Spring 2015
HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 You
Is yoga helpful in depression UK's Obesity Crisis
How ginger helps diabetes
Leafy greens slow cognitive decline
Get Britain standing
'You cannot outrun a bad diet' For happiness spend money on others
Obesity, lack of exercise and bad diet
CONTENTS
British cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra and his two colleagues have made a powerful case for government regulation of the food industry. Poor diet now generates more disease than physical inactivity, alcohol and smoking combined. They have argued that food industry spends a huge amount of money advertising junk food that causes obesity, hypertension, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease. Instead, members of the public are drowned by an unhelpful message about maintaining a ‘healthy weight’ through calorie counting, and many still wrongly believe that obesity is entirely due to lack of exercise. This false perception, argued Dr Malhotra, was rooted in the Food Industry's Public Relations machinery, which uses tactics chillingly similar to those of big tobacco companies. The tobacco industry blocked government intervention for 50 years starting from when the first links between smoking and lung cancer were published. This is not to say that exercise doesn't work. Yes, it does. Nevertheless, the truth is if you continue to pile up calories, exercise will not be able to help you in your fitness quest. As Dr Malhotra aptly puts it, 'You cannot outrun a bad diet.'
Vijay Rana Editor, Health & Happiness 4 You
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Spring 2015, Issue 15
5 - You can't outrun a bad diet 6 - Get Britain standing 7 - Converting sitting into standing 8 - Mindfulness for treating depression 9 - Europe's obesity crisis 10 - Eating out can cause high blood pressure 11 - Bring traffic light food labels 12 - Promoting healthy eating habits in kids 13 - Leafy greens slow cognitive decline 14 - Ginger helps in diabetes 15 - Meaning of use-by and sell-by dates 16 - Enhancing language skills among kids 17 - For happiness spend money on others 18 - Most Britons can't recognise skin cancer
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'You cannot outrun a bad diet' Poor diet generates more disease than physical inactivity, alcohol and smoking combined If you are dangerously overweight, it's all due to your bad diet rather than a lack of exercise, according to a trio of doctors who have reopened the debate about whether food, sedentary lifestyles or both are responsible for the obesity epidemic. Writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine British cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra and his two colleagues have made a powerful case for government intervention. Poor diet now generates more disease than physical inactivity, alcohol and smoking combined, says the Lancet global burden of disease report. Up to 40% of those with a normal body mass index will harbour metabolic abnormalities typically associated with obesity, which include hypertension, dyslipidaemia, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease. However, this is little appreciated by scientists, doctors, media writers and policymakers, despite the extensive scientific literature on the vulnerability of all ages and all sizes to lifestylerelated diseases. Instead, members of the public are drowned by an unhelpful message about maintaining a ‘healthy weight’ through calorie counting, and many still wrongly believe that obesity is entirely due to lack of exercise. This false perception is rooted in the Food Industry's Public Relations machinery, which uses tactics chillingly similar to those of big tobacco companies. The tobacco industry successfully stalled government intervention for 50 years starting from when the first links between smoking and lung cancer were published. This sabotage was achieved using a ‘corporate playbook’ of denial, doubt, confusing the public and even buying the loyalty of bent scientists, at the cost of millions of lives. Coca Cola, who spent $3.3 billion on advertising in 2013, pushes a message that ‘all calories count’; they associate their products with sport, suggesting it is ok to consume their drinks as long as you exercise. However science tells us this is misleading and wrong. It is where the calories come from that is crucial. Sugar calories promote fat storage and hunger. Fat calories induce fullness or ‘satiation’. A large econometric analysis of worldwide sugar
availability, revealed that for every excess 150 calories of sugar (say, one can of cola), there was an 11-fold increase in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes, in comparison to an identical 150 calories obtained from fat or protein And what about carbohydrate loading for exercise? The twin rationales for carbohydrate loading are that the body has a limited capacity to store carbohydrates and these are essential for more intense exercise. However, recent studies suggest otherwise. If a high-carbohydrate diet was merely unnecessary for exercise it would be of little threat to public health, however, there are growing concerns that insulinresistant athletes may be at risk of developing type 2 diabetes if they continue to eat very high-carbohydrate diets for decades since such diets worsen insulin resistance. The ‘health halo’ legitimisation of nutritionally deficient products must end. The public health messaging around diet and exercise, and their relationship to the epidemics of type 2 diabetes and obesity, has been corrupted by vested interests. Celebrity endorsements of sugary drinks, and the association of junk food and sport, must end. The ‘health halo’ legitimisation of nutritionally deficient products is misleading and unscientific. This manipulative marketing sabotages effective government interventions such as the introduction of sugary drink taxes or the banning of junk food advertising. Healthy choice must become the easy choice. 5 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Get Britain standing
