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© Getty Images/stockdiscWild bunch: Watercress is a natural way to combat a wide range of diseases.
The father of medicine, Hippocrates, is believed to have located his first hospital close to a freshwater stream to have a ready supply of the plant, while 17th Century herbalist Culpeper claimed it could cleanse the blood. It was used to 'cure' ailments such as baldness, hiccups and even freckles.
While these health claims may be debatable, watercress is packed with 15 essential vitamins and minerals. Now, scientists believe a daily dose may help combat breast cancer.
© Debra MucCunton
Desperate for relief, Yovanovich ricocheted from doctor to doctor. Each ran tests, but the results were always the same - everything looked normal. "I took every test under the sun," she says, "and still the doctors were baffled. "They would pooh-pooh my symptoms and tell me it was all in my head," she adds, "and after a while I believed them." Finally, in 2002, she visited a rheumatologist who immediately recognized what no other doctor had: Yovanovich had fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder that affects up to 10 million Americans, most of them women. It was identified in 1816 by a Scottish physician, but wasn't officially recognized by the American Medical Association as an illness until 1987. It manifests as pain in the fiber of the muscles, often throughout the body, along with unrelenting fatigue, headaches, and sleep disturbances. And it can mimic other ills, such as chronic fatigue syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis, which often leaves sufferers like Yovanovich spending years seeking a correct diagnosis. Because there is no definitive test for the condition, the diagnosis is tricky and some doctors continue to question its validity.
© Heather Ainsworth for The New York TimesHaythem Zahidi, left, and Said Shukri, both 15, consider the carrot machine in Manlius, N.Y.
The baby-carrot industry tried to reposition its product as junk food, starting a $25 million advertising campaign whose defining characteristics include heavy metal music, a phone app and a young man in a grocery cart dodging baby-carrot bullets fired by a woman in tight jeans.
On the East Side of Manhattan, crates of heirloom vegetables with names like Lady Godiva squash were auctioned for $1,000 each at Sotheby's, where the wealthy are more accustomed to bidding on Warhols and Picassos than turnips and tomatoes.
Both efforts, high and low, are aimed at the same thing: getting America to eat its vegetables.
Good luck. Despite two decades of public health initiatives, stricter government dietary guidelines, record growth of farmers' markets and the ease of products like salad in a bag, Americans still aren't eating enough vegetables.
© unknown
As we come to understand disease in the 21st century, our old ways of defining illness based on symptoms is not very useful. Instead by understanding the origins of disease and the way in which the body operates as one whole, integrated ecosystem we now know that symptoms appearing in one area of the body may be caused by imbalances in an entirely different system.
If your skin is bad or you have allergies, can't seem to lose weight, suffer from an autoimmune disease or allergies, struggle with fibromyalgia, or have recurring headaches, the real reason may be that your gut is unhealthy. This may be true even if you have NEVER had any digestive complaints.
© AlamyVitamin C, found in citrus fruits, was found to improve the state of mind of A&E patients in a new study.
Canadian researchers randomly assigned acute hospital patients to receive either vitamin C or vitamin D supplements for seven to 10 days.
They found that those who were administered with vitamin C showed a rapid and clinically significant improvement in their state of mood. However, no such change was reported in the vitamin D patients.
The double-blind clinical trial took place at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Canada and the results were published in the journal Nutrition.
© Unknown
That number is small compared to China's 1.5 billion population, but experts fear the number of obese citizens could double in 10 years.
What is the reason for all the super-sizing? According to Los Angeles-based bariatric surgeon Dr. Carson Liu, it's a case of East meets West.
"Obesity is definitely associated with economic wealth," said Liu in an e-mail interview with AOL News. "We saw [increased obesity] first in Hong Kong, and it will definitely continue in Shanghai and Beijing. Obesity rates are high wherever there are fast food restaurants."
Liu, who hails from China, says that the blooming economy means higher wages and more interaction with American-style restaurants that are popping up to take advantage of the newly discovered yearning for fast food.
"They've become more in tune with the American diet, and as a result, they'll end up suffering from more obesity," Liu predicted. "They want KFC, McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc."
© The Daily MailDog food discovery: Rebecca Hosking, with a picture of her collie Dave, says she stumbled on a battlefield when she tried to find out what was best to feed her dog
It was early spring this year and my other half, Tim, and I were down in one of the lower meadows on our Devon farm, coppicing willow while keeping half an eye on our ten-month-old border collie, Dave, as he indulged in his favourite pastime: moth hunting. Not that we knew it then, but that was the last time in months we would all be worry-free.
Half an hour later, as we sat down for tea back at the house, we heard a horrible thumping sound from outside.
The following seconds are still a blur. I don't remember getting to the kennel, I just recall pulling Dave into the recovery position and putting a blanket under his head. He was convulsing violently,legs wildly paddling, frothing at the mouth.
Dave, we would later discover, was having a grand mal seizure and that thumping sound was his head uncontrollably banging on the kennel floor. It was a sound we would come to dread and one we would sadly hear all too often.
© The EcologistA pioneering ecotherapy scheme is attracting increasing interest, including funding
Every Friday at 1pm a small group of people who are experiencing mental distress - everything from depression to schizophrenia - meet up in Taunton. David Topham, a support co-ordinator for the mental health charity Mind then drives the group to a nearby nature reserve where the conservation work begins.
Under the guidance of a Wildlife Trust officer, tasks include helping to clear overgrown paths, clearing bracken (to encourage rare butterflies) and clearing hay (to help preserve a species-rich hay meadow.)
© Press AssociationAlert issued over health supplement
The Miracle Mineral Solution could cause severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, potentially leading to dehydration and reduced blood pressure, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said.
If diluted less than instructed, it could damage the gut and red blood cells, potentially resulting in respiratory failure.
The product, available over the internet, should not be sold, the FSA said.
Tests showed it has a 28% sodium chlorite solution - the equivalent of industrial-strength bleach, the FSA said.
