Issue 131

5110 Kali Era, Sarvadhari Year, Karthika month
2066 Vikramarka Era, Sarvadhari Year, Karthika month
1930 Salivahana Era, Sarvadhari Year, Karthika month
2008 AD, November

Contents

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Management
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MS

Vegetarian Links

Disclaimer

Soliciataion

Contact

VPC

More Links

Vedah

Diet and Exercise

Omega-3 for Prostate
Turmeric Reduces Arthritis
Chocolate Addiction
Vegetable Juice

Miscellaneous

Keep Your Hands Clean
Yoga Meditation Keeps You Young
Nap is Good
Green Space and Health
Ecological Bankruptcy
Risks for Asians and Indians
Pet Allergy
Fast Eating Causes Obesity
Low Density Lipoproteins
Alcohold Reduces Bone Density

Recipes

Pumpkin Pesto
Butternut Squash Soup
Vegetarian Dishes

Diet and Exercise

Omega-3 for Prostate
An increased intake of omega-3-rich food may improve prostate cancer survival by 38 per cent, according to a new study. The earlier study found reported that higher intake of the omega-3 fatty acids DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) may cut the risk of developing prostate cancer by 40 per cent.

Turmeric Reduces Arthritis
The researchers from Johns Hopkins revealed the results of a study they conducted in which grapes were effective in treating arthritis and curcumin (turmeric powder) used in Indian curries was effective in easing the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. These results suggest that curcumin is a potential candidate for inhibiting the oxidative damage that leads to Parkinson's disease. Consuming flavonoids through natural products like grapes can be beneficial to health in general and also specifically for reducing inflammatory pain. Natural products like grapes and turmeric may also be beneficial in reducing the amount of medication necessary. The scientists disclosed their discoveries at the National Neuroscience 2008 Conference in Washington, D.C

Chocolate Addiction
A sedentary lifestyle tends to encourage people to reach for snacks such a chocolate in order to try and create a more pleasant mood. This is an artificial mood creating behavior which is easily replaced if a person engages in short periods of activity that tend to create the same effect. Chocoholics and other addictive snackers may find relief from a simple 15-minute brisk walk. Research consistently shows that brief bouts of physical activity reduce cigarette cravings. Neuroscientists suggest common processes in the reward centers of the brain between drug and food addictions, and it may be that exercise effects brain chemicals that help to regulate mood and cravings. Regular eating of chocolate may lead to stronger cravings during stress resulting in addiction and ultimately obesity and related diseases.

Vegetable Juice
A study conducted by the University of California reveals that vegetable juice provides exceptional health benefits. Although this 'discovery' is not news to many natural health dieticians and enthusiasts, it is still important that it is backed up with scientific data. The results of the study were shown at annual conference of the American Dietetic Association.

Miscellaneous

Keep Your Hands Clean
A new study found that women have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men do. And everybody has more types of bacteria than the researchers expected to find. The researchers aren't sure why women harbored a greater variety of bacteria than men. The vast majority of the bacteria we have on our body are either harmless or beneficial, while the pathogens are a small minority. They identified 4,742 species of bacteria overall, only 5 of which were on every hand, they report online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The average hand harbored 150 species of bacteria. Not only did individuals have few types of bacteria in common, the left and right hands of the same individual shared only about 17 percent of the same bacteria types, the researchers found. While the researchers stressed the importance of regular hand washing, they also noted that washing did not eliminate bacteria.

Yoga Meditation Keeps You Young
Telomeres cap the end of chromosomes that in turn hold the genes. As the cell undergoes cell division, the telomeres get shorter every time until eventually the telomeres are so short that no more cell division is possible and the cell dies. The more cells that die, so the effect is noticed in the form of weaker muscles, skin wrinkles, organ and hearing failure and reduced intellectual abilities. In ordinary language this is called aging. To slow down this process, the body possesses telomerase enzymes that rebuild the telomeres, but in ordinary circumstances, the amount of this enzyme reduces with age.

