Lemon(Cr/freedigital)

Celebrities such as Beyonce used the lemon diet to lose 20-10 kilos in 2 weeks and Naomi Campbell? She simply swears by it.
Today we’re talking about what this celebrity lemon diet is, and how it helps or does not help permanent and healthy weight loss. Will the lemon diet really help you shed those extra kilos? Or will it just set you up for long term weight management issues? Let’s find out.
What is the celebrity lemon diet? The celebrity lemon diet is also called the ‘master cleanse’ diet in which one has to observe a 10 day long fast that supposedly flushes out toxins from one’s body. While on this diet, you consume around 6 to 12 glasses of lemon juice mixed with sea salt. The mixture essentially involves maple syrup, filtered water, pepper and lime juice. You are forbidden from eating solid foods. The diet is pretty tough and it is said that eating crushed ice helps. One is advised not to exercise or do any kind of activity in which the person is most likely to get tired.
Is the ‘master cleanse’ lemon diet any good? Well.. People who have observed the diet tend to swear by it as it leads to instant weight loss, fewer cravings of junk food and skin glow (although we seriously doubt this skin glow). The diet comes with side effects too. One may experience recurring headaches as the extreme fasting takes a toll on the body. And in order to maintain the lost weight, one has to continue measuring their calorie intake closely. Regular exercise becomes a must in order to maintain the lost water weight. Also, one needs to check their salt intake as high levels of sodium, if consumed after following this diet, can lead to instant weight gain.
Many experts believe that this diet does not work as a complete solution to weight loss. Though the Vitamin C found in lemon helps in amplifying fat oxidation, which leads to sudden weight loss, the diet is devoid of the right balance of nutrients such as carbohydrates and proteins. This diet can be best compartmentalized as a model diet and works best for people who need to look thin fast.
The lemon diet in no way promotes a healthy lifestyle and is a happy part of fad diets which may or may not work. Though, including a bit of lime juice in your everyday diet ensures a good supply of much needed Vitamin C, it is simply not the best solution for your weight loss.

Ref: ToI

Tai Chi helps heart failure patients

The ancient Chinese exercise of Tai chi may improve quality of life for people suffering from heart failure.
Tai chi combines flowing circular movements, balance and weight-shifting, breathing techniques and focused internal awareness. It has already been shown to be helpful with a number of medical conditions, including hypertension (high blood pressure), balance, musculoskeletal diseases and fibromyalgia.
Maintaining an exercise regimen is important in heart failure and Tai chi may be a suitable alternative or adjunct exercise for these patients. Tai chi incorporates low / moderate intensity aerobics with strength training, breathing techniques, relaxation and stress management.
Heart failure results in substantial lowering of functional capacity, quality of life and mood. While traditional aerobic exercise may provide some benefits to patients with heart failure, many heart failure patients have difficulty in engaging and sustaining regular aerobic exercise. There has been interest in using mind-body exercises such as Tai chi for patients with heart failure. It may be more easily implemented, pleasant and have the additional benefit of meditation.
Researchers randomly assigned 100 American patients with heart failure to a 12 weeks Tai chi program or to educational sessions about heart failure. It was found that although both groups had similar oxygen use during six-minute walks, those who practiced Tai chi showed greater improvements in quality of life. In addition, those taking part in Tai chi also showed improvement in mood and improvement in the number of calories burned each week, compared with those in the education programme. People with chronic heart failure suffer from the inability of the heart to pump blood efficiently to meet the body’s needs. The condition causes shortness of breath, coughing, chronic venous congestion, ankle swelling and difficulty exercising. Tai chi training improved important parameters of quality of life, mood and confidence to perform exercise in patients with heart failure.
As a complement to standard medical care, this study demonstrated that Tai chi enhanced quality of life, mood and exercise capacity. Tai chi appears to be a safe alternative to low- to moderate-intensity conventional exercise training in patients with heart failure. Further studies are however needed to compare Tai chi to aerobic exercise training, and to determine if participation in Tai chi will have a favourable impact on risk of hospitalisation or survival in patients with heart failure.

Ref: NDTV Doctor

Girl eating an Apple(Cr/freedigital)

It’s a natural trend to eat light during summer, and you can easily do so without feeling deprived.
It’s also natural for one to opt for a glass of cold fruit juice or an ice cream instead of a hot soup. Interests shift from high calorie foods of winter to low calorie foods. But, dietician Gunasekharan believes that summer is the season when it’s easiest to eat healthy.
Drink water Youngsters usually consume more aerated drinks during the summer. But experts say that water is a smarter choice. Water keeps the body cool and prevents dehydration.
Have a lot of fruits and vegetablesSummer is the best season for a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables; make the most of them. Include at least two servings of fruits and vegetables to your daily diet. Fruit smoothies and milkshakes are easy to make and healthy options. Pan-roasted fresh vegetables or innovative salads are also a tasty option without being heavy on the tummy.
Curd and yoghurt are cool options Include some form of curd or yoghurt in your meals. Buttermilk is another great cooler. Having a glass of buttermilk or chaas just before stepping out into the sun, helps prevent dehydration.
Get in your proteinMany people tend to reduce their protein intake during the warmer months of the year. However, you should not leave out proteins altogether. It is an important part of your diet.
Salads are for smarties Eating a lot of fresh salads during the summer months is a great idea. However, when having a lot of salads, you need to make sure that your nutritional requirements are taken care of. A fresh dressing made from lemons and olive oil is going to be a lot healthier than a creamy, mayo dressing.
Make sure that your food is fresh All the health benefits that you get from eating light summer food may be wasted if you fall sick because you’ve eaten food that is not fresh.

