Mid Life Crisis

Four tips to avoid a mid-life crisis from Professor Carlo Strenger of Tel Aviv University's Department of Psychology

"First, and most important," Prof. Strenger suggests, "invest some sincere thought in the fact that you have more high-quality adult years ahead of you than behind you. Realize what that means in planning for the future."

Second, he says, think about what you've learned about yourself so far. Consider what you've found to be your strongest abilities and about the things that most please you, not what your parents or society expected of you when you were young.

Read the rest here >>

I really like these new year resolutions from the Keefe Clinic newsletter:

TAKE MORE WALKS. If you haven't taken a walk for awhile, go for a 15-minute stroll during a work break or after dinner; we bet you'll immediately feel more refreshed and less stressed about the world. The simple act of walking - away from the relative confines of your office or home - allows you to enjoy nature and exercise all at once. 

WATCH LESS TV. We're not suggesting you eliminate TV altogether, particularly if it's news- or education-based, but a few less hours a week of reality TV and late-night B movies wouldn't hurt. Substantial evidence links TV viewing to negative health outcomes, not the least of which is obesity. So turn off the boob tube now and then.

TRY NEW FOODS. Most adults are fairly locked in to their food preferences, which can be dangerous on several levels: If your preferences aren't healthy ones, you're in trouble; and if you don't mix things up occasionally, you risk getting bored. The solution? Try at least one new food a week, preferably the healthy variety.

MAKE TIME TO PLAY. Games, that is; games with your kids, your significant other or yourself that keep your mind sharp and take you away from the hustle and bustle of the daily grind. Whether it's a board game, a crossword puzzle or even a sport that keeps you on your toes (literally and figuratively), make more time to play. 

SPOIL YOURSELF. Your last New Year's resolution is perhaps the most important one, because you can't be healthy, at least not over the long haul, if you don't spoil yourself occasionally. Schedule a vacation, plan a date night, or just commit to taking an hour or so at least once a week and relaxing all by yourself. You're worth it.

Supplements For The Over 50's

Many people in their 50's and olders take normal supplements that everyone esle takes. We don't encourage that and on our site have a special Multivit for the over 50's.

Recent research suggests that if you're over 50 and want to take a multivit, you need one tailored to your age:

With scientific evidence linking high levels of copper and iron to Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and other age-related disorders, a new report in ACS’ Chemical Research in Toxicology: “Risks of Copper and Iron Toxicity during Aging in Humans” suggests specific steps that older consumers can take to avoid build up of unhealthy amounts of these metals in their bodies. “This story of copper and iron toxicity, which I think is reaching the level of public health significance, is virtually unknown to the general medical community, to say nothing of complete unawareness of the public,” George J. Brewer states in the report.

The article points out that copper and iron are essential nutrients for life, with high levels actually beneficial to the reproductive health of younger people. After age 50, however, high levels of these metals can damage cells in ways that may contribute to a range of age-related diseases.

“It seems clear that large segments of the population are at risk for toxicities from free copper and free iron, and to me, it seems clear that preventive steps should begin now.” The article details those steps for people over age 50, including avoiding vitamin and mineral pills that contain cooper and iron; lowering meat intake: avoiding drinking water from copper pipes; donating blood regularly to reduce iron levels; and taking zinc supplements to lower copper levels.

Diabetes And Glucose Levels

Diabetics may soon be able to wear contact lenses that continuously alert them to variations in their glucose levels by changing colours – replacing the need to routinely draw blood throughout the day.

The non-invasive technology, developed by Chemical and Biochemical Engineering professor Jin Zhang at The University of Western Ontario, uses extremely small nanoparticles embedded into the hydrogel lenses.  These engineered nanoparticles react with glucose molecules found in tears, causing a chemical reaction that changes their colour.

Zhang received $216,342 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) this morning to further develop technologies using multifunctional nanocomposites.

These technologies have vast potential applications beyond biomedical devices, including for food packaging. For example, nanocomposite films can prevent food spoilage by preventing oxygen, carbon dioxide and moisture from reaching fresh meats and other foods, or by measuring pathogenic contamination; others can make packaging increasingly biodegradable.

Overall, Western was awarded $2,659,595 for 12 projects from the CFI’s Leaders Opportunity Fund today.

More information >>

Another Reason To eat Your Veggies

Increased intakes of antioxidant-rich vegetables may reduce the risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma by about 30 per cent, says a new study.

