Seven Top weight loss tools

We’ve picked the gadgets that give you a head start on the healthy habits proven to help shed pounds.

1. Count those calories

Studies show that keeping track of daily calories helps dieters lose weight. But keeping a tally isn’t easy. This CalorieSmart Mini Nutrition Calculator ($40) takes away the guesswork with information on more than 50,000 foods.

2. Lunch the bento way

BYO lunches from home help dieters stay on track. That’s why we like this colorful Bento Box ($38), which helps keep portions in check. Even better: Pack the traditional bento mix—three whole grains, two veggies, and one protein—so you’ll feel full and satisfied all afternoon long.

3. Keep a diary

People who kept food diaries doubled their weight loss, according to research. We like the Day-Timer Weight Management Pocket Planner ($42.99) because it has everything you need to track servings, calories, exercise, even hunger level and mood.

If you’re more of a techie, consider phone diary apps such as iPhone apps WeightDate Weight Tracker (free!) or MyNetDiary Food and Exercise Log ($42 for a six-month subscription).

4.Torch calories
You know you have to burn 3,500 extra calories to lose a pound. But do you really know what your daily calorie burn is? Wearing the BodyBugg ($249 for the unit and one phone-coaching session) can help you keep track. It downloads to an online application that shows how much you’ve burned (or need to burn) to meet your daily, weekly, or overall weight-loss goal. You can create a custom food-and-exercise plan, too.

Sleep more. Too little sleep triggers a hormone that causes cravings and decreases one that tells you to stop eating. To hike your chances of a good snooze, try a Dream Essence Lavender Scented Aromatherapy Eye Mask ($24.95).

5.Patrol your portions

Anything that helps you visualize proper portion sizes will help you diet. That’s why we like Lunch Buddies ($18) plastic cutting mats that outline healthy sandwich sizes. Eat fresh. It’s hard to eat more healthy, filling veggies if the good stuff goes bad in the fridge. Try Evri Fresh ($3.99), a sachet disk that neutralizes ethylene, the gas released as food ripens.

Drinkers’ Red Face May Signal Cancer Risk

People whose faces turn red when they drink alcohol may be facing more than embarrassment. The flushing may indicate an increased risk for a deadly throat cancer, researchers report.

The flushing response, which may be accompanied by nausea and a rapid heartbeat, is caused mainly by an inherited deficiency in an enzyme called ALDH2, a trait shared by more than a third of people of East Asian ancestry — Japanese, Chinese or Koreans. As little as half a bottle of beer can trigger the reaction.

The deficiency results in problems in metabolizing alcohol, leading to an accumulation in the body of a toxin called acetaldehyde. People with two copies of the gene responsible have such unpleasant reactions that they are unable to consume large amounts of alcohol. This aversion actually protects them against the increased risk for cancer.

But those with only one copy can develop a tolerance to acetaldehyde and become heavy drinkers.

“What we’re trying to do here is raise awareness of this risk factor among doctors and their ALDH2-deficient patients," said Dr. Philip J. Brooks, an investigator with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and an author of the report published on Monday in the journal PLoS Medicine. “It’s a pretty serious risk."

The malignancy, called squamous cell esophageal cancer, is also caused by smoking and can be treated with surgery, but survival rates are very low. Even moderate drinking increases the risk, but it rises sharply with heavier consumption. An ALDH2-deficient person who has two beers a day has six to 10 times the risk of developing esophageal cancer as a person not deficient in the enzyme.

Reducing drinking can significantly reduce the incidence of this cancer among Asian adults. The researchers calculate that if moderate- or heavy-drinking ALDH2-deficient Japanese men reduced their consumption to under 16 drinks a week, 53 percent of esophageal squamous cell cancers in that group could be prevented.

There is some anecdotal evidence that young people treat the flushing as a cosmetic response to be countered with antihistamines while continuing to drink. Ignoring the symptom and continuing to drink is likely to increase the incidence of esophageal cancer, researchers said. To determine risk, doctors can ask their patients two simple questions. First, do you flush after drinking a glass of beer? Second, in the first one or two years after you began drinking, did you flush after having a beer?

The second question covers the possibility that a person has become tolerant to the effect. Dr. Brooks said that the two questions give doctors an easy way to find out if the patient is ALDH2-deficient. There is also a patch test in which an ethanol-soaked pad is applied to the skin. If it causes reddening after 10 or 15 minutes, there is a high likelihood that the person is ALDH2-deficient.

Diabetes: Is More Than Just Sugar Overload?

We eat 150 pounds of sugar a year, but it’s not just sweets that have created a diabetes epidemic. You can also blame too-large portions, unhealthy carbs, not enough exercise, and processed foods: Sugar is hidden in unexpected places like ketchup, spaghetti sauce, salad dressing, bread, gravy, soups, and fat-free products. But it’s not too late to beat the blood sugar blues. Here’s how.

I walk every day, eat a healthful diet, and have no diabetes in my immediate family. I’m not model skinny (truth be told, I’ve been known to pack on a few extra pounds), but I’m certainly not a couch potato or junk food addict. So, imagine my surprise when a routine blood test showed that my blood sugar was elevated and I was officially prediabetic.

Prediabetic, meaning I have higher-than-normal blood sugar levels that put me at risk of developing diabetes, the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States. Yikes!
The fact that I’m not alone doesn’t make me feel any better—57 million Americans have prediabetes and another 24 million have diabetes (90% to 95% of all diabetes diagnosed is type 2, which typically appears in adults and is associated with obesity, physical inactivity, family history, and other factors). Being part of what’s shaping up to be a diabetes epidemic in America isn’t a club I want to join.

Another wake-up callIt turns out that prediabetes isn’t really “pre” anything, according to Mark Hyman, MD, author of UltraMetabolism and The UltraMind Solution: Fix Your Broken Brain by Healing Your Body First. “It’s a danger in and of itself that sets off a whole cascade of problems,” he says. In fact, there’s now evidence that a prediabetic patient’s risks for eye, kidney, and nerve damage, as well as heart disease, are nearly as great as a diabetic’s, says Alan J. Garber, MD, chairman of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) task force that’s currently writing new guidelines for managing prediabetes.

What’s more, diabetes can be especially dangerous for mothers and their unborn children, potentially leading to miscarriage or birth defects. Women with diabetes are also at higher risk of having a heart attack at a younger age. And elevated insulin levels have been shown to put postmenopausal women at increased risk of developing breast cancer.