After 90 minutes of sitting your metabolism shuts down when British researchers compared rates of heart disease in London bus drivers, who sit and bus conductors who stand and found that the former group experienced almost twice the number of heart attacks and additional other problems than the latter. 2. Diabetes: Over-productive pancreas our pancreas produces insulin a hormone that carries glucose to cells for energy. Cells in idle muscles don't respond as readily to insulin, so the pancreas produces more and more insulin which can lead to diabetes. A 2008 study found that people who sat for longer periods during their day had significantly higher levels of fasting blood glucose, indicating their cells became less responsive to insulin, with the hormone failing to trigger the absorption of glucose from the blood. A 2013 study came to similar findings, and arrived at the conclusion TOP 10 RRISKS OF PROLONGED SITTING that for people already at risk of developing type 2 These risks grow significantly for people who sit longer diabetes, the amount of time spent sitting could be a more than 4 hours each day: important risk factor than the amount of time spent 1. Heart Disease: Muscles burn less fat and blood vigorously exercising. flows more sluggishly during a long sit, allowing fatty 3. Cancer: Breast and colon cancer appear to be most assets to more easily clog the heart. Prolonged sitting has influenced by physical activity or the lack of it. A 2011 been linked to high blood pressure and elevated study found that prolonged sitting could be responsible cholesterol and people who sit 8 hours per day are more than twice more likely to have cardiovascular disease than for as much as 49,000 cases of breast cancer. A 2010 study by the American Cancer Society found those sitting less than 4 hours. Irrespective of how that women who sat more than six hours a day were 37% physically active a person is. more likely to die prematurely than women who sat for Scientific evidence that sitting is bad for the cardiovascular system goes all the way back to the 1950s, less than three hours, while the early-death rate for men Get Britain Standing is a dynamic campaign to increase awareness and education of the dangers of sedentary working and prolonged sitting time. Active Working and sit-stand workstations deliver a compelling solution, enabling us to mix up sitting with intermittent periods of standing. In recent years a variety of major international research has produced compelling evidence that sitting more than 4 hours each day leads to the enzymes responsible for burning fat shutting down and reduced metabolic rate. This may result in increased risks of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer. A variety of studies have warned that sedentary lifestyles are likely to be causing as many deaths as smoking.
was 18% higher. The underlying mechanism by which sitting increases cancer risk is still unclear, but scientists have found a number of biomarkers, such as C-reactive protein, that are present in higher levels in people who sit for long periods of time. These may be tied to the development of cancer. Another is that regular movement boosts natural antioxidants that kill self-damaging and potentially cancer-causing free radicals. 4. Obesity: the evidence linking physical activity patterns with obesity is increasing rapidly and reflects the growing importance of physical activity as a key health issue. After 90 minutes of sitting your metabolism shuts down and the body's cells become less responsive to insulin and muscles release lower levels of the enzyme which burn cholesterol. A 2013 British study showed that using a standing desk caused the heart to beat an average of 10 beats faster per minute than when sitting. This equates to an additional 50 calories an hour burnt. A 2012 study comparing young adults using sitting and standing desks found that standing desk users burned 20.4 additional calories per hour. Given an average of 3 hours of standing per day, 5 days per week, this would equate to burning an extra 306 to 750 calories per week; 16,000 to 30,000 per year. 5. High Blood Pressure: Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps blood. If this pressure rises and stays high over time, it can damage the body in many ways. A report by the UK government’s Chief Medical Officer warns there is mounting evidence that you can hit the recommended levels of exercise but still put your health at risk by spending the rest of the time sitting down. 6. Muscle degeneration: when you stand you use your
abdominal muscles to keep you upright. However, excessive sitting leads to tight back muscles and soft abdominals which lead to bad posture which can exaggerate the spine’s natural arch, a condition called hyper lordosis or swayback. 7. Back ache and neck pain: Spines that don't move become inflexible and susceptible to damage in mundane activities. When we move around soft discs between the vertebrae expand & contract like sponges soaking up fresh blood and nutrients. When we sit for a long time disks are squashed unevenly and lose sponginess. Collagen hardens around supporting tendons and ligaments. Strained neck: if most of your sitting occurs at a desk at work craning your neck toward a keyboard or tilting your head to cradle a phone while typing can strain the cervical vertebrae and lead to permanent imbalances. 8. Osteoporosis: weight bearing activities such as standing, walking and running stimulate hip and lower body bones to grow thicker denser and stronger. Scientists partly attribute the recent surge in cases of osteoporosis to lack of activity. 9. Depression and Lethargy: moving muscles pump fresh blood and oxygen through the brain and trigger the release of all sorts of brain and the enhancing chemicals. When we are sedentary for long periods everything slows including brain function. A recent American study concluded that some, but not all sedentary behaviours, are linked to adverse mental health. 10. Dementia: when we are sedentary for long periods everything slows including brain function. Whilst research on the link of physical inactivity to dementia is still at the early stage, evidence is growing. Source Get Britain Standing.Org
When you sit for long the enzymes that help break down fat (Lipoprotein Lipase) drop by 90%
Converting sitting into standing
On Friday, the 24th April thousands of people in Britain participated in a programme called On Your Feet Britain, converting their "sitting time" to "standing time". The event was organised by the Get Britain Standing campaign and was supported by the British Heart Foundation. The campaign suggested some simple changes - it’s easier than you think: - Stand during phone calls - Stand and take a break from your computer every 30 minutes - Use the stairs - Have standing or walking meetings - Eat your lunch away from your desk - Walk to your colleague's desk instead of phoning or emailing.
