TheWellnessLiving Health Tips

Onagra oil comes from onagra or primrose (Oenothera biennis and Oenothera lamarkiana), a plant from North America with medicinal properties. The oil is obtained from their seeds put under pressure in cold. This oil has a very good nutritional profile, it is very rich in poliinsaturated essential fatty acids: linoleic acid (70 %) and gamma-linolenic acid (10 %), both of the series of Omega 6 fatty acids, important precursors of diverse cellular mediators that are indispensable for the correct operation and stability of cellular membranes in our organism. They are also essential for the proper development of the nervous system, hormonal system and the regulation of the coagulation processes.

They are also precursors of the eicosanoids (prostaglandins, tromboxanes, leucotrienes and hidroxiacids), which regulate a myriad if important biological processes during all our life. In addition, onagra oil contains oleic acid in smaller proportion (a monoinsaturated fatty acid).

The essential fatty acids, the ones that can not be synthesized by our organism, must be gotten up with the diet. When the diet lacks these essential fatty acids, affections in the heart, circulatory system, skin, the immune system, the reproductive apparatus and the nervous system are likely to appear.

Some properties and benefits of the onagra oil

• Regularizes anomalies or deficit of essential fatty acids
• Alleviates the symptoms of eccema
• Improves the prostate upheavals
• Reduces the cholesterol levels, without causing side effects, reducing the advance of atherosclerosis
• Reduces problems of arthritis and arthrosis by inhibiting the inflammatory processes
• Improves the responses of the immune system
• Eliminates the mucous dryness of eyes and mouth
• Balances the behavior in hyperactive children
• Regulates the liberation and action of the neurotransmitters of the nervous system
• Improves acne, dandruff, nails and hairloss
• Alleviates to the symptoms of the premenstrual syndrome (breast pain, mood, irritability, headache and retention of liquids) thanks to the stimulation of prostaglandins
• Alleviates the symptoms of the menopause (retention of liquids, hot flashes, dryness, etc.)
• Prevents cutaneous aging, hydrating the skin and favoring elasticity
• Reduces the arterial hypertension through vasodilator action and prevents blood clots

Presentation and dose

Comes in capsules that also contains vitamins to avoids its oxidation. The capsules usually contain 500 and 1000 mg. Their dose depends on each patient and is recommended by the doctor or nutritionist.

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Sports drinks have become very pospular as an easy source of nutrients and energy for people engaging in highly demanding physical activity such as running, biking or swimming. However, many are not comfortable with the available products and prefer other, more natural choices. Here is a recipe for an easy to make, healthy and delicious beverage, equally good for a quick energy source before starting or to replenish your body after a long training day.

Ingredients:

• Water - 2 cups
• Lemon tea bag (with or without caffeine) - 1
• Honey or sugar cane syrup - 2 tsps
• Salt - 1/8 tsp
• Orange juice - 4 tsps

Preparation:

Boil 16 ounces of water and steep the lemon tea bag. Add then the honey (or sugar), salt and let cool down. Combine with orange juice and chill.

The nutrition facts: Each 8-ounce serving contains approximately 60 calories, less than 1 g of protein, 15 g of carbohydrates, 130 mg of sodium and less than 1 g of fat.

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Thanks to her teacher’s efforts, my daughter is very interested in learning what foods or beverages are healthy for her and which ones are not. She usually asks whether this snack or that drink are good or bad. Even though I’m usually pretty sure I’m telling the right answer, it’s only common sense, but a little of actual knowledge would be fine to support my advice.

The National Institute of Public Health of Mexico has recently put together “Beverage Consumption  Recommendations” aimed to serve as a guideline for consumers, health professionals, and government officials. One of the main reasons that encouraged this work is the alarming increase in overweight, obesity and diabetes in Mexico. It is thought that beverages contribute a fifth of all calories consumed by Mexicans, and many studies found that caloric beverages increase the risk of obesity. After considering all these evidences, it is clear that educating people and professionals on the benefits and risks associated to the most common drinks is of prime importance to improve the public health conditions.

The committee classified beverages into six levels regarding their health benefits and risks. Some aspects taken into account were caloric content, nutritional value, and health risks associated with the consumption of each type of beverage. The beverages were ranked from the healthier (level 1) to least healthy (level 6):

Level 1: water

Level 2: skim or low fat (1%) milk and sugar free soy beverages

Level 3: coffee and tea without sugar

Level 4: non-caloric beverages with artificial sweeteners

Level 5: beverages with high caloric content and limited health benefits (fruit juices, whole milk, and fruit smoothies with sugar or honey; alcoholic and sports drinks)

Level 6: beverages high in sugar and with low nutritional value (soft drinks and other beverages with significant amounts of added sugar like juices, flavored waters, coffee and tea).

