1 in 2,000 British people may carry 'mad cow' disease

Posted by Neill Abayon

Around 1 in every 2,000 people in the UK may carry variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) proteins, more commonly known as "mad cow" disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). This is according to a study published in the BMJ.

 Variant CJD is a fatal degenerative brain disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the median duration of illness from vCJD is 14 months, while the median age at death from the disease is 28-years-old.

The illness was first described in the UK in 1996 and is thought to have resulted from transmission of infection from BSE in cattle to humans through meat products.

According to the team of UK researchers, there have been 177 clinical cases of vCJD to date in the UK.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been only three cases of vCJD reported in the US between 1996 and March 2011. However, previous studies have estimated that around 1 in 4,000 people may carry vCJD prions.

There is uncertainty surrounding the number of people who will eventually develop the disease, and it is unclear whether carriers risk transmitting the disease through blood transfusion or surgery.

Because of these cloudy areas, the researchers wanted to conduct a survey in order to more accurately determine how many people in the UK could be carriers of vCJD, and to identify the genotype of the carriers.

The research team analyzed more than 32,000 appendix samples over 41 hospitals from people who had their appendix removed between 2000 and 2012. 

More here.


 

Air pollution 'still harming Europeans' health'

By Mark Kinver

Air pollution is still continuing to damage European citizens' health and the environment, latest figures show.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) listed tiny airborne particles and ozone as posing a "significant threat".

However, the authors said nations had significantly cut emissions of a number of pollutants, including sulphur dioxide, lead and carbon monoxide.

In a separate study, research identified a link between low birth-weight and exposure to air pollution.

EEA executive director Hans Bruyninckx said that EU nations had made considerable progress over recent decades to reduce the visible signs of air pollution, with cities now no longer shrouded in blankets of smog.

However, he added: "Air pollution is causing damage to human health and ecosystems. Large parts of the population do not live in a healthy environment, according to current standards.

"To get on to a sustainable path, Europe will have to be ambitious and go beyond current legislation."

The EEA report showed that data suggested that up to 96% of the EU's urban population was exposed to fine particulate matter concentrations above UN World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

More here. 


 

Binge drinking during pregnancy linked to negative emotions

Posted by Neill Abayon

Researchers in Norway found that negative affectivity is linked to light alcohol use and binge drinking during pregnancy. 

Pregnancy is often described as one of the happiest times in a woman's life, but according to The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, between 14-23% of pregnant women will struggle with depression.

Negative affectivity is the tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anxiety and depression. Women suffering from this often tend to have an unfavorable view of themselves and the world in general.

They may be overwhelmed with feelings of worthlessness and guilt and may lose the desire or ability to look after themselves properly.

Previous studies have linked negative affectivity with greater vulnerability to stress, intense emotional reactions to daily life, and inclination to use intoxicants, such as alcohol, in response to stress. 


More here.


 

Child cataract blood test developed

The small grey congenital cataract has been present since birth

 By James Gallagher

A blood test that may improve treatment for children born with congenital cataracts has been developed by researchers in Manchester. 

It analyses every known mutation in the DNA which can cause the condition.

The team, which is presenting the test at the British Society for Genetic Medicine, hope it will spread up diagnosis and help decide the best treatment.

The charity RNIB described the test as a "welcome step forward".

About 200 children are born with cataracts in the UK each year.

"Diagnosing a congenital cataract is very easy at birth, but diagnosing the cause takes considerably longer," Prof Graeme Black, from the University of Manchester, said.

The problem is there are more than 100 different mutations in a child's DNA which have been linked to congenital cataracts.

"If you have a child with no family history then finding the cause can take months or years," he told the BBC.

More here.

Helpful Links:

Lose Weight
Customized Fat Loss
Muscle Maximizer
Female Fat Loss
Fat Burner System
Golden Ratio Systems
Hypothyroidism Revolution
Fat Burning Furnace
Fat Loss Cookbook
Reverse Your Diabetes Today

 

Top 20 Frankenfoods to Avoid

Michelle Schoffro Cook


Genetically-modified (GM) foods and food ingredients have infiltrated our food supply, tainting what was once healthy. While agri-businesses continue to claim they are safe, increasing amounts of research demonstrate that GM foods are harmful to human health, damage ecosystems, cause financial calamity for many farmers, and release trans genes that could randomly transfer to other life forms in the environment with the potential for disastrous consequences. A growing body of research links genetically-modified food consumption with sterility, allergies, infant mortality, organ defects, childhood illnesses, and cancer.

