Health & WellnessS


Smiley

Happiness Can Spread Among People Like a Contagion, Study Indicates

Rob Stein
The Washington Post
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 02:51 UTC
Happiness is contagious, spreading among friends, neighbors, siblings and spouses like the flu, according to a large study that for the first time shows how emotion can ripple through clusters of people who may not even know each other.

The study of more than 4,700 people who were followed over 20 years found that people who are happy or become happy boost the chances that someone they know will be happy. The power of happiness, moreover, can span another degree of separation, elevating the mood of that person's husband, wife, brother, sister, friend or next-door neighbor.

"You would think that your emotional state would depend on your own choices and actions and experience," said Nicholas A. Christakis, a medical sociologist at Harvard University who helped conduct the study published online today by BMJ, a British medical journal. "But it also depends on the choices and actions and experiences of other people, including people to whom you are not directly connected. Happiness is contagious."
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Ambulance

Tainted Irish pork may have reached 25 nations

Andras Gergely and Kate Kelland
Reuters
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 02:06 UTC
Dublin/London - Irish pig meat contaminated with toxic dioxins could have been exported to as many as 25 countries, including France and the Netherlands, Irish government officials said on Sunday.

The Irish government has recalled all domestic pork products from shops, restaurants and food processing plants because of contamination with dioxin -- which in some forms and concentrations, and with long exposure, can cause cancer and other health problems.

Neighboring Britain, the main export market, has warned consumers not to eat any Irish pork products after tests revealed the contamination.
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Pills

Drug Pushers: Scientists back brain drugs for healthy people


Associated Press
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 01:09 UTC
New York - Healthy people should have the right to boost their brains with pills, like those prescribed for hyperactive kids or memory-impaired older folks, several scientists contend in a provocative commentary.
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Sun

Flashback MIT: Magnesium may reverse middle-age memory loss


Medical News Today
Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:58 UTC
Magnesium helps build bones, make proteins, release energy stored in muscles and regulate body temperature. In the cover story of the Dec. 2 issue of Neuron, MIT researchers report a possible new role for magnesium: helping maintain memory function in middle age and beyond.

The adult daily nutritional requirement for magnesium, a trace mineral found in foods such as dark green, leafy vegetables, is around 400 mg a day. But studies show that as many as half of all Americans do not consume enough magnesium. Magnesium deficits have been tied to allergies, asthma, attention deficit disorder, anxiety, heart disease, muscle cramps and other conditions.

Associate Professor Guosong Liu and postdoctoral associate Inna Slutsky at MIT's Picower Center for Learning and Memory found that magnesium helps regulate a key brain receptor important for learning and memory. Their work provides evidence that a magnesium deficit may lead to decreased memory and learning ability, while an abundance of magnesium may improve cognitive function.
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Rocket

Soldiers' Traumatic Brain Injuries Cause Dementia, Aggression, Depression and Relationship Problems

Amanda Gardner
HealthDay News
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:03 UTC
A new report provides evidence linking traumatic brain injury sustained by troops in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan to a variety of long-term health problems including dementia, aggression, depression and symptoms similar to those seen in Parkinson's disease.

But the Institute of Medicine committee charged with developing the report also pointed to a troubling lack of scientific data on such injuries, which are fairly recent in the history of warfare.

"The real bottom line significant finding is that there's not a good human literature on the kinds of neurotrauma seen in Iraq and Afghanistan caused by blasts," said Dr. George W. Rutherford, vice chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. "The human literature is really about people who've had [brain injury] from car crashes or falling down stairs and, in the military, from shrapnel or gunshots. We're all worried that blast neurotrauma hasn't really made it into the human literature."
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Evil Rays

Genetically Modified Crops Reach 9 Percent of Global Primary Crop Production


Worldwatch Institute
Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:40 UTC
Washington, D.C. - Genetically modified crops reached 9 percent of global primary crop production in 2007, bringing the total GM land area up to 114.3 million hectares, according to Worldwatch Institute estimates published in the latest Vital Signs Update. The United States continues to be the global leader in production, accounting for half of all GM crop area.

GM production has been on the rise since the crops were first introduced more than a decade ago, and it now includes 23 countries. But controversy over the benefits of genetic modification continues, including questions about the technology's ability to deliver on promises of enhanced yields and nutrition.

"GM crops are definitely not a silver bullet," said Alice McKeown, a researcher for the Worldwatch Institute. "They sound good on paper, but we have yet to see glowing results."
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Pills

Who Is Killing Us?

Joni Greever
OpEd News
Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:05 UTC
Health options, whether allopathic or alternative, should absolutely be at our discretion. However, we're up against a fierce, formidable, greedy monster: the pharmaceutical industry. They're fighting tooth and nail to outlaw natural alternatives and keep this nation sick with their un-natural drugs. They have the FDA, AMA, and NIH firmly in their pockets and have an army of lobbyists (almost 7 per legislator!) swarming D.C. Big Pharma declared $758 million spent on lobbying last year!

Our government, unfortunately, is more concerned with coddling these corporations than our right to manage our health as we see fit. Despite overwhelming public support for health freedom, they have repeatedly caved in to the demands of these giants. They now stand poised to outlaw Natural and Nutritional Medicine-eliminating amino acids, therapeutic-grade vitamins and minerals via the WTO's Codex Alimentarius.

In a USDA study of 21,500 people, not one got 100% the RDA from food they ate. Thanks to the repeated use of insecticides, pesticides, and man-made chemical fertilizer, soil is devoid of nutrients. It's impossible to obtain the nutrition we need unless we eat all organically-grown food. Supplementation is vital.
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Bulb

Intelligent men 'have better sperm'


BBC News
Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:32 UTC
Men of higher intelligence tend to produce better quality sperm, UK research suggests. A team from the Institute of Psychiatry analysed data from former US soldiers who served during the Vietnam war era.

They found that those who performed better on intelligence tests tended to have more - and more mobile - sperm. The study, which appears in the journal Intelligence, appears to support the idea that genes underlying intelligence may have other biological effects too.
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Sun

Happiness 'rubs off on others'


BBC News
Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:29 UTC
Happy Couple
Happiness spreads within couples, the research found

Happiness is infectious and can "ripple" through social groups, according to US researchers. A study of 5,000 adults suggests a person's happiness is dependent on the happiness of those around them. A friend who becomes happy and lives less than a mile away increases your likelihood of happiness by 25%, the British Medical Journal reported.
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Family

UK: Relationship counselling soars as money worries grow


Reuters
Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:23 UTC
Couples are struggling to stay together as they face money worries and the threat of redundancy in the economic downturn, said counselling service Relate, which has seen its workload soar. Relate on Saturday reported a rise of almost 60 percent in the number of couples seeking help with their relationships in October and November this year as compared with last year.
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