24 April, 2015

People above 60 also benefit from quitting smoking at that age

All, of us, know the perils of smoking cigarettes. Lung cancer and respiratory distress are the most commonly talked about illnesses associated with smoking. Still, not many act on quitting that habit to cut their risk of various diseases. A new study says that if you smoke and want to reduce your risk of heart attacks and strokesyou should quit smoking at the age of 60. The study conducted at German Cancer Research Center analyzed 25 individual studies, compiling data from over half a million individuals age 60 and older.

According to the study, twice as many smokers die fromcardiovascular disease than life-long non-smokers do. The increase in risk depends on the number of cigarettes that a person has smoked in his or her lifetime. After one quits smoking, this risk continues to decrease. On average, the risk for former smokers is only 1.3 times that of people who have never smoked in their lives

Since people often find it difficult to determine the relevance of relative risks, Ute Mons and her colleagues also used an alternative method to assess the results of their meta-analysis where they calculated the number of years by which smoking accelerates death fromheart disease and found that the age of smokers who die from cardiovascular disease is, on average, five and a half years younger than people who have never smoked in their lives.

Study head Prof. Hermann Brenner said that it was never too late to stop smoking and even people in the highest age group still gain considerable health benefits from it and many heart attacks and strokes, with all of their serious consequences, could be prevented this way.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

24.04.2015

Eat raw capsicum as a salad to control your diabetes and obesity

Changing lifestyles and unhealthy eating habits have increased the incidence of diseases like hypertension, cardiovascular diseases anddiabetes. There many natural remedies that help reversing or control these diseases and Indian scientists have now discovered fat-fighting and sugar controlling properties in and green, red and yellow bell peppers. (Read: 7 reasons capsicum is great for your health )

As reported by The Hindu, the scientists from CSIR- Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) studied that effects of capsicum or bell peppers on digestive enzymes namely, alpha- glucosidase which breaks down carbohydrates into glucose and pancreatic lipase which breaks down the lipids or fats in the body to fatty acids. The scientists found out that yellow and red capsicum slows down the digestion of carbohydrates and lipids. 

Lead author and Senior Principal Scientist, Dr. Ashok Kumar Tiwari said that yellow capsicum was twice as potent as green capsicum in inhibiting the activity of alpha- glucosidase and lipase enzyme. He explained that the concentration of lipids and blood sugar is reduced once digestion of carbohydrates and lipids is slowed down, and hence it would cut the chance of developing hyperglycaemia and hyperlipidemia. This makes yellow capsicum a better option than green capsicum. He suggested that eating raw capsicum as salads would be beneficial.

However, the lipase inhibiting activity of red capsicum was equivalent to that of yellow capsicum, and its inhibition of glucosidase was similar to that of green capsicum. What makes yellow and red capsicum better over green is that green capsicum lacks oligomerised anthocyanins that are pigments responsible for their bright colour. These pigments are better inhibitors of these enzymes than pro-anthocyanins found in green capsicum. Yellow and red capsicums possess better anti-oxidative activity than green variety that helps fighting the oxidative stress induced by hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

24.04.2015

Be an encourager. The world has plenty of critics already

Dave Willis