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Issue 147
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5111 Kali Era, Virodhi
Year, Phalguna month
2066
Vikramarka Era, Virodhi
Year, Phalguna
month
1930
Salivahana
Era, Virodhi
Year, Phalguna
month
2010 AD, March
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Contents
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Diet and Exercise
Turmeric
Turmeric powder is a very common ingredient in India cooking in various curries
and rice dishes. Turmeric has been used in Ayurveda (knowledge of life),
the Indian traditional medicine, as a medicine for ages.
In a study published in the journal Gut, Austrian scientists found that feeding
the compound curcumin to mice reduced the types of inflammation that can
cause liver cell damage, blockage and scarring. Previous research has
suggested that curcumin, which gives turmeric its bright yellow color, has
anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties which may be helpful in fighting
disease. Some studies have indicated it can suppress cancer tumors and that
people who eat lots of curry may be less prone to the disease, although curcumin
loses its anti-cancer attributes quickly when it is ingested.
Green Tea
Green Tea is credited with numerous health benefits such as alleviating chronic
degenerative conditions such as osteoporosis, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular
disease and stroke. The latest discovery comes from the Chinese University
in Hong Kong where researchers discovered that by regularly drinking Green
tea it can offer protection against common eye diseases such as glaucoma.
One of the principle reasons why Green tea is so beneficial is that the harvested
leaves are steamed briefly in order to make them pliable and soft but without
changing their colour. This makes Green tea the least processed of all teas
and therefore the catechins, the active agent responsible for many of the
health benefits, are far more concentrated than in other teas.
Bitter Melon
A common vegetable known as bitter melon is looking like a hopeful candidate
in the cancer war. Bitter melon is a regular feature of Indian and Chinese
cooking. Also known as Karela, it is extremely bitter when eaten raw, but
is much liked as a cooked vegetable dish.
Already, bitter melon juice is drank or powder taken by many Indians in order
to control diabetes. This recent research now shows that under lab
conditions this same vegetable “triggers a chain of events on a cellular
level that stops breast cancer cells from multiplying and also kills them.”
The study is to be published in the Cancer Research journal.
Hottest Chili Pepper
Native to the Assam region of northeastern India, the bhut jolokia pepper
measures 1,001,304 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), nearly twice as hot as Red
Savina (577,000). Your average jalapeno pepper is only 10,000 SHUs. In 2007,
the Guinness Book of World Records certified the bhut jolokia pepper as the
world’s hottest chili pepper. It’s worth noting that “bhut jolokia” translates
as “ghost chile.”
The Indian Army is developing a “chili grenade.” Packed with bhut jolokia
peppers (aka the world’s hottest chili pepper), these special grenades will
be used as non-lethal munition.
Fish
Contaminated with Mercury in the US
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) discovered last year that every fish tested
had mercury contamination. The study involved testing fish from 291 freshwater
streams located right across the United States. Incredibly 100percent of
the fish tested were contaminated with mercury. The main source of
mercury contamination is by industrial processes that involve mercury and
that emit their waste in the form of atmospheric emissions. The chief culprit
is burning of coal for electricity. The mercury contaminants drop from the
sky and settle onto the land, gradually making their way into rivers, lakes
and finally the ocean. In these places it enters the aquatic food chain.
Mercury builds up into greeter concentrations in the predators of the food
chain including humans. As it is a potent neurotoxin it can affect the developing
nervous systems of foetuses and children. It can also affect adults severely.
It would not be surprising that in the United States it is the consumption
of shellfish and fish that is the top cause of human mercury poisoning.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE57J01420090820
Obesity
Risks, Risk Factors and Prevention
Twenty percent of black and Hispanic children ages 2 to 19 are obese, versus
15 percent of whites, recent government data show. In a new study,
risk factors examined included: mothers smoking during pregnancy; unusually
rapid weight gain in young infants; starting solid food before 4 months;
mothers' routinely pressuring young kids to eat more; children sleeping less
than 12 hours daily between 6 months and 2 years; and allowing very young
kids to have sugary drinks, fast-food, and TVs in their rooms. Minorities
were at higher risk than whites for nearly every one. The odds of obesity
appear stacked against black and Hispanic children starting even before birth,
the provocative new research suggests. The findings help explain disproportionately
high obesity rates in minority children. Family income is often a factor,
but so are cultural customs and beliefs, the study authors said. They
examined more than a dozen circumstances that can increase chances of obesity,
and almost every one was more common in black and Hispanic children than
in whites.