Ref: TOI

Diet(Cr/freedigital

Women who opt for dieting fads which promise rapid weight loss not only regain weight after some time but also cause grave damage to their physical and mental health, a study says.
A survey of more than 2,300 people revealed that more than one in five women have been on at least five diets
and regained weight and many have been on at least 20 diets without keeping the pounds off.The survey, conducted by Slimming World and YouGov, reveals that 21 percent of women have yo-yo dieted at least five times, 11 percent have done it at least 10 times and six percent have dieted and put the weight back on again more than 20 times.
Yo-Yo dieting refers to repeated cycles of weight loss and weight gain which cause feelings of failure and a loss of confidence in your own ability to make changes.
Slimming World is using the theme ‘Stop yo-yo’ to raise awareness about “the dangerous cycle of repeated loss and regain of body weight and its dramatic effects on mental and physical health.”
Jacquie Lavin, Slimming World’s head of nutrition and research, says: “Yo-yo diets can be both unhealthy for the body and psychologically upsetting.
“In recent years, the UK has seen a huge rise in the number of faddy diets promising rapid weight loss through things like cutting out food groups, following unbalanced eating plans and only consuming liquid foods.”
“The good news is it’s never too late to break the yo-yo cycle and losing weight and keeping it off can be easier than you think.
“Latest research suggests a diet of satiating low-energy dense foods like fruit and vegetables, pasta, potatoes, rice, fish and lean meat is more effective for long-lasting weight loss,” said Lavin, according to a Slimming World statement.
“These foods fill you up and are naturally low in calories. Avoiding feelings of deprivation by enjoying the odd glass of wine or chocolate treat without feeling guilty is also important to long term success,” she said.

Alcohol(Cr/freedigital)

Alcohol has as many calories as pure fat
Dieter stick to salad instead of dessert to control their weight but barely resist themselves from a glass of alcohol that contains as many calories as pure fat, according to a new study.
“The study conducted by UK alcohol awareness charity Drinkaware revealed that many dieters are unwittingly undoing all their good work by accompanying their meal with a favorite drink,” reports the Daily Mail.
A glass of champagne contains 95 calories, the same as a slice of treacle tart. A glass of wine is the equivalent of a choc ice at 134 calories, and two Yorkshire puddings could take the place of two gin and tonics, claimed the study.
Drinkaware said, “Almost half of consumers are trying to lose weight, yet they have no plans to reduce their drinking.”
The charity, which surveyed 2,000 UK adults, found one in three intends to monitor their calorie intake over the next month. But only one in 10 is thinking about tracking the alcohol they drink.
Less than a third of adults realized there are 134 calories in a 175ml glass of wine, but nearly half know there are 337 calories in a cheeseburger.
“One pint of four per cent beer is equal to a sugar-coated doughnut at 193 calories, and three pints of five per cent lager are a match for an all day breakfast,” according to the research.
It suggested a link between drinking – especially binge drinking, or five or more drinks a session – and abdominal obesity, which can contribute to heart disease and diabetes.
Chris Sorek, chief executive of the charity, said, “Many dieters did not realize a few drinks could make them pile on the pounds.”
“While they might make healthy lifestyle choices in other areas of their life, they might not know that sharing a bottle of wine with their partner exceeds the daily unit guidelines and is the equivalent of eating a slice of cheesecake,” he added.

Almonds(Cr/freedigital)

