Health & WellnessS


Roses

Top Houseplants for Improving Indoor Air Quality

In the late 1980s, a study by NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) was conducted to find ways to purify the air for extended stays in orbiting space stations. The study resulted in excellent news for homeowners and office workers everywhere, because it concluded that common houseplants not only make indoor spaces more attractive, they also help to purify the air!

While it's a well known fact that plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen through photosynthesis, the NASA/ALCA study showed that many houseplants also remove harmful elements such as trichloroethylene, benzene, and formaldehyde from the air.

Nuke

Cardiac Imaging Zaps Patients with High Radiation

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in the United States and many heart attacks occur in people who've had no previous symptoms or warning. So a noninvasive imaging technique known as cardiac computed tomography (CT) angiography (CCTA) that evaluates the anatomy of the coronary arteries quickly and can find calcified and non-calcified plaques that could lead to a heart attack sounds like a great idea -- especially when the test is so specific it has about a 90% accuracy rate.

In fact, the 64-slice (meaning it scans 64 images per rotation) CCTA is currently being used in an increasing number of patients who go to the emergency room with chest pains or who have had abnormal stress tests. And some doctors are advocating using it on seemingly healthy people to look for hidden heart disease, too.

Nuke

CT Scans Cause Cancer

A computed tomography (CT) scan can detect calcified plaque in coronary arteries. And because this calcium-laced plaque is believed to be associated with the presence of heart disease, CT scans are being widely advertised and hyped at many medical centers. Mostly, the scans are aimed at the healthy as a new must-have "preventive" test. Ads push the message that if the test shows you don't have heart disease, the worried well can breathe a sigh of relief and if calcified plaques do show up, they can begin medical treatment.

At first glance, that might make sense. After all, the CT heart scan is promoted as a totally non-painful, non-invasive, not terribly expensive test that takes only minutes in order to "see" into your body and look for heart disease. But there's one huge downside medical marketers fail to talk about: the test bombards the body with radiation. And a new study of the test's radiation risk suggests coronary CT scans trigger cancer.

Info

How much omega-3 fatty acid do we need to prevent cardiovascular disease?

New research in the FASEB Journal identifies the 'Goldilocks dose' of DHA that is 'just right' for preventing oxidative stress in men

A team of French scientists have found the dose of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) that is "just right" for preventing cardiovascular disease in healthy men. In a research report appearing in the September 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal, the scientists show that a 200 mg dose of DHA per day is enough to affect biochemical markers that reliably predict cardiovascular problems, such as those related to aging, atherosclerosis, and diabetes. This study is the first to identify how much DHA is necessary to promote optimal heart health.

Comment: If we read the article more closely, we will see that 200 mg of DHA a day is just enough to affect biochemical markers. That dose is by no means enough for optimal health as is implied elsewhere in the article. In fact, research has shown that we need a lot more Omega-3 fatty acids to balance the large amount of Omega-6 fatty acids that we consume everyday.

And as if the above is not misleading enough, the author felt compelled to add the last sentence, insinuating that people should eat fish, which are more likely than not contaminated with mercury than getting Omega-3 supplements. Why is that? Is it because getting Omega-3 supplements is a good and inexpensive way to improve your health and it is not in the interest of big pharma companies?


Wine

Alcohol and Coffee Linked to Heartbeat Problems

Image
© Susannah IrelandAbout 46,000 people in Britain are diagnosed with atrial fibrillation every year
Drinking more than ten alcoholic drinks a week or four cups of strong coffee each day can increase the risk of developing an irregular heartbeat, new research suggests.

Two studies presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Barcelona found that alcohol and caffeine intake can affect the chances of developing an abnormal heart rhythm, known as atrial fibrillation.

Bell

The Popularity of High Fructose Corn Syrup

The Truth Is Not So Sweet

We are constantly told that refined sugar is terrible for the body and contributes to weight gain. The food industry has experimented with chemical compounds to create a replacement for sugar, only to create sweet tasting carcinogens. Sugar-free diets are out of the question for most (mine lasted about three whole days). So, the question remains: What sweets can I have that are the least harmful or not harmful at all?

Magnify

Psychological Link Between "Weight" And "Importance"

Weighty. Heavy. What do these words have to do with seriousness and importance? Why do we weigh our options, and why does your opinion carry more weight than mine?

New research suggests that we can blame this on gravity. Heavy objects require more energy to move, and they can hurt us more if we move them clumsily. So we learn early on in life to think more and plan more when we're dealing with heftier things. They require more cognitive effort as well as muscular effort.

This leads to the intriguing possibility that the abstract concept of importance is grounded in our very real experience of weight. Could the various metaphors involving weight derive from our body's actual struggle with the force of gravity?

In a study appearing in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, University of Amsterdam psychologist Nils Jostmann and his colleagues speculated that actually carrying a heavy weight, rather than a light weight, would make people judge issues as more important in various ways.

Info

The Effects of Sodium on Health

Image
The salt, or sodium, in your diet directly affects your blood pressure levels. Generally, the higher your daily salt intake, the higher your blood pressure. However, because each person is unique, your body's response to reducing salt in your diet may reduce your blood pressure to a different degree than someone else. Still, eating less salt isn't harmful and will likely be beneficial to your health. Most people actually become more "salt sensitive" as they age, with larger changes in blood pressure. The recommended amount of salt for healthy adults is between 1500 and 2300 milligrams (about 1 tsp.) a day.

Footprints

Agriculture and the Healthcare Debate: Inextricably Linked

President Obama's plans to reform the healthcare system in U.S. have taken over the headlines in the past several weeks. Doctors, economists, insurance executives, public health experts - all of them are being afforded the chance add their two cents on how to fix our broken healthcare system. The voices that are strikingly absent, though, are those of the agricultural community. What, you may ask, does agriculture have to do with overhauling the healthcare system? My answer - everything.

Magnify

Study Finds Radiation Risk for Patients

At least four million Americans under age 65 are exposed to high doses of radiation each year from medical imaging tests, according to a new study in The New England Journal of Medicine.

About 400,000 of those patients receive very high doses, more than the maximum annual exposure allowed for nuclear power plant employees or anyone else who works with radioactive material.

The paper, being published on Thursday, was based on a survey from 2005 to 2007 covering almost one million patients insured by UnitedHealthcare.