Body Care Kits

Boost your immunity all holiday long
Here are nine ways to strengthen your immune system and avoid the dreaded end-of-year flu from Shape writer Kristyn Kusek Lewis

You compulsively slather on hand- sanitising gel and turn your head whenever somebody sneezes, yet you still manage to catch cold after cold at this time of the year. What gives?

'Prevention isn't just about avoiding germs. What you eat, how you handle stress and what you do in your downtime are all factors in keeping you healthy,' said Dr Woodson Merrell, the director of integrative medicine at the Continuum Centre for Health and Healing at New York's Beth Israel Medical Centre.

Incorporate a few of these habits into your routine: You will not only have a stronger immune system but feel healthier and happier, too.

These feel-good chemicals strengthen your immune system by increasing the production of 'natural killer cells' - white blood cells that destroy viruses.

Focus less on the type of workout and more on your level of exertion, said Professor Brian McFarlin, an assistant professor in exercise physiology and nutrition at the University of Houston.

The goal is to break a sweat (an indication that you have reached the endorphin-producing threshold) without pushing yourself too much.

Overly strenuous workouts can increase cortisol, a stress hormone that may lower the production of other infection-fighting white blood cells.

If you feel irritable, have trouble falling asleep or experience excessive post-workout fatigue (typical signs of overtraining), then ease up with gentler workouts, like walking, for a few days.

Laugh out loud
Laughing can build levels of the antibody IgA, the body's first line of defence against germs, said Professor Carl Charnetski, a psychology professor at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.

One study at Indiana State University found that women who laughed while watching a funny film increased the activity of natural killer cells.

As laughter may enhance immune function, update your TV guide with more comedies or simply spend time with your funniest friends.

Seize some extra z's
A solid night of shut-eye staves off illness, said DrPhilip Tierno, the director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University Medical Centre. Your body goes through several REM cycles -deep, re-generative sleep - each night, but you make the most immune-strengthening repairs during the last and longest one, which begins after seven hours of slumber.

Get your groove on
Prof Charnetski's research team conducted several studies on how music raises IgA levels, especially during times of stress.

In one, scientists played jazz for half an hour in a newspaper office while 10 reporters were on deadline. During that time, IgA levels increased, and they continued to rise for at least 30 minutes after the music was turned off. But you can listen to any genre; as long as you like it, your health will benefit.

Make time for friends
You might think that having loads of friends raises your odds of catching colds: more people, more germs. But a wide social network actually gives you a stay-healthy edge.

In one study from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, freshmen who reported feeling lonely had a weaker immune response to the flu vaccine than those who spent more time among friends.

'Rewarding relationships allow you to experience positive emotions, which lower levels of immune-suppressing hormones like norepinephrine,' said Professor Blair Justice, professor emeritus at the University of Texas School of Public Health.

Round out your plate
Are you consistently skipping the stir-fried bean sprouts or cooking the same chicken cutlets every night? You may be setting yourself up for a sniffle-filled holiday.

'It doesn't take a major nutritional deficiency to weaken your immune system,' said Ms Molly Kimball, lifestyle and sports nutritionist at Ochsner Medical Centre's Elmwood Fitness Centre. 'Even minor vitamin and mineral shortages can challenge your body's defences.'

Choose a wide variety of whole foods, including brown rice, low-fat protein sources like fish and beans, and five to nine daily servings of fruits and veggies. And make sure you are eating enough.

Even with a diverse diet, a too-low calorie intake deprives your body of the energy it needs to take care of daily functions, said Ms Kimball.

Lather up correctly
You know that arming yourself against germs means washing your hands often. But how you scrub matters just as much, said Dr Charles Gerba, co-author of The Germ Freak's Guide To Out-witting Colds And Flu. Wet your hands and lather soap all over for at least 20 seconds - and not under the tap, as it is the friction between the soap and skin that dislodges the germs.

Get touchy-feely
Avoid a distinctly unsexy, stuffy nose by carving out time for lovemaking. In one study, men and women who had sex once or twice a week had substantially higher IgA levels than those who did it less often.

Not dating? No problem. Research from the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami found that just experiencing touch, as with a professional massage, can also increase natural killer cell activity.

