Health & WellnessS


Family

The "Not Now, Maybe Later:" Parents Don't Devote Enough Time to Their Children


The Daily Mail
Thu, 20 May 2010 01:04 UTC
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© AlamyParents who have hectic work schedules are creating a generation of 'Maybe Later' children to whom they don't devote enough time.
Hectic work schedules are creating a generation of 'Maybe Later' children whose parents never have enough time to spend with them.

The phrase comes from the response dished out when Mummy or Daddy are asked to play a game or read a story or simply run around the garden. Despite children being parents' 'absolute highest priority in life', 80 percent admit they don't devote enough time to them, researchers found.

In fact, according to their study, working parents spend less than an hour a day giving their children one-to-one attention, notching up a mere 36 minutes. Children's responses to the survey painted a similar picture, claiming parents are too preoccupied with working, tidying or checking emails to address their needs.

Almost eight out of ten said they resented being parked in front of the television instead of being entertained and 60 percent said they wished their parents worked less. Two thirds said they would like it if their parents had more time to play with them.
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Bad Guys

Pig Virus Contaminates Rotavirus Vaccines, But FDA Says "No Problem"

Mike Adams
NaturalNews
Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© NaturalNews
Rotavirus vaccines are commonly given to children, and this year's batch of vaccines made by GlaxoSmithKline and Merck are contaminated with a pig virus, the FDA recently discovered. So the FDA called a meeting to determine whether injecting a pig virus into the bodies of young children might be some sort of problem requiring a recall of the vaccines.

Can you guess what conclusion the agency reached? As reported by Reuters, the FDA concluded "...it was safe for doctors to resume giving patients Glaxo's Rotarix and continue using Merck's Rotateq. The agency said there was no evidence the contamination caused any harm..."

In other words, as long as they can bury the evidence and deny any link between vaccines and health problems -- which has been the standard excuse of the FDA for decades -- they can continue to claim the vaccines are safe enough to inject into little children.

Never mind the fact that the pig virus found in the vaccines actually causes a wasting disease in baby pigs, giving them intense diarrhea and causing them to rapidly lose weight. DNA from these viruses was detected in the "master cells" used to make the vaccines.
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People

Shyness Negatively Affects Marital Quality


ScienceDaily
Tue, 18 May 2010 15:00 UTC
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© Christian Godefroy
Shyness can influence the quality of an ongoing relationship -- even one as important as marriage -- according to a study in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

A key question in psychology, and everyday life is the extent to which a person's personality determines the shape and quality of his or her social relationships. In two studies, the research explored the specific impact of shyness on marital quality.

In one of the studies, researchers Levi Baker and James K. McNulty found that shyness was linked both to more severe marital problems among newlyweds and to overall lower marital quality. Shyer people reported more problems with issues like trust, jealousy, money, and household management. In the second study, the researchers explicitly showed that it was prior shyness that was linked to marital difficulties later -- even declines in marital satisfaction -- and not early marital difficulties that were linked to later shyness.
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Magnify

Research Shows Eating Nuts Lowers Cholesterol

S. L. Baker
NaturalNews
Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Getty ImagesWalnuts
NaturalNews has covered how eating pistachios lowers the risk of lung cancer and how a diet rich in nuts may help prevent age-related blindness. Walnuts appear to have breast cancer-fighting properties, too. And now there's even more reason to be nuts about nuts -- scientists have found new evidence that nuts are heart healthy because they dramatically improve blood cholesterol levels, without drugs.

"Dietary interventions to lower blood cholesterol concentrations and to modify blood lipoprotein levels are the cornerstone of prevention and treatment plans for coronary heart disease," Joan Sabate, M.D., of Loma Linda University and colleagues stated in their report, which was just published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. "Recently, consumption of nuts has been the focus of intense research because of their potential to reduce coronary heart disease risk and to lower blood lipid (fat and cholesterol) levels based on their unique nutritional attributes."

The Loma Linda University researchers investigated data from 25 international nut consumption trials involving 583 women and men with high cholesterol or normal cholesterol levels. Each study compared a control group of research subjects to a group assigned to specifically eat nuts regularly. None of the study participants took cholesterol lowering drugs such as Big Pharma's widely prescribed statins.
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Pomegranates Reduce the Risk of Breast Cancer

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© iStockphotoPomegranate Fruit
Regular consumption of pomegranate may help prevent breast cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers from the City of Hope and published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

Researchers tested 10 different naturally occurring pomegranate compounds, all of them in the ellagitannin family of chemicals. They found that some of the ellagitannins significantly reduced the activity of the enzyme aromatase in the laboratory.

