Health Fitness Blog: Healthy Living

Showing posts with label Healthy Living. Show all posts

What role does magnesium play in the body

Magnesium is a silvery-white metallic element related to. Calcium and zinc, because magnesium is very light but also strong, alloys of it are used in aircraft, cars, ladders, portable tools and luggage. Magnesium is also the major mineral in asbestos, talcum powder and limestone fertilizer, 'Milk of magnesia' is a poorly absorbed form of magnesium that works by drawing water into the intestine.

TAVR Heart Procedure Called “Transformative” for Your Aortic Valve

A minimally invasive technique for aortic valve replacement has emerged as one of the most exciting innovations in heart care in decades.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) allows doctors to insert a prosthetic valve inside a damaged valve in the cath lab. It’s a lifesaving option for patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS), for whom surgery is considered too risky. But it’s not yet ready for everyone.

It's time to kick the habit of counting calories and look at the overall nutritional value of foods to promote better heart health and curb obesity, say experts.

Simple dietary adjustments such as boosting omega-3 fatty acid, olive oil and nut intake have all been associated with significant, positive changes to heart health in a short time, say the researchers in an editorial in the journal Open Heart.

For the almost twenty years I’ve known him, Oz Garcia, Ph.D., my close friend (and superstar nutritionist to the stars), has sworn by a little-known supplement named ENADA, calling it the ultimate energy supplement.

“It’s one of the most rehabilitating supplements I’ve ever come across”, he told me.

ENADA has actually changed names and is now known as Co-E1 NADH. It’s an unwieldy name, but a terrific product. People who love it have called it “: biological rocket fuel”. A number of studies have shown that it can significantly improve at least four recognized symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome, including unexplained tiredness, difficulty thinking, sleep disturbances, and headaches or sore throats.

Researchers at the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center, Weill Cornell Medical College, found that it significantly improved measures of cognitive performance following a night of total sleep deprivation. Athletes use Co-E1 NADH to increase muscular energy supply. My friend Oz uses it all the time before he goes running.

Marigold is a hairy annual herb, growing to about 50 cm high. The lower leaves of the plant are star shaped and the base of the upper leaves surround the stem. The plant has large, solitary and stout flower heads, flat and spreading flowers of the outer whorl, with color varying yellow to deep orange. The fruits are curved, with the lower parts having sharp point and upper part crested and slightly beaked.

The main constituents of the herb are carotenoids, resin, essential oil, flavonoids, sterol, saponins and mucilage.

Healing Power
Marigold is a bitter tonic. It induces copious perspiration and is useful in killing intestinal worms.

Nomophobia: A Rising Trend in Students

Do you know this word? Nomophobia is a term describing a growing fear in today’s world — the fear of being without a mobile device, or beyond mobile phone contact. Among today’s high school and college students, it’s on the rise. An increasing number of college students now shower with their cell phone. The average adolescent would rather lose a pinky-finger than a cell phone. A growing percentage text or tweet instead of actually talking to others.

Nomophobia is everywhere in industrialized nations. The term is an abbreviation for “no-mobile-phone phobia,” which was coined during a 2010 study by the UK Post Office. The Post Office commissioned YouGov, a research organization, to look at anxieties suffered by mobile phone users. The study found that nearly 53 percent of mobile phone users in Britain tend to be anxious when they “lose their mobile phone, run out of battery or credit, or have no network coverage.”

Toothache can range from a mild ache to a continuous throbbing pain. Tooth decay, usually due to poor dental hygiene, is the most common cause, but pain in the teeth can also be due to gum disease, a cracked tooth, or jaw problems. Teenagers and adults may have pain from wisdom teeth emerging. Your teeth may become sensitive to hot or cold or to brushing if the enamel that protects them becomes worn or cracked, or if your gums recede and expose the inner layers of the teeth.

See your dentist first
Make an appointment to see your dentist if you are suffering from toothache.