Diabetic? Forget pills, pop almonds

As India grapples with a major public health problem, being home to an estimated 50.8 million diabetic population, the largest in the world, experts say “consuming a few almonds daily can help combat the lifestyle disease.”
“Eating almonds has a positive effect on reducing low density cholesterol and also improves insulin sensitivity; so it does help in pushing diabetes away,” says Ritesh Gupta, head of clinical operation at Fortis C-Doc Hospital.
“It is a healthy source of fibre, protein and calories and has been found to have a positive effect in reducing bad cholesterol and improved insulin sensitivity,” Gupta told.
Diabetes is caused when there is deficiency of insulin hormone, which controls blood sugar level. Its symptoms include fatigue, excessive thirst and frequent urination.
“With an estimated 50.8 million people living with the disease, India has the world’s largest population of diabetics in the world, followed by China with 43.2 million,” says the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The number in India is expected to go up to 87 million – 8.4 per cent of the country’s adult population – by 2030.
With India staring at a major public health threat due to diabetes and other lifestyle diseases, almond is now being hailed as the health nut.
“Indians are more prone to lifestyle diseases like diabetes. The increasingly sedentary lifestyle and fast food double up the risk. Almond, which has traditionally been part of our diet, is a high source of nutrition and helps push these diseases away,” says Anoop Misra, director of Diabetes Foundation (India).
“A handful of almonds contain 164 calories and 7 gm of protein, which helps in fighting hunger pangs and helps you control what you eat. Almonds also help growing children in developing strong bones,” he adds.
A study done by scholars from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, West Chester University, Pennsylvania, and Loma Linda University of California, all in the US, and published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition also confirms that the nut can control diabetes if consumed regularly.
“A diet consisting of 20 per cent of calories as almonds over a 16-week period is effective in improving markers of insulin sensitivity and yields clinically significant improvements in LDL-C (low density lipoprotein cholesterol) in adults with pre-diabetes,” the study said.
“We have made great strides in chronic disease research, from evidence of effective treatment to evidence of effective prevention,” said Michelle Wien, assistant research professor in nutrition at Loma Linda University’s School of Public Health.
She was also the principal investigator for the study, which was conducted at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
“Low density cholesterol is the cholesterol which blocks the arteries. According to the study, the intake of almonds had a significant effect on reducing the levels, along with improving insulin sensitivity,” said Karen Lapsley, chief scientific officer of the Almond Board of California, which was an associate in the study.
“It’s also very easy to consume, one can have it any time, so it merges well with the hectic lifestyle,” Lapsley said.
Gupta, however, adds that indiscreet consumption of almonds alone will not help and it should be seen as a percentage of total calorie intakes.
“It is not that one can eat anything and pop five almonds. It has to be seen as a percentage of total calorie intakes. The rest of the diet is as important,” he added.

Chocolates(Cr/freedigital)

Chocolate is healthier than many fruit juices and is a ‘superfood’ in its own right, says a new study conducted by a US-based chocolate company.
Superfoods are high in anti-oxidants and compounds that help prevent damage to healthy cells.
Researchers from the Hershey Centre for Health & Nutrition in the US found that powdered dark chocolate had more anti-oxidants and polyphenols, believed to protect us from cancer and cardiac conditions, the Chemistry Central Journal reports.
They compared single servings of dark chocolate, cocoa, and hot chocolate mix with fruit juices including acai berries, cranberries and pomegranates, according to a Hershey statement.
The research showed that both dark chocolate and cocoa had more antioxidant activity and more flavonols than fruit. Debra Millar, who led the study, said chocolate should be labelled a “superfruit”.

Tef: TOI

Kids(Cr/freedigital)

Babies who are still drinking from a bottle at 2 years of age may be prone to obesity by the time they turn 5 years old.
Experts agree that obesity prevention should begin before children enter school. But due to a lack of conclusive data, health care providers often have trouble advising parents about which interventions are the most beneficial. A new study in America suggests that limiting prolonged bottle use in children may be an effective way to help prevent obesity.
For the study, researchers analysed data on 6,750 children who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, a large national study of children born in 2001to estimate the association between bottle use at 24 months of age and the risk of obesity at 5.5 years of age. Children were considered obese if their body mass index [BMI, a ratio of weight to height] was at or above the 95th percentile for their age.
About 22 percent of the children continued to use bottles regularly at 2 years of age, meaning they mainly drank from a bottle or were put to bed with one. About 23 percent of the children who drank from a bottle at age 2 years were obese, compared to about 16 percent of kids who’d stopped using a bottle by age 2 years, making  them about 33 percent more likely to be obese than children who were weaned sooner. This finding persisted even after accounting for other factors such as the mother’s weight, the child’s birth weight, and feeding practices during infancy.
One likely explanation is that children who are still drinking from a bottle at age 2 years are probably consuming more calories than they need.  The authors suggest that weaning children from the bottle by the time they are 1 year of age is unlikely to cause harm and may prevent obesity.

Ref: NDTV Doctor

Deodrant(Cr/freedigital)

Just Beat The Heat

The heat is upon us, and you don’t need to be told that there are humid days ahead. But summer problems can strike at any time, turning an uncomfortable experience into a disagreeable one. Stay safe. Read on. Sweating“Some people have a serious problem with sweat all year round, but most face it during the hot months,” says Dr Nalin Nag, consultant, internal medicine, Inderprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi. fight it Shower with an anti-bacterial soap and dry troublesome areas thoroughly. Apply antiperspirant regularly, wear loose clothes and stick to cool cotton and linen fabrics, lightweight denims, chiffon, georgette and voile or cotton and linen blends. Wear lighter coloured clothes as they reflect sunlight, and a hat to help control the temperature of your head and body. Drink lots of water to help your cooling system run better.Consider losing weight – overweight people sweat more. Exercising boosts your body’s overall temperature control. Finally, yoga or other relaxation techniques help beat stress, also a cause of sweat.