Try the better herbal remedy
You may have already sampled cold-fighting supplements like echinacea. But astragalus, a plant root used in China for centuries, is the best preventive herb, said Dr Andrew Weil, an integrative-medicine expert and author of Healthy Ageing.

Available in health food stores, it can prevent germs from taking hold in your body. Consider taking two 500mg pills daily.

Labels: boost your immunity, flu, immune system

# posted by Leo @ 9:16 AM 0 comments

Benefits of Organic Food

Organic foods are produced without the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, growth hormones, irradiation, antibiotics or genetic engineering, but can cost many times more than non-organic produce.

A UK study has revived the debate that organic food is healthier than its non-organic equivalent. Shefali Srinivas susses out the sentiments of experts and consumers

Organic food can be part of a healthy diet, but food grown organically is no better or worse for your health when compared with conventionally grown food.

That's what Singapore's Health Promotion Board (HPB) maintains.

It was responding to findings from a recent United Kingdom (UK) study that organic fruit and vegetables contain up to 40 per cent more antioxidants. That revived the decades-old debate on whether organic food is healthier than non-organic food in any quantifiable way.

The term organic refers to a natural approach to farming without the use of artificial pesticides or fertilisers. It focuses on sustainability and is mindful of the impact farming has on the wider environment.

Among the health claims for organic food is that it is more nutritious and can ward off a range of diseases, from cancer and heart disease to gastric problems.

Mr Benjamin Lee, acting head of nutrition standards at HPB, said: 'There is no consistent body of evidence which indicates that organic food is nutritionally more beneficial than conventionally grown food.'

Advocates of organic food in Singapore welcomed the results of the UK study.

Dr Caroline Low, an anti-ageing physician at Raffles Hospital, said she believes that organic foods are healthier as they are produced without the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, growth hormones, irradiation, antibiotics or genetic engineering.

Ms Tuyet Nguyen, founder of L'Organic market at Dempsey Road, said: 'It is a vindication of the experience of many people who have chosen to eat organic, and certainly adds credibility and 'measurable' results to the issue.'

She added that the study might give people a more tangible reason to go organic.

Singaporeans seem to be getting on the organic bandwagon even as experts continue to debate the evidence.

A survey by The Nielsen Company in 2005 showed that more than 60 per cent of Singaporeans claimed to consume organic foods and the majority cited personal health as their main motivation.

The main deterrent is cost. Organic food can cost many times more than non-organic produce, depending on the variety and seasonal supplies.

For instance, a non-organic tomato from Malaysia costs about 60 cents a kg. while an organically-grown vine tomato from Holland (air-flown) will cost about $13.50 a kg.

The survey found that fruit and vegetables were the most commonly bought organic products.

Singaporean Jasmine Andriesz, 34, a financial planner, has raised her 14-month-old son exclusively on organic food.

'I think Cameron's pretty lucky because the range of organic products now available here is amazing. So I'm able to find baby food for him,' she said.

This lifestyle choice costs her an average of 25 per cent more each month.

'But having read about the harmful pesticides and fertilisers, my husband and I want to give our baby as much organic food as possible, even though as parents, we can't eat 100 per cent organic,' she said.

Ms Andriesz is not alone. Ms Mindy Chua, the store manager of Four Seasons Organic Market at Great World City, told Mind Your Body that she had 1,500 new customers signing up as members in the last six months. Many are mothers with babies.

A spokesman for FairPrice supermarkets said it has doubled its assortment of organic products from 2005.

'People staying in the heartland areas are also becoming more health-conscious and some have switched to buying organic products,' he said.

But are people who can't afford to go organic losing out?

Nutrition consultant Anna Jacob said the new study does not negate the value of regular non-organic produce.

She advises people to concentrate on getting their two servings each of fruit and vegetables daily.

'If budget is an issue, just buy regular produce, wash it well and cook it right for maximum nutrient retention,' she said.

Ms Nehal Kamdar, a dietician at Raffles Hospital, agrees. While she thinks the study is interesting, there is still a lot we don't know, she said.

'Nutrient levels in food vary depending on several factors - like weather conditions, freshness of the food, storage conditions and cooking method.

'Therefore, one may buy organic food but if it is not stored or cooked properly, nutrient levels may not be high,' she said.

Labels: benefits of organic food, organic health food

# posted by Leo @ 8:13 PM 1 comments

Here are the Running tips to share:

*If you are new to running be sure that you have been walking for 30 minutes at least 3 days a week about 3 months before you try to transition to running.

