Never eat alone!

admin, 19 September 2008, No comments
Categories: Health care
Tags: Health care

It is said that ‘the family that prays together stays together’, but we can add ‘eating together’ is another way to build up and improve family bonds. As well as inviting neighbours, friends and relatives during mealtime has a surprising power. It does not matter what meal you are having! It could be simple fish, vegetables and dhal but it is the simple act of sitting at the same table and eating rice or tea together.

The pleasures of sharing during eating are unparalleled. The sharing of food with neighbours, relatives, friends, the needy, and the destitute is also emphasised in religions. Eating with others bring about harmony and understanding among people. People are usually more relaxed when eating in company. Their minds are less absorbed in their daily activities and are free of worries. However, theses gatherings are not only a time for strengthening relationships and keeping track of family members or relatives, they can truly lead to better physical and mental health for all family members.

There are health benefits of eating together. During that time we usually eat slowly. Eating slowly is recommended for health. This reduces the consumption of food. This also helps in chewing the food well. Slow eating effects in the exercise of the jaws and mixing of the saliva with food. Hence, efficient digestion takes place because the food particles are cut into smaller pieces, not requiring as much mixing in the stomach or intestine.

According to a University of Minnesota study, frequent family meals are related to better nutritional intake, and a decreased risk for unhealthy weight control practices and substance abuse. A Harvard study showed that eating family dinners together most or all days of the week was associated with eating more healthfully. The study revealed that families eating meals together generally consumed higher amounts of important nutrients such as calcium, fiber, iron, vitamins (B6, B12, C and E) and consumed less overall fat, compared to families who never or only sometimes eat meals together.

According to a Lou Harris-Reader’s Digest national poll of high school seniors unveiled that children who frequently eat meals with their families tend to do better in school.

In our childhood we were used to this culture. For generations it has been a basic human ritual, but today the scenario is different. Everyday family lunch is no longer a practice. Sometimes parents pressured by more than one career are on the run. And ultimately families do not dine at a common table. In fact, eating together is not just eating a meal. It is important because it gives children reliable access to their parents. It highlights the significance of the neighbours, friends and relatives. It reminds the child that they are part of it. And a child’s belongingness in its family contributes to his spirit and stability. It has been noticed that good table manners are missing nowadays from some of our children. But good manners are essential to success.

According to researchers, there is an ongoing learning process at the family dinner table. Taking time to prepare and serve an appetising meal at home can help children eat healthy food with lower fat, lower sodium and higher nutritional values. Thus, we can escape from unhealthy fast food. Having the family together for at least one mealtime each day gives parents and teens a chance to attach. It is a good time to check in with each other. But remember, do not shout and fight during eating — keep the mood light, relaxed and try not to instruct or criticise.

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Managing angina without surgery

admin, 19 September 2008, No comments
Categories: Health care
Tags: Health care

There are several modern invasive tools cardiologists are using to treat angina (chest pain) including angioplasty (blowing up balloons to expand the artery at sites of block), stenting (insertion of cylindrical wire mesh tube prop open the blocked artery) and bypass surgery (increasingly through very small incisions). But drug therapy may be just as effective to restore blood flow as invasive surgery for stable angina, a new analysis published in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests.

Angina is chest pain or discomfort that occurs when an area of heart muscle does not get enough oxygen-rich blood. It is often a warning sign of an impending heart attack. If a coronary artery (arteries which supply blood to heart) becomes blocked, either by fatty material or a blood clot, then part of the heart muscle is starved of oxygen. Due to blockages in the heart’s arteries, affected person may feel like pressure or squeezing in chest. The pain also may occur in shoulders, arms, neck, jaw, or back. It can feel like indigestion.

Invasive treatments are found to relieve symptoms decisively in most patients. They actually prevent impending heart attacks and deaths only in special circumstances notably, when patients are treated within a few hours of an acute heart attack.

On the other hand, simple and cost-effective drug treatment can give patients the same advantage. Cardiologists now have several effective classes of drugs that have the estimable ability to reduce the heart’s workload, improve blood flow by dilating arteries, and increasingly target the diseased artery itself.

Often, patients and their physicians confront when to turn to the invasive strategies that have long been a mainstay of angina management. A recent analysis of data from pivotal clinical trial called COURAGE provides some important new insights.

In this study, over 2,000 patients with stable angina were randomised into groups receiving aggressive drug therapy with or without additional angioplasty and stenting. The primary results, published in 2007, showed no additional benefit to invasive treatments with regard to heart attack or deaths in the group during 4.6 years of follow-up.

The new data, published last month in The New England Journal of Medicine, revealed whether adding invasive treatment to intense medical treatment reduced the frequency of angina and improved quality of life and well-being in these patients.