The more I learned about diabetes, the more determined I was to lower my blood sugar levels. But how? What was I doing wrong in my so-called healthy life? Here’s what I found out that can help you, too.

I’m not alone in my surprise at having blood sugar troubles. Virginia Shreve was in the same boat when she went to a walk-in clinic with a bad backache and found out she had full-blown diabetes. “I had no clue,” says the 52-year-old from Lynchburg, Virginia. During her exam, the doctor tested her blood sugar and found that it was 280. (A normal, nonfasting blood glucose level is less than 140 mg/dl.)

“I felt like a deer in the headlights,” Shreve remembers. “I’d always been healthy. I knew thirst was a symptom, but I thought it was healthy that I was drinking so much water. And I’d been a good walker for years, so it wasn’t like I never got any exercise.”

When she returned to the doctor the following week, Shreve was given the results of her hemoglobin A1c test, which shows how blood glucose is controlled over two to three months. Normal for nondiabetics is 6% or lower—but Shreve tested at 9.6, enough to require medication.

Diabetes symptoms include being hungrier than usual, urinating frequently, and losing weight without trying, as well as fatigue, irritability, blurred vision, tingling or numbness in hands or feet, persistent infections, and slow-healing cuts or bruises. But some people have no symptoms or don’t equate the symptoms they do experience with diabetes.

“A lot of people feel fine with prediabetes or even when they’re diagnosed with type 2 diabetes,” says Sue Kirkman, MD, of the American Diabetes Association (ADA). “It’s not a painful disease early on, so people don’t realize how serious diabetes is and what kind of bad complications it can cause.”

Weather Change Can Trigger Throbbing Headaches

Most people who are prone to headaches or migraines suspect that certain things, such as red wine or strong perfume, can trigger their head pain. Now a new study suggests that rising temperatures could trigger headaches, too.

According to a study published Monday in the journal Neurology, a spike in temperature may be enough to land some headache-prone people in the emergency room. The researchers found that for every 5-degrees-Celsius increase in temperature, the risk of a hospital-related headache visit went up 7.5 percent in the next 24-hour period. And a drop in barometric air pressure, which tends to happen before it rains, was also linked to a greater risk of headaches in the next 48 to 72 hours.

While people may think they’ve got a handle on their migraine triggers, in truth, weather changes may be to blame for at least some of those headaches, says Kenneth J. Mukamal, MD, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “In the summer, you may think that ice cream set off your migraine,” he says. “But it wasn’t the ice cream—it was the temperature increase on that very hot day that led you to eat the ice cream.”

Dr. Mukamal’s team looked at 7,054 patients diagnosed with headaches in the emergency room of Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center over a span of seven years; they compared factors like temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, and pollution for the period immediately preceding and following each patient’s hospital visit. While temperature and barometric pressure were linked to headaches, pollution—which is linked to a greater risk of heart attack and stroke—was not associated with migraines.

But Dr. Mukamal isn’t ruling out the possibility. “Our city was not big enough to say for sure that air pollution is off the hook,” he says, adding that a similar study performed in Los Angeles (where air pollution levels are considerably higher) might yield different results.

The study isn’t without limitations, though:

It excluded migraines that did not result in a trip to the hospital, says Ellen Drexler, MD, associate professor of neurology at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.
Migraines affect up to 18 percent of women and 6 percent of men in the United States.

So do the headache-prone need to stay indoors when the temperature starts to climb? Not necessarily, experts say.

Instead of holing up in an air-conditioned home, a migraineur may be able to take medication to prevent head pain. For example, taking beta-blockers is one way to prevent a migraine. But many people don’t like taking routinely taking prescription drugs to prevent migraines, says Dr. Mukamal. “Migraines often happen to younger people, who have a particular reticence to daily medication,” he adds.

Not all experts would recommend using medication to prevent temperature-change-related migraines. “I certainly would not suggest that a patient take symptomatic medication such as a triptan just because of a weather prediction—especially considering the track record of our weathermen,” says Dr. Drexler. “Although a dose of a simple analgesic in the morning might be helpful for some people.”

Overall, the weather probably is not as a big a migraine trigger as, say, a glass of Cabernet, explains Dr. Drexler. She recommends that patients keep pain diaries and log in weather conditions as well. If a patient finds that weather is, in fact, a trigger, he or she can potentially avoid a migraine by taking extra precautions to avoid other triggers (such as caffeine) on those days.

Red Wine & White Wine had same risk in term of Breast Cancer

Attention red wine drinkers:
Drinking moderate amounts of any kind of alcohol (including wine, beer, and liquor) is associated with a slightly increased breast cancer risk—and the rosy-hued beverage is no exception.

That’s the conclusion of a new study that dashes any hope that red wine is less likely than other alcohol-containing drinks to increase breast cancer risk, or that it might even protect against the disease.

“If a woman chooses red wine, she should do so because she likes the flavor, not because she thinks doing so will reduce her breast cancer risk,” said Polly A. Newcomb, PhD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, who led the research. “It might be good for other things, but it definitely is not conferring any protection against breast cancer.”

There’s good evidence showing that women who consume alcohol have a slightly greater risk of breast cancer than teetotalers, and the risk is higher with heavier drinking. But research in animals and some human studies had suggested that red wine might not carry the same risks as other forms of alcohol or could even be protective. This is certainly possible, Newcomb and her team noted in their report in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, because red wine contains more potentially beneficial plant chemicals, such as resveratrol, than white wine does.

To find out if this was true, the researchers looked at 6,327 women with breast cancer and 7,558 women who had never been diagnosed with the disease. Risk rose with the amount of alcohol consumed, no matter whether it was wine, beer or liquor. The heaviest drinkers—women who reported having 14 or more drinks a week—were 24 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than nondrinkers. In comparison, smoking may increase the risk of breast cancer by 32 percent, and having a close relative (mother, sister, or daughter) with the disease is associated with a 200 percent higher risk.

Cancer - all about cancer

Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. Cancerous cells are also called malignant cells.

Alternative Names
Carcinoma; Malignant tumor

Causes
Cells are the building blocks of living things. Cancer grows out of normal cells in the body. Normal cells multiply when the body needs them, and die when the body doesn't need them. Cancer appears to occur when the growth of cells in the body is out of control and cells divide too quickly. It can also occur when cells “forget” how to die.

There are many different kinds of cancers. Cancer can develop in almost any organ or tissue, such as the lung, colon, breast, skin, bones, or nerve tissue.

