September 1, 2012 Clippings

Allergy disorders on the rise in India

Rapid urbanisation along with changing lifestyles has upped the number of allergy related disorders in developing countries. Lack of research and speciality in the discipline mans that they remain ill-prepared to deal with the problem.

In December this year, India will for the first time play host to over 90 top specialists from 30 countries at an international conference in Hyderabad that will see them deliver lectures, hold public forums and awareness camps and discussions on how to bring about more focus on the issue. Dr Ruby Pawankar, President of the World Allergy Organisation (WAO), the first woman and the first Indian to hold this position, says allergies are part of chronic non-communicable diseases and is a huge issue, even in developing countries.

In India to lay the ground for the international conference to be held from December 6 to 9, the Tokyo-based Pawankar says it is high time allergy as a disorder develops into a super speciality discipline. “As many as 250,000 people die of asthma every year. And asthma is only one form of allergy of the respiratory tract. Skin allergies are rampant, and there are 200 million cases of food allergies. Besides developing it into a separate medial discipline, a number of policy initiatives are also required,” she said.

Allergies can simply be defined as abnormal reactions to normally harmless substances. They can range from minor irritants such as sneezing and itching, to major problems such as asthma and even fatal reactions like anaphylaxis in some cases. Even as the incidence of such problems increases in countries such as India, there is little research or data evidence collection to gauge its real burden and magnitude. The World Allergy Organisation (WAO), which started six decades back, was a less pro-active organisation in the first few decades of its existence. However, over the past 15 to 20 years, it has consciously become more active in the fields of advocacy, training, research and awareness creation.

Source: http://health.india.com

01.09.2012

Kids with working mums at greater risk of obesity

Children whose mothers are in full-time employment are at greater risk of obesity even if their father is a stay-at-home parent, according to experts.

Their study highlights that men about the house fail to realise the importance of their child's eating habits.

Study authors say that it is important for both parents to discuss day-to-day responsibilities, including food preparation and mealtimes.

John Cawley, from Cornell University and Feng Liu used data on almost 25,000 families from a yearly survey of how Americans spend their time.

Data showed that on average women who worked spent 127 fewer minutes per day with their children than stay-at-home mothers.

However stay-at-home fathers failed to offset the difference “We're not trying to say men are scum,” Cawley told BuzzFeed.

Cawley and Liu noted that preparing meals from scratch and eating as a family could decrease a child's risk of obesity.

They also suggest that schools could offer healthier food and better physical education.

The study is published in the June issue of Economics and Human Biology

Source: www.dnaindia.com

01.09.2012

If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought

Peace Pilgrim

August 31, 2012 Clippings

Why we remember the past with great clarity

Many of us remember things from long ago as if they happened yesterday, but at times we forget what we ate for dinner last night.

It's because how much something means to you actually influences how you see it as well as how vividly you can recall it later, according to a new study led by psychologists at the University of Toronto.

"We've discovered that we see things that are emotionally arousing with greater clarity than those that are more mundane," said Rebecca Todd, a postdoctoral fellow in U of T's Department of Psychology and lead author of the study.

"What's more, we found that how vividly we perceive something in the first place predicts how vividly we will remember it later on.

"We call this 'emotionally enhanced vividness' and it is like the flash of a flashbub that illuminates an event as it's captured for memory," Todd stated.

By studying brain activity, Todd, psychology professor Adam Anderson and other colleagues at U of T, along with researchers at the University of Manchester and the University of California, San Diego found that the part of the brain responsible for tagging the emotional or motivational importance of things according to one's own past experience - the amygdala - is more active when looking at images that are rated as vivid.

This increased activation in turn influences activity in both the visual cortex, enhancing activity linked to seeing objects, and in the posterior insula, a region that integrates sensations from the body.

"The experience of more vivid perception of emotionally important images seems to come from a combination of enhanced seeing and gut feeling driven by amygdala calculations of how emotionally arousing an event is," noted Todd.

The study was published recently in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

31.08.2012

Soon, heart pills with no side-effects

A major breakthrough by British scientists could lead to a new cholesterol-busting pill without the potentially dangerous side effects of statins.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have found that cholesterol levels are suppressed by the body's immune system as part of the process that fights off viral infections, the Daily Express reported.

