High-Carb Diet Raises Women's Diabetes Risk

TUESDAY, Nov. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Black American women and Chinese women who ate foods high on the glycemic index -- which measures the effect of carbohydrates on blood glucose levels -- were at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes, two new studies found.

One of the studies also found that eating more cereal fiber may be associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes in black American women.

In one study, Boston University School of Public Health researchers examined data on more than 40,000 black American women who filled out a food questionnaire in 1995. Every two years through 2003, the women provided updates about their weight, health and other information.

During those eight years of follow-up, 1,938 of the women developed type 2 diabetes.

Women who ate high-glycemic index foods or ate a diet with a high glycemic load were more likely to develop diabetes. Women who ate more cereal fiber were less likely to develop diabetes.

"Our results indicate that black women can reduce their risk of diabetes by eating a diet that is relatively high in cereal fiber," the study authors wrote. "Incorporating fiber sources into the diet is relatively easy: A simple change from white bread (two slices provides 1.2 grams of fiber) to whole wheat bread (two slices provides 3.8 grams of fiber) ... will move a person from a low fiber intake category to a moderate intake category, with a corresponding 10 percent reduction in risk."

In the second study, researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., followed more than 64,000 Chinese women for an average of five years. During the study, 1,608 of the women developed diabetes.

High consumption of carbohydrates increased the risk of diabetes. Women who consumed the most carbohydrates (about 337.6 grams per day) had a 28 percent greater risk of developing diabetes than those who consumed the least (about 263.5 grams per day).

Women who had high glycemic index diets and who ate more food staples such as bread, noodles and rice also had an increased risk. For example, those who ate more than 300 grams of rice per day were 78 percent more likely to develop diabetes than those who ate less than 200 grams of rice per day.

"Given that a large part of the world's population consumes rice and carbohydrates as the mainstay of their diets, these prospective data linking intake of refined carbohydrates to increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus may have substantial implications for public health," the researchers concluded.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about type 2 diabetes.

Taken From : Yahoo News

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Cold-Fighting Foods

by Peter Jaret

A team headed by lung specialist Stephen Rennard at the Nebraska Medical Center found that in a test tube chicken soup suppressed inflammation, which causes many cold symptoms. But chicken soup isn’t the only food that might help. Here’s a daily menu based on experts’ recommendations.

Breakfast
Orange juice or half a grapefruit. Both are great sources of vitamin C, which could shorten the duration of colds.

Whole-grain cereal or bread. Whole grains are rich in vitamins and minerals, including zinc and vitamin E, which can help keep your immune system healthy.

Black tea. Real tea leaves (not herbal) have substances that speed the action of cilia, the tiny hairlike cells lining your nasal pas-sages, helping them expel germs.

Mid-morning snack
Yogurt. It can help you maintain a healthy immune system, as long as it contains beneficial bacteria. One cup of yogurt with live active cultures or a glass of kefir a day provides all you need.

Lunch
Chicken soup. The Nebraska researchers used a traditional recipe they called “Grandma’s Soup,” which had veggies like onions, parsnips, and carrots, along with chicken. But most of the commercial varieties they tested reduced inflammation, too. For even more protection, add a clove or two of garlic.

Anise-seed cookie. Anise seeds, with their licorice-like flavor, have been found to help break up congestion.

Dinner
Salad of bitter greens. Watercress and arugula can make a salad special—and research shows they may also have antiviral effects. Bitter greens are especially helpful in relieving chest congestion, sniffles, and coughs.

Pasta with tomato sauce and plenty of garlic. Because the pungent bulb is one of the most potent disease-fighting foods around, it’s worth having at least two servings a day. Raw garlic has the most benefits, but cooked garlic also packs a punch.

Ginger tea. It’s different and refreshing—and, Duke says, “ginger is loaded with virus-fighting substances, including several that act directly against cold viruses.” (One substance, gingerol, can suppress coughing.) Boil water; then steep a tablespoon of fresh shredded ginger for 2 or 3 minutes.

Taken From: Health Magazine

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Fluoride: How does it work?

Fluoride is a natural element that can be found in many things, like the
water we drink and the food we eat. Decades ago, scientists began to
notice that children who lived in places where fluoride occurred
naturally in the water, had fewer dental cavities.

