Written by: Shauna Bannan

Common flavonoid-rich fruits and vegetables.

People who add a moderate amount of flavonoids, plant compounds found in food and beverages, to their diets are less likely to suffer from serious health problems, recent studies show.

There are over 4,000 compounds classified as flavonoids, many of which can be found in a variety of fruits and vegetables, as well as tea, beer, wine, nuts, and soy. Research suggests that the naturally occurring plant compounds have a number of beneficial effects on human health, including a reduced risk of cancer, asthma, stroke, and heart disease.

A recent study conducted on nearly 100,000 older U.S. adults found that those who consumed the most amount of flavonoids were less likely to die of heart disease or stroke, compared to those who consumed the least amounts, over the next seven years. The participants were divided into groups of five – based on their flavonoid intake. One-fifth of those with the highest level of plant compounds were 18 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular trouble than the group with the lowest intake.

A study conducted at UCLA found that smokers who consumed high levels of these compounds in their diets were less likely to develop lung cancer.

“What we found was extremely interesting, that several types of flavonoids are associated with a reduced risk of lung cancer among smokers,” said Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang, a researcher and professor of public health and epidemiology at UCLA. “The findings were especially interesting because tobacco smoking is the major risk factor for lung cancer.”

Zhang suggests that flavonoids may prevent cancer cells from blocking, in addition to blocking the formation of blood vessels that tumors develop.

The secret lies within the compound’s antioxidant activity. Like other antioxidants, flavonoids provide the body with protection against cellular damage. Due to the common high intake of fruits, vegetables, tea, and wine, these plant-based compounds may, at times, have stronger antioxidant abilities than those of vitamins C and E.

Many of these foods are consumed on a daily basis. Most vegetables, particularly those that are green and red, contain high levels of the compound. Tree fruits, spices, and beverages, including red wine and tea of all types, are also among a long list of flavonoid-rich foods.

“Even adding one serving of flavonoid-rich food a day could be beneficial,” said Marjorie L. McCullough, lead researcher of the American Cancer Society in Atlanta. “Flavonoid-rich foods are the types of foods we should be eating anyway.”

Technorati Tags: beverages, cancer, flavonoids, Fruits, health, health problems, heart disease, lung cancer, plant compounds, stroke, vegetables

Don't let this become you

Written by: Jill Heagerty

The most common type of mental illness are anxiety disorders, affecting 18 percent of Americans. We all experience anxiety occasionally from high levels of stress, but it is important to recognize the dangers of letting it go too far. There are three forms of this disorder: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and phobic disorder.

Generalized anxiety disorder is a long-lasting, consistent feeling of being overwhelmed. This is the trickiest one to spot because anyone can fee anxiety for extended periods For diagnosis, doctors typically say if the feeling lasts for 6 months tIt can be a symptom of substance abuse, something chronic marijuana users should watch out for who think their choice of drug comes with little consequences.

Sufferers of panic disorder have short attacks of intense apprehension, frequently known as panic attacks, that include shaking, nausea, and trouble breathing. The scariest part about this anxiety disorder is it can escalate into agoraphobia, a fear of getting into situations that are challenging to escape. Sufferers can become so afraid of triggering another attack from these stressful situations that they don’t want to leave the comfort of their own homes, and what kind of life can these poor people lead if they are terrified of walking out the front door?

Phobic disorders are triggered be a specific situation or item. Many common phobias are arachnophobia (fear of spiders), ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), acrophobia (fear of heights), and astraphobia (fear of thunder and lightening). Most people have a fear of something, but a phobic disorder is extreme and can freak people out to the point that a simple experience or object sends them into a tearful tantrum. A few years ago a video of a girl who was a guest on Maury spread all over the Internet, as her extreme phobia of pickles was either pitied or mocked by viewers everywhere. The girl would cry and run away whenever she saw a pickle, an object that does not distress many at all, but she is the perfect example of how a daily item can cause severe stress from those with that phobic disorder.

The importance of this issue is that everyone suffers from anxiety, but if you have an extreme case that lasts for months at a time, seek help. There are medications and therapies that can cure you so it does not get to the point that you live in constant fear. I especially urge anyone with a phobic disorder to conquer it immediately. Never let something run your life, always keep control of your mind and body.

Technorati Tags: anxiety, disorders, health, marijuana, mental, panic, phobia

Technorati Tags: ADHD, kids, misdiagnosed

Fad diets usually demand that you get rid of certain essential nutrients which can be harmful to your health.