There are many causes of cancers, including:
Benzene and other chemicals
Certain poisonous mushrooms and a type of poison that can grow on peanut plants (aflatoxins)
Certain viruses
Radiation
Sunlight
Tobacco

However, the cause of many cancers remains unknown.
The most common cause of cancer-related death is lung cancer.

The three most common cancers in men in the United States are:
Prostate cancer
Lung cancer
Colon cancer

In women in the U.S., the three most common cancers are:
Breast cancer
Colon cancer
Lung cancer

Some cancers are more common in certain parts of the world. For example, in Japan, there are many cases of gastric cancer, but in the U.S. this type of cancer is pretty rare. Differences in diet may play a role.

Some other types of cancers include:
Brain cancer
Cervical cancer
Hodgkin's lymphoma
Kidney cancer
Leukemia
Liver cancer
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Ovarian cancer
Skin cancer
Testicular cancer
Thyroid cancer
Uterine cancer

Symptoms
Symptoms of cancer depend on the type and location of the tumor. For example, lung cancer can cause coughing, shortness of breath, or chest pain. Colon cancer often causes diarrhea, constipation, and blood in the stool.

Some cancers may not have any symptoms at all. In certain cancers, such as gallbladder cancer, symptoms often do not start until the disease has reached an advanced stage.

The following symptoms can occur with most cancers:
Chills
Fatigue
Fever
Loss of appetite
Malaise
Night sweats
Weight loss

Exams and Tests
Like symptoms, the signs of cancer vary based on the type and location of the tumor. Common tests include the following:
Biopsy of the tumor
Blood chemistries
Bone marrow biopsy (for lymphoma or leukemia)
Chest x-ray
Complete blood count (CBC)
CT scan

Most cancers are diagnosed by biopsy. Depending on the location of the tumor, the biopsy may be a simple procedure or a serious operation. Most patients with cancer have CT scans to determine the exact location and size of the tumor or tumors.

A cancer diagnosis is difficult to cope with. It is important, however, that you discuss the type, size, and location of the cancer with your doctor when you are diagnosed. You also will want to ask about treatment options, along with their benefits and risks.

It's a good idea to have someone with you at the doctor's office to help you get through the diagnosis. If you have trouble asking questions after hearing about your diagnosis, the person you bring with you can ask them for you.

Treatment
Treatment also varies based on the type of cancer and its stage. The stage of a cancer refers to how much it has grown and whether the tumor has spread from its original location.

If the cancer is confined to one location and has not spread, the most common goals for treatment are surgery and cure. This is often the case with skin cancers, as well as cancers of the lung, breast, and colon.

If the tumor has spread to local lymph nodes only, sometimes these can also be removed.
If surgery cannot remove all of the cancer, the options for treatment include radiation, chemotherapy, or both. Some cancers require a combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.

Although treatment for cancer can be difficult, there are many ways to keep up your strength.

If you have radiation treatment, know that:
Radiation treatment is painless.
Treatment is usually scheduled every weekday.
You should allow 30 minutes for each treatment session, although the treatment itself usually takes only a few minutes.
You should get plenty of rest and eat a well-balanced diet during the course of your radiation therapy.
Skin in the treated area may become sensitive and easily irritated.
Side effects of radiation treatment are usually temporary. They vary depending on the area of the body that is being treated.

If you are going through chemotherapy, you should eat right. Chemotherapy causes your immune system to weaken, so you should avoid people with colds or the flu. You should also get plenty of rest, and don't feel as though you have to accomplish tasks all at once.

It will help you to talk with family, friends, or a support group about your feelings. Work with your health care providers throughout your treatment. Helping yourself can make you feel more in control.

Taming That Overwhelming Urge to Smoke

In Brief:
The brain of an addicted smoker treats nicotine as if it is essential for survival.
Genetic traits may predispose some smokers to stronger addiction.

Most smokers try to quit unaided, resulting in a high failure rate.
If you smoke, no one needs to tell you how bad it is. So why haven’t you quit? Why hasn’t everyone?

Because smoking feels good. It stimulates and focuses the mind at the same time that it soothes and satisfies. The concentrated dose of nicotine in a drag off a cigarette triggers an immediate flood of dopamine and other neurochemicals that wash over the brain’s pleasure centers.
Inhaling tobacco smoke is the quickest, most efficient way to get nicotine to the brain.

“I completely understand why you wouldn’t want to give it up,” said Dr. David Abrams, an addiction researcher at the National Institute of Health. “It’s more difficult to get off nicotine than heroin or cocaine.”

Smoking “hijacks” the reward systems in the brain that drive you to seek food, water and sex, Dr. Abrams explained, driving you to seek nicotine with the same urgency. “Your brain thinks that this has to do with survival of the species,” he said.

Nicotine isn’t equally addictive for everyone. A lot of people do not smoke because they never liked it to begin with. Then there are “chippers,” who smoke occasionally but never seem to get hooked. But most people who smoke will eventually do it all day, every day.

New discoveries in genetics may explain why certain people take to smoking with such gusto and end up so addicted. Some people, for instance, produce a gene-encoded enzyme that clears nicotine from their bloodstreams rapidly, so they tend to smoke more and develop stronger addictions. Others possess special receptors in the brain that bond extra tightly with nicotine, giving them an especially intense high that makes it harder to quit.

Drug makers are exploiting the science of addiction to create novel treatments to help smokers quit. The newest stop-smoking medication, the first to be approved in 10 years, is called Chantix. Available by prescription, Chantix masquerades as nicotine well enough to occupy the brain’s nicotine receptors, where it may lessen cravings. Real nicotine, when it comes along, cannot find enough free receptors to do its thing.

Chantix seems to have a higher success rate than Zyban, an antidepressant that helps to balance dopamine levels. And recently released federal guidelines to doctors for helping smokers quit reported that the drug, combined with the nicotine replacement patch and use of nicotine nasal spray or gum as needed, produced higher long-term abstinence than the patch alone.

Doctors have written millions of precription for Chantix, though enthusiasm for the drug was tempered by reports of suiside and bizarre behaviors in people taking it. The reports prompted the Food and Drug Administration to issue a safety warning about Chantix early in 2008.

“That’s something that needs to be taken very seriously, but it needs to be put in the context of what happens if you don’t quit smoking,” said Dr. Michael Fiore, a smoking cessation specialist at the University of Wisconsin and chairman of the government panel that issued the new guidelines. Dr. Fiore used to consult for Pfizer, the maker of Chantix, but said he cut those ties in 2005. He still prescribes the drug but now takes care to discuss the safety warning with patients.