In the body, aromatase transforms the hormone androgen into the hormone estrogen. Because 75 percent of breast tumors contain estrogen receptors and use the hormone to fuel their growth, aromatase inhibitors are a popular form of treatment for slowing the growth of breast tumors in post-menopausal women.

Pharmaceutical aromatase inhibitors include the AstraZeneca drug Armidex, the Pfizer drug Aromasin and the Novartis drug Femara.
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Natural Ways to Eliminate and Prevent Painful Kidney Stones

Tony Isaacs
NaturalNews
Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00 UTC
Kidney stones are mineral deposits which are made up of calcium, uric acid or the amino acid cysteine. There are many different theories as to how these "stones" form, but no one seems to know for sure. Regardless of how they form, kidney stones can often be avoided and eliminated naturally without resorting to mainstream drugs or treatments.

Experts agree that diet is a major factor. They note that kidney stones only develop about half as often in vegetarians and other people who eat plenty of fresh vegetables as is the case with people whose diets do not include plenty of vegetables. Other risk factors include obesity and repeated kidney infections.

One effective way to dissolve kidney stones is to consume large quantities of watermelon and nothing else for an entire day. Watermelon fasts help cleanse your kidneys and the rest of your system as well. Regular consumption of watermelon helps keep kidney stones at bay.
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Cow

Spicing the Meat Also Cuts the Cancer Risk


Physorg
Wed, 19 May 2010 18:54 UTC
Spices will do more than just enhance the taste of ground beef. They'll also cut down on the risk of compounds that can cause cancer.

J. Scott Smith, a Kansas State University food chemistry professor, has pursued different projects in recent years seeking ways to reduce heterocyclic amines (HCAs). HCAs are the carcinogenic compounds that are produced when muscle foods, such as ground beef patties, are barbecued, grilled, boiled or fried. Consuming HCAs through meat increases risk factors for colorectal, stomach, lung, pancreatic, mammary and prostate cancers.

Smith, in research supported by the Food Safety Consortium, found that certain spices containing natural antioxidants would reduce HCA levels by 40 percent when applied to beef patties during cooking.
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Magnify

Processed Meat Raises Risk of Diabetes, Heart Disease and Cancer

Mike Adams
NaturalNews
Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© NaturalNews
A new study published in the journal Circulation reveals that eating processed meat products significantly raises the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Previous research has linked processed meats to cancer as well.

The new paper involved a meta-analysis of 20 different studies covering more than one million people from 10 different countries. The study found that eating just 2 ounces of processed meat each day resulted in the following:
  • A 42 percent increase in the risk of heart disease.
  • A 19 percent increase in the risk of diabetes.
Interestingly, the analysis simultaneously found that eating non-processed meats was not linked to these increases in disease risk. The study authors concluded that it was the processed salt and chemical additives in the processed meat that caused increase risk of disease.
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Breast Cancer Breakthrough: Broccoli Component Zaps Cells That Fuel Tumor Growth

S. L. Baker
NaturalNews
Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© Getty Images
University of Michigan (U-M) Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists say they've found a compound that could help prevent and potentially treat breast cancer. It's not a drug or a new radiation treatment but a natural component of broccoli and broccoli sprouts. And it has the remarkable ability to target cancer stem cells -- the specific cells responsible for fueling the growth of cancerous breast tumors.

The researchers tested the broccoli compound, known as sulforaphane, in animal studies as well as in breast cancer cell cultures in the lab. Their findings, which were recently published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, showed sulforaphane not only targeted and killed cancer stem cells, but it also prevented any new malignancies from growing.

What makes this such an extraordinary breakthrough? Current chemotherapies don't do anything to stop cancer stem cells. That's why cancer can recur and spread after chemotherapy. So many researchers have long believed that to control cancer, you have to find a way to eliminate cancer stem cells -- and now it appears sulforaphane does exactly that.
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Placebo Works as Well as Antidepressant Drugs

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00 UTC
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© iStockphoto
In many cases of depression, antidepressant drugs provide little or no benefit over the effect of a placebo, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In a meta-analysis of six prior studies on both the older tricyclic and the newer selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants, the researchers found that the less severe the depression, the less effective the drug. The sample included 434 patients who were taking antidepressants and 284 who were getting a placebo.

"The magnitude of benefit of antidepressant medication compared with placebo increases with severity of depression symptoms and may be minimal or nonexistent, on average, in patients with mild or moderate symptoms," the researchers wrote.
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