Women could reduce their risk of breast cancer up to one-third with simple
life changes, researchers said in Spain. Fat cells produce estrogen,
which makes most breast cancers grow. Experts at the conference cited estimates
from the International Agency for Research on Cancer. This agency estimates
that 25% to 30% of breast cancers could be avoided if women were thinner
and exercised more. It's not clear that losing weight helps as much as remaining
thin all along. Experts also said that having more than two drinks a day
can increase breast cancer risk by 4% to 10%.
Research will continue to produce drugs and technology to treat heart disease,
but if further progress is to be made, it will have to come from the patient,
doctors say. What's underscoring the prevention message now is that
doctors and researchers have made enormous progress fighting heart disease
over the past two decades, but most of that has been through medical treatment,
not because of what the majority of the population has done to prevent it.
Heart disease prevention may need to be treated with public policy just as
infectious diseases have been in the past. When people were dying of
cholera and typhoid, cities built sewages to stop the spread of disease.
A century ago, governments helped build the first public hospitals. Fighting
obesity and diabetes and high blood pressure, all health risks associated
with heart disease, is a societal question, not an individual question.
Now, governments should be doing something for educating citizens about healthy
eating and lifestyle changes: eat less and healthy (more vegetables &
fruits), more exercise more and no alcohol.
To help Americans in this regard, the sweeping health reform law passed by
Congress this month will make nutrition facts available at most chain restaurants.
The new standard will apply everywhere. It will replace a growing number
of state and city laws. Restaurants with at least 20 locations will have
to comply. Calories and nutrients must be listed on a menu or menu board.
They can't just appear on a website or poster. The law gives the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration one year to write specific rules for restaurants
to follow.
Getting regular exercise is the most effective way for elderly people to
reduce the risk and rate of falls, according to a systematic review of clinical
trials cited by the Federal Association of Prevention and Health Promotion
(BVPG), an independent German not-for-profit group. Normal-weight women who
want to prevent weight gain as they age need to do an hour a day of moderate-intensity
physical activity such as brisk walking, a study shows.
Breast Feeding
Breast-feeding benefits both mothers and their babies. Breast milk contains
antibodies that can protect newborns from infections, and studies have found
breast-fed babies are less likely to become overweight than infants who are
fed with formula. According to a CDC study, Hispanic women continue to breast-feed
the most, with more than 80 percent initiating breast-feeding right after
birth and 45 percent continuing at least six months later. But, white women
have a much higher rate in Alaska, Colorado and New Mexico, and a slightly
higher rate in California, Oregon and about a half-dozen other Western states.
The study echoed earlier research that generally found lower breast-feeding
rates in younger women, low-income women and those with less education. It
also repeated findings that breast-feeding rates are lowest in black women.
State figures revealed some variation from place to place. The gap between
black women and other groups was far more dramatic in the South. In three
states - Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi - the percentage of women who
tried breast-feeding was 35 percent or lower, less than half the national
average. The highest breast-feeding rate was for white women in the
District of Columbia. About 97 percent said they initiated breast-feeding,
and 80 percent continued it for at least six months.
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Miscellaneous
Prostate Screening
Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in American men. An estimated
192,000 new cases and 27,000 deaths from it occurred last year in the United
States. But it is a slow-growing cancer in many cases, and depending
on a man's age, he may be more likely to die of something else. Prostate
cancer screening became a medical norm in the 1990s. But, major studies
have suggested routine screening doesn't save lives and often leads to worry
and unnecessary treatment. The cancer society’s new guidelines back
away from that doctors should offer prostate screening. Instead, the
society says some evidence indicates periodic screening can save lives but
that there are significant uncertainties about the overall value of finding
prostate cancer early. Screening should not take place, the new advice says,
unless a patient is fully informed of the trade-offs. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Detection/PSA
Vaccine Myths
Cause Problems
In 2008, unvaccinated school-age children contributed to measles outbreaks
in California, Illinois, Washington, Arizona and New York. Fear of
a vaccine-autism connection stems from a flawed and speculative 1998 study
that recently was retracted by a British medical journal. The retraction
came after a council that regulates Britain's doctors ruled the study's author
acted dishonestly and unethically. Much has been written about
research that has failed to find a link between vaccines and autism. Mainstream
advocacy groups like Autism Speaks strongly encourage parents to vaccinate
their children.