"We have identified the immune hormone that does this. Statins are effective but crude drugs," Professor Peter Ghazal, leader of the research team, said.

"This discovery gives the ability to be a little more refined and by being a lot more subtle in how to control the production of cholesterol you can prevent a lot of these adverse side-effects," he noted.

Professor Ghazal hopes drugs to mimic the hormone that are just as effective as statins without their side effects may be an estimated five years away.

Statins have been hailed as a wonder drug for reducing the harmful blood fat that furs up arteries triggering tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes that kill 150,000 people every year in Britain.

But there is evidence that some of the seven million people who take the daily heartpills can suffer side effects ranging from muscle aches and tummy upsets to a rare but serious lung disorder, as well as diabetes.

And for about one in four people statins do not reduce their cholesterol to a safe level because they do not work or patients cut the dose or stop taking them.

Yet experts believe the benefits of taking the tablets, that can cost as little as 4p a day, far outweigh any potential risks.

The new study is published in the journal Biochimie.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

31.08.2012

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way

Booker T. Washington

August 30, 2012 Clippings

Children given anaesthesia suffer from learning disabilities

According to an Australian study, children under three who are given anaesthesia may have a higher risk of developing learning difficulties. The findings are based on an analysis conducted by the University of Western Australia (UWA) of the long-term effects of anaesthesia on children, based on 2,868 children born in the same region between 1989 and 1992. Britta Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg, professor of paediatric anaesthesia at the UWA School of Medicine and Pharmacology, said the study assessed the effects of early childhood exposure to anaesthesia in the first three years of life on long-term differences in language and cognitive function, the journal Paediatrics reports.

“We looked at 321 children from the Raine study who were exposed to anaesthesia for surgery and diagnostic testing before the age of three and found they were about twice as likely to develop a significant language impairment and three times more likely to have problems with abstract reasoning by the age of 10, when compared to children who were not exposed to anaesthesia and surgery,” Ungern-Sternberg said. Ungern-Sternberg said the study was not definitive and more work needed to be done to look at the long-term effects of anaesthesia on young children.

“The most important thing I want to emphasise is that these results do not mean that children should not have surgery if it is needed,” she was quoted as saying in a UWA statement.

“Parents should consult their surgeon to see if the procedure is necessary. Any concerns regarding anaesthesia and potential anaesthetic implications for their child should be discussed with their anaesthetist before surgery,” said Ungern-Sternberg.

Source: http://health.india.com

30.08.2012

Never too late to start walking!

They say it is never too late. And the saying seems very much true when it comes to going for a walk, as experts have found a daily stroll could save one’s life by protecting against a host of chronic diseases. According to the US study, just a little light exercise can stave off heart failure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and even Alzheimer’s. And it is never too late to start. Stepping up exercise in your 50s can have major long-term benefits, Daily Express reported. People who increased their fitness by just 20 percent in the middle age reduced their chances of developing the chronic diseases even decades later by 20 percent.

In fact, introducing a gentle walk, housework, gardening or DIY (do it yourself) into your daily routine from the age of 50 can cut the risk of developing these deadly illnesses at 65. Jarett Berry, a senior author of the study, said: “We’ve determined that being fit is not just delaying the inevitable, but it is actually lowering the onset of chronic disease in the final years of life.”

Researchers assessed the fitness levels of people in midlife and then followed them up 26 years later. Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Centre in the US city of Dallas, studied data of 14,726 healthy men and 3,944 healthy women of an average age of 49, enrolled in the Cooper Centre Longitudinal Study, which keeps medical records from over 40 years.

Source: http://health.india.com

30.08.2012

Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful

Joshua J. Marine

August 29, 2012 Clippings

Earthquakes up heart disease risk!

The massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan March 11 last year, in which nearly 16,000 people were killed, also triggered a sharp rise in the incidence of heart disease, according to medical records. Based on the 124,152 ambulance records in the Miyagi prefecture, which registered the greatest damage in its vicinity, cardiologist Hiroaki Shimokawa and colleagues from the Tohoku University, found that the weekly occurrence of conditions linked with cardio-vascular disease (CVD) increased sharply soon after the quake.