Mindfulness as effective as pills for treating recurrent depression Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) may be as good as pills at stopping people relapsing after recovering from major bouts of depression, according to a study. The MBCT was developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale, based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction programme. The MBCT programme was designed specifically to help people who suffer repeated bouts of depression. It teaches people to recognise that negative thoughts and feelings will return, but that they can disengage from them. Rather than worrying constantly about them, people can become aware of them, understand them and accept them, and avoid being dragged down into a spiral leading back to depression. The trial, published in The Lancet, a medical journal, involved a group of 424 adults from GP practices in the south-west of England, who were willing to try either the pills or the therapy. Half were randomly allotted to each. Those assigned to mindfulness had eight group sessions of more than two hours plus daily home practice and the option of four follow-up sessions over a year. The course involved mindfulness training, group discussion and cognitive behaviour exercises. The patients gradually came off their medication. Those assigned to the other group stayed on the tablets for two years. The relapse rates in the two groups were similar, with 44% in the mindfulness group and 47% for those on the drugs. In each group there were five adverse events, including two deaths. The researchers had thought the study might show that therapy was more effective than pills, based on their earlier work. Lead author Willem Kuyken, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Oxford, said: “That was our hypothesis. It was based on our pilot study
in 2008. There was a suggestion that MBCT might do better than medication. The reality is that it was not superior to medication.” However, they established that mindfulness-based therapy is equally as good as drugs, which could offer a new option for those who do not want to be on medication for years. Co-author Prof Richard Byng, from the Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, said: “Currently, maintenance antidepressant medication is the key treatment for preventing relapse...However, there are many people who, for a number of different reasons, are unable to keep on a course of medication for depression. Moreover, many people do not wish to remain on medication for indefinite periods, or cannot tolerate its side-effects.” The study paper said: “Perhaps MBCT confers resilience in this group at highest risk because patients learn skills that address some of the underlying mechanisms of relapse or recurrence.” In a commentary with the study in The Lancet, Prof Roger Mulder, from the University of Otago in New Zealand, said the findings had substantial significance. He suggested that because it is group therapy, which reduces the costs involved, it may be possible to offer MBCT as a choice to GP patients. He said: “We ... have a promising new treatment that is reasonably cost-effective and applicable to the large group of patients with recurrent depression. Depression remains a disabling condition with high prevalence and a large clinical burden. Despite the increased use of drugs, the long-term outcome of mood disorders has not improved in the modern era. Having an alternative nonmedication strategy to reduce relapse is an important means to help patients with depression.” 8 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
WHO report: 74% of men and 64% of women in UK to be overweight by 2030 Projections by the World Health Organisation and UKbased researchers lay bare a problem “of enormous proportions” facing many countries over the next decade and a half. Ireland leads the trend, with new figures to be presented this month to the European Congress on Obesity, in Prague suggesting that 89% of men and 85% of women in the country will be overweight or obese by 2030. In the UK, the comparable figures will be 74% for men and 64% for women, up from 70% and 59% respectively five years ago. The statistics for 57 countries are based on analysis of existing data for 2010 and projections which involved the UK Health Forum, an alliance of public interest and professional groups. Being “overweight” is defined as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) – a measure covering height and weight – of between 25 and 29.9, and “obese” by a BMI of 30 and above. For the study, the overweight category includes obese people. The proportion of obese Irish men is expected to increase from 26% to 48%, while the figure for those either overweight or obese rises from 74% to 89%.In terms of obesity, the estimates show a big jump for women in Ireland from 23% to 57%, and the percentage for overweight and obese together from 57% to 85%. In the UK, 36% of men and 33% of women are predicted to be obese in 2030 compared with 26% of both sexes in 2010. Other countries facing growing obesity problems include Greece, Spain, Austria and the Czech Republic. Even Sweden, where there has traditionally been a low prevalence of obesity, will see significant rises. Researchers said most countries show no evidence of reaching even a plateau in adult obesity. The Netherlands is a rare exception. In 2010, 54% of Dutch men were overweight, including 10% who were obese. These figures are projected to fall to 49% and 8%