Avoid these top 20 foods and food ingredients to make your body GM-free*:

Alfalfa—Not in the habit of eating alfalfa?  You could be unknowingly eating this food in your beef and dairy products. Used by dairy and beef farmers as feed for cows, genetically-modified alfalfa is common in both beef and milk products.

Aspartame—Not only is aspartame a well-established neurotoxin (brain and nervous system toxin), this laboratory-derived ingredient is made from aspartate, phenylalanine, and menthol, all of which are commonly sourced from genetically-modified ingredients.

Beef—Not only does most beef contain genetically-modified alfalfa, it also contains GM corn and soy, which becomes part of the meat.  If you’re eating beef, choose only organic beef that is grass-fed.

Canola Oil—Ninety percent of canola is genetically-modified to withstand the herbicide glyphosate (Round-Up).

Corn and Corn Starch—Almost all corn is genetically-modified, making this once healthy food a suspected cause of organ damage.  Like corn, the starch extract of this GM-food is found in almost all processed and packaged foods.  If you like battered and deep-fried foods of almost any kind, you’re getting lots of this ingredient and lots of genetically-modified corn. Corn starch is commonly-used to make deep-fried foods crispy.

More here.

Helpful Links:

Lose Weight
Customized Fat Loss
Muscle Maximizer
Female Fat Loss
Fat Burner System
Golden Ratio Systems
Hypothyroidism Revolution
Fat Burning Furnace
Fat Loss Cookbook
Reverse Your Diabetes Today





 

Womb cancer link to diet, exercise and possibly coffee

Coffee contains antioxidants which may boost health

Posted by Neill Abayon

The risk of womb cancer can be reduced by exercise, diet and possibly drinking coffee, research suggests.


Almost half of cases of womb cancer in the UK - about 3,700 a year - could be prevented through keeping slim and active, a review of data shows.

Researchers at Imperial College, London, say women can reduce their risk with at least 30 minutes of daily exercise and keeping a healthy weight.

The World Cancer Research Fund report also found that coffee may reduce risk.

But experts say there is not yet enough evidence to recommend drinking coffee to protect against the disease.

Endometrial cancer - cancer of the womb lining - is the fourth most common of all cancers in women in the UK.

In the first global analysis since 2007, Imperial College London researchers collated and reviewed scientific research on endometrial cancer, and links with diet, physical activity and body weight.

The study found evidence that about 3,700 cases could be prevented every year if women were active for 38 minutes a day and maintained a healthy body weight.




More here.

Helpful Links:

 

Lose Weight
Customized Fat Loss
Muscle Maximizer
Female Fat Loss
Fat Burner System
Golden Ratio Systems
Hypothyroidism Revolution
Fat Burning Furnace
Fat Loss Cookbook
Reverse Your Diabetes Today

 

Childhood obesity linked to high blood pressure in adulthood

Posted by Neill Abayon

Children who are obese or overweight are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure in adulthood, compared with children of a healthy weight, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association High Blood Pressure Research Scientific Sessions 2013.

Researchers analyzed the blood pressure and growth of 1,117 healthy adolescents over a 27-year period from 1986.

Of the participants, 68% were at a normal weight, 16% were overweight and 16% were obese.

At adulthood, 119 of the participants were diagnosed with high blood pressure. Of these, 6% were normal weight as children, 14% were overweight, while 26% were obese as children.

These results show that obesity during childhood may increase the risk of high blood pressure four-fold in adulthood, and children who are overweight may double their risk of high blood pressure as adults.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years.

Furthermore, in a CDC population-based sample of 5 to 17-year-olds, 70% of youths who were obese had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure.

However, a recent report from Medical News Today highlighted some positive statistics from the CDC, which showed that childhood obesity rates in the US decreased in 19 of 43 states and territories studied between 2008 and 2011. 

More here

Helpful Links:

Lose Weight
Customized Fat Loss
Muscle Maximizer
Female Fat Loss
Fat Burner System
Golden Ratio Systems
Hypothyroidism Revolution
Fat Burning Furnace
Fat Loss Cookbook
Reverse Your Diabetes Today
.  

 

Alcohol neither causes nor prevents depression

Posted by Neill Abayon

A new study does not support the belief that alcohol consumption causes depression - nor that it prevents it. This was the conclusion of clinical neuroscientists from the University of Western Australia (UWA).

They write about their findings in a paper published online recently in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

In their paper, the authors describe how research has linked alcohol use, particularly alcohol abuse and dependence, to raised risk for depression.

They also note that current practice for diagnosing depression implies the link is causal.

