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Health Alert

Reduce Sodium Intake, Reduce Heart Disease

Almost everything we eat contains at least a little sodium, although many foods, especially  the processed variety, contain way too much. Our bodies only need about 500 milligrams (mg)of sodium a day; although current dietary recommendations allow for 2,000 to 4,000 mg (1-2 teaspoons of salt), statistics show that the average adult consumes almost double that amount on a daily basis.

Limiting your sodium intake can reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, especially if you are overweight, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.Researchers estimated dietary sodium intake in 2,688 overweight subjects and 6,797 nonoverweight subjects, then assessed the incidence of and/or death from cardiovascular disease over 19 years of follow-up.

Results: Among overweight participants, a relatively small increase in sodium intake was
associated with substantial increases in disease risk: a 32% higher risk of stroke; a 44%
higher risk of heart disease; a 61% higher risk of death from heart disease; and a 39%
higher risk of death from all causes. Dietary sodium intake was not significantly associated
with cardiovascular disease risk in nonoverweight participants.

If you already have high blood pressure or a developing heart condition, restricting your
sodium intake is even more imperative. Your doctor can give you more information on sodium and provide nutritional guidelines suitable to your specific needs.

Source:ChiroFind.com

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Suppliments our body needs

Iodine

What is iodine?

Iodine is a trace mineral and essential nutrient. In its natural state, it is grayish-black in color and lustrous in appearance. It is commonly found in sea water; many soils located near coastal areas are also rich in iodine.

Why do you need it?

Iodine plays a crucial role in the normal function of the thyroid gland. It is also essential for the production of thyroid hormones, which in turn are necessary for maintaining normal cell metabolism.

How much iodine should you take?

According to the National Academy of Sciences, the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for iodine is as follows:

* Adult men: 150 micrograms/day
* Adult women: 150 micrograms/day
* Children aged 7-10: 120 micrograms/day
* Infants: between 40-50 micrograms/day
* Pregnant/lactating women: between 175-200 micrograms/day

What are some good sources of iodine?

Iodized salt is the primary food source of iodine. Iodine can also be found in seafood; kelp, cod, sea bass, haddock and perch are particularly good sources. Dairy products and vegetables grown in iodine-rich soil also contain large amounts of the mineral.

What can happen if you do not get enough iodine?

Iodine deficiency is uncommon in Western society; in fact, the typical Western diet contains about four times the recommended daily allowance of iodine. However, people who avoid dairy products, seafood, processed foods and iodized salt can become deficient.

Iodine deficiency can lead to decreased thyroid function, goiter, and cretinism, a condition marked by dry skin, swelling around the lips and nose, and impaired mental function.

What can happen if I take too much?

In addition to being linked to iodine deficiency, some studies suggest that goiter may also be caused by excessive iodine intake. Other studies have linked high amounts of iodine to an increased risk of thyroid cancer.

Source:ChiroFind.com

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News on Health & Science

Alternative Therapies Might Aid Fertility

Sandee Deppiesse and her husband, Scott, tried for three frustrating years to get pregnant. For their final desperate attempt, the couple tried acupuncture.

“My doctor gave me a 5 percent chance [of getting pregnant], given my age,” said Sandee, who is now 40. “And so I started looking, because I figured there had to be a way.”

“The longer things go, the more things you’re willing to try,” said Scott.

Sandee sought out San Francisco acupuncturist Angela Wu, who treated her with the ancient Chinese therapy.

“[Wu] just said, ‘I will get you pregnant. Don’t listen to those doctors,’ ” Sandee said.

More Western doctors are recommending acupuncture to couples with fertility problems. Dr. Vick Sahakian of UCLA believes it can reduce stress for women trying to get pregnant.

“It can improve pregnancy rates by improving blood flow to the uterus where the embryos are basically implanted,” he said.

A study by German researches found that women who used acupuncture while undergoing in-vitro fertilization increased their success rates by almost 50 percent. Sahakian said his own patients have expressed confidence in the procedure.

Tiffany Hecht is one of them. She was skeptical at first, but no longer.

“I can tell the difference from the last three in-vitros that I produced more eggs,” she said. “And to me, that is a huge sign that it is working.”

Mind-Body Program

Acupuncture is not the only alternative therapy available. A Harvard University mind-body fertility program is gaining popularity throughout the country.

The program encourages couples to share the feelings of frustration and shame associated with infertility.

“There is a lot of sadness that comes with it and a lot of pain and it’s really a lonely place to be,” said one woman in a support group.

The program also uses meditation and yoga techniques that help elicit a relaxation response to release hormones that aid reproduction.

“I think we try to control things and force them,” said psychologist Laurel Kline. “And you can’t force an egg and a sperm to get together and implant. I tell people that all the time. Part of it is you have to let go.”

The result, according to a Harvard study, is a 55 percent pregnancy rate for those who took the mind-body course.

Alternative therapies may still raise some eyebrows in the scientific community, but many of these couples say they have all the proof they need. The Depiesses say it worked for them — twice.