CVD are a class of diseases which refers to cardiac disease, vascular (blood vessel) disease of the brain and kidney, and peripheral arterial disease (when arteries get blocked with plaques, restricting blood supply to the heart). Such reactions have been reported before, said Shimokawa, in Japan, China and the US. However, these studies reported only the short-term occurrence of individual CVD events, and the mid-term CVD effects of such great earthquakes remain to be elucidated, the journal ACS Stroke and Pulmonary Embolism reports. Incidence records from before, during and after the earthquake disaster were compared, the aftershocks counted and recorded according to a seismic intensity of one or greater, according to a Tohoku statement.

“To the best of our knowledge,” Shimokawa added, “this is the first report to describe the mid-term course of major cardiovascular events and pneumonia after a great earthquake in a large population. In particular, our findings provide the first evidence that the incidence of heart failure was markedly increased over a long period afterwards.” Prevalence of pneumonia, a well known risk factor for deteriorating heart failure, was significantly increased.

Source: http://health.india.com

29.08.2012

President stresses the need to provide healthcare to all

President Mukherjee stressed the need to evolve a universal healthcare system for the nation, calling it important for economic growth. He pitched for setting up more healthcare institutions in the country. ”At the national level, the estimated economic loss to India due to deaths caused by all diseases in 2005 was 1.3 percent of the GDP. With the growing number of non-communicable diseases, the loss is apprehended to reach five percent of GDP by 2015 if it is not checked,” he said.

Mukherjee was addressing a seminar at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here. ”An assured access to health coverage, that ensures medicine and treatment at affordable prices, is an objective essential for the whole utilisation of human resources capacity,” the president said. He said that both making new institutions and creating more human resource for health were important. He also called upon the private sector for cooperating with the government in building quality healthcare infrastructure. FICCI president R.V. Kanoria, welcoming the president, said health care sector should be given the status of infrastructure sector. The industrial chamber has organised a three-day seminar on universal health care.

Source: http://health.india.com

29.08.2012

The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you

B. B. King

August 28, 2012 Clippings

New compound that makes the HIV vaccine more effective

A new study has found a compound that could boost the efficacy of HIV drugs. The compound has also shown to boost the effect of vaccines against flu and the herpes virus in mice. Research by an Oxford University team, along with Swedish and US colleagues, has shown that a type of polymer called polyethyleneimine (PEI) is a potent adjuvant for test vaccines against HIV, flu and herpes when given to mice. An adjuvant is added to a vaccine to boost immune response and offer better protection against infection.

Mice given a single dose of a flu vaccine laced with PEI via a nasal droplet were completely protected against a lethal dose of flu, a marked improvement over mice given the shot without PEI or in formulations with other adjuvants, the journal Nature Biotechnology reports. “Gaining complete protection against flu from just one immunisation is pretty unheard of, even in a study in mice,” says Quentin Sattentau, professor of pathology at the Oxford’s Dunn School of Pathology, who led the work.

“This gives us confidence that PEI has the potential to be a potent adjuvant for vaccines against viruses like flu or HIV, though there are many steps ahead if it is ever to be used in humans,” adds Sattentau. Oxford researchers now intend to test the PEI adjuvant in ferrets, a better animal model for studying flu. It is likely to be a couple of years before a flu vaccine with this adjuvant could be tested in clinical trials. HIV, flu and herpes are some of the most difficult targets to develop vaccines against. HIV and flu viruses are able to change and evolve to escape immune responses stimulated by vaccines.There aren’t any effective vaccines against HIV and herpes as yet, and the flu vaccine needs reformulating each year and doesn’t offer complete protection to everyone who receives it. Finding better adjuvants could help in developing more effective shots against these diseases.

Source: http://health.india.com

28.08.2012

Grey hair could be a sign of good health

Stop getting annoyed by that patch of grey hair on your scalp, as a new study has found that it could be a sign of healthy body.

