Month: January 2008

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News on Health & Science

Leafy Veggies Reduce Cataract Risk

You can’t avoid cataract. But you can reduce the risk of developing the medical condition by eating leafy vegetables everyday.

Researchers in the United States have carried out a study and found that leafy vegetables contain zeaxanthin and lutein — carotenoids with antioxidant properties — lower the chance of developing cataract in people, particularly women, by filtering harmful blue light.

“The oxidative hypothesis of cataract formation posits that reactive oxygen species can damage lens proteins and fibre cell membranes and that nutrients with antioxidant capabilities can protect against these changes,” according to lead researcher William G. Christen of Harvard Medical School.

In fact, the researchers came to the conclusion after analysing the dietary data of 35,551 female health workers who enrolled in the Women’s Health Study in 1993.

All the participants were kept under medical watch for a period of ten years and the diets of those who developed cataracts were compared with the meals of those who did not get the condition. A total of 2,031 women developed cataracts during the study.

When the participants were divided into five groups based on the amount of lutein and zeaxanthin they consumed, those in the group who consumed the most (6,716 micrograms per day) had an 18 per cent lower chance of developing cataracts than those who consumed the least (1,177 micrograms per day).

Sources:The Times Of India

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Positive thinking

Worth The Time

Meditating More When Our Plates Are Full
Ironically, when we get busy, the first thing that tends to get cut back is our meditation practice. We have less time and a lot on our plates, so it makes sense that this happens, but in the end it doesn’t really help us. Most of us know from experience that we function much better when we give ourselves time each day to sit in silence. And the more we have to do, the more we need that solitary, quiet time for the day ahead. As a result, while it may sound counterintuitive, it is during busy times that we most need to spend more time in meditation rather than less. By being quiet and listening to the universe, we will be given what we need to get through our day.

Expanding our morning meditation by just 10 minutes can make a big difference, as can the addition of short meditations into our daily schedule. The truth is, no matter how busy we are, unless we are in the midst of a crisis we always have five or 10 minutes to spare. The key is convincing ourselves that spending that time in meditation is the most fruitful choice. We could be getting our dishes done or heading into work earlier instead, so it’s important that we come to value the importance of meditation in the context of all the other things competing for attention in our lives. All we have to do to discover whether it works to meditate more when we are busy is to try it.

We can start by creating more time in the morning, either by getting up earlier or by preparing breakfast the night before and using the extra time for meditation. We can also add short meditation breaks into our schedule, from five minutes before or after lunch to a meditation at night before we go to sleep. When we come from a place of centered calm, we are more effective in handling our busy schedules and more able to keep it all in perspective. If more time in meditation means less time feeling anxious, panicky, and overwhelmed, then it’s certainly worth the extra time.

Sources: Daily Om

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Why Bird Flu Has Been Kept At Bay

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Scientists say they have identified a key reason why bird flu has so far not posed a widespread menace to humans.So far, the H5N1 strain has mainly infected birds and poultry workers, but experts fear the virus could mutate to pass easily from human to human.
.The bird flu virus affecting poultry is the H5N1 strain

However, Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that to enter human respiratory cells the virus must first pick a very specific type of lock.

The study appears in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

The researchers say their discovery may help scientists better monitor changes in H5N1 – and find better ways to fight it.

Flu viruses attack by binding sugar chains, called glycans, that line the airways and lungs.

Latching on

The chemical linkages between the sugar molecules in these chains differ between humans and birds.

Until now it has been assumed that bird flu viruses would be adapt to humans simply by acquiring mutations that enable them to attach to the human types.

But Dr Ram Sasisekharan and colleagues found this step depends on the shape assumed by the flexible sugar chains rather than the type of linkage.

Bird flu viruses currently require cone-shaped glycans to infect birds, so the umbrella shape found in humans has protected most of us from avian flu.

This suggests that for the H5N1 bird flu virus to become pandemic it must adapt so that it can latch onto the umbrella-shaped glycans of the human upper respiratory tract.

Dr Jeremy Berg of the National Institutes of Health which funded the work said: “Sasisekharan’s team has changed our view of flu viruses and how they must adapt to infect us.

“The work may also improve our ability to monitor the evolution of the H5N1 virus and thwart potential outbreaks.”

Professor Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading, said: “This new work shows that there are sublevels of sugar that the virus prefers to use to get into cells and the authors suggest this is a significant factor in why H5N1 has not yet spread to humans.

“It provides a finer level of analysis than has been done so far but it is likely that other factors, like the reduced temperate of the human upper airway, also are involved.”

