Taleemi Jahan: Health

Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Multivitamins Are a Waste of Money,

People should stop wasting their money on dietary supplements, some physicians said today, in response to three large new studies that showed most multivitamin supplements are ineffective at reducing the risk of disease, and may even cause harm.

The new studies, published today (Dec. 16) in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine —including two new clinical trials and one large review of 27 past clinical trials conducted by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — found no evidence that taking dailymultivitamin and mineral supplements prevents or slows down the progress of cognitive decline or chronic diseases such as heart diseases or cancer.

"The message is simple: Most supplements do not prevent chronic disease or death, their use is not justified and they should be avoided," the physicians wrote in an editorial published along with the studies.

This message is especially aimed at people who have no signs of nutritional deficiency — meaning most supplement users in the United States, the researchers said.

"Study after study comes back negative — yet people continue to take supplements, now at record rates," said Dr. Edgar Miller, one of the five authors of the editorial and a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

There may be a psychological component to taking supplements, Miller said. Despite evidence showing supplements hold no benefit for the general population, some people may rationalize they need supplements because their diets lack necessary nutrients, Miller told LiveScience.

The new findings are in line with those of previously published studies that have found no benefits from dietary supplements, including B vitamins and antioxidants, and even suggested possible harms. Results of clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people have shown that beta-carotene, vitamin E and possibly high doses of vitamin A supplements actually increase death rates, the researchers said.

"We believe that the case is closed — supplementing the diet of well-nourished adults with most mineral or vitamin supplements has no clear benefit and might even be harmful," the researchers wrote in their editorial.

The use of multivitamin and mineral supplements among Americans has increased to about 50 percent in the mid-2000s, up from 40 percent in the early 1990s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For some supplements, such as beta-carotene and vitamin E, studies have found declines in use, following reports of their negative effects on lung cancer and mortality.

In contrast, sales of multivitamins and other supplements have not been affected by major studies that didn't find benefits, the researchers said. The U.S. supplement industry continues to grow, and reached $28 billion in annual sales in 2010. Similar trends have been reported in the United Kingdom and in other European countries.

The dietary-supplement industry maintains that for many Americans, diet alone may not provide the necessary vitamins they need daily, Miller said.

"The industry tries to create the impression that we are deficient, but randomized trials show that we are not all deficient and we don't benefit from supplements," Miller said, adding that clinical trials include people with varied diets from the general population.

The new review study looked at clinical trials that included a total of 450,000 older adults. All together, the researchers didn't find clear evidence of a beneficial effect of supplements on cancer and heart diseases.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Benefits of eating Bananas

You’ll never look at a banana the same way again after discovering the many health benefits and reasons to add them to your diet. Bananas combat depression, make you smarter, cure hangovers, relieve morning sickness, protect against kidney cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis and blindness. They can cure the itch of a mosquito bite and put a great shine on your shoes.
If you think bananas are just for monkeys, think again.

1. Bananas help overcome depression due high levels of tryptophan, which is converted into serotonin — the happy-mood brain neurotransmitter
2. Eat two bananas before a strenuous workout to pack an energy punch and sustain your blood sugar
3. Protect against muscle cramps during workouts and night time leg cramps by eating a banana
4. Counteract calcium loss during urination and build strong bones by supplementing with a banana
5. Improve your mood and reduce PMS symptoms by eating a banana, which regulates blood sugar and produces stress-relieving relaxation
6. Bananas reduce swelling, protect against type II diabetes, aid weight loss, strengthen the nervous system, and help with the production of white blood cells, all due to high levels of vitamin B-6
7. Strengthen your blood and relieve anemia with the added iron from bananas
8. High in potassium and low in salt, bananas are officially recognized by the FDA as being able to lower blood pressure, and protect against heart attack and stroke

Eating bananas aids digestion

9. Rich in pectin, bananas aid digestion and gently chelate toxins and heavy metals from the body
10. Bananas act as a prebiotic, stimulating the growth of friendly bacteria in the bowel. They also produce digestive enzymes to assist in absorbing nutrients.
11. Constipated? High fiber in bananas can help normalize bowel motility.
12. Got the runs? Bananas are soothing to the digestive tract and help restore lost electrolytes after diarrhea.
13. Bananas are a natural antacid, providing relief from acid reflux, heartburn and GERD
14. Bananas are the only raw fruit that can be consumed without distress to relieve stomach ulcers by coating the lining of the stomach against corrosive acids
Natural cures from a simple banana

15. Eating bananas helps prevent kidney cancer, protects the eyes against macular degeneration and builds strong bones by increasing calcium absorption

16. Bananas make you smarter and help with learning by making you more alert. Eat a banana before an exam to benefit from the high levels of potassium.

