VEPACHEDU
EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
(501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation)



   

The Telangana Science Journal

Health and Nutrition

(An International Electronic Science Digest Published from the United States of America)
(Click here to subscribe to this free e-journal)
(Dedicated to one of the most backward regions in India, "Telangana," where I was born, although I am an American citizen and ethnically 1/2 Andhra , 1/4 Kannada and only 1/4 Telangana.)
Chief Editor: Sreenivasarao Vepachedu, PhD, LLM
Contributing Editor: Venkateswararao Karuparthy (KV) , MD, DABPM

Issue 71

5105 Kali Era , Swabhanu Year, Margasira  month
1925 Salivahana Era ,
Swabhanu Year, Margasira month
2061 Vikramarka Era,
Swabhanu Year, Margasira month
 2003 AD, November

Contents

Epigenetics
   Bilingual Children are Smarter
   Environmental Chemicals

Women's Health
    An Indian Woman dies Every Five Minutes
   
Overeating Women

Fertility
    Le Weekend Pill
    Fertilized to death
    Timing
 

Diet and Exercise
    Thanksgiving Foods
    Buckwheat
   
Sugar in Diet Increased Worldwide
   
Antioxidants
    Fruits and Vegetables and WHO
    Whole Tomatoes
   
Mediterranean Diet
    BreastFeeding
    Heart Disease Begins Early and Strikes later
    Comparative Study of Popular Diets
    Omega-3 Oils
    Grapes and Pomegranates
    Folic Acid
    In the Pursuit of Long and Healthy Life
 
Smoking
    Men are more confident in quitting smoking
    Smoking Causes Miscarriage

Indo-Swiss Collaboration

Recipes
    Creamy Carrot Soup
   
Spinach Salad
    Fruity Bread Pudding

Epigenetics
Bilingual Children are Smarter
At Dartmouth College, researchers report that bilingual children may be "smarter" than their monolingual peers. These findings add weight to the bilingual side of the long-running argument about whether children who grow up bilingual are at an advantage compared to those who learn only one language.  The findings show that bilingual children can perform certain cognitive tasks more accurately than monolinguals. The bilingual children's enhanced cognitive skills are due to the increased computational demands of processing two different language systems.  For example, the brain that has been trained for bilingual language must look up and attend to the meaning for, say, 'cup' in English, while suppressing the meaning for 'cup' in the child's other native language. This requires heightened computational analysis in the brain.  This advantage is associated with learning two distinct languages in such a way that the child learns the word for ‘cup’ in its native language and uses it in the native language.  This advantage may not be there when ‘cup’ substitutes the native term and the native term is never learned or never used in the native language, a phenomenon that occurs in many Indian languages. 
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Environmental Chemicals
Researchers at Mississippi State University have found that early exposure to environmental chemicals that mimic or block the action of the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone may disrupt normal differences in the brain between males and females -- differences that affect thinking and learning as well as sexual behavior. These findings add more scientific support to the growing concern that exposure to environmental chemicals is harmful, particularly to children.
In recent years, scientists have increasingly linked environmental chemicals to certain reproductive abnormalities, particularly premature or delayed sexual development.  In the last decade, we've also come to understand that sex hormones play an important role in the maturation of other, non-reproductive systems.  It's now known that estrogen is a key player in the development of the nervous system, and that the presence or absence of estrogen during development causes significant differences in the brains of both male and female animals. These gender-related differences are connected to areas of the brain involved in cognitive as well as reproductive functions.
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Women's Health
An Indian Woman dies Every Five Minutes
According to Washington Post, November 23, 2003, almost two-thirds of Indian women, mostly living in villages, give birth at home. More than half of this country's women are anemic and only 20 percent of mothers receive all the required components of prenatal care. Every five minutes, an Indian woman dies from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, adding up to more than 100,000 deaths a year, one of the highest rates in the world. One out of six women who give birth are between the ages of 15 and 19.
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Overeating Women
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 33 percent of women in the United States are overweight compared to 28 percent of men. New studies from Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, Florida, may help explain why women are more prone to weight gain and shed fewer pounds through exercise than men. In studies involving male and female rats, it was found that females were much more susceptible than males to overeating when presented with a sweet-tasting diet. They also discovered that exercise helps males overcome their urge to overeat such foods, but not females.  For both sexes, however, obesity has become a growing and serious health problem in the US. CDC statistics released in 2002 showed that the number of obese people in the United States has doubled over the past two decades. Obesity has been linked to a host of potentially deadly health problems, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain cancers.
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Fertility and Sexual Health
    Le Weekend Pill
A third pill to treat impotence was approved for sale in the United States on November 21.  Erectile dysfunction, also called impotence, means that a man's penis doesn't get hard enough to have intercourse. The man cannot get or maintain an erection. This condition affects approximately 30 million men in the United States. The new pill, sold under the name Cialis, manufactured by Eli Lilly & Co., joins Viagra and Levitra.  All three drugs act on an enzyme that helps prompt and maintain erections by relaxing muscles in the penis and blood vessels. The duration and onset of the drug action is different with each pill.   Depending upon the need of the hour, one can choose among the three choices.  Levitra starts working within 15 minutes and Viagra requires one-hour to cause an erection and are recommended during the week.  For the weekend, Cialis is recommended.  Cialis was found in studies to cause an erection within 30 minutes and stay active for 36 hours and is called "Le weekend" pill.  Wait, Cialis is not available for this Thanksgiving weekend, because it is just approved. But, it should hit the market relatively soon-hopefully by Christmas break. By the way, all these drugs are not recommended for those who are on heart medication or for those for whom sexual activity is not advisable due to heart conditions. 
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Diet and Exercise
Thanksgiving Foods