However, they say the evidence has come only from studies that are not designed to determine cause and where unexplored factors can interfere with the results, as Professor Osvaldo Almeida, lead author from UWA's School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, explains:

"Even one of the diagnoses we have for depressive disorders - Substance Induced Mood Disorder - is a diagnosis where alcohol plays a role. However, because of the observational nature of the association between alcohol and depression, and the risk of confounding and bias that comes with observational studies, it is difficult to be entirely certain that the relationship is causal." 


 More here

.
 

Episodic migraines linked to obesity

 Posted by Neill Abayon

People who have the occasional migraine are more likely to suffer from obesity, compared with those who do not have migraines, according to a study published in the journal Neurology.

Previous studies have demonstrated a link between people with chronic migraines and obesity, the researchers say. But they add that the research has been conflicting on whether the link is relevant to people who have less frequent migraine attacks.

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, conducted a study of 3,862 people whose average age was 47.

All participants were required to complete surveys disclosing information on their height, weight and migraine regularity.

Of the participants, 1,044 were obese, while 188 suffered from occasional or episodic migraines - defined as having fewer than 14 migraines every month.

Results of the analysis showed that participants who were obese were 81% more likely to have episodic migraine of any frequency, compared with people of normal weight.

The research also showed that those under the age of 50 who were obese were 86% more likely to suffer from episodic migraine, and this risk did not increase in those over the age of 50.

Additionally, the risk of episodic migraine increased in women who were obese but not men.

The researchers say that while this may indicate that the link between migraine and obesity is absent in men, it more likely suggests that the relationship between obesity and migraine is stronger in women. They add that further research is needed to determine if this is the case.
 
More here

Helpful Links:

Lose Weight
Customized Fat Loss
Muscle Maximizer
Female Fat Loss
Fat Burner System
Golden Ratio Systems
Hypothyroidism Revolution
Fat Burning Furnace
Fat Loss Cookbook
Reverse Your Diabetes Today.

 

Lobster shell disease creeping northward to Maine

This undated photo provided by the University of Rhode Island in North Kingstown, R.I., shows a lobster with a diseased shell. The disease that has plagued the southern New England lobster industry now is becoming more prevalent in Maine, where it is valued at more than $300 million to fishermen and hundreds of millions more to coastal communities. (AP Photo/University of Rhode Island)

Posted by Neill Abayon

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- A shell disease that has plagued the southern New England lobster industry for years by making lobsters unsightly and in some cases unmarketable appears to be creeping northward to the lobster-rich grounds off the coast of Maine.

The number of lobsters suffering from shell disease remains tiny in Maine — only three out of every 1,000 lobsters sampled last year had the disease. But scientists and lobstermen are concerned because the prevalence grew fivefold from 2010 to 2012.

The disease, which is not harmful to humans, first became noticeable in southern New England waters in the 1990s. About one in every three or four lobsters caught in waters off southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island in recent years has been diseased.

Carl Wilson, the state lobster biologist with the Department of Marine Resources, said people should be concerned — but not alarmed — by the numbers. People who look only at the percentage increase could get spooked and say, "Oh, my god, that's a huge increase," he said.

"But it's not, considering all the sampling we have and all the caveats of our sampling design," Wilson said. "But it's something we are watching."

More here.

Helpful Links:

Lose Weight

Customized Fat Loss

Muscle Maximizer

Female Fat Loss

Fat Burner System

Golden Ratio Systems

Hypothyroidism Revolution

Fat Burning Furnace

Fat Loss Cookbook

Reverse Your Diabetes Today

Steep rise in number of children ingesting magnets

Posted by Neill Abayon


It is fairly common for young children to swallow foreign objects. But according to a new study, children seem to be increasingly attracted to ingesting magnets.

The study, published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, revealed that cases involving children swallowing magnets has increased more than five times over a 10-year period.

The researchers say that over this period, ingestion of magnets has generally resulted in more serious outcomes, including emergency surgery.

The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Washington, analyzed data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System for cases of magnetic foreign bodies in children under 21-years-old, between 2002 and 2011.

More here.

Lose Weight
Customized Fat Loss
Muscle Maximizer
Female Fat Loss
Fat Burner System
Golden Ratio Systems
Hypothyroidism Revolution
Fat Burning Furnace
Fat Loss Cookbook
Reverse Your Diabetes Today

Herbal stimulant khat to be banned

Posted by Neill Abayon

The herbal stimulant khat is to be banned by the government, against the advice of its own Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.


In January the ACMD said khat should remain a legal substance, saying there was "insufficient evidence" it caused health problems.

