The 12 Most Common Causes of Food Poisoning

May 2nd, 2011

 

The CDC estimates that there are about 48 million illnesses caused by food poisoning each year, and as ahealth care professionalyou’re bound to see more than a few. Of course, knowing that food poisoning is a common occurrence isn’t any consolation to those suffering through the nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and digestive problems it can cause. Your best weapon against food poisoning is prevention, and there are a number of things you can do to reduce your risk of exposure to some of the common bacteria that cause it. Learn these common causes of food poisoning so you can eat smart and help stop yourself from becoming just another statistic.

1. Raw or undercooked food. Whether you’re cooking at home or going out, eating food that hasn’t been cooked thoroughly or brought to the appropriate temperature can put you at high risk of developing food poisoning. While you might enjoy rare steak, runny eggs or certain raw veggies, these foods can all carry bacteria when they are not cooked long enough or hot enough to kill off the offending particles. Common bacteria found in undercooked food include E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter. Be safe instead of sorry and ask that your food be cooked through or use this chart when at home.
2. Food that is not stored at the proper temperature. While simple common sense would tell you that leaving foods like meat and dairy products out of refrigeration makes them unfit to eat, temperature regulation can be a bit more complicated. Refrigerators can malfunction, foods can be forgotten on the counter and instructions on labels can be misread. To keep yourself safe, always check the temperature on your fridge and freezer. They should be at 40 degrees F and 0 degrees F respectively. Always read the label to see what foods will need be refrigerated immediately and which have to be cooled after opening. If you plan to freeze foods, do it within 2 days of purchase. This can help prevent some very serious bacteria from growing and making you sick.
3. Letting food sit out. Most of us are smart enough to not let refrigerated foods sit out, but sometimes we can forget to put away the leftovers or want it on hand at a party. In order to keep these foods safe to eat and avoid some common bacteria taking hold, you should always put leftovers away as soon as you can. If you’re serving food at a party, keep hot food at 140 degrees F or warmer, cold foods at 40 degrees F. Never leave perishable food out for more than two hours, especially if the weather is warm. This will help ensure that neither you nor your guests end up sick.
4. Not washing hands before eating or preparing food. Contamination of foods from dirty hands is a big cause of many cases of food poisoning. Always wash your hands thoroughly before and after handling foods at home (for at least 20 seconds) and only eat at restaurants with strong showings in health department assessments. Additionally, always make sure your hands are clean before eating food as well, especially if you will be touching them. Without these precautions, you could put yourself at risk of coming in contact with bacteria like staphylococcus-aureus and clostridium-perfringens.
5. Contamination of other foods by raw meat. Cross-contamination of foods is a major health issue and one that many out there should be highly conscious of avoiding at home. When juices from contaminated meat get onto cutting boards, hands and into the refrigerator, contamination can spread to other foods, some of which you might not plan to cook at all. It is essential to keep raw meat, poultry and fish separate from other foods. Always wash any utensils, countertops and cutting boards that have come in contact with them immediately, sanitizing them with bleach and water, or even having separate tools for handling meat can be a big help.
6. Eating raw shellfish. Raw oysters may be a delicacy, but ingesting them doesn’t come without some serious risks. Oysters from the Gulf of Mexico are commonly contaminated with Vibrio vulnificus bacteria which can cause mild to serious food poisoning. Additionally, even oysters that do not come from this region are often left unrefrigerated for several hours while being brought to shore. While you may be fine after eating raw oysters, be aware that ingestion of these shellfish uncooked is a big risk and could lead to serious health issues.
7. Improper canning. Canning foods at home has been a common practice for several decades, but it’s one that needs to be carefully monitored in order to ensure that the food being preserved won’t carry contaminates along with it. Botulism is perhaps the most common bacteria contaminant in improperly canned food, and is one of the most serious and potentially deadly forms of food poisoning out there. Always boil jars and lids to be used in canning to kill off any lingering bacteria and make sure that all cans are properly sealed. Improper canning can also happen with foods you get off grocery store shelves so look out for bulges, discolored food, or seepage.
8. Ingesting expired food. We’ve all done it at one point or another, but eating expired food comes with a big risk for food poisoning attached. Always check expiration dates before ingesting any food in your home or purchased at the store. If there is no date on the package, no packaging or only a sell by date, use the government guidelines for cold storage to help you determine if a food is safe to eat or not.
9. Not reheating food thoroughly.You might think that you only have to worry about food poisoning in foods that haven’t already been cooked, but that’s not entirely the case. You should also be careful with foods that you’re reheating, especially if they’ve been hanging out in your fridge for more than a couple of days. When reheating foods, make sure that meats reach a temp of at least 160-170 degrees F and that other foods come to around 165 degrees F. This will ensure that any bacteria that might have made its way into the food will be killed off and that you’ll be able to avoid a common cause of food poisoning.
10. Not washing produce thoroughly before preparation. Even those seemingly innocuous veggies can be the source of food poisoning if not washed and prepared properly. Prior to reaching your table, there’s no telling how many things they may have come in contact with, so always clean any fruit or vegetables with a soft kitchen brush and water (or a pre-prepared veggie wash) to ensure that any bacteria it contains will be largely washed away. This is especially important with foods that you do not plan to cook. While foodbourne illness is more commonly caused by meats, recent outbreaks of salmonella and E. coli have originated in spinach and tomatoes.
11. Unclean cooking utensils and surfaces. When it comes to food safety, cleanliness matters. Dirty kitchens attract mice and rats that can spread disease and also create ideal places for bacteria to grow and thrive and access your food. It’s essential to keep any space you plan to cook in and any tools you plan to use highly sanitized. The USDA advises putting a tablespoon of bleach into one gallon of water to create a sanitizing liquid. This can help prevent any bacteria hanging out in your kitchen from getting on food and will ensure that none are able to cross contaminate one another.
12. Unpasteurized foods. For the most part, people are fine after eating foods that are unpasteurized, provided they have been stored and served in a safe manner. Yet for those with compromised immune systems, who are pregnant and the very young and very old could be at risk for food poisoning from these. Commonly pasteurized foods include milk, cheeses, yogurt, ice cream, ciders and juices. Unpasteurized versions of these foods can carry Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria, which can make individuals very sick.