Cranberries - This Thanksgiving staple is packed with antioxidants. New studies suggest that cranberries also can aid recovery from stroke. The red berries, may protect brain cells from death after a stroke, according to findings presented at the September national meeting of the American Chemical Society by Catherine Neto, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

Corn - Studies show that canned corn may be healthier for you than corn on the cob. Researchers at Cornell University say that heat processing of sweet corn significantly raises the level of naturally occurring compounds that help fight disease, including cancer and heart disease. Rui Hai Liu, M.D., Ph.D., reported the study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Coffee: A newly identified antioxidant found in coffee is particularly potent at preventing colon cancer, according to a recent study. The research, led by Thomas Hofmann, Ph.D., of the University of Mnster in Germany, was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry this month.

Hot Cocoa - Scientists have found that hot cocoa tops both red wine and tea in antioxidants, chemicals that have been shown to fight cancer, heart disease and aging. Chang Yong Lee, Ph.D., from Cornell University examined the benefits of the popular beverage in a study published online this month in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
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Buckwheat
Researchers in Canada have found new evidence that buckwheat, a grain used in making pancakes and soba noodles, may be beneficial in the management of diabetes. In a controlled study, they showed that extracts of the seed lowered blood glucose levels by 12 percent to 19 percent when fed to diabetic rats. Their findings will appear in the Dec. 3 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Based on studies by others, the active component in buckwheat responsible for lowering blood glucose appears to be chiro-inositol. The compound, which is relatively high in buckwheat and rarely found in other foods, has been previously shown in animal and human studies to play a significant role in glucose metabolism and cell signaling.
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Sugar in Diet Increased Worldwide
North Carolina researchers report that the average daily consumption of sugar and other calorie-containing sweeteners worldwide jumped 74 calories from 1962 to 2000.  In the U.S., the jump in sweet calories was even greater - 83 calories per day from 1977 to 1996. Most of those extra sweet calories - 80 percent - came from sugary soft drinks and fruit drinks, researchers report in the November issue of the journal Obesity Research.  Worldwide, the percentage of total calories that came from sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and other caloric sweeteners in 2000 was 32 percent higher than in 1962.  Most of this worldwide change, the authors assert, was due to population shift to urban areas. The researchers note that people living in cities have greater access to processed foods that are high in sugar.  In the U.S., the rise in caloric sweetener consumption means that as of 1996, 30 percent of all carbohydrate calories came from sugar and other sweeteners. Of the 83 calorie per day increase, 54 calories came from soft drinks and 13 calories came from sugared fruit drinks.
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Antioxidants
Antioxidants include vitamin E, vitamin C, and beta carotene (a form of vitamin A), as well as other minerals and compounds found in food. These nutrients have been shown to help reduce oxidation, a process that can cause damage to cells and may contribute to aging, including the reduced cognitive decline that typically develops with age. Studies suggest that antioxidants may also protect against certain cancers, heart disease and other non-neurological age-related diseases.
Eating an antioxidant-rich diet may help keep cognitive skills strong during old age, according to a recent animal study conducted at the University of Toronto. The study found that old dogs that were on an antioxidant diet performed better on a variety of cognitive tests than dogs that were not on the diet.  The dogs eating the antioxidant-fortified foods performed as well as young animals.