“It is likely that other factors, like the reduced temperate of the human upper airway, also are involved“

Professor Ian Jones of Reading University said

Sources: BBC NEWS, 25th. Jan ’08

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Omega-3 With High Fat Meal Eases Cardiovascular Changes

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Consuming the omega-3 eicosapentaenoic acid along with a high fat meal may counter the detrimental effects on arterial stiffness, suggests new research.

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The small study with 17 healthy men adds to an ever-growing body of science supporting the cardiovascular benefits of omega-3 consumption, which all started with Jörn Dyerberg, Hans Olaf Bang and Aase Brondum in the early 1970s.

Increased consumption of EPA, and the longer chain docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), has previously been linked to improved heart rhythms, reduced risk of a second heart attack, and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

Researchers form King’s College London investigated how ingestion of EPA with a high fat meal could affect vascular function post-prandially (after a meal) – something that has not previously been studied.

Wendy Hall and co-workers report their findings in the new issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

The volunteers were randomly assigned to consume a high fat meal (51 grams of fat per serving) with one meal containing only high-oleic sunflower oil (HOS) or HOS plus five grams of EPA. A one-week wash-out period was observed before the men consumed the other meal. On both occasions, a second high fat (44 grams of fat) was consumed four hours after the first.

Hall and co-workers report that, as could be expected, blood levels of EPA increased following the EPA-supplemented meal, peaking at 2.10 millimoles per litre (mm/L) five hours after consumption, while no such increases were observed in the HOS-only group.

Stiffness of the arteries, measured using digital volume pulse (DVP) to derive a stiffness index (DVP-SI), showed significant improvements after the EPA-supplement meal, compared to the control group, report the researchers. No differences between the HOS and HOS plus EPA meals were observed three hours after consumption, however.

“In conclusion, adding EPA to a high-fat meal results in acute changes in vascular tone, independent of changes in oxidative stress,” wrote Hall.

Supporting science
The study follows on the heels of similar results, published last September in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (doi: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602886), that supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids may improve the elasticity of blood vessels and improve overall cardiovascular health.

The older study reported improvements in arterial elasticity but no effect on blood pressure in overweight hypertensive patients.

This challenged previous studies that reported improvements in blood vessel elasticity, but also reductions in blood pressure and levels of inflammatory markers.

Such conflict in the science highlights the need for considerable further research into the area.

Sourcing concerns
The risk of pollutants from oily fish, such a methyl mercury, dioxins, and polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs) have led to some to advocate a reduction in fresh fish intake, despite others advising that the benefits of fish consumption outweigh the risks.

Such conflicting views on fish intake have seen the number of omega-3 enriched or fortified products on the market increase as consumers seek omega-3s from ‘safer’ sources. Most extracted fish oil is molecularly distilled and steam deodorised to remove contaminants.

But fears about dwindling fish stocks have pushed some industries to start extracting omega-3s from algae. Indeed, companies such as Martek Biosciences and Lonza are already offering algae-derived omega-3 DHA as a dietary supplement.

Source: Journal of Nutrition
February 2008, Volume 138, Pages 287-291
“A High-Fat Meal Enriched with Eicosapentaenoic Acid Reduces Postprandial Arterial Stiffness Measured by Digital Volume Pulse Analysis in Healthy Men”
Authors: W.L. Hall, K.A. Sanders, T.A.B. Sanders, P.J. Chowienczyk

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Attitude Follows Perspective

Shifting The Mood
We all have days when we are faced with chores, errands, or responsibilities that we don’t want to do. At times like these, it’s easy to get into a bad mood and stay in one as we tackle these tasks. However, given the fact that our bad mood will not change the fact that we have to do these things, and will most likely make things worse, we could also try to shift our attitude. Many wise people have pointed out that it is not so much what we do as it is how we do it that makes the difference in our lives.

It’s important when we’re facing something that’s really hard for us, whether it’s doing taxes, paying bills, or visiting a challenging relative, that we lovingly support ourselves through the process. The more supported we feel, the easier it is to open our minds to the idea that we could change our way of looking at the situation. In truth, most of the chores we don’t like doing are intimately intertwined with our blessings. When we remember this, we feel gratitude, which makes it hard to stay in a dark mood.

We can shift our attitude by considering how much we love our home as we clean it and how lucky we are to have a roof over our head. Any task can be transformed from a burden to a necessary aspect of caring for something we love. All we have to do is shift our perspective, and our attitude follows shortly behind.

Sources: Daily Om

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