Health notes
Taking too many vitamin supplements regularly may lead to liver damage and birth defects, warn US experts. A panel that has called for urgent research into the side effects of tablets found that beta-carotene may raise the risk of lung cancer in smokers, reported the online edition of Daily Mail. Beta-carotene is an orange coloured plant pigment used in the manufacture of Vitamin A. It acts as an antioxidant and an immune system booster. Studies found a clear protective benefit against lung cancer for those who eat a diet rich in fruit and vegetables.
However, when Scandinavian scientists gave study volunteers beta carotene, commonly found in orange-coloured fruits and vegetables, the risk of lung cancer in smokers increased. For other vitamins, concern surrounded “super dose” supplements that exceed recommended daily amounts. Taking too much niacin, which is also known as nicotinic acid or Vitamin B3, could damage the liver, and pregnant women who consume too much Vitamin A could see birth defects in their babies, the research claims.
Latest HealthLife News & Snipets
Link between smell & sexuality cited
Lesbians react to the smell of certain bodily odours in ways similar to heterosexual men and different from heterosexual women, new research suggests. Building on their previous studies that showed significant differences in the ways heterosexual and homosexual men’s brains process odours, the researchers may be narrowing the search for the elusive human pheromone.
The existence of phero-mones, the sex-specific chemicals that send messages by smell to other members of the species, is well known in animals, but their existence among humans is in dispute. The authors do not claim that they have discovered human pheromones or even that odours are a major factor in human sexual choices. But they have found suggestive differences in physiological responses to odour.
The study appeared online on May 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The substances involved are a progesterone derivative produced in male sweat and an estrogenlike steroid that has been detected in female urine. The two smells are processed in the brain differently from ordinary odours.
In the experiment, 12 lesbians smelled the two substances while researchers observed blood flow in their brains with PET scans. The scents activated parts of the brain that ordinarily process odours, but the estrogenlike compound also activated a part of the hypothalamus, as it does in heterosexual men.
Animal studies suggest that the hypothalamus is important in sexual behaviour. So, when that part of the brain lights up under the stimulus of an odour, a sexual response, rather than simply an olfactory one, is implied. In previous research, Dr Ivanka Savic and her colleagues established that brain responses to these odours were reciprocal in heterosexual men and women.
Despite the similarities, lesbians do not respond to these two odours in exactly the same way as heterosexual men, so the analogy with gay men and heterosexual women is imperfect. “This observation could favour the view that male and female homosexuality are different,” said Dr Savic, an associate professor of neurology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
By Nicholas Bakalar
The existence of phero-mones, the sex-specific chemicals that send messages by smell to other members of the species, is well known in animals, but their existence among humans is in dispute. The authors do not claim that they have discovered human pheromones or even that odours are a major factor in human sexual choices. But they have found suggestive differences in physiological responses to odour.
The study appeared online on May 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The substances involved are a progesterone derivative produced in male sweat and an estrogenlike steroid that has been detected in female urine. The two smells are processed in the brain differently from ordinary odours.
In the experiment, 12 lesbians smelled the two substances while researchers observed blood flow in their brains with PET scans. The scents activated parts of the brain that ordinarily process odours, but the estrogenlike compound also activated a part of the hypothalamus, as it does in heterosexual men.
Animal studies suggest that the hypothalamus is important in sexual behaviour. So, when that part of the brain lights up under the stimulus of an odour, a sexual response, rather than simply an olfactory one, is implied. In previous research, Dr Ivanka Savic and her colleagues established that brain responses to these odours were reciprocal in heterosexual men and women.
Despite the similarities, lesbians do not respond to these two odours in exactly the same way as heterosexual men, so the analogy with gay men and heterosexual women is imperfect. “This observation could favour the view that male and female homosexuality are different,” said Dr Savic, an associate professor of neurology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
By Nicholas Bakalar
Obesity, high cholesterol can lead to gallstone formation
Obesity and a high cholesterol count are the primary reasons for gallstone formation. These stones are easier to prevent than to cure. People suffering from gallstones usually complain of gas formation, bloating, and nausea and occasionally pain. Gallstones are formed over the years of eating high fat and low fibre foods.
Foods rich in sugar, high fat dairy products like cheese, paneer, meats, thick refined oily gravies, alcohol and physical inactivity lead to the formation of gallstones. Many people remain asymptomatic and are surprised at learning from an ultrasound that they have gallstones. They usually experience gas and bloating and general digestive distress. If you experience any of this after consuming a high fat meal, change your food pattern on to the following guidelines to prevent precipitation of a gall bladder disease.
Increase the fibre in your diet: This can be achieved by switching from polished rice to brown rice, white bread to whole wheat bread, and increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables. You could make your rotis from jowar or bajra or oatmeal flour.
Avoid fatty meals: This should be done even if you are not suffering from gallstones because excess consumption of fat is the root cause of many ailments like cancer, heart disease hypertension, obesity, diabetes etc.