Stress is an epidemic and one of the effects of it is premature ageing, according to a recent study. Stress occurs on a physical level due to extreme exertion in work or sports, for example. The other form of stress is emotional and it is this emotional or psychological stress that has the worst effects. Women are currently working over 2 hours more every week than they did in the 1980's. This increase of hours plus the expectation of employers for their employees to be contactable at any time even when not actually at work has led to a high increase in the levels of stress experienced. With women spending more time at work than anywhere else, the work environment has become a huge influence on overall health.

The researchers discovered that the stressed women in the study had shorter telomeres and lower levels of telomerase compared to the women who had healthy children and less cause for stress. From this the researchers concluded that chronic stress levels speed up the process of telomerase reductions and thus telomere length. The result is that stress makes people look older than they should. The researchers also observed that regular exercise as well as the practice of meditation and yoga are good stress relievers and in turn great for remaining young.
Women are currently working over 2 hours more every week than they did in the 1980's. This increase of hours plus the expectation of employers for their employees to be contactable at any time even when not actually at work has led to a high increase in the levels of stress experienced. With women spending more time at work than anywhere else, the work environment has become a huge influence on overall health.

Nap is Good
Interrupting sleep seriously disrupts memory-making, compelling new research suggests. But on the flip side, taking a nap may boost a sophisticated kind of memory that helps us see the big picture and get creative. Sleep deprivation causes not just car crashes, but all sorts of other accidents. Over time, a chronic lack of sleep can erode the body in ways that leave us more vulnerable to heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses. But perhaps more common than insomnia is fragmented sleep, the easy awakening that comes with aging, or the sleep apnea that afflicts millions, who quit breathing for 30 seconds or so over and over throughout the night. Avoid "sleep bulimia," super-late nights followed by sleep-in weekends. And don't feel guilty for napping.

Green Space and Health
It has now been scientifically established that people who live near parks are healthier, according to a study conducted by the University of St Andrews and Glasgow University published in The Lancet. They further analyzed the connection between availability of green spaces and fatal illnesses. Unexpectedly, the biggest difference in causes of death for people living near green space as opposed to those without green space availability was not lung disease, but circulatory diseases. On this basis the scientists are recommending that local authority planning departments include green space availability in all future development plans. Populations that are exposed to the greenest environments have the lowest levels of health inequality related to income deprivation. Evidence suggests that contact with such environments has independent salutogenic effects, for example, green spaces independently promote physical activity. Several studies have shown that contact (either by presence or visual) with green spaces can by psychologically and physiologically restorative, reducing blood pressure and stress levels and possibly promoting faster healing in patients after surgical intervention.

Ecological Bankruptcy
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) recently published their research calling it the 'Living Planet Report', in which they detailed the extent of ecological credit the world is already in and the amount of ecological debt the world is expected to be in within a few decades. The report, created with the co-operation of the Global Footprint Network and the Zoological Society of London reveals that only one quarter of the world is an ecological creditor, with the rest as debtors. A more fundamental crisis than the credit crunch looms ahead -- an ecological credit crunch caused by under-valuing the environmental assets that are the basis of all life and prosperity. “We are acting ecologically in the same way as financial institutions have been behaving economically - seeking immediate gratification without due regard for the consequences."

Risks for Asians and Indians
Treatment with certain epilepsy drugs may expose some Asian patients to serious skin reactions, federal health officials warned. The Food and Drug Administration said it is investigating whether medications like Dilantin, Phenytek and Cerebyx, which are used to control epileptic seizures, can lead to severe skin blisters and bleeding for some Asian and Indian patients. Patients who test positive for a gene known as HLA-B1502 appear to be at increased risk of developing the skin problems, preliminary data indicate. About 10 percent to 15 percent of patients from parts of China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines may carry the gene, as do 2 percent to 4 percent of Indians (South Asians). Because of the problem with skin reactions, the FDA last year recommended genetic testing for Asian and Indian patients taking another epilepsy drug, carbamazepine, sold under several brand names including Tegretol and Carbatrol. Doctors should also avoid Dilantin and the other medications for patients who have already tested positive for the gene, the FDA said.