Written by Erin Marty

If you’re attempting to lose weight, you’re not the only one; according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, more than 30 billion dollars is spent annually on weight loss solutions, and much of this is spent on fad diets. Unfortunately, fad diets are usually unsuccessful and can be harmful to your general health.

Do not get “going on a diet” confused with “sticking to a balanced diet.” These are two totally different strategies. Though it does not apply to everyone, diets – particularly fad diets – do not typically work long-term and are generally not as healthy as they lead people to believe.

The general idea of a fad diet is that if you are loyal to your diet, then like magic the fat is supposed to melt off, easy and fast. Unfortunately, regimes like these are typically unhealthy in that they call for the exclusion of whole food groups that you should otherwise consume daily as part of a balanced diet. For example, the Atkins diet demands that you let go of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates, unfortunately, are needed not only for successful weight loss, but are significant in general, as they are necessary for your overall health and survival. Other fad diets exclude different foods such as “good” fats, proteins, or other important nutrients. Saying goodbye to any group of essential food that your body calls for can yield negative results on your health.

Another reason why fad diets fail in the world of successful weight loss, is that it is nearly impossible to keep your weight off for too long. Though you can lose weight fast with a fad diet, you are more likely to gain back the weight that you had originally lost – and then some! And despite false claims that certain foods will magically melt away fat, this is untrue; food does not actually burn fat. If anything, you are likely to lose weight fast on a fad diet due to decreasing your water weight or even muscle mass. But with water, eventually your body will rehydrate itself again thus the weight comes back; as for the muscles, this is an unfortunate loss as you need strong muscles to get into shape and stay fit and healthy for years to come.

Participating in a fad diet means you’re likely to suffer through what some people refer to as “yo-yo dieting” or “yo-yo weight loss.” Imagine your weight fluctuating up and down constantly – that is “yo-yo dieting.” This does not only negatively impact your mind and confidence when trying to whip yourself into shape, but it can lead to health issues as well. The Weight-Control Information Network explains that your risk for high cholesterol and high blood pressure are both increased if you are frequently losing and gaining weight.

There are numerous ways to try and burn that stubborn fat from your body. Which option you choose depends on your personal needs and where you are at on a physical level. But probably the most successful way to lose weight for the majority of people, is to stick to a healthy eating plan and to exercise daily. Fad diets, not only unsuccessful, but harmful to your health, should be avoided.

Technorati Tags: burn fat, diet, diets, fad diet, fad diets, losing weight, popular diet, weight loss

Tea may be the possible weight loss aid you're looking for.

Written by Erin Marty

Tea, a popular drink around the globe, offers many health benefits, including that it could be a possible weight loss aid. Yes, it may lend a helping hand when it comes to losing stubborn, unwanted fat.

In 2005, the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University reported an experiment involving 35 overweight men and women. The patients ended up with reduced BMIs – body weight indexes – and decreased body weight when they consumed 690 mg catechins of oolong tea combined with green tea extract every day for 12 weeks straight.
Needles to say, those are very promising results for people looking to melt that unwanted fat away.

So is tea really a possible weight loss aid? If so, how? Also, which teas will offer this helping hand?

To start off, teas from the Camellia sinensis plant (black, white, oolong and green teas) naturally contain caffeine. This is significant when it comes to weight loss; as it sates on the United States Department of Agriculture website: “it is universally accepted that caffeinated tea raises metabolic rate because caffeine is a stimulant.” Also in 2005, a study was published by the “Alternative Medicine Review”, explaining that the caffeine in black tea extract helped curb appetite, it offered a burst of energy – this is wonderful for working out – and it increased metabolism in patients during the experiment.

Beyond caffeine, Dr. Eric Braverman explained in 2009 on The Huffington Post, that green tea works to restrict insulin levels. To put this in plain English, this means that when you drink green tea, fat is forced to migrate to your muscles and immediately be burned off instead of being stored in your cells. Braverman stated, “Green tea may reduce the absorption of dietary fats by approximately 40%.”

If you’re still not convinced that tea can help you lose weight, at least consider that thanks to its high amount of potent polyphenols, tea can improve your general health, which is a plus for those working out and trying to stay healthy in their attempt to lose weight. This is because polyphenols are loaded with strong antioxidant properties.

One last attribute not to overlook is the fact that most teas are essentially, healthy. When you’re drinking tea, it’s not like you’re sucking down all that sugar that other drinks are loaded with like sodas and juices. In fact, as long as you don’t add milk, sugar or other flavors, black, white, green or oolong teas contain zero calories! Yup, tea is certainly, a wonderful drink, and a possible weight loss aid.