Lose weight: If you are overweight, your chances of developing gallstones are very high. Also a low fat diet which is rich in fibre will aid weight loss. But don’t go on to very low-calorie crash diet, as it can aggravate the problem further.
Do not skip meals: Those with gallstones who skip a meal in order to lose weight have a greater risk of precipitating a gall stone attack.
Drink plenty of water: As it is necessary to maintain the water content of the bile and prevent the formation of stones.
Eat more vegetables: People who enjoy eating vegetables have fewer incidences of gallstones. Vegetarians who mainly eat whole pulses, nuts, lentil beans and peas generally don’t suffer from gallstones. The secret ingredient in vegetables seems to be soluble fibre, which prevents gallstone formation.
Eat more soyabean: Increasing intake of soyabeans reduces the saturation of cholesterol in the bile. Soya flour can be mixed with wheat flour in the ratio of 1:1 to prepare chapatis. Chunks made out of textured soyabean are available in the market. These could be prepared like a regular vegetable in a gravy or dry preparation. Hi-protein soya biscuits are also available at most leading departmental stores. These could be had as an in-between snack food.
Control consumption of sugar: Combined with a low fibre white rice, white bread and meat-based diet precipitates gallstone formation. Such a food pattern super-saturates the bile with cholesterol. Switch to a high fibre, low sugar, and vegetarian low fat diet to correct the problem.
Avoid coffee: Some researchers believe that coffee can stimulate the gall bladder to contract possibly bringing on a gallbladder attack. According to them, coffee can stimulate higher levels of cholecystokinin, an intestinal hormone which is responsible for the gall bladder contractions.
When the gallbladder contracts to reduce bile, a stone shoots out and plugs the opening of the duct leading to the small intestine. That’s when the pain comes. They advise people prone to gallstones to avoid coffee.
Obese individuals are more prone to gallstones and others are prone to it even if they are not overweight. But diet can make a difference in preventing gallstones. What you eat can help lessen the saturation of the bile with cholesterol leading to prevention or it can increase the degree of saturation of the bile with cholesterol, leading to gallstone formation.
Foods rich in sugar, high fat dairy products like cheese, paneer, meats, thick refined oily gravies, alcohol and physical inactivity lead to the formation of gallstones. Many people remain asymptomatic and are surprised at learning from an ultrasound that they have gallstones. They usually experience gas and bloating and general digestive distress. If you experience any of this after consuming a high fat meal, change your food pattern on to the following guidelines to prevent precipitation of a gall bladder disease.
Increase the fibre in your diet: This can be achieved by switching from polished rice to brown rice, white bread to whole wheat bread, and increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables. You could make your rotis from jowar or bajra or oatmeal flour.
Avoid fatty meals: This should be done even if you are not suffering from gallstones because excess consumption of fat is the root cause of many ailments like cancer, heart disease hypertension, obesity, diabetes etc.
Lose weight: If you are overweight, your chances of developing gallstones are very high. Also a low fat diet which is rich in fibre will aid weight loss. But don’t go on to very low-calorie crash diet, as it can aggravate the problem further.
Do not skip meals: Those with gallstones who skip a meal in order to lose weight have a greater risk of precipitating a gall stone attack.
Drink plenty of water: As it is necessary to maintain the water content of the bile and prevent the formation of stones.
Eat more vegetables: People who enjoy eating vegetables have fewer incidences of gallstones. Vegetarians who mainly eat whole pulses, nuts, lentil beans and peas generally don’t suffer from gallstones. The secret ingredient in vegetables seems to be soluble fibre, which prevents gallstone formation.
Eat more soyabean: Increasing intake of soyabeans reduces the saturation of cholesterol in the bile. Soya flour can be mixed with wheat flour in the ratio of 1:1 to prepare chapatis. Chunks made out of textured soyabean are available in the market. These could be prepared like a regular vegetable in a gravy or dry preparation. Hi-protein soya biscuits are also available at most leading departmental stores. These could be had as an in-between snack food.
Control consumption of sugar: Combined with a low fibre white rice, white bread and meat-based diet precipitates gallstone formation. Such a food pattern super-saturates the bile with cholesterol. Switch to a high fibre, low sugar, and vegetarian low fat diet to correct the problem.
Avoid coffee: Some researchers believe that coffee can stimulate the gall bladder to contract possibly bringing on a gallbladder attack. According to them, coffee can stimulate higher levels of cholecystokinin, an intestinal hormone which is responsible for the gall bladder contractions.
When the gallbladder contracts to reduce bile, a stone shoots out and plugs the opening of the duct leading to the small intestine. That’s when the pain comes. They advise people prone to gallstones to avoid coffee.
Obese individuals are more prone to gallstones and others are prone to it even if they are not overweight. But diet can make a difference in preventing gallstones. What you eat can help lessen the saturation of the bile with cholesterol leading to prevention or it can increase the degree of saturation of the bile with cholesterol, leading to gallstone formation.
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