At the National Institute on Aging's (NIA) Gerontology Research Center in Baltimore, Maryland, scientists have found that blueberries can help lessen some of the functional damage caused by a brain injury. The results suggest that the consumption of blueberries and perhaps other fruits and vegetables could have a positive neurological impact on the aging brain, Alzheimer's disease, and other neurological disorders.

Researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Boston have found that an antioxidant-rich diet may help stave off the harmful, immediate effects of certain cosmic radiation.
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Fruits and Vegetables and WHO

Low fruit and vegetable intake is estimated to cause about 31 per cent of ischaemic heart disease and 11 per cent of stroke worldwide. The WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) estimates that the preventable per centage of cancer due to low fruit and vegetable intake ranges from 5 to 12 per cent for all cancers, and up to 20 to 30 per cent for upper gastrointestinal tract cancers.  Low fruit and vegetable intake is estimated to cause some 2.7 million deaths each year, and was among the top 10 risk factors contributing to mortality, according to the World Health Report 2002.  World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced a unified approach to promote greater consumption of fruit and vegetables.  The announcement was made in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the annual meeting of the WHO Global Forum on Noncommunicable Disease (NCD) Prevention and Control. The joint fruit and vegetable promotion effort is being developed within the framework of the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. This effort is being developed in collaboration with other global partners, including national "5-a-day" type multi-stakeholder organizations, which promote fruit and vegetable consumption.

A recently published report of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases recommends the intake of a minimum of 400g of fruit and vegetables per day (excluding starchy tubers such as potatoes) for the prevention of chronic diseases including heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and obesity. Eating a wide variety of fruit and vegetables helps ensure an adequate intake of most micronutrients, dietary fibres and a host of beneficial non-nutrient substances, say the two UN agencies. Increased fruit and vegetable consumption can also help displace excessive consumption of foods high in fats, sugars or salt. However, according to the FAO statistical database, the total supply of fruit and vegetables is far below the intake minimum target in many countries, especially in Asia, Africa and in Eastern and Central Europe.
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Whole Tomatoes