Summers are here and here’s how you can protect yourself from the heat.Body odourSweat is virtually odourless, but bacteria use it as a breeding ground. “Body odour is the smell of bacteria multiplying on the surface of your skin,” says Dr Shehla Agarwal, consultant dermatologist, New Delhi. fight it: Dry yourself after a shower and immediately apply antiperspirant. Or try a solution of hydrogen peroxide and water – one teaspoon of peroxide to eight ounces of water. Wipe this on affected areas with a soft cloth. Sweaty gym clothes are often a cause of body odour. Finally, change your diet – fatty foods, oils, or strong-smelling foods can cause body odour.
Foot odourThere are over 2,50,000 sweat glands in our feet. Foot odour begins when moisture lingers on the feet. fight it: Open sandals will keep your feet breathing. Use an antiperspirant for your feet – you can use the same one that you use for the underarms.
Also, wash your feet well while bathing and dry thoroughly. Then dab some rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and apply it on the soles of your feet. However, don’t do this if you have cracks or open sores as it will burn. Smelly feet can also cause smelly shoes. So treat your shoes with a deodoriser. A home remedy for stinky feet involves steeping a pot of tea for 5-10 minutes, letting it cool and soaking your feet in it for 10 minutes. The tannic acid in tea helps to reduce foot odour. Soap and water will remove the tea stains on your feet. Do this daily.
Insect stings“The severity of an insect sting reaction varies,” says Dr Nag. “There are three types of reactions – normal, localised and allergic. A normal reaction will result in pain, swelling and redness around the site. A large local reaction will result in swelling that extends beyond the sting site; the most serious reaction to an insect sting is an allergic one – this needs immediate attention.” fight it: Stay away from flowers, stay indoors at dawn and dusk when pests are most active, always cover up when outside, and avoid perfumes, scented lotions or hair products, or other smells that may attract insects. Also, keep a bug repellent handy.
If you’re bitten or stung, don’t scratch as it leads to infection. Aspirin, antihistamines, calamine lotion and application of an icepack all help. Try to remove the stinger as quickly as possible. But if the area stays swollen and symptoms include vomiting, shortness of breath and trouble breathing, see a doctor immediately.
DehydrationDehydration means that your body doesn’t have enough water in it to keep it working right. “Dry lips and tongue, headache, extreme fatigue, nausea and muscle cramps are telltale signs of dehydration,” states Dr Nag. “Another sign is not peeing as often as you usually do. Urine should be a pale yellow colour. Dark or strong-smelling pee can be a sign of dehydration. Fatigue is another sign.”
Even mild dehydration – as little as a one to two per cent loss of your body weight – can sap your energy. Says Dr Nag, “That’s because excess sweat leads to loss of not just water but salts too. Muscles need a good electrolyte-water balance, so even mild dehydration makes us feel drained of energy.” fight it: Your thirst may not keep up with your need for fluids, so play safe by drinking as much water, iced herbal tea and juice as you can. Drink water before, during, and after you go out and before you eat or drink anything else in the morning. Carry a bottle of water with you everywhere and drink lots of non-caffeinated fluids such as tender coconut water, fresh lime water, lassi, buttermilk, milkshakes, jal jeera and aam panna. Alcohol and beverages like tea, coffee and soft drinks cause you to lose fluid rather than retain it.
SunstrokeHeat stroke (or sunstroke) can occur when not enough sweat is produced to keep the body cool. “Symptoms include nausea, dizziness, weakness, headache, pale and moist skin, weak pulse and disorientation,” says Dr Nag. fight it: Heat stroke can be managed, and heat exhaustion prevented, by seeking a cool, shaded place, drinking lots of fluids and sponging the body with water, if necessary. Cramps indicate a deficiency of electrolytes, so take in electrolytes through fruit or sports drinks. Replace lost sodium through ORS (a pinch of salt, a few drops of lemon juice and a spoon of sugar added to a glass of water) and do not massage the cramped muscle. Just support the limb.
If this doesn’t help, the sunstroke could develop into heat stroke. Symptoms include a steep rise in body temperature, hot, dry skin, lack of sweating, very fast pulse and serious disorientation. Get a doctor at once and meanwhile cool the patient by immersing her or him in a tub of cool water, or placing her or him under a cool shower. Do this continuously till the body temperature drops.