Shortly after treatment, the patients who had invasive revascularisation reported slightly less angina and slightly better quality of life. But by the end of the 4.6 years of follow-up, the patients who did not receive invasive treatments were faring as well as those who did (although about one-fifth of those originally treated without surgery ultimately required mechanical revascularisation).

From the expert analysis on the study we can learn two important lessons. First, starting aggressive therapy, be it with drugs or drugs plus surgical revascularisation, improved symptoms and quality of life in both groups promptly in the case of surgical revascularisation, but rapidly even for drug therapy alone. This is extremely good news for patients with angina: modern therapy is quick, effective and results in an excellent quality of life in most individuals.

The surprising and progressive benefit of non-invasive therapy may come about because some of the newer drugs favorably alter the biology of the artery and plaque (fatty deposits). Several drugs notably statins and agents that interrupt the action of the hormone angiotensin (causes blood vessels to constrict, and drives blood pressure up) are quite effective. Statins lower bad cholesterol (LDL), one of the drivers of atherosclerosis, and also appear to calm inflammation in the plaque independent of effects on LDL. Blocking angiotensin action may also provide a benefit to arterial health beyond just lowering blood pressure.

The second message: we do not need to rush into surgery as a first step in people with stable angina. Along with drug therapy lifestyle changes like quitting cigarettes, losing excess body fat, switching to a low fat diet and taking regular exercise (such as walking every day) can significantly improve the condition. They can help dampen the need of surgery. Invasive strategies are only needed if these non-invasive measures are proved to be ineffective. These new data, in the context of many other studies, will help cardiologists to take a staged approach to the management of stable angina with confidence that this implication does not jeopardise longevity or increase risk of heart attacks.

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Promegranate juice. Healthy life.

admin, 11 September 2008, No comments
Categories: Health and beauty
Tags: anti cancer, blood flow, cholesterol, Health, healthy life, pomegranate, Promegranate juice

Promegranate juice

Affectionately known as the ‘jewel of winter’, the pomegranate (and pomegranate juice) is receiving growing acclamation for its disease-fighting abilities, largely due to its staggering antioxidant potency. Traditional medicines of the Middle East and India have used the pomegranate (pomegranate juice) for centuries - leaves, skin and rind included - to cure everything from conjunctivitis and sore throats to baldness and hemorrhoids. Pomegranate is a mystical fruit, a symbol of birth, death and eternal life owing to its brimming seeds and blood-like pomegranate juice, is steeped in mythology. The prophet Mohammed encouraged his followers to eat the pomegranate fruit to purge their systems of envy and hatred. In the tales of Ancient Greece, Persephone, daughter of Demeter the goddess of agriculture, was offered pomegranate fruit by Hades, god of the underworld. In succumbing to the temptation she condemned herself to spend time each year with Hades in the underworld. To modern day Greeks the pomegranate is often a feature at weddings to symbolize fertility, and in China, a sugared version of the pomegranate seed is eaten on the wedding day to bless newlyweds.The juicy, tangy flesh of the fruit’s ruby seeds is delicious and every bit worth the patience required to extract them from their pith. Today you can readily buy pomegranate juice such as pomwonderful or pomegreat from general and health food stores. The soaring sales of pomegranate juice in the UK reflects the growing popularity of the pomegranate fruit, with RJA Foods reporting a sale increase of their Pomegreat brand from 50,000 to 500,000 litres per month in 2005.Pro-HeartPomegranates are a superfood hugely beneficial to the heart, and by neutralising damaging free-radicals prevent the oxidation of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol that is associated with plaque build up in blood vessel walls. Pomegranate juice has also been shown to preserve nitric oxide in the body, a key chemical responsible for regulating blood flow and maintaining blood vessel health.One study on 19 elderly people with atherosclerosis, where plaque was already built-up to a dangerous level, found that drinking just 8 oz. of 100 per cent pure pomegranate juice a day for a one year period decreased the thickness of the lining in their arteries by 30 per cent, where controls experienced an actual rise of 9 per cent. Further more, those who drank the pomegranate juice also had a 21 per cent decrease in blood pressure (Aviram et al. 2004; Clinical Nutrition). Pomegranate juice also decreases the activity of an enzyme in the body known as ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) that can lead to high blood pressure resulting in atherosclerosis. Anti-Cancer PropertiesResearch at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology led by Dr. Ephraim Lansky (2001) found that pomegranate seed oil triggered cell death (apotosis) in breast cancer cells. A recent study at the University of Wisconsin Medical School (2005) also revealed anti-cancer effects, discovering pomegranate juice to killed human prostate cancer cells in laboratory tests and significantly slowed the progression of prostate cancer in mice (published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).Aid for ArthritisResearchers from the Case Western Reserve University found that extract of pomegranate inhibited the stimulation of certain enzymes that contribute to the cartilage degradation in osteoarthritis, a condition that currently lacks perspective for treatment. This is reassuring when one considers the vast and growing numbers of those who suffer from the disease. As well as heart-health, anti-cancer, and arthritic protection, pomegranates offer all-round protection against aging and disease due to their antioxidant potency. Studies suggest pomegranate juice may contain almost three times the antioxidant power of green tea and red wine due to their content of flavonoids. They also provide substantial amounts of potassium, iron, folic acid and vitamin C, as well as vitamins A and E, niacin, and fibre.