9 tips for preventing oral cancer

Early detection of oral cancer is vital. Here’s how you to know whether you’re at risk, plus what you can do to protect your health

By Ann Chandler, RDH

 

What are the main risk factors for oral cancer?

According to the B.C. Cancer Agency, the risk of contracting oral cancer increases with age. Other risk factors include smoking or chewing tobacco, consuming more than three alcoholic drinks per day and exposure to ultra-violet light (sun damage). Any previous head or neck cancer also puts you at a greater risk.

There is also increasing speculation that human papilloma virus (HPV) may play a role in some cases of oral cancer via oral sex transmission.

“At this point, I do not believe that there are enough cases to definitively link oral sex-HPV transmission to oral cancer,” says Dr. Charles Shuler, an oral pathology specialist and Dean of Dentistry at the University of British Columbia. The growing number of cases suspected to be linked to HPV has led to new research to examine the linkage, adds Shuler, who reminds us that of the large number of different human papilloma viruses, the majority are benign.

Preventing oral cancer

Here’s how you can take an active role in preventing oral cancer or detecting it in its early stages:

1. Always brush and floss your teeth regularly. An unhealthy mouth reduces your immune system and inhibits your body’s ability to fight off potential cancers.
2. Do not smoke (or chew) any type of tobacco product. If you are a smoker, even with a casual habit, make the decision to stop.
3. Drink alcohol in moderation (one to two drinks per day) and never binge drink. The risk of developing oral cancer increases with the amount and length of time alcohol and tobacco products are used.
4. Limit your exposure to the sun. We all know we need to use sunscreen, but do we remember to apply it to our lips? Always use UV-A/B-blocking sun protection on your lips when you are in the sun. Repeated exposure increases the risk of cancer on the lips, especially the lower lip. There are a lot of handy lipstick-size sunscreen tubes to pop in your purse for everyday use. Some even come with a colour tint and flavour to replace your regular lip gloss or moisturizer.
5. Exercise regularly. An active lifestyle is known to boost the immune system and help ward off cancer.
6. Choose cancer-fighting foods in your diet. The American Institute for Cancer Research recommends you eat lots of beans, berries, cruciferous vegetables (like cabbage and broccoli), dark green leafy vegetables, flaxseed, garlic, grapes, green tea, soy and tomatoes for their role in cancer prevention. “Right now the effect of diets and nutrition in preventing cancer is hot,” says Dr. Lewei Zhang, a professor of oral and biomedical sciences at the University of British Columbia.
7. How you prepare those foods is also important in the prevention of cancer. Replace frying and grilling with baking, boiling or steaming. Use healthy spices like garlic, ginger and curry powder for added flavour.
8. See your dentist or dental hygienist regularly (at least every six months) and ask for an oral cancer screening to be done.
9. Conduct a self exam at least once a month. Plan to do it the same time you do your breast self-exam. It only takes a few minutes of your time, but could make a big difference in your life. Buy a handy mouth mirror (available at most pharmacies) for those hard-to-see areas. Be sure to check the back and sides of your tongue. If you see or feel anything suspicious – lumps, bumps, tender areas, white, red or grey patches, see your dentist to have it checked.

http://www.besthealthmag.ca/get-healthy/prevention/9-tips-for-preventing-oral-cancer

 

I am HOT

Ginger Root

Eating ginger root may help to prevent cancer and aging disorders.

