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Fish Oil Might Help Fight Gum Disease

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Even moderate amounts of omega-3 fats may help ward off gum disease, according to new research.

Researchers divided nearly 9,200 adults into three groups based on their omega-3 consumption.

Dental exams showed that those in the middle and upper third for consumption of the omega-3’s DHA and EPA were 23 percent to 30 percent less likely to have gum disease.

Business Week reports:

“About 54 percent of men and 46 percent of women over age 30 in the United States experience gingival bleeding, the earliest sign of periodontal disease … In the general population, about 11 percent of adults aged 50 to 64 have moderate or severe periodontitis, rising to 20 percent of those over age 75.”

Resources:
Business Week October 26, 2010
Journal of the American Dietetic Association November 2010; 110(11):1669-75 ?

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Is Red Meat’s Bad Name Justified?

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The news for red meat seems to be getting worse and worse.

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In December, a survey of more than 494,000 people by the National Institutes of Health found that men who ate more than 5 ounces of red meat each day and women who ate more than 3 ounces had a 51% greater risk of esophageal cancer, 61% of liver cancer and 24% of colorectal cancer than those who ate less than an ounce of red meat daily

In October 2007, the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, two charities that fund research on the effects of diet and activity on cancer risk, declared that the evidence linking red meat consumption and colorectal cancer was “convincing.”

And though previous reports for breast cancer have been contradictory overall, findings published in July from a Harvard study of more than 39,000 young nurses suggested that the risk of getting breast cancer before menopause goes up for every extra daily serving of red meat a woman ate as a teenager, a time period that had not been studied before.

Add the numerous studies linking red meat to other cancers, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and even Alzheimer’s disease, and it sounds like the hamburger you had for lunch might as well have been laced with rat poison.

In fact, there is a place for red meat in a healthful diet, scientists say, but they recommend choosing smaller portions of lean cuts and cooking them well but not at high temperatures.

The question is which meat components are responsible for the observed health risks. Scientists have several theories, though none seems to tell the whole story.

Red meat can contain a lot of saturated fats and cholesterol, known contributors to cardiovascular disease. “We know that dementia is strongly related to vascular disease, so it’s likely we’ll find a relationship there as well,” says Dr. Walter Willett, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Contributing factors
Meat from commercially raised livestock also contains a high amount of omega-6 fats, which have been associated with poor cardiovascular health, but a low amount of omega-3 fats, which may be protective.

Another potential culprit is the iron in meat. Iron is essential for health, but iron from meat comes in a different form than that from vegetables and legumes, one that is absorbed whether the body needs it or not. “This type of iron can cause oxidative damage to all the components of the cell — the protein, lipid, DNA, RNA,” says Al Tappel, professor emeritus of food science at UC Davis.

Many of the studies that found an association between meat consumption and health risks did not differentiate between unprocessed meat, such as a steak, and processed or cured meats such as salami, bacon, pepperoni, bologna and hot dogs. Chemicals in processed meats may account for some of the cancer risk.

Finally, high-temperature cooking methods, such as grilling over charcoal, can cause the formation of known carcinogens such as heterocyclic amines, or HCAs, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs.

Mary Young, a registered dietitian from the Centennial, Colo.-based National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn., says that a study it commissioned on the science of red meat reached a very different conclusion (the study has not yet been published). “Red meat does not cause cancer,” she says. “Beef is really one of the most underappreciated nutrient-rich foods out there” — rich in protein and eight other nutrients, including B vitamins and zinc.

Some scientists, too, think that the risk of red meat has been overplayed. “The proof is not as strong as some people would like to think,” says Iowa State University animal science professor Don Beitz. “Cancer is such a multifactorial [problem]. I don’t see how one can just pin it on certain pollutants or nutrients.”

Rock-hard conclusions require carefully controlled, long-term, well-defined studies of many people. Each one of these requirements can be difficult to meet, so scientists rely heavily on epidemiological studies in which the normal habits of large numbers of people are tracked, often pooling the results of multiple studies.

But unlike lab rats, humans don’t live in a perfectly controlled environment, which makes it difficult to determine if it’s meat or something else in the diet or environment that leads to an observed cancer risk. Also, some studies ask people to recall what they ate years ago, and many studies don’t even define red meat the same way.

Even when a correlation between meat consumption and illness is found, the effect can be significant but small. In the December 2007 study, for example, high meat consumption resulted in only a 50% increased risk of developing esophageal cancer — by way of comparison, smoking can increase a person’s risk of developing lung cancer by 1,000% or more.