Technorati Tags: black tee, burn fat, diet, drink to lose weight, green tea, losing weight, oolong tea, tea, tea weight loss aid, unwanted fat, weight loss, white tea

Taking omega 3 fish oil may help your cholesterol.

Written by Erin Marty

There are many people who jump the stereotypical conclusion that all fats yield negative consequences on your health, like high blood cholesterol. Well, when considering fish and fish oil, rich in omega 3 fatty acids, this could not be further from the truth.

Along with other health benefits such as lending a helping hand with rheumatoid arthritis and possibly lowering blood pressure, omega 3 fatty acids contain ant-inflammatory abilities that may also aid in the reduction of triglyceride – fats in your blood that are typically associated with high cholesterol.

The oil in fish, according to the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, is ranked on their scale as “effective” for reducing high amounts of triglycerides. This is significant, as high triglycerides have been linked with high cholesterol, which in turn, is linked with other health conditions such as heart disease. No wonder this miracle fat is often times referred to as “good” fat.

Researchers, according to the Medline Plus website, believe that though fish oil is not as effective as some medications, it can help to lower triglycerides by twenty to fifty percent. Omega 3 fatty acids and fish oil are also listed on Mayo Clinic’s “Top 5 Food to Lower Your Numbers.” This is mainly because these good fats have been known to help decrease LDL levels, also known as low-density lipoprotein or bad cholesterol.

Because we cannot produce it ourselves, as humans we have to consume foods that contain omega 3 fatty acids, not just for their benefits, but also because we depend on them for survival. Nuts, canola oil and flax seeds are also wonderful foods when it comes to omega 3 fatty acids. As stated before, these fatty acids are also rich in fish. Mayo Clinic lists the following fish as being the richest in omega 3 fatty acids: mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna, salmon and halibut.

To actually benefit from omega 3 fish oil, the American Heart Association recommends that you consume at least two servings of fish every week. Be wary of certain fish high in harsh metals such as swordfish and king mackerel. Not a big fish eater? Fish oil supplements are also available over-the-counter.

Let’s face it, though; just eating fish alone isn’t going to to lower your cholesterol. Physicians advise not only the consumption of omega 3 fish oil and fish, but to alter your current lifestyle by adding plenty of exercise and a healthy diet to your daily routine.

Technorati Tags: cholesterol, fish, fish oil, health, high cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, omega 3, omega 3 fatty acids, omega 3 fish oil

Written by: Fruzsina Molnar

Drink a glass of red wine to beat breast cancer, study reports.

Technorati Tags: alcohol, breast cancer, red wine, wine, women, womens health

The all-American food!

          Are Apples Safe for Children?

   By: Barbara J. Ross

The number one fruit eaten by children is our country is – the apple!!!  Even for picky eaters it seems that this mainstay of the American diet is the one fruit that almost every child will eat. That begs the question – just how safe is the apple?  We should also wonder – just how safe is the most popular fruit juice for children – apple juice?

I went out to seek information about the fruit that Johnny Appleseed turned intoAmerica’s most popular food.  Consulting sources such as The President’s Cancer Panel, I researched the environmental hazard created when fruit is sprayed with pesticides.  Well parents, this news requires action – now!  Protect you children from contaminants.  Research provides evidence that pesticide indeed has harmful effects:

• According to the Environmental Working Group of Washington, 92% of all non-organic apples contain 2 or more pesticides.  Healthychild.com reports that this same group “called on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Carol Browner to immediately halt the use of one highly toxic insecticide that poses short-term risks to small children. The group said an emergency cancellation of the bug killer methyl parathion is needed because hundreds of thousands of preschoolers are exceeding government-established safety limits for the pesticide every day, mostly through consumption of apples and peaches.”
• The University of California-Berkeley participated in a study about the intelligence of children as tested for an IQ score. The research conducted included an excess of 400 children, using records before birth and through ages of 6 to 9. Berkeley’s findings were that children with the greatest exposure scored on an average 7 points lower on standardized IQ tests compared with children with the lowest pesticide exposures.
• A research article by S H Zahm for the National Institutes of Health reports that “Malignancies linked to pesticides in case reports or case-control studies include leukemia, neuroblastoma, Wilms’ tumor, soft-tissue sarcoma,Ewing’s sarcoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and cancers of the brain, colorectum, and testes.”  Zahm continues with the suggestion “that  children may be particularly sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of pesticides.”

One cannot ignore the phenomenal nutritional value that the apple gives to those who eat it, especially children since they seem to love apples so much.  What can we do to minimize the effects of all these chemicals on our children?  How can we make this beloved fruit safe for children?

