The Plain Truth's: Your Health Today ONLINE

7 ways to boost your metabolism

Trick your body into burning calories more efficiently

By Samantha Heller, M.S., R.D., Health magazine

TODAY

updated 9:56 a.m. ET, Mon., March. 10, 2008

Your basal metabolic rate — the energy your body expends at rest — is generally determined by your genetics, but new research shows you can trick your body into burning calories more efficiently.

HEALTH magazine contributor Samantha Heller offers seven tips that can help boost your metabolism and lead to a stronger, healthier, leaner body.

Here are the best metabolism boosters:

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Overdose of Tussionex cough medicine can kill

WASHINGTON - U.S. health officials issued an alert on Tuesday about reports of life-threatening side effects and deaths linked to inappropriate use of UCB SA’s prescription cough medicine Tussionex.

The reports indicate doctors sometimes are prescribing, and patients sometimes taking, more than the recommended dose of Tussionex Pennkinetic Extended-Release Suspension, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Some people also are taking the drug more frequently than every 12 hours, the recommended time interval, or giving it to children under age 6, the FDA said. Tussionex is not approved for children younger than 6.

Gout Risk Linked To Genes

A study led by a team of scientists in Scotland suggests that genes may play a part in increasing one's risk of developing gout, a painful condition that affects the joints.

The study is published in the 9 March online issue of Nature Genetics and is the work of researchers based at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, and colleagues from other research centres in the UK and also in Croatia and Germany.

Gout (also called metabolic arthritis) is a painful condition caused when uric acid, a waste product of purine metabolism that in humans and great apes is mostly excreted via the kidneys into urine, deposits in the joints.

In some people the kidneys don't clear all the uric acid from the bloodstream, a condition that is called hyperuricemia.

Some 10 per cent of people with hyperuricemia go on to develop gout, where uric acid is deposited in the joints as monosodium urate crystals, resulting in inflammation and often considerable pain. The condition usually affects the joint of the big toe, but it can also affect fingers, elbows, ankles, knees and other joints.

Causes of gout have often been attributed to diet and lifestyle, with overconsumption of protein, refined sugar and alcohol being the main culprits, but the mystery that has remained is why thousands of people with these lifestyles don't develop gout.

The answer, according to this study, could be genetic. The researchers studied the genes of more than 12,000 people and found that a gene variant may increase or lower the risk of a person developing gout.

The gene variant in question is called SLC2A9, already known to scientists as a transporter of fructose, but in this new study, the researchers, led by Professor Alan Wright of the MRC Human Genetics Unit, found the variant also plays a key role in transporting uric acid.

Circumcision 'does not curb sex'

GOD KNEW THIS! That's why he commanded circumcism . It's in the Bible and now experts concur that Circumcision 'does not curb sex'

Charities warn circumcision should not replace condoms in the war on HIV

Circumcision does not reduce sexual satisfaction and so there should be no reservations about using this method as a way to combat HIV, a study says.

Nearly 5,000 Ugandan men were recruited for the study. Half were circumcised, half had yet to undergo surgery.

There was little difference between the two groups when they were asked to rate performance and satisfaction, the journal BJU International reports.

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Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy'

Wim Hof's Amazing Abilities to Withstand Freezing Temperatures

Wim Hof runs barefoot through the snow. (Henny Boogert)

By JOSEPH ANGIER
March 7, 2008

E-mail

It's a bitterly cold winter day and students on the University of Minnesota campus are bundled up, hurrying to their next class. Wim Hof, dressed in shorts, sandals and nothing else, appeared from the doorway of a school building.

He's known as 'The Ice Man."

Video

Submerged In Ice

Scientists can't really explain it, but the 48-year-old Dutchman is able to withstand, and even thrive, in temperatures that could be fatal to the average person

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AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water

Here is more on a story we brought you more than a month ago! Our water supply is filled with traces of medicines, from Viagra to female hormones! Pharmaceuticals found in drinking water is affecting wildlife and humans!Read More.........

Fatigued? Wake Up And Smell The Coffee

Looks Like Certain Foods DO Cause Acne!

By Robert R Barney

When I was a teenager, I suffered from severe acne. My grandma blamed fried foods, chocolate and dairy. My dermatologists informed me that foods had nothing to do with acne. It was a hormonal problem that caused too much oil production in the skin, which when trapped in a pore, the bacteria caused the acne. The only thing I could do was keep my face clean, use Retin-A and take a load of anti-biotic's that could cure an army. It also caused my ulcers. Now today, some research suggests that our diet may help cause acne in prone people. Yes, hormones (too much male hormone) plays the key role, but our diets can cause severe outbreaks.

As someone who experienced first-hand the trauma of severe acne, I sympathize with all of those people out there plagued with the malady. If you haven't had it very bad, one will never realize what this medical problem can do to the psyche of the afflicted.

The following viseo from CNN has some updated info on acne.

View Video.........

Could a Pill Replace Weight Loss Surgery?

(March 4) - Researchers in London may have found a way to treat obesity that doesn't involve risky surgery, according to BBC News and other sources.

Scientists say they've identified two proteins that control how the stomach expands when a person eats a big meal. They say this information lead to a drug that could block the protein that relaxes the stomach, making people feel full after eating a smaller amount of food.

Currently, doctors use gastric banding or stomach stapling surgeries to reduce the stomach's volume. But these options can be risky and have potential for serious side effects.

"A pill that could replace this surgery, yet have the same effect, might be a useful alternative," said Dr. Brian King, one of the researchers in the study.

A report in the Telegraph says that potential pill could still be 10 years away.

The University College London study appears in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Sources: BBC News and Telegraph.co.uk

Is Illegaal Immigration Making You Sick?

Is Illegal Immigration Making You Sick….Literally?!

The unchecked flow of illegal border-hoppers from the south is washing over us like a Texas flash flood. It negatively impacts our bottom line, greatly compromises our security, and erodes our national identity… but what nobody's talking about is how serious a public health issue it is.

They're trying to cheat the system, but in the end, you're the one who pays. Maybe you don't know this, but all immigrants who want to qualify for their green cards have to go through a thorough testing process. Basically, they have to prove that they don't have any contagious diseases or drug addictions.

Do you have any idea how rampant diseases are in Third World countries that don't have the same sanitary conditions and health care available to them? Our screening process is in place to keep us all safe. Whether people choose to accept it or not, the truth is that too many of the illegals who "bypass" this testing process are coming into this country with more than just their "dream of a better life"-they're also bringing very contagious, and sometimes very deadly, diseases.