Protect yourself: Use antiperspirant, wear clothes in light shades, wear sunglassesEye troublesThe ultraviolet (UV) light of the sun can trigger a host of ophthalmic maladies including dry, itching eyes, viral conjunctivitis and burning and eye discharge. fight it: Wear sunglasses with 100 percent UV protection.
Skin troubles solvedPigmentation: Summer can aggravate pigmentation. What to do: Try this home remedy: Stir the juice of half a lemon into one cup of plain yoghurt. Keep in the fridge and apply like a cream before going to bed. You can even apply a thin coat of moisturiser over it after five minutes.
Sunburn: This leaves the skin red and painful. In severe cases, the skin may form blisters and the person may suffer from swelling, fever and chills.  What to do: First, avoid repeated sun exposure. Next, apply cold compresses or immerse the area in cool water, apply moisturising lotion and leave the blisters alone – don’t break them.
Acne: Acne is very common in summer, as heavy sweating leads to the swelling of the skin’s keratin protein, which in turn blocks the pores. What to do: The key to avoid aggravation lies in repeated cleansing. Cleanse your face 6-7 times a day, and drink lots of water. Exfoliate regularly. Finally, stay out of direct sunlight as much as possible.
Prickly heatExcessive perspiration damages cells on the skin’s surface, trapping sweat beneath the skin, where it causes bumps known as prickly heat. What to do: Keep the area cool and dry. Don’t use antiperspirant, lotion, insect repellent or powder. Apply calamine lotion or prickly heat powder to relieve itching.

Ref: HT

Goat(Cr/freedigital)

A new Spanish study has found that goat milk has many nutrients that make it similar to human milk.
Researchers at the University of Granada Department of Physiology and Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, coordinated by Prof Margarita Sánchez Campos, have proven that goat milk has nutritional characteristics beneficial to health.
The regular consumption of goat milk by individuals with iron deficiency anemia improves their recovery, since it enhances the nutritional use of iron and enhances the regeneration of hemoglobin.
The researchers found that goat milk has many nutrients –as casein– that make it similar to human milk.
It contains less casein alpha 1 –as human milk–, which is responsible for most allergies to cow milk. Therefore, goat milk is hypoallergenic.
“For this reason, in some countries it is used as the basis for the development of infant formula in place of cow milk”, said the researchers.
Additionally, another benefit is that it contains a significant amount of oligosaccharides with a composition similar to that of human milk. These compounds reach the large intestine undigested and act as prebiotics, i.e they help develop probiotic flora that competes with pathogenic bacterial flora, making it disappear.
Similarly, goat milk contains a lower proportion of lactose than cow milk –about 1 per cent less– and, as it is easier to digest, individuals with intolerance to this milk sugar can tolerate goat milk.
The researchers said that goat milk is rich in calcium and phosphorus, it is highly bioavailable and favors their deposition in the organic matrix of bone, leading to an improvement in bone formation parameters.
It also has more zinc and selenium, which are essential micronutrients contributing to the antioxidant defense and for the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases.
For all these reasons, researchers consider that “goat milk can be considered natural functional food, and its regular consumption should be promoted among the population.

Ref: HT

Man Sleeping(Cr/freedigital)

Middle-aged adults who sleep less than six or more than eight hours a night are more likely to experience a decline in brain function. The magnitude of that mental decline is equivalent to four to seven years of ageing.
There is an expectation in today’s 24-hour-a-day society that people should be able to fit more into their lives. The whole work/life balance struggle is causing people to trade in precious sleeping time to ensure they complete everything they feel is expected of them. This study suggests that this may have adverse effects on their cognitive function.
Adequate, good quality sleep is fundamental to human functioning and well-being. Sleep deprivation and sleepiness have adverse effects on performance, response times, errors of commission, and attention or concentration. Furthermore, sleep duration has been found to be associated with a wide range of quality of life measures, such as social functioning, mental and physical health, and early death.
Since most research has focused on the effects of sleep deprivation on biological systems, it is not yet fully understood why seven hours is optimal – or why long sleeping appears to be detrimental. Chronic short sleep produces hormones and chemicals in the body, which increase the risk of developing heart disease and strokes, and other conditions like high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes and obesity.
Researchers from England collected data on 5,431 men and women, aged 35 to 55 years in 1985, who took part in a long-term look at London-based office staff known as the Whitehall II study. In 1997-1999, the participants were asked how many hours they slept on an average week night, and were asked the same question in 2003-2004 after an average 5.4 years of follow-up. Those who reported changes in their sleep patterns were then compared with people whose sleep duration stayed the same over the course of the study. In 2003-2004, each individual was given a battery of standard tests to assess his or her memory, reasoning, vocabulary, global cognitive status and verbal fluency.
The researchers found that during the study, 58 percent of men and 50 percent of women continued to sleep the same amount each night. However, 7.4 percent of women and 8.6 percent of men increased their slumber from seven to eight hours per night. This change in sleep pattern was associated with lower scores on six tests of cognitive function, compared with people whose sleep time did not change, it was found. Only scores on the test of short-term verbal memory were not affected by sleeping more. In addition, some 25 percent of women and 18 percent of men reported decreases in their sleep – dozing less than six, seven or eight hours per night. This change was associated with lower scores on three of the six cognitive tests, with lower scores on the reasoning, vocabulary and global cognitive status tests, the researchers said. Surprisingly, increasing sleep from six hours or less had no beneficial effect.
Getting enough sleep helps many brain functions. It is restorative; it lets you concentrate better and process new information better and faster. It is not clear why too much sleep is unhealthy but   it may be a sign of other health problems. To stay healthy, sleep is as important as eating well and being physically active, the researchers conclude.