“I think I have two beautiful kids,” said Scott. “So yes, I believe.”

Sources: ABC News’ Judy Muller filed this report for World News

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News on Health & Science

SHOULD YOUNG WOMEN GET MAMMOGRAMS?

Research from The Lancet questions the benefit of women starting annual mammograms at age 40. New data from a large United Kingdom study of more than 160,000 women finds that mammogram screening in younger women may provide little benefit in terms of reducing breast cancer risk, while at the same time exposing women to more radiation and the possibility of false alarms. Overall, women in the 40s who received mammograms saw a small drop in breast cancer deaths, around 17 percent, a figure that was not statistically different from chance. Also, 23 percent of the women had at least one false alarm   higher than the rate of 12 percent seen in women in their 50s. A related editorial says that it’s not clear that women in the 40s get a net benefit from mammogram screening because the potential harms may offset any benefit, and that women should decide individually whether they want the peace of mind from screening or the possibility of unnecessary radiation exposure from additional mammograms.

Source:   ABC News

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News on Health & Science

Vaccinated Kids Protect Whole Family

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Kids are known for spreading germs.
When it comes to the flu, kids are 10 to 100 times more infectious than adults, experts say.

What if your child could be vaccinated at school with a simple nasal spray that would protect not only your child but your whole family?

According to a new study published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, flu vaccines for elementary school children can help reduce flu for the whole family.

In this study, children from 24 public elementary schools in the United States were assigned to get either a nasal-spray flu vaccine or no vaccine.

Families of those children who got the the flu vaccine had fewer flulike symptoms, visited doctors less frequently, and used less medication than families whose kid did not receive the flu vaccine, researchers say.

“Our study showed that not only did we protect the child by the flu vaccine — by doing a school-based vaccination program    we protected their families and probably the community as well,” said Dr. James King, lead author of the study and chief of general pediatrics at University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Another study published in the same issue of the journal indicated that flu vaccines offered good protection even when the vaccine was not a direct match to whatever virus was circulating in the environment.

This offers more support to the idea of vaccinating children to better protect families and communities against the flu.

Flu Vaccine Safe for Kids
The risks of giving kids flu vaccines are small, experts say.

“There are essentially no downsides to immunizing school kids,” said Dr. Gregory Poland, director of Mayo Vaccine Research Group in Rochester, Minn. “These data are important because they provide confirmatory data useful in constructing public health policy.”

“The risks of vaccination with available influenza virus vaccines are so minimal, while the likelihood of illness, even hospitalization and rarely death from influenza, are major and real,” said Dr. Samuel Katz, professor and chairman emeritus of pediatrics at Duke University Medical School in Durham, N.C.

Flu  Mist   a live, weakened type of flu vaccine used in this study   is not a shot but a spray delivered into the nostrils. This may make both parents and kids happy.

“No child got a needle. We were able to do this without disrupting activities,” King said.

Kids are biologically more infectious than adults and are infectious for longer periods of time, according to experts.

Some believe that by vaccinating kids, we are able to better protect our most vulnerable population    the elderly.
If kids are never infected, they can’t spread the flu to other people.

“Children are tremendous amplifiers of the flu,” King said. “A child is able to infect the family and the whole community much more effectively than an adult. By vaccinating kids, we can protect the elderly.”

“The benefits [of vaccinating children] are enormous,” said Dr. Robert Jacobson, chairman of the department of pediatric and adolescent medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “The elderly do not respond as well to the vaccine as young people. We can break the cycle and spread by vaccinating the younger people.”

Breaking the cycle, so to speak, would be a great step for public health.

Roughly 36,000 people die annually from the flu, experts estimate, even though it is a preventable disease. This study could even help shape vaccination priority policies in case of a pandemic influenza.

“Kids might be vaccinated first,” Poland said.
Because vaccinating kids appears to help protect the whole family, a flu vaccine sounds like the thing to do. But how hard is it to have your child vaccinated by the pediatrician?

“It will be very hard for private practitioners to vaccinate all the children in the fall,” King said.
“School-based flu shots will become a public health tool that we can use to vaccinate large numbers of children. In reality, this will help parents not miss any workdays to get their kids vaccinated,” King said.

Given the many advantages of vaccinating kids, experts say that school-based flu vaccination deserves nationwide consideration.

In fact, a number of school districts in California, Florida, Philadelphia and Tennessee have already adopted school-based vaccination program for kids.

The momentum is “increasing annually for a universal influenza virus vaccine recommendation for everyone,” Katz said.

“Public health officials and physicians should consider continuing to broaden flu vaccine recommendations. We should consider whether we as a country should move to universal flu vaccination of all schoolchildren,” Jacobson said.

School-based vaccination “represents sound, cost-effective public health practice designed to reduce illness, reduce hospitalization, and save lives in the community,” said Dr. John Modlin, chair of the department of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, N.H

For additional information on the Influenza Vaccine check out: www.uptodate.com

Source:ABC News.

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