Ginger root contains special enzymes responsible for catalyzing the proteins in your food, thus aiding in digestion and the prevention of cramps.

Good for those with constipation!

The ancient Greeks used to eat ginger root after a large meal in order to ease the digestion process.

Ginger root has proven to help lower your cholesterol levels and prevent the formation of blood clots.

As a mood enhancer, ginger’s cineole content may help contribute to stress relief.

Also used for migraine headache.

Ginger root can also be used for reducing toothache and the discomfort which arises due to the infection in the upper respiratory tract due to its antibacterial and antifungal nature.

Chewing on fresh ginger root can help freshen the breath.

Being a warming herb, ginger root can help knock out a fever. This property also makes it effective in stimulating circulation of the blood.

Ginger root can also help relax muscles around the blood vessels and is said to help prevent blood clots from forming. The warming effects make it a natural decongestant as well as an antihistamine, making it the perfect remedy for colds.

Some studies show that it can even help to inhibit the replication of the herpes simplex virus.

Recent studies show that ginger might also have a role in lowering LDL cholesterol because the spice can help reduce the amount of cholesterol that is absorbed.

It has also been shown in animal trials to help slow or even prevent cancerous tumor growth.

To discover the health benefits of ginger for yourself, simply make a tea by steeping about 5 slices of ginger in hot water.

If you prefer it in your food,

Ginger is excellent in many dish and is perfect when combined with garlic.

Ginger doesn’t only spice up your food it can also help to put some extra spice in your intimate life too; It improves blood flow to your sexual organs, and contains Vitamin C, zinc and magnesium.

Exercise is good for us

A good workout can do wonders for your health

Exercise is obviously great for your health, which is why this one is at the top of our reasons for making time for it every day. Getting in a great workout on a regular basis helps maintain your weight, reduces the risk of health issues in the future and keeps you on a healthy track. Sounds like a pretty good motivator to us!
Exercising helps clear the mind

Going on a walk or hitting the gym for an hour when you’re feeling down or stressed out to the max is a great way to clear your head. Being able to channel your frustrated energy into something productive and healthy is a great thing, and exercise is also a great way to make “me” time away from all the stress in your life.
Fitness is a gateway to meeting new people

If you don’t care about your physical or mental health (and if that’s the case, there’s something wrong here!), perhaps this one will help show you why exercise is important. Joining a gym or a fitness class can help you meet new friends and guys (hello, cutie on the treadmill!) and helps you become more social. So if you feel like you’re stuck in a dating rut or could use a few new girlfriends, hit the gym and start socializing, lovelies!

http://www.lovingyou.com/articles/845195/top-three-reasons-to-exercise

QUICKEST WAY TO STOP DIARRHEA

QUICKEST WAY TO STOP DIARRHEA
by: A Singaporean

When someone gets diarrhea, sometimes the solution is so easy, we wonder why anyone has to suffer.

Of all the ingredients here, the most potent is Rice, but not in the usual form we eat it in, and neither would rice porridge work too well.

The secret is in rice water.

This is already known in this region. Ask your maids — Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Filipina and they would know about it. My Malaysian relatives know about it.

(My mother) knew about it. When Dr Albert Winsemius came to Singapore for a farewell and thank you dinner in his honour, he brought along his wife Aly and his granddaughter, Jolijn. Both women came down with very bad gastroenteritis. They saw the doctor who gave them medication. It was slow to work.

Mother boiled some rice in lots of water and went to their hotel with two 1.5L bottles of rice water. I cringed in shame at the offer of this folk remedy, which seemed so primitive to me. Never heard of this cure before. To my surprise, it worked, and they were even able to go out for dinner the next day. Both were exclaiming how the rice water did the trick of making them well again. Well, lucky it worked, I thought to myself.

