Health & WellnessS


Question

Bathing vs showering? Which is better?

April McCarthy
Prevent Disease
Wed, 01 Aug 2018 15:47 UTC
shower
A randomised intervention study from Japan has compared the physical and mental health effects of daily full-immersion bathing with showering. The participant-reported results add practical insight to theories in which is more favourable.

There are many lifestyle choices that have a direct impact on our health, such as smoking, exercise and diet. Could your bathing routine also be added to that list? We know sporadic research that has been done suggests that regular exposure to cold water (via showers, baths or swims) may have some incredible health benefits. Immersion of the body in water (immersion bathing), rather than showering, causes greater dilation of blood vessels. Subsequently, there is improved replenishment of oxygen and nutrients to peripheral areas, together with better removal of carbon dioxide and other waste products, which refreshes the body.

In Japan, full-immersion bathing is a more common habit than in other countries, where showering prevails. A research group in Japan (Goto et al.) investigates the effects of immersion bathing against that of showering. The team's previous studies recruited a cross-section of the Japanese population that immersion bathed daily -- and the participants reported improved happiness, sleep and general health status, and reduced stress levels too. However, in their latest study, Goto et al. conducted a clinical trial that compared the effects of immersion bathing versus showering over a period of time.
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Health

Glucosamine: How it works to heal the body


Dr. Axe
Wed, 01 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
glucosamine
Researchers believe that glucosamine increases the amount of cartilage and fluid that surrounds our joints, thus helps prevent joint breakdown and reduces pain.
Glucosamine is a compound naturally found within the cartilage of our joints, made from chains of sugars and proteins bound together. It acts as one of the body's natural shock-absorbents and joint lubricants, allowing us to move around without (or at least with less) joint, bone and muscle pains.

This compound possesses natural anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties. One of the most popular supplements taken by people with bone and joint pain, glucosamine aids in treating common symptoms of age-related disorders like arthritis and osteoarthritis. (1) It can also help improve digestion and gut health, mobility, range of motion and general joint health, even in healthy people who have no chronic joint or bowel disorders.

Without this compound, everyday movements and tasks would be very difficult and painful. The body needs it for the synthesis of certain proteins and lipids (fats) that form various important tissues, especially cartilage. This plays an important part in the construction of our joints, tendons and ligaments. In addition, it helps form the fluids that surround joints and provide lubrication. (This is called synovial fluid). Glucosamine also serves an important role in microbiome health. It helps form connective tissue that make up parts of the digestive tract, a system that helps the immune system function.

Although not every person with severe joint pain will benefit from glucosamine supplementation, many find some relief from pain within just six to eight weeks. (2) Many people do benefit from it, though, experiencing quality of life improvements like natural relief from arthritis, better digestive health, lower inflammation or less bone pain. It can be used for years safely to combat signs of aging and improve overall quality of life, with little to no side effects or risks in most people.
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Health

The growing epidemic of liver damage and how to keep yours healthy

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Wed, 01 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
liver
According to the American Cancer Society,1 liver cancer affects an estimated 41,000 Americans each year, and prevalence is rising.2 Between 2000 and 2016, the annual death toll from liver cancer rose by 43 percent for men and 40 percent for women,3 killing more than 11,000 people in 2016.4 The five-year survival rate for localized liver cancer is 31 percent, while regional cancer that has spread to other organs and distant liver cancer have survival rates of just 11 percent and 3 percent respectively.

Globally, the liver cancer hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer death due to the high prevalence and difficulty of treatment. Researchers warn that by 2030, the global rate of liver cancer will double, affecting upward of 1.2 million.5

Other liver-related diseases such as cirrhosis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are also becoming more prevalent. Between 2001 and 2013, the number of diagnosed cirrhosis cases nearly doubled,6 and deaths from cirrhosis increased by 65 percent between 1999 and 2016.7 The greatest increase (10.5 percent) was among those between the ages of 25 and 34, where alcoholic cirrhosis has become rampant.8,9

Comment: More tips for optimizing liver function:

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Attention

Class action suit against Kerrygold butter says 'Grass-Fed' claims are essentially lies

Christina Davis
Top Class Actions
Wed, 11 Jul 2018 00:01 UTC
kerrygold butter grass-fred
Butter maker Kerrygold was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging the company falsely advertises its products as being made by milk from "grass-fed" cows.

Lead plaintiff Dyami Myers-Taylor claims in the Kerrygold class action lawsuit that the milk that makes up the high-end butter is made from cows that eat various grains, including soy and corn.

However, alleges the plaintiff, the company touts its expensive product as made from milk derived from "grass-fed" cows.

Comment: Fat sources from grass-fed animals are far nutritionally superior to their grain-fed counterparts. As such, many knowledgeable consumers will make efforts to seek out, and pay a premium for, grass-fed sources of meat and dairy products. That Kerrygold has, allegedly, been misinforming their customers on the source of the animal feed for their products is essentially a scam. It's like labeling 10K gold as 24K in order to be able to charge more. That they are targeting the health-conscious, and in many cases people who are trying to deal with serious disease, makes it all the more shameful.

See also:

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Microscope 2

Experts confirm differences between genome editing and conventional breeding


Sustainable Pulse
Mon, 09 Jul 2018 16:25 UTC
DNA image
© www.testbiotech.org/en/node/2224
In a recent publication jointly prepared by experts from the German regulatory authority (BVL) and US corporation DowDuPont, the experts have explicitly confirmed significant differences between new methods of genetic engineering and conventional plant breeding.

According to the publication, plants manipulated with methods known as genome editing can be identified and traced in most cases. This position is in contradiction to previous BVL statements denying such differences.