Pet Allergy
For those with a true dog allergy, diagnosed by a skin test, it is not recommend bringing it in. Allergy symptoms include a runny nose, teary eyes, sneezing and coughing. People with pet allergies can "outgrow" them, though it takes years.
While some people with dog allergies say some breeds cause them more problems than others, there isn't any scientific proof to back that up. All dogs produce proteins that can cause allergies. These proteins are found in dogs' dander (dead skin cells), saliva and urine.
The allergy academy offers tips for minimizing the problem.
-Clean the house often with vacuums equipped with special filters and double bags.
-Keep the dog out of the allergic child's bedroom.
-Remove carpeting, where dander also can build up.
-Bathe the animal weekly.

Fast Eating Causes Obesity
Researchers have concluded that eating fast can lead to obesity, according to a study that was conducted by Japanese scientists at the University of Osaka in the British Medical Journal. What they found was that men who ate quickly had an 84% greater chance of being over weight whereas women who ate quickly had a 50% chance of being over weight. An additional effect that the scientists witnessed was that people who continued to eat until they felt full as well as at a fast speed had an even greater chance of being over weight. Other research has found evidence of this in childhood, suggesting that it could be inherited or learned at a very early age.

Obese children as young as 10 have the arteries of someone four and a half times their age. They also have other heart abnormalities that significantly increase their risk of heart disease, according to studies presented at the American Heart Association conference in New Orleans. The studies are further evidence that childhood obesity is not merely a cosmetic problem.

Some people with normal cholesterol and no other risk factors for heart disease or stroke might benefit from a statin. A study presented at the American Heart Association conference in New Orleans suggests that millions more Americans may consider taking a statin.

Low Density Lipoproteins
Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL) inhibit the breakdown of fat in cells of peripheral deposits, according to a study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet, published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE. The discovery reveals a novel function of LDL as a regulator of fat turnover besides its well-established detrimental effects in promoting atherosclerosis. It shows that LDL cholesterol slows the rate of fat breakdown (i.e. lipolysis) in adipocytes, the peripheral cells responsible for fat storage. Previously, it has been known that release of free fatty acid from the peripheral fat to the blood stream increases the synthesis of LDL precursors in the liver.

Alcohold Reduces Bone Density
Alcohol disrupts genes needed to maintain healthy bones, which can lead to a decrease in bone mass and bone strength, a new study says. In previous research, the study authors, from Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, showed that giving rats large amounts of alcohol caused significant decreases in bone density and bone strength, but the mechanisms responsible for these effects weren't clear.
In this new study, rats were injected with an amount of alcohol. When they examined genes responsible for bone health, the researchers found that alcohol affected the amounts of RNA associated with these genes. RNA acts as the template for making proteins, the building blocks of bones and other tissue. Alcohol increased the amount of RNA associated with some genes and decreased the amount of RNA associated with other genes. These changes in RNA disrupted two molecular pathways, the Wnt signaling pathway and the Intergrin signaling pathway -- responsible for normal bone metabolism and bone mass maintenance, the researchers said. The findings were published recently in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Recipes

Pumpkin Pesto
Ingredients: 1 cup pumpkin seeds; 1/2 cup olive oil, 4 cloves garlic, 2 tbsp miso, 2 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1/4 cup lemon juice, one large bunch fresh basil leaves, 3 sprigs fresh cilantro (optional)
Preparation: Process all ingredients in a food processor until desired consistency is reached. If you like a "saucier" pesto, you can add a bit more liquid. I like my pesto a bit thick, so I usually add a bit less olive oil.

Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients:2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp olive oil, 3 large onions, finely chopped, 2 tsp chipotle chili powder, 4 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks (approx. 6 cups), 2 pounds apples, peeled and cut into chunks, about 5-6 apples, 2 cups apple juice, 2 cups vegetable broth, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper.
Preparation: Heat the oil and butter in a large soup pot and cook the onions and chili powder until onions are tender, about 10 minutes. Add the squash, apples, apple juice and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, cover and cook over low heat until the apples and squash are very soft, about 30 minutes. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or in a food processor, return to the pot and adjust the seasonings, thinning with apple juice or water until it is at the desired consistency. Garnish with fresh diced apples, sour cream and parsley if desired.

Vegetarian Dishes
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/specialoccasionrecipe1/qt/sidedishes.htm?nl=1
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/specialoccasionrecipe1/qt/maindish.htm?nl=1

Health and Nutrition

Issue 131