I was discussing this some years back with Kim Ng, the ex-matron of KK Hospital . She said, yes, that is what Professor Wong Hock Boon, the notable pediatrician teaches. I was shocked and made some comment how could he? It was common knowledge so what had he to do with it?

Many months later, I regretted laughing at it. Dr Christina Shanta Emmanuel, who is the CEO of…uh, which group I have forgotten, either National Health Group, or Polyclinics, or whatever.. regarded me seriously when I brought up the topic like it was good fun.. She said that Prof Wong Hock Boon had presented a paper on it at some conference after he had done clinical trials.

Then his results were published in the Lancet, the Medical Journal all doctors read. In fact, said Shanta, he was credited for saving the lives
of 2 million African babies by this method.

I am impressed.

It is rice water and not rice, that does the trick. I have found it effective again and again.

THE EXACT RECIPE

You take a handful of rice and boil it in a large saucepan with lots of water. Like three or four large glasses. Then you cool that and drink the water. If you are in a hurry to relieve the ailing person, take the saucepan off the fire and dunk it in a frying pan or basin of cool water with ice cubes if necessary. This gives the patient a chance to drink the rice water sooner and cure himself or herself sooner.

When drinking the rice water, make sure there is lots of it. You have to tell the patient that enough water must go in to line your guts from throat to other end, all 10 to 12 metres of it. If you take rice, it stays in the stomach. If you take broth, some of it may go into the small intestine.
But if you take rice water, it will carry rice grains to every inch of your small and large intestine to the end where the problem is.

How does it work? Even Prof Wong Hock Boon doesn’t know. Read the article by going to this site:

http://rehydrate.org/dd/dd06.htm#page2

It is good to pass on the news to everyone you know because the complaint is so common and people suffer unnecessarily. You would be doing your friends a great favour to relieve them of their misery when the occasion arises.

How a Doctor Reversed Her Husband’s Alzheimer’s Disease in 37 Days

How a Doctor Reversed Her Husband’s Alzheimer’s Disease in 37 Days

New breakthrough improves memory… restores lost brain function … and even revives dying cells!

by Frank Shallenberger, MD
If you’ve ever known anyone with Alzheimer’s disease, you know how heart-breaking it can be. Not only does it destroy a person’s mental abilities and dignity … but it wipes out the person’s very personality, leaving behind a mere shell of a human being. The body is there for you to see, but the person you know and love no longer exists.
That’s exactly what happened to my colleague Dr. Mary Newport and her husband Steve. As Mary describes it, “I was watching my husband of 36 years fade away.”
Things didn’t start out that way, of course. For most of Steve’s life, he was known for his quick wit and sharp mind. He could do complicated math in his head … take apart computers and repair them … fix practically anything else without instruction. If he didn’t have a tool to do something he would “invent” one and make a usable prototype. He was also a voracious reader. And he loved kayaking, cooking, landscaping, and caring for his two daughters.
Indeed, on the day the couples’ first daughter was born, Steve left his corporate job as an accountant so he could work from home. He took over as manager of Mary’s medical practice, handing all the accounting and administrative tasks. The practice grew by leaps and bounds.
Tragedy Strikes
But then Steve’s memory started failing him. At first, it was little things, like misplacing his keys and forgetting appointments. But then the lapses became more serious. He started making errors with the accounting and payroll. Forgetting whether had had made the bank deposits. Missing tax deadlines.
A psychiatrist diagnosed him as having depression, and put him on antidepressant drugs and psychological counseling. But of course, that didn’t help. Steve’s memory continued to get worse. He started getting lost while trying to drive home. He couldn’t even remember how to turn on the car’s windshield wiper.
By now it was clear that Steve had dementia. Mary wrote in her journal: “It has been a nightmare to watch his decline. Every night, we hold each other before we go to sleep and I wonder how many more times we will get to do this.”
Mary took Steve to a neurologist, who put him on the drugs Aricept, Namenda, and Exelon. But still, Steve continued to worsen. He’d spend his days walking around the house confused, wearing only one shoe. He couldn’t remember how to use a spoon or how to get water out of the refrigerator. At a family reunion, he no longer recognized close relatives. He even forgot that he had fathered his oldest daughter.
Mary did everything she could for Steve. She cooked for him, gave him his medications, helped him get dressed.
She also tried to enroll him in studies on new experimental drugs. But Steve scored so low on the mental exam that he didn’t qualify for the studies.
When Steve took the Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSR), he scored a 14 out of 30, which indicates severe dementia. And when he took a test where he was asked to draw a clock from memory, this is what he drew:
And that’s not all. When Steve took a genetic test for Alzheimer’s, he tested positive for the leading Alzheimer’s gene. And when he had an MRI of his brain, the MRI found a shrinking of the hippocampus and damage to his frontal and parietal lobes.
Still, there were brief moments when the old Steve would make a brief appearance. Sometimes he’d be able to hold a coherent conversation. Sometimes, he would even say something clever or crack a joke. One day, Mary asked if a certain phone call came and he said “no.” Two days later, he remembered the call and what the caller said.
In Mary’s words, it was “Strange to have no short-term memory and yet the information was filed somewhere in his brain. I knew he was locked up in there somewhere, if only there was a key to open up the areas of his brain that he didn’t have access to.”