Most parents continue to follow the advice of their children's doctors, according
to a study based on a survey of 1,552 parents. Extensive research has found
no connection between autism and vaccines. However, unfortunately,
one in four U.S. parents believes some vaccines cause autism in healthy children.
The new study is based on a University of Michigan survey of parents a year
ago, long before the retraction of the 1998 study.
Healthy
Men Have the Most Sex
Healthy adults are more likely to have sex in old age, a study appeared in
the British Medical Journal. Men are more likely than women to be interested
in sex and to have a good sex life. It found that 55-year-old men in very
good or excellent health could look forward to 5 to 7 more years of active
sex life than those in poorer health. Healthier women gained 3 to 6 years
of active sex life. Overall, men were more interested in sex than women,
and the gap increased with age. Among people ages 75 to 85, about 39% of
men and 17% of women said they were sexually active. About 41% of men said
they were interested in sex, compared with 11% of women. But women were more
likely to be widows, and the gender gap on sexual activity was narrower among
people who had partners.
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Recipes
Soy
Paneer
Ingredients: 2 tbsp water; 1 tbsp nutritional yeast; 1 tsp Dijon or whole
grain mustard; 3/4 tsp onion powder; 1/2 tsp garlic powder; 1/4 tsp salt;
1/4 tsp curry powder (optional); 1 block firm or extra-firm tofu, well-pressed;
oil for frying
Preparation: Make sure your tofu is well pressed before beginning.
In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except tofu until smooth
and creamy. Add tofu, and coat well with sauce. Allow to marinate in
the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
Heat a bit of oil in a sautee or frying pan. Add tofu, coating with any extra
sauce, to make sure all the sauce is used, and fry for 3-4 minutes on each
side until golden. Use your tofu paneer as a substitute in any Indian
recipe that calls for paneer.
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianindianrecipes/r/paneer1.htm?nl=1
Stuffed Bitter
Gourd Recipe
Ingredients: 4 medium-sized karelas/ bitter melon; 1/2 cup vegetable/ canola/
sunflower; cooking oil; 1 tbsp saunf/ fennel seeds; 3 large onions chopped
very fine; 1 tbsp garlic paste; 3 large tomatoes chopped very fine; 1 tbsp
tomato sauce; 1/2 tsp turmeric powder; 1/2 tsp red chilli powder (optional);
1 tsp coriander powder; 1 tsp cumin powder; Salt
Preparation: Wash the karelas. Cut off top and tail. Slit them through lengthwise
leaving 1/2" from top and bottom ends so that the two halves do not separate.
Carefully, use a spoon to scoop out the pith. Discard the pith. Put
4 cups of water in a deep vessel and add 1 tbsp of salt to it. Mix to dissolve
salt. Put the karelas in this salt water and set up to boil. When water comes
to a boil, simmer and cook till the karela skin begins to get soft. Remove
from water, drain well and keep aside on a plate to cool.
In a separate pan, heat 2-3 tbsps of cooking oil. Add the saunf/ fennel seed
to the oil and fry till spluttering stops. Now add the onions and fry till
soft. Add the garlic and fry for 2 minutes. Now add the tomato and cook till
pulpy. Add the tomato sauce, turmeric, red chilli, coriander, and cumin powders
and salt to taste. Mix well. Fry for 8-10 minutes, stirring often to prevent
from burning. Turn off fire and allow mixture to cool completely. Fill this
mixture in the pre-cooked karelas. Tie with a string (to prevent filling
from spilling out) and keep aside. Heat 3-4 tbsp of oil in a pan on medium
flame. Add the karelas to the oil and fry till crispy. Now turn and fry the
same way on the other side. Add more cooking oil if required. Remove with
a slotted spoon and keep on paper towels. Serve with rice and Daal
of your choice.
http://indianfood.about.com/od/vegetarianrecipes/r/bharvaankarela.htm
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Notice: This material
contains only general descriptions and is
not a solicitation to sell any insurance product or
security, nor is it intended as any financial, tax,
medical or health care advice. For information about
specific needs or situations, contact your financial, tax
agent or physician.
Back to the Top
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Source:
The primary sources
cited above, New York
Times (NYT), Washington Post (WP),
Mercury News, Bayarea.com,
Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Intellihealthnews,
Deccan Chronicle (DC),
the Hindu, Hindustan Times, Times
of India, AP, Reuters, AFP, womenfitness.net,
about.com
etc.
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