procyanidins which help reduce blood pressure and protect against hardening of the arteries.

Earle also said that red wine may boost brain power, especially for older women.

But keep your intake to a glass or two, not a whole bottle!

Source: The new Indian Express

Ophthalmologist G. N. Rao honoured by US institute

Hyderabad, Nov 26 (IANS) The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) honored eminent ophthalmologist Gullapalli N. Rao with its outstanding humanitarian service award, said a statement here Tuesday.

G. N. Rao is the founder and chairman of L.V. Prasad Eye Institute. This award was bestowed on him in recognition of the eye care delivery model he created with the institute and his contributions to prevention of blindness globally.

The award was presented to Rao on Nov 17, at the AAO’s annual meeting in New Orleans, said the statement.

LVPEI’s model of eye care, represented by a pyramid, emphasizes the creation of sustainable permanent facilities within communities, staffed and managed by locally trained human resources, and linked effectively with successively higher levels of care.

Rao was also earlier the recipient of international prevention of blindness award of the Academy.

The L.V. Prasad Eye Institute was established in 1986-87 here as a not-for-profit comprehensive eye care institution.

Source: Sify

Garlic may help protect babies from pathogens in baby formula

A new study has revealed that garlic is good for your baby, as two compounds derived from garlic may help kill contaminants in baby formula.

The study from the University of British Columbia has found that the compounds, diallyl sulfide and ajoene, can significantly reduce the contamination risk of Cronobacter sakazakii in the production of dry infant formula powder.

“A trace dose of these two compounds is extremely effective in killing C. sakazakii in the food manufacturing process. They have the potential to eliminate the pathogen before it ever reaches the consumer,” corresponding author Xiaonan Lu from the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, said.

C. sakazakii is a food borne pathogen that is sometimes present in dry infant formula powder and other fortified foods. C. sakazakii infection is rare, but often fatal for infants. It can poison a baby’s bloodstream and lead to life-threatening cases of meningitis.

According to Lu, the garlic compounds could be used to prevent C. sakazakii contamination on food contact surfaces and in every step of food production- from processing, packaging and delivery.

Lu said that pipes used in the manufacturing of milk products are typically cleaned with chemicals like chlorine, but these garlic compounds are a natural alternative.

The study is published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Source: ANI

Plant Nutrient ‘Cocktail’ Kills Breast Cancer Cells

A new study finds a cocktail of compounds found naturally in plants killed all of the breast cancer cells collected in a laboratory, without any toxic side effects on normal cells.

Researchers at Louisiana State University tested six known protective chemical nutrients from turmeric, soybeans, broccoli, grapes and tea. Individually, they were ineffective against cancer.

But combined, they suppressed breast cancer cell growth in the lab by more than 80 percent, and eventually triggered the process leading to cell death.

The next step for the scientists is to see whether the compounds can prevent tumor formation and growth in mice.

Dr. Madhwa Raj, who led the study published in the Journal of Cancer, points out that all the ingredients in the cocktail come from foods people eat every day, but at much higher levels than they could possibly get from their diet.

Because he “really believes it can help women now,” he has established a bio-tech start-up company to bring the super-cocktail to market as a nutritional supplement for breast health, which does not require approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

Source: Voice of America

Sugary drinks may up uterine cancer risk

Postmenopausal women who consume sugar-sweetened drinks are at a higher risk of developing cancer of the endometrium – the lining of the uterus – a new study has warned.

Researchers found that postmenopausal women who reported the highest intake of sugar-sweetened beverages had a 78 per cent increased risk for estrogen-dependent type I endometrial cancer (the most common type of this disease).

This association was found in a dose-dependent manner: the more sugar-sweetened beverages a woman drank, the higher her risk.

“Although ours is the first study to show this relationship, it is not surprising to see that women who drank more sugar-sweetened beverages had a higher risk of estrogen-dependent type I endometrial cancer but not estrogen-independent type II endometrial cancer,” said researcher Maki Inoue-Choi.

“Other studies have shown increasing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has parallelled the increase in obesity,” said Inoue-Choi, who led the study as a research associate in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

“Obese women tend to have higher levels of estrogens and insulin than women of normal weight. Increased levels of estrogens and insulin are established risk factors for endometrial cancer,” said Inoue-Choi.

Inoue-Choi and colleagues used data from 23,039 postmenopausal women who reported dietary intake, demographic information, and medical history in 1986, prior to the cancer diagnosis, as part of the Iowa Women’s Health Study.