Alzheimer’s and Coconut Oil

How worried should drug companies be about supplements eating into their monopoly profits? A lot—as this story will show. Please share it with anyone you know who is suffering from Alzheimer’s or is worried about it. Of course, just about everyone worries about Alzheimer’s. It currently afflicts 5.2 million people in the US and is the seventh leading cause of death. The cost of treating it is estimated at $148 billion.Mary Newport, MD, has been medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at Spring Hill Regional Hospital in Florida since it opened in 2003. About the same time the unit opened, her husband Steve, then 53, began showing signs of progressive dementia, later diagnosed as Alzheimer’s Disease. “Many days, often for several days in a row, he was in a fog; couldn’t find a spoon or remember how to get water out of the refrigerator,” she said.They started him on Alzheimer’s drugs—Aricept, Namenda, Exelon—but his disease worsened steadily. (It should be noted that the latest research shows that the various Alzheimer’s drugs, like Aricept, have proven disappointing, with little real benefit and often distressing side effects.) When Dr. Newport couldn’t get her husband into a drug trial for a new Alzheimer’s medication, she started researching the mechanism behind Alzheimer’s.She discovered that with Alzheimer’s disease, certain brain cells may have difficulty utilizing glucose (made from the carbohydrates we eat), the brain’s principal source of energy. Without fuel, these precious neurons may begin to die. There is an alternative energy source for brain cells—fats known as ketones. If deprived of carbohydrates, the body produces ketones naturally.But this is the hard way to do it—who wants to cut carbohydrates out of the diet completely? Another way to produce ketones is by consuming oils that have medium-chain triglycerides. When MCT oil is digested, the liver converts it into ketones. In the first few weeks of life, ketones provide about 2and in the first sixty days, Dr. Newport saw remarkable changes in him: every morning he was alert and happy, talkative, making jokes. His gait was “still a little weird,” but his tremor was no longer very noticeable. He was able to conce5 percent of the energy newborn babies need to survive.Dr. Newport learned that the ingredient in the drug trial which was showing so much promise was simply MCT oil derived from coconut oil or palm kernel oil, and that a dose of 20 grams (about 20 ml or 4 teaspoons) was used to produce these results. When MCT oil is metabolized, the ketones which the body creates may, according to the latest research, not only protect against the incidence of Alzheimer’s, but may actually reverse it. Moreover, this is also a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), drug-resistant epilepsy, brittle type I diabetes, and type II (insulin-resistant) diabetes.So Mr. Newport, not being able to get into the drug trial, started taking the coconut oil twice a day. At this point, he could barely remember how to draw a clock. Two weeks after adding coconut oil to his diet, his drawing improved. After 37 days, Steve’s drawing gained even more clarity. The oil seemed to “lift the fog,” ntrate on things that he wanted to do around the house and in the yard and stay on task, whereas before coconut oil he was easily distractible and rarely accomplished anything unless he was directly supervised.Over the next year, the dementia continued to reverse itself: he is able to run again, his reading weeks earlier and relays telephone conversations with accurate detail. A recent MRI shows that the brain atrophy has been ccomprehension has improved dramatically, and his short-term memory is improving—he often brings up events that happened days to completely halted. Let’s take a moment to consider what actually happened here. Synthetic (patentable) Alzheimer’s drugs have failed. A drug company reluctantly decides to put a non-patentable natural substance (medium-chain triglycerides derived from coconut or palm) through an FDA trial. It works. But, darn it, a smart doctor figures out that a natural food can be substituted for the super-expensive drug. Not only that, the ketones from natural coconut oil last in the body longer than the drug version—eight hours instead of three hours. This is enough to make a drug company start worrying about its future. What if this natural health idea really catches on? Goodbye to monopoly profits!Coconut oil can be found in many health food stores and even some grocery stores. One large chain sells a non-hydrogenated (no trans-fat) brand of coconut oil in a one-liter size (nearly 32 ounces) for about $7. It can be purchased in quantities as small as a pint and up to five gallons online. It is important to use coconut oil that is non-hydrogenated and contains no trans-fat. We would also strongly encourage the use of virgin oil (chemicals used to extract non-virgin oil are potentially dangerous, and better still, virgin organic, still quite reasonably priced.)For more information, see Dr. Newport’s website. Sadly, you will not find any information on ketones, or the use of coconut oil or MCT oil, on the Alzheimer’s Association website.Coconut oil is not the only natural product that has the potential to turn Alzheimer’s around. We will cover some other ones, and drug industry efforts to steal some of them, in a future issue.Source : alliance for Natural Health LINK TO SOURCE Also please read “What If There Was A Cure For Alzheimers and Nobody Knew – Dr. Mary Newport – A very interesting report by Dr. Mary Newport, her husband was in the throes of Alzheimer’s disease at the young age of 58. She did lots of research into Alzheimer’s, and came across two scientific articles regarding the therapeutic implications of medium chain triglycerides (MCT Oil) also known as Ketone Bodies or ketoacids. Our bodies use Ketoacids as a form of fuel when there is no glucose available. Neurons in brain cells are very particular about what fuel they use, normally they use glucose but they can use Ketoacids. Normally Ketoacids are not circulating in the body except if the body has gone without food for days or if a person is consuming a low carbohydrate diet e.g. Atkins Diet. In Alzheimer’s certain areas of the brain, the neurons are unable to take up glucose due to insulin resistence and so the neurons slowly die. In the body MCT oil is digested differently, it does not get stored as fat, in the liver it produces ketoacids which can be used as fuel by the body. Coconut oil is 96% Medium Chain Fatty Acids, it contains Omega 6 Fatty Acid, and other short and long chain fatty acids and it contains no cholesterol. Mary started giving her husband 7 teaspoons of coconut oil a day and the improvement in his condition was amazing.