But Home Secretary Theresa May has decided to ban it, saying the risks posed could have been underestimated.

Khat will be treated as a class C drug, like anabolic steroids and ketamine.

The Home Office said the ban was intended to "protect vulnerable members of our communities" and would be brought in at the "earliest possible opportunity".

Khat is already banned in most of Europe and in a number of other countries, including the US and Canada.

The UK's decision to follow suit is based on security and international considerations, in particular concerns the UK could be used as a transit route for khat to other European countries.

Continue reading here.

Eating Peanuts While Pregnant May Raise Child's Allergy Risks

Posted by Neill Abayon

Link found between moms-to-be who consumed them and nut sensitivity in infants.

(HealthDay News) -- Women who eat peanuts during pregnancy may be putting their babies at increased risk for peanut allergy, a new study suggests.

U.S. researchers looked at 503 infants, aged 3 months to 15 months, with suspected egg or milk allergies, or with the skin disorder eczema and positive allergy tests to milk or egg. These factors are associated with increased risk of peanut allergy, but none of the infants in the study had been diagnosed with peanut allergy.

Blood tests revealed that 140 of the infants had strong sensitivity to peanuts. Mothers' consumption of peanuts during pregnancy was a strong predictor of peanut sensitivity in the infants, the researchers reported in the Nov. 1 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

"Researchers in recent years have been uncertain about the role of peanut consumption during pregnancy on the risk of peanut allergy in infants. While our study does not definitively indicate that pregnant women should not eat peanut products during pregnancy, it highlights the need for further research in order to make recommendations about dietary restrictions," study leader Dr. Scott H. Sicherer, a professor of pediatrics at Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, said in a journal news release.

Sicherer and his colleagues recommended controlled, interventional studies to further explore their findings.

"Peanut allergy is serious, usually persistent, potentially fatal, and appears to be increasing in prevalence," Sicherer said.

(SOURCE: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, news release, Nov. 1, 2010)

Stainless steel water bottles: Are they better than plastic and glass?

Posted by Neill Abayon

For years, I've always carried my own drinking water when I'm at the gym or running errands around town. That's because I don't drink out of water fountains with all their chlorinated, fluoridated public water sources (yuck!). I can't stand restaurant water, which is usually just gross tap water with ice cubes in it. I also don't drink out of plastic water bottles because, well, I don't particularly wish to grow a pair of BPA-induced male breasts (although I'm sure that would be amusing to YouTube viewers).

BPA (Bisphenol-A), after all, is the now-infamous "hormone mimicking" plastics chemical. It will probably be outlawed in the next few years because of the emerging science linking it to hormone-sensitive cancers like breast cancer and prostate cancer. Canada seems poised to ban it soon, and many baby bottle manufacturers in the USA have already turned to BPA-free bottles.

So that leaves two choices: Glass bottles and stainless steel bottles.

When you first use either of these, the first strange thing you'll notice is that you can't squeeze them. When we used to drink out of plastic bottles, we all got used to squeezing them to make the water come out, right? Glass and stainless steel obviously don't squeeze, so you have to rely on gravity to drop the water into your mouth.

Read the full article here.


Lose Weight
Customized Fat Loss
Muscle Maximizer

Female Fat Loss

Fat Burner System
Golden Ratio Systems
Hypothyroidism Revolution
Fat Burning Furnace
Fat Loss Cookbook
Reverse Your Diabetes Today

Elevated insulin link to increased breast cancer risk

Posted by Neill Abayon

Findings on older women based on women's health initiative study

July 9, 2009 - (BRONX, NY) - Elevated insulin levels in the blood appear to raise the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Their findings are published in the online version of the International Journal of Cancer.

Increased breast cancer risk for postmenopausal women has previously been linked to obesity and diabetes. Both conditions involve insulin resistance, which causes increases in circulating levels of insulin. Since insulin is known to promote cell division and enhance breast tumor growth in animal models, the Einstein scientists reasoned that relatively high insulin levels may contribute to breast cancer risk in women.

"Up to now, only a few studies have directly investigated whether insulin levels are associated with breast cancer risk, and those studies have yielded conflicting results," says Geoffrey Kabat, Ph.D., senior epidemiologist in the department of epidemiology and population health at Einstein and the lead author of the paper. "Those other studies were based on just a single baseline measurement of insulin, while our study involved analyzing repeated measurements of insulin taken over several years — which provides a more accurate picture of the possible association between insulin levels and breast cancer risk."

An earlier study linking insulin levels with breast cancer risk was carried out by Einstein researchers and was published in the January 7, 2009 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Read the full article here.