Increased dietary intakes of specific antioxidant nutrients, like vitamin C, alpha-carotene, and proanthocyanidins were also individually associated with significant reductions in risks for the cancer, according to results published from the Iowa Women's Health Study in the International Journal of Cancer. Read more >>

If you can't bear to eat your veggies, taking a good quality antioxidant supplement may help. If you wnat some more ideas for veggie recipes check out our free vegetarian and vegan recipes.

A Healthy Vegetarian Diet

The UK Vegetarian Society has put together a week's healthy eating plan with detailed recipes. You can do the whole week or just try what you fancy. Read more >>

Vaccination Results Are Not All Beneficial

 The discussion on the benefits or otherwise of vaccination can get heated, so this study from the UC Davis researchers is particuarly interesting:

 A comprehensive US national study  has found that the introduction of an early childhood vaccine for bacterial pneumonia nearly a decade ago has decreased the incidence of pneumonia, but the drop was accompanied by a dramatic increase in the incidence of a serious and sometimes life-threatening complication.

The researchers conjecture that the doubling of the incidence of the complication, which causes pockets of purulence, or pus, around the lungs, may partly be the result of the vaccine eliminating certain types of pneumococcus, creating the opportunity for other bacteria to take its place.

Despite a 50 percent drop in hospitalizations from pneumonia due to pneumococcus since the introduction of the vaccine in 2000, and an overall decrease in all bacterial pneumonias, the empyema rate jumped 70 percent.

Homeopathy And The Placebo Effect

There's a lot of negative publicity around for homeopathy at the moment, which I find really sad. I know from my own experience and from bringing up 2 boys just how effective homeopathy can be.

There's a web site called Homeopathy Heals which has been established to put forward  positive information on homeopathy. I particularly like this article about  a afremer and his experiencing of using homeopathy for his herd of cows. Difficult to see how this is down to the placebo effect.

Buy Clothes And Donate Money To Charity

Many of us like to buy new clothes but we also care about the world and other people. Oxfam's second hand store is a great place to buy new clothes while supporting a very worth while cause. They've got vintage stuff, quirky stuff, very cheap clothes and they've also got lots of new clothes.

You can search by condition. For new clothes there are several options:

New
BNWOT – brand new without tags
BNWT – brand new with tags
Factory seconds

Under "condition" you have to keep expanding it to see all the options.

This is particularly true for women’s clothes but also for men’s. I bought one of my grown-up sons a sleep bundle (new and donated by Marks and Spencers):

One pair crisp checked cotton short with drawstring waistband and side slit pockets
Two pairs stretchy cotton shorts with drawstring waist, one dark blue, one grey,
One white t shirt top with three button front
One multi stripe t shirt
One plain white t shirt.

Great value for £19.99, particularly for M&S quality.

I also bought myself a Nike top - not brand new but excellent condition - great for my spinning class at the gym - a beautiful lime (my favourite colour) blouse, two really nice skirts. I had a really great shopping spree.

You can also search by brand and by size.

You’d need to keep a regular eye on it to see good things but a nice way to donate to Oxfam!

They don't charge postage, although they encourage you to make a donation. You can also return things you don't like. Do have a look and see if there is anything you want to buy.

Exercise Goals For A Fitter You

Is your goal to be fitter and healthier this year? Then use these tips to help you on your way:

Make a goal with a friend to achieve the new Physical Activity Guidelines! Visit CDC's Physical Activity for Everyone for details.

Regular physical helps with weight control, reduces the risk for many diseases, and strengthens muscles, bones and joints. 

Sign up for a 5K walk or run to keep your mind focused on physical activity goals.

Find fun, creative ways your friends and family can spend time being active instead of eating.

No Matter How Old You Are - Give Up Smoking

Just in time for New Year's resolutions, a UCLA study finds that even after age 80, smoking continues to increase one's risk for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in Americans over 65.

The American Journal of Ophthalmology publishes the findings in its January edition.

"The take-home message is that it's never too late to quit smoking," said lead author Dr. Anne Coleman, professor of ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA. "We found that even older people's eyes will benefit from kicking the habit."

Read more>>

Surviving Christmas

Many people find Christmas stressful and a time for arguments and unhappiness. Peace Direct, a great charity that worksto promote peace throughout the world, has put together a Christmas survival guide.

Keep The Calories Under Control!

Family, fun…and FOOD! It's what the holidays are all about, right? But that doesn't mean you have to pack on the holiday pounds. Start the New Year — and the New You — off right by balancing the calories you consume with the calories you burn, and avoid any holiday weight gain. Here are some ways to help jump start your New Year's resolutions:

Take the Extra Calories Out of Cooking!