Dietary intake was assessed using the Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), which asked study participants to report intake frequency of 127 food items in the previous 12 months.

Between 1986 and 2010, 506 type I and 89 type II endometrial cancers were recorded among the women Inoue-Choi and colleagues studied.

They did not find any association between type I or type II endometrial cancers and consumption of sugar-free soft drinks, sweets/baked goods, and starch.

Source: Indian Express

 

Home remedies to get rid of tanning

As Indians, we are constantly worried about tanning. Understanding the process of tanning is important to prevent it and treat it in the future. So, instead of opting for the expensive de-tan or fairness facials, you could try using some natural methods to get rid of the tan. Here are three natural ways to do so. But before that, let’s understand a few basics of why does our skin tan.

Why do we tan?

It‘s simple, tanning is your body’s way of protecting your internal organs from damage brought on due to exposure to UV rays of the sun. Known to cause serious conditions such as cancer, UV rays are extremely dangerous to our internal organs as well. To help keep them from entering the body, our skin produces a pigment called melanin. On exposure to the sun, the skin automatically sends this pigment to the surface to help fight off the damage – the greater the sun exposure, the darker the melanin turns. This is because the sunlight breaks down the melanin leading to it getting oxidized and darkening the skin.

Why do some people tan more than others?

The amount and degree of darkness of melanin present in one’s body is determined by one’s genes. For example, people who are genetically fair, will have lesser and lighter melanin than darker people for whom the amount and color of melanin will change. What further worsens the situation is the fact that different people have different types of skin (varying in thickness and sensitivity); this again is a deciding factor for the amount of tanning.

How can home remedies help?

Lemon and glycerin face pack: This is a bleaching, blemish removal and skin softening pack. It can be made and stored for about three weeks. All you have to do is take about five tablespoons of glycerin and add the juice of one lemon to it. Make sure the consistency of the solution is not too thin. Now, apply this on your face – avoiding the areas around your eyes – and neck every night after washing your face with your regular face wash. Leave on for about half-an-hour and wash off with cold water. Make sure you gently pat dry. This pack gives best results when left on overnight. It will not dry and stretch your skin and will make your face glow the next morning.  You can even apply this pack on your hands and legs to get rid of tanning on them. Use this pack on a daily basis to see considerable difference in about one week.

Besan bleaching face pack: This is a scrub and facial glow pack all rolled into one. Take about two tablespoons of besan, add a pinch of haldi (the type that is used for application and not for cooking), a few drops of lemon juice and some milk (if you have very dry skin). You can add crushed orange peel to the mix for an added scrub effect. If you don’t have orange peel, use crushed masoor or moong ki daal to the mix. Now, mix all the ingredients and  make it a paste by adding cool rose water. Apply this paste all over your face and neck, carefully avoiding the areas around your eyes. Allow this to remain on the face till it dries up partially. Once dry, wet your hands and pat the areas that have dried out. This will make the area soft. Now, gently scrub your face and then wash away. This pack will give you glowing and supple skin. Continue doing this on a daily basis for a week to notice considerable difference.

Multani mitti and aloe vera face pack: This pack is great to soothe irritated and tanned skin. The aloe vera present helps to heal acne, remove blemishes, and soothe irritated skin. The multani mitti helps unclog pores and makes the skin glow. To make this pack, mix a few spoons of multani mitti with a tablespoon of aloe vera paste or juice. Add a pinch of haldiand make it a smooth paste. Add chilled rose water to dilute the pack. Apply this on your face and neck leave on for about fifteen minutes or till it dries. Pat with a wet hand to loosen the dried portions and scrub the face in gentle circular motions. Wash your face with cool water and pat dry. Use this face pack twice a week for desired results

Finally, while home remedies may seem a bit messy and time consuming, it is the best way to rid you of the tan without the side-effects of chemicals. Plus, it is much lighter on the pocket.

Source: health India

4 birth defects that could affect your oral health

It is likely that you have seen kids with a cleft in the lip sometimes continuing into the palate (or roof of your mouth) or tooth/teeth missing from birth. Well, these are what are called congenital anomalies or birth defects. In this post, we see how such defects often lead to oral health problems. Treatment in such cases is complex and involves multiple specialities in dentistry.