The experts state that relevant differences between methods using tools such as CRISPR-Cas and conventional breeding can also be observed in cases where no additional genes are inserted:

Comment: For years one of the main arguments put forth by GMO advocates is that the genetically modified organisms are 'substantially equivalent' to their non-modified counterparts, and therefore do not need to be regulated. It seems the experts disagree.

See also:

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Health

What's so great about yams and sweet potatoes?

Dr. Mercola
mercola.com
Mon, 23 Jul 2018 19:24 UTC
bunch of yams
Yams are one of the most delicious vegetables you can eat, but you may not be aware that, as a root vegetable that's been around for eons, they also have a long history of use as an alternative medicine. Modern researchers are examining possible health benefits of wild yams that include relief from muscle cramps, rheumatoid arthritis and symptoms of menopause and diabetes prevention.

Over centuries, yams have gleaned a few other names, including China root, rheumatism root or colic root, which makes sense according to the potential aforementioned uses, but they've even been referred to as devil's bones, which speculators have concluded must be because their roots are thin, long and tangled, giving them a skeletal look. The roots and rhizomes are what are typically used in natural medicine.

Many people believe differentiating the root vegetables yams and sweet potatoes is simply a matter of semantics, but the two are not even the same type of plant. Yams are part of the Dioscoreae family, which includes morning glories, while sweet potatoes belong to a genus called Convolvulaceae.1

Yams, from the Senegalese word "nyami," means "to eat." They have only one embryonic seed leaf, while sweet potatoes have two. Wild yams, unlike sweet potatoes, are rough, scaly and usually longer, but they're more moist and less starchy in comparison.
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USA

New investigation cites the US as the worst place in the world to give birth

Andrea Germanos
Natural Blaze
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 19:18 UTC
newborn baby
© steve_h/flickr/cc
A new USA Today investigation offers a searing indictment of maternal care in the United States, and says the country "is the most dangerous place in the developed world to give birth."

"Deadly Deliveries," the result of a four-year investigation, references federal data showing that more than 50,000 women are "severely injured" and roughly 700 die during childbirth each year. Perhaps even more staggering is that "half of these deaths could be prevented and half the injuries reduced or eliminated with better care," the investigation found.

The findings, based on interviews with women and a trove of internal hospital records, "reveal a stunning lack of attention to safety recommendations and widespread failure to protect new mothers."

Such failures often stem from inadequate or delayed responses to hemorrhages and dangerously high blood pressure.

Comment: See also:

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Bug

A bite from the lone star tick can trigger an allergy to beef and pork

Aimee Cunningham
ScienceNews
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 17:00 UTC
lone star tick
© Fritz Floohr Reynolds/Flickr.comThe lone star tick, found in the southeastern United States and spreading north and west, is known as an aggressive tick. A bite might make a person allergic to red meat.
It sounds bonkers that a tick bite might make meat eaters allergic to their steaks and ribs, but it's true. Now new research has added a potential twist: The source of this tick-related sensitivity to red meat may also be linked to coronary artery disease.

A bite from the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, can trigger antibodies to a sugar called alpha-gal, found in many mammals but not humans. For some of the tick-bitten, that produces an allergic reaction to alpha-gal in red meats like beef and pork. A new study also finds that heart patients with the antibodies had more plaque buildup in their artery walls. Of 118 people with coronary artery disease, 31 who tested positive for the antibodies had about 25 percent more plaque in their artery walls than those who were negative, researchers report in the July Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.

Study participants were aged 30 to 80; the connection between extra gummed-up arteries and the presence of antibodies was strongest in those 65 and younger. For the antibody-positive participants in that group, the plaques penetrating the walls of the arteries were of the sort more likely to rupture and cause a heart attack (SN Online: 5/5/09).
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Ambulance

US pushes to make UN declaration on TB friendlier to big-pharma, S. Africa opposes


RT
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 15:16 UTC
TB sufferer
© Abhisek Saha/ZUMA Press / Global Look PressA TB sufferer in Agartala, India.
The US pushed to delete a provision in a draft UN declaration on fighting tuberculosis, which encouraged poorer countries to make TB treatments more affordable while snubbing copyright holders, documents reviewed by RT confirm.

In September, the UN high-level Meeting on ending tuberculosis will meet in New York to pass a political declaration on fighting the disease. TB is the world's most deadly infection and kills over a million people each year, with an overwhelming majority of the deaths occurring in developing countries. The text of the declaration had been negotiated over the past few months and was understood to be settled, until South Africa made an eleventh-hour decision to break a so-called "silence procedure" last week, publishing the near-final draft in the hope of relaunching negotiations.

According to a Medic Without Borders (MSF) statement, South Africa, which is among the countries suffering most from TB, is unhappy that the American delegation pressured other negotiators to drop a provision, which encourages countries to use international trade rules that allow leeway in protecting intellectual property, if it is needed to address a public health crisis, like a TB epidemic. Such flexibility is allowed by the 1994 Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Agreement, as explained in the Doha Declaration of 2001.
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Health

Denver hospital on lockdown amid fear of Ebola spreading


RT
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 08:36 UTC
health workers hazmat
© Darrin Zammit Lupi / ReutersHealth workers in hazmat suits decontamination process.
A possible Ebola infection has prompted Denver Health Medical Center to go into temporary lockdown, as medical staff in hazmat suits handled a patient who recently returned from a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Emergency crews in hazmat suits were seen entering the medical facility on Sunday afternoon, after the medical center had admitted a man that morning who showed symptoms characteristic of the Ebola virus. As the patient was rushed into an isolation unit, the hospital was placed on lockdown, with ambulances diverted to other locations. Three ambulance staffers were also placed in a biocontainment unit, over fears that they might have been exposed to the virus.

Comment: See also:

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