17. Bananas are high in antioxidants, providing free radicals and protection from chronic disease

18. Eating a banana between meals helps stabilize blood sugar and reduce nausea from morning sickness

19. Rub a bug bite or hives with the inside of the banana peel to relieve itching and irritation

20. Control blood sugar and avoid binging between meals by eating a banana

21. Eating a banana can lower the body temperature and cool you during a fever or on a hot day

22. The natural mood-enhancer tryptophan, helps to relieve Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

23. Quitting smoking? Bananas contain high levels of B-vitamins as well as potassium and magnesium speed recovery from the effects of withdrawal

24. Remove a wart by placing the inside of a piece of banana peel against the wart and taping it in place

25. Rub the inside of a banana peel on your leather shoes or handbag and polish with a dry cloth for a quick shine

Side Effects of SODA

Soda’s Bittersweet Side Effects

If you’ve been reading health magazines and websites for any length of time, you’ve read a litany of reasons why soda is bad for you. It’s nothing but sugar water. It’s devoid of any nutritional value. It leads to obesity and diabetes. But we’ve dug up nine other disturbing facts about what soda does to your body, whether it’s the side effects of sucralose and other artificial sweeteners or ingredients that can lead to memory loss. Keep reading to find out all nine reasons you should kick soda to the curb.

Weird Fat in Weird Places

In the latest bad news for the soda industry, Danish researchers discovered that drinking non-diet soda leads to dramatic increases in fat buildup around your liver and your skeletal muscles, both of which can contribute to insulin resistance and diabetes. The study revealed that people who drank a regular soda every day for six months saw a 132 to 142 percent increase in liver fat, a 117 to 221 percent jump in skeletal fat, and about a 30 percent increase in both triglyceride blood fats and other organ fat. Their consumption also led to an 11 percent increase in cholesterol, compared with the people who drank other beverages such as water or milk.
Diet-Soda Belly

It’s not surprising that drinking all the sugar in sodas would cause weight gain, but what is surprising is that even diet soda will pack on the pounds: Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center monitored 475 adults for 10 years, and found that those who drank diet soda had a 70 percent increase in waist circumference over the 10-year study, compared with those who didn’t drink any soda. Those who drank more than two diet sodas per day saw a 500 percent waist expansion! A separate study the same researchers conducted on mice suggested that it was the aspartame, which raised blood glucose levels, that caused the weight gain; when your liver encounters too much glucose, the excess is converted to body fat.
Caramel Cancer-Causers

In 2011, the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban the artificial caramel coloring used to make Coke, Pepsi, and other colas brown. The reason: Two contaminants in the coloring, 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole, have been found to cause cancer in animals, a threat the group says is unnecessary, considering that the coloring is purely cosmetic. According to California’s strict Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer, just 16 micrograms per person per day of 4-methylimidazole is enough to pose a cancer threat, and most popular brown colas, both diet and regular, contain 200 micrograms per 20-ounce bottle.
Accelerated Aging

Diet or regular, all colas contain phosphates, or phosphoric acid, a weak acid that gives colas their tangy flavor and improves their shelf life. Although it exists in many whole foods, such as meat, dairy, and nuts, too much phosphoric acid can lead to heart and kidney problems, muscle loss, and osteoporosis, and one study suggests it could trigger accelerated aging. The study, published in a 2010 issue of the FASEB Journal, found that the excessive phosphate levels found in sodas caused lab rats to die a full five weeks earlier than the rats whose diets had more normal phosphate levels—a disturbing trend considering that soda manufacturers have been increasing the levels of phosphoric acid in their products over the past few decades.
Water Pollution

The artificial sweeteners used in diet sodas don’t break down in our bodies, nor do wastewater-treatment plants catch them before they enter waterways, researchers have found. In 2009, Swiss scientists tested water samples from wastewater-treatment plants, rivers and lakes in Switzerland and detected levels of acesulfame K, sucralose, and saccharin, all of which are, or have been, used in diet sodas. A recent test of 19 municipal water supplies in the U.S. revealed the presence of sucralose in every one. It’s not clear yet what these low levels are doing to people, but past research has found that sucralose in rivers and lakes interferes with some organisms’ feeding habits.
Mountain Dew Mind

Dentists have a name for the condition they see in kids who drink too much Mountain Dew. They wind up with a “Mountain Dew Mouth,” full of cavities caused by the drink’s excessive sugar levels. “Mountain Dew Mind” may be the next medical condition that gets named after the stuff. An ingredient called brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, added to prevent the flavoring from separating from the drink, is an industrial chemical used as a flame retardant in plastics. Also found in other citrus-based soft drinks and sports drinks, the chemical has been known to cause memory loss and nerve disorders when consumed in large quantities. Researchers also suspect that, like brominated flame retardants used in furniture foam, the chemical builds up in body fat, possibly causing behavioral problems, infertility, and lesions on heart muscles over time.
Whacked-Out Hormones