Spanish scientists, who studied wild boars,found that having grey hair and a rather grizzled look could actually be a sign that you have a long and healthy life ahead of you. Scientists said gray hair, which results from absence of melanin, seemed to be a mark of good health in wild boars. "As with human hair, wild boars show hair graying all across their fur," Galvan said. "But we found that boars showing hair graying were actually those in prime condition and with the lowest levels of oxidative damage," he said. Scientists, however, said that being a redhead could make one more susceptible to illness, an observation found in wild boar populations.

According to the report published in the current issue of the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, wild boars with reddish coats have more cell damage than more mundanely coloured wild pigs. They say the reason is that the production of redpigment uses up an antioxidant that could otherwise destroy the free radicals that damage cells.

In humans, studies have found that red hair and red pigments, ormelanins, inskin are linked to higher rates of cancer.

"Given that all higher vertebrates, including humans, share the same types of melanins in skin, hair and plumage, these results increase our scant current knowledge on the physiological consequences of pigmentation," said lead researcher Ismael Galvan.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

28.08.2012

When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you

August 27, 2012 Clippings

2 Apples a day cut heart disease risk in women

Eating just two apples a day could help protect women against heart disease by cutting their cholesterol levels, a new study has revealed.

Scientists found that apples significantly lowered blood fat levels in postmenopausal women, the group which is most at risk of heart attacks and strokes.  Snacking on the fruit every day for six months slashed cholesterol by almost a quarter.

The biggest reduction was seen in low-density lipoprotein, the so-called 'bad' cholesterol that furs up arteries and raises the risk of a life-threatening clot forming near the heart or brain.

The findings, by a team of researchers at Florida State University in the US, support previous evidence that apples could be good for the heart, but it also suggests that they could benefit one of the highest-risk groups. Around 45 per cent of British women will suffer from heart disease or a stroke and it is the biggest single cause of death among post-menopausal women.

Up to the menopause, women appear to have a natural immunity to heart disease and the rate of illness is only a third of that seen in men, but from the age of around 50 onwards, the incidence increases sharply.

Researchers wanted to see if eating the equivalent of two apples every day could have a significant effect on heart disease risk.  They recruited 160 women who had been through the menopause and got half to eat 75 grams a day of dried apple - the equivalent of two medium-sized fresh apples.

As a comparison, the other half were told to eat the same quantity of prunes to see if they had a similar effect. Each volunteer underwent blood tests every three months for one year.

The results showed that after three months total cholesterol levels in the apple-eating group had dropped by nine per cent and LDL cholesterol by 16 per cent.

After six months, levels were even lower, with total cholesterol down 13 per cent and LDL levels dropping by 24 per cent. There was no further decline in the remaining six months of the experiment.  Prunes lowered cholesterol levels slightly but not to the same extent as the dried apple.

"Consumption of about two medium-sized apples can significantly lower cholesterol levels as early as three months," the Telegraph quoted the researchers as saying.

The study has been published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

27.08.2012

Alzheimer's hits women more severely than men

Alzheimer's hits women more severely than men, even when both are in the same stage of the disease.

Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire discovered that men with Alzheimer's consistently performed better than their women counterparts, across the five cognitive areas they examined.

Most remarkably, the verbal skills of women with Alzheimer's are worse when compared to men with the disease, the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology reports.

Researchers led by Keith Laws, professor of psychology at Hertfordshire, completed a meta-analysis of neurocognitive data from 15 published studies, which revealed a consistent male advantage on verbal and visuo-spatial tasks, and tests of both episodic and semantic memory.

Episodic memory is our ability to recall specific events of our past, accompanied by the feeling of remembering. Semantic memory is the other knowledge that we acquire which is purely factual without any personal feeling or history attached, according to a Hertfordshire statement.

"Unlike mental decline associated with normal aging, something about Alzheimer's specifically disadvantages women. There has been some previous, but limited, evidence that women with Alzheimer's deteriorate faster than men in the earlier stages of the disease," said Law.

Further analysis of the study data showed that age, education level and dementia severity did not explain the advantage that men with the disease have over women with the disease.