Buying Meds Online. Safety and fast.

admin, 11 September 2008, No comments
Categories: Meds online
Tags: buy drugs online, buy meds online, drugs, ed meds, Meds online

Today you have a wonderful opportunity of buying almost any medicine you need by means of websites. You can buy drugs online and forget about spending your precious time on drug stores.

When you buy meds online you get the whole range of advantages ensured by online shops. First of all, it is extremely convenient to shop online. It is very simple and convenient. You just visit the website of a shop, choose the drug you need and click on it to buy it. You place your order, and as soon as it is possible your medicine will come to you!

When you buy drugs online you can be absolutely sure of their safety and efficiency. The customary quality control is severe and constant. All the necessary directions and precautions as regards storing of treatments are strictly maintained. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about the quality of the medicine that you are ordering online.

Besides, online drugstores offer a widest assortment of drugs of all the types and for all possible purposes. You can read a description about every item you are interested in, and you can learn everything about it before you place your order. It’s easy and suitable for everyone. The most popular and essential drugs are to be found on the websites of online drug stores.

If you visit any of the large-scale online drugstores, you will see that it offers prices which can be called bargain without exaggeration! You can really buy ED meds and, along with that, you don’t have to worry about their quality, safety and efficiency. Moreover, the prices shown the websites are quite flexible due to the various discount and bonus programs carried by online med shops. And along with all the benefits of assortment and best prices, you don’t have to worry about being caught while buying or reading the instruction of, e.g., erectile dysfunction medicine! By the way, online drug shops offer the widest variety of quality drugs to get rid of this problem!

Then, when you buy meds online you can see that a wide range of payment methods is always at your service. Most of the online drugstores accept credit cards, such as Visa and Mastercard, and they also accept other payment methods, like E-checks, Wire transfer and so on. The team of customer support will explain all the matters that you don’t understand.

One more significant advantage of buying drugs online is connected with the vulnerable matter of privacy. Online medication stores maintain a strict privacy policy. They really take care of confidentiality of their clients. That’s why you don’t have to worry about the fact that, for example, your neighbors may discover that you have some disease, or that you buy Viagra. The protection of personal data which are given by the clients is an issue of an extreme importance to the team of every online med store.

So if you want to get the best of buying meds, do it online, and your satisfaction is 100 % guaranteed!

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Safety monitoring of new kids meds is ‘crucial’

Pharmalot, 02 September 2008, No comments
Categories: Meds online
Tags: diet meds, meds, Meds online, online meds, pain meds, prescription meds

Roughly one-third of the drugs reviewed as part of an iniative to monitor pediatric meds resulted in changes to labeling and production of Medication Guides. And several more required continued monitoring for side effects, according to a study in Pediatrics.
You may recall the FDA Modernization Act provides an additional six months of marketing exclusivity to companies that perform pediatric trials, but because some safety concerns aren’t detected until after marketing, the FDA is required to report to advere events its pediatric advisory committee occurring during the first year after exclusivity is granted.
And so a group of FDA employees and Duke University researchers reviewed the committee’s recommendations over four years on 67 drugs that were granted exclusivity. The upshot: safety monitoring during the early postmarketing period is crucial to detect rare, serious, or pediatric-specific adverse events.
Why? Several side effects revealed during the advisory reviews “were rare and life-threatening,” according to the study. Monitoring helped identify red lights that weren’t previously noticed.

For instance, after the committee’s recommendations, Roche’s Tamiflu labeling was changed to include psychiatric risks, Johnson & Johnson’s Duragesic carried new warnings about inappropriate use and J&J’s Ditropan labeling carried a caution about hallucinations in children, according to the study.
The research didn’t examine how often the agency took the actions recommended by the advisers, and the FDA couldn’t immediately say in how many cases it followed the advice, an FDA spokeswoman tells Bloomberg News.
Of 67 drugs reviewed by the committee between June 2003 and April 2007, 44 or 66 percent, were returned to routine monitoring for adverse. The committee recommended label changes for 12, or 18 percent, continued monitoring for 10, or 15 percent, MedGuides for nine, or 14 percent, and an update on label changes resulting from discussions with the sponsor for one drug.
“Fortunately, the majority of drugs given exclusivity had no adverse events of a frequency or severity that prevented a return to routine adverse event monitoring,” the authors concluded. (Source: Pharmalot)