Dr. Nancy Rigotti was involved in Chantix studies conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where she directs the Tobacco Research and Treatment Unit. “Those trials mostly enrolled people who were pretty healthy,” she said. “They did not include people with depression or much of a history of depression.”

Dr. Rigotti said it was possible that varenicline, the generic name for Chantix, “might have more psychiatric side effects in certain groups of people.”

Continued research should help to resolve lingering concerns about the safety of Chantix. Meanwhile, experts continue to recommend the old standbys: nicotine replacement gums, patches, nasal sprays, inhalers and lozenges, which have been proved to be safe.

Nicotine by itself does not cause cancer, heart disease or other major health problems linked to smoking; other chemicals in tobacco smoke are to blame. Nicotine replacement can be used alone or with prescription medications or, for best results, combined with counseling. Recent evidence suggests that using two forms simultaneously, like the patch and gum together, works better than either alone.

Although nicotine replacement products do not require a prescription, the F.D.A. limits where and how they are sold. They are also expensive.
“It’s so much easier to go down to the corner store and get a pack of cigarettes than it is to get access to evidence-based treatment,” Dr. Fiore said.

This year, the New York State health commission petitioned the F.D.A. to revise its rules so that nicotine gum, patches and lozenges could be sold anyplace that sells cigarettes, and at prices comparable to a cigarette pack. The agency is currently reviewing the petition.

Still, no treatment works for everyone. And even with the most successful treatments, only about 30 percent of attempts to quit last more than six months. Compared with willpower alone, however, that’s a huge improvement. Fewer than one in 10 smokers who go it alone manages to go six months without a cigarette. Most do not make it past a week.

When longtime smokers finally do quit, they soon realize that not smoking doesn’t necessarily make them nonsmokers. That’s what counseling is for — learning to function without nicotine and to cope with the cues that trigger smoking urges.

Most important, former smokers have to rediscover that it is possible to enjoy life without cigarettes, although the yearning may never die completely.
“I’m an ex-smoker,” Dr. Abrams said, “and I still miss it.” said.

Kale the winter green

If you live in a northern climate and buy your produce at farmers’ markets or through a community supported farm,

February and March make for dreary offerings, with one notable exception.

Kale is a versatile green that serves as a fine inspiration for a soup or a stew, a pasta or a gratin. Because the leaves of this Brassica family vegetable are so sturdy, kale stands up to longer cooking than do chard and beet greens. And while greens like spinach and chard readily suffer from overcooking, stewed kale has a sweet flavor.

Kale is in the same family of vegetables as cabbage. (Italians call black kale cavolo nero, or black cabbage.) Like its cousins, kale is packed with health-promoting sulfur compounds, and it has been found to have the greatest antioxidant capacity of all fruits and vegetables.

It’s an excellent source of vitamins K, A and C, as well as manganese, and a very good source of dietary fiber, calcium, iron and potassium. All of this nutritional value comes in a low-calorie package.

Supermarkets generally stock curly kale, the variety with the sturdy, silvery green, ruffled leaves. At farmers’ markets you’ll find several other varieties, including the dark green cavolo nero, plum-red Redbor kale and red Russian kale, which has purplish leaves and red veins. They can be used interchangeably unless otherwise specified.

Kale can be simmered for long periods, or it can be blanched and then quickly pan-cooked in olive oil. Long-simmered kale yields a sweet, nourishing “pot liquor” that you will want to sop up with bread or even sip with a spoon. Kale loses its bright color as it simmers and the flavor of the leaves is strong, but the overall effect is sweet and comforting. The pan-cooked kale is brighter, both in color and flavor, but it will yield much less to serve, because kale loses volume when it’s blanched. Simmered kale, on the other hand, first collapses in the pan, then swells as it cooks.

some of the recipes for Kale are:

Pan-Cooked Kale With Garlic and Olive Oil

2 large bunches kale (about 1 1/4 pounds total)
Salt, preferably kosher salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
Freshly ground pepper

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil while you stem the kale and wash the leaves in two rinses of water. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, add a generous amount of salt and the kale. Blanch for four minutes, until the kale is tender. Transfer immediately to the ice water, then drain and squeeze the water from the leaves. Chop coarsely or cut in strips.

2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy nonstick skillet. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds. Stir in the kale. Stir for a couple of minutes, until the kale is nicely seasoned with garlic and oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and serve.

Yield: Serves four
Advance preparation: The blanched greens will keep in the refrigerator for about three days.

Simmered Kale
This recipe is a version of Judy Rogers’ Boiled Kale, Four Ways (from The Zuni Café Cookbook). Many vitamins leach into the pot liquor, so be sure to use it with the kale. Serve it on thick slices of toasted bread rubbed with garlic or topped with a poached egg.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
10 to 12 ounces kale, stemmed, washed thoroughly and cut crosswise in 1/4-inch wide ribbons
3 to 4 cups water
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat, and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until the onion begins to soften, about three minutes, and add the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Add the kale a handful at a time. Stir until the kale wilts, then add another handful until all of it has been used. Add water to cover the kale by about 1/2 inch, and salt to taste. Bring to a simmer and cover for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time. The kale should be tender but not mushy, and the liquid in the pan should be sweet. Taste and adjust salt. Add freshly ground pepper.

Yield: Serves four
Advance preparation: This can be made a day ahead and reheated. The flavor will be stronger the second day.

Colesterol

Cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance found in all parts of the body.
Your body makes some cholesterol, and some cholesterol comes from the food you eat.
Your body needs a little bit of cholesterol to work properly.
But too much cholesterol can clog your arteries and lead to heart disease.
This article focuses on cholesterol and your diet.

Function
Cholesterol helps the body produce hormones, bile acid, and vitamin D. Cholesterol moves through the bloodstream to be used by all parts of the body.

Food Sources
Cholesterol is found in eggs, dairy products, meat, and poultry.
Egg yolks and organ meats (liver, kidney, sweetbread, and brain) are high in cholesterol.
Fish generally contains less cholesterol than other meats, but some shellfish are high in cholesterol.
Foods of plant origin (vegetables, fruits, grains, cereals, nuts, and seeds) contain no cholesterol.
Fat content is not a good measure of cholesterol content. For example, liver and other organ meats are low in fat, but very high in cholesterol.

Side Effects
In general, your risk of developing heart disease or atherosclerosis goes up as your level of blood cholesterol increases.

Recommendations
More than half of the adult population has blood cholesterol levels higher than the desirable range. High cholesterol levels often begin in childhood. Some children may be at higher risk due to a family history of high cholesterol.

