There is improved quality of life with successful healthy lifestyle programs

There has been an epidemic of obesity and associated illnesses such as high blood pressure and diabetes which is generally associated with poor nutrition and unhealthy lifestyles. The University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences reports an overlooked benefit of healthy lifestyle programs has been a generally improved health associated quality of life. Researchers have found participating in a community-based behavioral lifestyle intervention program aimed at improving health not only helped people increase their levels of physical activity, lose weight, and lower their risk of diabetes and heart disease, but this also improved their health associated quality of life by an average of about 10 percent. This research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health. Senior author Andrea Kriska, Ph.D., professor in Pitt Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology and primary investigator of the NIH study, says it has been exciting to be able to document there was an improved health associated quality of life along with improvement in risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease seen in participants in the Group Lifestyle Balance program. This study has been published in the journal Quality of Life Research. The findings of improvement of health related quality of life in participants in a community lifestyle intervention program along with better clinical and behavioral outcomes, should enhance the appeal of such programs for overall improvement of health.

Exercise can often replace knee surgery for injured menisci

Knee injuries can be very painful and debilitating. Surgery is a costly and generally upsetting option for treating many type of knee injuries. An alternative option to surgery in many instances has been found to be a new form of exercise therapy reports the University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine. Researchers say knee surgery could be avoided in three out of four people with exercise therapy. This is significant since injury to the menisci, which is the cartilaginous discs within the knee joint, can be very painful when running, and can lead to the knee giving way or locking. Such knee injuries can keep people from exercising and going to work. Orthopaedic surgeon Nina Jullum Kise, MD who was in charge of the study says in regard to symptoms and improved functioning there was no difference between the outcomes for meniscus injuries between surgery and exercise. And with exercise there was improved muscle strength. This study has been published in BMJ. The researchers say in young people with acute injuries surgery is often needed. It has been concluded in middle aged patients with degenerative meniscal tear and no definitive radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis supervised exercise therapy should be considered as a treatment option. Clearly exercise is preferable to surgery whenever possible.

You should keep your body and mind active for good brain health

If you want a healthy brain it's a good idea to lead an active lifestyle in body and mind. The Center for BrainHealth reports that executive function in the brain is improved with cognitive brain training whereas memory is improved with aerobic activity. Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, the study lead author, says there are continuous and significant age-related changes in the brain in many adults who do not suffer from dementia. This is seen particularly in the areas of memory and executive function, such as dealing with planning and problem-solving. Dr. Chapman who is the founder and chief director of the Center for BrainHealth, says that people can lose 1-2 percent in global brain blood flow every decade, beginning in our 20s. Just an 8 percent increase in brain blood flow in the cognitive training group may be viewed as gaining back decades of brain health since blood flow is associated with neural health. What has become apparent is that aerobic activity as well as reasoning training are both important tools that boost your brain health in different ways. This study shows that brain health can be accelerated by adhering to lifestyle habits which exercise both the mind and body. This study has been published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. It has been highlighted by this study that distinct brain and cognitive benefits may be gained with the icorporation of healthy habits, including complex reasoning and aerobic exercise.

You should use extra virgin olive oil to fry your fish

There are often concerns that the healthy value of fish can be negated by frying it. To make a healthy fried fish meal it is important to be careful about what type of oil the fish is fried in. The University of the Basque Country reports that the best option for frying fish is to use extra virgin olive oil. After being used for frying fish extra virgin olive oil was found to be rich in omega-3, omega-1 acyl groups, linoleic and saturated fats and poorer in oleic, which is the main acyl group in olive oil. The composition of the fat in the fish fillets was also changed during the frying process. The fish fillets became enriched by the acyl groups which are present in a higher concentrations in the frying oil than in the fillet. Another factor which has been found to considerably influence the fat absorption-desorption process during frying was found to be the fish species. The fat content of the gilthead seabream had decreased after frying while that of the European seabass was observed to be similar or higher with respect to the starting level. It has been shown in this study that frying technique, the type of oil which is used and the fish species have a significant influence on the changes that take place during the frying process. The proper selection of oil is of vital importance due to to its impact on the final composition of the fat found in the cooked fillet and the possible generation of possibly toxic compounds in the oil during the frying process. This all has a great impact on food safety and human health. This study has been published in the journal Food Research International. It seems best for your health to use extra virgin olive oil to fry fish.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights has reported on making a killing with psychiatric drugs

