Learning God's Healthy way to a better Life!
When someone well-known such as Christina Applegate is diagnosed with breast cancer, many adult women become concerned as to what the future holds for them.
While it's true that 1 out of 8 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in her lifetime, there are also a lot of misconceptions about the disease floating around.
Although Applegate is just 36 years old, the fact remains that breast cancer is more likely to strike women over the age of 50.Read More
By Robert R Barney
Norfolk, Va -- 
Robert A. Levy, senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and Rosalind B. Marimont, a retired mathematician and scientist, formerly with the National Institutes of Health have published a paper examining the claim of 400,000 deaths attributed to cigarette smoking each year by the United States government. Their finding will shock probably everyone of you, even if you are convinced that cigarettes kill millions. The findings are amazing. For example are you aware that 45% of these deaths attributed to smoking are for people OVER 75? This means that according to our own government statistics, nearly 50% of the people who “die from smoking” do so after the average non-smoker dies! Are you aware that these same stats show that 60% of this 400,000 figure are over 70 years old? Now another shocker… Almost 20% of this death toll from smoking (80,000 deaths a year) occur to those over 85!
Do these statistics bother you? They bother me and I am a nonsmoker. They bother me because again, our government vilifies those that they want to tax and regulate. The horrible truth about why the United States went after big tobacco has more to do with President Johnson’s “Great Society” and the civil rights legislation than it did for our health. The same government that put cigarettes into soldiers C-rations to keep soldiers alert and awake in WWII, know was attacking the product by 1964. Why? As you will discover, it had more to do with Democrat politics than it did health.....Read More
About a month after being vaccinated against the cervical cancer-causing HPV virus, 13-year-old Jenny Tetlock missed the lowest hurdle in gym class, the first hint of the degenerative muscle disease that, 15 months later, has left the previously healthy teenager nearly completely paralyzed. Did the vaccine, Gardasil, cause her condition? Her father, Philip Tetlock, a psychology professor at UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business, has embarked on an odyssey to find out whether the vaccine or random coincidence is to blame.
Read More...While the back-to-school-sale season is almost upon us, don't let go of savoring the fresh tastes of summer berries that can help boost your health all year.
Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are all concentrated sources of plant compounds called polyphenols. Other polyphenol-rich foods such as dark chocolate, tea and red wine have been shown to benefit heart health. And now the news is in about berries. A study published recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that eating a moderate amount of berries can benefit heart health three ways.
 | ||
| bigstockphoto.com | ||
|
Nutrition researchers in Finland added berries twice a day to the diet of middle-aged men and women. After eight weeks, tests showed lower blood pressure, higher HDL "good" cholesterol and less platelet aggregation, potentially preventing blood clots. So, adding beautiful blueberries to pancakes or sweet and colorful strawberries to smoothies not only adds eye appeal to the menu, it's a heart- healthy move, too.
Among the lowest in calories per ounce of any foods, berries are chock-full of nutrients, most notably vitamin C and the blood pressure-lowering mineral potassium. One cup of strawberries (53 calories) contains more than 100 milligrams of vitamin C, almost as much as a cup of orange juice. Strawberries are also rich in a potent plant compound called elagic acid, which is being studied for its anti-oxidant and anti-cancer properties.
One cup of blueberries (80 calories) offers similar amounts of vitamin C, potassium, folate and fiber. Recently, researchers at Tufts University analyzed 60 fruits and vegetables for their anti-oxidant capability. Blueberries came out on top, rating highest in their capacity to destroy cell-damaging free radicals. Anthocyanin, the blue-red pigment in blueberries and strawberries, is another powerful plant anti-oxidant that works with vitamin C to protect and repair skin cells. So, a bowlful of berries is good for health and beauty.....Read More
What would you do if had an incurable disease and heard that something simple and common may help -- a chemical found at a pet store, or in an allergy drug, or a breakthrough injection a man in California developed?
It's the sort of dilemma Alan Romantowski, a former airline pilot, faces with each news story about Alzheimer's disease treatments.
"It is tempting; I'm taking ginseng, fish oil, ginkgo and all the over-the-counter things that the doctors say don't have any proof that it helps, but it doesn't hurt," said Romantowski, 55, who is suffering from the early stages of the disease.
And not all of the solutions Romantowski has sought have been from a pharmacy. Earlier this week, he says, he "was just about packing my bags to California" to try an unproven treatment that involved injections into his head -- that is, until his doctor let him know that the so-called breakthrough treatment he heard about in California was "wacky" and unproven. ...Read More
Should sleepless nights keep you awake worrying about your heart? A new study about sleep apnea and heart attacks may say yes. Obstructive sleep apnea is long established as a risk factor for many cardiovascular conditions, including arrhythmia and high blood pressure, in addition to its association with diabetes and obesity. Now, researchers have found a link between sleep apnea and nighttime heart attacks. The study is one of many that has two major cardiac organizations calling for more research on the connection. Think you or a loved one might have sleep apnea? Ask your doctor about a sleep study to diagnose it.British researchers have linked prostate cancer with X-rays. A study conducted by the University of Nottingham shows a connection between diagnostic radiation and elevated risk of young-onset prostate cancer, which affects about ten percent of men diagnosed. Young-onset prostate cancer is by definition found in men before the age of sixty....Read More
Research shows that boosting levels of potassium in the diet may lower a person's risk of developing high blood pressure and may decrease blood pressure in people who already have "hypertension."
High blood pressure remains the chief reason for visits to doctors' offices and for prescription drug use in the U.S., two researchers from Nashville, Tennessee note in a special supplement to The Journal of Clinical Hypertension this month.
Dr. Mark C. Houston, from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Dr. Karen J. Harper from Harper Medical Communications, Inc. in Nashville, also point out that a healthy intake of potassium is thought to be one reason why vegetarians and isolated populations have a very low incidence of heart disease.
In isolated societies consuming diets low in sodium and high in fruits and vegetables, which have and therefore high levels of potassium, hypertension affects only 1 percent of the population, they note. In contrast, in industrialized societies, where people consume diets high in processed foods and large amounts of dietary sodium 1 in 3 persons have hypertension.
The typical American diet contains about double the sodium and half the potassium that is currently recommended in dietary guidelines. Low potassium intake is thought to contribute to the prevalence of high blood pressure in Americans.
Based on their review of published studies on the topic, Houston and Harper say if Americans were to boost their potassium intake, the number of adults with known high blood pressure could fall by more than 10 percent. In 2006, the American Heart Association issued new guidelines calling for Americans to get 4.7 grams per day of potassium.
"An increase in potassium with a decrease in sodium is probably the most important dietary choice (after weight loss) that should be implemented to reduce cardiovascular disease," Houston and Harper contend.
Some studies also show that diets containing at least 500 to 1,000 milligrams magnesium daily and more than 800 milligrams of calcium daily may help lower blood pressure and the risk of developing high blood pressure.
"A high intake of these minerals through increased consumption of fruits and vegetables may improve blood pressure levels and reduce coronary heart disease and stroke," Houston and Harper conclude.
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Hypertension, July 2008.