•    If you're heading out to a party — holiday, birthday or any sort — eat a light, healthy snack before you go. Broth-based soups, cereal with skim milk, or just plain fruit are all good options! This will help curb your hunger and decrease your visits to the buffet table.
•    Modify recipes to reduce the amount of fat and calories. For example, when making lasagna, use part-skim ricotta cheese instead of whole-milk ricotta cheese. Substitute shredded vegetables, such as carrots, zucchini, and spinach for some of the ground meat in lasagna.
•    Bring a low-fat, holiday dish to the party. Need some suggestions? Visit CDC's Healthy Recipes for details.
•    When eating or snacking in front of the TV, put the amount that you plan to eat into a bowl or container instead of eating straight from the package. It's easy to overeat when your attention is focused on something else.

Gum Disease and Diabetes

i've written before about the link between gum disease and heart disease, but studies are also showing a link with diabetes.

Using guidelines established by the American Diabetes Association, new research determined that 93 percent of subjects who had periodontal disease, compared to 63 percent of those without the disease, were considered to be at high risk for diabetes and should be screened for diabetes.

My hygienist tells me that if you improve gum health in diabetic patients they find it easier to manage their diabetes.

Check out our gum disease remedies.

Food Advertising And Children

An interesting new study from the University of Arizona. I think the press release is worth quotingat length:

A report authored by UA communication professor Dale Kunkel says children are still bombarded with television ads for unhealthy food choices.

A new study released Monday in Washington, D.C., criticizes the nation's food and beverage industry for failing to shift their marketing efforts aimed at children. The report said television advertising continues to contribute to epidemic levels of obesity, despite industry promises of reform.

Children Now, a California-based public policy group that advocates for children, commissioned the study, conducted by Dale Kunkel, a professor of communication at the University of Arizona, and UA graduate students Christopher McKinley and Paul Wright. The study can be seen on the Children Now Web site.

The study – "The Impact of Industry Self-Regulation on the Nutritional Quality of Foods Advertised on Television to Children" – analyzes the impact of the 2007 Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. It is the first ever independent, comprehensive evaluation of industry self-regulation on advertising food to children. Kunkel also will present his findings on Tuesday at a Federal Trade Commission hearing in Washington.

The industry initiative was launched three years ago by the U.S. Council of Better Business Bureaus as a voluntary, self-regulatory program designed to shift the mix of advertising messages targeting children. The goal of the initiative is to significantly improve the nutritional quality of food and drink advertised to children.

More than a dozen of the nation's largest food and beverage companies signed on. Together they represent about two-thirds of that industry's advertising budget.

However, Kunkel's study concludes that the industry has failed to meet the principal recommendations from a 2006 Institute of Medicine report to shift marketing away from foods low in nutritional quality and to emphasize advertising strategies promoting healthier food, beverage and meal options.

"My colleague, Dr. Dale Kunkel, and his collaborators at the University of Arizona have demonstrated that advertising of low-nutrient high-density foods continues to be a significant preventable variable in the childhood obesity epidemic," said former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona, now the distinguished professor of public health at the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

"This new scientific information should be a renewed ‘wake up' call to all elected officials, teachers and parents to take appropriate action to prevent childhood obesity and in doing so improve the quality of life and reduce the cost of care for our children," Carmona said.

Kunkel, who has researched children and media issues for 25 years, served on the Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Sciences committee that issued the report concluding that food marketing is a significant contributor to childhood obesity.

The study's key finding is that, despite industry self-regulation, nearly three out of four, 72.5 percent, of the foods advertised on television to children are for products in the poorest nutritional category. Known as "Whoa" foods, these products should be consumed only on special occasions, such as birthdays, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Advertising for truly healthy foods such as vegetables and fruits, known as "Go" foods, is virtually invisible. Commercials for these foods account for only one percent of all food advertising to children.

Kunkel said that in 2005, before the initiative began, 84 percent of ads were for products with the poorest nutrition, based on criteria from the Department of Health and Human Services Go-Slow-Whoa food rating system.

"Four years later, under self-regulation, they have only moved the bar to 72.5 percent," Kunkel said. "We cannot win the battle against childhood obesity as long as we continue to allow industry to bombard children with ads for foods that they really shouldn't eat very often."

Kunkel said it would require watching 10 hours of children's programs to find one healthy food ad. That same amount of viewing time would contain 55 ads for "Whoa" foods, and 20 for "Slow" foods.

The study also criticizes the use of familiar, "licensed" characters to influence children's decisions. While the food industry claims that licensed characters are only used to promote healthy foods to children, Kunkel's research has found that nearly half, 49 percent, of all food ads with licensed characters, such as Spongebob Squarepants, promote foods in the poorest nutritional category.