respectively. For women, the 2030 figures will be 43% and 9%, compared to 44% and 13% in 2010. Laura Webber, of the UK Health Forum, warned there was “a worrying picture” of rising obesity across Europe. She said: “Although there is no silver bullet for tackling the epidemic, governments must do more to restrict unhealthy food marketing and make healthy food more affordable.”Webber said the present “obesegenic environment” encouraged the over-consumption of energy dense foods and discouraged physical activity. Restricting the marketing of unhealthy food to children, making healthier food more affordable, for example through subsidies on fruit and vegetables, and making less healthy food more expensive by using taxes, for example on sugary drinks, were among the measures needed, she told the Guardian newspaper.
Drinking just 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks a day linked to liver disease A new worldwide study presented at The International Liver Congress 2015 has shown that the cirrhosis burden caused by alcohol increased by 11.13% when moving from the moderate to heavy daily drinking , i.e. up to one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men. The researchers highlight that clinical studies suggest that it is a high daily consumption which is the strongest predictor of alcoholic cirrhosis. According to the World Health Organization's Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health, around 6% of global deaths are caused by drinking alcohol, the majority from alcoholic cirrhosis - scarring of the liver as a result of continuous, long-term liver damage. Half of all cases of cirrhosis are caused by alcohol. 9 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Eating out frequently might cause high blood pressure Researchers from the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore (DukeNUS) have for the first time demonstrated an association between meals eaten away from home and high blood pressure. These findings highlight lifestyle factors that can affect hypertension and emphasise the importance of being aware of the salt and calorie content in food, to facilitate better meal choices when eating out. Globally, high blood pressure, or hypertension, is the leading risk factor for death associated with cardiovascular disease. Studies have shown that young adults with pre-hypertension, or slightly elevated blood pressure, are at very high risk of hypertension. Eating meals away from home have been shown to be associated with higher caloric intake, higher saturated fat intake and higher salt intake. These eating patterns are thought to cause high blood pressure. Duke-NUS Professor Tazeen Jafar designed and supervised a study to find behaviours associated with hypertension in a young adult population in Southeast Asia. Her team surveyed 501 university-going young adults aged 18 to 40 years in Singapore. Data on blood pressure, body mass index and lifestyle, including meals eaten away from home and physical activity levels, were collected. Their association with hypertension was then determined. Using statistical analysis, the team
found that pre-hypertension was found in 27.4% of the total population, and 38% ate more than 12 meals away from home per week. The gender breakdown showed that prehypertension was more prevalent in men (49%) than in women (9%). Those who had pre-hypertension or hypertension were more likely to eat more meals away from home per week, have a higher mean body mass index, have lower mean physical activity levels, and be current smokers. The novel finding in this study is the link that Dr. Jafar's team was able to show between pre-hypertension and hypertension with meals eaten away from home. What is also significant is that even eating one extra meal out, raised the odds of prehypertension by 6%. "While there have been studies conducted in the United States and Japan to find behaviours associated with hypertension, very few have surveyed a Southeast Asian
population," said Dr. Jafar, who is from the Health Services and Systems Programme at Duke-NUS. "Our research plugs that gap and highlights lifestyle factors associated with prehypertension and hypertension that are potentially modifiable, and would be applicable to young adults globally, especially those of Asian descent." The findings in this study can be used to modify behaviour through changes in clinical and policy recommendations. Clinicians can intervene to advise young adults to modify their lifestyle behaviours while food policy changes can be made to regulate salt and fat in eateries. This study was published online on 19 Mar 2015 in the American Journal of Hypertension and was supported by the Duke-NUS Signature Research Programme, with funding from the Singapore Ministry of Health 10 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Traffic light food labels strengthen self-control
Researchers at the University of Bonn have reached the conclusion that the traffic light label is more effective in helping consumers resist high-calorie foods than a purely information-based label. Scientists observed study participants in the brain scanner as they made purchase decisions. The study has just been published in the journal Obesity. Red, yellow, green: The traffic signal labels on packages are supposed to be an easyto-understand indication of the overall “healthiness” of a food product. For example, "red" symbolizes a high percentage of fat, sugar or salt, "green" a lower percentage. Just as on an actual traffic light, yellow falls in the middle. " This is the first study that analyzes the effect that traffic light signals have on the evaluation processes in the consumer's brain when making a purchase decision", says Prof. Dr. Bernd Weber of the Center for Economics and Neuroscience (CENs) at the University of Bonn.