Tomatoes(Cr/freedigital)

Want to be free of high cholesterol and blood pressure (BP)? Tomatoes can be a way out for you!
Tomatoes may be an effective alternative to drugs in lowering cholesterol and BP and in preventing heart disease.
A bright red pigment called lycopene found in tomatoes and to a lesser extent in watermelon, guava, papaya and pink grapefruit has antioxidant properties that are vital to good health.
Karin Ried and her colleague Peter Fakler from the University of Adelaide are the first to summarise the effect of lycopene on cholesterol and blood pressure (BP), analysing the collective results of 14 studies over the last 55 years.
“Our study suggests that if more than 25 milligrams of lycopene is taken daily, it can reduce LPD (bad) cholesterol by up to 10 per cent,” says Ried, reports the journal Maturitas.
Tomatoes have high levels of lycopene, with half a litre of tomato juice taken daily, or 50 grams of tomato paste, providing protection against heart disease, according to an Adelaide statement.
“That’s comparable to the effect of low doses of medication commonly prescribed for people with slightly elevated cholesterol, but without the side effects of these drugs, which can include muscle pain and weakness and nerve damage,” says Ried.
Lycopene is better absorbed in processed and cooked tomatoes or tomato paste rather than fresh tomatoes. As a supplement, lycopene is available in soft gelatine capsules or tablets.
“Research shows that high lycopene consumption has been associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, including hardened arteries, heart attacks and strokes,” she adds.

Ref: TOI

breast(Cr/freedigital)

A healthy lifestyle can reduce the occurrence of fatal breast cancer in women by half, a new UK based study has claimed. If women exercise more, eat a balanced diet and reduce alcohol intake, 42 per cent of all breast cancer cases can be prevented, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) said in a report.Dr Rachel Thompson, Deputy Head of Science, WCRF, said, “Breast cancer can be prevented by cutting down on drinking, being more physically active and carrying less body fat. Overall, we estimate about a third of the most common cancers could be prevented through a healthy diet, being physically active and maintaining a healthy weight.”
WCRF recommended being as lean as possible without becoming underweight; be physically active for at least 30 minutes a day; limit alcoholic drinks, However, some campaign groups cautioned that breast cancer is more complex and that healthy living may not always be enough to avoid.  “A woman’s lifestyle choices don’t mean for certain that she will or won’t get breast cancer because genetic and environmental factors can also play a part,” says Dr Rachel Greig, Senior Policy Officer at Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Ref: HT lifestyle

diabetes_illustration

Washington, May 18 : “Telehealth programs” could help low-income patients across the globe manage diabetes and other chronic diseases, a new study by the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System and University of Michigan has revealed.
“Telehealth programs have been shown to be very helpful in a variety of contexts, but one of the main limitations for delivering these services in the developing world has been a lack of infrastructure,” author John D. Piette, a senior research scientist with the VA and professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School, has said.
Taking advantage of the broad connectivity in Latin America, researchers linked cell phones with low-cost internet-based phone calls to conduct the survey. The service used a cloud computing approach so that the program can be provided from a central location to low income countries across the world that lack a strong technological infrastructure.
Researchers connected to the enrolled diabetic patients from a clinic in a semi-rural area of Honduras, on a weekly basis, and helped them to improve their diabetes management skills and general health.
Researchers reportedly noticed improvement in patients’ hemoglobin A1C, a measure of blood sugar control, during the sixth week of their study.
“We wanted to demonstrate that it was possible to deliver a high-tech program from U-M to very vulnerable patients with diabetes in Honduras who only have local cell phone service,” Piette says.
The study said the developing world faces a cardiovascular disease crisis because of its dependence of fast food, and the number of people with diabetes across the world is expected grow from 285 million to 439 million by 2030.
Piette’s study has been applauded by many veterans.
“We believe the work of Dr. Piette and his colleagues represents an important and sustainable milestone in innovative global health strategies for the prevention, diagnosis, and management of non-communicable diseases. This work truly stands the chance to improve the health of millions of people in a relatively short time,” U-M Global Health Director Sofia D. Merajver, said. (ANI)

Ref: TOP News

Pregnant women(Cr/freedigital)

London, May 18 : Overeating during pregnancy makes women vulnerable to obesity for a lifetime, latest research has revealed.
Study leader Abigail Fraser of Bristol University said women should avoid overeating, particularly in the first six months when extra weight is laid down as fat before the baby really needs it for growth.
Although weight gain during pregnancy is natural as the baby develops, the number of women who suffer from pregnancy obesity has more than doubled in the past 20 years, reports the Daily Mail.
The long-term Bristol study found that those who gained more than the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy were three times as likely to be overweight, obese or become “apple-shaped” 16 years later.
But women who began pregnancy at a healthy weight and who gained only a little weight were much less likely to go on to become fat and develop health-related problems.(IANS)