It’s not just the soda that’s causing all the problems. Nearly all aluminum soda cans are lined with an epoxy resin called bisphenol A (BPA), used to keep the acids in soda from reacting with the metal. BPA is known to interfere with hormones, and has been linked to everything from infertility to obesity and diabetes and some forms of reproductive cancers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have pegged soda cans, along with restaurant, school, and fast-food meals, as a major source of exposure to the chemical. And while Pepsi and Coke are currently locked in a battle to see which company can be the first to develop a 100 percent plant-based-plastic bottle—which they’re touting as “BPA free”—neither company is willing to switch to BPA-free aluminum cans.
Dead Birds

Before you switch from cans to bottles, though, take a look at the photographs of Chris Jordan, an environmentalist and photographer who visited the Midway Atoll area in 2009. It’s close to the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” a mass of plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean where things like soda caps (which often aren’t recycled) and plastic fish netting float just beneath the surface of the water. Birds, sea turtles, and other wildlife mistake the debris for food and eat large quantities of the plastic, which they are unable to digest. Ultimately, the plastic causes them to starve to death. It’s estimated that thousands of animals die this way every year.
Unknown Side Effects of GMOs

Take a look at the ingredients list for any soda and chances are most of those ingredients are derived from corn. As much as 88 percent of the corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified to resist toxic pesticides or engineered to create pesticides within the plant itself. Thanks to lax government safety regulations, and tight corporate control over who gets to test these proprietary seeds, there are no human studies that can prove or disprove whether these crops are safe. Independent scientists have found that, in animals, genetically modified crops, or GMOs, are linked to digestive tract damage, accelerated aging, and even infertility. Most recently, scientists in France found that rats fed GMO corn for their entire two-year lifespan developed mammary tumors and died earlier than rats that ate non-GMO corn their entire lives.

Natural Remedy to remove( Skin Tags)

The scientific name of skin tags is achrochordon, the other names of skin tags are cutaneous papilloma or cutaneous tag, fibro epithelial polyp, fibroma molluscum or fibroma pendulum, papilloma colli, soft fibroma, and Templeton skin tag, and these are benign, non-cancerous skin growths that look like a small piece of soft, hanging skin. However this growth is harmless.
These skin tags can be seen on any part of the body, generally caused in the places where there is rapid rubbing of skin with skin, some common places where skin tags generally occur are Eyelids, Axillae (armpits), Lower portion of breasts, Groin, Upper chest portion and neck. Their appearance is different, commonly irregular in shape, brownish fleshy color hanging from the skin. The size varies from 2.5mm diameter to larger size, sometimes they may grow up to size of a grape approximately 5cm diameter. They are composed of nerve cells, fat cells, core of ducts and fibers, covered with epidermis.
Skin tags are commonly caused in the people who are suffering from obesity or overweight, diabetes and women who are pregnant. Sometimes heredity will also be a reason for skin tags. These skin tags equally affect males and females.

Causes of skin tags:

These skin tags commonly affect middle age people. Bunches of collagen and blood vessels that are trapped inside thicker bits of skin are responsible for the cause of skin tags.
When skin is rubbed with skin, which generally occurs in places of body like folds, armpits etc, there are chances of skin tags to appear.
Increasing the likelihood of developing a condition or disease is called a risk factor. Probably more skin folds and creases happen in the people who are obsessed and of overweight which causes achrochordon. Hormones that are secreted in the pregnant women are also a cause for skin tags. People suffering with diabetes are also susceptible to skin tags. Usage of steroids causes the collagen fibers in the skin to bond which forms skin tags on the body skin.
A study in the National Institutes of health, USA proves that nearby 46 percent people are suffering from skin tags, which is mostly due to heredity

Skin Tags Symptoms:

The most common symptom of skin tags is skin growth. The growth is generally very small in diameter, sometimes it may vary up to 5cm in diameter in a worst case.
Skin tag sometimes have a narrow stalk (peduncle), commonly occurred in folds and creases, like armpits, lower portion of breasts in women, upper chest part, groins etc. They are smooth to appear, fleshy brownish in color and irregular shape. They mostly form in groups on the skin which can be stuck when shaving, rubbed by a cloth or by jewelry.
The article further throws you useful information on the home remedies to remove skin tags. Various surveys and researches have shown skin tags as genial and vary in cases which are non-threatening which can be removed or treated being seated back home.
Before applying these it is always advised to check for the skin tendency in terms of the color changes that the tags are growing. In case they appear mild then the suggestible treatments would be:
Though painful, trying a duct tape or hail polish over a skin tag is a good treatment. Some of the herbal treatments for skin tags, the advantage of it is they are less invasive and disadvantage is that they take a little more time for them to work.