As a conclusion, the panel advices that water should constitute the first choice, followed by no or low-calorie drinks, and skim milk. People should prefer these beverages over others with high caloric value or sweetened beverages, including those containing artificial sweeteners.

Some parts of this ranking agree more or less with our perception, water is obviously a ‘healthy’ option, but it may surprise many people to find out that some beverages, heavily advertised as healthy stuff go quite low in the list, such as fruit juices and fruit smoothies. Time to reconsider what we take in our lunch-bags!

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The goal of a behavioral management of obesity is to train an individual with the skills that will allow him/her to promote a healthy weight level. The concept involves a number of strategies which are conducted in a way to help obese patients in making gradual but steady changes that can be incorporated into their everyday habits in a realistic way.

The effectivity of behavioral programs in curing obesity is promising. Results from several studies demonstrate an 8% to 10% reduction in initial weight during the first 6 months to 1 year of treatment. The long-term effectivity of these treatments are more difficult to assess and still remains unclear. It appears that many individuals tend to regain weight lost over time but the causes are still obscure and it is unknown whether they are related to the method.

In spite of the uncertainty, an effective behavioral approach will constitute a very god option as it lacks many of the drawbacks from other weightloss methods. Efforts such as the Diabetes Prevention Program and the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) trials are starting to provide strong data on the long-term results of intensive behavioral management interventions.

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UK’s NHS Information Centre for health and social care informed that prescribed anti obesity drugs reached more than a million a year. This represents an annual cost of £47.5 million. Officials said that the number of prescriptions surpassed for more than eight times the level nine years ago. Most prescriptions are written for two drugs, orlistat (Xenical) and sibutramine (Reductil).

The two drugs work very differently. Sibutramine functions by altering chemical messages that control feelings such as hunger or desire to eat, whereas orlistat reduces absorption of ingested fat.

The NHS also informed that about one fifth of men and nearly one in four women are now at very high risk of developing health problems caused or stimulated by overweight.

Exercise and healthy diet

One of the problems is that many people recur to taking a pill to solve their weight problems instead of focusing on earlier stages of the process. Anti-obesity drugs can help manage weight problems but it is best if they are left as the last resort. Doctors recommend a healthy diet and regular physical activity to manage weight. This way it is possible to reduce serious conditions linked to obesity such as diabetes and heart disease in a more efficient way.

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Tired moms-to-be that drink coffee to help coping with their  busy schedules should get advice about coffee consumption since a new study suggesting that drinking coffee increases the chance of miscarriage has been published.

The idea that caffeine consumption is linked to higher rates of miscarriage is not new, but critics said the observations could be biased because some pregnant women reduce their caffeine intake because of morning sickness.

1063 women early in their pregnancies were interviewed about their caffeine consumption recording those who changed their drinking patterns and those who didn’t. All participant women were followed to 20 weeks of pregnancy or until miscarriage.

Increased risk of miscarriage was associated to consumption of 200 milligrams or more of caffeine per day (just over one cup of coffee).  The effect was the same with plain coffee or other caffeine-containing beverages such as fizzy drinks, tea and hot chocolate. The research team, who published thair work in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2007.10.803), said that caffeine constricts blood vessels, and this effect may be restricting blood flow to the placenta.

They say it is also possible that caffeine may have a toxic effect on the fetus. Although the conclusion is not firm, they suggest pregnant women to avoid caffeine during pregnancy. “It’s not a big sacrifice”, after all.

Adapted from newscientist.com

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Arsenic is a toxic element that is present in many water streams that supply human populations with drinking water. In some places the amount of arsenic in the water is very high and causes severe toxicologic problems. This is especially problematic in regions of Bangladesh and India, where contaminated water sources affect millions.

A recent study carried out in the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Kolkata by Keya Chaudhuri and colleagues used rats to test the effect of garlic on arsenic poisoning. The rats were given daily doses of arsenic in their water, in quantities similar to those occurring in groundwater in Bangladesh and West Bengal. The groups of rats that were also fed garlic extracts had 40 per cent less arsenic in their blood and liver. They were also fount to excrete 45 per cent more arsenic in their urine. The work was published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology (DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2007.09.108).

