Encouraging Health

CNN.com’s article about Toothpaste from China being scrutinized more closely.

From the Article:

U.S. health officials are beginning to check all shipments of toothpaste coming from China, following reports of tainted products in other countries, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

The Food and Drug Administration has no evidence that contaminated toothpaste has made its way into the United States but is taking the step as a precaution, agency spokesman Doug Arbesfeld said.

China is the second-largest exporter of toothpaste to the United States behind Canada, according to the FDA.

The FDA’s action comes after the lethal chemical diethylene glycol was found in toothpaste sold in the Dominican Republic and Panama.

It follows a wave of concern over pet food from China containing another toxic chemical, melamine, thought to have sickened thousands of U.S. cats and dogs and made its way into livestock feed.

“We are going to be sampling and testing all shipments of toothpaste that come from China,” Arbesfeld said. “We’re doing this as a precautionary measure. We have no evidence that toothpaste containing diethylene glycol has entered the country.”

Tests on product pulled from shelves in Panama showed they contained high levels of diethylene glycol, used in engine coolants. Investigators in that country said two toothpaste brands were imported illegally from China through a free-trade zone.

Tainted toothpaste has also been reported in Australia, Arbesfeld said.

click above to read more.

toothpaste, China, poison

toothpaste, China, poison

ABCnews.com gives these tips to help you fight seasonal allergies.

Experts say Americans are in for a pollen “superburst” that could wallop much of the country in the next couple of weeks and spell misery for an estimated 40 million allergy sufferers.

Roger Emert, an allergy specialist at the New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, shared his tips for combating watery eyes and the sniffles on “Good Morning America.”

Start Taking Prescription Medicines Earlier
If you’ve been skin-tested and know what you’re allergic to, you should think about taking your medication earlier than you usually do.

Prescription medications are most effective if you take them before symptoms start. The date when people start getting symptoms is typically specific to the person’s location, and longtime allergy sufferers know when the symptoms are going to hit.

This year, take your medication about a week or two earlier than you usually do.

Click above to read the rest.

allergies

allergies

From msnbc. com, Harvard researchers, hedge fund managers create club for innovation:

Medical researchers teamed up with hedge fund managers on Wednesday to offer a new million-dollar prize for the best new idea for cancer research in the hopes of kick-starting innovative approaches.

They invited cancer experts, scientists and the general public to join an Internet-based club and compete for the Gotham Prize for Cancer Research.

Federal funding of cancer research has been flat, and is in fact lower than in recent years when inflation is taken into account, said Dr. Gary Curhan of Harvard Medical School.

cancer cure,prize

cancer cure, prize

This is what I need!

From the Article–

Think work feels like a treadmill now? Try a new desk designed at the Mayo Clinic.

They built what they called a “vertical workstation” — a desk fitted over a standard treadmill. They persuaded 15 obese people to work at this treadmill-desk and measured how many calories they burned.

If an overweight office worker used this vertical workstation all day, every day for a year, he or she could lose up to 66 pounds, the researchers report in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

James Levine and Jennifer Miller measured how many calories their 15 volunteers burned using exhaled breath but did not determine whether the volunteers lost weight.

On average, their overweight volunteers burned 100 calories more every hour while walking slowly — at 1 mile per hour — than while sitting in a chair.

“If obese individuals were to replace time spent sitting at the computer with walking computer time by 2 to 3 hours a day, and if other components of energy balance were constant, a weight loss of 20 to 30 kg (about 45 to 66 pounds) a year could occur,” the researchers wrote.

The researchers said their desk costs approximately $1,600.

To read more, click above.

treadmill, desk, weight loss

treadmill, desk, weight loss

From DiscoveryHealth.com, there is an article about an experimental HIV vaccine that could offer hope to millions! It’s about time the scientific and medical community came together to develop vaccines against this disease that affects so many in the world today.

From the Article:

The most promising of the many experimental HIV vaccines in development will offer only limited immunity against the deadly virus, U.S. government scientists said Wednesday ahead of world HIV Vaccine Awareness Day.

Unlike classical vaccines, the first-generation HIV vaccines will not enable people to fight off the virus, but may protect their immune system from the worst ravages of the virus and delay the onset of AIDS.