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights has produced a video called "Making A Killing, The Untold Story of Psychiatric Drugging" which makes shocking revelations about the filth and corruption which is involved in the marketing of psychiatric drugs. The like-minded diabolically insane American psychiatrists and other likewise trash psychiatrists across the world have been making a financial killing off of the psychiatric drugs. These drugs are highly toxic poisons which are responsible for crippling and killing scores of people daily. It has been exposed by the CCHR that most if not all of the members of the FDA who sit on panels to decide on the clearing of psychiatric drugs are psychiatrists who are associated with the pharmaceutical firms who manufacture these drugs. These psychiatrists make enormous profits each time another one of these toxic poisons is cleared for sale by the FDA. It has also been highlighted by the CCHR that the Chairmans of the Departments of Psychiatry at the medical schools across the United States and their staff members also have arrangements with the psychiatric drug pharmaceutical firms which makes them filthy rich from these toxic drugs as long as more and more psychiatrists prescribe them regularly. There have been scores of cases uncovered of people who otherwise were never suicidal or homicidal who have killed themselves and/or who have killed other people while taking the poisonous arsenal of psychiatric drugs. In consideration that there are no biological markers for the myriad of fictional diagnoses of the quack psychiatrists, signs and symptoms of normal everyday feelings are being used to make the trendy diagnoses of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in order to hype up the sales of the pharmaceutical poisons which are used to supposedly treat these labels. The prescriptions for the psychiatric poisons are rolling out as if candy is being given away even though there have also been many sudden deaths from these poisons, including among young babies who never really did much yet in life aside from play, smile, cry, eat food and sleep. Clearly psychiatry is a criminal discipline of abuse which should be abolished and replaced with Natural Mental Health Care.

Citizens Commission on Human Rights labels psychiatry as a junk science

In its compelling publication "Psychiatry, An Industry of Death" the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) has referred to psychiatry as a "junk science". The CCHR has stated that the primary reason for the creation of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the psychiatrists has been to provide psychiatry with a system of compensation for insurance billing which is similar to that which is used by mainstream medicine. The entries in the DSM are simply alleged disorders passed into being by a committee of quack psychiatrists and not real diseases. The categorization of clusters of symptoms in the DSM does not have any known causes and none of the resultant diagnoses have been supported by objective scientific evidence. Yet in spite of the complete lack of scientific credentials behind the DSM the CCHR reports that psychiatry in the United States alone brings in over $100 billion a year in funding for "treatment" of DSM-disorders. Renee Garfinkle, a psychologist, has been quoted by the CCHR as saying the disorders to be included in psychiatry's DSM are chosen by a majority vote of American Psychiatric Association members based on the same scientific level of sophistication as "you would choose a restaurant." The CCHR has pointed out that nevertheless the tragically flawed DSM is used not only to diagnose mental illness and prescribe treatment, but also to resolve child custody battles, discrimination cases based on alleged psychiatric disability, to support court testimony, to modify education, and more. Still, there is absolutely no science at all to this diagnostic system as insurance companies estimate that the cost of treatment for "disorders" which cannot be physically proven is two times greater than for general medical conditions. Furthermore the interventions of the psychiatrists are consistently highly destructive. What is needed is the abolition of psychiatry and a Natural Mental Health Care Revolution.

Consuming more unsaturated fats is linked with lower mortality

It is not a myth that the types of food which you eat dramatically effect your overall health and longevity. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has reported there is lower mortality with increased consumption of unsaturated fats. In this study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers followed a large population for more than three decades. They found that increased consumption of saturated and trans fats was associated with higher mortality in comparison with the same number of calories consumed from carbohydrates. Most significantly it was found that there were substantial health benefits when saturated fats were replaced with unsaturated fats. It is suggested by this study that replacing saturated fats such as fat in red meat, butter, and lard with unsaturated fats from plant-based foods such as canola oil, olive oil, and soybean oil may offer significant health benefits. This should be an important message in dietary recommendations. In this study people who replaced saturated fats with unsaturated fats, particularly polyunsaturated fat, had significantly decreased risk of death overall during the period of the study. These people also had lower risk of death from cancer, CVD, neurodegenerative disease, and respiratory disease, in comparison with those who maintained high consumption of saturated fats. When saturated fats were replaced with carbohydrates there was only slightly lower mortality risk. This study has been published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The findings of the study support present dietary recommendations to replace saturated fat and trans-fat with unsaturated fats. The findings in this study are compelling. There should be greater initiatives to encourage people to make the switch from saturated fat to unsaturated fats on a more consistent basis.

