Diet soda tied to heart attack, stroke risks: study

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Diet soda may benefit the waistline, but a new study suggests that people who drink it every day have a heightened risk of heart attack and stroke.

The study, which followed almost 2,600 older adults for a decade, found that those who drank diet soda every day were 44 percent more likely than non-drinkers to suffer a heart attack or stroke.

The findings, reported in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, don’t prove that the sugar-free drinks are actually to blame.

Full Article

Breastfed babies less likely to grow up angry and irritable

Breastfed babies are less likely to become angry and irritable adults, say scientists.

A long-term study found children who were fed milk directly from their mothers in the first six months of life displayed lower levels of hostility aged 24 compared to their peers who were bottle fed.

Researchers now believe the feeding method, even in the short-term, could have a positive psychological impact and are encouraging maternity clinics to promote the method.

Indiana health officials issue warning on measles

State officials have notified health departments in New York and Massachusetts that a Hamilton County resident with measles visited Super Bowl Village on Friday.

The person did not go inside the NFL Experience in the Indiana Convention Center, officials at the Indiana State Department of Health said Wednesday.

Measles cases must be reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Another measles case has been confirmed in Hamilton County, and there are two probable cases in Boone County, the state said.

Full Article

HPV vaccination for boys recommended by CDC; Health experts believe rates will fall if boys and girls receive vaccine

Health authorities on Friday urged all boys age 11-12 to get a routine vaccination against the most common sexually transmitted disease, human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Other changes as part of an annual update to immunization schedules included a recommended hepatitis B vaccine to the protect the livers of adults up to age 60 who have diabetes and a vaccine against whooping cough for pregnant women.

The updates, agreed upon by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), were published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report of February 3.

The HPV vaccine has been approved for girls since 2006 but the CDC had not expressly urged it for boys, though boys were included among those who could receive it to prevent certain cancers and genital warts.

Green tea could be secret to healthy old age, study suggests

Elderly adults who regularly drink green tea may stay more agile and independent than their peers over time, according to a Japanese study that covered thousands of people.

Green tea contains antioxidant chemicals that may help ward off the cell damage that can lead to disease. Researchers have been studying green tea’s effect on everything from cholesterol to the risk of certain cancers, with mixed results so far.

For the new study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers decided to examine the question of whether green tea drinkers have a lower risk of frailty and disability as they grow older.

Yasutake Tomata of the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine and his colleagues followed nearly 14,000 adults aged 65 or older for three years.

They found those who drank the most green tea were the least likely to develop “functional disability,” or problems with daily activities or basic needs, such as dressing or bathing.

Full Article

THREE HUNDRED 9/11 cops diagnosed with cancer… with average age of just 44

Hundreds of young police officers who responded to the 9/11 attacks have been diagnosed with cancer following the horrific tragedy, it has emerged.

A staggering 297 cops – with an average age of just 44 – have been diagnosed, according to figures obtained by The New York Post.

The data shows almost three times the number of officers are applying for cancer-related disability pensions than before the tragedy.

Ayurvedic Herbal Medicine gets boost

Believe me folks Ayurvedic herbal medicine works! I have first hand experience. As with any modality one has to be diligent in finding that one practitioner that is effective.

 

At EnerHealth Botanicals we use some of these herbs in our Enerfood and Meal Replacement formula and as 1000s of people know, those formulas are extremely effective!

 

California College of Ayurveda Receives $10,000 Dollar Sponsorship from ORGANIC INDIA to Build a Teaching Herbal Garden

Boulder, Colorado (PRWEB) February 03, 2012

 

In a show of tremendous generosity and support for Ayurvedic education and the promotion of herbs as medicine, ORGANIC INDIA, an herbal company based in Lucknow (India) and Boulder, Colorado (USA), has committed to helping the college build the first teaching herb garden and outdoor classroom of its kind in the United States.