Congenital defect #1: Cleft lip and/or palate

Cleft lip and/or palate are the most common birth defects of the mouth. Cleft lip occurs when the two structures or processes that make up the lip do not fuse completely before birth. When the two developmental plates of the skull that form the roof of the mouth (hard palate) fail to join completely cleft palate is formed. Clefts lead to a gap or opening in the lip and palate. In cleft palate there is a direct connection between the mouth and the nose.

What problems can this cause?

Cleft lip and cleft palate can cause problems with sucking, swallowing, speech and socialization.

There could be a risk of aspiration (food going from the mouth to the nose and/or respiratory tract).

Teeth may be missing, deformed or displaced. This could cause adjoining teeth to move into the space causing improper bite, irregular gaps between teeth and difficulty in chewing etc.

Soft tissue folds and irregularities in the palate or roof of the mouth can increase the risk of gum disease.

 

Congenital defect #2: Congenital absence of teeth or anodontia.

This is a condition is which some or all of the teeth are missing by birth.

What problems can this cause?

Partially missing teeth can create huge gaps into which opposite and adjacent teeth move. This causes improper bite which can lead to excessive teeth wear, injury to the supporting structures (periodontium) of the teeth and loss of bone around the teeth. Misaligned teeth can also make it harder to clean them thereby causing decay and gum disease.

Congenital defect #3: Tongue tie or Ankyloglossia.

Here the tongue is literally ‘stuck’ or ‘tied’ to the floor of the mouth.

What problems can this cause?

Ankyloglossia can cause swallowing and speech difficulty.It may also make maintaining oral hygiene difficult giving rise to gum disease, cavities etc.

Congenital defect #4: Congenital enamel hypoplasia or Amelogenesis Imperfecta

Amelogenesis imperfecta is a genetic disorder in which there is underdevelopment of tooth enamel causing it to be unusually thin, discoloured, pitted and fragile. Rarely, it may be associated with abnormally enlarged gums which make oral hygiene difficult.

What problems can this cause?

This condition causes teeth to be prone to rapid wear and breakage. Thin enamel increases the sensitivity of the teeth to temperature changes. There is increased risk for teeth decay. When associated with gum enlargement, it can cause bad breath as well as discomfort when chewing or talking.

Source: News India

Lifestyle factors linked to healthy pregnancy

Researchers have identified certain lifestyle factors that make it more likely for a woman to have a normal pregnancy.

They include increasing fruit intake before pregnancy, being a healthy weight, reducing blood pressure, stopping drug and alcohol misuse, and being in paid employment during pregnancy.

Although further work is needed to determine whether these associations have causal importance, this study implies that targeted interventions that encourage women to make healthy choices before and during pregnancy “may increase the likelihood of normal pregnancy outcomes,” the researchers said.

Researchers from the UK, Ireland and New Zealand carried out a study to identify factors at 15-20 weeks’ gestation associated with a subsequent uncomplicated pregnancy. Their aim was to highlight those factors amenable to change before pregnancy, thereby informing decisions about interventions that could increase the likelihood of a normal outcome.

A total of 5,628 healthy women with singleton births (and no previous pregnancies) were recruited to the Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints study between November 2004 and August 2008.

The primary outcome was uncomplicated pregnancy defined as a “normotensive pregnancy, delivered at more than 37 weeks resulting in a live born baby who was not small for gestational age and did not have any other significant pregnancy complications.”

Factors amenable to improvement that reduced the likelihood of an uncomplicated pregnancy (that is, were detrimental) were increasing body mass index and blood pressure and misuse of drugs (including binge drinking) in the first trimester.

Factors amenable to improvement that increased the likelihood of an uncomplicated pregnancy (that is, were beneficial) were high fruit intake in the month before pregnancy and being in paid employment 15 weeks into pregnancy.

Detrimental factors that could not be altered were being in a lower socio-economic group, high blood pressure before pregnancy while taking oral contraceptive pills, family history of high blood pressure in pregnancy and bleeding during pregnancy.

Source: Deccan Chronicle

How to beat obesity, lifestyle diseases, by experts

EXPERTS have recommended lifestyle modifications and regular exercise as means to overcome the challenge of obesity and various complications that go along with it.

The various experts, who spoke in Lagos recently at walk against obesity exercise organized by Divine Physician and St. Luke Chaplaincy in partnership with Managed Healthcare Services (MHS) Limited, a health maintenance organization (HMO), said obesity was becoming a rampant condition among Nigerians.

Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH)/College of Medicine Lagos University Teaching (CMUL) consultant endocrinologist, Dr. Sandra Iwuala, who spoke at the event, attributed the health condition to lifestyle changes which resulted from urbanization, sedentary lifestyles, dietary changes among other factors.