About the mechanism by which garlic may be helping, Dr Chaudhuri says that certain compounds that contain sulphur present in garlic could be “scavenging” arsenic from tissues and blood. Based on her findings, she thinks having one to three garlic cloves a day may help people living in risk areas to prevent or reduce the toxic effects of arsenic.

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QualityHealth is one of those resources that seem to have an answer for virtually every question related to health issues so it is a great address to have in our Internet bokmarks. Information at QualityHealth is arranged among about two dozen Health Centers, each dedicated to a specific subject such as Cancer, Osteoporosis, Allergies, Asthma, Depression, Nutrition, Epilepsy and many more. Each center is loaded with accurate and up-to-date information aimed to the general public. But this is where the similarity to other websites ends. HealthQuality also hosts several Suport Groups where people can post questions, concerns or comments about issues like ADHD, insomnia, diabetes, pain management and many more.

Ask your Doctor… the right questions!

Another great section is Ask Your Doctor. By signing up to this free service, you’ll receive lists of questions to ask your doctor. As many of us often forget many of the questions we’d like to ask to our Doctors, this lists are a great thing to take with us when visiting our Doctor. The questions are tailored to your specific concerns and are designed to get the most out of your appointment.

The reference section is a real treasure box. The A-Z “conditions” and “medications” lists have literally thousands of entries with useful information and advice about diseases, symptoms and medications. The latter come especially handy when you are in doubt about taking or not certain pill when experiencing a symptom.

Real added value: Fill your cabinet with free samples

By signing up the QualityHealth email list you’ll receive periodically free samples from dozens of Pharmaceutical, Health, Wellness and Fitness providers that will keep you stocked for the season. Also, the emails come with rebates, valuable discount coupons, offers, articles, recipes and many more free gifts for you and your family. The free samples are actual products and not just promotional gimmicks. Some examples of samples are Robitussin, Nexium and Alavert. Considering that OTC products are not covered by health insurance, these samples are a great way to save! Click here to get your FREE HEALTHY SAMPLES from Qualityhealth.com. !

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A link between obesity and diabetes has been take for granted for a long time, but the exact relationship has been elusive. New evidence suggest that excess fat may be contributing to the accumulation of pollutants that eventually influence the appearance of tye 2 diabetes.

Certain pollutants present in the environment tend to accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals. An example if these substances in PCB, which occurs in many types of electrical equipment. Another example is the pesticide DDT, which in spite of being banned still persists in the environment. Some pollutants are directly conmumed by people, and in other cases they are ingested by animals, entering the food chain and end up in people as well.

Researchers at the Kyungpook National University in South Korea found out that people that had elevated levels of six different kinds of pollutants in their fatty tissues had more chances to develop diabetes than people with low levels of these pollutants (for more info see New Scientist, 30 September 2006, p 18). This study was backed by further evidence suggesting a link between PCB and some pesticides and development of insulin resistance in non-diabetics. The hypothesis is that fat people will tend to accumulate more pollutants as their fat acts as a storage agent. Although the theory is appealing, other investigators warn that the relationship is much more complex and other factors may be at play.

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University of Illinois scientist Elvira de Mejia conducted a study that showed that  mate tea drinkers increased the activity of enzymes that improve HDL (good) cholesterol and lower LDL (bad) cholesterol. “Yerba mate” is a traditional infusion drunk in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and regions of Chile and Brazil. “Ilex paraguayensis, the mate plant has been grown and consumed for centuries. Dr Mejia has signed a five-year agreement with La Universidad Nacional de Misiones (UNaM, national University of Misiones) to carry out a collaborative study to assess 84 genotypes of mate tea for their ability to provide benefits on cholesterol and other health factors. Both cultivated and wild varieties will be included in the study.

In the September issue of the specialized journal Planta Medica, Dr mejia said that their studies show that some of the most important antioxidant enzymes in the body experience induction by this mate herbal tea, and since Argentina has so many different mate varieties, they’ll perform more comparisons between the various genotypes. They’ll be also able to explore the benefits of cultivating under different conditions.

The aim is not only identifying the most beneficial genotypes of the herbal tea in terms of nutrition value, but also help Argentine producers to improve drying and processing of mate tea to achieve better extraction of the tea’s bioactive compounds.

“Food companies are very interested in adding tea extracts to juices, soda, and even beer to increase the nutritional value of their products,” she said.

Adapted from http://www.eurekalert.org/

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