Fluoride that is absorbed by your body is used by the cells that build
your teeth to make stronger enamel. Topical fluoride - fluoride that is
applied to the outside of the enamel - makes the crystals that form
enamel more durable. Tooth enamel crystals that have fluoride are much
more resistant to acid. They are less likely to breakdown and cause the
tooth surface to become porous.

If your dentist recommends a fluoride treatment during your next dental
visit, you'll be receiving topical protection. The fluoride your dentist
puts in your mouth will help make the crystals in your tooth enamel
stronger. Always use a toothpaste with fluoride. Look for the Canadian
Dental Association seal of approval on the toothpaste tube in your bathroom.

For an experiment on the protective power of Fluoride, check out the
Healthy Teeth Dental Experiments Page!

Taken From : Healthyteeth.org

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Calcium

Why do I need calcium?

Calcium is famous as a building material for bones and teeth, but you also need it to keep your heart and nerves in working order. If you're not getting enough of the mineral from outside sources, your body will steal it back from your skeleton, which can eventually lead to osteoporosis . Since you start losing bone density around age 35 anyway, this is a real threat. Fortunately, it's never too late to take action. No matter what your age, boosting your calcium can help you hold on to what you have and even rebuild a little. Getting the full recommended amount can reduce your risk of preeclampsia during pregnancy (a condition that can lead to miscarriage and even death) and may reduce your risk of colon cancer and help keep your blood pressure in a healthy range. What's more, new research has just found that it may be one of the best things you can do to relieve the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. When 230 women with PMS took 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day for three months, they reported that symptoms such as pain, food cravings, mood swings, and water retention had diminished by half. Researchers suspect that low calcium levels cause the body to secrete PMS-causing hormones.

How much should I be getting?

A team of nutritional experts recently recommended that the calcium requirements for adults be bumped up from the amount necessary to avoid deficiencies to new levels aimed at preventing disease. Instead of 800 milligrams a day, they now say you need 1,000 mg if you're between ages 19 and 50 years old, and 1,200 mg a day if you're over 50. Keep in mind, too, that your bones will be more likely to hang on to the mineral if you're exercising. Regular weight-bearing activities such as running, walking, or jumping rope, combined with strength training, put a kind of stress on the bones that makes them much more likely to retain calcium.

What's the best way to get calcium in my diet?

By eating more dairy foods. An 8-ounce glass of milk gives you 300 mg, almost a third of what you need for the day. So does a cup of yogurt or a thick slice of cheese, and low or nonfat versions deliver just as much if not more than their fattier counterparts. If you can't stomach dairy, calcium-fortified orange, grapefruit, and apple juice contain just as much as milk does. In fact, all kinds of foods are now being fortified with the mineral, including a wide range of breakfast cereals. After that, you're looking at tofu (the kind made with calcium sulfate, 435 mg per half cup), broccoli (180 mg per cup), and a few other foods that some people rarely touch such as figs, sardines, and kale.

Should I take a supplement?

Probably, but look to your diet first. Milk's big advantage is that it contains other nutrients that work in concert with calcium, such as potassium, magnesium, and vitamin D. Realistically, though, most women could use a supplement. Calcium is a bulky mineral, so you won't find much in multi-vitamins. Over-the-counter antacids such as Tums EX are a good source at 300 mg each, as long as you don't exceed the recommended dosage. Or try new the new chewable calcium supplements; one called Viactiv contains 500 mg of calcium and comes in a variety of flavors. Avoid supplements made from unrefined bonemeal, dolomite, or oyster shell, especially if you're pregnant or nursing, since they may contain small amounts of lead.

Can I get too much calcium?

Government researchers have set the safe upper limit at 2,500 mg a day, but there's little chance you'll ever get there.

References
Sarah L. Morgan and Roland L. Weisner, Fundamentals of Clinical Nutrition, 2nd ed., Mosby, 1998.

David Sharp, Calcium, Health, November/December 1997, pp103-107.

Calcium and Osteoporosis Prevention. American Dietetic Association. http://www.eatright.com/feature/0501.html

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Reviewed by Kathryn M. Kolasa, PhD, RD, a professor of nutrition at East Carolina University School of Medicine in Greenville, North Carolina.