Kidney disease has been associated with air pollution

It is well known that air pollution is associated with increased risks for illnesses including asthma, bronchitis, cardiovascular disease and cancer. A new study has shown air pollution is also associated with higher rates of kidney disease reports the American Society of Nephrology via EurekAlert. There are higher rates of membranous nephropathy in regions of China which have high levels of fine particulate air pollution. Membranous nephropathy is an immune disorder of the kidneys which can lead to kidney failure. This disease has increased significantly in China. Air pollution has been becoming a bigger and bigger problem in China over the years. A research team led by Fan Fan Hou, MD, PhD and Xin Xu, MD, PhD at the Southern Medical University, in Guangzhou, China analyzed data from kidney biopsies which were taken over 11 years from 71,151 patients from 938 hospitals in 282 cities throughout China. Over this period of time the chance of developing membranous nephropathy increased 13 percent a year. The highest rates of this disease were seen in regions with high levels of fine particulate air pollution. This study has been published in the American Society of Nephrology. There is clearly a need to carefully watch the role which air pollution in urban areas is playing in the development of kidney disease. It is clear that clean fresh air is significant for overall good health and therefore there should be greater initiatives to clean up the environment.

Syrian refugee kids are benefiting psychologically from art therapy

The Syrian refugee crisis has become one of the most tragic horror stories of this era. The Syrian civil war has displaced an unusually large number of people. The psychological impact of this situation on the Syrians has been staggering, particularly for the Syrian children. Taylor & Francis has reported a new study has shown that art therapy has been beneficial in helping Syrian refugee children to reduce psychological problems. According to a study of Syrian refugee children living in Turkey group art therapy seems to be helpful in lowering a wide range of psychological symptoms which are commonly experienced by refugee kids. It has been observed that refugee kids are at high risk for a myriad of psychological problems which include depression, aggression, behavioral problems, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There are almost 1.5 million refugee kids from Syria who are presently living in Turkey and effective programs are desperately needed to improve their mental health. In this study a week after the program began there were reports of significant improvements in depression, trauma, and anxiety symptoms. This study highlights the psychological impact of the refugee crisis on Syrian kids and offers a potentially effective natural therapy in the form of art therapy. This study has been published in the journal Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies. It has been observed that art therapy may be an effective method to decrease post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety symptoms in refugee kids. This form of natural therapy does not have the potentially hazardous side effects of drug treatments for these conditions. With such a humane approach to helping the Syrian refugee kids adapt psychologically to their difficult situation in the world they will have a much better chance of having promising futures.

A new food supplement may switch off cravings for high calorie foods

Obesity is a horrible problem with it appearing to many people that an addiction to sugar and other high calorie foods is as serious as heroin addiction. It has been reported by Imperial College London that a new food supplement may switch off cravings for high-calorie foods. Volunteers were asked by scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Glasgow to drink a milkshake that either contained an ingredient called inulin-propionate ester, or a type of fibre which is called inulin. It has been found in previous studies that bacteria in the gut release a compound which is called propionate when they digest the fiber inulin and this can signal to the brain to decrease appetite. It has been observed that the inulin-propionate ester supplement causes the release of much more propionate in the intestines than inulin alone. The researchers found when volunteers drank the milkshake which contained inulin-propionate ester, they had less activity in the areas of their brain which are linked to reward when looking at the foods which are high in calories. When the volunteers drank the milkshake with the inulin-propionate ester supplement they rated the high calorie foods as not being as appealing. These volunteers were also observed to eat 10 per cent less pasta than when they drank the milkshake which contained inulin alone.It has also been observed that people who ate this ingredient did not gain as much weight. The researchers say eating enough fiber to naturally produce similar amounts of propionate would be very hard to do. It is believed if we add this supplement to foods it could decrease the urge to eat high calorie foods.This study has been published in the journal American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. This study offers us an interesting consideration to help reduce cravings for high calorie foods.

You may be able to fight cancer by eating parsley and dill

It is compelling to consider that a healthy diet can help prevent and treat cancer. Russian scientists have made an exciting new finding which highlights the potential for parsley and dill to help in the fight against cancer. It has been reported by the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology via EurekAlert that research has shown that parsley and dill may help fight cancer. Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News reports some of the primary seasonings from a tasty deli pickle or bright green pesto sauce may actually help in the development of novel anticancer agents. A team of scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), the N.D. Zelinsky Institutes of Organic Chemistry, Developmental Biology, and Cell Biophysics have together suggested an efficient new approach towards the synthesis of possible chemotherapeutic agents which have their basis in the extraction of compounds which are taken from parsley and dill seeds. This offers us some very tasty considerations in the fight against cancer.