Alzheimer's disease, which damages memory, thinking, behaviour and emotion, is the most common form of dementia affecting 30 million people worldwide, with 4.6 million new cases being added every year.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

27.08.2012

Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable

Peter F. Drucker

August 25, 2012 Clippings

Reported HIV cases down 56 percent in India

Minister of State for Health S. Gandhiselvan said that based on HIV estimations 2010, it is estimated that India had approximately 1.2 lakh new infections in 2009, as against 2.7 lakh in 2000. The number of new annual HIV infections has declined by around 56 percent during the last decade in the country, the Lok Sabha was informed Friday.

“Similar reduction in HIV incidence has been noted in all the high prevalence states in the southern and northeastern region. However, some low prevalence states have shown a slight increase in the number of new infections over the past two years,” he said.

Of the 1.2 lakh estimated new infections in 2009, the six high prevalence states account for only 39 percent of the cases, while the states of Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat account for 41 percent of new infections.

“In regard to number of reported HIV/AIDS cases registered in ART (anti-retroviral therapy) centres for HIV care, during the year 2010-11, 320,114 HIV/AIDS cases were registered against 246,627 in 2009-10. However, during 2011-12, the same number has been decreased to 275,377 cases,” Gandhiselvan said.

The minister said that there was significant decline in HIV prevalence among female sex workers and young women (15-24 years) seeking antenatal care in the high-prevalence southern states.

Source: http://health.india.com

25.08.2012

No more pinpricks – glucose can now be detected in saliva, tears and urine!

If you are a diabetic who has to routinely undergo blood glucose monitoring, you’d probably be overjoyed with this news. Minute traces of glucose in saliva, tears and urine, can now be detected with a new bio-sensor doing away with pinpricks for diabetes testing.

“It’s an inherently non-invasive way to estimate glucose content in the body,” said Jonathan Claussen, former Purdue University doctoral student and now a research scientist at the US Naval Research Lab. ”Because it can detect glucose in the saliva and tears, it is a platform that might eventually help to eliminate or reduce the frequency of using pinpricks for diabetes testing,” said Claussen, the journal Advanced Functional Materials reports.

Claussen and Purdue doctoral student Anurag Kumar led the project, working with Timothy Fisher, Purdue professor of mechanical engineering; D. Marshall Porterfield, professor of agricultural and biological engineering; and other researchers at the university’s Birck Nanotechnology Centre, according to a Naval Lab statement.

“Most sensors typically measure glucose in blood,” Claussen said. “Many in the literature aren’t able to detect glucose in tears and the saliva. What’s unique is that we can sense in all four different human serums: the saliva, blood, tears and urine. And that hasn’t been shown before.”

The sensor has three main parts: layers of nanosheets resembling tiny rose petals made of a material called graphene, which is a single-atom-thick film of carbon; platinum nanoparticles; and the enzyme glucose oxidase. Besides diabetes testing, the technology might be used for sensing a variety of chemical compounds to test for other medical conditions. “Because we used the enzyme glucose oxidase in this work, it’s geared for diabetes,” Claussen said.

“But we could just swap out that enzyme with, for example, glutemate oxidase, to measure the neurotransmitter glutamate to test for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, or ethanol oxidase to monitor alcohol levels for a breathalyzer. It’s very versatile, fast and portable.”

The technology is able to detect glucose in concentrations as low as 0.3 micromolar, far more sensitive than other electrochemical biosensors based on graphene or graphite, carbon nanotubes and metallic nanoparticles, Claussen said.

Source: http://health.india.com                                    25.08.2012

Once you choose hope, anything's possible

Christopher Reeve

August 24, 2012 Clippings

Mixing alcohol with energy drinks ups heart disease risk

Mixing alcohol with energy drinks can raise the risk of heart palpitations and disturbed sleep, researchers have warned.

A new study found that the highly-caffeinated drinks used by millions to make them extra-alert on a night out raised the odds of a range of health problems. Revelers who used energy drinks as a mixer were six times as likely to suffer heart palpitations as those who drank their alcohol straight or with a normal soft drink.

They also had four times the odds of sleep difficulties and were more prone to tremors, irritability and so-called jolt and crash episodes – sudden, short-lived bursts of energy followed by exhaustion, the Daily Mail reported. The symptoms are similar to those produced by caffeine, one of the chief ingredients of energy drinks such as Red Bull. One can of Red Bull contains 80mg of caffeine, around the same as two cans of cola and slightly less than a mug of instant coffee.