Top 10 worst health habits

Top 10 worst health habits

A lot of people have some nasty habits, more or less annoying or harmful. Some people bite their nails, others crack their knuckles or teeth pick in public. These are pretty much unconscious acts, which makes that specific habit not so easy to break. Some of them, especially the ones that are more general and have to do with grooving or how the person learned to behave, can pose serious health risks preventing the individual from living a healthy life. The bad habits that can cost you more than just having some ugly nails are listed below.

1 — Skipping sleep
Being tired most of the time causes you to eat at random, drive recklessly and be very quick-tempered even in mild situations. You must get at least eight hours of sleep per night, desirable starting before 12 AM. Not to mention what the lack of sleep can do to your brain, heart, muscles, skin, eyes and so forth in time. Don’t be a hero while you are young and therefore not seeing these effects. They will turn on you radically in your 30′s.

2 — Getting in too much sugar
A high glycemic index is associated with foods that contain lots of sugar. This will quickly increase your blood sugar and give you quick energy bursts. This will not last longer that a 1-2 hours and when the sugar is gone, you will feel a debilitating exhaustion. A high level of sugar will lead to imminent obesity, as the sugar excess in blood tell your body to start depositing fat even it doesn’t need to.

3 — Being the worrying kind
Constantly worrying on common and minor issues or about something that is not within your power to handle, will only do more damage than good. If you have a problem, try to solve it with a proactive stance. If it really can’t be solved, simply leave it behind and go one with your other activities instead of keeping your mind stuffed with heavy, unnecessary burdens that will keep your mind tensed. Keep it stress-free.

4 — Skipping the meals
Missing a meal or eating in a hurry can lead to overall poor nutrition or overeating (when you finally get the chance to eat). Enjoy your meal, sit at the table, relax or listen to some music.

5 — Lack of exercise
Many health conditions like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and arthritis are all linked to a sedentary lifestyle. Your body is made to move and so get moving to avoid these health conditions while increasing your energy level and reducing stress. At least thirty minutes of intense physical activity per day will do just fine if your really can’t afford more. Quick-walking can be enough for most people who have no time, or prefer avoiding the gym.

6 — Smoking
Smoking equals disaster to your body. Don’t listen to those brave stories where your friend talks about his grandpa who smoked the hell out of him until his late 80′s. They are very isolated cases, or the person in cause potentially had fortunate genetics. Not to mention it is more important how you live, not for how long. It’s good to know that lungs cancer is one of the fastest ways to death you can pick, throughout all the cancer forms. More than half of the patients are dead within a year from diagnosis. Other than just the health risks, smoking also equals to throwing your money out the window.