Eating tomato products has been tied to a reduced risk of prostate cancer. Now, findings from an animal study suggest that to achieve this effect the whole tomato must be eaten.  Several reports have shown a decreased risk of prostate cancer in men with high levels of lycopene, a chemical found in tomatoes. The current findings indicate, however, that simply taking lycopene pills does not protect against the cancer. Tomatoes contain dozens of biologically active substances that may work together better than any one would work alone. The new findings are reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, November 5, 2003.
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Mediterranean Diet
A "Mediterranean diet" rich in olive oil and lean on meat reduced signs of inflammation that raise the risk of heart disease. Following the maxim "an The finding was among the  evidence, presented at an annual meeting of the American Heart Association, that diets low in fat and rich in fruits and vegetables may prevent heart disease - the leading killer of Americans. A Mediterranean diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables and olive oil, and very little meat, and has been linked to lower heart disease rates.
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BreastFeeding
A natural compound found in breast milk, known as transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta-1, seems to protect infants from developing wheezing, new research shows.  This may help explain the well-known anti-wheezing effects linked to breastfeeding.  The findings are based on a study of breastfeeding and wheezing in 243 infants and mothers from Tucson, Arizona. Levels of several chemicals, including TGF-beta-1, were measured in the breast milk of all women several days after giving birth. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, October 2003.
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Heart Disease Begins Early and Strikes later
Heart attacks and other complications of cardiovascular disease do not usually strike until middle age or later, but new findings add to growing evidence that cardiovascular disease begins in childhood. In two new studies, the presence of cardiovascular risk factors such as high cholesterol and obesity during childhood and adolescence were directly related to signs of artery disease in early adulthood. In one of the studies reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, November 5, 2003, researchers found that obesity and high cholesterol in childhood were directly related to the thickness of the lining of the carotid artery. Thickening of this layer is a marker of the artery disease atherosclerosis. The second study at the University of Turku in Finland, provided similar results in a sample of more than 2,000 Finns ages 24 to 39.
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Comparative Study of Popular Diets
A study from Tufts University found that the Ornish diet and three other popular diets all were effective in producing weight loss and lowering LDL.  The Atkins, Zone and Weight Watchers diets all raised HDL as well, while the Ornish diet did not. In a news conference, Dr. Ornish contended that high HDL is not necessary for heart health in people who eat very little fat. HDL helps to reduce the plaque that can obstruct coronary arteries.  "There's less garbage, so your body needs fewer garbage trucks [HDL] to get rid of it," he said. Ornish is a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and president of the Preventive Medicine Institute in Sausalito, Calif. 

In another study, people with heart disease or a strong risk of developing it lost weight, reduced blood pressure and cholesterol and increased their exercise capacity after 12 weeks on a very-low-fat, vegetarian diet and exercise program.  The study was funded by a Pennsylvania health-insurance company and was presented by Dean Ornish, M.D., creator of the diet, at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions.
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Omega-3 Oils
Exercise-induced broncho-constriction (EIB) is a condition characterized by transient airway narrowing either during or after exercise, which results in a reduction in post-exercise pulmonary function.  According to a study that appears in the second issue for November 2003 of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 3 weeks of dietary supplementation with omega-3 oil capsules markedly reduces the severity of EIB in elite athletes.  The investigators conducted a randomized, double-blind crossover study in 10 elite athletes with EIB and 10 elite athletes without EIB. The participants entered the study on their normal diet. They then received either capsules containing omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) or placebo capsules filled with olive oil daily for 3 weeks.  In subjects with EIB, the n-3 PUFA diet improved post-exercise pulmonary function compared with normal and placebo diets.  When measured at 15 minutes post-exercise, pulmonary function test results showed a 3 percent decrease in PUFA diet participants, compared with a 14.5 percent decrease on the placebo diet, and a 17.3 percent decrease on the normal diet. Pro-inflammatory mediators all decreased significantly on the omega-3 oil diet compared with the other two diets.  Omega-3 oils are found abundantly in flax seed, flaxseed oil, urad dal, walnuts, wheat germ and fish oils.
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Grapes and Pomegranates
Research presented at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Phoenix in October indicates that pomegranate extract prevents a chemical called TPA from damaging the skin of newborn mice, while resveratrol from grapes prevents production of a chemical, in over exposed mice to UV light, called survivin which is overproduced in cancer cells.
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Folic Acid
According to a new study published in the journal Birth Defects Research (Part A): Clinical and Molecular Teratology, a continuing and massive global epidemic of spina bifida and anencephaly that affects more than 200,000 children and their families each year worldwide could be prevented by fortification of flour with folic acid.
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In the Pursuit of Long and Healthy Life
Researchers have known about the Methuselahan powers of eating less since the 1930's, when a Cornell University nutrition professor unexpectedly discovered that dieting rats tend to live 30 percent longer. Similar reactions have since been found with fruit flies, monkeys and Labrador retrievers, but the impact of calorie reduction on humans has been mostly speculative. During the first and second World Wars, the shortage of food in some northern European countries led to a sharp decrease in mortality from coronary artery disease, Type 2 diabetes and cancer.