 

The garden, to be known for at least the next 3 years as the “ORGANIC INDIA Herb Garden,” is the first of its kind in the United States. Designed as a mandala with a water feature at its center, the garden will consist of 8 large beds that will house between 50 and 100 species of medicinal plants. Ayurvedic students and students in the herbal apprenticeship programs at the college will care for the plants under the supervision of the director of the herb department, Brenda Igler who will work with the students to take the herbs from seed to medicine. Students in the program will grow and pick the herb and then learn to prepare a variety of medicines including herbal salves, oils and ghees.

 

The California College of Ayurveda (CCA), located in Nevada City, California has been pioneering professional ayurvedic training since 1995 when it began offering the first state-approved program of its kind in the United States. Founded by Dr. Marc Halpern, CCA has become the largest, fully dedicated college for the study of Ayurveda in the United States. Say’s Dr. Halpern; “I am so happy that ORGANIC INDIA has stepped up to support ayurvedic education in the United States. It is important that companies who are aligned with ayurveda and herbalism support education. ORGANIC INDIA has set itself apart from other organizations through its humanitarian efforts. Their generosity will benefit students, graduates, patients and all humanity.”

 

ORGANIC INDIA works with thousands of family farmers in India, cultivating tens of thousands of acres of certified organic farmland. The farmers are commissioned to grow organic crops, which ORGANIC INDIA purchases at a premium market price. The company supports their farmers by providing training, health care and education that enable them to be self-sufficient and to develop organic farming skills that will be passed on to future generations.

 

ORGANIC INDIA is most well-known for it’s Organic Tulsi Tea products, which are found in health food stores nation-wide. It was organized in the mid 1990′s in Lucknow India. The founders are followers of the teachings of Sri H.W.L Poonja, lovingly known as Papaji, whose simple teachings can be summed up as “Keep quiet. The eternal truth exists with you. Listen within and the truth of itself will be revealed to itself.”

 

For more information contact Dr. Marc Halpern by phone at 1-866-541-6699 or by email at drh@ayurvedacollege.com. Contact Penny Cole, representing ORGANIC INDIA, at penny(at)organicindiausa(dot)com

 

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/02/03/prweb9134893.DTL#ixzz1lLYyDAuZ

 

The organic tulsi teas are really very good daily tonics and tasty as well. I have purchased these in the past and found them useful!

Ladies, Heart Problems Are Just as Common for You as Men!

I hope that you ladies are aware that Heart Problems are just as common among Women as Men! The warning signs are virtually the same as for men and birth control pills can lead to heart/blood pressure issues as well.

 

If you think you have a family history and/or lifestyle that might indicate heart problems I would highly suggest that you take some preventive measures to mitigate any current and/or future problems.

 

I advocate a highly natural approach, combining herbs and proper foods known to reduce/mitigate issues. Hey even Dr. Oz is talking about these issues now and advocating natural treatments. Of course, if you are in a serious symptomatic condition go to the hospital or doctor. Western medicine can get you over an immediate crisis if necessary.

 

Don’t forget to excercise often. Cardio exercise, walking even, will definitely imporve your cardiac outlook!

 

Heart disease just as common in women

 

If you’re a woman, you may not believe you’re as vulnerable to a heart attack as men – but you are. In some instances, women may not notice the signs of heart attack. They may think that other health problems are causing their symptoms or that the symptoms will go away on their own. As a result, women don’t always receive medical care quickly enough to prevent complications or death from a heart attack.

 

Today, we know that heart disease affects as many women as men. In fact, heart disease is the number one cause of death in Canada for women over the age of 55 and almost as many women as men die from heart attacks.

 

To support you and your family in preventing or in managing heart disease, Agassiz Community Health, together with its partners, will be hosting a public information day on Tuesday, February 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the District of Kent Fitness/Activity Centre located at 6660 Pioneer Avenue in Agassiz. You will be able to have your blood pressure tested, observe exercise classes in session, have access to advice from health professionals, and gather important information to take home and read.

 

Not too long ago, heart disease was considered predominantly a man’s disease. Men were the breadwinners and their hard work sometimes led to chest pain and heart attacks. Women, on the other hand, had “female problems” and heart disease was not one of them. Symptoms reported by women that would have been considered signs of heart disease in men were often dismissed as meaningless or even fictitious. As a consequence, until recently, research on heart disease focused mainly on men.