The participants were willing to pay significantly more money for the same product when the traffic light label was "green" compared to an information-based label. However, if the label was "red", the willingness to pay decreased more compared to the conventional information. "You can conclude that the traffic light label acts as a reinforcer. The health relevance of the ingredients is weighed more heavily into purchasing decisions compared to simple nutrition information", says first author Laura Enax of CENs.
Two brain regions affect the reward system
While study participants were thinking about what price they wanted to pay for a particular product, the scientists recorded the activity of various brain regions using functional magnetic resonance imaging. A red traffic light label activated a structure in the left inferior frontal gyrus, which has been repeatedly shown to be important for self-control. Activity in this region 100 products – from chocolate to ready-to- influenced the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a region serve meals that “calculates” the subjective value of a product via the reward system, leading to decreased willingness to pay A total of 35 adult study participants, 19 of which were women, participated in the study at the Life & Brain for unhealthy products. "The traffic light label appears to enable the study Center in Bonn. 100 products and their nutritional participants to better resist unhealthy foods compared to a information were shown to the participants lying in the brain scanner – from chocolate to yogurt to ready-to-serve label containing the traditional information on grams and percentages of the particular ingredients. A traffic light meals. The participants were shown this information label probably implicitly increases the weight consumers either in the form of currently used nutrition labels with place on healthiness in their decision", says Prof. Weber, grams and percentages per portion, or in the form of traffic light labels. Then participants had to indicate how summarizing the result. much they were willing to pay for a particular product.
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How to develop healthy eating habits in a child
Start early and eat your vegetables A healthy diet promotes success in life — better concentration and alertness, better physical health that translates into good mental and emotional health. But even the best intentioned parents can expect food fights with their children, said Tanda Kidd, associate professor of human nutrition and extension specialist at Kansas State University. Developing good eating habits in your children is worth the effort, she said. Good eating habits also are a front-line defense against obesity, a scourge of the nation that happens when a child eats many more calories than he or she uses up. Nearly 1 in 4 children ages 2 to 5 is overweight or obese, said Paula Peters. An obese child is at risk for developing diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma and sleep apnea. Peters is an associate professor of human nutrition and assistant extension director for family and consumer sciences at Kansas State University. Make the selection nutrient dense — not calorie dense. That means fruits and vegetables, not cookies for snacks. A glass of soda and a glass of 100 percent juice may have the same number of calories, but a juice is a healthier choice because it does not contain added sugars, said Kidd, a registered dietitian. Soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks have empty calories, meaning they are "empty" of nutritional value. According to the Centers for Disease Control, empty calories from foods high in added sugars, such as ice cream, cookies, candy, fruit drinks and some breakfast cereals and solid fats such as donuts, pastries, hot dogs, sausages, bacon and regular ground beef, contribute to 40 percent of daily calories for children and adolescents ages 2 to 18 years.
Kidd and Peters offer following suggestions: • Do not use food as a reward for good behavior or other achievements. Kidd suggested other awards like reading a
book together or playing a child's favorite game. • Eat your veggies, Dad. A child learns food habits — what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat, where to eat — from parents. • Eat with your children so they can see you making good food choices. • Be aware of what a child is eating away from home. Peters said that more than 25 percent of children ages 2 to 4 are in day care 20 to 40 hours a week. Check out meals and snacks offered to your child. • Limit screen time — television — that encourages "mindless" eating. • Avoid putting a child on a diet, even if he or she is slightly overweight. "That sets up the child for issues such as eating disorders later in life," Kidd said. Instead, offer healthier food options and increase physical activity.
