Issue 143

5111 Kali Era, Virodhi Year, Karthika month
2066 Vikramarka Era, Virodhi Year, Karthika month
1930 Salivahana Era, Virodhi Year, Karthika month
2009 AD, November

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	Diet and Exercise Stress Results in Overeating and Obesity Thyme Ancient Evidence for Heart Disease Gallstones	Miscellaneous Alternative Medicine is Useful Placebo Overuse of Antibiotics Gender Benders Human Evolution in Real Time	Recipes Dinner for the Prime Minister of India Idli Recipe

Diet and Exercise

Stress Results in Overeating and Obesity
Stress may cause people to eat more high-fat foods, a survey concluded. Researchers questioned more than 600 women about their stress and eating habits. Those who had a great deal of continuing stress were more likely to say they ate a lot of fatty foods. They also were more likely to say they did not feel in control of their eating. It was presented at a recent meeting of the Obesity Society. One of the reasons for obesity is eating candy. A dose of dark chocolate could cheer those stressed right up by lowering the stress hormone levels, suggests a report in the online issue of the Journal of Proteome Research. But, chocolate comes with sugar and is responsible obesity.

Thyme
Thyme is recognized as an all round healer. Some of the health improving tendencies of Thyme includes general cleansing of the body, easing urine flow, helping make menstruation more comfortable and preventing the likelihood of miscarriages.

Thyme possesses a penetrating and pungent fragrance although the herb itself is fairly delicate. It likes to grow where the sun shines especially next to ant hills and is frequently found on dried lawns. It originally came to the UK in the 11th Century from the Mediterranean and is more commonly called Mother Thyme or Garden Thyme. People use Thyme in various ways some of which are as Thyme tea, as part of a herb pillow, as a tincture, as a Thyme bath, Thyme oil and Thyme syrup. All of these concoctions are used to address different health issues.

All in all there are over 60 different varieties of Thyme when you include all those found in the Mediterranean area as well. It looks and even smells similar to Oregano and as such is often mistaken for it, especially as both herbs are used frequently in cooking.

Ancient Evidence for Heart Disease
Twenty two mummies kept in the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo, the subjects of a study, were from 1981 B.C. to 334 A.D. Half were thought to be over 45 when they died, and average lifespan was under 50 back then. Sixteen mummies had heart and blood vessel tissue to analyze. Definite or probable hardening of the arteries was seen in nine. Appearance of vascular calcification in the mummies is similar to the present-day patients. Of those whose identities could be determined, all were of high social status, rich and many served in the court of the Pharaoh. In those days, rich people ate meat. Nowadays, "we all sort of live in the Pharaoh's court," eating meat. Journal of the American Medical Association and were reported at an American Heart Association conference.

Gallstones
Cholesterol levels depend on the food, exercise and individual metabolism. Excess calories from food, in whatever form, and lack of exercise will cause increase in fat resulting in obesity and cholesterol problems. In addition, certain individuals have metabolism that causes hypercholesteremia. Statin drugs help reduce such high cholesterol that is not diet and exercise related. In addition, use of the cholesterol-lowering drugs for more than a year is associated with a reduced risk of having gallstones requiring surgery, according to the report in the November 11 issue of JAMA. In developed countries, approximately 10 percent to 20 percent of white adults have gallstones, which can cause pain and complications. Gallstone disease is a leading cause of gastrointestinal tract illness and inpatient admission in western countries and represents a serious burden for health care systems worldwide. More than 700,000 cholecystectomies (removal of the gallbladder) are performed annually in the United States, according to the JAMA article. Gallstones are classified as either cholesterol (80 percent-90 percent) or pigment stones (10 percent-20 percent), with cholesterol stones formed on the basis of cholesterol-supersaturated bile. Statins decrease cholesterol biosynthesis and may therefore lower the risk of cholesterol gallstones by reducing the cholesterol concentration in the bile.

Miscellaneous

Alternative Medicine is Useful Placebo
Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans, in part because of the failed research. It's the placebo effect, the ability of a dummy pill or a faked treatment to make people feel better. It's the mind's ability to alter physical symptoms, such as pain, anxiety and fatigue. Recently, the placebo effect has demonstrated its healing powers. In tests of a new drug to relieve lupus symptoms, about a third of patients felt better when they got dummy pills instead of the drug. The placebo effect looms large in alternative medicine, which has many therapies and herbal remedies based on beliefs versus science. Often the problems they seek to relieve, such as pain, are subjective. The placebo effect accounts for about a third of the benefits of any treatment -- even carefully tested medicines, scientists say. This dates to a landmark report in 1955 called The Powerful Placebo. Viewed as groundbreaking, the analysis of dozens of studies by H.K. Beecher found that 32 percent of patients responded to a placebo. Later studies found that dummy pills could raise pulse rates, blood pressure and reaction speed when people were told they had taken a stimulant; the opposite occurred when people were told that a drug would make them drowsy. Doctors sometimes exploit the placebo effect to help patients. One survey found that many doctors admitted sometimes giving patients sugar pills or drugs or vitamins that would not really help their condition, in an effort to trigger a placebo effect. http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC256/333/28815/1349184.html?d=dmtICNNews