7 — Forgetting the tooth brush
Also consider general hygiene here. Particularly, damaged teeth/gums and oral conditions are among the worst health problems you can face with. Huge pain, nasty appearance and lots of money can be the toll of your bad oral hygiene. Gum infections can even lead to heart disease and can make you swallow lots of bacteria. Use the floss once a day.

8 — Doing overtime work constantly
Do not live to work, work to live. Keep your work at the workplace, and have some extra quality time for yourself and your family. Being a workaholic can affect both your health and social life.

9 – Eating foods that are made of things with names that tie up your tongue when spelled.
Check the labels of the food you eat. If the item you picked has a heavy list of ingredients sounding like they landed directly from a post-graduate chemistry class, leave the item for those who made it. Eat more fresh and natural food.

10 — Not keeping it social
Healthy mind in a healthy body. If the latter one can be achieved due to respect to the above 9 principles, the former one requires moderate social contact. Keep your friends close and enjoy spending your time with them. It will hold you away from problems like depression, boredom, low tone or bad mood and will maintain a positive view on life in general.

http://www.healthfiend.com/weeklytop/top-10-worst-health-habits/

Seven Evolutionary Leftovers in the Human Body

Seven Evolutionary Leftovers in the Human Body

Wings on a flightless bird, eyes on a blind fish, and sexual organs on a flower that reproduces asexually—the casual observer might ask, what’s the point? But these vestigial organs and structures, once useful in an ancestor and now diminished in size, complexity, and/or utility, carry important information and give us clues to our evolutionary past.
Though humans often think of vestigial organs as useless little fixtures that sometimes, as in the case of the appendix, cause us extreme anguish, we wouldn’t know nearly as much about macroevolution as we do now without their presence. In On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin used vestigial organs as evidence for evolution, and their presence has helped define and shape our phylogenetic trees.
Why the Leftovers?
Contrary to what most think, vestigial doesn’t necessarily mean useless; in some cases, we may just not yet know exactly how the organ is used in its current incarnation. (The human thymus was once thought to be vestigial). Because these structures can be traced back through the ancestors, they essentially serve as a marker of evolution; no organism can have a vestigial organ that hasn’t been found in its forefathers. For this reason, you won’t ever find feathers on a mammal or gills on a primate.
Similar in concept to vestigial structures are atavisms, which are the reappearance of a structure or trait that isn’t found in the immediate ancestors. For instance, whales and dolphins have been found in nature with hind limbs; this rare occurrence is due to the reemergence of a trait they inherited from their terrestrial ancestors.
Humans also contain structures that mark where we came from and perhaps, which structures’ evolution will take care of over time.

Human Tail (Bone)
One striking example of an atavism is the human coccyx, or tailbone, which is a relic of the mammalian tail. Useful for mammals that use tails for balance, species-to-species signaling, and support, the tail is missing in apes and in humans. However, all human embryos initially have a tail. Normally, they regress into four to five fused vertebrae (the coccyx). However, there have been numerous case studies of human children being born with an extended coccyx—a tail—that was removed without incident. Ranging from one inch to five, the gene that normally stops vertebrae elongation is decreased and the human tail remains at birth.

Wisdom Teeth
Our ancestors, known to be herbivores, needed strong molars for mashing up and chewing plant material. This relic is why many of us will develop wisdom teeth, also known as third molars. Theoretically, they could still be used for chewing, but in one third of people, they can come in sideways, impacted, or can cause pain and infection. This is why these vestigial structures are almost always removed when they begin to come in.

Appendix
Another leftover from our plant eating ancestors is the vermiform appendix, which is an organ attached to the large intestine. A similar sac is much bigger in other animals than it is in humans and is used to aid in digesting high cellulose diets.
While appendicitis can be a potentially fatal condition, and removing the appendix has no adverse effects, some researchers think that the appendix might have an auxiliary function, such as aiding the immune system.

Vitamin C Synthesis
In humans, vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy, and can eventually cause death. We can’t synthesize vitamin C (ascorbic acid), but our ancestors, save for the guinea pig and primates, were able to do so. Therefore, it makes sense that we have a vestigial molecular structure, now defunct, that manufactures the vitamin. The gene required for vitamin C synthesis was found in humans in 1994, but it was a pseudogene, meaning it was present but unable to function. The pseudogene was also found in some primates and guinea pigs, as expected.