The very first thing we should all do is write to government leaders and let them know about our concerns and even our anger.  We should not and cannot accept the continued pesticide exposure to children through this inexpensive and readily available popular diet mainstay.

Families can certainly take extra steps to wash all fruit with soap and water.  Never, never,  serve your children this fruit without a good scrubbing.

Of course the very best solution is to buy organic.  If a family can afford just one organic food, the evidence above suggests that it should be that popular American staple – the apple.  Happy crunching!

Technorati Tags: apples, cancer, children, IQ, organic, pesticides

Written by: Damian Roache

On Friday the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement about a newly created version of bird flu that it considers a very dangerous liability. Their opinion comes a week after the U.S. National Institutes of Health requested that research on the new flu not be published due to the sensitive nature of the work.

In their statement, WHO said, “Recent media reports have noted that, if published, details of the research could provide bio-terrorists with crucial information on how to mutate the virus into a deadlier, human-to-human transmissible form.”

The problem with doing this research, according to WHO, is the potential for such discoveries to be used improperly.

The bird flu, known as H5N1, is a virus that does not often affect humans. For those few unlucky enough to get it, the flu is very unforgiving: it is fatal in 60% of cases.

New research was being done by scientists at Erasmus University Medical Center and the University of Wisconsin-Madison that led to the creation of a new type of H5N1. This strain of the virus is more communicable to humans, making it far deadlier than previous known versions.

The World Health Organization stressed that any more research done with the virus should only continue, “after all important public health risks and benefits have been identified and reviewed.”

Despite the volatile nature of the research, WHO understands that further work with the H5N1 could lead to valuable information.

WHO is a leader among those interested in studying and preventing outbreaks of bird flu. In 2005, WHO created the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework. The main goal of the Framework is to foster cooperation between researchers across the globe in order to help prevent a pandemic.

The guidelines set up by WHO allow for total transparency regarding the virus. By sharing information and research on the flu, scientists are able to combine their efforts.

The risks inherent in researching the deadly virus are unavoidable, but WHO wants to ensure that new information about H5N1 is available to those capable of using the findings in the international fight against the flu.

Scientists in Asia are especially anxious to be allowed access to the new research. The H5N1 virus originated in Asia’s local bird populations and has since spread across the world.

Now all that remains is a delicate balancing act between further research to determine the nature of H5N1 and a cautious approach to handling the information. In the right hands this research could help prevent a deadly pandemic, but if used for more malicious purposes the new flu could prove a most deadly weapon.

Bird flu poses one of the most widespread health risks today.

Technorati Tags: Bird Flu, H5N1, WHO, World Health Organization

Blackbirds were seen strewn across the town of Beebe for the second year in a row.

Written by: Damian Roache

For most people, the sight of dead birds raining down from the sky would be one of the strangest sights ever. In Beebe, Arkansas it is almost starting to be expected.

Last year residents of Beebe woke to find the dead birds, blackbirds to be specific, littering their lawns and covering their roofs. A loud fireworks display on New Year’s Eve reportedly caused the birds to fly around in confusion and fatally injure themselves as a result.

The event drew a whole host of media attention, and because of that the town was prepared for the same this year.

Saturday the blackbirds began falling again, prompting police to ban the use of fireworks. Police say that the first reports of dead birds started to come in around 7 PM. Working with the local animal control officials, police started to clean up the birds and attempted to get a count of the deaths.

While it is unclear exactly how many birds fell on Saturday, it is reported to be far less than a year ago when the dead birds numbered in the thousands.

A great deal of effort went into cleaning up the town in the aftermath. While the national media ran with the story and set off a debate on what caused the birds to fall, the people of Beebe were forced to deal with the consequences. Dead birds are not typically a hazard under normal circumstances, but with the number of birds being so high the health risks involved were obvious. What was for some people an amusing news story or a sign of end times ended up being a large and expensive mess for Beebe.

Following the huge amount of media attention from last year’s event, speculation about the bird deaths was rampant. Before fireworks were blamed for the deaths, some wild theories began to emerge about the birds and their cause of death.

The rain of birds proved to be the perfect magnet for people searching for signs of the coming apocalypse. Given the sudden nature of the deaths and the gruesome scene it left, many made parallels between what happened in Beebe and the famous Biblical plagues.

Speculation about the event was only made worse by another that took place last year. Thousands of dead fish washed up on the shore of the Arkansas River. Even though the two events were not connected, their proximity was seen by some as further evidence that something strange was happening in Arkansas.

Now, a year later, this is guaranteed to rekindle some of the apocalyptic talk as the New Year begins.

Technorati Tags: Arkansas, Beebe, Birds, Dead Birds