But to dismiss all risks because of inconsistencies in the research is unreasonable, Willett says. “That’s exactly the same argument used by cigarette manufacturers to say that smoking is not harmful. . . . The perfect study will never be done. The next best thing will be epidemiology.”

Scientists generally agree that lean red meat has a place in a healthful diet — in moderation. Studies showing increased cancer risks have mostly focused on high meat intake; the greatest risk increases are for those eating far more than the USDA-recommended limit of 18 ounces per week.

“One approach is to treat red and processed meat as a treat and not a regular staple,” said Dr. Michael J. Thun, vice president of epidemiology and surveillance research at the American Cancer Society

Moderation, it appears, is not the American way. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2006 the average American consumed 95 pounds of beef and 64 pounds of pork — about 7 ounces of red meat a day.

To sidestep some health concerns without giving up steak, some consumers have turned to grass-fed beef, which studies have shown to contain a heart-healthier ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.

Meanwhile, scientists are looking to make beef more healthful via selective breeding.

The amount of specific nutrients in steaks from two animals of the same breed can vary by a factor of two or three, Beitz says. He and others in a group of researchers known as the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium hope to find genetic markers for a host of nutrients, including omega-3 and other beneficial fats, zinc and vitamins B6 and B12. The research, sponsored by Pfizer Animal Science, would help animal breeders look at animals’ genetic profiles to select ones with the best nutritional composition.

“In a way, we’re trying to allow people to indulge themselves to a greater extent than to moderate,” said James Reecy, an Iowa State geneticist also involved in the project.

The same technique could be used to limit the unhealthy components of meat as well, such as specific saturated fats. Cattle breeders have already begun doing this, Reecy says.

Willett isn’t convinced that these efforts will eradicate the health risks that come from consuming red meat. “You may make it healthier in one way, but you’re unlikely to fix all the problems at the same time,” he says.

Click to see:->Red Meat Does and Doesnot

Sources:Los Angles Times

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Simple Secrets of Happiness

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Being happy is really a choice we make. The secret of Happiness is simple, very simple – what is it?

You decide if you want to be happy!
We all strive for happiness in life. Like many, you probably think achievements such as education, marriage, family and social/financial status make you happy.

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However, studies of happiness in several countries have found that these achievements have little to do with your happiness. For millions of people, happiness has remained a rather elusive goal. They’ve tried to buy happiness.

They’ve sought it through materialistic and pleasurable activities such as buying a new SUV or going on vacation. But nothing has seemed to work. For most people these changes, new possessions or temporary pleasures, might work for a while but will eventually become part of your status quo, and their power to deliver happiness will fade.

Researchers now strongly believe that your brains is hard-wired in ways that, at least to some degree, determine just how happy you’re going to be. Some psychologists believe happiness is genetic. Other scientists say they may have located an important area of the brain where happiness is generated. As powerful as these genetic predispositions may be, happiness is still partly within your control, says David Myers, PhD, the John Dirk Werkman Professor of Psychology at Hope College in Holland, Mich. “It’s rather like our cholesterol level — genetically influenced, yet also influenced by our habits and attitudes.”

While these ideas are debated, you don’t have to wait to begin discovering happiness within yourself. You see happiness comes from your social relationships, enjoyable work, fulfillment, high self-esteem, a sense that your life has meaning, and joining civic and other groups.

Your life is sprinkled with ample opportunities for discovering happiness. Search for the small things that give you a little laugh or a smile. Take time to be with your family and friends. In the long run, these are the treasures that will enhance your happiness, not some grand achievements that only give you a lift for a short while.

One way to steer your life toward happiness is simply to count your blessings. Happy people know that they don’t get to be happy all the time. They can appreciate brief moments, little victories, small miracles, and the personal interactions that bring real happiness.

Research has proven that happy people live longer, are healthier, are more successful, enjoy more fulfilling relationships, earn more money, and are liked and respected more.

What is Happiness and How Do You Achieve It?
Happiness seems to be a selfish goal. Happiness doesn’t depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely upon what you think. So start each day by thinking of all the things you have to be thankful for. Your future depends very largely on the thoughts you think today. So think positive thoughts of hope, confidence, love and success. You can be happy if you are a productive and useful member of society, share with others and help unselfishly.

