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Healthy Tips

Washing Hands Properly Stops Contagious Disease to Spread

Most people know that washing your hands can help to prevent passing on nasty viruses and bacteria. But how many people just flick their hands under a dribbling tap and think that will do? Now hopeless hand washers will be caught with glowing green fingers by a good hand-washing test.
………….-washing-hands
A new hand-washing training kit uses a cream containing a harmless dye that glows green in ultraviolet light to show up shoddy hand washing. Demonstrators put a blob of cream on people’s hands and send them away to wash them. When they come back, they are often amazed at how much glowing green dye remains on their fingers. If the dye were a microbe, they would be standing a good chance of infecting themselves and passing it on to other people.

The glowing cream can also be used to show how viruses such as those that cause colds and flu can survive on hard surfaces and be spread from hand to hand. Just touching a doorknob that has had a little of the special cream applied to it can make people’s fingers turn green under UV light — and then when they touch another person’s hand the green glow gets passed on.

Sources:
Science Daily June 3, ’09
Society for General Microbiology June3,’09

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Healthy Tips

The Best & Healthy Way to Eat Eggs

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Raw, hands down…. that many of you, especially women, will find this particularly difficult to accept. This is primarily because of the slimy texture but if you whip them up in a shake you won’t even know they are there.

Raw eggs are better because cooking them will damage the valuable nutrients like lutein and zeaxanthin, bioflavanoids present in egg yolk that are incredibly important for your vision.

Heating the egg protein also changes its chemical shape, and the distortion can easily lead to allergies.

Further, when an egg is overcooked, such as when it is scrambled, the cholesterol in it becomes oxidized, or rancid, and oxidized cholesterol can increase your levels of inflammation and lead to numerous health problems.

So if you want to get the maximum health benefits that eggs have to offer, choose organic varieties and eat them raw. The next best would be soft-boiled and then sunny-side up, with the yolk still very runny.

If you are worried about getting salmonella from eating raw eggs, as many people initially are, please read my past article on the topic — Raw Eggs for Your Health — to address your concerns. The risk is actually very, very small.

Remember the MYTH :Brown eggs are better than white eggs.  Fact:NOT TRUE : The nutritional content of egg has got nothing to do with the outer  shell colour.

Related Links:
Eggs are the Better Breakfast Choice
A Novel Way to Consume Raw Eggs
Eggs-aggerated Health Myth Debunked

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News on Health & Science

Pomegranate Ranked Healthiest Fruit Juice

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles have ranked 10 beverages according to their antioxidant levels.

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Currently, claims of superior antioxidant activity on beverages can be misleading, as the testing is usually based on a limited spectrum of antioxidant activities.

To get to the bottom of which beverages are best, they used four tests of antioxidant potency, a test of antioxidant functionality, and an evaluation of the total polyphenol content of polyphenol-rich beverages in the marketplace. Here is how the rankings turned out:

1. Pomegranate juice
2. Red wine
3. Concord grape juice
4. Blueberry juice
5. Black cherry juice
6. Açaí juice
7. Cranberry juice
8. Orange juice
9. Tea
10. Apple juice

A Closer Look at Antioxidant-Rich Juices

Pomegranate Juice
Pomegranate is the healthiest of them all, because it contains the most of every type of antioxidant. It may protect against some cancers, such as prostate cancer. It might also modify heart disease risk factors.

Concord Grape Juice
Concord grape juice is a source of very potent antioxidants. There’s some research indicating it may be good for your heart and help reduce blood pressure.

Blueberry Juice
Blueberry juice contains lots of antioxidants and fiber, and is very high in vitamin C. There’s some indication that blueberries may have a beneficial effect on age-related cognitive abilities.

Black Cherry Juice
Not only is it high in antioxidants, but there is evidence that black cherry juice can diminish exercise-induced muscle injuries.

Cranberry Juice
It’s also high in antioxidants and vitamin C. There is evidence that it can decrease the incidence of urinary tract infections.

Sources:
Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry 2008; 56(4): 1415-1422
CBS News July 5, 2008

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Featured

Why Tofu Wrecks Your Brain

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Eating high levels of some soy products, such as tofu, could raise the risk of memory loss. A study that examined more than 700 elderly Indonesians found that high tofu consumption (at least once a day) was associated with worse memory, particularly among those over age 68.

Soy contains phytoestrogens, which may heighten the risk of dementia.

However, tempeh, a fermented soy product made from the whole soy bean, has been associated with better memory. This could be related to the fact that it contains high levels of the vitamin folate, which is known to reduce dementia risk.

Sources:
BBC News July 4, 2008
Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders June 27, 2008; 26(1):50-57 [Epub Ahead of Print]

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Mayonnaise Does Not Spoil Food

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Food poisoning typically increases during the summer, and one ingredient that always attracts suspicion is mayonnaise.

But most mayonnaise contains vinegar and other ingredients that make it acidic, and therefore very likely to protect against spoilage. When problems occur, they usually result from low-acid ingredients like chicken and seafood.

One study published in The Journal of Food Protection found that in the presence of mayonnaise, the growth of salmonella and staphylococcus bacteria in contaminated chicken and ham salad slowed down or stopped completely. The more mayonnaise used, the more the rate of growth decreased.


Sources: New York Times July 1, 2008

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