5111 Kali Era, Virodhi
Vikramarka Era, Virodhi
|Diet and Exercise
A cooperative research effort has revealed that vegetable proteins are effective
at preventing heart disease. In fact they are also effective at reducing
blood pressure too. The research took place at Chicago’s Northwestern University
by a team of researchers some of who were from the UK. They discovered that
it was an amino acid known as glutamic acid that was responsible for inducing
the health benefits derived. It was concluded that by better health
would result by including in your diet 5% more glutamic acid. This is now
the recommendation of the National Institutes of Health and the American
Heart Association. Although there are many sources of glutamic acid, the
main foods it is found in are pasta, tofu, beans and whole grain rice.
One important thing to remember is that the study was regarding naturally
existing glutamic acid within foods and not the artificially mass produced
mono sodium glutamate which is added to a huge amount of foods to make what
would otherwise be a very bland taste, become very tasty. This glutamate
has been shown to produce a lot of health problems.
Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way! (Mary Poppins)
A spoonful of sugar? Americans are swallowing 22 teaspoons of sugar each
day, and it's time to cut way back, the American Heart Association says.
Most of that added sugar comes from soft drinks and candy -- a whopping 355
calories and the equivalent of guzzling two cans of soda and eating a chocolate
bar. By comparison, most women should be getting no more than 6 teaspoons
a day, or 100 calories, of added sugar -- the sweeteners and syrups that
are added to foods during processing, preparation or at the table. For most
men, the recommended limit is 9 teaspoons, or 150 calories, the heart group
Life Expectancy in the US
U.S. life expectancy is standing at nearly 78 years, the government reported
in August. The average life expectancy for babies born in 2007 is nearly
three months greater than for children born in 2006. The new U.S. data
is a preliminary report based on about 90 percent of the death certificates
collected in 2007. It comes from the National Center for Health Statistics,
part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Life expectancy is
the period a child born in 2007 is expected to live, assuming mortality trends
stay constant. U.S. life expectancy has grown nearly one and a half years
in the past decade, and is now at an all-time-high. Last year, the
CDC said U.S. life expectancy had inched above 78 years. But the CDC recently
changed how it calculates life expectancy, which caused a small shrink in
estimates to below 78. The United States continues to lag behind about 30
other countries in estimated life span. Japan has the longest life expectancy
-- 83 years for children born in 2007, according to the World Health Organization.
Obesity is the elephant in the room of health care reform, a public health
catastrophe that kills well over 100,000 Americans a year. It costs the country
$147 billion a year in health care for overweight adults and promises to
shorten U.S. life expectancy for the first time since the Civil War.
Whatever Washington does this year to try to lower medical spending almost
certainly will be swamped by the nation's rising weight. Obesity lurks behind
the top chronic illnesses -- heart disease, diabetes, stroke and colon, breast
and prostate cancers, among many others. Treatment of each individual case
routinely costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. In two decades the obesity
rate has more than doubled. Amazingly, obesity strikes hardest at the poor
and minorities; black women are nearly 40 percent more likely to contract
heart disease than white women. Every third child born in 2000 is likely
to wind up diabetic. Two out of three American adults are overweight or obese.
Southern and Appalachian states are Ground Zero for the obesity epidemic.
The nation's fattest states are Mississippi, Alabama and West Virginia, according
to the federal Centers for Disease Control. The thinnest states are Colorado,
Massachusetts and Connecticut. But the problem is significant and growing
in all 50 states. Obesity is causing "death and illness on a massive
scale," according to a new study by University of Virginia and Urban Institute
researchers. But the United States also is feeling a rapidly escalating economic
burden directly related to the obesity epidemic.
Prevention is the only cure. Yet while health care legislation in Congress
would increase spending on prevention of chronic disease, it does little
to tackle the underlying obesity epidemic directly; in fact, most of the
bills are silent on what many contend would be one of the most effective
weapons: yes, a tax on junk food and soda. Junk food taxes are part of a
growing consensus among public health experts to adapt the successful fight
against tobacco to the more complex obesity epidemic. States around the country
have created commissions to battle obesity. Legislatures have taken varied
approaches. When people have no control over their eating habits and
life styles, the big government needs to step in! Anti-obesity activists
also encourage an emphasis on physical activity among children. Republicans
on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, however, mocked proposed
jungle gyms and bike trails in health reform legislation, yet studies show
such efforts help. The obesity problem took hold in just one generation,
a stunningly short period in the history of public health, as food is available
in plenty for even poorest of the poor in the US with the freedom of choice
to get sick!