 

From those studies emerged the “classic” symptoms of heart attack: chest pain (a painful, crushing feeling behind the breastbone), tingling down the arm (usually the left arm), accompanied by shortness of breath, sweating, nausea indigestion-like symptoms and clammy skin.

 

In the past, it was believed that women and men had different warning signs of heart attack. This may not be the case. Both women and men may experience typical or non-typical symptoms such as pain in the arm, throat, jaw or pain that is unusual, pain that may feel like burning, squeezing, heaviness, tightness or pressure, difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, sweating, fear, anxiety, and denial. Although women may describe their pain differently from men, nevertheless, the most common symptom in women and men is still chest pain.

 

So what puts women at risk for heart disease and heart attacks? Some of the risk factors like age, gender, family history of heart disease, or ethnicity cannot be controlled. But, there are risk factors like high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, being overweight, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, smoking, and stress which can be controlled.

 

While these risk factors are the same as those for men, there are unique aspects related to women’s heart health:

 

• Role of estrogen — During a woman’s reproductive life cycle, about age 12 to 50, the naturally-occurring hormone estrogen provides a protective effect on women’s cardiovascular health. However, estrogen’s protective effect can change depending on a variety of factors.

 

• Birth control pills — In a small percentage of women, oral contraceptives increase the risk of high blood pressure and blood clots. This risk is increased by smoking and other existing risk factors.

 

• Pregnancy — Over the nine months of gestation, women may develop certain conditions like pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes that might put them at higher risk of heart disease.

 

• Menopause — The overall risk of heart disease may increase due to the reduction of the hormones estrogen and progesterone produced by the body.

 

• Cholesterol — After menopause, as natural estrogen levels drop, more and more women tend to develop high cholesterol.

 

• Triglycerides — They are the most common type of fat in the body. A high triglyceride level often goes with higher levels of total cholesterol and LDL (“bad” cholesterol), lower levels of HDL (“good” cholesterol) and an increased risk of diabetes. Research suggests that having high triglycerides may increase the risk of heart disease.

 

For women, knowing about the risks of heart disease and recognizing the signs of a heart attack is critical. But, what is even more important is understanding that you can take steps to prevent heart disease. That means eliminating – or at least – minimizing the risk factors you can control by stopping smoking, becoming physically active, eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, controlling diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and following your doctor’s recommendations.

 

Some women believe that making just one healthy change will take care of all of their heart disease risk. To protect your heart, it is vital to make changes that address each risk factor you have – each has the individual potential to greatly increase a woman’s chance of developing heart disease. You can make the changes gradually, one at a time. But making them is very important. The take-away message? Be aware of your risk factors and take them seriously. The actions you take now to lower your risk may just save your life.

 

- Submitted by Agassiz Community Health

 

You might try the Enerfood, Heart toner and some other food and herbal based products offered by EnerHealth botanicals!

Spain, a replay of U.S. financial disaster

Reading about the steps taken to ‘remedy’ the economic/finanical disaster in Spain (all of Europe looks pretty much the same) is like looking at 2008/2009 here in the U.S. all over again!

 

Merging banks, huge write downs on real estate etc. My issue is why did it take so long to hit Europe? Did they think they were immune to financial mismangement?

 

Spain to Unveil Bank Overhaul to Clean Up Real Estate

Q

By Emma Ross-Thomas – Feb 2, 2012 5:51 AM MT

 

Spain is set to announce today its plan to shepherd struggling banks into mergers and make the industry set aside 50 billion euros ($66 billion) for real- estate assets left over from the bubble that burst in 2008.

 

The government will issue debt and inject the funds into banks via contingent convertible bonds, or CoCos, which convert into equity if capital ratios fall below a certain level, a person familiar with the process said yesterday. It will only support banks that merge and those lenders will also have more time to apply new provisioning rules, the person said.