Because of the failure of industry self-regulation, the report recommends that Congress should step in to regulate advertising to children, a step also advocated by the Institute of Medicine.

Caffeine Does Not Sober You Up

At this time of the year people tend to drink a lot more alcohol and often use coffee to sober themselves up. Resarch has now shown that it doesn't work.

According to new laboratory research. Instead, a cup of coffee may make it harder for people to realize they're drunk.

What's more, popular caffeinated "alcohol-energy" drinks don't neutralize alcohol intoxication, suggest the findings from a mouse study reported in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience, which is published by the American Psychological Association. Read more>>

Alcohol And Breast Cancer

Moderate to heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages (at least three to four drinks per week) is associated with a 1.3-fold increased risk of breast cancer recurrence. Women who are post-menopausal or overweight may be most susceptible to the effects of alcohol on recurrence. Drinking less than three drinks per week was not associated with an increased risk.

Read more>>

Soya And Breast Cancer

Soy consumption improves breast cancer survival, according to a report in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers found that women diagnosed with breast cancer who consume soy products, such as soymilk, tofu, or edamame, have a 32 percent lower risk of recurrence and a 29 percent decreased risk of death, compared with women who consume little or no soy. The report included 5,042 women in the Shanghai Breast Cancer Survival Study, the largest population-based study of breast cancer survival, and followed them for a four-year period.

In the past, soy has been a controversial topic for cancer patients. However, an editorial accompanying this new study suggests that inconsistencies in prior research may be attributable to the comparatively low soy consumption in the United States, making beneficial effects harder to identify. In China, soy intake is higher and diets tend to include traditional food sources of soy, rather than soy supplements.

Shu XO, Zheng Y, Cai H, et al. Soy food intake and breast cancer survival. JAMA. 2009;302:2437-2443.
Ballard-Barbash R, Neuhouser ML. Challenges in design and interpretation of observational research on health behaviors and cancer survival. JAMA. 2009;302:2483-2484.

Source www.pcrm.org/.

Don't expose your children to your smoking

Children exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke have an increased risk of developing lung cancer in adulthood, even if they never smoked.

Results of this study are published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, as part of a special tobacco focus in the December issue.

This year alone, more than 219,000 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer; more than 159,000 will die from it and some of those may be people who have never smoked. Studies to date have shown that exposure to secondhand smoke in adulthood has detrimental health effects, but data are limited on one's risk of developing lung cancer when exposed as a child.

What makes this study different from previous research is that it was conducted in two independent cohorts and included a molecular analysis of gene variants of innate immunity - the mannose binding lection-2 gene, or MBL2 gene. The MBL2 gene is known to affect susceptibility to respiratory diseases.

Using the ongoing National Cancer Institute-Maryland Lung Cancer study (624 cases; 348 controls), Curtis C. Harris, M.D., chief of the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis at NCI, and colleagues collected information on secondhand smoke history among men and women. They used DNA for genotyping the MBL2 gene. Then, to compare, Harris, Ping Yang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues used results from a Mayo Clinic study (461 never smokers; 172 cases; 289 controls).

Harris and colleagues found an association between childhood exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke and increased risk of lung cancer in adulthood. Furthermore, MBL2 activity was associated with an even more increased risk among those who were exposed to secondhand smoke in childhood.

Based on the results of this study, Harris said "children should not be exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke due to the long-term health implications they can face in adulthood." He added that these results warrant further investigation in a larger study population.

Smoking ban has not increased secondhand smoke in homes

A new study has shown that the introduction of smoke-free legislation has not led to an increase in children's exposure to secondhand smoke in their own homes.

Before the ban on smoking in public places, many people had voiced concerns that smokers would light up more frequently at home, putting children at an increased risk of the dangers of secondhand smoke.

But a new study in the journal BMC Public Health indicates that this has not been the case.

Researchers at Cardiff University measured the levels of cotinine - a substance formed from the breakdown of nicotine in cigarette smoke - in the saliva of 1,750 Welsh schoolchildren both before and after the ban.

Youngsters were also asked about their exposure to passive smoke.

Analysis revealed that the degree of exposure to secondhand smoke tended to be similar before and after the introduction of smoke-free legislation.

Dr Jo Holliday, from Cardiff University's School of Social Sciences, commented: "Concerns have been expressed regarding the potential displacement of smoking from public places into the home, affecting non-smokers and, in particular, children.

"We found that the smoke-free legislation in Wales did not increase secondhand smoke exposure in homes of children aged ten to 11. Nevertheless, the home did remain the main source of children's exposure."

Does smoking increase cancer risks?