Funded by the beverage industry, Americans Against Food Taxes wants to halt
what health-care researchers believe is one of the best weapons in the fight
against obesity: a soda tax. Sugary soft drinks of scant nutritional value
are responsible for a whopping 43 percent of the increase in Americans' daily
calorie intake since the late 1970s. Evidence suggests that the body digests
liquid calories in a way that accelerates weight gain. Soda serving sizes
have ballooned from 8-ounce bottles to 20-ounce containers and 30-ounce refills;
an average American now downs a gallon of soda a week.
for Promiscuous and Heterosexual Risky Behaviors Only
Circumcision, which may help prevent AIDS among heterosexual promiscuous
and high risk men in Africa who visit prostitutes, doesn't help protect gay
men from the virus, according to the largest U.S. study to look at the question.
The research, presented at a conference in August, is expected to influence
the government's first guidance on circumcision. Circumcision "is not considered
beneficial" in stopping the spread of HIV through gay sex. Previous
research has suggested circumcision doesn't make a difference when anal sex
is involved. It may help in vaginal sex with prostitutes. However, the CDC
is still considering recommending it for other groups, including baby boys
and high-risk heterosexual men. Circumcision is a sensitive issue laden with
cultural and religious meaning, and babies are involved. Jews and Muslims
circumcise babies as a mandatory religious/cultural practice. Other religions
consider it as removing healthy, functioning, sexual and protective tissue
from a person who cannot consent, and mutilating a child.
Despite previous understanding, it has now been proved that the human heart
does regenerate cells automatically. The medical research community has believed
that the heart did not regenerate any cells and thus if the cells got damaged
it meant the heart would be permanently under performing. The new research
results from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute reveal that heart cells regenerate
themselves at a rate of 1% every year.
Bitter Neem (chEdu
It is found in India and is an extract from Azadirachta indica otherwise
known as the Neem (vEpa) tree.
Neem has been used within Ayurvedic medicine for centuries with several ancient
medical texts recommending its use for a variety of ailments. For very good
reasons Neem is known as the “the village pharmacy" because the roots, bark,
leaves, seeds, fruits and oil are all utilised as effective herbal medicines.
Neem trees live for over 200m years and produce 50 kilos of fruit each year.
The chemicals that exist in Neem and that are useful in medicine are twenty
sulphur compounds, terpenoids and azadirachins. There are a huge number of
health benefits from Neem. It is a very effective anti-fungal and antiseptic
treatment that is used on eczema, ulcers, ringworm and boils. In fact Neem
has been recommended as a general antiseptic by the Science and Technology
for International Development Board's National Research Council's Ad Hoc
Panel. Several viruses are prevented from doing their dirty work on
account of Neem. It is not a cure but it does prevent virus infection. Chicken
pox and small pox are two that are effectively prevented from getting a foothold.
In India, Neem is sold by permission of the government for diabetics as a
Birth Rate Down
There aren't just fewer jobs in a recession. There are fewer babies, too.
U.S. births fell in 2008, the first full year of the recession, marking the
first annual decline in births since the start of the decade and ending an
American baby boomlet. U.S. births have fallen since the recession
began, says a U.S. report released this month. There were 4,247,000 births
in 2008. That's down about 68,000 from 2007, which was a record year for
births. But the decline also halts a string of increases since 2002. Births
were up in January, February and April 2008. But they fell in every other
month except September. Births declined in all but 10 states. Besides the
recession depression, a drop in immigration also may be a factor, experts
said. The report comes from the National Center for Health Statistics.
The downturn in the economy best explains the drop in maternity, some experts
believe. The Great Depression and subsequent recessions all were accompanied
by a decline in births.
Male Hormone Boosts Risky Choices
Female MBA students with higher levels of the "male" hormone testosterone
were far more likely than those with lower levels to choose finance careers
such as investment banking that can be lucrative but also risky, a team at
Northwestern University, and the University of Chicago found. Other studies
have found that male financial traders will make much more aggressive trades
on days when their testosterone is high.
Men and women both produce testosterone in their bodies, although men usually
have much higher levels. High testosterone causes facial hair other male
features and is linked with many traits, including aggression and a relish
Injections of the male hormone testosterone increased blood-pumping ability
and heart muscle strength in men with heart failure, Italian researchers
report. Use of testosterone for heart failure, the progressive loss of the
ability to pump blood throughout the body, has been controversial in some
cases. About one of every four men with chronic heart failure has evidence
of testosterone deficiency, as production of the hormone declines with age.
Few studies of testosterone therapy in heart failure have been done in the
United States, but several have been reported in Europe.
Notice: This material contains
only general descriptions and is not a solicitation
to sell any insurance product or security, nor is
it intended as any financial, tax, medical or health care
advice. For information about specific needs or situations,
contact your financial, tax agent or physician.
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AFP, womenfitness.net, about.com