 

Economy Minister Luis de Guindos speaks to reporters at 5:30 p.m. in Madrid today and the plan is due to be approved by the Cabinet tomorrow. The ministry gave no more details in an e- mailed statement.

 

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, in power since December, has pledged a “true restructuring” of the industry at no cost to the taxpayer four years after the decade-long property boom collapsed. Lenders have about 176 billion euros of what the Bank of Spain terms “troubled” assets linked to real estate on their books, including land and unfinished apartments, and have provisioned about a third of that.

 

“They don’t want it to cost the taxpayer anything, they don’t want to use EU bailout funds and they need it to be credible for the market, and those three conditions are apparently incompatible,” Fernando Fernandez, a professor at IE business school in Madrid and a former International Monetary Fund economist, said in a telephone interview.

Previous Efforts

 

The former Socialist government’s first initiative to help banks was to create the FROB bailout fund in 2009, which spent about 10 billion euros buying preference shares in lenders it encouraged to merge. In a second phase, the government bought ordinary shares in struggling lenders last year and in October, in a bid to shield the budget from further strain, it decreed that any losses generated by the overhaul would be absorbed by the industry.

 

Rajoy, who leads the pro-business People’s Party, had considered creating a so-called bad bank to buy toxic real- estate assets from lenders, two people familiar with the situation said in November. A bad bank may have clashed with Rajoy’s election pledge not to spend taxpayers’ money cleaning up lenders. Rajoy and Guindos have also ruled out using the euro region’s bailout funds to finance the overhaul.

Bond Sale

 

Spain, which pays about less than 4 percent to borrow for five years, will issue debt to fund its purchase of the CoCos, which will yield 8 percent, said the person, who declined to be identified because the plan isn’t yet public. The Treasury sold five-year bonds today at 3.455 percent, down from 4.021 percent last month, as the European Central Bank’s policy of extending longer-term loans to banks bolstered demand for sovereign debt.

 

The plan to be unveiled today won’t have any impact on the budget deficit, the person familiar with the process said yesterday. Still, the CoCos may end up being converted into equity, Fernandez said, as the IMF forecasts Spain’s economy will shrink for the next two years, adding to pressure on banks.

 

“Barring positive surprises on economic growth, it’s probable the CoCos will end up being converted into shares and so we would be just postponing the cost to the taxpayer,” said Fernandez, who used to be chief economist at Banco Santander SA.

 

De Guindos said on Jan. 27 that banks were themselves capable of funding the 50 billion euros of additional provisions he wants them to make for real-estate. Provisioning efforts will be “especially dedicated” to foreclosed assets, particularly “land and other kinds of property,” he said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, last week. Lenders the government thinks aren’t viable in the medium term will have to merge, he said.

 

To contact the reporter on this story: Emma Ross-Thomas in Madrid at erossthomas@bloomberg.net

 

The liklihood of a strong economic rebound worldwide is not a very high probablility in my mind, regardless of our stock market having the best January in many years etc…Economic outlook is still very bleak in my mind!

Sugar is Like Poison to your Body

Well what can I say? We have been telling everyone for years that sugar is not a good substance to put in your bodya and now the Univ. of CA is saying it should be as highly regulated as alcohol. Perhaps a bit of a stretch on the regulation end of it, but the fact is that the stuff is toxic to your body.

 

If people just stopped consuming anything with sugar, aspartame, high fructose corn syrup as ingredients just imagine the changes we would see. I predict that physical maladies of all kinds would drop dramatically, thus reducing health care costs and we would then not even need a ‘National Health Care’ system….miraculous it would be!

 

The article below came from Yahoo news…

 

Sugar Should Be Regulated As Toxin, Researchers Say

LiveScience.comBy Christopher Wanjek | LiveScience.com – Wed, Feb 1, 2012

 

A spoonful of sugar might make the medicine go down. But it also makes blood pressure and cholesterol go up, along with your risk for liver failure, obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

 

Sugar and other sweeteners are, in fact, so toxic to the human body that they should be regulated as strictly as alcohol by governments worldwide, according to a commentary in the current issue of the journal Nature by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

 

The researchers propose regulations such as taxing all foods and drinks that include added sugar, banning sales in or near schools and placing age limits on purchases.