REf: TOPNEWS

Sleep(Cr/freedigital)

Less sleep could be a weight gain culprit

Sleep deprivation not only makes the day drag, but also lowers your metabolic rate causing the body to use less energy, according to a European study. Moreover, another study adds that sleep loss even promotes weight gain — not just by boosting hunger, but also by slowing the rate at which calories are burned.
The study conducted by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also suggests that getting plenty sleep might even prevent weight gain. Christian Benedict of Uppsala University, Sweden, who led the study says,
“Our findings show that one night of sleep deprivation acutely reduces energy expenditure in healthy men, which suggests sleep contributes to the acute regulation of daytime energy expenditure in humans.”
Previous studies conducted on the relationship between sleep deprivation and weight gain have also revealed how disrupted sleep also disrupts levels of stress and hunger-related hormones during waking hours.
They found that even a single night of missed sleep slowed metabolism the next morning, reducing energy expenditure for tasks like breathing and digestion by five percent to 20 percent, compared with the morning after a good night’s sleep.  The young men also had higher morning levels of blood sugar, appetite-regulating hormones like ghrelin, and stress hormones like cortisol after sleep loss. Still, the sleep loss did not boost the amount of food the men consumed during the day.
Experts said that factors such as lifestyle and diet might add to obesity risks and that it was not clear that sleep deprivation led to obesity. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get about seven to nine hours of sleep each night.

Coffee(Cr/freedigital)

Could Coffee Lower Men’s Risk for Prostate Cancer?

Men who drink at least six or more cups of coffee a day may be cutting their risk for advanced prostate cancer by 60 percent, new research suggests.This is the first large study looking specifically at the relationship between coffee and metastatic prostate cancer, lead researcher Kathryn Wilson said. “This is an exciting finding, because there aren’t many modifiable risk factors for prostate cancer.”A definite cause-and-effect link is still far from proven, experts say, and just how coffee might help thwart prostate malignancy isn’t clear.”There are a lot of compounds in coffee that have various biological effects. It’s a major source of antioxidants and that might have anti-cancer effects,” said Wilson, a research fellow in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston. “Also, coffee seems to have effects on insulin and has been associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. In addition, insulin is thought to play a role in many cancers, including prostate cancer.”Compounds in coffee also have an impact on sex hormone levels, according to the study.But right now, the findings point only to an association between a love of “java” and a healthier prostate. More study will be needed to confirm the findings and to see if a biological explanation for the phenomenon exists, Wilson said.The bottom line, she said: “It’s probably too early to tell someone that [he or she] should go out and start drinking coffee just because of this study.”The report was published in the May 17 online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed and the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States. In the U.S. it affects one in six men during their lifetime. More than 2 million Americans and 16 million men around the world are prostate cancer survivors, the researchers say.For the study, Wilson’s team collected data on almost 48,000 men who took part in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study and followed them until 2008. Every four years from 1986 on these men reported on how much coffee they drank.The researchers then calculated the risk for prostate cancer tied to the amount of coffee consumed. During the period of the study, they identified 5,035 cases of prostate cancer, of which 642 were fatal cases in which the cancer was metastatic, meaning that it had spread beyond the original site.The Harvard team found that drinking six or more cups of coffee each day was associated with an almost 20 percent lower risk of developing prostate cancer, compared to those who did not drink coffee.In addition, the odds of developing a more lethal or advanced prostate cancer dropped by 60 percent, compared to men who abstained from coffee — a statistically significant and “substantially lower” relative risk, according to the researchers.Even men who drank less coffee — one to three cups a day — had a 30 percent lower risk of developing lethal prostate cancer, and reductions in risk were observed whether the men drank caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee, Wilson’s group added.After taking into account other lifestyle factors, such as age, smoking, obesity and exercise, the decline in the odds for prostate cancer remained, they said.”This adds to the evidence from a variety of diseases that coffee doesn’t seem to be harmful,” Wilson said. “It has been shown, pretty consistently, to be associated with lower risk of Parkinson disease, type 2 diabetes and liver cancer. This is another potential plus for coffee.”The study was limited by self-reported data and the lack of data on coffee intake from earlier periods of the men’s lives, the researchers noted.The finding comes on the heels of a study published last week that found that women who drank five or more cups of coffee per day saw a significant drop in their risk for a particularly aggressive form of breast tumor. The Swedish study, from a team at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, was published in Breast Cancer Research.Commenting on the Harvard team’s findings, Eric Jacobs, strategic director of pharmacoepidemiology at the American Cancer Society, called it a large, well-designed study. But he stressed that, so far, it remains the only study to show such a link.”It is premature to conclude that drinking coffee might help prevent fatal prostate cancer,” he said. “We do, however, know that both smoking and obesity are associated with higher risk of fatal prostate cancer, as well as death from many other diseases. So it is fine to enjoy a nice cup of coffee, but avoiding smoking and maintaining a healthy weight are among the surest ways to stay healthy.”More informationFor more information on prostate cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