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Smoking
 Men are more confident in quitting smoking
Men may be closer than women to adopting healthy behaviors as permanent habits. Men surveyed for a study of low-income minorities were more likely than women to say that they were exercising regularly and that they had quit smoking for more than six months.  The study appears in the American Journal of Health Behavior.  Women were more likely to say that they had no intentions of quitting smoking or and were only beginning to contemplate exercising regularly.  The researchers found no significant differences in men and women's readiness to decrease the amount of fat that they ate.  Earlier studies of white populations showed that women were further along than men in adopting healthy habits such as lower-fat diets.
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Smoking Causes Miscarriage
Smoking during pregnancy causes annually as high as 141,000 tobacco-induced miscarriages, 61,000 low birth weight infants, 26,000 infant admissions to neonatal intensive care units, and 2200 deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Further, a growing number of studies suggest that infants born to women who smoke during pregnancy may be at increased risk for childhood obesity.  In a report published in the journal Birth Defects Research (Part A): Clinical and Molecular Teratology, The Public Affairs Committee of the Teratology Society has urged the U.S. government to sign the World Health Organization (WHO) treaty known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and to mandate health coverage for smoking cessation in pregnancy. The full text of this report was published online on October 30 and is available via Wiley InterScience at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jissue/104548475.
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Indo-Swiss Collaboration
What has happened here (the Indian Union) in the past 10 years is extraordinary and could not be matched by other countries in a hundred years, said President Couchepin during his weeklong visit to India and praised India's biotechnology and information technology sector.  Switzerland and India are to strengthen their cooperation in science and technology. Swiss President Pascal Couchepin and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee signed an agreement in New Delhi on Monday, November 10 that puts into place the framework for greater collaboration between the two nations in biotechnology, nanotechnology, and information technology.  The Swiss and Indian governments also committed themselves to opening a joint research laboratory in India in the near future, although precise details on what form that institute will take have yet to be hammered out, reports the Scientist.
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Recipes
Creamy Carrot Soup  

Ingredients:
2 tsp canola oil
1.20 lb carrots, peeled and chopped
1 celery stick, sliced
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1½-cup lowfat soymilk
1 onion, medium, chopped
2 vegetable stock cubes
2½-cup water
 
Directions:
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Sauté onion until soft.
Add carrot, potato, celery, water, stock cubes and ginger. Bring to the boil; then cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender.
Cool, then process in food processor until smooth.
Gradually add soymilk, processing until well combined.
Reheat before serving

womenfitness.net
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Spinach Salad 

Ingredients:
1 lb. spinach leaves, washed and torn into pieces, tough stems discarded
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup fat-free Italian dressing
Directions:
Combine spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes in a salad bowl.
Pour dressing over salad and toss.

 womenfitness.net
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 FRUITY BREAD PUDDING   

Ingredients:
2/3 cup mixed dried fruit
2/3 cup apple juice
115 g stale brown or white bread
1tsp mixed spice
1 large banana sliced
2/3 cup skimmed milk
1 tbsp sugar
natural low fat yogurt to serve

Directions:
 Preheat the oven to 200 c. Place the dried fruit in a small pan with the apple juice and bring to the boil .
 Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the bread spice and banana spoon the mixture into a shallow 2 pint /5cup oven proof dish and pour over the milk.
 Sprinkle with demurer sugar and bake for 25-30 minutes until from and golden brown. Serve hot or cold with natural yogurt .

Recipes from Heart Health: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/other/ktb_recipebk/index.htm


To The Top
Source: The primary sources cited above,  New York Times (NYT), Washington Post (WP), Mercury News, Bayarea.com, Intellihealthnews, Deccan Chronicle (DC), the Hindu, Hindustan Times, Times of India, AP, Reuters, AFP, womenfitness.net etc.




Copyright ©1998-2003
Vepachedu Educational Foundation, Inc
Copyright Vepachedu Educational Foundation Inc., 2003.  All rights reserved.  All information is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for special medical conditions or any specific health issues or starting a new fitness regimen. Please read disclaimer.





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