*Do not bounce or overstride. Don't let your foot get ahead of your knee. Run from the hips down with the upper body straight up and used only for balance.

*Breath in through your nose and out through pursed lips.

*Choose shoes appropriate for running and that fit well -- they don't cause any discomfort or blisters.

*When running in colder weather be sure to wear a hat. A large amount of heat can be lost through your head.

*Replace your running shoes at least every 400-500 miles.

Labels: running tip

# posted by Leo @ 9:01 PM 0 comments

A King's College London study of more than 2,000 women found those with higher vitamin D levels showed fewer ageing-related changes in their DNA.....read more...

Labels: slow ageing, vitamin d

# posted by Leo @ 3:59 PM 0 comments

CHICAGO - BEING 11 kilos overweight does not appear to raise your risk of dying from cancer or heart disease, says a new government study that seems to vindicate Grandma's claim that a few extra kilos will not kill you.

Released just a few weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday when Americans typically overeat, the findings might comfort some who cannot seem to lose those last 6.8 kilogrammes. And they hearten proponents of a theory that it is possible to be 'fit and fat.' The news is not all good: Overweight people do have a higher chance of dying from diabetes and kidney disease.

And people who are obese - generally those more than 13.6 kilogrammes overweight for their height - have a higher risk of death from a variety of ills, including some cancers and heart disease.

However, having a little extra weight actually seemed to help people survive some illnesses - results that baffled several leading health researchers.

'This is a very puzzling disconnect,' said Dr JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital. 'That is a conundrum.' It was the second study by the same government scientists who two years ago first suggested that deaths from being too fat were overstated.

The new report further analysed the same data, this time looking at specific causes of death along with new mortality figures from 2004 for 2.3 million US adults.

'Excess weight does not uniformly increase the risk of mortality from any and every cause, but only from certain causes,' said the study's lead author Katherine Flegal, of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study, which appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, analysed the body-mass index of people who died from various diseases.

In many cases, the risks of death were substantial for obese people - those with a body-mass index, or BMI, of at least 30.

Higher risk
Specifically, obesity raised the risk of death from heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease, and several cancers previously linked with excess weight, including breast, colon and pancreatic cancer.

But being merely overweight - having a BMI between 25 and 30 - did not increase the risk of dying from heart disease or any kind of cancer.

Also surprising was that overweight people were up to about 40 per cent less likely than normal-weight people to die from several other causes including emphysema, pneumonia, injuries and various infections. The age group that seemed to benefit most from a little extra padding were people aged 25 to 59; older overweight people had reduced risks for these diseases, too.

Why extra fat is not always deadly and might even help people survive some illnesses is unclear and in fact disputed by many health experts.

But University of South Carolina obesity researcher Steven Blair, who says people can be fat and fit, is a believer. He called the report a careful and plausible analysis, and said Americans have been whipped into a 'near hysteria' by hype over the US's obesity epidemic.

While the epidemic is real, the number of deaths attributed to it and to being overweight has been exaggerated, Mr Blair said.

People should focus instead on healthful eating and exercise, and stop obsessing about carrying a few extra pounds or becoming supermodel thin, Mr Blair said.

He says his hefty grandmother used to justify her extra padding, saying, ''That way I have protection in case I get sick.' Maybe there is something to that.' A little extra weight might provide 'additional nutritional reserves' that could help people battle certain diseases, Ms Flegal said.

Misleading results
Dr Robert Eckel, a spokesman for the American Heart Association, argued that the results may be misleading. For example, diabetes and heart disease often occur together and both often afflict overweight people. So when diabetes is listed as a cause of death, heart disease could have contributed, he said.

Dr Eckel also said the study results might reflect aggressive efforts to treat high blood pressure and cholesterol or other conditions that can lead to fatal heart attacks. Those conditions often occur in overweight people and can be costly and debilitating even if they are not always deadly, he said.

Obesity researcher Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, agreed, noting that the study 'is about death. This is not about health and sickness.' It does not address whether cancer and heart disease occur more often in overweight people - something that has been suggested by other research.

Dr Michael Thun of the American Cancer Society noted that staying slim tops a recent list of recommendations for preventing cancer in a report from the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research. The report was based on a review of more than 7,000 studies.