 

Although the commentary might seem straight out of the Journal of Ideas That Will Never Fly, the researchers cite numerous studies and statistics to make their case that added sugar — or, more specifically, sucrose, an even mix of glucose and fructose found in high-fructose corn syrup and in table sugar made from sugar cane and sugar beets — has been as detrimental to society as alcohol and tobacco.

 

Sour words about sugar

 

The background is well-known: In the United States, more than two-thirds of the population is overweight, and half of them are obese. About 80 percent of those who are obese will have diabetes or metabolic disorders and will have shortened lives, according to the UCSF authors of the commentary, led by Robert Lustig. And about 75 percent of U.S. health-care dollars are spent on diet-related diseases, the authors said.

 

Worldwide, the obese now greatly outnumber the undernourished, according to the World Health Organization. Obesity is a public health problem in most countries. And chronic diseases related to diet such as heart diseases, diabetes and some cancers — for the first time in human history — kill more people than infectious diseases, according to the United Nations.

 

Less known, and still debated, is sugar’s role in the obesity and chronic disease pandemic. From an evolutionary perceptive, sugar in the form of fruit was available only a few months of the year, at harvest time, the UCSF researchers said. Similarly, honey was guarded by bees and therefore was a treat, not a dietary staple. [6 Easy Ways to Eat More Fruits & Veggies]

 

Today, added sugar, as opposed to natural sugars found in fruits, is often added in foods ranging from soup to soda. Americans consume on average more than 600 calories per day from added sugar, equivalent to a whopping 40 teaspoons. “Nature made sugar hard to get; man made it easy,” the researchers write.

 

Many researchers are seeing sugar as not just “empty calories,” but rather a chemical that becomes toxic in excess. At issue is the fact that glucose from complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, is safely metabolized by cells throughout the body, but the fructose element of sugar is metabolized primarily by the liver. This is where the trouble can begin — taxing the liver, causing fatty liver disease, and ultimately leading to insulin resistance, the underlying causes of obesity and diabetes.

 

Added sugar, more so than the fructose in fiber-rich fruit, hits the liver more directly and can cause more damage — in laboratory rodents, anyway. Some researchers, however, remained unconvinced of the evidence of sugar’s toxic effect on the human body at current consumption levels, as high as they are.

 

Economists to the rescue

 

Lustig, a medical doctor in UCSF’s Department of Pediatrics, compares added sugar to tobacco and alcohol (coincidentally made from sugar) in that it is addictive, toxic and has a negative impact on society, thus meeting established public health criteria for regulation. Lustig advocates a consumer tax on any product with added sugar.

 

Among Lustig’s more radical proposals are to ban the sale of sugary drinks to children under age 17 and to tighten zoning laws for the sale of sugary beverages and snacks around schools and in low-income areas plagued by obesity, analogous to alcoholism and alcohol regulation.

 

Economists, however, debate as to whether a consumer tax — such as a soda tax proposed in many U.S. states — is the most effective means of curbing sugar consumption. Economists at Iowa State University led by John Beghin suggest taxing the sweetener itself at the manufacturer level, not the end product containing sugar.

 

This concept, published last year in the journal Contemporary Economic Policy, would give companies an incentive to add less sweetener to their products. After all, high-fructose corn syrup is ubiquitous in food in part because it is so cheap and serves as a convenient substitute for more high-quality ingredients, such as fresher vegetables in processed foods.

 

Some researchers argue that saturated fat, not sugar, is the root cause of obesity and chronic disease. Others argue that it is highly processed foods with simple carbohydrates. Still others argue that it is a lack of physical exercise. It could, of course, be a matter of all these issues.

 

Christopher Wanjek is the author of the books “Bad Medicine” and “Food At Work.” His column, Bad Medicine, appears regularly on LiveScience.

 

My advice is to just stop consuming anything that looks like sugar…try natural, uncooked/unfiltered honey or Coconut Palm Sugar…these should work as well and have some health benefits to boot!

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