And because patients are at their most infectious when viral levels are high, such vaccines might also reduce the spread of the sexually-transmitted disease, making it a useful tool for public health authorities battling to contain the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.

To read more, click the above link.

HIV Vaccine, experiemental

HIV Vaccine, experiemental

According to this MSNBC.com Article, Surgery is not used enough in Adults.

From the Article:

“Almost 3 million Americans have epilepsy, periodic electrical storms inside the brain. When circuits misfire fast enough, a seizure results. Many are born with it, but epilepsy can develop at any age, particularly after injury to brain cells such as head trauma, meningitis or a mini-stroke.

Up to 30 percent of patients have intractable epilepsy: Medicines don’t prevent all their seizures, or they cause intolerable side effects. Many are candidates for surgery, cutting out the abnormal brain tissue that sparks seizures. At leading centers, up to 80 percent of surgery recipients become seizure-free, with few complications.

And improved technology is allowing surgeons to better pinpoint the bad spot and remove less brain tissue — half as much as the most common epilepsy surgery removed just a few years ago, says Dr. P. David Adelson, a neurosurgeon at the Pittsburgh children’s hospital.”

Read More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18786765/

Would You have Senses to Stop Seizures?

epileptic seizures, surgery

epileptic seizures, surgery

An interesting article over on CNN.com about a new pill that is intended to end periods for women.

From the Article:

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expect to announce approval Tuesday for Lybrel, a drug from Wyeth which would be the first pill to be taken continuously.

Lybrel, a name meant to evoke “liberty,” would be the fourth new oral contraceptive that doesn’t follow the standard schedule of 21 daily active pills, followed by seven sugar pills — a design meant to mimic a woman’s monthly cycle. Among the others, Yaz and Loestrin 24 shorten monthly periods to three days or less and Seasonique, an updated version of Seasonale, reduces them to four times a year. (Watch CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen answer questions about Lybrel. )

Gynecologists say they’ve been seeing a slow but steady increase in women asking how to limit and even stop monthly bleeding. Surveys have found up to half of women would prefer not to have any periods, most would prefer them less often and a majority of doctors have prescribed contraception to prevent periods.”

To read more, click the above link.

Would my female readers take Lybrel to end their periods? What of the health consequences? Pro or Con?

period, women, Lybrel

period, women, Lybrel

Is your ground beef done?

from Realage.com:

Don’t Judge by Color
Meat — especially ground beef — can look thoroughly cooked even though its internal temperature might not be high enough to kill dangerous foodborne pathogens, such as E. coli (what’s that?). Anything that alters the pH level of meat will affect how quickly it browns, including storage conditions, seasonings, and thawing methods.

Safe Numbers
Use a food thermometer:

Steaks, roasts, and fish — 62.8 degrees C (145 degrees F)
Pork and ground beef — 71.1 degrees C (160 degrees F)
Chicken breasts — 76.7 degrees C (170.1 degrees F)

grilling, beef, food poisening

grilling, beef, food poisening

From RealAge.com, , some fats make you hungrier!b

From the Article:

“That fatty bacon cheeseburger may be loaded with calories, but at least it stomps out your hunger. Right?

Not necessarily. Compared to low-fat meals with the same number of calories, meals high in saturated fat will produce lower levels of leptin — a hormone that turns off appetite. Here’s how to get leptin levels up.

All fats, saturated and unsaturated, have 9 calories per gram. Because they provide equal amounts of energy, you’d think all fats satisfy your appetite in the same way. But they don’t. ”

To read more, click the above link.

fat, hunger, calories, low-fat meals

fat, hunger, calories, low-fat meals

I’ve seen this story around several places on the internet, so I thought I’d post it here, too. Fiber, apparantly, is the next big thing to help fight Diabetes Type 2.

Read on:

“Eating fiber-rich, whole-grain cereal may not only keep you regular, but it may also reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

A new study shows that people who had the most fiber from whole-grain cereals in their diet had a 27% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who ate the least. Fiber from other sources, such as fruits and vegetables, didn’t show a similar protective effect against diabetes

The researchers note that consuming fiber may help with the body’s ability to handle blood sugar. They also note that low magnesium has been linked to patients with type 2 diabetes.”

fiber, diabetes type 2

fiber, diabetes type 2