The CDC report 'definitely won't be the last word,' Dr Thun said. -- AP

Labels: extra fat, loss weight, overweight

# posted by Leo @ 10:48 AM 0 comments

Use cough mix for kids with care. Children's Cough Medicine

Should parents here be alarmed over the recent US recall of some over-the-counter infant medicines for coughs and colds? Shefali Srinivas finds out more

Children under six should not be given medicines which relieve coughs and colds, a US advisory panel has warned.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel voted two weeks ago to recommend not using over-the-counter remedies, which contain ingredients like antihistamines, cough suppressants and decongestants.

According to the panel, there was no proof that the medicines helped relieve cold symptoms in children and there were serious concerns about their safety, especially in children under two.

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that at least 1,519 children younger than two had serious health problems in 2004 and 2005 after having been treated with common cold medicines. Three children died and adverse reactions included hallucinations, confusion, dizziness and irregular heartbeat in some cases.

The panel felt that the medications were also not useful for children between six and 11, though it did not recommend discontinuing their use for this age group.

It was convened to address a citizen petition filed by a panel of paediatricians and public health experts with the agency in March this year.

The petition was filed after some deaths of children in the central United States were linked to the use of a cough and cold remedy containing carbinoxamine, an antihistamine.

Since the panel's recommendation, several leading over-the-counter cold remedy makers in the US have voluntarily withdrawn products sold for infants.

The products included Concentrated Tylenol Infants' Drops Plus Cold & Cough and Dimetapp Decongestant Plus Cough Infant Drops.

They are not sold in Singapore though these brands have other products here for children.

An added precaution is that over-the-counter drugs are not sold for babies under two years of age. They must be prescribed by a doctor.

According to the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), there have been no local reports of fatal adverse drug reactions associated with cough and cold syrups. But it is taking the review panel's recommendations seriously.

'HSA is already in the process of reviewing the labelling of all other cough and cold products for use by children,' a spokesman said.

Experts advising the FDA panel said that paediatric cold medicines were approved in the early 1970s, when there was almost no evidence that they worked. It was assumed that drugs which worked in adults would also be helpful in children.

Since then, researchers have learned that adults and children can react to medicines very differently.

The medicines criticised by the panel are those commonly sold to treat coughs, runny noses and congestion, available in Singapore under brand names such as Actifed, Dimetapp and Rhinathiol.

Common ingredients include:

Antihistamine: Given to help with sneezing, a runny nose and watery eyes. In syrups, the compound used is usually tripolidine hydrochloride.

Pseudoephedrine/phenylephrine: These are decongestants, which work by narrowing blood vessels in the lining of the nose. This reduces how much blood flows through the area so that swollen tissue inside the nose shrinks and air can pass through more easily.

Dextromethorphan: Anti-tussive which means it is used to suppress coughs. In adults, it has been shown to cut the number of coughs from 20 times an hour to 16 times an hour.

A consultant paediatrician from Kinder Clinic, Dr S. Sivasankaran, said the use of antihistamines is not recommended in infants under nine months of age.

'If they are over one year, we prescribe cold remedies on a case-by-case basis. We don't always recommend them,' he said.

But he also noted that most over-the-counter remedies for kids are safe when used in the right dosage.

For parents like Ms Melissa Rudge, 32, the key advantage of cough and cold medicines is that they help sick and unhappy children sleep.

But she does not buy any drugs over the counter and adheres to dosages recommended by the doctor. 'It really does help him stop coughing and go to sleep,' said the mother of a three-year-old boy.

Ms Ng Yong Wei, manager at Unity Healthcare, a retail pharmacy chain, said that parents asking for drugs for children under two are directed to consult a doctor for a prescription.

The pharmacist on duty will also explain to parents what the right dosage should be.

According to the FDA panel, well-meaning parents may overdose their child without realising it, which has been the case in most of the bad reactions.

When used properly, their products are safe, said the makers of cough and cold remedies.

Because colds generally resolve themselves, the experts recommend that parents of sick infants or children avoid the drugs and instead use other remedies to make their children feel more comfortable. These include vaporisers, hydrators, saline nose drops, steam inhalation, and taking soup and other fluids.

Labels: Children cough midicine, Cough Mix

# posted by Leo @ 4:08 PM 0 comments