Wednesday, May 23, 2007

 

Fat Soluable Vitamin


News ! Fat Soulable Vitamin; Vitamin A is good for the skin.


Secret to perfect skin is in vitamin A


Age is most visible in our skin. Judith Tan finds out how you can keep your skin looking radiant and youthful.

vitamin A


What do Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry, Charlize Theron and closer to home - Fann Wong - have in common?

Apart from being well-known actresses, they have absolutely gorgeous skin which seems to glow from within.

The secret to such perfect skin lies in vitamin A, says South African plastic surgeon, Dr Des Fernandes.

'Vitamin A is responsible for regulating the health of thousands of genes in cells. The antioxidant properties neutralise harmful elements in our skin, helping to prevent wrinkles, resist infection and keep skin youthful,' he said.

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that can be obtained from either animal or vegetable sources.

They include eggs, meat, and coloured fruit and vegetables.

'If there is insufficient vitamin A in the skin, it will not renew itself as fast, resulting in pigmentation, wrinkles and worst - skin cancer,' said Dr Fernandes, who has treated stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna.

The problem is vitamin A is destroyed by exposure to light, particularly sunlight.

'Spend 20 minutes in the sun and your level of vitamin A will drop 80 to 90 per cent,' DrFernandes said.>

His advice is to make vitamin A part of the daily skin-care routine for everyone who is exposed to sunlight - from sun-babies to construction workers. And wear a good sunblock.

The answer is not to avoid the sun altogether, said Dr Fernandes. That creates its own problems.

'Sunlight is needed to make vitamin D, which is necessary for bone health, to prevent osteoporosis,' he explained.

Vitamin D is produced by the skin when exposed to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight.

Addressing vitamin A losses

Replacing vitamin A lost every time we go out into sunlight can be done through the diet or a topical cream.

'We need to replenish that vitamin A every day but we can't rely solely on diet,' he said.

He said it would take weeks to restore the level of vitamin A lost to sunlight in 20 minutes, through the diet.

'But applying a topical cream fortified with vitamin A can restore it in just three hours,' he added.

Dr Cheong Lai Leng, a dermatologist in private practice, agrees that it is true 'you can never eat enough vitamin A to get the same effect as topical cream', but a good balanced diet should replace the amount of vitamin A lost to sunlight.

'That is, if you don't subject yourself to strong sunlight over long periods,' she said.

Doctors say the use of vitamin A creams can have side effects and signs to watch out for include redness, a stinging sensation, peeling and increased sunburn potential.

Plastic surgeon Ivor Lim said it makes the skin fairly sensitive and dry.

'Those sold off the counter are usually weak formulations. If consumers want higher strength creams, then they should get a prescription from the doctor and be monitored so that there would not be any adverse effects,' he advised.


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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

 

Tips on Reduce Salt Intake


20 Tips on how to Reduce Salt Intake


Food industry experts suggest ways to reduce the salt in your life while eating in and out.
Contributors are Mr Sebastian Goh, head chef from Szechuan Court, Raffles The Plaza; Mr Thomas Laberer, executive chef from Hilton Singapore; Ms Nehal Kamdar, dietitian from Raffles Hospital; and Ms Yeap Cheng Guat, executive director of Cedele by The Bakery Depot.


Eating In


1. Season foods with herbs, lime, lemon or grapefruit juices, spices and fresh chilli instead of salty seasonings such as stock cubes and soya sauce.
2. Salt is the most common food preservative in tinned foods such as tuna, sardine, herring, salmon and mackerel, so rinse thoroughly before you cook with them or eat them.Put the contents in a sieve and run water over the fish if it is the flaky variety.
3. Salt's function is to enhance flavour, but it should be added carefully. As water evaporates and the juices reduce, the flavour of salt intensifies. So add salt at the end of the cooking.
4. Taste the food before adding salt. Your taste buds change over time and get used to less salt.
5. Use fresh, frozen or unprocessed foods when possible.
6. Limit your intake of salt-laden cakes, biscuits and commercial bakery products to twice a week. Baked goods are often made by adding baking soda, which has 1,259mg of sodium per teaspoon.
7. Limit intake of obviously salty foods such as potato chips, salted nuts, preserved fruits and cheese-flavoured snacks.
8. Make broth from a chicken you cook at home to use as stock, rather than buying canned, powdered or bouillon stock cube.
9. If you are phoning for a pizza delivery, choose vegetable or chicken toppings instead of salt-heavy pepperoni, bacon or extra cheese.
10. Roast vegetables such as red peppers, courgettes, parsnips and squash to bring out their flavour.

Eating Out


1. Taste the food on your plate before adding sauces or salt.
2. Try not to eat out too often as restaurants, hawker centres and fast-food restaurants usually use large amounts of salt in cooking.
3. For working people, take a packed lunch from home at least four times a week. By not eating out, you can control your salt intake.
4. For dishes that are cooked to order, request less or no salt, MSG and sauces. Alternatively, you can ask for the sauce or salad dressing to be served on the side.
5. Go for plain cooked food like plain rice instead of fried or chicken rice; plain green salad without dressing instead of pre-made coleslaw; and steamed fish instead of sweet and sour fish.
6. Avoid dipping foods into salty sauces like soya sauce and chilli sauce.
7. If a dish tastes excessively salty, send it back.
8. Learn to recognise high-sodium dishes, which means anything with the following descriptions: pickled, smoked, soya sauce, teriyaki sauce, barbecued or broth.
9. Go easy with condiments on burgers and sandwiches. And opt for sandwich fillings such as chicken salad or salmon instead of salty ham or cheese.
10. Enjoy salads with a twist of lemon or a splash of vinegar rather than with salad dressing.

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