Taken From: AHealthyMe.com

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Counting Calories? Big Meals Make It Tough

How good are your calorie counting skills? It all depends on the size of the meal.

Studies show that when people eat small meals, they are surprisingly accurate at guessing the calorie content. But when diners try to guess the calorie content of a large meal, most people get it wrong.

In the past, several studies have shown that thin people do a better job estimating the calories on their plate than people who are overweight. Some experts believe overweight people underestimate the calories they eat because they are embarrassed or in denial about their eating habits. But Cornell University researcher Brian Wansink theorized that it’s not the size of the person that matters when it comes to estimating calories. He believed it was the size of the meal that throws us off when trying to guess how much we are really eating. Because overweight people tend to eat more, their errors in calorie estimation are larger as well.

To check his theory, he asked 105 diners to guess the calorie content of a meal they ordered and ate. Then they were shown pictures of 15 different meals, ranging from 445 calories to 1780 calories.

The diners almost perfectly guessed the calories in the small meals. But as portions got bigger, calorie estimates were off by as much as 30 percent, according to the report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine last year. Importantly, whether the person was of normal weight or overweight didn’t affect accuracy.

The data are important because doctors and family members often believe people who are overweight are “lying to themselves'’ when they say they are eating reasonable amounts. “Doctors need to realize that overweight patients are no less accurate in their ability to guess calories than normal weight people,'’ writes Dr. Wansink in the Annals study. “Regardless of weight, everyone has the same intrinsic perception of calorie content.’’

Dr. Wansink says it’s important for people to know that even nutrition experts aren’t good at guessing the calorie content of large portions. His suggestion? When you sit down to a large meal, assume that the calorie content is about twice what you think it is.

Taken From: New York Times Blog

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Cold Medicine Scam Finally Exposed After Decades of Harming Children

Published on Wednesday, November 07, 2007
by Healthy News Service
By Mike Adams
NewsTarget, November 7 2007
Straight to the Source

Another example of outright quackery by pharmaceutical companies has finally gathered enough steam to achieve mainstream news coverage: Cold medicines are useless, say pediatricians who petitioned the FDA to ban the marketing of such products to children. Last month, an FDA advisory panel partially agreed with the recommendation, and voted to declare that such medicines should not be used in children younger than six.

Notably, the FDA advisory panel still somehow believes the same useless medicines are perfectly fine to be used by children older than six (they struck down a vote to recommend blocking the use of such medicines in children aged 6 to 11). This is especially relevant given that the panel openly admitted that there is no evidence that cold medicines work in older children, either.

This FDA advisory panel vote represents a landmark defeat for Big Pharma which has promoted cold medicine quackery for so many decades that very few people realized cold medicines should be questioned at all. Fortunately, some bright-minded pediatricians have apparently decided to take action to protect children instead of protecting Big Pharma. An official from the American Academy of Pediatrics has openly stated that the cold medicines don't work in children under six years old and may, in fact, be dangerous to their health.

Never tested on children Here's an interesting fact to consider when determining the credibility of the FDA's safety record: None of the cold medicines that have been marketed to children for decades -- right under the noses of FDA officials -- were ever tested in children!

You read that correctly: There has never been a single clinical trial showing these medicines to be either safe or effective for use in children. Not one.

So much for the "gold standard" of so-called "scientific medicine," huh? The FDA was fully aware of this over three decades ago when an FDA panel pointed out in 1972 that such products had never been tested on children. Apparently, the FDA saw no need to actually engage in real science regarding the safety of these products and continued to allow them to be sold by the billions (literally billions of doses per year) to unsuspecting parents.

Cold medicines are just the beginning of this medical scam The truth here is that most pharmaceuticals are medical hoaxes. Most drugs simply don't work on most people, and that statement is backed up by tens of thousands of clinical studies. The medical literature shows a popular breast cancer drug, for example, only prevents cancer in 0.5% of women, yet it's hyped as a "miracle" cancer drug. Many over-the-counter medicines are nothing but chemical sweeteners, artificial colors, syrups and small doses of dangerous laboratory chemicals. Some actually contain the very same chemicals banned by the FDA in herbal medicine.