Most experts agree that there are no shortcuts to happiness. Even the happy people do not experience joy twenty-four hours a day. A happy person can have a bad day but still experience pleasure in the small things in life. If you’re not feeling happy today, fake it. In experiments, people who were manipulated to smile actually felt happier.

Don’t postpone happiness until you reach a certain goal, like getting a promotion or pay raise to go on vacation. Studies show that these effects are short-lived. Don’t focus on negative thoughts; balance that by consciously spending a few minutes every day thinking about the good things in your life. Like eating a balanced meal or getting enough rest, practice this everyday and, each day, try to extend the time you spend on positive thoughts.

Everybody has their own characteristics that lead them in different directions towards happiness. Perhaps, at best, these discussions are useful to provoke thoughts and reactions, which might help you to focus on what can be done to make your own life consistently happy.

Again, there is no rule or special formula that can make a person constantly happy. Instead, happiness comes from developing positive social relationships, enjoyable work, fulfillment, a sense that life has meaning, and joining civic and other social groups.

Take time to meditate, or say a prayer, thanking almighty God for all you have. A spiritual dimension is an essential component of happiness.

Can Money Buy You Happiness?
A lot of people share a fairly common misconception. They believe that having lots of money can make you happy. Some even say that the more money you have, the happier you can be. Others believe that having money is not spiritually or socially acceptable, and that money is the root cause of all evil.

Are any of these beliefs really true? To answer this question, begin by asking yourself what money means to you, and how do you treat it when you have it?

Depending on how it is used, money can create powerful, positive changes in the world. Having money allows us to function more easily in the world, it buys food, clothes, provides comfort in our lives and in the lives of others. However, because attachment to money is based on fear, it always creates insecurity.

The desire to have more money, and thereby feel more secure, never ends. Security can never come from money alone. Some of the people who have the most money are also the most insecure. Does this mean you must give up the desire to attain wealth?

Not necessarily.
In and of itself money is neither good nor bad. It is what we choose to do with money that determines if it will have a positive effect on others, society, the world, and ourselves.

So, it cannot be said that money is essential for happiness. But, most people recognize that money is important in the 21st Century because it can give people comfort and freedoms. But, does raising a nation’s income, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), raise the population’s overall level of happiness?

Intuitively, you’d think the answer is a definite yes.
However, a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal found otherwise. Other studies also show that, in many countries, “although economic output has risen steeply over the past decades, there has been no rise in life satisfaction and there has been a substantial increase in depression and distrust.”

For example, since World War II, GDP per capita in the U.S. has tripled, but life satisfaction (measured by surveys that ask something like, “overall, how satisfied are you with your life?”) has barely changed.

Also Japan and Western Europe had a tremendous rise in GDP per capita since 1958, yet measures of national happiness have been flat. One reason may be that a rising economy produces rising aspirations. There are many villages in the world where people do not own shoes but the people are extremely happy and friendly.

How to Bring Happiness in Your Life
“Don’t worry, be happy.” This sounds like such a simplistic phrase, but there is great power and wisdom in it. This tells us to focus on what we want rather than what we don’t want. When we focus on what we want, our actions take us nearer to our goals in life.

One way to guide your life toward happiness is simply to count your blessings. Dr. Myers points to research showing that people who pause each day to reflect on the positive aspects of their lives (for example, their health, friends, family, education, freedom) are more likely to experience positive feelings and happiness.

Principles of happiness.
1) Improve your relationships with friends and family – Happiness starts at home. Start by improving your relationship with your parents, brothers, sisters, and children. Smile when you greet them, do things for them, don’t allow them to get angry with you. Maintaining healthy loving relationships and friendships can promote happiness. Remember that love makes you beautiful.

2) Be an optimist – Optimism generates good feelings.

3) Develop a genuine smile and laugh a lot – Act happy – It works. Smile into the mirror for a half hour without stopping. Smiling makes you happy and the more you smile the more happy you become. We all like people who smile. It also makes us more attractive.

4) Pray – Become religious or spiritual – This only works if you believe in God. If you want to be happy then ask God to make you happy. Prayer helps you accomplish things.

5) Be generous and share with others – Give more than you receive because being generous will make you happy.

6) Treat time as a friend – Don’t watch the clock.

7) Exercise your mind – Keep yourself busy with some new project or ideas.

8) Work your body – Exercise regularly. Studies show that aerobic exercise is an antidote for mild depression and anxiety. “Happy minds reside in sound bodies,” says Dr. Myers.