Male Nipples

Male nipples are sometimes referred to as vestigial, although they aren’t truly, because they were never functional in our ancestors. Instead, they most likely occur because in the embryonic stage we are essentially sexless, only differentiating into male and female with the presence of hormones.

Goose Bumps
When we get goose bumps, it’s the action of muscle fibers called erector pili, which cause the hairs in follicles to stand to attention. In animals, such as a cat, this causes a larger appearance and can be used to thwart an attacker, as well as trap air between feathers and fur for insulation. However, humans, with our minimal coating of fur, don’t really need the raised hair; we use jackets instead. It is therefore thought that goose bumps don’t really serve much of a purpose. However, the small expenditure of energy used to contract the muscles could, perhaps, cause a tiny release of heat. Or, because goose bumps are associated not only with cold, but emotional responses as well (listening to a good song, seeing a scary movie) they could now serve as a form of communication with others.

Vomeronasal Organs (VNOs)
In mice and other animals, the tiny vomeronasal organs (VNOs) are thought to be responsible for pheromone detection, helping to pick up the chemicals that signal a potential mate, reproductive status, and other social cues. Although similar structures have been found in humans, they’re largely thought to be vestigial and inactive, having lost nerve connection to the brain.
There are other vestigial and atavistic structures in humans, especially when you consider the potential leftovers in our genomes. And if they don’t require too much energy or resources to make, chances are they’ll stick with us for the long haul.

Image sources: Ildar Sagdejev(cc), National Institutes of Health, History of Medicine.

Colon Cancer Radiation Treatment

Colon Cancer Radiation Treatment
Article by Dr. Sloan, MD.

Radiation treatment for colon cancer can be given to patients alone or in the form of combined treatment. It is given to shrink the tumor size, kill the residual cancer cell after surgery, relieve the symptoms and prevent recurrence. Usually, radiotherapy is well tolerated by patients.

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/health/cancer/articles/109243.aspx#ixzz1FkIUnfWP
Radiation Treatment for Colon Cancer
Radiation treatment for colon cancer, also known as radiotherapy for colon cancer, is a type of treatment for colon cancer using high energy particles or waves (eg: X-rays, gamma rays, electron beams) to destroy the cancer cells.
Radiotherapy breaks the DNA strands within the cancer cell that control the abnormal growth rate, multiplication of cancer cells. Unlike chemotherapy that exposes the entire body to drugs that kills cancer cells, radiotherapy is usually a regional treatment, focusing on the cancer affected part only. Thus, with such a targeted treatment, those surrounding healthy tissues are less affected.
Possible Indications for Radiation Treatment
Clinical oncologists may consider radiation therapy for colon cancer patients for the following reasons:
• To destroy residual cancer cells that are found after surgery.
• To prepare the patient for surgery by shrinking the large tumor prior to surgery. This would facilitate the surgical removal of the tumor.
• To relieve the symptoms of colon cancer (pain, bleeding and obstruction) particularly important in palliative care.
• To prevent the cancer recurrence after surgery.
Interestingly, the radiation therapy can be given either as a combination (with chemotherapy or/and surgery) or alone. Certain drugs are capable of making the cancer cells more sensitive to radiation therapy, allowing the radiation to kill more cancer cells effectively. These kinds of drugs are known as radiosensitizers.
Types of Radiation Therapy
Basically, there are mainly two distinct types of radiation therapy for colon cancer:

External Beam Radiation Therapy: Machine generates radiation outside the body targeting the tumor site. The beams of radiation can destroy the DNA of the cancer cells and thus kill them. Careful planning prior to therapy allows the surrounding healthy tissues to be spared.

Internal Radiation Therapy or Brachytherapy: Unlike the external beam radiation, the source of radiation is placed within the body near the cancer site. It is usually given as an extra dose or boost of radiation to the site of surgery.
Possible Side Effects After Radiation Treatment
Once the treatment is discontinued, the side effects usually disappear gradually. However, the bowel function remains altered from what it was before the disease started. Possible side effects occurring after radiation treatment may include diarrhea, frequent bowel movements, fatigue, redness of skin, fatigue and loss of appetite. Many patients are rather surprised to know they are coping better with radiation compared to chemotherapy.

Patients and family members must be reassured that patients are not radioactive after external radiation therapy. This is a myth and must be dismissed so that patients will not be isolated or asked to avoid socializing with other. Though brachytherapy gives off radiation, the radioactivity is confined around the radiation source and not the patient’s entire body.

http://www.brighthub.com/health/cancer/articles/109243.aspx#ixzz1FkJJX873