Andrea Carr, of the University of Tasmania, said that to avoid side-effects, “consumers of energy drinks alone or combined with alcohol should be aware of the caffeine content of their drinks and any additional caffeine they may have consumed that will contribute to an exacerbation of these effects’.

A spokesperson from the British Soft Drinks Association said: “People who choose to drink alcoholic drinks should consume them in moderation, whether they are mixed with energy drinks or not. Those mixing alcohol with high energy drinks also had four times the odds of sleep difficulties and were more prone to tremors and irritability.

Subjects in the study were also surveyed about their physical and mental health and how often they took risks or lost control by, for example, drunk driving or getting into fights.

The results revealed that energy drinks may cancel out some of alcohol’s sedating effects, leaving drinkers more awake and less likely to suffer signs of tipsiness such as slurred speech or clumsiness. But this alertness came at a cost.

Researcher Amy Peacock said: “They also had a greater chance of experiencing several side-effects linked to over-stimulation, including heart palpitations, increased speech speed, sleeping difficulties, agitation and tremors, jolt and crash episodes, irritability and tension.”

Some researchers have said that energy drinks’ masking of drunkenness could badly impair judgement, leading people to do things they might not do otherwise - such as drinking and driving or getting into fights. This study found the opposite to be true, with energy drink fans being less likely to take a range of risks.

The findings are published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Source: www.dnaindia.com                   24.08.2012

Revenge is always the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind

Juvenal

August 23, 2012 Clippings

Clinical drug trials killed over a thousand people last year: Health Minister

Clinical drug trials killed 1144 people in the last two years, the government said today. Earlier we had reported how from 2008-2011 clinical trials caused over 2000 deaths however only 22 received compensation.

Of the 1144 deaths in 2010 and 2011, 1106 died of diseases like cancer, terminal illness, etc. which is known as Serious Adverse Event (SAE) of death, the Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told the Rajya Sabha. ”The number of SAE of deaths in clinical trials reported during the last two years (2010-2011) was 668 and 438 respectively. However, deaths attributed to clinical trials in 2010 and 2011 were 22 and 16 respectively,” Azad said in a written reply in the House.

The Minister also said that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare in its report has made a number of observations on functioning of Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) and had raised the issue of approval of drugs without clinical trials. The Standing Committee had also pointed out various issues pertaining to the drug industry, particularly the fact that there were very few drug inspectors.

“It (the Parliamentary Committee) has also made some observations on media coverage of conduct of clinical trial on the poor and illiterate people in India and deaths of trial subjects reported during these trials,” Azad added. On safety of people during these trials, Azad said, “There are cases pending in Allahabad High Court and Supreme Court on issues relating to safety and well-being of human subjects enrolled in clinical trials in the country.”

Source: http://health.india.com

23.08.2012

Egg yolks almost as bad as smoking for heart

Eating egg yolks accelerates atherosclerosis, also called coronary artery disease, in a manner similar to smoking cigarettes, say researchers.

Dr. David Spence of Western University, Canada, and his team surveyed more than 1200 patients and found that regular consumption of egg yolks is about two-thirds as bad as smoking when it comes to increased build-up of carotid plaque, a risk factor for stroke and heart attack.

Atherosclerosis is a disorder of the arteries where plaques, aggravated by cholesterol, form on the inner arterial wall. Plaque rupture is the usual cause of most heart attacks and many strokes.

The study looked at data from 1231 men and women, with a mean age of 61.5, who were patients attending vascular prevention clinics at London Health Sciences Centre’s University Hospital.

The researchers found carotid plaque area increased linearly with age after age 40, but increased exponentially with pack-years of smoking and egg yolk-years. In other words, compared to age, both tobacco smoking and egg yolk consumption accelerate atherosclerosis. The study also found those eating three or more yolks a week had significantly more plaque area than those who ate two or fewer yolks per week.

“The mantra ‘eggs can be part of a healthy diet for healthy people’ has confused the issue. It has been known for a long time that a high cholesterol intake increases the risk of cardiovascular events, and egg yolks have a very high cholesterol content. In diabetics, an egg a day increases coronary risk by two to five-fold,” said Dr. Spence, a Professor of Neurology at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Director of its Stroke Prevention and Atherosclerosis Research Centre (SPARC) at the Robarts Research Institute.