Ref: HealthDay

Large Waist

Even normal-weight people with belly fat and heart disease have a high risk of death compared to folks whose fat is concentrated elsewhere, a large study reports.
A ‘beer belly’ or ‘muffin top’ is as significant a risk factor as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day or having very high blood cholesterol. And the risk is greater for men.
Noting that spare tyre is even more significant than the overall body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height) in predicting risk of death, the findings discount a puzzling theory known as the obesity paradox. Earlier studies have linked a higher BMI and coronary artery disease with better survival chances than normal-weight people.
The researchers suspected that the obesity paradox was happening because BMI is not a good measure of body fatness and gives no insight into the distribution of fat. BMI is just a measure of weight in proportion to height. What seems to be more important is how the fat is distributed on the body. A BMI of between 18.5 and 25 is considered normal; between 25 and 29.9 is overweight; and a BMI of 30 or more is obese.
Researchers from America looked at data from five studies conducted around the world, involving almost 16,000 people with coronary artery disease. The risk of death was nearly doubled for people with coronary artery disease and central obesity, which was determined by waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, it was found. What exactly is the difference between belly fat and thigh fat, for instance? Visceral (belly) fat has been found to be more metabolically active. It produces more changes in cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar. However, people who have fat mostly in other locations in the body, specifically the legs and buttocks, don’t show this high risk.
Doctors need to look beyond BMI in assessing patients’ health risks and advise those with a large waist or a high waist-to-hip ratio to lose weight, even if they have normal BMIs, the researchers emphasised. All it takes is a tape measure and one minute of a physician’s time to measure the perimeter of a patient’s waist and hip.

Ref: Journal of the American College of Cardiology/NDTV Doctor

Getting bigger breasts is a wish that many women have throughout the world. And unfortunately, the only popular way has been to get expensive and risky surgery.
This is a big problem, leaving many women lacking in self confidence, but it’s actually quite easy to solve.
There are millions of women throughout the world who would like to get bigger breasts, and to do it, you just need to be able to do one thing well – you need to be able to get a lot of estrogen into your body. Estrogen is the “female hormone”, which is responsible for making your body more curvy and your breasts bigger. It’s also the reason why so many women have breasts that they’d rather grow.
The problem with estrogen is simple. You see, during puberty, this hormone is pumped through your body to make it change from that of a girl into a woman. Estrogen kick-starts your menstrual cycle, makes you more curvy and starts to grow the breasts. It’s very important, and the reason why so many women don’t have the breasts they’d want, is because they come out of puberty too early, preventing their breasts from developing properly.
From the ages of 12-16, women’s bodies are full of estrogen. This is puberty and now is the time when most changes happen. However, when puberty stops, the levels of estrogen in your body are dramatically reduced, leaving your breasts to remain at that size throughout your adult life. This means that to make your breasts grow bigger naturally, you just need to be able to consume more estrogen, and luckily, it’s a naturally occurring substance which you can get from many different plants and herbs.
Estrogen is present in plants, where it is called “Phyto-Estrogen” (literally translated as “plant estrogen”). Because estrogen is available from nature, you can actually consume it from the food such as flax seeds, soy beans and even Tofu. There is a wide variety of estrogen-rich foods, which you can eat to make your breasts grow by up to one-two cup sizes. However, you need to be careful because there’s a certain level of estrogen that is effective… otherwise, it can leave unwanted side effects on your body.
So now having bigger breasts is not a fantasy. Chomp your way into these foods and watch heads turn!

Cumin (Cr/freedigital)

Cumin seeds not only add taste to food but provide nutrition to the body. Also known as jeera, these cumin seeds have been extensively used in culinary preparations in the Indian subcontinent since ages.
- It is a rich source of iron and hence very beneficial for anaemics as well as lactating mothers and pregnant women, who tend to need iron more than others.
- It is a great aid in digestion and prevents indigestion, flatulence, diarrhoea, nausea and morning sickness.
- For immediate relief from acidity, chew a pinch-full of raw cumin seeds.
- Cumin seeds have antiseptic properties and aid in curing common colds.
- It doesn’t let cough to form and collect in the respiratory system. Since it is supposed to be hot, it dries up all the mucous.
- It would be beneficial to sip on a concoction of cumin seeds and water. Boil a handful of cumin seeds along with water. Drinking this water wards off common colds and keeps the digestive system on track. Many South-Indian households drink only ‘jeera-pani’ instead of sipping on plain boiled water.
- Cumin seeds help in stimulating the secretion of enzymes in the pancreas which in turn help in the absorption of nutrients.
- Cumin seeds also boost the power of the liver to flush out toxins from the body.

Ref: TOI