To lower high cholesterol levels:
Limit total fat intake to 25 - 35% of total daily calories. Less than 7% of daily calories should be from saturated fat, no more than 10% should be from polyunsaturated fat, and no more than 20% from monounsaturated fat.
Eat less than 200 mg of dietary cholesterol per day.
Get more fiber in your diet.
Lose weight.
Increase physical activity.

The recommendations for children's diets are similar to those of adults. I
t is very important that children get enough calories to support their growth and activity level, and that the child achieve and maintain a desirable body weight

In Brief:
Cholesterol can rise suddenly for unknown reasons, as it did for one Times reporter.
Dozens of measures, individually or together, can help to lower cholesterol, including exercise, weight loss, yoga and diet.
Cutting LDL, so-called bad cholesterol, by 60 milligrams can reduce heart attacks and sudden death by 50 percent after only two years.
Drugs, such as statins, should be a last resort but can be very effective.

Vitamins for protecting eyes

Vitamin B supplements may reduce the risk for age-related macular degeneration,
at least in women with cardiovascular disease or at risk for it.
Macular degeneration, a disease that destroys the central area of the retina,
is the leading cause of severe vision loss in people over 50.

In a study published Feb. 23 in The Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers followed 5,205 female health care professionals with cardiovascular disease or three or more risk factors for it.

They were randomly assigned to take either a placebo or a combination of folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12. After an average of 7.3 years of follow-up, there were 55 cases of macular degeneration in the treatment group and 82 among those who took a placebo.

The groups were similar in a broad range of health characteristics, but the researchers found that those who took the vitamins had a 41 percent reduced risk for significant degeneration. That may be because the vitamins reduce blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine, which has been implicated in vision loss.

But the study’s lead author, Dr. William G. Christen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, declined to recommend vitamin use. “These are the first randomized trial data indicating a possible benefit,” he said. “The next step is to corroborate these findings in other populations.”

Cure for common Cold?

the structure of human rhinovirus

Researcher had decoded the genomes of the 99 strains of common cold virus and developed a catalog of its vulnerabilities.

“We are now quite certain that we see the Achilles’ heel, and that a very effective treatment for the common cold is at hand,” said Stephen B. Liggett, an asthma expert at the University of Maryland and co-author of the finding.

Besides alleviating the achy, sniffly misery familiar to everyone, a true cold-fighting drug could be a godsend for the 20 million people who suffer from asthma and the millions of others with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The common cold virus, a rhinovirus, is thought to set off half of all asthma attacks.

Even so, it might be difficult to kindle the interest of pharmaceutical companies. While the new findings are “an interesting piece of science,” said Dr. Glenn Tillotson, an expert on antiviral drugs at Viropharma in Exton, Pa., he noted that the typical cost of developing a new drug was now $700 million, “with interminable fights with financiers and regulators.”

Because colds are mostly a minor nuisance, drug developers say, people would not be likely to pay for expensive drugs. And it would be hard to get the Food and Drug Administration to approve a drug with any serious downside for so mild a disease.

Carl Seiden, president of Seiden Pharmaceutical Strategies and a longtime industry analyst and consultant, said industry might be loath to wade in because Relenza and Tamiflu — two drugs that ameliorated flu but did not cure it — were huge commercial disappointments.

The industry has also learned in recent years that turning a genetic discovery into a marketable drug is far harder than once thought.
Still, if the discovery could lead to an effective drug to treat the common cold, “that’s a big deal,” Mr. Seiden said.

Industry hurdles aside, perhaps the biggest reason the common cold has long defied treatment is that the rhinovirus has so many strains and presents a moving target for any drug or vaccine.
This scientific link in this chain of problems may now have been broken by a research team headed by Dr. Liggett and Dr. Ann C. Palmenberg, a cold virologist at the University of Wisconsin.

The researchers, who conducted the genetic decoding with the aid of Dr. Claire Fraser-Liggett at the University of Maryland, published their insights into the rhinovirus on Thursday in the online edition of Science.

Dr. Fernando Martinez, an asthma expert at the University of Arizona, said the new rhinovirus family tree should make it possible for the first time to identify which particular branch of the tree held the viruses most provocative to asthma patients.

If antiviral agents could be developed against this group of viruses, Dr. Martinez said, “it would be an extraordinary advance.”

Another asthma expert, Dr. E. Kathryn Miller at the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, said the new finding was “a groundbreaking study of major significance.”

People at high risk from rhinoviruses, like children with asthma or adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, would benefit greatly from new drugs, Dr. Miller said, and should therefore be populations of interest to the drug industry.

Dr. Liggett said the new data might even provide an opportunity to consider new vaccine approaches.

Dr. Palmenberg is less optimistic. “There’s not going to be a vaccine for the common cold,” she said, given that vaccines do not protect the linings of the nose where the virus attacks.

The rhinovirus has a genome of about 7,000 chemical units, which encode the information to make the 10 proteins that do everything the virus needs to infect cells and make more viruses.
By comparing the 99 genomes with one another, the researchers were able to arrange them in a family tree based on similarities in their genomes.

That family tree shows that some regions of the rhinovirus genome are changing all the time but that others never change.

The fact that the unchanging regions are so conserved over the course of evolutionary time means that they perform vital roles and that the virus cannot let them change without perishing. They are therefore ideal targets for drugs because, in principle, any of the 99 strains would succumb to the same drug.

Dr. Liggett said he believed that one such target lies at the very beginning of the rhinovirus genome, where its genetic material is folded into a clover-leaf shape. The sequence of units in the clover leaf is designed to be read quickly by the infected cell’s protein-making machinery. All strains of rhinovirus have much the same sequence of units at this region and all could be vulnerable to the same drug.

The data will also help analyze a new family of rhinoviruses that is causing concern. Instead of attacking the cells lining the nose, these attack those lining the deep lungs, causing viral pneumonia.

This family of virus cannot at present be grown for study in the laboratory, Dr. Palmenberg said, but can now be researched genetically through the common elements they share with other rhinoviruses.

Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute, where the rhinovirus genomes were decoded, say another important feature of the viruses lies in a highly variable region at one of the genomes.
The equivalent region in polio virus determines pathogenicity, and the same may be true with rhinoviruses.

There are at present no effective treatments for the common cold. Frequent hand-washing is the best preventive, Dr. Miller said. Once a cold has started, she recommended washing out the nasal passages, warm drinks and rest.

Gardiner Harris contributed reporting from Washington.