“What we have shown is that with aging, plaque builds up gradually in the arteries of Canadians, and egg yolks make it build up faster - about two-thirds as much as smoking. In the long haul, egg yolks are not okay for most Canadians,” he stated.

Dr. Spence added the effect of egg yolk consumption over time on increasing the amount of plaque in the arteries was independent of sex, cholesterol, blood pressure, smoking, body mass index and diabetes.

And while he said more research should be done to take in possible confounders such as exercise and waist circumference, he stresses that regular consumption of egg yolk should be avoided by persons at risk of cardiovascular disease.

The research has been published online in the journal Atherosclerosis.

Source: www.dnaindia.com

23.08.2012

It is a great thing to know the season for speech and the season for silence

Seneca

August 22, 2012 Clippings

Apple peel can help stave off high BP

Eating an apple a day without removing the peel can help prevent high blood pressure.
Canadian scientists have found that the fruit is more effective than other "superfoods" including green tea and blueberries as a source of antioxidants and chemical compounds called flavonoids that combat the potentially life-threatening condition.

In a study, researchers from Nova Scotia Agricultural College tested the peel and the fleshy fruit of apples separately.

The peel was found to be up to six times more effective in inhibiting an enzyme called ACE, which is known to cause hypertension and high blood pressure, according to the team's results in the journal Food Chemistry.

"Apples are one of the most popular and frequently consumed fruits in the world," the Daily Express quoted the researchers as stating.

"Apple peel is a rich source of flavonoids which provide numerous health benefits - apple peel flavonoids inhibited the enzyme ACE," they added.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

22.08.2012

Soon, tasty drugs for diabetes, cancer

University of Illinois scientists have found compounds in Illinois blueberry and blackberry wines that inhibit enzymes responsible for carbohydrate absorption and assimilation.

The finding could provide a tasty way to help people with diabetes decrease their blood sugar.

"We're thinking about a dealcoholized fermented fruit beverage that would optimize the inhibition of the alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase enzymes and also make use of the wines' other healthful bioactive components," said Elvira de Mejia, a U of I professor of food chemistry and food toxicology. Graduate student Michelle Johnson evaluated the nutritional value of 19 Illinois wines, deciding on a blueberry-blackberry blend for maximum effectiveness.

In the in vitro study, the scientists compared the anti-carb effects of the alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase enzymes with acarbose, an anti-diabetes drug. The carb-degrading enzymes were inhibited in a range of 91.8 per cent for alpha-amylase compared to acarbose and 103.2 percent for alpha-glucosidase compared to acarbose, de Mejia said.

The study is the first to assess the effect of berry fermentation at different temperatures on these carb-inhibiting enzymes. At both room and cold (4 degree C) temperatures, berry wine retained the ability to degrade the enzymes, she said.

In a second study, Johnson quantified the antioxidant, polyphenol, and anthocyanin content of blueberry and blackberry wines. Her proposed blend contains an abundance of these bioactive compounds, which add to its healthful properties.

The researchers are particularly interested in the ability of anthocyanins to reduce inflammation, which contributes to the development of many chronic illnesses, including cancer, metabolic disease, and cardiovascular disease. To that end, they are experimenting with the berries' effects on inflammatory cells, and they have found that anthocyanins reduce markers associated with the inflammatory response.

"Preliminary studies have indicated that anthocyanins may have a positive effect on cognition and overall brain health while protecting against some of the effects of aging, such as Alzheimer's disease and memory loss. These berries have some very intriguing components," de Mejia said.

A food chemist, de Mejia would like to remove the alcohol from the wines, leaving the carb-degrading enzyme compounds, the inflammation-fighting anthocyanins, and other beneficial bioactive components in a functional and flavourful drink for diabetics and others.

The bioactive ingredients could also be added to any prepared beverage to give it colour, flavour, and nutritional punch, making them useful to the food industry, she said.

Source: www.timesofindia.com                      22.08.2012

Revenge converts a little right into a great wrong