Kidd and Peters also encourage parents to teach children about healthy food choices in other ways: • Planning and taking a trip to the grocery store gives a child ownership in food choices. Reading labels and comparing costs offer other lessons. • Plant a garden. Peters said a child is more likely to eat vegetables he or she helped grow and harvest. • Cook together. During special time with Mom or Dad in the kitchen the child will learn more than cooking skills. 12 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Eating green leafy vegetables keeps mental abilities sharp
Nutrients in leafy greens slow cognitive decline in older adults Something as easy as adding more spinach, kale, collards and mustard greens to your diet could help slow cognitive decline, according to new research. The study also examined the nutrients responsible for the effect, linking vitamin K consumption to slower cognitive decline for the first time. “Losing one’s memory or cognitive abilities is one of the biggest fears for people as they get older,” said Martha Clare Morris, Sc.D., assistant provost for community research at Rush University Medical Center and leader of the research team. “Since declining cognitive ability is central to Alzheimer’s disease and dementias, increasing consumption of green leafy vegetables could offer a very simple, affordable and non-invasive way of potentially protecting your brain from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.” The researchers tracked the diets and cognitive abilities of more than 950 older adults for an average of five years and saw a significant decrease in the rate of cognitive decline for study participants who consumed greater amounts of green leafy vegetables. People who ate one to two servings per day had the cognitive ability of a person 11 years younger than those who consumed none. When the researchers examined individual nutrients linked with slowing cognitive decline, they found that vitamin K, lutein, folate and beta-carotene were most likely helping to keep the brain healthy. “Our study identified some very novel associations,” said Morris, who will present the research at the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) Annual Meeting during Experimental Biology 2015. “No other studies have looked at vitamin K in relation to change in cognitive abilities over time, and only a limited number of studies have found some association with lutein.” Other studies have linked folate and beta-carotene intake with slower cognitive decline. To conduct the study, Morris’ research team gathered data from 954 participants from the Memory and Aging Project, which aims to identify factors associated with the maintenance of cognitive health. The participants, whose age averaged 81, reported their daily food and beverage intake by answering a detailed 144-
item questionnaire at the beginning of the study. The researchers computed the total daily nutrients by combining the nutrient content for each food consumed with the number of servings eaten each day. They followed participants for 2 to 10 years, assessing cognition annually with a comprehensive battery of 19 tests and adjusted for age, sex, education, smoking, genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease and participation in physical activities when estimating the effects of diet on cognitive decline. “With baby boomers approaching old age, there is huge public demand for lifestyle behaviours that can ward off loss of memory and other cognitive abilities with age,” said Morris. “Our study provides evidence that eating green leafy vegetables and other foods rich in vitamin K, lutein and beta-carotene can help to keep the brain healthy to preserve functioning.” In addition to green leafy vegetables, other good sources of vitamin K, lutein, folate and beta-carotene include brightly coloured fruits and vegetables. The researchers would like to expand their research to explore the mechanisms of how nutrients in leafy green vegetables are acting on the brain. 13 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Ginger and Diabetes
Ginger can help with glycemic control, insulin secretion and cataract protection Ginger is the thick knotted underground stem (rhizome) of the plant Zingiber officinale that has been used for centuries in Indian and many Asian cuisine and medicine. Native to Africa, India, China, Australia and Jamaica, it is commonly used as a spice or flavouring agent in cooking, as an alternative ‘herbal’ treatment for various ailments such as nausea and indigestion, and for fragrance in soaps and cosmetics. Ginger rhizome can be used fresh, dried and powdered, or as a juice or oil. It has a pungent and sharp aroma and adds a strong spicy flavour to food and drink.
Effect on diabetes: Glycemic control
A study published in the August 2012 edition of the natural product journal Planta Medica suggested that ginger may improve long-term blood sugar control for people with type 2 diabetes. Researchers from the University of Sydney, Australia, found that extracts from Buderim Ginger (Australian grown ginger) rich in gingerols - the major active component of ginger rhizome - can increase uptake of glucose into muscle cells without using insulin, and may therefore assist in the management of high blood sugar levels.
diabetes - in diabetic rats. It’s also worth noting that ginger has a very low glycemic index (GI). Low GI foods break down slowly to form glucose and therefore do not trigger a spike in blood sugar levels as high GI foods do.