E-cigarettes

Some health officials blast device marketed as safe alternative to smoking

BEIJING - With its slim white body and glowing amber tip, it can easily pass as a regular cigarette. It even emits what look like curlicues of white smoke.

The Ruyan V8, which produces a nicotine-infused mist absorbed directly into the lungs, is just one of a rapidly growing array of electronic cigarettes attracting attention in China, the U.S. and elsewhere — and the scrutiny of world health officials.

Marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking and a potential way to kick the habit, the smokeless smokes have been distributed in swag bags at the British film awards and hawked at an international trade show.

Because no burning is involved, makers say there's no hazardous cocktail of cancer-causing chemicals and gases like those produced by a regular cigarette. There's no secondhand smoke, so they can be used in places where cigarettes are banned, the makers say.

Health authorities are questioning those claims.
Words of warningThe World Health Organization issued a statement in September warning there was no evidence to back up contentions that e-cigarettes are a safe substitute for smoking or a way to help smokers quit.

It also said companies should stop marketing them that way, especially since the product may undermine smoking prevention efforts because they look like the real thing and may lure nonsmokers, including children.

"There is not sufficient evidence that (they) are safe products for human consumption," Timothy O'Leary, a communications officer at the WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative in Geneva, said this week.

The laundry list of WHO's concerns includes the lack of conclusive studies and information about e-cigarette contents and their long-term health effects, he said.

Unlike other nicotine-replacement therapies such as patches for slow delivery through the skin, gum or candy for absorption in the mouth, or inhalers and nasal sprays, e-cigarettes have not gone through rigorous testing, O'Leary said.

Nicotine is highly addictive and causes the release of the "feel good" chemical dopamine when it goes to the brain. It also increases heart rate and blood pressure and restricts blood to the heart muscle.

Ruyan — which means "like smoking" — introduced the world's first electronic cigarette in 2004. It has patented its ultrasonic atomizing technology, in which nicotine is dissolved in a cartridge containing propylene glycol, the liquid that is vaporized in smoke machines in nightclubs or theaters and is commonly used as a solvent in food.

When a person takes a drag on the battery-powered cigarette, the solution is pumped through the atomizer and comes out as an ultrafine spray that resembles smoke.

Hong Kong-based Ruyan contends the technology has been illegally copied by Chinese and foreign companies and is embroiled in several lawsuits. It's also battling questions about the safety of its products.

Most sales take place over the Internet, where hundreds of retailers tout their products. Their easy availability, O'Leary warns, "has elevated this to a pressing issue given its unknown safety and efficacy."

Prices range from about $60 to $240. Kits include battery chargers and cartridges that range in flavors (from fruit to menthol) and nicotine levels (from zero — basically a flavored mist — to 16 milligrams, higher than a regular cigarette.) The National Institutes of Health says regular cigarettes contain about 10 milligrams of nicotine.

Promoted as 'healthier'On its Web site, Gamucci, a London-based manufacturer, features a woman provocatively displaying one of its e-cigs. "They look like, feel like and taste like traditional tobacco, yet they aren't," the blurb reads. "They are a truly healthier and satisfying alternative. Join the revolution today!"

Smoking Everywhere, a Florida-based company, proclaims it "a much better way to smoke!" while a clip on YouTube features an employee of the NJoy brand promoting its e-cigarettes at CES, the international consumer technology trade show.
Online sales make it even more difficult to regulate the industry, which still falls in a gray area in many countries.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has "detained and refused" several brands of electronic cigarettes because they were considered unapproved new drugs and could not be legally marketed in the country, said press officer Christopher Kelly.

He did not give more details, but said the determination of whether an e-cig is a drug is made on a case-by-case basis after the agency considers its intended use, labeling and advertising.
In Australia, the sale of electronic cigarettes containing nicotine is banned. In Britain, the products appear to be unregulated and are sold in pubs.

Smoking is tightly woven into the fabric of daily life in Ruyan's home turf of China, the world's largest tobacco market where about 2 trillion cigarettes are sold every year.
Tobacco sales, the biggest source of government revenue, brought in $61 billion in the first 11 months of last year, up 18 percent from 2007, the Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper said.

Pricier optionIn a country where the cheapest brands of cigarettes cost about 20 cents a pack, the e-cig is far pricier. Ruyan's V8 costs $240 and includes batteries and 20 cartridges of nicotine solution, roughly the same number of puffs as 20 packs of tobacco cigarettes. The line has expanded to include cigars and pipes crafted from agate and rosewood.

Ruyan is suing a Beijing newspaper for questioning its safety and for claiming in 2006 that its products have more nicotine than regular cigarettes.
Miu Nam, Ruyan's executive director, blames the newspaper for a hit in sales and profits but declined to give details.

"We have to restore consumers' confidence, we have to clean up people's doubts," Miu said.
An operator at the Beijing Times refused to transfer calls seeking comment Friday to managers at the newspaper. A reporter said she had heard of the case but would not give any details.
Some international experts back Ruyan's claims its product is safe.

David Sweanor, an adjunct law professor at Ottawa University and former legal counsel of the Non Smokers Rights Association in Canada, said e-cigs have the potential to save lives.
With smoking, "it's the delivery system that's killing people," Sweanor said. "Anytime you suck smoke into your lungs you're going to do yourself a great deal of damage. Nicotine has some slight risks but they are minor compared to the risk of smoke in cigarettes."

Dr. Murray Laugesen, a New Zealand physician involved in tobacco control for 25 years who was commissioned by Ruyan to test its e-cigs, said he found "very little wrong" with them.
"It looks more like a cigarette and feels more like a cigarette than any other device so far and yet it does not cause the harm," he said. "It's the best substitute so far invented for tobacco cigarettes."

In the U.S, both Philip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds have introduced cigarettes that did not burn tobacco, but the technologies were very different from the e-cigarette. Neither has been successful.

In 2006, Philip Morris USA, test-marketed the Accord, which used a heating unit activated by puffing. RJ Reynolds introduced its cigarette, the Premier, in 1987 and still sells the Eclipse, which heats the tobacco rather than burning it. Sales are "not great," said spokesman David Howard.

Li Honglei, a fast-talking 28-year-old public relations manager in Beijing, has been smoking since he was in his teens and desperately wants to quit. He thinks he may have found his answer in Ruyan.

"I was intrigued by this new technology," said the pudgy, bespectacled Li as he surveyed products displayed in glass cases at Ruyan's brightly-lit shop in the capital. "I heard acupuncture is effective as well, but this method sounds more painless."

