June 13, 2012 Clippings

Drinking too much water can be risky

Water may be the elixir of life, but it sure can send your health into a tailspin, even endangering your life, if you drink too much of it. While packaged water, juice and cola companies hard-sell their thirst-quenchers to you through TV and print advertisements, the truth is that drinking too much water can do you more harm than good.

Due to excessive water consumption, people have died of overhydration, which goes by the name of Exercise-Associated Hyponatraemia (EAH). In simple terms, it means that you have drunk too much water and the excess has diluted your body fluids so much that the sodium levels have become life-threateningly low, causing cells to swell. That includes brain cells leading to loss of consciousness, seizures and even coma and death. For long-distance runners, this can be a particular hazard.

Water intoxication is always on the cards if you believe you have to 'stay ahead of thirst' by drinking excessive quantities of fluids. To do so is entirely unphysiological. Drinking more water than you need increases your total blood volume and also pressures you kidneys into working overtime so as to filter excess water out of your circulatory system.

The right way to drink water is on your TV screen. When Tennis legends Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal play five gruelling sets of tennis in the baking sun, sweating profusely, how do they drink? They sip. They may sip at every end change, but they certainly don't gulp. While exercising, you should balance how much water you drink to how much you are sweating out.

The International Marathon Medical Directors Association advocates 'drinking to thirst' and no more. That means 0.03 litres per kilogram. So, for a 100 kg person that's a maximum of three litres. The average man is around 70 kgs. Work out the math. Five reasons to kick the cola

1. You will flash a prettier smile. The sugar and acid in soft drinks dissolves tooth enamel while the colouring in darker fizzy drinks leaves dark stains on teeth.

2. You will reduce your risk of heart disease. The high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in many soft drinks increases the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.

3. You will reduce your risk of osteoporosis. The phosphoric acid found in soft drinks can loosen a tight bolt, eat away metal, and leach calcium from the bones.

4. You will reduce your risk of diabetes. The connection between excess sugar consumption and type 2 diabetes is well-known.

5. You will stabilise blood sugar and energy levels. Simple sugars, the most harmful of which are HFCS, are carbs that cause a rapid energy spike followed by a sudden plummet. Adding caffeine, a cola essential, intensifies this roller-coaster effect.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

13.06.2012

Children born to older fathers may live longer: study

The children and grandchildren of men who reproduced later in life could enjoy life-extending genetic benefits, including being able to father children at an older age, a new study suggests.

Researchers at Northwestern University believe the process represents an unusually rapid evolutionary adaptation in which telomeres -- DNA found at the ends of chromosomes -- lengthen, which is thought to promote healthy aging.

"If your father and grandfather were able to live and reproduce at a later age, this might predict that you yourself live in an environment that is somewhat similar -- an environment with less accidental deaths or in which men are only able to find a partner at later ages," said Dan Eisenberg, lead author of the study.

"In such an environment, investing more in a body capable of reaching these late ages could be an adaptive strategy from an evolutionary perspective."

After analyzing the DNA of 1,779 young adults and their mothers in the Philippines, researchers found that children of older fathers not only inherit longer telomeres, but that the effect is cumulative across generations.

The researchers do not advise men to reproduce at later ages, as other research has shown that doing so raises the risk of passing on genetic mutations that can cause miscarriages or other health problems.

Co-author Christopher Kuzawa said more research would be necessary to see if the longer telomeres inherited from older fathers and grandfathers reduce the health problems and ailments that come with age.

"Based upon our findings, we predict that this will be the case, but this is a question to be addressed in future studies," he said.

The study appeared in the June 11-15 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com

13.06.2012

Behind every beautiful thing, there's some kind of pain

Bob Dylan