Iwuala warned that if not quickly handled that obesity could lead to several health risks like diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, cataract among others.

Highpoint of the event was articulated walk engaged by hundreds of children, women and men from Idi-Araba to Masha-Kilo back to Idi-Araba- a distance of several kilometers.

Managing Director of Managed Healthcare Services (MHS) Limited, Dr. Patrick Korie explained that the walk was necessary to avoid and raise awareness about obesity, a condition, which he said, is becoming prevalent among Nigerians.

The public health expert advised Nigerians to exercise at least 30 minutes three times a week to beat obesity, adding that his organization was concerned about the wellbeing of Nigerians.

Head Chaplain, LUTH-based Divine Physician and St. Luke Chaplaincy, Rev.Fr. Kwame Owiredu said the awareness was Christ-like way of looking after the physical wellbeing of people in general.

Iwuala said, “Obesity is the excessive accumulation of body fat to the extent that it may cause harmful effect to the person or affect the person’s health negatively. We usually define obesity as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kilogram per metre square or more.

“We get that by measuring the weight of a person in kilogram and divide it by square of the height. For instance, if somebody measures 70kg and the height is 1.6, to get the BMI, we say 70 divided by 1.6 times 1.6 to get the BMI. A BMI above 30 is obesity; a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is overweight. It is not just enough to say I am not obese; my BMI is not yet 30. If your BMI is still in the overweight category, you still are still at risk of having some of the complications that obesity can bring.

“Obesity has lots of health implications. Fat is something not quiet but active; secrets hormones and doing lots of things to the body. It causes a wide range of disorders to the body, starting from the head to the toe. It can increase risk of cataract, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, asthma, sleep apnea, joint problems like osteoarthritis among others.

“Obesity is rampant because of lifestyle changes, dietary changes, urbanization so that people no longer exercise anymore; everyone wants to take bike or board a bus from point A to point B, instead of walking. Every day, we see more and more people coming down with these disorders, and obesity is one of the contributing factors. We find people whose mothers, for instance, developed diabetes at age 50 developing diabetes at 20 because of the wrong lifestyle they are living compared to the one their parents lived. We are having younger people, even at age 10, coming down with various complications of obesity.”

She urged Nigerians to check their BMI regular and live healthy lifestyles. “As individuals, we should know the category (of weight) we belong to. Check your BMI today. If your BMI is in the normal category of 18.5 to 24.9, you have to do everything to maintain it,” she said.

Source: The Guardian

Warning labels on cigarette packets could stop millions from smoking

Researchers suggest that the US would have several million fewer smokers if graphic warning labels similar to those introduced in Canada nearly a decade ago were imposed on cigarette packs.

The Canadian labels led to a 2.9 to 4.7 percentage point drop in smoking rates — which would mean 5.3 to 8.6 million fewer smokers in the U.S. if the same result were obtained, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Waterloo.

The researchers used statistical methods to compare smoking rates in the U.S. and Canada for a nine-year period before and after the graphic warning labels were introduced in Canada. The price of cigarettes was factored into the analyses.

The study found the “regulatory impact analysis” used by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to gauge the effectiveness of Canada’s graphic warning labels to be inaccurate.

The FDA had estimated only a 0.088 percentage point reduction in smoking rates after graphic warning labels were mandated in Canada.

Jidong Huang, research specialist at UIC’s Institute for Health Research and Policy and lead author of the new study, said when he and his collaborators corrected the FDA’s methodological flaws and took into account the purchase prices paid by smokers, they found that graphic warning labels reduce cigarette-smoking prevalence at much higher rates.

Graphic warning labels on cigarette packages have been implemented in more than 40 countries, but not in the US.

In 2009, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gave the FDA authority to regulate the manufacture, distribution and marketing of tobacco products, including requiring prominent warning labels for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.

However, the tobacco industry challenged the FDA’s requirement for graphic warning labels, and a US Court of Appeals ruled that the federal agency lacked evidence that graphic warning images would reduce the number of Americans who smoke.

Studies had shown that such labels increase knowledge of the harmful effects of tobacco products, motivate smokers to attempt quitting, and decrease relapse rates among smokers who have quit, but not whether they reduce overall smoking rates.

The UIC and University of Waterloo researchers hope the new study will provide support for a revised FDA proposal to require graphic warnings.

The findings are published online in the journal Tobacco Control.

Source: DNA India