Sleep disorders tied to mortality risk

Posted by Neill Abayon

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Poor quality sleep - whether from insomnia, sleep fragmentation, or nightmares - is associated with increased risk of death, according to several presentations this week in Seattle at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

One study, conducted at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania, suggests that insomnia may be as hazardous as obstructive sleep apnea.

"Insomnia with objective short sleep duration is associated with an activation of the stress system, i.e., higher secretion of cortisol and increased risk of high blood pressure," said lead author Dr. Alexandros Vgontzas. He and his associates examined the effects of insomnia that persisted for at least 1 year and objective short sleep duration on mortality.

Read the full article here.

Alcohol’s Good for You? Some Scientists Doubt It

Posted by Neill Abayon

By now, it is a familiar litany. Study after study suggests that alcohol in moderation may promote heart health and even ward off diabetes and dementia. The evidence is so plentiful that some experts consider moderate drinking — about one drink a day for women, about two for men — a central component of a healthy lifestyle.

But what if it’s all a big mistake?

For some scientists, the question will not go away. No study, these critics say, has ever proved a causal relationship between moderate drinking and lower risk of death — only that the two often go together. It may be that moderate drinking is just something healthy people tend to do, not something that makes people healthy.

“The moderate drinkers tend to do everything right — they exercise, they don’t smoke, they eat right and they drink moderately,” said Kaye Middleton Fillmore, a retired sociologist from the University of California, San Francisco, who has criticized the research. “It’s very hard to disentangle all of that, and that’s a real problem.”

Read the full article here.

Higher blood sugar levels linked to lower brain function in diabetics

Posted by Neill Abayon

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Results of a recent study conducted by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues show that cognitive functioning abilities drop as average blood sugar levels rise in people with type 2 diabetes.

The study appears in this month's issue of Diabetes Care.

The ongoing Memory in Diabetes (MIND) study, a sub-study of the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes Trial (ACCORD), found a statistically significant inverse relationship between A1C levels (average blood glucose levels over a period of two to three months) and subjects' scores on four cognitive tests. No association, however, was found between daily blood glucose levels (measured by the fasting plasma glucose test) and test scores.

For the study, researchers at 52 of the 77 ACCORD sites throughout the United States and Canada administered a 30-minute battery of cognitive tests to nearly 3,000 individuals ages 55 years and older.

"The tests used in the study measured several aspects of memory function," said Jeff Williamson, M.D., M.H.S., principal investigator for the study at the Wake Forest clinical site. "For example, we tested one's ability to switch back and forth between memory tasks or to 'multitask,' an important skill for people needing to manage their diabetes."

Read the full article here.

Unexplained chest pain can be due to stress

Posted by Neill Abayon

Each year, many people seek emergency treatment for unexplained chest pains. A thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, indicates several common factors among those affected, including stress at work, anxiety, depression and a sedentary lifestyle.

Chest pain is a common reason for patients to seek emergency treatment. A considerable number of patients are diagnosed with unexplained chest pain, which means that the pain cannot be linked to biomedical factors such as heart disease, or some other illness. The patient group is significant in size, with just over 20,000 patients seeking hospital treatment in 2006, and so far researchers have been unable to identify specific causes for unexplained chest pain.

"Many suffer from recurring bouts of pain over several years, while the healthcare services are unable to find out what's causing it," says Registered nurse Annika Janson Fagring, the author of the thesis.

In her thesis, Annika Janson Fagring describes and analyses symptoms among patients with unexplained chest pain. The results show that most of them are middle-aged, and that over a third of those affected were born outside Sweden. The chest pain had a negative impact on the patients' daily life in the form of tiredness, anxiety and fear of death.

Read the full article here.

New Cigarette Hazard: 'Third-Hand Smoke'

Posted by Neill Abayon

Parents who smoke often open a window or turn on a fan to clear the air for their children, but experts now have identified a related threat to children’s health that isn’t as easy to get rid of: third-hand smoke.

That’s the term being used to describe the invisible yet toxic brew of gases and particles clinging to smokers’ hair and clothing, not to mention cushions and carpeting, that lingers long after second-hand smoke has cleared from a room. The residue includes heavy metals, carcinogens and even radioactive materials that young children can get on their hands and ingest, especially if they’re crawling or playing on the floor.

Doctors from Mass General Hospital for Children in Boston coined the term “third-hand smoke” to describe these chemicals in a new study that focused on the risks they pose to infants and children. The study was published in this month’s issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Read the full article here.