For example, the FDA outlawed the selling of ephedra, a common herb in Chinese Medicine, yet the same active chemical is openly allowed to be purchased in over-the-counter cold medicines sold at virtually every corner pharmacy in America. Apparently, the FDA believes the herb is dangerous, but somehow the refined, highly-concentrated drug is far safer -- which is like saying crack is safer than coca leaf tea. The real reason for this double standard is that over-the-counter medicines are profitable for Big Pharma, and that's exactly why this drug remains on the market.

Oh, by the way, it's also the same over-the-counter medication used to manufacture methamphetamines ("meth"). Virtually the entire meth drug problem in the United States can be traced back to over-the-counter cold medicines manufactured by pharmaceutical companies. Does this bother the FDA? Not one bit. As long as the medications keep selling, Big Pharma is happy and the FDA keeps it all legal. The FDA, in this case, is a key enabler of the illegal meth drug trade.

Chemotherapy doesn't work, antidepressant drugs cause weight gain, diabetes drugs cause liver damage, statin drugs damage the heart, antipsychotic drugs caused suicidal behavior, arthritis drugs cause heart attacks, blood pressure drugs cause circulation deficiencies... need I go on? There's hardly a popular drug in the arsenal of Big Pharma that isn't fraudulently marketed, promoted and prescribed.

The scam of off-label prescribing Speaking of applications of prescription drugs, here's the big kicker that just blows the whole "scientific" medicine idea right out of the water: Off-label prescribing. This is when a drug has been approved for one thing -- such as foot fungus -- but is prescribed by a doctor for something entirely different, for which it has never been tested: Such as asthma. It's an extremely common practice, and it's entirely unregulated.

What is the FDA's view of this issue, where doctors are prescribing drugs for health conditions that they've never been tested for? No problem! The FDA is perfectly fine with it. There's no need to test the drugs for those other conditions at all!

In other words, there is absolutely no medical evidence supporting the use of prescription drugs in the way they are often prescribed by doctors! Once you realize the truth in this statement, you will instantly understand why the entire Big Pharma / FDA system of drug approvals, drug marketing and drug prescribing is a massive medical hoax. There is simply no requirement that a drug be approved for a specific health condition before being prescribed to treat it! Simultaneously, there is no requirement whatsoever that drugs be tested on children before being marketed to children and prescribed to children.

This issue with cold medicines and children is simply one small chapter in a grand, global hoax known as "pharmaceutical medicine." The whole thing is rotten at the core, steeped in corruption and quackery, and lacking any real ethics. These companies aren't out to create a better future for humanity, they're out to create better profits for themselves -- even if it means marketing potentially harmful cold medicines to children.

It's about time the world woke up and realized that these cold medicines are pure quackery. And someday, when enough sane scientists speak out, this whole system of pharmaceutical medicine will be demolished and replaced with something that actually works to enhance health (like drinking fresh juices from leafy green vegetables and citrus fruits). In the mean time, don't be suckered by over-the-counter medicines. Nearly all of them are laced with toxic chemical additives (such as coloring chemicals and chemical sweeteners), and virtually none of them do anything to actually help the body heal. Remember, too, that 16,500 people bleed to death out of their intestinal tract as a side effect from taking over-the-counter painkillers. The number of people killed by pharmaceuticals today is nothing short of astonishing.
Provided by Organic Consumers Association on 11/7/2007

Taken From : HealthyWorld Online

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Mouth Disorders

Your mouth is one of the most important parts of your body. Any problem that affects your mouth can make it hard to eat, drink or even smile.

Some common mouth problems include

• Cold sores - painful sores on the lips and around the mouth, caused by a virus
• Canker sores - painful sores in the mouth, caused by bacteria or viruses
• Thrush - a yeast infection that causes white patches in your mouth
• Leukoplakia - white patches of excess cell growth on the cheeks, gums or tongue, common in smokers
• Dry mouth - a lack of enough saliva, caused by some medicines and certain diseases
• Gum or tooth problems

Treatment for mouth disorders varies, depending on the problem. Keeping a clean mouth by brushing and flossing often is important.

Taken from: MedlinePlus

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