9) Have fun in life – Keep cool under pressure.

10) Pursue achievable goals.

11) Have high confidence in yourself.

12) Respect the disadvantaged.

13) Age gracefully.

14) Give compliments – Take every opportunity to be complimentary. Want to make someone like you? Every time you meet a person smile and give them a compliment.

15) Be honest – With honesty comes openness. People respect honest and open minded people.

16) Keep an open mind – Most people seem to think that they know everything that they need to know. There’s plenty of wisdom to go around.

17) Treat difficulties as challenges –Life’s an adventure and every obstacle in life is one of its challenges. Treat life as a game. What fun would a game be if you could never lose?

Conclusion
Being happy is really a choice we make. The secret of Happiness is simple, very simple – what is it? You decide if you want to be happy! Happiness is free. You can feel happiness, this very minute, if you so choose.

If you continue to focus all your energy and attention on what you want, you’ll soon find yourself happy. Realize now that true happiness results from sharing generously of yourself, your mind, emotion and spirit, with all those who come in contact with you.

Be an optimist.
Do kind deeds for others unselfishly. Explore the deeper resources within you by praying to God from your heart. Through sincere prayer and mindful meditation you will attain the highest achievement in life – the discovery of your eternal happiness with God.

We need to set our goals wisely and to develop happy-thought strategies and to surround ourselves with encouraging and positive people.

Pursuing truth, wisdom and a virtuous life – or just getting on with the duties and chores of daily life at work and home, often brings happiness as a by-product. Every one’s ultimate goal is to bring happiness to all friends, family and all souls that come in contact with .

That will make both you and me happy!

(Taken From the writings of Darshan Goswami, M.S., PE)

Considering the fact that one of the more potent ways to optimize your health — creating more happiness in your life — beats disease naturally, why wouldn’t you want to do whatever you can to manifest positive emotions?

The good news is that you can learn to deal with, and process emotional trauma and setbacks naturally, spiritually, and without drugs, by making some changes to your attitude and your daily routine.

Happiness will not only protect your body from stressors that can lead to coronary heart disease down the road, but it can even boost your immune system’s ability to fight off the common cold.

How Do You Measure Happiness?

Happiness is actually a fairly popular topic of scientific evaluation. There are quite a few experts with views on what happiness is, and how you create, or sabotage your own happiness.

Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert is one such expert, whose research has found that you can ‘synthesize’ happiness. That you have a subconscious ‘psychological immune system’ that helps you change your views about your world, which leads to being more satisfied with what you have. And being “satisfied,” feeling that you have “enough,” will remove many of your negative energy drains.

Are you satisfied with “enough”? Then you’re probably already happier than most.

Another take is that by British psychologist, Adrian White with the University of Leicester, who published the first “world map of happiness  in 2007.

Based on a compilation of data from more than 100 studies in the field of happiness research, Denmark comes out at the top as the happiest nation out of 178 countries, followed by Switzerland and Austria, with the United States ranking in 23rd place.

White, A. (2007). A Global Projection of Subjective Well-being: A Challenge To Positive Psychology? Psychtalk 56, 17-20.

This map rates happiness based on a subjective “state of well-being” (SWB), conceptualized as a sense of satisfaction with your life, both in general and in specific areas such as relationships, health and work.

It is immediately evident that there is an effect of poverty on levels of SWB. However, White’s research found that SWB correlated most strongly with health, closely followed by wealth and access to basic education.

The fact that the U.S. ranked lower than countries like Iceland and Bhutan can perhaps be explained by our tragically flawed healthcare system with its excessive over-medicating, which has led to an epidemic of poor health, effectively reducing your state of well-being and overall happiness.

Tying Happiness to Your Personal Mission
For most people, it is very difficult to define what truly makes you happy. So I want to reiterate a definition that you can grasp and apply to your life with greater ease.

Happiness can be identified as “whatever gets you excited.” Happiness is that which makes you jump out of bed in the morning with eager anticipation to start your day. Once you identify that activity, whatever it is, you can start focusing your mind around that so you can structure you life to do more of it.

Personally, my happiness is tied to my mission to catalyze the change of the entire fatally flawed health paradigm. This is what makes me greatly anticipate every morning, and it is the driving force that allows me to truly enjoy the extensive hours of my “work” weeks.

Health + Happiness = Your Best Life

Health and happiness are indeed intertwined, and if good health promotes happiness, and vice versa, then you can optimize both by limiting your options to the basics — that which is natural — and realizing there’s no “magic pill” for either.

