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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," )

Chief Editor: Sreenivasarao Vepachedu, PhD, LLM

 

Issue 87

5106 Kali Era , taarana Year, phalguna month
2062 Vikramarka Era, taarana Year, phalguna month
1926 Salivahana Era , taarana
Year, phalguna month
 2005 AD, March

Contents

Diet and Exercise
Miscellaneous 
Recipes
Yoga and Meditation
A Man's Waist and Diabetes
Diabesity
Diabesity and Exercise
Diabesity and Food
Europeans are Catching up
Yogurt and Buttermilk
Dairy not necessarily boost strong bones
Exercise
Fruits and Vegetable and Exercise
Tea

Colorectal Cancer Preventable
Female Infanticide in the Indian Union
Alzheimer's
Malanoma and Brits
Cell Phones
Passive Smoking
Mountain Living

http://vegweb.com/

worldwide recipes

Vegkitchen

Great Vegetarian Recipes

Over 800 Vegetarian Recipes!

Indian Vegetarian Recipes

Diet and Exercise
Yoga and Meditation
Yoga is an ancient discipline that seeks to promote the overall well being of an individual by taking control of the moral, mental and physical aspects of one's life. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita form the philosophical and theoretical basis of Yoga. … A common misconception about meditation is that it is a way of controlling thoughts. It is in a way true, but restricted to circumstances that are aimed at cultivating certain specific qualities such as loving kindness, equanimity and emotions such as joy and compassion.  For more visit:

http://www.online.citibank.co.in/portal/Mailer/nri/mar05/americas/health.htm


A Man's Waist and Diabetes
A man's waist size seems to be a stronger indicator of diabetes risk than the body-mass index, according to a report in the March issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It's a better predictor for the risk of Type 2 diabetes.  Johns Hopkins scientists reviewed data from 27,270 men tracked over 13 years and put them into five groups according to their waist size; 884 of the men had diabetes.  Compared to those in the group with the smallest waists, 29-34 inches, men with larger waist sizes were at least twice as likely to have diabetes.  Those with the largest waist size, 40 inches and above, were up to 12 times more likely to have Type 2 diabetes, the kind associated with obesity. Other studies have suggested about 37 1/2 inches.

Diabesity
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that men who have diabetes before age 40 lose more than 11 years of their expected life span; women lose more than 14 years.
The twin epidemics of diabetes and obesity in children and young adults have created an international public health problem. Americans see progress in terms of the quantity rather than the quality of the food. If there were no obesity, type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, would be rare. Instead, more than 18 million Americans have it. Another 41 million are pre-diabetic, with blood sugar levels higher than normal.  This generation of children growing up may be the first to live shorter lives than their parents, says pediatric endocrinologist Francine Kaufman at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.  It's society's problem, too, she says. Diabetes consumes one of every seven health care dollars; it cost $92 billion in 2002. Add in lost wages and productivity, and the bill comes to $137.7 billion, she says.  Kaufman recommends specific actions, such as getting soft drinks and unhealthful snacks out of school vending machines; limiting children to two hours a day in front of a screen, whether computer or TV; increasing outdoor play time; and reinstating gym classes in schools.  But she says turning a society away from sugar, salt and fat to whole grains and lots of exercise will take education and a change of social norms: Make it socially unacceptable to offer a dinner guest a fatty meal with high-calorie dessert. Instead of lunching with the ladies, meet them for a hike.

Diabesity and Exercise
Type 2 diabetes arises when the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin, causing blood sugar levels to soar. The disease is closely linked to excess weight and obesity, and proper diet, exercise and weight loss are cornerstones of managing the condition.  Recent studies have shown that exercise can improve diabetics' insulin sensitivity. A couple of workouts with weights per week may help older men manage their diabetes, even if they don't lose weight, a small study suggests. Past research has shown that insulin sensitivity improves when fat is lost around the waistline. Strength training may cut abdominal fat.