NATURAL REMEDIES
Oil of cloves is a traditional remedy from your pharmacist that may help to soothe an aching tooth. Put a few drops of the oil on a piece of cotton wool, place it on the painful tooth, and bite down gently. Be careful to keep the oil off your tongue because it may burn a little.

Niacin is one of the B vitamins, sometimes also known as B3. It is white powder soluble in water and more resistant to destruction that any of the other B complex vitamins. Niacin includes nicotinic acid and nicotinamide also sometimes call niacinamide. Both forms of niacin perform basically the same functions but nicotinic acid has the additional capability of lowering blood cholesterol levels. It also produces side effects not found with nicotinamide.

Niacin is carried in the blood and is found in all tissues but most abundantly in the liver, Kidney, heart, tissues brain and muscles. A lack of niacin can cause cell damage anywhere in the body.

Like the other B vitamins niacin is crucial for the body’s usage of enzymes which provides the body energy and the building blocks for cell reproduction and repair. It is known to be involved in more than 200 enzymes reactions in the body involving the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

Fiber does two major things in the body that can contribute directly and indirectly to energy. First and foremost, it helps control blood sugar. When your blood sugar is out of control, so is your energy. Low-fiber foods, especially processed carbohydrates that also don’t contain much fat or protein, send your blood sugar rocketing, which, in short order, sets you up for a big fat crash in energy.

A candy bar may give you a rush of blood sugar, but half an hour later you’ll be pinching yourself to keep your eyes open as your blood sugar plummets. On the other hand, eat some beans and your blood sugar will rise slowly and stay up there for a week. (I’m kidding, but you get the point).

Rosemary is a sweet scented evergreen shrub which grows upto two meters high. Its leaves are narrow and resemble curved pine needles. They are green on top and grey underneath. The small pale blue flowers grow in little dusters up the stems. Dried leaves of rosemary are used for commercial purpose. Dried herb is brownish green in color. The leaves have a tea-like fragrance. Crushed rosemary, however, has spicy camphoraceous aroma and a pungent, bitter taste.

Rosemary has long been regarded as the herb for remembrance. Mystically, it symbolizes loyalty, love and immortality. It was once believed to strengthen the heart as well as memory.

So many of us fall in and out of exercise routines on a regular basis. For many, it's a daily psychological battle whether to go to the gym or skip it altogether.

But once you do achieve your fitness goals and get to what you consider to be "in shape," what happens if you start slacking? How long does it take for negative results to start creeping in.

The answer: much sooner than you think.

We spoke recently to Shawn Arent, an exercise scientist at Rutgers University, and asked him to tell us how long it actually takes to get out of shape.

Here's what he told us:

Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is a white powder which dissolves easily in water. It's perhaps best known for its alleged ability to prevent colds, which we'll discuss shortly; it also plays a major role in many body functions. Vitamin C is the body's most powerful water-soluble antioxidant. It shields cells in the body from oxidative damage, a process we explain in detail below.

Q. What function does vitamin C play in the body?
A Vitamin C has a variety of roles, all indispensable to good health. It is needed for the body to make the protein of connective tissue, or collagen, which is found throughout the body and helps to maintain the structure of tissues, including skin, muscles, gums, blood vessel s and bone. In the classic deficiency disease, scurvy, which has been recognized for many centuries, a lack of vitamin C leads to the breaking open of small blood vessels, the reddening and bleeding of skin and gums, loose teeth, general weakness and, eventually, death.

Snake gourd herb helps in treatment of heart disorders and other diseases

Snake gourd is a climbing herb with tendril divided into three parts. It has hairy, angular or 5 to 7 lobed leaves which emit a fetid odor when bruised. It has white male and female flowers and cylindrical, slender, tapering fruits with a waxy surface. Its fruits are orange in color when ripe and pulpy red at maturity.

An analysis of snake gourd shows it to consist of substantial amount of and little protein, fat fiber and carbohydrates. Its mineral and vitamins contents are calcium, phosphorus, iron, carotene, little thiamine, riboflavin and niacin. Its calorific value is 18.