Smoke Less to Quit Smoking

Smoke Less to Quit Smoking

In the study funded by the US National Cancer Institute,

20 healthy adult smokers smoked their usual brand for a week then followed six weeks of smoking cigarettes with gradually decreased nicotine content.

Five smokers quit smoking completely while the study was in progress.
The rest return to their usual commercial cigarette brand at the end of period.

However one month later after that test, they were smoking about 40% fewer cigarettes a day, with a comparable reduction in nicotine intake.
So, this research on reduced-nicotine content cigarettes strongly counters the idea that reducing the nicotine content of cigarettes would lead to smoking more cigarettes.

Tobacco products with reduction of the nicotine yields make cigarettes less harmful.
But other study revealed that low tar, low nicotine cigarettes damage blood flow through the heart as severely as regular cigarettes.

Scientists say cigarettes marketed as low-nicotine do not work because they have high nicotine content and are "engineered" - made with highly porous paper and have ventilation holes above the filter - to deliver more nicotine when the smoker takes more frequent and bigger puffs.

There is easy way to reduce smoker's nicotine intake.
If you are thinking about quitting smoking, try to smoke lesser quantity of cigarettes until your final one and you will be rewarded for your efforts.

This reduction will reduce cigarette cravings and withdrawal symptoms during smoking ending process. It is safe to say that smoking ending process starts, when you initiate changes like decreasing amount of smoked cigarettes in your everyday smoking routine.

Honey Bee Facts - Healthy Sustenance

Honey Bee Facts - Healthy Sustenance

Bee are Unique insect coz they are naturally industrious and efficient and they could accomplish amazing feats.

Human have reaped the practically countless benefits of substances obtained from beehives.
The substances are used in many different ways, particularly in the realm of health and beauty. Products that contain elements like propolis, royal jelly and honey offer excellent benefits for the body.



Honey Facts: Healthy Sustenance

We already know that honey offers many healthy benefits.
People can ward off allergies by purchasing fresh honey from their local area.
The honey provides natural defence against allergens since it is made of pollens that can trigger allergies.
Consuming honey is much like getting an all-natural vaccine against allergens.
Bee pollen also offers great benefits. Royal jelly and Bee Propolis are two helpful elements that derived from the beehive.

Royal Jelly And Bee Propolis
Royal jelly and bee propolis have many health-enhancing benefits such as immune system enhancement, weight control, and beauty aids.

Supplements that contain bee products are effective in improving the condition of skin, hair and nails.

Immune System EnhancementBee products help maintain and improve immunity against infection and illnesses. People take these products to protect against viruses while enjoying more energy and vivaciousness.

Weight ControlBee products also have a significant impact on the appetite as natural appetite suppressants. smaller quantity cravings lead to more success for dieters. Lecithin is an important component that helps increase the metabolic rate, helping the body burn fat faster.

Beauty ProductsCream that containing bee product is particularly effective in improving the look and texture of the surface of the skin and enchance natural beauty.The beehive has many things to offer consumers. Consider some of the bee facts as you explore the benefits of adopting these products into your daily routine.

Aloe Vera - Miracle Plant

Aloe vera is said to be a miracle plant? Why?
Well, it has great healing and curative properties that are natural and safe.
If you have a cut, abrasion, sore, sting or skin irritation, aloe vera will heal the area and soothe it as well.

Enough cannot be said about aloe vera. It heals, moisturizes, soothes, optimizes health, cures acne, diabetes, constipation, cleanses the colon, corrects the digestive system and gets rid of heartburn and other health issues.

Aloe Vera regenerates the cells, provides anti-bacterial and anti-fungal outcome on the body. This primary reason is enough to consider Aloe as one of the most naturally healthy plant. It contains many essential minerals and vitamins that also aid the internal organs to operate more efficiently. Aloe can also be considered as a irreplaceable dietary compliment to those who are trying to lose weight.

Weight loss can be quite a daunting task and anything that will enhance the prospect of successful weight loss is always welcomed and that is what Aloe does for those who are in that process.

When taken internally as a juice, Aloe drink acts as a laxative and helps to get rid of bad bacteria and unwanted parasite inside the intestine. Bacteria and parasites in the body are an unwelcomed addition because it breeds health problems, decreases energy and contributes to the ill health of those who are affected.

There are claims, which are unsubstantiated, that aloe heals ulcers and aids in indigestion. The fact that aloe has so many uses attributes it to the fact that many scientists are including it in their alternative medical practice and that says a lot. Find out how you can get help from Aloe Vera at Aloe Vera Benefits.

Water or Coke?

WATER

1. We all know that water is important but I’ve never seen it written down like this before.
2. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half world population)
3. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.
4. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 3%.
5. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a U- Washington study.
6. Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
7. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
8. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
9. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.
Are you drinking the amount of water you should every day?

COKE

1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the truck to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.
2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.
3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the “real thing” sit for one hour, then flush clean The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.
4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a crumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.
5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of
Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.
6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.
7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, Remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy.
8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

For Your Info:
1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its Ph is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.
2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for highly corrosive materials.
3. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years!

Now the question is, would you like a glass of WATER or COKE ?

Yoga - Conscious Relaxation for Stress Release

Prana is the energy permeating the universe at all levels.
It is physical, mental, intellectual, sexual, spiritual and cosmic energy.

All vibrating energies are prana...prana is the breath of life of all beings in the universe." - Yogacharya B.K.S Iyengar

A simple way to relax all the muscles of the body systematically is the tense-relax method. Practise the following asana if you need to unwind or have trouble sleeping.

As your body temperature will drop, have a light blanket handy.
You can also use a small pillow, a rolled blanket or even a yoga block to place under your knees if you feel any lower back tension.

Remember that in Yoga we breathe in through the nose and out through the nose most of the time. This is extremely effective in relieving stress as it encourages deeper, fuller breaths in the body, thus intoxicating the subtle energies of the nervous system. I promise that you will find this asana intensely relaxing.

Savasana (also known as Corpse or Relaxation Pose)
1. Lie down on your back with legs extended, ankles hip-bone distance apart, feet relaxed and falling to the side.

2. Relax the arms at your sides, slightly away from the body, palms facing upwards, shoulders away from the ears.

3. Now close your eyes, tuck the chin in slightly and notice the sensation as you release any tension in the jaw and mouth area.

4. Consciously relax your mind and body. As you inhale, you will feel the belly rise...exhale slowly through the nose, aware of your belly relaxing...visualize a rolling wave, a blue sea, feel your body relax...continue for ten reps or as long as it feels good.