Other health benefits
Ginger has been used as an herbal therapy in Chinese, Indian, and Arabic medicine for centuries to aid digestion, combat the common cold and relieve pain. Its powerful Insulin secretion anti-inflammatory substances, gingerols, make it an In the December 2009 issue of the European Journal of effective pain reliever and it is commonly used to reduce Pharmacology, researchers reported that two different pain and swelling in patients with arthritis and those ginger extracts, spissum and an oily extract, interact with suffering from other inflammation and muscle complaints. serotonin receptors to reverse their effect on insulin In fact, ginger is said to be just as effective as nonsecretion. Treatment with the extracts led to a 35 per cent steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, but without the gastrodrop in blood glucose levels and a 10 per cent increase in intestinal side effects. Other medical uses of ginger plasma insulin levels. include treatment of: Bronchitis, heartburn, menstrual Cataract protection pain, nausea and vomiting, upset stomach, diarrhoea and A study published in the August 2010 edition of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI). Molecular Vision revealed that a small daily dose of ginger helped delay the onset and progression of cataracts Source: Diabetese.co.uk - one of the sight-related complications of long-term
Your daily natural tonic
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The difference between 'Use-By' 'Sell-By' and 'Best-By' dates 33% to 50% food produced for global human consumption is lost and wasted every year. This is equivalent to 1.3 billion metric tons of food lost every year. The problem of huger and mal nutrition could be solved if we stop wasting this precious food. In the year 2010, the Americans wasted 31% of all food produced for human consumption. This was equivalent to 133 billion pounds of wasted food with an estimated retail value of $161. 6 billion. Confusion over date labelling leads to billions of pounds of food waste every year. Bob Brackett, PhD CFS, Director of the Institute for Food Safety and Health at the Illinois Institute of Technology and IFT spokesperson explains the difference between "use-by," "sell-by," and "best-by" dates.
Use-By: This label is aimed at consumers as a
Sell-By: This label is aimed retailers, and it informs
them of the date by which the product should be sold or removed from shelf life. This does not mean that the product is unsafe to consume after the date. Typically one-third of a product's shelf-life remains after the sell-by date for the consumer to use at home.
Best-By: This is a suggestion to the consumer on
which date the product should be consumed to assure for ideal quality. directive of the date by which the product should be Brackett also points out that smell and taste are not good eaten; mostly because of quality, not because the item will indicators of whether or not a food is safe to eat. necessarily make you sick if eaten after the use-by date. However after the use-by date, product quality is likely to go down much faster and safety could be lessened.
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Never peel an apple
To your specific question: By peeling apples you miss out on powerful nutritional pluses. According to the USDA National Nutrient Database, one medium (three-inch-diameter) unpeeled apple has nearly double the fiber, 25 percent more potassium and 40 more vitamin A – just to choose a few important nutrients. Apple peels have further nutrition assets. “They contain the bioactive compounds polyphenols, pectins and ursolic acid,” says Elaine Trujillo, a registered dietician nutritionist and author of 'The Calories In, Calories Out Cookbook.' “Animal studies show that ursolic acid may have an effect on burning more calories, weight loss and improved glucose control,” Trujillo says. 15 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Talk to your kids to improve their language skills
In recent years, Anne Fernald, a psychology professor at Stanford University, has conducted experiments revealing that the language gap between rich and poor children emerges during infancy. Her work has shown that significant differences in both vocabulary and real-time language processing efficiency were already evident at age 18 months in English-learning infants from higher- and lower socioeconomic status (SES) families. By age 24 months, there was a six-month gap between SES groups in processing skills critical to language development. Fifty years of research has revealed the sad truth that the children of lower-income, less-educated parents typically enter school with poorer language skills than their more privileged counterparts. Fernald's work has also identified one likely cause for this gap. Using special technology to make all-day recordings of low-SES Spanish-learning children in their home environments, Fernald and her colleagues found striking variability in how much parents talked to their children. Infants who heard more child-directed speech developed greater efficiency in language processing and learned new words more quickly. The results indicate that exposure to child-directed speech – as opposed to overheard speech – sharpens infants' language processing skills, with cascading benefits for vocabulary learning. Fernald and colleagues are now running a parent-education intervention study with low-income Spanish-speaking mothers in East San Jose, California, funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. This new program, called ¡Habla conmigo! (Talk with Me!), teaches Latina mothers how they can support their infants' early brain development and helps them learn new strategies for engaging verbally with their children. Although they only have data from 32 families so far, the preliminary results are promising. Mothers in the ¡Habla conmigo! program are communicating more and using higher quality language with their 18-montholds compared to mothers in a control group. "What's most exciting," said Fernald, "is that by 24 months the children of more engaged moms are developing bigger vocabularies and processing spoken language more efficiently. Our goal is to help parents understand that by starting in infancy, they can play a role in changing their children's life trajectories." Mrs Ravneet Sawhney is the Director/Proprietor of Little Cherubs Day Nursery 16 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Money can buy happiness… if you spend it on other people