Diabesity and Food
Diabetics at high risk for heart attacks can lower their odds of heart trouble by eating the ultra-low-fat diet created by cardiologist Dean Ornish, doing moderate exercise and reducing stress, suggests a study. Here's the program they followed:
         A vegetarian diet with 10% of calories from fat that emphasizes whole grains, fruits and vegetables. The average American eats a diet that's 30% to 40% fat.
         At least three hours of aerobic exercise a week. Most walked briskly.
         An hour a day of stress management. Participants learned yoga, relaxation exercises and meditation.
         Two-hour sessions twice a week in groups offering health education and mutual support.
After 12 weeks, participants lost an average of 12 pounds. Their blood sugar levels, blood pressure and LDL (bad cholesterol) fell significantly. Also, 39% could reduce their diabetic medication or stop taking it. There's evidence that several of these changes, such as lower LDL levels, reduce the risk of future heart attacks, according to Ornish's center in Sausalito, California.

Europeans are Catching up with Americans
The growing epidemic of obesity could cause the first drop in Americans' life expectancy in modern times, according to a new study that suggests weight problems could cancel out life-extending benefits from medical advances in the coming decades. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. A national team of experts on aging and obesity compiled the estimates.  Today's children, who are becoming obese at unprecedented rates, will suffer the greatest loss of longevity, according to the report.  Obesity already is taking away up to nine months of life, on average, from life expectancies in the U.S., the study found. That figure could reach five years or more if America cannot reverse the trend of rising obesity rates. A drop in life expectancy would bring a halt to centuries of steady gains in longevity and potentially shift debates over programs like Social Security. Government projections for the program assume that Americans will continue to live longer and draw more money from the system. Life expectancy in 2003 was 77.6 years--up from 77.3 in 2002, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The time when obesity was thought to be a problem on the other side of the Atlantic has gone by. At least seven European countries are now bigger than the United States.  In a group of nations from Greece to Germany, the proportion of overweight or obese men is higher than in the United States, experts said in a major analysis of expanding girth in Europe.  In Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Malta and Slovakia, a higher percentage of men are obese or overweight than the estimated 67 percent of men in the United States, according to a report from the International Obesity Task Force, a coalition of researchers and institutions.  The analysis was released as the 25-nation European Union announced an initiative to enlist the food and marketing industries in the fight against fat in products.  Obesity is especially acute in Mediterranean countries, underscoring concerns that people in the southern region are turning away from the traditional diet of fruits and vegetables to fast foods high in fat and refined carbohydrates. Even in countries with low rates of obesity, troubling trends are emerging. For example, in France, obesity in women rose from 8 percent in 1997 to 11.3 percent in 2003 and from 8.4 percent to 11.4 percent in men during those years.  The change in diets, which the obesity task force said has occurred over the past two decades, also has hit children hard. The task force estimated that among the EU's 103 million youngsters, the number of those overweight rises by 400,000 each year.  More than 30 percent of children age 7 to 11 are overweight in Italy, Portugal, Spain and Malta, it said. That matches estimates for American children. Among American adults, about two-thirds are overweight or obese; nearly one-third qualify as obese.  The International Obesity Task Force, which is advising the EU, estimated in 2003 that about 200 million of the 350 million adults living in what is now the European Union might be overweight or obese.  "Obesity is rising rapidly, and Europe's expanding waistline brings with it devastating consequences for public health and huge economic costs," EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said in a statement.

Yogurt and Buttermilk
In many tribes, castes, nationalities and cultures in the Indian Continent, yogurt or buttermilk (without added sugar) is a must in any meal.  In Andhra Pradesh, every meal ends with yogurt-rice or buttermilk-rice.  In the north, raitha is a very common and daily dish in any meal and dogh is a Gandhar (Afghan) yogurt drink with cucumber. Ayurveda suggests regular consumption of yogurt for good health.  Buttermilk with a pinch of salt is a lifesaver during summer in India. Scientific studies have also pointed to the benefits of regular yogurt consumption. One report found that women who ate yogurt at least three times a week were less likely to have a urinary tract infection than women who ate such probiotic bacteria-containing foods less than once a week.  Other studies have found that yogurt plays a role in the prevention and management of bowel disease and other gastrointestinal conditions. Furthermore, another study showed that people who eat yogurt regularly might have a lower risk of cavities.

