Health & WellnessS


Bulb

Nature's Candida Cure: Coconut Oil Solves Yeast Problems

Often mis-diagnosed and even dismissed, candida is culprit behind numerous health problems. The symptoms associated with candida include fatigue, poor memory, mood swings, chronic coughs, frequent sinus infections, reoccurring fungal infections, blurred vision, sugar cravings and abdominal pain, to name a few.

As many as 40 million people in the United States suffer from candida, most without realizing the core issue. Many people who have candida overgrowth will end up treating the symptoms instead of the root of the problem, causing an endless spiral downward, sometimes for many years.

Sun

Creative Ways To Use Coconut Oil

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In the past several years, coconut oil has become a sort of rising star in the world of health food. More and more homes have a jar of organic extra virgin coconut oil on their pantry shelf. But coconut oil is more than a healthy cooking alternative. There are endless ways to use coconut oil that extend far beyond the occasional cookie or stir-fry. Here are twelve creative uses for a classic health food

Light Saber

Venezuela bans Coke Zero, cites "danger to health"

Caracas - The Venezuelan government of U.S.-critic President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday ordered Coca-Cola Co to withdraw its Coke Zero beverage from the South American nation, citing unspecified dangers to health.

The decision follows a wave of nationalizations and increased scrutiny of businesses in South America's top oil exporter.

Health Minister Jesus Mantilla said the zero-calorie Coke Zero should no longer be sold and stocks of the drink removed from store shelves while the government investigated its ingredients.

"The product should be withdrawn from circulation to preserve the health of Venezuelans," the minister said in comments reported by the government's news agency.

Light Saber

EWG Calls on Coca-Cola to Protect Customers From BPA

Coca-Cola Rep Discussed "Fear Tactics" to Save BPA at Infamous "Cosmos Club" Confab

Washington - Environmental Working Group (EWG) today called on The Coca-Cola Company's chairman and chief executive officer Muhtar Kent to take immediate steps to reduce children's exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a toxic chemical used in beverage bottles and beverage can linings.

"Along with hundreds of thousands of Environmental Working Group supporters, I was very disappointed to read reports in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and The Washington Post that a Coca-Cola representative joined chemical and food processing company lobbyists in a recent meeting to consider, among other things, the use of "fear tactics" to protect the market for the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA)," EWG's President, Ken Cook wrote Kent.

Magnify

Nightmares Predict Elevated Suicidal Symptoms

Self-reported nightmares among patients seeking emergency psychiatric evaluation uniquely predicted elevated suicidal symptoms, according to a research abstract presented at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

Results indicate that severe nightmares were independently associated with elevated suicidal symptoms after accounting for the influence of depression, whereas symptoms of insomnia were not. These findings suggest that nightmares stand alone as a suicide risk factor.

The sample included 82 men and women between the ages of 18 and 66, who were in a community mental health hospital admissions unit awaiting an emergency psychiatric evaluation. Evaluations determined eligibility for crisis stabilization inpatient admittance. Patients' nightmares, insomnia, depression and suicidal tendencies were assessed through several questionnaires, including the Disturbing Dreams and Nightmare Severity Index, Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS).

Magnify

Genetic Link Found Between Stress-Induced Sleep Loss and Intrusive Thinking

The genetic factors that cause increased sleep problems during times of stress seem to be the same as those that make people with intrusive and ruminative thoughts have a higher prevalence of insomnia, according to a research abstract presented at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

Results indicate that sleep reactivity to stress mediates the genetic relationship between ruminative thoughts (unwanted thoughts that are difficult to control) and insomnia. Findings highlight the importance of revealing the influences of sleep reactivity on ruminative thoughts and insomnia.

According to lead author Naomi Friedman, PhD, senior research associate at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, the substantial genetic predispositions to these problems may be modifiable; treatments designed to reduce sleep reactivity to stress might have the potential to improve insomnia related to rumination.

Magnify

The Importance of Sleep in Regulating Emotional Responses

According to a research abstract presented at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, sleep selectively preservers memories that are emotionally salient and relevant to future goals when sleep follows soon after learning. Effects persist for as long as four months after the memory is created.

Results indicate that the sleeping brain seems to calculate what is most important about an experience and selects only what is adaptive for consolidation and long term storage. Across long delays of 24 hours, or even three-to-four months, sleeping soon after learning preserved the trade-off (compared to waiting an entire day before going to sleep).

According to lead author, Jessica Payne, PhD, of Harvard Medical School in Boston MA, It was surprising that in addition to seeing the enhancement of negative memories over neutral scenes, there was also selectivity within the emotional scenes themselves, with sleep only consolidating what is most relevant, adaptive and useful about the scenes. It was even more surprising that this selectivity lasted for a full day and even months later if sleep came soon after learning.

"It may be that the chemical and physiological aspects of sleep underlying memory consolidation are more effective if a particular memory is 'tagged' shortly prior to sleeping," said Payne.

Health

Bisphenol A exposure dangerous for human heart and reproduction

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Adding more to the already touted harmful effects of a chemical, bisphenol A, or BPA, three different new studies have now suggested that this controversial estrogen-like chemical, usually present in almost all everyday use plastic products, may affect human health.

BPA is a synthetic chemical that is the main component in polycarbonate, which ultimately forms the unbreakable plastic used in the food cans, water bottles, drink containers, compact discs, electronics and also baby bottles.

People around the world are facing a dilemma over deciding whether chemical bisphenol A, which is commonly known as BPA, is safe for them and their kids if used in low levels or not. Some experts say the chemical can pose threat to lives of human beings, while other say it's not that much harmful.

Fish

Oily Fish 'Can Halt Eye Disease'

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Mackerel is rich in omega 3 oils
People with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) should eat oily fish at least twice a week to keep their eye disease at bay, say scientists.

Omega-3 fatty acids found in abundance in fish like mackerel and salmon appear to slow or even halt the progress of both early and late stage disease.

Red Flag

Hormone Experts Worried About Plastics, Chemicals

Hormone experts said on Wednesday they are becoming worried by a chemical called bisphenol A, which some politicians say they want taken out of products and which consumers are increasingly shunning.

They said they have gathered a growing body evidence to show the compound, also known as BPA, might damage human health. The Endocrine Society issued a scientific statement on Wednesday calling for better studies into its effects