She gave 46 people either $5 of $20, and an afternoon to spend it. Half of the lucky volunteers were told to splurge New research suggest that income has an incredibly on themselves, while the other half had to buy a gift for weak effect on happiness once people have enough to someone else or to give the money to charity. By the secure basic needs and standards of living. Once people are lifted out of abject poverty and thrown into the middle evening, the charitable individuals felt happier than they class, any extra earnings do little to improve their joie de did in the morning while the self-spenders did not, regardless of which bill they were given, and despite the vivre. Time trends tell a similar story; even developed fact that they were acting on instructions. countries that have enjoyed economic booms have seen Dunn’s results have far-reaching implications. For a plateauing levels of satisfaction. start, they suggest that many people are seeking happiness But a new study reveals that money can indeed buy by spending money in the way that is least likely to happiness… if it’s spent on others. Elizabeth Dunn from the University of British Columbia wanted to see if there actually make them happy in the long run – chasing after were ways of channelling the inevitable pursuit of money expensive consumer goods that will give them a mere temporary towards actually fix of making people pleasure. happier. The modern Together with obsession Lara Aknin and with Michael Norton, personal she asked a spending is representative rather like group of 632 running on Americans to a hedonic disclose their treadmill. average monthly And in a expenditure and deeply to rate how ironic twist, happy they the types of were. behaviour She found that allow that personal money to spending, buy including bills, happiness are subverted by the presence of, you guessed living expenses and treats for oneself, made up 90% of it, more money! Higher incomes bring greater selfthe average outgoings but had no bearing on satisfaction. sufficiency and as people start to need less help On the other hand, people who spent more money on others by way of gifts or charitable donations, were much themselves, they tend to provide less for others. In psychological experiments, just the mere thought of happier for it. That either suggests that selfless spending money made people less likely to donate to charity, help increases happiness, or just that happier people are more acquaintances or spend time with friends, exactly the likely to plump up more money for friends or charities. types of behaviour that are linked to happiness. Dunn sought out firmer conclusions by watching what There is a silver lining then. While Dunn’s work happened to people who received an unexpected windfall. implies that of selfless spending is the key to happiness, it She surveyed 16 employees at a Boston firm who were also suggests that you don’t need to pauperise yourself to given a bonus that ranged from $3,000 to $8,000. About two months later, Dunn grilled them about how they had do it. The experimental study suggested that paying as little $5 towards a selfless cause can result in a significant spent the money and again, regardless of the size of the spike in happiness. Given that the volunteers in the first bonus, those who devoted more of their windfalls to selfless ends ended up happier, while those who splashed study only spent 10% of their earnings on other people, out on themselves did not. To paraphrase a saying, it’s not there is plenty of leeway for purchasing a bit of pleasure. how much you have, it’s what you do with it that counts. 17 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU Finally, Dunn tested this theory through an experiment.
Most Britons fail to recognise signs of skin cancer More than three-quarters of Britons say they would not recognise signs of skin cancer, a survey by the British Association of Dermatologists suggests. The disease now causes about 2,100 deaths annually in the UK. The BAD said that while 95% of people it surveyed knew the disease was becoming more common it was concerned that they appeared to be unaware of the link with sunburn. The poll of 1,018 people last summer is being published in Sun Awareness Week. The initiative aims to educate the public on how to check for skin cancer and provide information on sun protection techniques. Skin cancer rates in the UK have been increasing since the 1960s, with cheaper foreign holidays and the popularity of outdoor activities thought to be responsible. The survey suggests that some 40% said they never check their skin for signs of the disease; 77% do not feel confident that they could recognise signs of a melanoma, and 81% do not feel able to recognise signs of a non-melanoma skin cancer. The risk of developing melanoma is said to be more than doubled in people with a history of sunburn. And Johnathon Major from the BAD said it was "shocking" that 72% of people surveyed said they had had been sunburned in the past year. While sunshine does have health benefits and aids the body's production of vitamin D for strong and healthy bones, dermatologists say it is essential to use a sunscreen, and spend time in the shade and cover up with clothing when outdoors.
Mole or Melanoma One way to tell the difference between a normal mole and a melanoma is to use the ABCDE checklist: - Asymmetrical - melanomas have two very different halves and are an irregular shape - Border - unlike a normal mole, melanomas have a notched or ragged border - Colours - melanomas will be a mix of two or more colours - Diameter - unlike most moles, melanomas are larger than 6mm (0.25in) - Enlargement or elevation - a mole that changes characteristics and size over time is more likely to be a melanoma Source: NHS Choices
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