5. Now focus on your feet, tensing them as you inhale, hold for just a few seconds, then exhale as you feel the tension release. Moving up to the legs, do the same thing...next, on the inhale tense the lower back and your pelvic muscles - on the exhale, relax completely. Inhale and tense your solar plexus, chest and mid-back. Exhale and release...move on to the hands, the arms - tense, relax. Next the shoulders - tense and relax. Inhale and tense the neck, head and face...exhale, let it go.

6. Inhale and tense the entire body...hold it, hold it...and exhale.

7. Stay where you are and just relax for a few more moments...think of nothing else, just the here and now...only this moment, only this breath.... Namaste

One of related disease if smoking is COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases).

What is COPD?
COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases) is a disease characterized by airway inflammation and airflow limitation that is not fully reversible and progressive.
Symptom of COPD can be dyspneu, cough with sputum depends of the kind.
Range of age COPD patient usually more than 40 years old.

Kinds of COPD
There are two kinds of COPD :
1. Chronic bronchitis :
when chronic expiratory airflow obstruction is associated with a chronic caugh of three months in each of two successive years. The chronic cough must produce sputum.
2. Emphysema :
When chronic expiratory airflow obstruction is associated with damage to the air sacs in the lung.

How to Know exacerbation of COPD?
EXACERBATION OF CHRONIC BRONCHITIS — are characterized by an acute increase in usual symptoms of COPD including cough, sputum production and/or dyspnea.
The clinical features of exacerbations of chronic bronchitis are:
Increased volume or change in the character of sputum Increased frequency and severity of cough Increased dyspnea Variable constitutional symptoms.

EXACERBATION OF EMPHYSEMA – same of chronic bronchitis but cough and sputum production is not dominant.

How to Avoid COPD?
1. Avoid risk factors of COPD since young age - active and passive smoking
Smoking is one of risk factor of COPD, although not all of smokers are not suffering from COPD. Degree of COPD risk is influenced by age of onset of smoking, degree inhalation, tar and nicotine content of cigar, use of unfilterred cigar, amount of cigar/day However, not all of smokers are not suffering from COPD, and risk of COPD can be from other risk factors and genetic kinds - its better for us for avoiding smoking. - Occupational exposure to environmental dust A series of reports derived from multiple cohorts of workers have found a statistically significant association between loss of lung function and cumulative respirable dust exposure. Gold miners and coal miners appeared to be at particular risk. - Deficiencies of antioxidant vitamins, such as vitamin C and E Oxidizing radicals derive from exogenous sources, such as cigarette smoke, or may be released by phagocytes within the lung. Deficiencies of antioxidant vitamins may impair host defenses against oxidative radicals and permit tissue destruction which leads to COPD.

2. Avoid precipitants This only useful for patients who have diagnosed with COPD and avoid exarcebation.
PRECIPITANTS — Acute exacerbations of COPD are most commonly precipitated by infection (bacterial or viral) or environmental factors such as air pollution or temperature. It is estimated that 50 to 60 percent of exacerbations are due to respiratory infections (including bacteria and viruses), ten percent are due to environmental pollution, and 30 percent are of unknown etiology.

Article Reference :
1. Weiss M.T, 2007, Risk Factors of COPD 2. Snider G.L, 2007,
2. Diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Mediterranean diet

Mediterranean diet

A diet traditionally followed in Greece, Crete, southern France, and parts of Italy that emphasizes fruits and vegetables, nuts, grains, olive oil (as opposed to butter) and grilled or steamed chicken and seafood (as opposed to red meat). Plus a glass or two of red wine.

To be exact, there is not merely one Mediterranean diet. What is eaten varies significantly from one Mediterranean country to another. There also are major differences in diet between some regions within a country, as in Italy.

However, the shared features of what is usually spoken of as the Mediterranean-style diet are as follows:

• High consumption of fruits, vegetables, bread and other cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds;
• Olive oil is the key monounsaturated fat source;
• Dairy products, fish and poultry are consumed in low to moderate amounts;
• Little red meat is eaten;
• Eggs are eaten zero to four times a week; and
• Wine is drunk in moderate (or low) amounts.

Many studies indicate that a Mediterranean diet may play an important role in the prevention of coronary artery disease. A Mediterranean-style diet also appears to help avoid the metabolic syndrome (prediabetes) and reduce the chances that a person will die sooner rather than later.

Coffee Cuts Stroke Risk For Women

Biggest Benefit Seen in Women Drinking 4 or More Cups of Coffee a Day
By Caroline WilbertWebMD Health News

Coffee addicts: Your habit may actually be good for you.
Regular coffee consumption reduces the risk of stroke in women, according to a new study.

The study, published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, shows that women who drank four or more cups of coffee a day had a 20% reduced risk of stroke compared to women who had less than one cup per month. Drinking two to three cups per day reduced risk by 19%. Drinking a cup five to seven times a week reduced risk by 12%.

Researchers analyzed data on 83,076 women who participated in the Nurses' Health Study. Participants began the study in 1980 with no history of stroke, heart disease, diabetes, or cancer. Every two to four years, the women filled out food frequency questionnaires about their diets. During the study, which lasted 24 years, 2,280 strokes were documented.

The benefits of coffee are much more significant for nonsmokers. For women who had never smoked or quit the habit, drinking four cups or more of coffee a day was associated with a 43% reduction in stroke risk. For women who smoked, drinking four cups or more was associated with only a 3% reduction in risk.

“The potential benefits of coffee cannot counterbalance the detrimental effects smoking has on health,” Esther Lopez-Garcia, lead author of the study and assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain, says in a news release.
In addition to smoking, having high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol also neutralized the coffee effect.

The benefits do not appear to come from caffeine. Participants who drank tea and caffeinated soft drinks did not experience the same reduction in stroke risk. “This finding supports the hypothesis that components in coffee other than caffeine may be responsible for the potential beneficial effect of coffee on stroke risk,” Lopez-Garcia says. “Antioxidants in coffee lower inflammation and improve blood vessel function.

“The beneficial effects of coffee can only be applied to healthy people," she says. "Anyone with health problems that can be worsened by coffee (insomnia, anxiety, hypertension, or heart problems) should talk to their doctor about their specific risk.”

And the data suggest that women still need to pay attention to any stroke risk factors they may have. Drinking coffee will not make those risk factors go away.
SOURCES: Lopez-Garcia, E., Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, Feb. 17, 2009; vol 119. News release, American Heart Association.