According to a new Japanese study presented during the 83rd General Session of the International Association for Dental Research held in Baltimore in March, yogurt intake may improve oral hygiene, namely tongue-coating bacteria and halitosis.  The study found that study participants who consumed 90 grams of sugar-free yogurt twice a day for six weeks tended to have lower levels of hydrogen sulfide and other volatile sulfide compounds that contribute to bad breath. The study participants also had significantly less plaque and gingivitis as a result of their eating yogurt.

Dairy not necessarily boost strong bones
A report, published in the journal Pediatrics, said boosting consumption of milk or other dairy products was not necessarily the best way to provide the minimal calcium intake of at least 400 milligrams per day.   Other ways to obtain the absorbable calcium found in one cup of cow's milk include a cup of fortified orange juice, a cup of cooked kale or turnip greens, two packages of instant oats, two-thirds cup of tofu, or 1-2/3 cups of broccoli, the report said.  In a review of 37 studies examining the impact of calcium consumption on bone strength in children older than 7, researchers at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington found 27 did not support drinking more milk to boost calcium. Dairy products provide 18 percent of the total energy and 25 percent of the total fat intake in the diets of American children, who are developing increasing rates of obesity. The easiest way to get that calcium is from low-fat dairy products, which also contain valuable nutrients such as vitamin D, which is generally not available from other dietary sources.

Exercise
A panel of doctors and scientists developed recommendations that put an emphasis on getting 30 minutes of exercise. But its 25 pages of recommendations were scaled down to three when they were released as part of the government's new dietary guidelines in January. Those guidelines gave equal billing to the 60- and 90-minute exercise suggestions.  The guidelines are being used to update the government's food pyramid, which is due out this spring. This is what they say about exercise:
   People need 30 minutes of physical activity on most days to ward off chronic disease.
   To prevent unhealthy weight gain, people should spend 60 minutes on physical activity on most days.
   Previously overweight people who have lost weight may need 60 to 90 minutes of exercise to keep the weight off.

If you're like most people, you're busy taking care of work stuff, house stuff, family stuff. Who has the time or energy to exercise? It was hard enough to fit in 30 minutes... and now the government's recommending as much as 90 minutes of exercise a day. Who has time for that? You do. Just sneak it into your daily routine. http://www.humana.com/visitors/article3_1.asp


Fruits and Vegetable and Exercise
Now the government is recommending that you eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day. To reduce your risk of cancer, heart problems, and other diseases, load up on fruits and vegetables. Getting nine a day won't give you nine lives, but it may help you get more from the one you have.  Fitting in fruits and veggies can do more than help you fit into your "skinny jeans." They're also full of antioxidants — compounds that help prevent disease, boost your brainpower, and even reduce the signs of aging. Hmmmm... those blueberries are lookin' better already! http://www.humana.com/visitors/article1_1.asp

Why are the antioxidants in fruits and vegetables so important? They're kind of like a "cleaning crew" that hauls away the junk your cells leave behind. http://www.humana.com/visitors/article4_1.asp

Tea
Researchers at the University of Murcia in Spain (UMU) and the John Innes Center (JIC) in Norwich, England, report that EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate) prevents cancer cells from growing by binding to a specific enzyme.  Green tea has about five times as much EGCG as regular tea, studies have shown. It decreases rates of certain cancers, but scientists were not sure what compounds were involved or how they worked. Nor had they determined how much green tea a person would have to drink to have a beneficial effect. The scientists noted that the structure of ECGC is similar to a cancer drug called methotrexate.

The findings could also explain why women who drink large amounts of green tea around the time they conceive and early in their pregnancy may have an increased risk of having a child with spina bifida or other neural tube disorders.  Women are advised to take supplements of folic acid because it protects against spina bifida. But large amounts of green tea could decrease the effectiveness of folic acid.