Overuse of Antibiotics
Antibiotics are needed in all these treatments to prevent bacterial infection. But drug-resistant bacteria are a growing problem in hospitals worldwide, marked by the rise of superbugs such as methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus (MRSA). The six most common multi-drug-resistant bacteria -- often referred to as superbugs -- cause around 400,000 infections a year in Europe, killing around 25,000 people and using 2.5 million hospital days a year. Such infections kill around 19,000 in the United States.
Overuse of antibiotics in Europe is building widespread resistance and threatening to halt vital medical treatments such as hip replacements, intensive care for premature babies and cancer therapies, health experts say. The ECDC, which monitors and advises on disease in EU, calculates that with a hospital day costing an average of 366 euros ($548), superbug infections are already sucking up 900 million euros a year in extra hospital costs, and a further 600 million euros a year in lost productivity. Ignorant patients demanding antibiotics for viral infections are not aware that antibiotics will not work for viral infections, but doctors should stop giving in to pressure.

Gender Benders
A study by the University of Rochester in New York State found that two types of phthalate – DEHP and DBP – were strongly linked with the more feminine play in the boys but had no impact on girls. Boys with higher doses were less likely to play with cars, trains and guns and preferred "gender neutral" activities such as sports, according to the research published in the International Journal of Andrology. Phthalates are widely used to soften plastics such as polyvinyl chloride and make them flexible. They are used in food packaging, vinyl and plastic tubing, household products and many personal care products, such as soaps and lotions. Although the Food and Drug Administration considers them safe, a 2008 federal law banned the use of six different types in toys such as teethers, bath items, soft books, dolls and plastic figures.

Human Evolution in Real Time
A study of the cannibalistic practice of Fore tribe in Papua New Guinea shows evolution in real time in the human population - a mutation called G127V that protected people from kuru - that might lead to a treatment for similar brain-wasting conditions, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine. Only surviving cannibals have it. Kuru disease once wiped out entire generations of Fore women in remote Papuan villages. It was traced to a now-defunct mortuary ceremony in which women and children ate the brains of their dead relatives. Kuru disease is caused by prions, the unusually folded brain proteins that also cause mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Creutzfeldt Jakob disease, or CJD, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk and scrapie in sheep.

Recipes

Dinner for the Prime Minister
Mrs. Obama brought in award-winning chef Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit, a Scandinavian restaurant in New York City, to help White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford and her staff prepare the largely vegetarian meal. Prime Minister Dr. Singh is a vegetarian. At the state dinner at the White House in honor of the prime minister of India included the following vegetarian dishes:
—Potato and eggplant salad, white house arugula with onion seed vinaigrette.
—Red lentil soup w fresh cheese
—Roasted potato dumplings with tomato chutney, chick peas and okra.
For dessert: pumpkin pie tart, pear tatin, whipped cream and caramel sauce. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-ap-us-state-dinner,0,5661772.story
Surveys suggest about 3 percent of adults and at least 1 in 200 kids are vegetarian nationwide in the United State. That includes vegans, who shun all animal products such as honey and milk

Idli Recipe

Ingredients: 2 cups Idli rawa (cracked parboiled rice); 1 cup Urad Daal (blackgram lentils, husked); 11/2 tbsp Salt; A pinch of Baking Soda; Oil (for greasing the Idli pans)

Tradtional Prepatation: Wash and soak the lentils overnight or for 8 hours. Wash and drain the cracked rice. Grind the letils into a smooth paste. Mix the soaked cracked rice and lentil paste together into a batter. Mix salt and set aside in a warm place for 8-9 hours or overnight for fermenting. Apply oil or butter to the idle pans well and fill each pan batter. Steam cook idlis on medium flame for about 10 minutes or until done. Serve them with sambhar or chutney.

Visit also: http://www.vepachedu.org/TSJ/August2003.html#IDLI
http://www.vedah.net/TSJ/November2005.html#Tvorog_Idli_

Health and Nutrition

Issue 143