In reality, you only need to focus on a few very basic things to optimize your health, which will spill over into increased feelings of happiness and well being:

1.Address emotional traumas and practice gratitude
2.Get optimal sun exposure
3.Drink pure water
4.Avoid toxins
5.Eat the right fats
6.Eat right for your Nutritional Type
7.Eat raw foods – Avoid sugar and processed foods
8.Control your insulin and leptin
9.Exercise
10.Sleep properly

Begin to see your life as one whole, where you indeed have the power to affect change in each and every area, and remember that positive changes in one field of activity affects all the others, and you’ll be well on your way to creating the life you deserve; one of health, physical and emotional well being, and personal purpose.

(Taken from Dr. Mercola’s Comments on Happiness)

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Exercise Without Really Trying: 4 Ideas

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Simple ways to make burning calories second nature.

Burning calories becomes something you never need to think about when you incorporate movement into most moments of your day. Here’s how to spend less time counting calories:

1. Get on the vacuum program. Make vacuuming a total body exercise by stepping forward in a slightly longer-than-usual stride as you move the carpet machine forward while keeping your back straight, then stepping back as you draw the unit toward you again. At the same time you work the muscles of your legs with this lunge-like motion, roll the vacuum cleaner forward with your arms, which uses your shoulder, chest, arm, and upper back for a near-complete workout that contains elements of both strength and aerobic conditioning....CLICK & SEE

2. Make every movement count. Fidgeting burns hundreds of calories a day, according to studies at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and even chewing gum eats up 11 calories an hour. So don’t lose sight of the fact that any form of physical activity — no matter how small — helps your body burn calories. More ways to get movement into your everyday life:

Always stand up and walk around when on the telephone.

Always stand up and walk around during television commercials.

Chop your vegetables by hand, rather than using a food processor.

While in the car, roll your shoulders and stretch your arms at red lights.

Whenever you have music on, tap your toes or bounce your knee to the rhythm.

Insist on bagging your own groceries at the food store.

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3. Get two workouts in one. You can burn a substantial amount of extra calories during a strength workout if you move quickly from one exercise to the next. By keeping in motion rather than resting between exercises, you are combining strengthening with aerobic exercise, greatly boosting your energy burn. Key trick: Alternate between upper- and lower-body moves, so you give just-exercised muscles time to rest.

4. Track your metabolism. Even if you boost your metabolism, how would you know? It’s largely been a matter of guesswork or cumulative results on the bathroom scale. Now, however, health providers and fitness centers can help clients track their resting metabolic rate (RMR) — the basic measure of metabolism — using a new device called the BodyGem. When you breathe into the handheld inhaler-like unit for a few minutes, your current RMR pops up on a digital readout, giving you a calorie goal for both diet and exercise — and a tangible way to check on your progress. To find healthcare professionals or gyms using the BodyGem, check a locator feature on the manufacturer’s website, www.healthetech.com.

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From :The Everyday Arthritis Solution

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Many US kids too fat by preschool

: Far too many kids are fat by preschool, and Hispanic youngsters are most at risk, says new research that is among the first to focus on children growing up in poverty.

The study couldn’t explain the disparity: White, black and Hispanic youngsters alike watched a lot of TV, and researchers spotted no other huge differences between the families.

But one important predictor of a pudgy preschooler was whether the child was still using a bottle at the stunning age of 3, concluded the study being published online on Thursday by the American Journal of Public Health.

“These children are already disadvantaged because their families are poor, and by age 3 they are on track for a lifetime of health problems related to obesity,” said lead researcher Rachel Kimbro of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Some 17% of US youngsters are obese, and millions more are overweight. Obesity can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, sleep problems and other disorders — and the problem starts early.

Overweight preschoolers have a five times higher risk of being fat at age 12 than do lean preschoolers, scientists reported last fall.

Kimbro focused on the poor, culling data on more than 2,000 3-year-olds from a study that tracks from birth children born to low-income families in 20 large US cities.

Thirty-two per cent of the white and black tots were either overweight or obese, vs 44% of the Hispanics.

Children were particularly at risk if their mothers were obese. So were those who still took a bottle to bed at age 3, as did 14% of the Hispanic youngsters, 6%of the whites and 4% of the blacks. It supports other research that one of the most common causes of overweight in children is overfeeding.

Source:The Times Of India

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