Miscellaneous
Colorectal Cancer Preventable
It is estimated that half the people who lose their lives from colorectal cancer could have been saved from screening alone. Even more cases and deaths could be prevented if more people maintained a healthy level of physical activity and a healthy body weight, and avoided smoking.
The American Cancer Society has recommendations to help people reduce their cancer risk through lifestyle behaviors, such as nutrition and physical activity. While up to a quarter of cases of colorectal cancer occur in people with a family history of the disease or a predisposing illness, about three out of four of cases happen in people with no risk factors, the news comes from a special edition of the Society's Facts & Figures, the sixth annual National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, March 2005.

Female Infanticide in the Indian Union
In India, where millions of couples still hanker for a male child, the overall sex ratio is 927 females to 1,000 males, down from 945-to-1,000 more than a decade ago. It has one of the lowest female-to-male ratios in the world.

 "I consider it a shame that in our country we ascertain the sex of the baby before it enters the world," the progressive Christian Chief Minister Rajasekharareddy Y. said at a function on the empowerment of woman in the state capital, Hyderabad.  The southern state of Andhra Pradesh has a sex ratio of 943 females to 1,000 males. Sex determination tests and female foeticide are common in small towns and rural areas of the largely farming state.  The State government has offered to pay 100,000 rupees ($2,300) cash to families who have just one daughter in a bid to counteract traditional preferences for sons and balance the sex ratio. The cash incentive will be paid to the daughters when they reach 20 years of age, provided their parents have had only one child and have undertaken birth control operations officials said.
The Andhra Pradesh government has also appointed India's leading Muslim woman tennis player Sania Mirza - who is from Andhra Pradesh - as "state ambassador of the girl child" as part of its campaign to protect the female child.  Eighteen-year-old Mirza, the first Indian woman to get into the third round of a Grand Slam, will feature on billboards with the caption: "Your daughter may be the next champion". 

Venkatakrishnareddy G. (GVK Reddy), a Hindu,  sponsored Sania when she was 13.  Sania Mirza is by no means the sole Muslim to have risen to prominence in India.  A lot of Christians use native Indian names to conceal their religious identity.  Yet, many Muslims never masked their Islamic identity and were adored by all Indians in the Bollywood, e.g., Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mahmood, Shabana Azmi, Tabu, Saif Ali Khan, Feroze Khan, Saeed Mirza, Zayed Khan, Javed Akhtar etc.   However, some Muslims used Indian names, such as Dilip Kumar (Yusuf Khan), Meena Kumari and Madhubala.  The Khans hold near-complete and unchallenged sway over Bollywood today.  Similarly, in the field of sports, the achievements of Mohammed Azharuddin, Irfan Pathan, Mohammed Kaif, Zaheer Khan and Syed Kirmani are far too well known to need recounting.  In the industry Muslims are leading, e.g., Azim Premji- the richest Indian - chairman of Wipro Ltd,  Yusuf Hamied of Cipla, Some of the topmost advertising professionals are Muslims, including Alyque Padamsee, Mohammed Khan, Muzaffar Ali and Rafeeq Ellias. In modern art, it's impossible to ignore the pivotal importance of M F Husain, S H Raza, Akbar Padamsee, Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh and Tyeb Mehta.  In academics, outstanding examples include Irfan Habib, Mushirul Hasan, Shahid Amin, Zoya Hasan.  In avant garde theatre, Habib Tanveer, Ebrahim Alkazi, Jabbar Patel, and Zohra Sehgal. In literature Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ali Sardar Jafri and Kaifi Azmi. In journalism M J Akbar, Zahid Ali Khan are famous. No need to mention the name of the President, Dr. Kalam! This is just a glimpse of Muslim prominence and contribution to the Indian society and Muslim advancement in a democratic secular Bhaarat, while no Hindu names can be heard in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Bangladesh.