Tea Trea Oil

Tea tree oil helps you control and cure many skin disorders, including skin tags and moles. In order to use this sure, firstly clean the skin tag and take a cotton ball soaked in water, add 3 drops of tea tree oil to the soaked cotton ball now apply it directly to the skin tag in circular motions. Repeat this 1-2 times daily for a week or 10 days until the lesion vanishes.

Castor Oil

Castor oil can be used both internally and externally. It can be used as an external ointment by mixing it with a little baking soda to create a paste. You can also add some citrus oil to the paste as it will be very stinky. Apply this paste on the affected area and use a band aid to cover it. Repeat this for 2 – 4 weeks or until the skin tag disappears.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is very effective in removing skin tags. Apply a small dab of vinegar on cotton ball or a q-tip and apply it on the skin tag. After application, it causes a stinging sensation for a few minutes. Use it for two to four weeks for the skin tags to vanish

Lemon Juice

Lemon juice contains citric acid, which helps you in decomposing off the cells in the skin tags. Dab some lemon juice onto a cotton ball and apply it directly on the skin tag. Leave it on the affected area till it dries. You will notice some changes in the skin tags after a applying it for few days and in due course the skin tag will dry out and vanish.

Banana Peel

Banana peel is a good remedy for skin tags. To use it cut the banana peel into small pieces. Put the peel on the affected area and hold it securely with a bandage. Take care that the inside of the peel comes in contact with the affected skin area. Let it rest overnight and repeat this process daily until the skin tag falls off.

Dental Floss

Another method to get rid of skin tags. It can be used on any body part. In order to use this dental floss, tie a knot tightly around the base of the skin tag close to your body. After a period of 2 – 3 weeks the skin tags will become smaller and will disappear in due course. This helps in killing the skin tag by blocking blood flow temporarily to the affected area.

Onion Juice

Slice onion into small pieces and soak it in a container with salt overnight. Now extract juice from this soaked mixture. In the evening, apply this onion juice on the affected area or skin tag and cover it. Leave it overnight and rinse if off in the morning with warm water. Continue this process every night for a week.

Pineapple Juice

Pineapple is a good remedy to get rid of skin tags. Apply the pineapple juice on the affected area for twice or thrice each day for 7 to 10 days without rinsing it off, this makes the skin tag to fade away.

Garlic

Apply some crushed garlic juice onto the affected area and cover it with a band. Take care that you change the band and the garlic juice at least thrice a day.
Aloe Vera Gel
Aloevera is good for any skin condition. Massage it onto your skin daily. Apply the aloevera juice directly on the skin tag. Because of its ability to health any kind of skin disorders so it is used as a main in gradient in many skin care products

Compressed Air

In cryotherapy, the lesion is frozen off. Compressed air in a tin also has a same effect as that of cryotherapy. After 1 – 2 applications of compressed air the skin tag will change its color and will fade off eventually.
This method has downside too, as it may result in freezing. This damages the surrounding tissues and results in the breakage of the cells.

Nail Polish

Cover the lesion completely with nail polish and leave it on until it gets dry. Repeating the same procedure for 2 – 3 times using fresh paint daily will make the tag fade off in due course.

Duct Tape

Duct tape applied on the skin tag for 7 days will help the skin tag to drop off while removing the tape. This method is usually used in mole removal, and is an effective natural home remedy for removal of warts.

Vitamin E

A best treatment for removing skin tags. You need to rub the vitamin on to the lesion two times a day. This will help you remove the skin tags in 1 – 2 weeks. Combine vitamin E with garlic and let it rest overnight for better results.

Ginger

Rub slices of raw ginger on the affected area for around 2 weeks and the skin tag is supposed to fall off eventually.

Fenugreek Seeds

Fenugreek is an amazing herb that contains powerful antioxidants. The efficacy of fenugreek seeds helps in skin tag removal. Soak fenugreek seeds overnight in water and drink this water in the morning before having breakfast. Or even you can chew soaked seeds. This herb also helps you in avoiding anemia or thyroid conditions, but do not consume more than 100 g each day.

Nail Clippers

You can remove skin tags with scissors or nail clippers, but it may cause bleeding and infection, so sterilize the clippers and surrounding area of the skin tag with isopropyl. Now make the skin numb with an ice cube. Pull the skin tag away and cut it with clippers.
Now press it firmly with a sterilized gauze pad until bleeding ceases. Once the bleeding stops, apply an antibiotic.
These are some of the herbal treatments, which help you in getting rid of skin tags. Have patience for a couple of weeks so that you can naturally treat the skin tags with simple home remedies.