Turmeric, also known as haldi in hindi, is one of the most widely used spices to add colour and flavour to food. However, if you suffer from diabetes, this spice is an essential ingredient you need to include in all your food preparations without fail. Known to be a potent antiseptic and a powerful antioxidant agent, turmeric is packed with numerous health benefits. Moreover, turmeric acts as an effective natural remedy to keep your blood sugar levels in control. Here’s what makes it a natural anti-diabetic compound.

How does it work?

MUMBAI: As many as 16 Mumbaikars, including seven children, tested positive for swine flu in the last 24 hours. Taking stock of the situation across the country, the Union health ministry advised states on Wednesday to vaccinate their healthcare workers, but did not recommend immunization for the general population.

Among the children who tested positive for the H1N1 virus on Wednesday, two, both 10 months old, from Nagpada and Andheri had to be admitted to different hospitals. The remaining five, including a three-month infant from Versova and four kids under 10 years from Goregaon, Mahalaxmi and Kandivli, were treated as outpatients. Around 17% of the H1N1-hit this year are very young children.

Leadwort is shrubby perennial herb with acid roots. It grows up to 2 meters high, with 10 to 20 stems growing directly from the root. The plant has smooth leaves and tiny, bright red flowers.

The herb contains an orange yellow pigment, plumbagin a sitosterol and a fatty alcohol. The proportion of the plumbagin varies within the limits according to the locality, growth, age condition of the soil and the reason. The older the plant and drier the soil, the greater is the quantity of active principle found in its root.

Vitamin A is clear yellow oil and one of the four fat-soluble vitamins, along with vitamins D, E and K. This means it dissolves in organic solvents, such as ether or cleaning fluid and, in the body, is absorbed and transported in a manner similar to that of fats, If you have problems absorbing fat in your intestines, you run a higher-than-normal risk of developing a vitamin A deficiency.

Q. If vitamin A is fat-soluble; does that mean it's found in foods that contain fat?
A. Yes. Vitamin A occurs naturally only in foods of animal origin, such as liver, which is the storage place for vitamin A in animals and humans; some seafood; butter; whole milk and egg yolks. This form of vitamin A is usually called pre-formed vitamin A, or retinol. Retinol is also added to skim and low-fat milk.

Henna is a middle-sized shrub with many branches. It has small white or pinkish fragrant flowers in large terminal bunches, and small round fruits. The trade name henna is based on the word hina which is the Arabic name of the drug.
The plant occurs in several parts of India, chiefly in the drier parts of the peninsula, and is usually cultivated in hedges. It is also cultivated for commercial purposes, in Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The leaves contain a glucosidal coloring matter and hennotanic acid. On petroleum ether extraction, the seeds of the plant yield a viscous oil containing behenvc, arachidic, stearic, palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids.

Fluorine is a non-metallic element which is toxic in its gaseous form. Fluorine is known to be beneficial to humans, specifically for its role in maintaining bones and tooth enamel, but it has not yet been proven to be essential for human health.

Q. I know that a compound of fluorine, called a fluoride, is often added to some brands of toothpaste, and even to some water supplies to help reduce cavities. Does it really work for that?
A. Yes. Tooth decay rates are much higher than average in areas in which the drinking water is naturally low in fluorine. When adequate amounts of fluoride are incorporated into tooth enamel, the rate of tooth decay is substantially reduced. Studies show that it works not only for children's teeth, but for adults, too.

As our climate changes, the risk of injury, illness, and death from the resulting heat waves, wildfires, intense storms, and floods rises.

Climate change poses a wide range of risks to population health - risks that will increase in future decades, often to critical levels, if global climate change continues on its current trajectory.

The majority of the adverse effects of climate change are experienced by poor and low-income communities around the world, who have much higher levels of vulnerability to environmental determinants of health, wealth and other factors, and much lower levels of capacity available for coping with environmental change. A report on the global human impact of climate change published by the Global Humanitarian Forum.