Alzheimer's
An estimated 12 million people worldwide have from Alzheimer's disease, the leading cause of dementia in the elderly. There is no cure for this condition that robs people of their memory and mental ability, but drugs have been approved to alleviate symptoms.  Studies have shown that people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity could have a greater risk of Alzheimer's disease or other dementia than those with a more active, healthy lifestyle. A recent Finnish study showed that middle-age people taking regular exercise at least twice a week could reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by 50 percent in old age. An active lifestyle, physical, mental and social, is preventive. It's never too early to start to prevent Alzheimer's disease.


Malanoma and Brits
Malignant melanoma accounts for roughly 10 percent of reported cases of the illness. About 133,000 new cases of the disease are diagnosed worldwide each year.  It usually develops in cells in the outer layer of the skin but can spread to other parts of the body, forming secondary tumors.

Melanoma is the second most common cancer among people aged 15-34. Researchers say sunburn in childhood can double the risk of melanoma in later life. More than 7,300 cases of preventable malignant melanoma are diagnosed each year in Britain and 1,700 people die of the disease.  Rates of skin cancer could triple in the next 30 years if Britons do not protect themselves from the sun's harmful rays, scientists said. People are advised to stay out of the midday sun, avoid sunburns and wear sunscreen, wide-brimmed hats and sunglasses.

Cell Phones
In Britain, the chairman of the National Radiological Protection Board advised in January that parents should not give mobile phones to children age 8 or younger as a precaution against the potential harm of radiation from the devices.  Parents should think twice before giving  a middle-schooler a cell phone, because potential long-term health risks remain unclear.  Researchers have speculated for more than 10 years that the electromagnetic radiation emitted from cell phones may damage DNA and cause benign brain tumors. Scientists say when you use a cell phone, 70 to 80 percent of the energy emitted from the antenna is absorbed by the head. Several research studies have pointed to the potential impacts of long-term absorption of cell phone-emitted radiation but little of the research has focused on the children. Brain tumors usually take 30-40 years to develop, children who use cell phones from their teen years onward would have a longer period of time to see a cumulative impact. A Swedish study published in October suggested that people who use a cell phone for at least 10 years might increase their risk of developing a rare benign tumor along a nerve on the side of the head where they hold the phone.

Passive Smoking
A 1,200-page report drafted by scientists at the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, an influential California state agency, draws on more than 1,000 other studies of the effects of second-hand smoke and details a range of health problems caused by exposure to it.  The report links second-hand smoke to breast cancer, a finding that could lead air quality regulators to strengthen the state's indoor smoking laws. Breast cancer kills about 40,000 women in the United States each year.  It's the first major report to draw that connection, and one of many findings about the health effects of so-called environmental tobacco smoke, or ETS.  These included respiratory complications, heart disease and several cancers, many of which have been extensively documented.

Mountain Living
Heart disease is one of the world's top killers. Smoking, high blood pressure, raised cholesterol levels, being overweight or obese and a family history of the illness increase the odds of developing the disease.  Research by scientists in Greece shows that mountain dwelling is good for the heart and longevity. People living at higher altitude have lower odds of dying from heart disease than those closer to sea level, even if they have factors that could increase their risk, according to a report in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.


Recipes 

http://vegweb.com/
worldwide recipes
Vegkitchen
Great Vegetarian Recipes
Over 800 Vegetarian Recipes!
Indian Vegetarian Recipes

Back to the Top

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




Copyright ©1998-2005
Vepachedu Educational Foundation, Inc
Copyright Vepachedu Educational Foundation Inc., 2004.  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.





Om! Asatoma Sadgamaya, Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya, Mrityorma Amritamgamaya, Om Shantih, Shantih, Shantih!
(Om! Lead the world from wrong path to the right path, from ignorance to knowledge, from mortality to immortality and peace!)
One World One Family




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Management
The Foundation
The Andhra Journal of Industrial News
The Telangana Science Journal
Mana Sanskriti (Our Culture) Journal
Disclaimer Solicitation
Contact
VPC